The Wolf Sisters Part Two

Blurb
In which we properly meet The Walker Sisters and their man Melvin.

Plot Synopsis
Ellie Walker scouts the area around The Clutch. Using the subtlety of her Gift, she feels for what happened. She feels the fear and rage of the women who lived there, and taste the blood of the slaughtered. Returning to the main road, she goes back to the cart and Melvin.

Melvin, a former doorman of Pleasant Evenings, is a loyal friend to Marcie and Ellie.

Ellie notices three women watching them, shapeshifters who rely on the Gift of another to transform. The women seem to consider attacking, especially Melvin, but Ellie draws her hunting knife, and they flee.

The sisters discuss the situation over dinner. They discuss that someone from The Clutch holds a deep grudge from Dolores’ wronging. Ellie states that something dark has crept into The Clutch and poisoned the soil, so that all their food and herbs are tainted, which is compounding the womens’ rage at their ill treatment by men.

Ellie and Marcie go to the empty Clutch. Limbs and skeletons are strewn about the yard and the air carries the scent of wild animals. Meanwhile, Melvin has started a bar fight with Larry Sizemore in order to draw the attention of the pack of women.

In the garden of The Clutch, Ellie draws her knife, which acts as her focus. The knife has a handle of bone and a thin blade that never dulls. Her mama called it “Moonbone” and her daddy called it “Welling Wound.” She can barely keep herself from gagging as she smells the rot revealed by the light reflecting from the blade.

In the center of the garden is a creature part wolf and part woman, and in the distance is the howling of wolves.