Vindication

Vindication

By

Elyse Draper

Smashwords Edition

Vindication

Copyright © 2012 by Elyse Draper

Cover Art By

Elyse Draper

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This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. The author is grateful for your appreciation of their work; although if you would like to gift or share this eBook, please do so by purchasing an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh, Jennifer Reece, and Lori Smith who helped me edit and revise this story, not to mention, patiently allowing me to use them as literary Guinea Pigs.

I am blessed by having amazing family and friends, all of whom give support freely with abundance of love -- in particular: my husband, Rob, my daughter, Cassie, and my parents Polly and Chuck. Thank you!

As I use music to help me capture the different personality traits of my characters, I want to thank, 30 Seconds to Mars, Breaking Benjamin, and Florence + the Machine, for their beautiful contributions to inspiration.

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Dedication

The Freewill Trilogy is dedicated to those precious souls we have lost over the years. Those beautiful hearts, gone much too soon, who have, due to their absence, left the world a little less complete. We will always miss you; but in telling your story, you will never be forgotten.

Table of Contents

Part one Unveiled

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Part two War

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Part three Home

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

About the Author

Meet Lune

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Vindication

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Part One

Unveiled

Chapter one

Dread

Michael

Studying the mud on my boots, I squirmed internally at the clumps of dirt on Sara's immaculate floor. The scent of disinfectant almost overpowered the smell of decay … almost. Fluorescent lights flickered and hummed over steel tables, grating at my nerves, mimicking the sound of swarming mosquitoes. I moved out of the waiting area and into the county morgue's examination room, hoping to catch Sara taking a break. No luck; there she was, standing over a body, a clear shield on a band that wrapped around her forehead. The plastic protected her eyes and mouth from foreign materials, while also blocking her face from view.

She looked the same as she did the last time I saw her, five years ago: slender, blond … attractive, and a little scary. After medical school, she took to wearing scrubs most of the time. They were straight cut, simple cotton blue things that were hardly flattering; but they seemed to fit her perfectly. Once I made the mistake of asking her why she wore them; she simply stated that they were easy to bleach or throw away. Apparently that was important because, the fat particles from human remains become airborne and stick to everything, ruining clothes, skin, hair. I was glad when she shared that bit of information. Mental note: avoid dead people.

In all the years I've known her, she's blown through guys like Kleenex. None of them were able to keep up with her intellectually, so she used them as arm candy for a couple dates, and then moved to the next man in line. I've always respected our friendship, instinctively knowing if I'd ever looked for something more … she'd leave me in her wake. I genuinely liked Sara, and losing her friendship had never been an option; so, I'd come to look at her as just one of the guys.

Knowing her since high school meant I had twelve years to get used to her eccentricities. Sara was always the girl with her nose stuck in a book, earphones on, ignoring everything but her studies. I never imagined those studies included dead things. I always thought she was destined to become a doctor: top of our class, valedictorian … skipping years, so that she graduated years before everyone else her age. When she started working for the morgue though, and climbed the ranks so quickly, I understood, she wanted to dominate her career … and she just didn’t like living people very much.

I had set up this meeting knowing that she might be preoccupied, and was willing to wait … but, this place had always given me the heebie-jeebies. Rocking back and forth on my heels, I lingered and let my mind drift away from my present surroundings.

Looking back on the past year of my life, I couldn’t help but to smile. How could a Montana Game Warden be part of one of the most important secrets in human existence? I had stumbled across a kid, Christopher, hiding out in a cabin; drawn to him because he had befriended one of my local wolf packs. Over the months of getting to know him, and even thinking of him as a brother, I still found myself wishing I'd never met him.

With some sort of extrasensory perception he can hear and see the truth inside peoples' minds, and even talk to the wolves. Although, as astonishing as they may seem to me, his talents have led him down a torturous path, I think that, perhaps, he wished he hadn't pulled me into his world, too. Oh, but then, I wouldn't have met Ann. Her talent to project her voice into someone else's mind feels as if she is speaking directly to my core. My smile deepened at the thought of her mischievous eyes. That isn't her only talent though; she is a 'Seer': granted the ability to see into the world of fairytales, and speak to its inhabitants.

