Shownotes
David Steward is New York City’s premier supernatural detective, but once upon a time, he didn’t even believe in magic or the undead. That all changed the day he witnessed a brutal murder by a force beyond mortal ken. This is Steward’s first taste of the scary and strange. This is how David Steward gained the Sight.
Tonight’s story is the second and final part of “The Sight” by J.S. Hawthorne, who almost definitely still has her head firmly attached to her neck. A proud member of the Furry Historical Fiction Society, J.S.’s work was most recently in “In the Light of the Dawn,” available at fhfs.ink.
Last time, David Steward, private eye, sought the help of his friend Theo, otherworldly thing, to help solve a brutal murder, and had an experience: a headless monster who knocked Steward unconscious as he tried to escape its clutches.
Read for you by Rob MacWolf — werewolf hitchhiker.
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https://thevoice.dog/episode/the-sight-by-j-s-hawthorne-part-2-of-2
Transcripts
You’re listening to the Ghost of Dog
Speaker:on The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:This is Rob MacWolf, your fellow traveler,
Speaker:and Tonight’s story is the second and final part of
Speaker:“The Sight” by J.S. Hawthorne,
Speaker:who almost definitely still has her head
Speaker:firmly attached to her neck.
Speaker:A proud member of the Furry Historical Fiction Society,
Speaker:J.S.’s work was most recently in
Speaker:“In the Light of the Dawn,”
Speaker:available at fhfs.
Speaker:fhfs.ink. It is often believed that
Speaker:otherworldy things
Speaker:can change those who have contact with
Speaker:them. The bite of a vampire. The pact with the devil at the crossroads.
Speaker:The journey into the underworld.
Speaker:The long look into the abyss. We do not come back from these experiences unchanged. Last time, David Steward, private eye, sought the help of his friend Theo,
Speaker:otherworldly thing,
Speaker:to help solve a brutal murder,
Speaker:and had an experience:
Speaker:a headless monster who knocked Steward unconscious
Speaker:as he tried to escape its clutches.
Speaker:Whether he has come back from this unchanged is for him,
Speaker:and for you, to discover.
Speaker:Please enjoy “The Sight”
Speaker:by J.S. Hawthorne,
Speaker:Part 2 of 2 David Steward woke up in unfamiliar surroundings.
Speaker:He was lying on a bed,
Speaker:institutionally beige curtains hanging from rollers in the ceiling
Speaker:blocking most of the room from view.
Speaker:A large computer monitor
Speaker:was set up near his head,
Speaker:its screensaver advising him to wash his hands frequently,
Speaker:attached to a variety of strange wires and tubes.
Speaker:A saline bag hung from an IV pole.
Speaker:He followed the line from the bag to where it ended
Speaker:in the back of his hand.
Speaker:That’s when he realized where he was.
Speaker:He turned his head to examine the hospital room, and nearly threw up.
Speaker:Theo was at his bedside in an instant, one ice-cold hand on his shoulder, telling him not to move.
Speaker:Steward could see Theo’s mouth working,
Speaker:hear the words he was speaking,
Speaker:but it took him a moment for the meaning to reach his brain.
Speaker:“What happened?” Steward managed.
Speaker:His voice sounded slurry to his own ears.
Speaker:Theo started to answer, then abruptly went still,
Speaker:head snapping up to stare at something outside of David’s vision.
Speaker:He looked flat to David, like a painting rather than a living thing.
Speaker:In fact, he realized,
Speaker:everything looked somewhat
Speaker:two dimensional. The curtain flew open and David nearly screamed.
Speaker:He would have leapt off of the bed
Speaker:if Theo had not still had his hand on the wolf’s shoulder.
Speaker:It was like trying to push through an iron bar,
Speaker:and his body lacked the strength to attempt it.
Speaker:After a feeble spasm, he collapsed, exhausted,
Speaker:back against his pillow.
Speaker:The nurse didn’t seem to have noticed either Theo’s predatory frisson
Speaker:or Steward’s own attempt to escape
Speaker:as she fussed with the curtains.
Speaker:She was an older mink,
Speaker:dressed in scrubs covered in the repeating pattern of a cartoon character
Speaker:Steward had always hated,
Speaker:and sporting a permanent customer service smile, which she turned on him.
Speaker:He tried to smile back, and only managed a painful grimace.
Speaker:“How are we doing today, Mr. Steward?”
Speaker:she asked in a chipper, practiced voice.
Speaker:Without waiting for an answer, she pulled out a pen light and tested his left eye.
