A Wicked Beginning (2 page)

After he toweled off, he dressed in a green t-shirt and clean jeans and walked out into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Mano was in there, already preparing a meal. “Hey, Mano…”

“Good, you’re here…” Mano replied. “I’m trying out a new recipe. It’s a recipe I’ve been working on. The flavors have to marry throughout the day. Care to join me for dinner tonight?”

It smelled great in the kitchen. How could he turn the guy down? “Sure, man, that’d be great.” Cam reached into the ‘fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “Say, where’s Severe? She must’ve got into my bedroom. She scratched the bathroom door open and jumped up on the shower stall door.”

“I don’t think so, Cam,” said Mano absentmindedly, bringing a spoonful of sauce to his lips. He took a taste, thought for a moment and then reached into the spice cabinet. “She’s at the dog park with Jayze and Marilyn.”

Cam felt an involuntary shiver of fright run across his face. “Oh, really…?”

“Yeah, man, really. They picked her up come daybreak. She’s been gone for two hours. They’ll be back later this afternoon.”

“Right…I must’ve been hearing a dog outside.”

Mano, immersed in the cooking process, did not say anything. Carrying his glass of OJ, Cam went back down the hall to his bedroom. He looked at the bedroom door. Then he inspected the bathroom door. Sure enough there were colossal fresh claw marks scoring the wood. His skin pricked with fear as he gazed at the marred wood. “Hey, Mano!” Cam yelled.

“What?” Mano yelled back.

“I think you should take a look at this.”

A few minutes later, Mano came striding into the bedroom, wiping his hands on an apron tied around his waist. The big man whistled when he saw the scratch marks. “What the fuck, Tyson?”

“I know, right? I sure didn’t make those marks.”

Mano scratched the back of his head. “You’re telling me you heard scratches while you were taking a shower just now…?”

“Right…”

“Then what?”

Cam felt like a fool in answering. He hesitated, rubbing his chin with his hand. “I saw the bathroom door fly open…”

“Then what…?”

“The room and shower door were all foggy…I didn’t see anything enter…but I did see paw prints on the glass.”

“Let’s go take a look.”

The two walked into the bathroom. The room was still steamy from Cam’s shower. The moisture on the stall door was fading, but they could see faint outlines of paw prints. Mano spoke first. “I’ve done some animal tracking up in Canada. Those prints are big, man…about eight inches across. And look at the shape…those look like a big cat, Cam. Like an enormous lynx or something.”

Hearing the word lynx made Cam’s face turn an ashen white.

“What…?” asked Mano, eyeing him quizzically.

“I don’t know…shit…I had this freaking dream about a lynx when I was staying in the basement a few months back.”

“A dream, huh?” The big guy walked back over to the bathroom door. Then Mano rubbed his palms together briskly and placed them an inch from the scratches. With his eyes closed, he said “Shit. Feel this, Cam.”

Cam put his palms near the scraped door. “I don’t feel anything.”

“Huh…right. Well, the energy here is intense…it has a particular signature…and it could only mean one thing. You’ve got a star dreamling on your trail, Cam. And those scratches – those are not from the cat spirit trying to get in…no, those are the dreamling marking the door to say….well, to let all other dreamlings know you are his.”

Cam felt the skin stretch tight over his face in an involuntary grimace. His arms, legs, and back became peppered with little goose bumps. “What the fuck is a star dreamling? Are you fucking serious?”

“Serious as hell, Cam…Ancient Ones speak of a tribe of beings known as the Galaxy Dancers. The Dancers roam the universe like gypsies, and they have these creature spirits called star dreamlings. The creatures are usually only visible in dreams but they’re said to move freely through this dream we call reality. And if they mark you…well, that means you belong to the one who did the marking.” He whistled through his teeth and shook his head, causing the tiny strands of silk in his braid to shimmer.

“Whoa, Mano…” Cam backed away from the door. “This is freaking my shit out. Are you just putting me on?”

