Dogs of War

by Geonn Cannon

  He turned and went back up the stairs. Lorne turned and walked out, and Ari hurried to catch up with him. "Wow. That guy knows how to win loyalty, huh?"

  "It's not about loyalty, it's about the war. I failed."

  "You lost a battle."

  "It was a big fucking battle, Willow. That wolfsbane they took, that took us a year to make it all. There's still a lot out there, but once it dries up we've got no reserves."

  Ari said, "We could get word out that there's a shortage. Tell people to start being a little more economical with the wolfsbane they have."

  "And let every hunter in the city know how monumentally I fucked up? No thanks." He rubbed his jaw again. "I know I shot that wolf. We need to check out all the places the wolves could have gone to get medical help. Know of anyone who treats two-legged dogs?"

  Dr. Frost. "No one comes to mind. I could have Dale look into it tomorrow."

  "Yeah, speaking of Dale." Ari tensed. "Thank her for the warning. It didn't exactly end up helping us, but she tried. I hate to think what the wolves would have gotten away with if we hadn't gotten the red flag. Be sure she knows I appreciate it."

  "I will."

  "Have a good night, Willow."

  He started to walk away so she said, "Hey, Lorne. I don't have a car here. You expect me to walk all the way home?"

  "Oh, right. Come on. I'll give you a ride. My car is over here."

  Ari followed him past the dark cabs. "You want me to drive? I may suck at hot pursuit, but I can at least get you to your door. And it would give you a chance to rest your arm even though I know it totally isn't hurt at all."

  He flexed his fingers and grunted. "Yeah, you know what?" He tossed her the keys. "Drive me home. It's not far from here."

  "I knew you lived in some artsy warehouse loft near the stadium. If you're nice I'll even change the bandages for you."

  "Wow, it's true what they say. Get your ass handed to you in front of a woman, and they'll treat you nicely for the first time since you met them."

  Ari grinned. "Never underestimate pity, Detective." The truth was that she wanted to check out his wound to see how dire his situation was. There were stories about people being bitten without changing, and she hoped whoever Dale and her mother were working with had the self-control necessary to pull their punches, but she would much rather see the injury than just cross her fingers and hope for the best.

  Lorne's personal vehicle was a red pickup, and Ari smiled as she got behind the wheel. "This is very redneck of you. I didn't expect it."

  "What did you think I would drive?" He settled on the bench seat next to her, cradling his wounded arm now.

  "I don't know. Something small and fast."

  "First car was a '68 AMC Rebel convertible."

  Ari hissed through her teeth. "Red?"

  "Yellow."

  "That's an acceptable alternative. So you got muscle cars out of your system early?"

  He shrugged. "Sort of. You'd be amazed how quickly a muscle car loses its cool factor when you go off-road at ninety miles an hour and flip four times. I was fine, but my girlfriend was in the hospital for a while. Trucks are safer. Sturdier."

  "Wow. The girl ended up okay?"

  "Oh, sure, she mended and kicked my ass to the curb. Rightfully so. I may technically have dumped myself come to think of it."

  Ari smiled. His building had street parking and he directed her into a spot half a block away from the front door. The lobby was lit brightly enough that it hurt her eyes when she walked inside, and he was stopped four times by other residents who had questions about their locks or suspicions of other residents stealing their mail. By the time they reached his apartment on the third floor Ari was afraid they would never reach their destination.

  "You're pretty popular around here, huh?"

  He shrugged. "People like having a cop living nearby. That's why they let me get away with my wild parties and loud disco music at all hours of the night."

  Ari chuckled. "Sure."

  "I'll have you know I'm a wild man, Willow."

  "Oh, really."

  "Yep. I once flaunted the no-pets rule and had a Chia Pet."

  "I don't think that counts."

  "Pet. It's right there in the name."

  He turned on a lamp next to the couch and illuminated an apartment that, while not exactly tidy, was at least a few steps above most apartments occupied by single men. He took off his jacket and inspected the blood on the sleeve before he detoured into the kitchen and threw it away. "Want something to drink?"

  "No, thanks. You have a first-aid kit here?"

  "Yeah, in the bathroom. Down the hall, first door on the right."

  Ari went down the hall, retrieved the kit, and came back as Lorne was sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer. She sat down next to him and opened the kit as he began undoing the quick and dirty bandaging job he'd done. He hissed as the dried blood was peeled away from the skin and Ari looked down at the wound.