Speaker:“Now that you’re up and about, the doctor is going to want a CT scan.”
Speaker:“What…” Steward cleared his throat,
Speaker:then tried to ask again.
Speaker:“Now, now,” the mink said, still beaming that wide, incongruous grin. Steward
Speaker:found it grating,
Speaker:as much as the light she kept flashing in his eye.
Speaker:“I’m sure your husband will explain everything.”
Speaker:“My…?” He looked over at Theo questioningly
Speaker:and found the skunk smiling down at him.
Speaker:It was a broad, simpering kind of smile,
Speaker:an expression he had never seen on the skunk’s muzzle before.
Speaker:The smile said he was relieved to see Steward again.
Speaker:The long, sharp, gleaming fangs said not to question it. “They’ve been
Speaker:so good to me, baby,”
Speaker:Theo said, with more warmth than Steward had ever heard in his voice.
Speaker:The skunk turned towards the nurse.
Speaker:“Thank you again for letting me stay with him past hours.”
Speaker:“Oh, of course! I know how it is when a loved one is in danger, honey, trust me.
Speaker:He really is in good hands,
Speaker:are you sure you wouldn’t want to get home and get a few hours rest?
Speaker:You could come back after a quick nap, no problem.”
Speaker:“No, no, I couldn’t possibly leave him now.”
Speaker:Theo slipped his paw into Steward’s and gave it a squeeze.
Speaker:“At least not until I’m sure he’ll be alright.”
Speaker:“Well, okay,” the mink smiled at them both,
Speaker:then lapsed into mindless smalltalk with Theo as she took Steward’s vitals.
Speaker:Steward found himself staring blankly at Theo,
Speaker:the skunk’s easy manner and quick banter
Speaker:like some kind of hallucination.
Speaker:That surreal feeling was only enhanced by the bizarrely flat aspect of the scene.
Speaker:Steward felt as though he was looking at a painting of a hospital room.
Speaker:Eventually the nurse departed.
Speaker:As soon as the door clicked
Speaker:closed, Theo dropped his devoted husband act, becoming once again all business.
Speaker:“You have a concussion,”
Speaker:Theo told him. “And you lost rather a lot of
Speaker:blood. Some of that was my fault, I’m afraid. I wasn’t too gentle getting you out of that apartment.”
Speaker:“That explains the headache.
Speaker:And I think it’s affected my vision.
Speaker:Everything’s flat, like a photograph.”
Speaker:Steward groaned as he struggled to sit up,
Speaker:until Theo took pity and handed him the remote for the hospital bed.
Speaker:“How long was I out?”
Speaker:“Not quite a day, I’m afraid. They were starting to get worried, actually, and that’s probably why they want the CAT scan.
Speaker:As things looking flat, detective,
Speaker:you’re wearing an eye patch.”
Speaker:Steward blinked at him,
Speaker:and Theo gave him a grim smile. “That thing must have scratched your face.
Speaker:The doctor says it’s not too bad, apparently your thick skull
Speaker:protected you from the worst of it,
Speaker:but there was some damage to your cornea.
Speaker:You’ll have to wear the patch for a few days.”
Speaker:“I feel fine,” Steward growled.
Speaker:He started to pull himself out of bed and found Theo pinning him down again.
Speaker:“Totally aside from the physical and spiritual damage being attacked by a revenant causes,
Speaker:you slammed your head hard enough to black out.
Speaker:You will sit there in that bed
Speaker:until a doctor clears you to leave, is that understood?”
Speaker:Steward stared daggers at Theo,
Speaker:but the skunk met his gaze coolly until he relaxed back into the bed.
Speaker:“Why do you care?”
Speaker:Theo smoothed out his suit as he sat back down instead of answering.
Speaker:“I told them you were on a job,
Speaker:but I had come with you because we had a date. You said you were only going to be a minute,”
Speaker:he glanced up at Steward.
Speaker:“I may have shed a few tears at that moment.
Speaker:One of my better performances.
Speaker:Anyway, I told them I was waiting for you outside when you crashed through the window and fell down a few flights of the fire
Speaker:escape. I climbed up on a dumpster to get to the ladder
Speaker:and then I was able to help you down.
Speaker:You lost consciousness on the car ride over and I, your dutiful spouse,
Speaker:have been sitting in this chair since.”
Speaker:Steward was starting to feel unaccountably tired and, as Theo described the fictional account of how he wound up in a hospital bed,
Speaker:he imagined his many wounds to ache.