“Nah, Cam, I wish I were. Here’s the rub, bro…if a star dreamling marks you, that means that you have ancient ties…and you are either an ally to the dreamling or an enemy.”

Cam narrowed his eyes. “You know I don’t believe in any of this stuff, right Mano? All that psychic mumbo jumbo and energy shit is just that – shit.”

“Yeah…I hear that…only this has nothing to do with belief, Cam. Keep your eyes open. You have been given a sign, bro…best to heed the call.”

“Heed the call? What the hell does that mean? What do I do?”

“Pay attention, and see what’s next. That’s all you can do.” Mano placed his palms on his knees and pushed himself up to standing. He patted Cam on the shoulder. “If the dreamling is your ally – well, that’s a good thing. It means you’ve got something special inside. If it’s your enemy…” He drew his hand across his neck in a slicing motion. Then he placed his palms on his knees and pushed his massive bulk up to standing. “I gotta get back to the kitchen…it smells like it’s about to burn.”

Another chill washed over Cam’s flesh. “You gotta get back to the kitchen? You just tell me that I’ve got some freaking star dreamling after me, it might be an ally or it might kill me, and then you say you’ve gotta get to the kitchen?”

Mano just shrugged. “Gotta finish what I started, man. Apparently, you do too.”

Watching Mano walk away, Cam went over and sat down on his bed, his legs shaky. He grabbed yesterday’s pants from a pile and fished around in the pocket for a stick of gum. Pulling it out of the wrapper he folded it in two, jammed it in his mouth and chewed with a vengeance. He was trying to quit a recent reacquaintance with cigarettes. So far, he was winning, but shit like this sure made him want to reconsider. Fuck. A star dreamling…? Manoko and his superstitions… There had to be a better explanation than that. He just wasn’t going to go there. He looked out the window at the beautiful blue sky. Next, he surveyed the floor, searching for his shoes. He had to get out of here…go outside and find something better to do than all this fucking thinking. Then he noticed his phone was blinking with a bright green light. Someone must have called when he was in the kitchen.

He picked up the black Droid to retrieve his message. When he heard Chérie’s voice, his body flushed with pleasure. They hadn’t spoken in weeks. But sure enough, she wanted to go to the river with him today. Well, that was a welcome surprise. He eagerly pressed the speed dial to her number which just so happened to match the speed dial to his heart.

“Hello?”

Just hearing her voice made his body buzz. “Hey, Chérie…I missed your call…just got your message. It’s good to hear from you.” He heard her laugh. This made his heart warm even more. “That’d be great to go to the river. What time?” He listened to her reply and laughed too. “Okay, hot stuff…just give me time to find my shoes. I’m on my way….oh wait…want me to bring the kayaks? Or were you thinking of hiking?” He paused, listening. “Cool. That’s what I had in mind. Okay, well, I’ll pop them on top of the car. Bring all your gear, okay?”

As he walked down the hall to the front door, he called to Mano. “Hey, Mano, I’m heading out for the day. I’m going kayaking with Cheerio. Want me to pick anything up on the way back?”

“Maybe some more beer, bro,” Mano called back. “And why don’t you bring Chérie back for dinner? I’d love another victim to try this meal.”

“I’ll ask her, thanks. I’ll let you know before the day is over. Thanks again.” Cam closed the door behind him with a smile. Today was going to be a good day; he could just sense it in his bones.

He strode out to the garage, hefted the two single Liquid Logic Remix kayaks on top of his faithful green 1998 Land Rover and strapped them onto the saddles of the Thule rack. Then he loaded up the back of the car with paddles, Neoprene boots, lifejackets, drysuits, and other kayak gear. When he turned to walk to the front of the car, he thought he saw a blur of silver and brown disappear around the back of the garage. Weird… He walked back to check. Nothing…but then he looked down and saw distinct tracks in the dirt. Once again his face froze – the tracks looked like those on the bathroom door.
Calm down
, he urged himself.
There are lots of critters in the city. Hell, coyotes even prowl the streets, snatching up cats and little dogs for snacks
. Still, a sense of unease prickled the back of his neck. Walking back to the car, he eased into the front seat, and glanced towards the back of the garage only to see two bright specter-like eyes peering at him. He quickly revved the engine, slammed it into reverse, and peeled the fuck outta there.