That mysterious world, where fiction is fact and folklore is actually history. A place where I found a three-thousand-year-old character from Greek mythology; one who actually possesses precognitive abilities, just like Homer wrote … Cassandra: princess of Troy, and priestess of Delphi. As hard as it is to believe, Cassandra the prophetess isn't the most miraculous thing that I’ve encountered.

A week ago, Christopher married an angel, a nymph, his muse … his beloved, Ellie. She and Cassandra call themselves Ho Thanatos: death without dying. They exist inside the ethereal mist: an otherworldly place that thrives within our own world; a place where a special few survive after death. Those survivors have been here, as long as humanity has … inside tales of spirits interacting with living humans, angels creating miracles, vampires sucking away souls, and monsters feasting on fear … they are all true. Even inside their extraordinary world, Ellie is exceptional: she can physically pass entirely through the veil, and appear human.

Michael? Hey … you asked to come down here, to check out the bodies. I could get in trouble for letting you in here; this is an active police investigation … and you are not police. Sara, now the lead coroner for Kalispell, pursed her lips, trying to hide her frustration with my daydreaming.

I know … sorry. I've had a lot on my mind lately. What can you tell me about the condition of the bodies? Sara seemed appeased by my apology, and walked over to the examination table that held the latest victim.

The local newspaper had only recently started printing articles about the strange deaths in town, but Sara told me that the bodies had actually started showing up about two weeks ago. If it wasn't for the sheer amount of deaths, no one would have thought to connect them to the same killer, because the methods varied in the extreme.

The suspicious deaths first caught my eye when the Kalispell police asked my opinion on the third and fourth casualties. They appeared to have been mauled by a wild animal; but looking over the pictures the detectives had sent … I'd never seen anything like it. I know that Grizzly Bears have been known to tear apart a victim … although, even if they were to cause as much damage as these people endured, parts would have been missing, eaten. With Sara's methodical help, the detectives were able to account for every part of the bodies. No; these murders were committed out of a love of torture and gore, not from defense or hunger. I told the authorities that, in my opinion, these were the actions of a human, not a wild animal.

Twenty dead, in fourteen days … and in every case the fatalities were families; and not just any kind of family, but ones with young children. Thankfully the police withheld the pictures of the kids … but my damned curiosity got the better of me. Now, joining Sara at the cold metal table, I could feel the acids in my stomach creeping up the back of my throat. This body was of a five-year-old girl, and I wasn't sure I could bear to look.

As Sara began to pull back the white sheet, silky, black curls became visible, and I stuck out my hand to stop Sara from showing me anymore. Tell me what was done to her, first. The quaver in my voice exposed my cowardice, but Sara nodded compassionately.

Speaking in no more than a whisper, Sara explained, The children didn't actually have any physical damage, thank goodness … but, every one of them, suffered coronary arrest. They were perfectly healthy; not one had a history of heart problems, and their toxicology reports came back normal … they weren't poisoned.

Her features rearranged themselves into a mask of confusion and frustration. Michael, I don't know what to make of it … it's as if they were all scared to death. Then again who wouldn't be, if they'd watched what was done to the adults. The thing is … the children died first … in every case; the police found evidence that the adults discovered their children, dead, long before the killer had gone to work on them. The entire situation is baffling the police. One big problem is the physical evidence doesn't make any sense … no sign of forced entry, and in two of the six cases, the parents' bedroom doors and windows were locked, from the inside … like they had run away, trying to lock themselves in, trying to hide … only to succeed in locking the monster in with them. If you were to ask the detectives, they'd tell you that's when the cases really started to get creepy … because as far as they can tell, the killer never left the room after killing the parents.