Speaker:He suspected there was some heavy duty painkiller in his IV that prevented him from feeling actual pain,
Speaker:but the memory of the cat-thing’s attack was still vivid.
Speaker:“I gave a statement to the police,”
Speaker:Theo told him. “I…” He trailed off for a moment,
Speaker:until Steward reached over to poke him lightly.
Speaker:“Sorry. There’s a glamour, I think. A kind of magic,”
Speaker:he explained, catching the confusion on Steward’s face.
Speaker:“Shrouding the apartment.
Speaker:I gave the address three times
Speaker:and twice they forgot to write it down
Speaker:and the third time,
Speaker:they got it wrong.
Speaker:And not just a little wrong.
Speaker:The address they wrote down
Speaker:was in Pennsylvania.”
Speaker:Steward digested that for a long time,
Speaker:letting the silence stretch into minutes.
Speaker:Eventually his spinning mind brought him back to the thing he simultaneously wanted and dreaded to know more about.
Speaker:“What’s a revenant?” “Technically a wiedergänger,
Speaker:though the fine distinctions between those who walk again are perhaps
Speaker:better left for another day.”
Speaker:Theo sighed. “When a soul is dealt a grave injustice, it can become bound to its own flesh so that, even after death, it cannot pass on to whatever comes next.
Speaker:That’s a revenant. A wiedergänger is a kind of revenant created by a curse, which itself has a physical
Speaker:component.” “The head?”
Speaker:Theo nodded. “They’re rare, not that revenants in general are particularly common,
Speaker:because it takes an act of intention.
Speaker:There are no accidental wiedergänger.” “How are they made?” Theo shrugged, looking discomfitted. Steward found he didn’t like the skunk’s expression. It worried him. “There’s ritual magic involved, but I don’t know the specifics.” “Would the…
Speaker:whoever did this,
Speaker:would they need to draw something on the wall to activate it?
Speaker:Like a magic symbol?” “A sigil,
Speaker:you mean? Its possible, though I’d have to do some research to be sure.
Speaker:Why?” “There was something carved on the kitchen wall, behind the trash.
Speaker:I took a picture.” Theo fetched Steward’s phone from the small pile of his personal effects, and together they pulled up the pictures Steward had taken. The sigil was strangely out of focus, as though the subject of a censor blur,
Speaker:as was the nail that Steward had found in the trash.
Speaker:“No doubt that these things are connected,”
Speaker:Theo said. “Magic isn’t,
Speaker:ontologically speaking, entirely real,
Speaker:and electronic recording doesn’t always work well.
Speaker:It’s hard to tell with certainty, but I
Speaker:think that this is a sigil of corruption. That’s why
Speaker:the trash was so foul,
Speaker:this was causing it to decay at a highly advanced rate.
Speaker:The nail was some sort of trigger device,
Speaker:a magical contagion that spread to you when you touched it.”
Speaker:There was a hint of accusation in the skunk’s otherwise flat voice.
Speaker:“How do we stop it?”
Speaker:Theo shrugged. “I’ll have to do some research.
Speaker:Traditionally a revenant is killed by decapitation.
Speaker:If we had the head, that might make things easier.”
Speaker:Steward sighed. “Well,
Speaker:no reason to stick around here.
Speaker:Why don’t you get started on the research and I’ll give you a call when they discharge me.”
Speaker:Theo raised an eye.
Speaker:“I’m not leaving you.”
Speaker:“It’s fine, I’ll just say you had to go back to work or something.”
Speaker:“You misunderstand me, detective.
Speaker:I can’t leave because the revenant will
Speaker:kill you otherwise.
Speaker:It’s tried three times already.”
Speaker:“What?” “The first time, I caught it in the parking lot
Speaker:and managed to repel it,
Speaker:but it doesn’t seem to feel pain or it
Speaker:won’t die, any more than it has already died.
Speaker:I called in a few favors and there’s some extra protection around the hospital now,
Speaker:as well as your doctor and most of the nurses, just in case,
Speaker:but someone needs to be here in case it makes it past
Speaker:the defenses.” “And it has to be you?”
Speaker:Steward demanded.
Speaker:Theo shrugged. “I would miss you, detective,
Speaker:should something unspeakable happen to you.”
Speaker:Steward didn’t have an answer to that,
Speaker:and silence, at last, reigned until the nurse came to fetch him.
Speaker:The CT scan revealed no abnormalities,
Speaker:but the doctor insisted on keeping Steward one more night.
