Read Online A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny - Free Book Online

Night came on, and later I made my way back to the muck, chasing off a few vermin and beginning the long haul once again.
         I'd worked on and off for over an hour, allowing myself several panting breaks, when I realized I was no longer alone.   He was bigger than me even, and he moved with a silence I envied, some piece of the night cut loose and drifting against lesser blacknesses.   He seemed to know the moment I became aware of him, and he moved toward me with a long, effortless stride, one of the largest dogs I'd ever seen outside of Ireland.
         Correction.   As he came on I realized he wasn't really a dog.   It was a great gray wolf that was bearing down on me.   I quickly reviewed my knowledge of the submissive postures these guys are into as I backed away from the corpse.
         "You can have it," I said.   "It's all right with me.   It's not in the best of shape, though."
         He loomed nearer.   Monstrous jaws, great feral eyes. . . .   Then he sat down.
         "So this is where it is," he said.
         "What?"
         "The missing body.   Snuff, you are tampering with evidence."
         "And you might say I'm tampering with something already tampered with.   Who are you?"
         "Larry.   Talbot."
         "Could've fooled me.   I thought you were, a great wolf. . . oh."
         "That, too."
         "_Were_, huh?   And you're shifted.   But this is the dark of the moon."
         "So it is."
         "Neat trick, that.   How'd you manage it?"
         "I can do it whenever I choose, with certain botanical aids, and retain full rationality, save when the moon is full.   It's only involuntary then, with certain unfortunate accompaniments."
         "So I understand.   Like, berserk."
         "_Wulfsark_," he said.   "Yes."
         "So why are you here?"
         "I tracked you.   Ordinarily, this is my favorite time of month, without a trace of moon to disturb me.   But I forsook this to do some investigating.   Then it became necessary that I speak with you.   So I came looking.   What are you doing with the body, anyway?"
         "I was trying to get it to the river, where I want to drop it in.   Someone had left it near our place, and I was afraid Jack would be suspected."
         "I'll give you a ha… I'll help."
         With that, he seized it by a shoulder and began walking backwards.   No bracing himself and tugging, the way I'd had to manage it.   He just kept walking, picking up speed, even.   I didn't see any way I could help.   I'd just slow him down if I grabbed hold anywhere.   I trotted along beside and watched.
         An hour or so later we stood on the riverbank and watched the current bear the corpse away.
         "I can't tell you how happy this makes me," I said.
         "You just did," he said.   "Let's head back."
         We returned, but when he reached my place he kept going.
         "Where are we headed?" I finally asked, when he'd turned left at the second crossroad.
         "I'd said I went looking for you because I wanted to speak with you.   There is something I need to show you first.   If my timing is right, it's about midnight now."
         "I'd guess it's close."
         We approached the local church.   There was a very dim light from within.
         "The front will probably be locked," he said.   "We wouldn't want to go in that way, though."
         "We're going in?"
         "That's my intention."
         "Have you been in it before?"
         "Yes.   I know my way around.   We'll go in the rear entrance if no one's about, pass through a small vestibule, turn left for a few paces, then right up a little hallway.   We can get into the vestry from there, if it's clear."
         "And then?"
         "If we position ourselves properly, we get a view."
         "Of what?"
         "I'm curious myself.   Let's find out."
         We made our way around to the back of