Chapter 2 – Cam and Chérie

As Cam was racing down the road to get to Chérie’s house, he was still feeling flipped out at seeing those eyes staring around the corner of the garage. He really wanted a cigarette. Only thing was, he wanted to see Chérie more, and she had never been with him while he was immersed in his habit. Shit.
Focus, man, focus
… He passed the 7-11, then whipped a U-turn and headed back. Parking in front of the store he hesitated before stepping out of the car.
You don’t have to do this,
he said to himself.
You fucking don’t have to do this.
He opened the car door. Shit. Stepped out of the car… Took a deep breath and then got back in and turned the engine on. Man, that was close…he crammed another piece of gum in his mouth and started chewing.

When he drove up the driveway to Chérie’s house – used to be
his
and Chérie’s – he saw her sitting on the front porch steps in skin-hugging rock climbing shorts and a peach colored tank top, and oh, my God….his heart did flipitty flops in his chest. But he didn’t want to blow this…had to stay cool…the last time he’d seen her she’d made it clear where she was at. Okay, she’d sort of made it clear. It was more of a mixed message, but still…he didn’t want to blow this day.

“Hey, Chérie…” he called, stepping out of the Land Rover.

“Hey, Cam…”

He walked over to where she sat and stood looking down at her, thrilled with the visual he was getting. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she craned to look up at him. An awkward silence ensued as neither of them knew what to say next. “Ready to get moving?”

“Um, sure…” Chérie responded, getting to her feet. “I’ve packed us some lunch. Let me just grab my things and lock up.”

Hoo, this was awkward,
Cam thought, as he waited for her. When had he become this hesitant around women? Wait – he could answer that – when that nut job Angela started stalking him and when his former girlfriend now “just friend” Chérie had become a glowing, super human being, that’s when. He sighed.

Chérie bounced out of the house. “I’m ready.”

They piled into the Land Rover and Cam backed the car up to turn around. “How’re things, Chérie?”

“Oh, fine…”

Silence…“How about with you?”

“Same…”

Silence…

“Want some gum?” Cam reached into his pocket and pulled out the gum pack.

“Sure…trying to quit what you started when you left me?” She smiled.

Cam gave her a sidelong glance, but said nothing. She put a stick of gum in her mouth and chewed on it. Finally, Cam took a long breath. “It’s good to see you, Chérie. I’m glad you called.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, really…” He took his eyes off the road for a sec and gave her a warm smile.

Hearing that, Chérie reached over and gave his arm a squeeze. “It’s good to see you, too.”

The touch felt soothing and sensuous. Cam felt his whole body relax. “Where would you like to go? The river’s flowing pretty crazy this time of year. We could put in somewhere where it’s not so extreme, head downstream a while then…wait…I’ve got it. Let’s put in a few miles up above the SnoqYak River Club. I’ve got a buddy who works there. He can give us and the ‘yaks a lift back to the car when we finish the run. I’ll give him a call when we hit the highway.”

“Great idea, Cam... Let’s do it.”

Pleased with his plan, Cam thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “So…how are your super powers?”

“Kind of absent at this point, Cam…I’ve been in a slump lately…angry a lot…crying…”

“Yeah, that makes sense. You’ve gone through some big changes, babe. We both have.” Cam winced at his use of the term ‘babe.’ That was his affectionate term for Chérie when they were still together. He hoped she hadn’t minded that he’d used it. He glanced over at her. Seeing her smile back at him, he was encouraged.

“I’ll say. Who would’ve thought?” Chérie laughed. “Say, Cam, I had this weird dream last night…about you and me.”

Hearing about dreams, which Cam had had about enough of lately, he gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. “Yeah? What about?”

“I kissed a girl…” Chérie began.

Cam felt a twitch in his cock. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, savoring the image. “Did you now…?”