Speaker:Theo managed to talk the staff into letting him stay the night once again,
Speaker:but early the next morning
Speaker:faked a loud argument over the phone about some mythical work emergency.
Speaker:He vanished shortly after that, and the mink nurse told Steward that
Speaker:the skunk had had a crisis with a problem client,
Speaker:but had already made arrangements for him to get home.
Speaker:Shortly before discharge, the doctor told him he could take the eye patch off.
Speaker:He did so with great pleasure,
Speaker:and was so pleased to have both eyes working again he even consented to sit patiently while the doctor examined the injury.
Speaker:Steward could, in a way, see the scar the cat’s claws had left behind, in the form of a trio of
Speaker:faint blur lines overlaid over everything,
Speaker:like rain streaks on a window.
Speaker:“It’ll get better over time,”
Speaker:the doctor assured him
Speaker:when he asked about it.
Speaker:“The cornea is pretty good at healing.
Speaker:But I’ll get you a referral to an ophthalmologist to check it out, just in case.
Speaker:You probably shouldn’t drive or anything like that until you get it checked though, okay?”
Speaker:“Okay,” he told her, frowning.
Speaker:She was surrounded in a faint blue outline,
Speaker:like someone was shining a teal flashlight at her back.
Speaker:Experimentally, he closed his injured eye,
Speaker:and found that the outline vanished,
Speaker:only to return when it came back.
Speaker:She cocked her head at him.
Speaker:“Everything alright?”
Speaker:“Uh, yeah. Just readjusting after so long with just one eye.”
Speaker:He offered her a smile,
Speaker:and she patted him on the shoulder before telling him he could check out as soon as one of the orderlies brought him a wheelchair.
Speaker:Twenty minutes later, wearing his shredded jacket over a brand new shirt and jeans that Theo had brought,
Speaker:the mink was wheeling him out of the hospital.
Speaker:Her outline was pink
Speaker:shot with streaks of pastel yellow.
Speaker:Everyone he passed had an aura, each one a distinct color or combination of colors.
Speaker:Most people had a vague glow, but every now and then he passed someone surrounded by a nimbus of light so intense it was like looking at a bare lightbulb, or whose aura flashed with technicolor lightning.
Speaker:“I think this is your ride,”
Speaker:the nurse told him as they emerged into the bright daylight.
Speaker:A vintage 1989 Brougham,
Speaker:its windows illegally tinted,
Speaker:was parked at the curb, the passenger door already open.
Speaker:Steward forced a laugh.
Speaker:“Just like our first date,”
Speaker:he lied, climbing out of the wheelchair.
Speaker:“Theo was always a hopeless romantic.”
Speaker:He bid the nurse goodbye
Speaker:and then slipped into the dark interior of the Caddy.
Speaker:Dark was too mild a term for the car’s interior.
Speaker:It was a cave, vibrating with the sound of the overtuned engine like the breathing of some unseen dragon.
Speaker:Steward squinted at the driver’s seat, but Theo was invisible
Speaker:except for his strangely colorless aura,
Speaker:like some kind of spiritual camouflage.
Speaker:“Detective,” Theo said by way of greeting and, without waiting for a response,
Speaker:pulled out. Steward couldn’t understand how Theo could see out of the tinted windows,
Speaker:nor was he comforted by the skunk attempting to hold a conversation while weaving in and out of the invisible traffic.
Speaker:Whatever Theo wanted to talk about was lost to Steward,
Speaker:his ears straining instead to make up for his lack of sight beyond the cabin.
Speaker:Had he not been listening so hard, he would have missed the soft thud on the car’s roof.
Speaker:“Theo?” The skunk nodded.
Speaker:“I heard it. I think our friend has decided to hitch a ride.”
Speaker:Still clutching the handle above the door, Steward craned his head upward,
Speaker:trying to track the revenant by sound.
Speaker:To his amazement, in the darkness,
Speaker:he could see a faint outline of the headless cat clinging to the roof.
Speaker:It wasn’t an aura, not like the others he had seen,
Speaker:but more like a pale sketch of the creature’s silhouette.
Speaker:“I can see it,” he whispered.
Speaker:Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Theo staring at him,
Speaker:but he couldn’t make out the skunk’s expression in the darkness.
Speaker:“There’s something weird about it.”
Speaker:“What do you mean?”
Speaker:“I don’t know. It’s like…
Speaker:like it’s stuck?” “On the roof?”
Speaker:“No, I mean, stuck in itself. Like it’s
Speaker:under pressure it can’t release.
