Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

sometime.” Sam stepped onto relatively level ground with a sigh of relief. “How’s your leg today? Is it still hurting?”
Bo shrugged. “It’s like yesterday afternoon after we got up here. It feels strange, sort of overly sensitive and jumpy, but not really painful. Both my legs are a little sore from the hike up here, though, so I’m leaning toward blaming it on unaccustomed strain.”
“Well, at least it’s not worse. And I know you know to tell me and Dean if it does get worse.”
“Absolutely. It’s a long way to civilization. This isn’t the time or place to keep something like that to myself.”
“Good.”
“Sam?”
“Hmm?”
“Good idea about joining a gym. I think I will too.” Bo rubbed at his lower back, a grimace twisting his features.
Sam bit his lip, trying not to laugh. He knew exactly how loudly Bo’s overworked muscles were screaming, because his own were doing the same.
Tilting his head back, Sam squinted up at the sky. Heavy gray clouds shrouded the mountaintop, completely obscuring the view of the valley. The air was still, cold and breathless. Sam could practically feel the weight of the snow ready to fall. The other guests drifting in twos and threes from their cabins watched the sky with apprehension on their faces. Sam didn’t blame them. The idea of hiking down the steep, narrow trails in a snowstorm was not appealing.
Dean was already in the dining hall when Sam and Bo entered. Spotting them, he jumped up from the table where he was talking to Anne and Jerome and bounced over to Sam and Bo.
“Hey, y’all,” he said, taking them each by an arm and leading them to the table where they’d sat the night before. “How’d you sleep? Or did you sleep? You both look kind of tired.”
Sam blushed. He and Bo had indeed stayed awake long into the night, making slow, lazy love. “Dean…”
“Yeah, I know, I know.” With a dramatic sigh, Dean flopped into his chair. “At least y’all got some. Nobody here’ll have me.”
Bo quirked an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have enough people lined up to have you back home? You’re collecting lovers in other states now?”
“I would be, but like I said, nobody’s interested.”
Glancing at Anne, who’d gotten up and was heading for the kitchen, Sam sat across from Dean and leaned his elbows on the table. “Anne seemed pretty interested yesterday. You still interested in her, knowing how she acted toward Sandra?”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to get serious with her, but I’m not about to let one little incident keep me from getting laid.” A frown curved Dean’s lips. “She’s playing hard to get, though.”
Sam chuckled at the pout in Dean’s voice. “Come on, you know as well as I do that hard to get is just interested in a different outfit.”
“Yeah, but we’re not gonna be here long. I don’t have much time.”
Bo shook his head. “Give your libido a rest for a few days, huh? We’re not here for you to pick up yet another bed partner anyway. We’re here to work.”
“Speaking of which, I watched the video I took last night.” Dean took the carafe of coffee Sandra had set on the table and started filling three mugs. “And what do you mean, ‘yet another bed partner’? I’ll have you know I’ve only slept with four guys and two girls in the last couple of months.” He stopped talking and frowned at the ceiling. “Okay, that is kind of a lot.”
Biting back a laugh, Sam mixed sugar and creamer into his coffee and took a cautious sip. It was good, hot and fresh and fragrant. “What was on the video? Did it pick up the thing?”
“It did, yeah. But it was very indistinct. I couldn’t see it at all on the night vision, so I guess its heat signature is the same as the surrounding environment.” Dean stirred three sugars and a generous amount of cream into his coffee. “I wish we had video of the ones y’all saw before, so I could compare. So far, everything points to this one being different from the others, but I have no idea why or how. ”
“I think you’re right. The damn thing looks the same as the others we’ve seen, but it acts all wrong, and feels wrong. It feels…” Sam stopped, trying to find the right words. “Absent. Like it’s not even there.”
Bo gave him a thoughtful look over the rim of his coffee mug. “Sam, do you feel up to going out there again this morning? I’d like to have a look around in those woods before it snows.”
“Sure. What equipment do you want to