“Enough to get by.” She frowned. “I’m better with Latin though.”
“Why are you reading a book on Scandinavian folklore?”
“This is why.” She smiled in triumph as she passed him the book. “Do you recognize it?”
He looked down at an illustration of a great black dog with a skeletal frame, matted mangy fur, and white eyes. “That’s the creature that attacked us the other night!” His eyes widened. “What is it?”
“It has many names. There are literally hundreds of references to it in English, Scandinavian, Norse, European, and American folklore. It’s known as a Grim, a black dog, a dip, a black shuck, even a bearer of death, but the most common translation is Hell hound.”
“A Hell hound?” Theo repeated slowly.
“Yeah,” she murmured as she stared at the picture.
“What would a Hell hound be doing in the woods?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” She shook her head. “There could be a dozen different reasons it was in the woods. Most of the mythologies say they are assigned to guard the entrances to the world of the dead, such as graveyards and burial grounds.”
“There were two bodies found in the woods. Could that have been enough to attract one?” Theo wondered aloud.
“I don’t see how.” Olivia frowned. “I mean, it was only two bodies. If that was enough to attract a hell hound, most graveyards and burial grounds would be crawling with them.”
“Yes, but didn’t Jake say both the bodies had been branded with some sort of seal?” Theo argued.
“You think it might be some sort of supernatural seal?” she mused.
“It’s a possibility.” Theo nodded toward the book she held. “What else does the lore say?”
“It says they often undertake other duties related to the afterlife, such as hunting lost souls. In European legends, seeing a Hell hound, or even hearing it, is supposed to be an omen or even a cause of death. But seeing as neither of us is dead yet, I’m going to guess it’s more likely some sort of protector of the supernatural.”
The doorbell suddenly rang.
“I’ll get it.” Theo climbed to his feet and headed out of the room as Olivia turned back to the book.
She found herself wondering what might have enough power to summon a Hell hound. The trouble was, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know the answer to that question.
“You have a package.” Theo wandered back into the room and dropped a thick rectangular parcel in her lap.
Placing the book down on the floor, she sat up and tore the parcel open.
“What is it?” Theo asked.
“It’s some sort of file.” She checked inside but there was no note, just a shabby folder browned with age and filled with paperwork. Her mouth fell open as she scanned through the first several sheets of notes. “Oh my God.”
“What is it?”
“It’s the case notes from the original murders,” she picked up the packaging and studied the markings on it. “Who the hell would send me this?”
“You should call Jake.” Theo frowned.
“Yeah,” she muttered as she continued to flick through the untidy notes and gruesome photos.
She scanned through the victims. There appeared to be four in total. The first two matched Adam’s and Brody’s injuries, but it was the third one that really turned her stomach inside out, making her gag. The victim appeared to have had his flesh peeled from his body, flayed like some sort of grim medieval torture.
But it was a note stuck to the top of a page with an arrow pointing down to the last victim’s details that caught her attention. His name was James Talbot. He had only been in his twenties when he was killed, and it appeared from the notes that his head had been cut open and his brain removed.
Fighting down the bile forcing itself up her throat, she grimly read on. James seemed to be the only one of the four victims who hadn’t lived in Mercy; he’d lived in Salem according to his case file. Further down the page, Olivia noticed his mother’s name and address had been circled in thick red pen with another arrow pointing toward it.
“What is it?” Theo asked.