Speaker:release.” Theo made a noise Steward didn’t understand.
Speaker:“It’s right above me,”
Speaker:Steward said, reaching out towards it.
Speaker:His paw touched the ceiling of the cabin and he shivered.
Speaker:“Should I open the door, try to pull it off?”
Speaker:“No!” Theo said, his voice close to what Steward would have called panic in anyone else.
Speaker:“Hang on.” Abruptly, the skunk yanked the wheel hard to the left.
Speaker:The tires squealed against the asphalt, and outside the car came muffled shouts and honking horns.
Speaker:The cat-thing slid a foot to the outside, hunkered down and low to the roof.
Speaker:Its fingers were pressed to the car,
Speaker:and Steward imagined its claws were digging into the metal.
Speaker:Theo made several more sudden turns, trying to dislodge it,
Speaker:but the revenant did little more than shift from one side of the car to the other.
Speaker:“Is it still there?”
Speaker:Theo asked. Steward nodded.
Speaker:“Shit.” “Pull over,”
Speaker:Steward said. “I’ll make a run for it and
Speaker:you can get it when it jumps down to chase me.”
Speaker:Theo snorted. “Even if I were confident I could
Speaker:‘get it,’ the sun is out.”
Speaker:“What does that have to do with anything?”
Speaker:He ignored the question.
Speaker:“We can’t keep this up much longer. We need a plan.” “Blood.”
Speaker:Theo glanced at him.
Speaker:“Excuse me?” “Neither of us smelled blood,
Speaker:inside or outside of the apartment, right?
Speaker:Something happened to
Speaker:all the blood, from the victim, from the thing,”
Speaker:he pointed up at the roof,
Speaker:“from everything. Who needs blood like that?”
Speaker:“I can think of a few things,”
Speaker:Theo muttered. “But I see what you’re getting at.
Speaker:Things that feed on blood aren’t likely to suck it off a garbage spewed sidewalk.”
Speaker:“So not consuming blood, but maybe to power something?”
Speaker:Theo considered. “Yes, theoretically.
Speaker:There’s energy stored in blood, both literally and metaphysically.
Speaker:You couldn’t power anything pleasant with it.”
Speaker:“What about birthdays?”
Speaker:Theo turned to stare at Steward until a honk drew his attention back to the road.
Speaker:He hooked a left to a chorus of more cursing bystanders. They had turned so many times that Steward had no idea where in the city they could be,
Speaker:though he was sure they hadn’t left for one of the other boroughs.
Speaker:“The deer had the same birthday as me.
Speaker:It’s the only reason I can think that I’d be hired for this job.
Speaker:Whoever set this up wanted another victim after her.
Speaker:Probably there was a victim before, too.”
Speaker:“I guess,” Theo said, dubiously.
Speaker:“Were you born in May?”
Speaker:“My blood would be most unsuitable,”
Speaker:Theo said dryly. There was a pause.
Speaker:“Did you say May? May 1st?”
Speaker:“Yeah, why?” “That’s your nurse’s birthday,
Speaker:the mink.” Theo pulled a U-turn at speed, his car skidding in a semi-circle. There was a soft thump as the tires briefly mounted the curb.
Speaker:In response to Steward’s incredulous look, he added, “I borrowed
Speaker:her driver’s license to have a friend guard her house.”
Speaker:“You think she’s next, then?”
Speaker:“I think we should find out.”
Speaker:Theo turned, tires squealing.
Speaker:Steward heard a crash and muffled shouting behind them.
Speaker:They reached the mink’s apartment building in the Upper East Side in record time, a wake of near misses and furious motorists marking their path.
Speaker:Steward began to feel glad he couldn’t see out of the tinted windows
Speaker:—he didn’t think he wanted to know how near some of their misses were.
Speaker:“There it is,” Theo said,
Speaker:pointing towards a building invisible to Steward.
Speaker:“Hang on.” “What do you mean, hang on?”
Speaker:Steward asked. Instead of answering, Theo floored the accelerator.
Speaker:“Theo? Theo, slow down,”
Speaker:Steward said, panic rising.
Speaker:He clawed at the grab handle, scrabbling his feet against the floor in a futile effort to put as much distance between himself
Speaker:and the unseen apartment building as he could.
Speaker:There was a terrible squeal of metal against concrete as the Caddy went over the curb,
Speaker:followed by an apocalyptic crash.
Speaker:Steward slammed into the seatbelt hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.
