Flint whistled and motioned for me to circle around the other side of the flaming geyser. He pulled Harley, his buckskin stallion, around sharply and took off. Barq and I trotted over to the south side of the fire pit. Flames licked at my arms as I pulled the gun from my holster.

It was a big fucking wraith, bigger than the average, but slower as well. And shy too, apparently. It had kept its face hidden behind the flowing sleeves of its garment.

Flint and I had reached the end of our shift, and we were heading to the river to pick up our pay in Steemer's tent, when the massive, clumsy wraith stepped seemingly out of thin air. After the incident with Rikki, I was more than anxious to be done with work. I needed to find Catch and ask him what the hell he knew. Unfortunately, the unusually big wraith had kept us from leaving Wynter on time.

I tugged Barq to a halt and squinted into the smoke and mist. The wraith hovered in front of the hissing flames of the geyser. It didn't shoot away or spit foul breath or throw its claws out to warn us off. There was something altogether different about this creature.

Harley and Flint trotted around to where Barq and I stood. We had gone in separate directions thinking we would need to head off the wraith's escape, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"Something not quite right about this wraith," Flint said.

"You noticed too, huh? Well, I guess if it's just going to stand there and wait for us to kill it." I lifted my gun. "Hey, knucklehead, just show us your face, so I can put a bullet between your eyes."

I expected my taunt to make the wraith shoot toward us. That way I'd catch a glimpse of its face, find that sweet spot between the eyes and destroy the pulpy mass that functioned as wraith brains. But it didn't move or spin or lunge or do any of the normal wraith actions. Instead, the creature uncurled from its hunched over position and looked at us.

"What the fuck?" Flint muttered as he pulled his gun from the holster. Two flat, dark eyes stared up at us from a cold, hard face. Before we could reason out what the hell we were looking at, the thing turned and walked straight into the flames. Yellow and green sparks exploded over the burning pit and the dark silhouette vanished.

Flint and I sat there for a long moment waiting to see if it would reemerge. The flames eventually mellowed out to a cool green color. All traces of the creature were gone.

"An escapee from Vapour's realm?" I asked, finding no other reasonable explanation for what we'd just witnessed.

"Shit, has any soul ever managed to escape Vapour and his army of ghouls? Besides, whatever or whoever that was that just walked casually into those flames looked like flesh and bone."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. Fuck." Flint turned his horse around. "Let's get out of here."

Barq and I followed along next to him. "Do you think we should let Feenix know?"

"Probably, I'm just not sure what the hell we tell him. Maybe we should just wait to see if we spot it again. I'll tell Catch to let Rafferty and his pack know to keep an eye out for a big, slow moving wraith that looks oddly human."

"Actually, I can tell him," I said. "I need to talk to Catch anyhow."

"About what?"

"Uh, oh—just that he needs to feed Barq more. He's looking kind of skinny."

Flint laughed. "That horse doesn't know the meaning of skinny. But hey, if you want to be galloping around Wynter on a hippo shaped horse, be my guest."

We galloped through the same place at the Wynter border where I had just an hour before dropped Rikki. My gaze shot straight to the ferry. The boat was moored on the opposite side of the river. Rikki was seated at the rudder.

"Looks like Stryker and Wilder didn't wait for us," Flint picked Harley up to a trot and we headed over to Catch. Chino and Rogue were pacing anxiously in the paddock waiting to be ridden out of Wynter. As hard and dangerous as the work was for the horses, they preferred to be in the hunt rather than standing in the paddock for the entire shift.

Catch lumbered over to us and took hold of Harley's and Barq's reins. Flint climbed off and headed over to the dock. "I'll tell Trex to wait for you. You know how much he loves to have you on board," Flint quipped as he walked away.

I smiled at the comment. If he only knew.

"I've got this, Maximus. Go pick up your pay." Catch walked toward the water trough with the horses. I followed behind. It made the little creep nervous enough that he tripped over his big feet and nearly landed face first on the ground.

"Two things, Catch." I had him worried, and his long nose twitched as if he'd just breathed in a fly.

"What's that, Max?"

"Tell Raff and his pack to keep an eye out for an extra large, extra slow moving wraith."

Catch laughed. "Do you mean to tell me you couldn't shoot an oversized, slow motion target? You boys must be losing your edge."

My hand wrapped clear around his throat. It would take me hardly any effort to strangle him or break his neck, but unfortunately without him, there would be no one to look after the horses. His beady black eyes bulged like marbles. "I'm sorry, Max. I was just joking," His laugh was a grating, sniveling sound that only a fucking goblin could produce.

I released him. "Just tell them."

Catch backed up. "Yes, yes I will." He tried to squirm past me by crawling under Barq's belly, but I grabbed the goblin by his big ear and yanked him back in front of me.