I reached out, gently taking a hold of the cotton sheet that was covering the girl, and continued pulling it away from her face. She was beautiful, with high cheekbones; and I imagined a warm glow to her dark skin, even though it now had a gray tint. I felt an anger I didn't know I was capable of entertaining. What was her name?

You know that's privileged information … especially considering the police haven't even had the chance to inform the extended families, of the deaths. Her expression softened when she looked into my eyes, and saw my pain. Jennifer.

Jennifer. As I wrapped my fingers around her tiny hand, I wondered if she had started kindergarten this year, if her little friends called her Jenny, or maybe, Jenna. I wanted to know more about the murders … I wanted to know everything … I wanted to catch the monster that did this.

Talking to myself, ignoring Sara's unspoken questions, I said, Monsters? I suddenly had the urge to talk to Christopher. First though, I needed to find out more, before I started putting the pieces together, with Christopher's help. Can you show me your reports, on the other autopsies?

Oh no … I know that look. Michael, you can't go off half-cocked … these are a matter for the police. We stood in silence, staring at each other, as Sara studied my conviction, finally saying, You know something, don't you?

I don't know … I might. But I need to look at your reports, to see if I recognize something. The mysteries, behind all the questions surrounding these murders, might have answers inside the ethereal veil … and I just happened to have a line on that information. I needed to take the reports back to Christopher and Ann, but there was no way Sara would let me out of here with anything important.

Sara had a cautious posture as she grudgingly led the way into her office. When she finally tuned to face me, she spoke as she casually sat on the corner of her desk. I'll show them to you … but you have to tell me what you're thinking.

I had taken an oath, at least promised myself, that I wouldn't divulge the secrets of the ethereal creatures, the Ho Thanatos … and I didn't know how to start, not without ultimately exposing Christopher and Ann. They had never asked me to be secretive about what I had discovered during my time with them … I just didn't want to add to the problems they already had to overcome. Maybe, I could tell Sara about what I'd learned without naming names.

Thinking on the run, I decided to tell her something close enough to the truth that I wouldn't have to backtrack later … and, you never know, if she believed me, she could be helpful in the future. You've known me for a long time, Sara. You know that I've always been a sucker for a good story … right?

She nodded, impatiently waiting for me to continue.

Since becoming a Warden, and dealing with the locals, in particular the Crow tribe natives, I've learned some interesting things. I started finding unusual links between mythologies, folklore, even religious scriptures, to things I’ve witnessed in the ‘real’ world. I don't know exactly when it started happening, but I began noticing odd stuff while I was out on duty. Unusual coincidences started gathering in my head, like animals behaving strangely, not malicious as if they were diseased … but friendly, actually willing to bond with humans. One of my wolf packs in particular, began to accept a human boy as one of their own.

Wait, Michael, wait just one minute. You actually watched them interact with a boy … and you didn't stop it right away? Isn't there a huge problem with something as dangerous as a wolf pack, becoming comfortable enough with humans, to intrude on our territory?

I nodded; telling her that under normal circumstances the wolves would be placed elsewhere, or destroyed. But, how did I explain that these were not normal circumstances, without mentioning Christopher as that boy, or his special talents in particular? The kid … well not really a kid, he was about nineteen, was going to them … the wolves never lost their healthy distrust of humans; they just saw something special in the kid. He could talk to them. I looked in her eyes, waiting for her skeptical response.

Now, don't look at me like that, Sara … I know I sound crazy; but I watched it with my own eyes. There were other strange things, too … for instance a strange wolf showed up, about two weeks ago, and she wasn't one of ours. She had red eyes; they were actually luminescent. The Inuit know of a creature that fits in with what I'm telling you … an evil entity that feeds off the fear and memories of its victims; it can change shape in order to reap as much emotional chaos as possible. The only thing that they can't change is their eyes … Red, their eyes are always red. I've felt changes out there, Sara. Something big is stalking us, hanging over the trees, across mountain sides … it's huge, and it wants fear.