Speaker:Theo reached over and wrenched the seatbelt latch free.
Speaker:“Come on,” he said, shoving his door open without waiting for Steward.
Speaker:Still gasping for air, Steward followed.
Speaker:The car had gone clean through the apartment wall
Speaker:and sat now in the ruins of a slightly outdated living room.
Speaker:The apartment’s occupants,
Speaker:a middle aged couple,
Speaker:were huddled against the far wall,
Speaker:their expressions a mix of anger and panic.
Speaker:“You didn’t see us,”
Speaker:Theo told them, and Steward could see the effect his words had on their auras.
Speaker:Little cracks had begun to form in the vague halos,
Speaker:the smallest hairline fractures
Speaker:that filled with the non-color of Theo’s own aura.
Speaker:“A large cat got out of the car,
Speaker:drunk, and ran out the back.”
Speaker:The couple nodded vaguely,
Speaker:then rushed out the front door,
Speaker:yelling about the feline who crashed into their home.
Speaker:“What are you?” Steward asked.
Speaker:He was clutching his chest where it had slammed into the seatbelt.
Speaker:Theo shot him a glance over his shoulder.
Speaker:“Time for that later.
Speaker:Are you alright?” “Bruised, I think. I can hurt later. Nothing’s broken, though.” Theo nodded, then looked up. “Her apartment is on the third floor.” “How sure are
Speaker:you that it’s her?”
Speaker:Steward asked. “There’s eight million people,
Speaker:surely more than the three of us were born in May.”
Speaker:“But how many people have you had contact with
Speaker:who share your birthday?”
Speaker:Theo pointed out.
Speaker:“And the miscreant took care to make sure you were there to be killed by the revenant.
Speaker:Magic, for good or bad, can spread by touch, like with the nail.
Speaker:Each victim passing on the curse
Speaker:is necessary to whatever it is he’s doing, I’m sure of it.”
Speaker:“And if he’s not there?”
Speaker:“Then maybe we’ll have a lead.
Speaker:But either way, we can’t stay here much longer.”
Speaker:Theo turned on his heel and led the way to the lobby.
Speaker:There was a large group of people gathered near the front door, several on phones and speaking to emergency services,
Speaker:the rest shouting over each other as they tried to piece together what had happened.
Speaker:Theo and Steward skirted the crowd and the elevators and slipped into the stairwell.
Speaker:By the second floor, Steward could sense something was wrong on the floor above.
Speaker:It was like a pressure on his vision,
Speaker:painful to look at.
Speaker:He closed his eye.
Speaker:It helped a little.
Speaker:Before they had climbed to the third floor, they heard the lobby door open and close.
Speaker:As one, they looked down,
Speaker:then at each other.
Speaker:“The revenant?” Theo asked.
Speaker:Steward sighed and opened his eye to look.
Speaker:There was no mistaking the strange aura, visible even through several flights of stairs.
Speaker:The creature was crawling on all fours up the stairs and would be upon them in a moment. He told Theo.
Speaker:“You go,” Theo told him,
Speaker:walking down to the landing between the second and third floors.
Speaker:“I’ll hold it off. If you defeat the sorcerer who summoned it,
Speaker:that should be sufficient
Speaker:to release the revenant.”
Speaker:“I can help,” Steward said.
Speaker:He took one step down before Theo froze him in place with his icy blue stair.
Speaker:There was no mistaking the glow in his eyes,
Speaker:and the menacing power behind it.
Speaker:Theo was a predator,
Speaker:there was no hiding that from Steward’s sight any more,
Speaker:even as much as the wolf wished to deny it.
Speaker:“I can’t kill it, David,”
Speaker:the skunk told him. “I can only hold it here,
Speaker:and only for a while.
Speaker:Find what you’re looking for in the apartment and if it’s not there,
Speaker:run. I’ll find you tonight.”
Speaker:Steward hesitated just long enough to see the revenant’s hand emerge from below, claws extended.
Speaker:They gouged out strips of the concrete as the creature pulled itself forward.
Speaker:He turned and ran for the third floor door.
Speaker:Unlike the deer’s apartment, there was no mistaking the menace and corruption
Speaker:as soon as he opened the door.
Speaker:Thick green veins of energy pulsed along the walls and floor,
Speaker:while the feeling of pressure increased to the point that Theo had to shield his eye with an arm.
Speaker:Both energy and pressure were emanating from an open door at the end of the hall.
Speaker:Behind him, he heard a crash and the sounds of combat as Theo and the wiedergänger fought.
