I don't know when the terror released its grip on my brain. Not much time must have passed because, as I came to my senses and forced myself to stop moaning, Jude busted into the cave with his bow in hand. He stopped suddenly and froze in front of the show.

- 'Fuck!'

The surprise mixed with sadness in his voice struck me. I had only recently met him, but he seemed rather sharp and sarcastic to me. That is why when he looked down at me, I expected to see disgust and contempt, not that glimmer of anxiety that flashed through his dark eyes. He came towards me, when I stopped him with a sudden motion, before throwing up what little was left in my stomach. Now I was sure to get the disgusted look and the matching comment.

With a shaky hand, I clumsily wiped my mouth before getting up. To my great amazement, he helped me and took me by the arm to help me stand.

- 'Are you going to be all right?'

I nodded slightly, freed myself from his grip and laid eyes on the corpse again. Because I might as well call a spade a spade. My brain may have tried to prevent the realization, but it was in vain. Now I needed to understand what I was seeing. What can be explained always seems less frightening, in theory at least. Despite my good resolutions, I could not stop my eyes from drifting away from the horrible sight, only to finally stare at my feet.

The cave floor was covered with a mixture of soil and sand. The body laid in the left corner of the entrance, on a kind of small natural platform that could not be more than two square metres in size. It was lying on its back, or rather I should say she, because it was undoubtedly a woman. Which suggested that I had found the unfortunate owner of the sweater who must have had a far from sweet death.

The signs of her torments were still visible in her veiled, wide-open eyes, and her frozen expression of horror, the gaping wounds all over her body, further added to the atrocity of the scene.

I turned around and forced myself to take a deep breath, so as to not throw up again. And that's when it hit me! Too shocked by the discovery of the body, I had not paid attention to it, but the urge that compelled me towards this strange "smell" had disappeared. The strangest thing was that there was no smell... at all! This woman had obviously been dead for a while and her body was not emitting any of the stench associated with decomposition. I didn't know much about corpses, but it seemed obvious to me that this one should have smelled miles away and thus invited all the scavengers in the area. Despite the lack of foul-smelling odours, I nevertheless felt the need to go out. I felt like I was suffocating in this dark, damp cave. It was only once in the open air that I was able to gather my thoughts.

- 'Why doesn't it smell anything?' I asked Jude, who had followed me, in a disconcerted voice. 'Not that I'm complaining, but...'

I suddenly shut up, realizing that right now, that was really not the most important thing.

- 'It's normal,' he replied nevertheless. 'Martha was a quite powerful shape-shifter and had a gift of her own: the ability to completely mask her smell. It seems that her gift persists even in death... Magical!'

Oh, that sarcastic little tone, I almost missed it!

- 'It was rather a major inconvenience in this case,' I pointed out to him.

- 'Not for you apparently, huh?' he grinned at me.

- 'Now that we've found her, we should call the police.'

- 'Do I really need to explain why your suggestion is stupid... Scooby-Doo?'

- 'Stop insulting me and calling me that!' I said. 'I was just supposed to help you find her, which is done. Anyway, I didn't see Sherlock Holmes around. So the police plan doesn't seem so stupid to me!'

- 'Police means investigation. Investigation means forensic examination and for obvious reasons, we wish to avoid blood tests and other analyses!' he answered me condescendingly.

- 'Yes, but you also want to find those responsible, don't you?' I replied in the same way. 'It must have happened before cops founding one of your dead people?'

- 'What do you think? We are well rooted in all high-risk institutions to limit these types of incidents. But that's no reason to tempt the devil when you can avoid it,' he added before I had time to open my mouth.

- 'Let me guess... You and your charming personality are working in funeral homes?' I sneered.

He did not deign to answer me, turned his back and returned to the cave without a word. I reluctantly followed him and found him kneeling near the body. As I was not yet very sure of my stomach, I stayed close to the entrance, while taking good care to look away.

- 'It is impossible to know how long she's died then?' I asked weakly, surprised by the powerful echo of my voice.

- 'It must have been about a week,' he said without looking at me.

- 'And you know that, because...'

- 'I can feel it.'

Of course, of course! I wasn't even interested in an explanation, it was getting too much... all of it for now! Understanding and acceptance would probably come later.

- 'Who is she and how long had she been missing?' I continued to interrogate him to keep my mind busy.

- 'Her name was Martha, as I told you before, and she had been missing for a month. Shit!'

He stood up suddenly, his fists clenched and an look of extreme guilt on his face. Strange, him who looked so cynical.

- 'Did you know her well?'

- 'No more than that.'

- 'Then why do you look so guilty?'

- 'Argh! It's that I didn't believe in their stories of disappearances and kidnappings. I thought they had joined a hub or...'

- 'A hub?'

What the hell was that again? I really felt like I had crossed over to another universe.

- 'A group composed only of snake shapeshifters. Communities like Charles' are primarily used to take in rare species or to raise some of the young ones until they find their totem. Then it is up to them to choose whether they want to stay in the community or join a specific group. Seriously! I have better things to do than catch-up classes for losers,' he nastily told me.

I'd already heard that comment somewhere! He must be friends with Hannah. Given their respective delicious personalities, this would not be surprising. I decided to ignore his charming remark.

- 'Okay, but why would she hide it in that case?' I asked, while trying to understand the common thread of his reasoning.

- 'Because you need the council's approval, and Charles rarely gives it. I should have paid more attention to these disappearances,' he added with a hint of guilt.

- 'Why you more than anyone else? You've been looking for them for a month without a single lead, what would it have changed anyway?' I said, irritated.

I was angry with him for his incomprehensible mood swings and his condescending attitude as a jerk, but I understood how he must have felt. Not taking these disappearances seriously gave him the impression that he had abandoned them.

- 'So what do we do now? We're going to inform Charles?'

- 'No!'

His categorical and cold tone surprised me. He didn't seem to carry Charles in his heart either.

- 'Can you track her down to see where she came from? It's only been a week since she died... Where was she the whole time?'

- 'Do you think she was being held against her will?' I wondered.

- 'If so, it's worth a try while you're on her trail. Later you may have difficulty re-establishing the connection, and hopefully the others may be held in the same place.'

- 'Let's say you're right and, by some wild luck, I can get us somewhere. There are only two of us, what will we do next?'

- 'If we luckily find something, then we'll let Charles know. There is no need to give them false hopes before even trying,' he said as he stared at the body with a sad face.

- 'OK, I'll give it a try,' I replied when I realized that he hadn't been able to see my nod from where he was. 'But I can't promise you anything,' I said in a whisper before approaching the body with an insecure step.