Chapter Twenty-Two

"Let me get pictures," Davor said quickly, pulling out his cellphone and beginning to take snapshots of the main room, showing the disarray. The damage was damning if a supernatural came across it, but most humans would just believe a really pissed-off and hungry bear had broken in. Davor took pictures of every room in the house that had evidence the werecat was on his rampage while staying there.

"Done," he said, putting his phone away and meeting me back in the main room as I pushed an old couch back where it seemed like it should go.

"We're going to clean up everything broken and pay attention for any hair or nail pieces it might have broken off," I said, not looking up at him as I grabbed torn cushions and piled them up.

"Leave no trace, of course," he agreed and got busy with me. He found a broom and dustpan, and I found trash bags.

It didn't take too long before we were sitting on the couch with the cushions and pillows we could salvage, watching the fire.

"Thank goodness whoever kept this place stocked the dry wood supply for a fire," I said, sighing. "Nice fireplace, too." It was one of those metal fireplaces that had a pipe that went up to the ceiling and out through the room, almost in the middle of the room.

"It is. It can warm the whole room quite well, not that it's particularly cold."

"It's not, but the fire is still comforting. Plus, just because it's not snowing doesn't mean our things haven't gotten wet. I should find something that I can hang my wet pants on."

Davor just pointed. Following the direction, I saw the room divider I had pushed into the corner.

Well, that would work.

Pulling it back out, I opened it in a semi-circle near the fireplace on the side that was closed off, so my pants wouldn't be exposed to open flame. We didn't need that fire hazard. I was grateful I had thought to bring a pair of shorts, using those while the pants were drying off, along with the shirt I had been wearing. When I was done, Davor put up his wet clothing as well, and we waited.

"It's been…" I checked the time. "An hour. Niko said in two hours, we should check on him."

"He's probably already on the way back," Davor said, looking toward the door we had left open. He shrugged and went back to watch the fire. "He's a good hunter."

"That was what I figured, too. He wouldn't need too long." I looked next and chuckled. "Speak of the devil."

It was like Niko could hear us as he appeared from the trees, dragging a carcass at a casual pace. It was a full bull moose, but I chose to let that go because it was fresh, and real calories were much appreciated. As I tapped Davor's shoulder and pointed, Niko was already halfway to the cabin. We reached the stairs at the same time, Davor already holding a dangerous-looking knife.

"I'll gut and clean it up. You can go relax," he said as Niko stepped back. With a big nod of his werecat head, Niko started the Change. I turned, grabbed his folded clothing, and tossed it at him the moment he was finished.

"We've cleaned up, and there's a fire going if you need to dry off or warm up," I said as he pulled on his clothes. "There's no electricity or running water, so we're cooking on an open flame and boiling water."

"Thanks. If you can bring a few buckets of water in from the creek, I'll get the kitchen ready to cook some of that. Davor, pick some manageable cuts for us and throw the rest out for the scavengers. Just get it away from the cabin."

"Will do."

I found two buckets and collected the water as Davor deftly worked on the moose, carving large steak-like portions off onto a pan that was already nearly full. Once I put the water inside, I grabbed a pan from the kitchen and put it down for Davor. While he continued, I picked up the full pan and took it back in for Niko.

"It's a shame we don't have the supplies or space to save more of that carcass for ourselves," Niko said as I put down the pan on an open counter for him.

"If we all Changed, we could just eat it," I pointed out, knowing all of us had eaten multiple times like that before.

"We could do that, but I bet we could all use a good bite to eat, and it seems like…" Niko flipped open a cabinet, and there were some basic spices. "We can actually have a meal with some flavor."

"Why pick a bull moose, though?" I asked, curious about his choice. "There had to be something a bit smaller."

"It was already injured, and moose aren't skittish and prone to run, meaning I just needed to bring it down. Plus, whatever is left can go back into the ecosystem. It's management in its own way. The natural predators will eat well with what we can't use and won't have to risk injury trying to bring it down if they have young. That's just one example. Will it make some great impact on the ecosystem as a whole? No, I don't think so, but it could make a small pack of wolves happy, or feed some foxes. A bear could get a good meal in with their cubs."

"You really are a father," I teased, smiling at his apparent thoughtfulness of the prey choice he had made.

He side-eyed me but said nothing, prepping the first pan of meat to go over a fire. I grabbed a third pan and went back outside, switching it with the full one.

"Last tray needed. Come back out and grab it while I carry this away," he said, not looking up from his task, his hands covered in blood. I was amazed he wasn't more covered, but he was working with the neatness of an expert. There was something surgical as I watched him throw a few more cuts onto the pan before I grabbed it as well, taking it in with the one I had come out for.

I stayed out of Niko's way in the kitchen, a second fire now roaring in the kitchen underneath a flat steel cooking surface. Once Davor was back, gone for only ten minutes, he was cleaned of the blood.

"Smells good already," Davor said, looking over Niko's shoulder.

"Thanks. Go sit down." Niko elbowed him, probably harder than intended. I caught Davor before he slammed into the other counter, both of the men chuckling.

"Ass," Davor accused, a smile on his face.

"You're a dirty thief when it comes to the kitchen, and I won't have it," Niko said, grinning with teeth. "Go sit down."

"Fine, fine." Lifting his hands, Davor stepped away, going back to the couch.

"Glad you're in a better mood, though," Niko said more softly.