Speaker:Against his better judgment, Steward pressed forward.
Speaker:The mink’s apartment was laid out very similarly to the deer’s,
Speaker:though with abstract paintings and bookshelves instead of photographs. It had
Speaker:a vaguely disused air, as well,
Speaker:as though the nurse did not make it home very often.
Speaker:She was not there now, at least as far as Steward could see, either.
Speaker:A mouse, fairly nondescript,
Speaker:wearing a faded t-shirt and old
Speaker:blue jeans, was kneeling with her back to Steward as she carved something into the wall with an old nail.
Speaker:At her side was a bucket.
Speaker:Steward couldn’t see into it, but he could see the aura of power that radiated out from it,
Speaker:and he could smell the noxious stench of old blood.
Speaker:“Mr. Steward,” the mouse said, without turning around.
Speaker:She had no aura. It wasn’t like the revenant, whose aura felt blocked, or Theo,
Speaker:whose energies were a kind of camouflage.
Speaker:Hers was a void, the absence of the halo he had come to expect when he looked at people.
Speaker:“You’re not who I expected.”
Speaker:“You thought the man who had hired you?”
Speaker:she asked. She didn’t wait for him to respond, but continued to carve at the wall.
Speaker:It was the same sort of sigil he had seen in the deer’s apartment.
Speaker:“A tool, like the tool that is currently killing your skunk friend.
Speaker:The deer saw that one like you saw your
Speaker:‘client.’” She was mocking him, he could tell.
Speaker:“And soon like you’ll be,
Speaker:to help me get another soul for my collection.”
Speaker:The mouse stood, letting the nail drop into the bucket,
Speaker:and turned to face him.
Speaker:If he had passed her on the street, he wouldn’t have known there was anything strange about her,
Speaker:except for the thick coating of blood on her fingers.
Speaker:She had no presence,
Speaker:no sense of existing.
Speaker:It was like she wasn’t totally there any more.
Speaker:“Why?” he asked. She shrugged.
Speaker:“Because I could. Because it gave me power and strength. Because I wanted to.
Speaker:And most importantly,”
Speaker:she grinned at him, revealing a mouth full of shark’s fangs,
Speaker:“because you can’t
Speaker:stop me.” She flung her hands outward, as though flicking the blood at him.
Speaker:He saw the ghostly afterimages of whips of energy, like the veins in the hallway, flying outwards,
Speaker:and he dove for cover.
Speaker:The mouse hadn’t been expecting that,
Speaker:to judge by her howl of anger.
Speaker:She swung out again, and he ducked under the energy, which crashed into the bookshelf, turning it into splinters.
Speaker:He didn’t want to know what would happen if she hit him.
Speaker:He eyed her warily as she squared up, preparing to attack again.
Speaker:Something glimmered just past her, in the hallway.
Speaker:He waited for her next attack, then dove under the strike,
Speaker:rushing down the hall and winding up in the mink’s bedroom.
Speaker:It looked so much like the deer’s that he found himself frozen,
Speaker:certain, for a moment, that he had been transported back to the moment before the revenant had first attacked him.
Speaker:But the bed was still clean, if not made,
Speaker:and no headless creatures waited to drag him to a fate worse than death.
Speaker:The bed was empty.
Speaker:And next to it was a large, antique trunk,
Speaker:big enough for a person to fit inside.
Speaker:A ghostly light shone pale and sick through the wood.
Speaker:“You can’t hide from me, David,”
Speaker:the mouse called.
Speaker:Every instinct told him not to touch the trunk, to climb out the window and escape, but he found himself opening the lid.
Speaker:“You can’t hide from
Speaker:us. Your skunk is in a bad way,
Speaker:David.” Inside the trunk was a pile of heads.
Speaker:He saw the cat’s there, on top of the pile, and the deer next to it.
Speaker:Their mouths moved, but no sound came out,
Speaker:and their pleading eyes stared at him.
Speaker:Something heavy and hot slammed into his back and he flew through space to hit the opposite wall.
Speaker:“Stay away from that,”
Speaker:the mouse snarled from the doorway.
Speaker:Next to her was the revenant, dragging Theo by the scruff of his neck.
Speaker:The skunk was still as the grave,
Speaker:but his eyes followed Steward as he cautiously picked himself up from the corner
Speaker:in which he had fallen.
Speaker:The revenant dropped Theo, and the mouse knelt down to feel his neck.
Speaker:“There’s no pulse.
Speaker:A pity, I was going to have you kill him once I took your head.”