That's a wonderful ghost story, Michael, but when did you start believing in all tales you read? She was mocking me, but I could tell I had her hooked.

She had seen something in the autopsies that was lending fact to what I was telling her. Your turn … you've seen something that is making you consider my story might be real.

Sara's response was timid; an almost unheard of expression when one describes the coroner, and it made me very uncomfortable. Have you ever heard the statement that the soul has weight?

I answered her calmly, trying to bring back her certainty. Yeah, an experiment from the early 1900s, or something … said that the human body weighs approximately 21 grams lighter immediately after death. I always figured that was the loss of the weight of air in a person's lungs.

She replied teasingly, Good to see you're still capable of some rational thought. And then continued much more seriously, I heard what you had told the police about the third and fourth victims; how you asked if anything was missing, and when they told you 'no', you answered…

Filling in the gaps I said, …that a wild animal would have probably eaten something, parts would have definitely been absent. The wounds weren't right either … an animal with that long of claws, would have had to have been huge … like dinosaur huge. Not to mention, the police said there was no damage upon entry … heck, the locks weren't even picked.

Yes, yes … I know. But there was something they didn't tell you … something was lost. We just don't know what it was. Every one of the bodies, including the children, was missing at least a pound. The variances were highest in the children … the most weight lost was from the first child; almost four pounds was taken from him. The kids' condition was what made me the most uncomfortable about these cases, simply because I could physically prove nothing was taken, not a single drop of blood was lost. I checked their medical records, and even did the math for myself … I can’t explain the loss. Something has to be missing … something was taken, but that’s not the case … nothing physical was absent from the bodies. I hate not having answers, Michael … and I hate not being able to figure out what is going on. I know it sounds insane, and I haven't mentioned it to anyone else … but my thoughts keep going back to my philosophy classes in college; and the question: does the soul have mass? As Sara spoke, I could tell she was mystified and frightened … an unusual state for her, which concerned me greatly.

Are you willing to think outside of the box … and promise not to tell another living soul what I'm about to say to you? If she promised … no one, other than her cadavers, would ever hear my story.

Warily she nodded, saying, I promise.

About a year ago, I tracked a poacher onto private property; finally catching the guy at the same time the owner of the property came out to see what was going on. The owner was the wolf-boy I was telling you about, Christopher. The conversation that followed had to be one of the strangest I'd ever seen: The kid spoke for the man … not translating words, but deciphering the man's thoughts, and the truth behind those thoughts; the kid proved to be a human lie detector. I was blown away, to say the least … but curious, too, so many things didn't fit. Things like, trying to figure out if I believed Christopher, or was he a con artist. Or, how could a teenager afford the land if he wasn't involved in something illegal … and then I found out about Ursa. He, and his dog, Lune, had found an injured wolf … they not only mended her wounds, but they became so entirely bonded, I couldn't have separated them if I wanted to. Watching that interaction, not knowing exactly what to do about the potential danger to Ursa or the boy … I became mesmerized by their magical relationship. I knew that I was babbling. And, I knew that Sara could see the shame on my face, allowing an obviously illegal situation to unravel. She, of all people, understood my diligence to my duties, and the idea of me permitting this to happen, was very out of character.

With an indulgent tone, she urged me to continue, Okay, well, the fact that you did nothing to stop it shows how bewildered you were. But, at least you didn't do anything to support them, you didn't become an accomplice. Right?

In the grips of embarrassment, I admitted to helping Christopher, to watching in awe as he met with Ursa's pack, to being submerged in the reality of how little I knew about the world I protected, so faithfully. Then I told Sara about Lune and Ursa having pups ... how I secretly delivered them, how they all died, except for one, Artemis. She was the runt, pure white, and miraculous … she was the product of a spirit guide, and a force of nature.