"What ya so mad about, Maximus? Haven't I been taken care of the horses right?"

"You have but I need some information. The gold coin you've been tossing around like a big shot, who gave it to you?"

Goblin's had skin that felt and looked like soft plastic. It was a pinkish ivory color that never changed, but I could swear Catch's face paled at the question. Again his shifty black eyes tick-tocked in his head like a pendulum.

"There's no one else around except the horses. Just tell me who gave it to you and then I won't have to squeeze your neck until your head pops off."

"Ah, Max, that's not nice. I'm just a hardworking guy looking to make a nice buck. Just like you."

I had to lean down at the waist to get closer to his face. His nose grazed my chin as he lifted his face to me. "Except you're not a guy, you're a fucking weasel faced goblin like the ones I hunt. I've got no problem with you earning money, and you're good with the horses. Just tell me who gave you the coin, and I'll leave you to your job."

Catch looked quickly back toward the river. "Did Trex send you? He about blew a fuse today when he saw me tossing it around. Said it was his but that can't be cuz the ghoul who gave it—" His thin lips disappeared beneath his banana shaped nose as he realized he'd given away his secret.

I straightened and stared down at him. "A ghoul, a flesh eating putrid waste of space and energy, had a gold coin in its possession. You didn't question that? What did you give it in return?"

"Nothing. Really."

I sighed in frustration and grabbed his shirt. I was tired of bending over to look at him. I lifted him off his feet and brought him face to face with me. His long feet kicked in the air, and he struck me in the chest. My grip on him tightened, and his little eyes glittered in fear.

"I'm sorry, Max. I won't kick you again. Just let me go, would ya?"

"Fine." I released him without lowering my arm. He dropped to the ground like a stone and landed hard on his ass. "What did you give the ghoul?"

"Nothing really, Maximus. You know that cave that Vapour has where he keeps the hunted animal carcasses to feed the ghouls? Well, I was taking two souls to Vapour's realm and a ghoul was walking out of the cave. It wasn't feeding time and the ghoul looked pissed that I caught him. It offered me the coin to keep my mouth shut, so I figured it was sort of a blackmail payoff." He raised up his hands. "That's the honest truth, Max."

I shook my head. "You're clever for a goblin but not clever enough to make up a story like that."

Catch's thin mouth turned up in a smile. "Thanks. I think. I guess I'll get back to work then."

"Yep." I put out my palm. "Just as soon as you give me that coin."

Catch backed up and walked right into the water trough. I caught him just before he fell in. "Now I can lift you by your banana boat feet and shake the damn coin out of you along with whatever else you've got hiding in your pockets, or you can just hand it to me."

The goblin looked so disappointed, I almost felt bad making him give it up. Almost. Sometimes, with Catch, it was easy to forget that he was a goblin. I had a deep toothy scar in my calf from a nasty, little goblin, and I wasn't a fan of them, in general.

"Fine but I'm not going to forget this, Max." Catch slapped the coin down on my palm. "Are we square now?"

"We're square. For now."

Stryker and Wilder were just coming back on the ferry. I stood next to Flint and waited for the next ride. Soul driving looked finished for the night. The river, while still thick like pudding, was clear of the souls and those pale white faces that stared up at the riverbank waiting for their fates.

"Where the hell were you two?" Stryker asked as he climbed off the boat.

"We ran into a strange creature on the way out." Flint had lowered his voice. "We'll tell you about it when we get out of here. Guess we'll see you guys on the other side."

I listened half-heartedly to their conversation because my attention had been pulled to the ferry. Even with the veil, it was easy to tell which direction Rikki was looking. I was still thinking about her kiss. It was a light, quick kiss, not much more than a breeze but I could still feel it.

I closed my fingers around the small coin in my hand and climbed on board.

"Hey, mind you don't capsize my ferry, Maximus." She had dropped her voice low and scratchy. Now as I listened to it, I could hear the soft edges of her feminine tone behind it. How did I not ever notice that before?

"Yeah, yeah, I won't sink your toy boat," I answered, just as I would have if I hadn't known that a beautiful woman was standing behind the veil instead of a disfigured century plus old man.

Flint climbed on behind me and walked past to the bow, where we usually stood to avoid the hollow, pleading gazes of the souls. But the boat was empty tonight, which made my task that much easier.

I turned back toward the rudder, where Rikki was standing, and pretended to flick something off my buckskins. With one quick motion, I brought my hand back around and pressed the coin in to her palm. She curled her gloved fingers around it without even looking at it.

"Thank you." The veil fluttered around her mouth as she spoke in her own feminine whisper.

I turned back toward the bow and thought, damn, that was a sound I could get used to.