The Winter Creek Beast Read Online Free

a knee before he fell.
    Jacob was the first to recover following his initial shock and the sharing of the beast with his grandson. Out of their entire tribe, he was the only one that understood what it meant. Resting a comforting hand on Jay’s back, he waited for his grandson to compose himself. “You saw a cursed skin-walker. A creature with great strength and desire to kill as punishment.”
    Jay looked at his grandfather with a shocked expression. It’d been years since he heard that term used outside of a Hollywood movie. He started to shake his head despite a voice inside of him telling him it was true. “They’re only a legend, something used to scare children.”
    “No, he is your killer. You will accept this when you need to. I cannot hasten your heart anymore than I can change your mind.”
    Jay remained motionless for a long time as his mind worked over the myriad of ideas and thoughts his grandfather’s words had stirred. Had he not spent most of his life feeling intimidated in the man’s presence, he may have learned something. For that, he was sorry. It didn’t mean his grandfather was right, did it? Old superstitions didn’t belong in the twenty-first century anymore than… he stopped himself from finishing his thought. What if his grandfather was right? “What can I do?”
    Jacob waited patiently for his grandson to clear his mind. At hearing the tone in his question, he knew Jay was ready. “I am the last protector of the Old Ways. The last of the shaman.”
    Jay’s shoulders slumped under the weight of failing to continue his tribe’s duty. He felt ashamed for his life and for calling himself a Native American.
    “The fault is not yours. We must all follow the path the Great Spirit lays before us.” Jacob paused as his eyes seemed to refocus on his grandson through his cataracts. “Winter Creek is your tribe now, and you will have the strength to do what you must when the time is right. Take this.” He held his hand out clenched in a fist.
    Jay hesitated a second before reaching out. When their hands met, Jacob opened his hand and let a small knot of dark brown hair fall into Jay’s hand.
    “With this, you will do what you must.” Without another word, Jacob sat back in his chair and closed his eyes.
    Knowing it was time to leave, Jay let out a relieved breath before heading for the door. Once outside, he looked at what his grandfather had placed in his palm. His eyebrows rose at seeing the hair. After rubbing it between his fingers, he thought it felt like human hair but it was way too coarse.
    Shaking his head, he put the band of hair into his pocket and headed for his jeep. He had hoped to learn something from his visit he could use. Instead he feared his grandfather’s mind was lost. If that was so, why did he feel as if his question was answered?
    He reached his Jeep in time to hear Edith trying to reach him. Melvin needed him out on Old Mill Road immediately. With his uncomfortable experience forgotten, Jay climbed into his vehicle and pulled out while switching on the flashing red strobe on his dashboard. After twenty minutes, fear tightened its hold on his stomach when he spotted the flashing lights of his deputy’s car. 
     

Chapter 4
     
    The beast knelt next to a small creek and dipped its hand into the cool running water. In seconds, the current filled its palm and it lifted its cupped hand towards its mouth. Of all the things it was capable of, such an action came as naturally as it had during the beast’s previous life.
    After all the years since its new life began, the beast only wished to remember what it had been like to be human. For too long, it had been forced to live as a mockery of what, and whom, it had been. Aside from a few things such as drinking, it couldn’t remember more than the image of the witch casting her spell on him. That memory had become a blur under the urge to kill and destroy anything different than itself. Even the reason for the