"Therapy only works if the patient wants it to," Davor said, shrugging.

Standing between them, looking back and forth, I felt both part of the family and a little out of place.

"You steal food?" I asked Davor.

"Less now, but I was always pinching things when I was young. Some days, it was that or starve. Getting caught a couple of times and not eating for days on end… That's what taught me to really throw myself into trapping. I was too young and weak to hunt, but I could make a snare, and I could hide it. I figured out how to cover my scent. When the first pelts I got weren't good enough to sell, I learned to skin better. Do you know how I joined the family?" He looked back, waving me over to sit down with him again.

"Subira mentioned it to me… oh man, years ago now. When we all went to the island that summer." I sat as he requested. "Your human parents died when you were young, and you… caught Hasan?"

"My parents had relied on me for some time. My human mother was always sick. My human father wasn't skilled enough to bring in much money, and he started drinking as his wife grew sicker. However, although I got better, I was still a kid. I couldn't bring in the money needed for medicine or anything like that. I kept some food on the table so we didn't starve… They died, and I knew I had to survive on my own because no one else was going to help me."

"You were six years old and trapping for your own meals," I said, trying to understand how any six-year-old child could do that. "Most children are learning to tie their shoes. You were providing for your family."

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. He is called the Genius.

"It must seem strange, huh?" Davor stared at the fire. "It seemed strange to Hasan, too. Every morning, I checked my traps from oldest to newest. I was more likely to catch something in a trap I had placed a week before than the day before. Scent. My scent would have left the area. I tried to find ways to hide my scent, going so far as to roll in the muck in pig pens and stables in the village. I was a dirty, homeless kid once my parents died. The village didn't care so long as they didn't catch me doing it. Back to Hasan… I went out to my oldest trap, which had been there for a month, a snare and net combination. If the animal hit the snare and tried to pull it from its place and was potentially strong enough to do that, it triggered a net. I was young, so I had to steal the net. I couldn't make it… Well, I had to steal all of my supplies for traps."

"Was Hasan… stuck in a snare and a net?" I asked, blinking several times.

"He had removed the snare himself," Davor said, chuckling. "He had left the net on. Every time I think about it, I want to laugh. He looked ridiculous."

That's why he left the net on.

"I couldn't have been more than eight. A little boy who had just rolled around in farm animal shit came up, and the moment he made eye contact with me, he laughed. I was terrified, but he laughed." Davor leaned back, still smiling. "He took me home with him. I never looked back." Davor looked down at his hands, going through the motions of something, but I didn't understand what. "I still know how to make that trap. Don't need to, but still do."

"So, sometimes, you still pilfer food when someone is cooking," I said, pulling my legs onto the couch and curling my arms around my knees as I rested my head on them.

"There's hunger you can't forget, no matter how long it's been since you've missed a meal," he said softly. "After a while, the pilfering went from thinking I would starve even though Hasan overfed me to me accepting the challenge of them trying to stop me, thinking I was human, and I couldn't possibly get past them. By the time I became a werecat, it was just a joke and a way to mess with people while they were distracted."

"You stole cookies from the cookie jar."

"There was nowhere they could put that cookie jar that was out of my reach. If they put it behind a locked cabinet door, I learned to lockpick," Davor said, chuckling. "But knowing how to pilfer also helps my security work. If I'm smart enough to think of a way around my security, then I need to improve it."

I kept listening, finding that I really liked Davor more than I could have ever expected. His story was heartbreaking, but there was a humor to it that Niko certainly didn't have. Davor didn't have any hate for his lot in life before meeting Hasan, even though some of his issues were really obvious to me now, especially hearing about their probable origin. He knew he was intelligent, and there could sometimes be arrogance with that, but when he talked about his childhood, it wasn't that he believed he was the smartest child to live. He had just been doing what he had to do to survive.

By the time Niko brought us each a plate of steaks, Davor and I had trailed off to talk about more recent things. All the conversations were dropped as we ate.

"Don't tell anyone about this," I said, lifting up a steak with my hand.

Davor was already chewing on a large piece, and Niko picked one up as well.

"I couldn't find silverware, sorry." He tore off a piece with his teeth.

Each of us cleaned our plates, then sank into the couch next to each other like we were about to pass out.

"We should set up another watch," Niko said, groaning as he attempted to push himself up. "Damn, my legs are really feeling it now."

"Mine too, but I'll take the first watch," Davor said, holding his plate out for Niko. I did the same, and Niko rolled his eyes as he grabbed our plates. He took them to the kitchen to wash them and put them away. When he was back, he shook his head.

"I'll take the first watch. I seem to be more awake than you two. Go crash in the bedrooms back there. Davor, you can handle middle watch, and Jacky, you can take the last watch. Davor, when we do our watch switch, I'll stay up an extra hour so we can talk about what you might think about why the werecat was here. In the morning, we'll all put our heads together."

"I've been mulling it over and have pictures of the damage. You can still see some in here, the claw marks on the walls, but there's more in the images I want to study. Studying them during my watch is the perfect quiet time to do so. So, we can just wait until morning."

"If that's what you want. Jacky."

I only yawned and was waved away. I didn't argue. They were the guys who knew the most here. I was perfectly fine with waiting for the morning. I claimed the closer bedroom, falling onto the twin bed. I passed out quickly, only kicking off my boots before losing myself to sleep.