Speaker:She grinned at him, revealing those shark teeth again.
Speaker:Someone else’s teeth, he realized. Another thing she had stolen.
Speaker:“I’m going to enjoy this.
Speaker:Go get me my detective,”
Speaker:she told the cat-thing. The wiedergänger launched itself towards Steward, who ducked underneath it.
Speaker:He felt its claws slash at his back,
Speaker:felt the blood welling up,
Speaker:but managed to get his hands into the chest
Speaker:and pull out the cat’s head.
Speaker:The mouse screamed in rage, but Steward was beyond noticing her.
Speaker:This close, he could see it,
Speaker:the strange connection between the head and the revenant.
Speaker:Gingerly, as reverently and respectfully as he could,
Speaker:he reached for that connection
Speaker:and pulled. There was a sound like a great sucking wound and, abruptly,
Speaker:the light surrounding and connecting the wiedergänger and head
Speaker:winked out. The revenant collapsed to the ground
Speaker:and it and its head
Speaker:began to decompose
Speaker:rapidly. Steward dropped it hastily and took a step back, nearly tripping over the trunk.
Speaker:“No!” the mouse screamed.
Speaker:She raised her hands to strike out at him,
Speaker:and Theo shot to his feet, almost too fast to see.
Speaker:The camouflage non-color of his aura dropped
Speaker:for just a second
Speaker:to reveal a halo of blood red light as his hand wrapped around the mouse’s throat and he lifted her off the ground.
Speaker:Steward paid them no attention.
Speaker:He knelt in front of the crate and, with trepidation, reached in,
Speaker:feeling for the connection between the heads and their lost bodies.
Speaker:One by one, he pulled them free,
Speaker:until no more light came from the trunk
Speaker:and the room was thick with the smell of decomposition.
Speaker:He turned towards Theo,
Speaker:still holding the struggling mouse up in the air.
Speaker:“I will take care of her,”
Speaker:Theo said, his voice full of dark menace.
Speaker:Steward shivered,
Speaker:the mouse shuddered.
Speaker:“And then I’ll meet you at my home this evening.”
Speaker:Steward glanced at the trunk,
Speaker:at the skeletal remains of the cat,
Speaker:and, without a word,
Speaker:walked out of the apartment.
Speaker:“A new coat, detective?”
Speaker:Steward sat at Theo’s ornate dining room table,
Speaker:a cup of coffee on a neat little coaster in front of him, rapidly cooling.
Speaker:“The old one was ruined,”
Speaker:he told Theo, tugging at the sleeves of the puffy jacket.
Speaker:“And after this morning, I hadn’t really wanted to
Speaker:be alone.” “So you went shopping?”
Speaker:Steward nodded. “What
Speaker:happened to the mouse?”
Speaker:“She won’t bother anyone any more.
Speaker:The police are clueless as to what actually happened, too.
Speaker:I’ll see to it the nurse—her name is Denise, by the way
Speaker:—is able to replace her apartment with minimal hassle.”
Speaker:Steward stirred the coffee with the silver spoon Theo had provided him.
Speaker:“What are you?” Theo smiled,
Speaker:showing off his long canines.
Speaker:“I’m your consultant on the weird and strange cases you keep finding, detective. Though
Speaker:I feel I should start charging you for my time.
Speaker:What will you do now?”
Speaker:Steward set the spoon down
Speaker:and stared into his coffee for a long time.
Speaker:“I think, whatever happened when the cat
Speaker:slashed me, it opened up
Speaker:something in me. I can
Speaker:see things now.” “Unusual,
Speaker:but not unheard of.”
Speaker:“It seems like the city needs someone who specializes in solving the weird things that happen in it.
Speaker:I think I might start trying to take cases like that.”
Speaker:Theo leaned back in the tall chair in which he said,
Speaker:watching Steward steadily.
Speaker:The wolf could see the camouflage light around him,
Speaker:but he also thought he could see just the faintest glimmer of the aura that lay underneath.
Speaker:“I could use someone to back me up,”
Speaker:he told the skunk.
Speaker:Theo smiled again.
Speaker:“I will consider it.
Speaker:But, I think you will find yourself more able than you realize, detective.
Speaker:And you will find my door always open
Speaker:for you.” This was the second and final part of “The Sight” by J.S Hawthorne,
Speaker:read for you by Rob MacWolf,
Speaker:werewolf hitchhiker.
Speaker:As always, you can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,
Speaker:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to The Ghost of Dog.