Rolling her eyes, Sara tried very hard to play the part of cynic; and she would have been the perfect pessimist, if she hadn't been exposed to the incredible circumstances of the recent murders. Okay, let's say I believe what you're telling me … what does all of this have to do with the cases?

Slightly irritated, I tried to explain, Because, Sara … because, there is a lot more to this world than the empirical scientists can explain. Because, Sara, there are some things that need to be believed, before they can be seen. Christopher and his companions opened up a universe to me that is not only capable of inspiring awe … but can kill, and has killed, for tens of thousands of years. We just don’t understand it … hell, its inhabitants don't even understand it; but it is here, and once you see … you can never deny it again.

Calm down, Michael; I believe … reluctantly, but I believe. I'm sorry. Sara's voice was meek, like admitting belief in anything was blasphemy; and in turn, it was draining her of her self-confidence.

"Maybe, if I explain what I’ve learned over the past year, it will help you understand what I've seen. But first, I need you to think about what it means to hear the truth in someone else's mind … to always know what a person is honestly thinking. From what I've seen, the people that have these 'special talents' are broken. Humanity is a very cruel infestation: we make sure to hurt each other in new and gruesome ways every day, especially in our private thoughts.

Christopher showed me what hearing unfiltered venom, can do to a person … all the various extrasensory talents out there, all the butchery … it goes without saying that more than a few of those people would become evil. Whatever the requirements are for humans to pass into the world beyond, the ethereal realm, and the evil ones seem to succeed as frequently as the good.

That would be a nightmare. I can understand not wanting to communicate with people, just listening to daily drivel made me want to work with dead people; but to hear what goes on in someone’s mind and then compare it to what comes out of people’s mouths? I think you've just made it to the top of my phobia list. We sat for a minute while Sara shivered theatrically to make a point, then she continued. You mentioned the ethereal realm … is that another dimension or something?

Sara could understand, and pick apart, Einstein’s equations. I didn’t think that I could respond to her questions in any way that would quench her thirst for information, or satisfy her need for answers; but, I tried. I don’t know how it would all fit into scientific theories on dimensions, per se … God, I felt like an idiot. … I guess I see it kind of like a curtain between the worlds, theirs and ours. This screen is as thin as the wall of a bubble, but as strong as if it was made of diamond. Most people can see through the veil, but only glimpses … enough to create fairytales, folklore, and nightmares … but that’s about it. Somewhere in our brains, signals get crossed or maybe uncrossed, and as a result, some people are extra perceptive … having special talents in particular, and they become sensitive to the other world. These people have a relationship with the ethereal … they’re attracted to each other, gravitating toward the other like celestial bodies. I think that after death, those people are able to actually pass through the walls of the bubble. I don’t know why they pass through … and giving the amount of ‘talented’ people out there, why only a few survive after death … but I think it may have something to do with faith.

Faith? Oh come on, Michael, there has to be a rational scientific reason for what you’re saying … that is, if what you’re saying is actually factual.

Sara didn’t mean to sound combative; she just had the gut reflex of dismissing everything that didn’t have a scientific explanation. Did you have faith in yourself to become the lead coroner within four years … a feat no one else had ever done before?

Faith and drive are two different things, Michael.

"I don't think you can have one, without the other. Anytime anyone sticks their neck out and takes a chance … they’re doing it with hope for the best, and faith that they will succeed. Faith isn’t about right or wrong, god or atheists, it surpasses those simple definition … it’s a state of mind, a belief in something more than yourself. I have faith in my friends … misplaced or not, I believe in them.

"That bump in the night, fire from the sky, and monsters at the door … throughout human history, faith has explained the unknown, to ease fear, and create calm. I’m not necessarily talking about religion, it comes in many forms: belief in mythology, devotion to loved ones, and commitment to scientific reasoning. It pulls people, societies, even worlds, together; just as it viciously tears them apart. To reject that … affects us all. To refuse the fact that we all suffer or gain strength from it, in one form or another, when we are guilty