After about half an hour, I picked up on a trail of footprints. They were oddly arranged, however, with uneven weight distribution and sporadic gait length. It looked like the person had tried to retrace their steps backwards a few times, but had wobbled and lost their place more than once. Then, the prints grew deep, like the shifter had been running as quickly as he or she could.

I considered changing into my bear form to find the assailant more quickly, but decided against it; I wasn’t sure if Blanca had Alex and Gerard doing their own patrolling and I didn’t need them thinking I was the culprit.

I continued to follow the footprints as best I could through the woodlands and then, I saw it.

A huge puddle of blood.

I looked around quickly, trying to find the source, and I spotted drops of crimson liquid heading west. I started walking slowly, following the trail, and moments later, my boot collided with something. I had been so deep in thought that I nearly gave myself a heart attack. Looking down, I saw what I had stubbed my foot on and heaved the mightiest sigh I had ever uttered.

Two men were sprawled out in front of me, still and lifeless. One was a skinny guy with shoulder-length blonde hair; the other was a chubby ginger. Cuts and bites were apparent all over their bodies, staining the ground with a sticky pool of their blood. They didn’t seem to have as many broken bones as Danielle did, but they obviously hadn’t needed a grand, dramatic fall to end their lives.

Dammit, the shifter had struck again.

I examined the corpses to see if I could figure out who they were. I noticed a tripod and camera lying in the dirt a few feet from the bodies, as well as a boom mic, so I assumed they were Danielle’s camera crew.

In that moment, I realized why I was having so much trouble following the footprints: I was following two pairs of human feet coupled with the shifter’s, and they were all scrambled together from the chase that had taken place.

“Who the fuck is doing this shit?” I growled out loud. It had become personal. Whoever the shifter was, he was making more trouble for me.

Knox, we’ve got two more by Eagle Lake. Looks like Sophia was right: the camera guys ran, and the shifter went after them, too. They’re both dead.

You’ve got to me kidding me! Knox seemed as fed up with the situation as I was. I’m with the agent now, so I need you to call me to deliver the news. Pretend like you didn’t tell me because I have a feeling she’ll be listening very closely. I can take her to the bodies and hopefully that will stall her long enough for you to be able to find this asshole! We need to catch him before this gets even more out of hand.

I whipped out my cellphone and pressed 1.

“Bernard,” Knox answered apathetically.

“Hey Knox, it’s Trent. I think I found the bodies of Danielle’s camera crew. You might want to come take a look with the agent.”

“What? More bodies? This is getting ridiculous. Where did you find them?”

“Out here on Eagle Lake. Should I wait here for you two to arrive?” I really didn’t want to have another encounter with Blanca if I didn’t have to, so I was really hoping he was going to say no to that last part.

“No, you don’t have to stay there. Call Sophia and have her come examine the bodies so Agent Gianni here can have some more information by the time she gets there.”

Phew.

“Will do sir.”

I hung up the phone and started walking again, reaching out to Sophia.

Hey Soph, I left a present for you on the western part of Eagle Lake. Follow the blood trail and you can’t miss it.

More bodies? I could sense her excitement. She really enjoyed her job, as gruesome as it could be. We didn’t see dead bodies often, so three in one day must have been like a party for her—a macabre, headache of a party that threatened our entire clan.

Your favorite, I snorted.

I’ll be right there!

Just try to get here before the agent does. You know she’s going to want information. She didn’t answer me, but I figured she was on her way to the location.

During the conversation, I’d been looking around the bodies for either bear or human prints that could have lead me to the shifter, but it proved extremely difficult to see beyond the blood to sort out anything that could have been mixed in with the footprints of the camera guys. I knew the shifter’s tracks were there, though, so I kept going.

A few minutes later, I found them. They were bear prints, alright.

Boy, were they bloody, too. I imagined the bastard was tracking the red trails from his victims on his paws, which just made things easier for me to be able to find them.

“Still here?” Sophia startled me as she came upon the scene, running up to the bodies to examine them quickly.

“Just found the shifter’s prints and I’m going after them. Have fun with your corpses.” I started walking away without even looking at her, focused on discerning the bear prints from the human ones.

“Oh, you know I will,” she called out after me and I snickered.