  "Ouch. That looks pretty bad."

  "Looks worse than it feels."

  Ari said, "Are you trying to be macho for me, Detective?"

  "Maybe."

  "Let's see how you handle this." She cleaned the wound with alcohol swabs, and Lorne gave up the attempt to look stoic and manly after the third stinging touch. Ari was glad he didn't know she had experience with bites like this, because if he asked her opinion she would have had to be honest. Her honest opinion was that he should give up being a hunter, walk away from Huxley, and get his affairs in order. He sipped his beer in the hopes it would numb the pain, and stomped his foot once on the carpet as she cleaned the edges of the wound.

  "Sorry you had to see that."

  She shrugged. "I've seen bloodier things."

  "No, I mean... at the cab company. That wasn't exactly my finest moment."

  Ari said, "Oh, that. Hey. You should see me with my mother. One sharp word and suddenly I'm twelve years old and I forgot to clean my room."

  "You know, if this does turn out bad, I'm glad I've gotten to know you, Willow."

  She widened her eyes. "Whoa. Now I know it's bad. You're delirious. Are you forgetting all the times you've cursed my name or that I've gotten in the way of an investigation? Why on earth would you be glad you met--"

  He cut her off by kissing her. Ari stiffened and pulled back as gently as she could, but Lorne moved with her and prevented their lips from parting. He turned his head to the side and parted his lips, and Ari reluctantly applied pressure to his arm just above the bite. He hissed and recoiled, and she took the opportunity to get up off the couch.

  "Whoa."

  "Sorry."

  "Yeah." She cleared her throat and scratched the side of her neck. "That was... not welcome."

  He had grown suddenly sheepish. "I'm glad we met because you're attractive, and I thought we had a..." He chuckled. "You know what, forget it."

  "Look, it's not that I'm not..." She pushed her hands through her hair and decided to go with the truth. "Kyle, I'm gay."

  He looked up as if she had admitted to being a wolf, then closed his eyes. "Oh, my God. Dale."

  "Yeah."

  "Oh, God. Of course you two are a couple."

  She nodded. "Sorry. The night you just had, this is the last thing you need."

  He smiled. "Hey, this is nothing new to me. I'll just get back on the horse again once wolf manoth is over. If I'm still around."

  Ari sighed and sat down again. "Kyle, this is a bad bite. I've seen a couple in the past few years, and I've seen bites much smaller than this turn people. You want my advice? Fuck Huxley and everyone else. Turn in your badge and take a long vacation. Go whale-watching. Enjoy the time you have left. That's what I would do."

  "Yeah. But we've never established I'm anywhere near as smart as you are, Willow." He smiled at her and nudged her knee with his. "Now, if you're really not interested in me, then you really came up here to tend to my wounds. So get to it before this thing becomes infected and I have t
wo problems to deal with."

  She smiled and focused on tending to his wound. She hadn't really expected him to go for the early retirement, but it would have been infinitely easier if he had taken the offer. It was going to be hard enough taking down the hunters if she didn't have to worry about actually liking one of them.

  #

  It didn't take them long to spot a fenced-off construction site. Gwyneth circled the block until she found the entrance and Mia got out to unlatch the gate and let them in. Gwyneth drove across the rough gravel lot and pulled behind a row of trailers that likely belonged to the construction company executives. She cut the engine and then helped Dale spread the bleach across the bloody backseat and anywhere one of them might have left fingerprints or DNA evidence. When they had done everything they could, they ran back to the gate where Mia had kept an eye out for police. She reattached the lock she had picked and Gwyneth tried to call the boys to come pick them up.

  "No answer," she finally said. "I imagine they're dealing with the fallout from the accident."

  "I don't suppose we could take a bus," Dale said.

  "We shouldn't risk it," Mia said. "If the van is found tomorrow, the cops will get cameras from all the buses around here. How far is it back to your home, Gwen?"

  "We should stay off the main roads as much as possible, so... three miles, give or take."

  Dale said, "It would probably be easier for you on two legs. If you want to change, I can take your clothes."

  Gwyneth said, "I've given Ariadne enough reasons to hate me in her life. I won't add to the list by leaving her girlfriend to walk home alone at night." She looked over at Dale. "It will give us an opportunity to get to know one another."

  "Great. Well, I've been meaning to walk more..."

  They started walking, Gwyneth leading the way with Dale and Mia hanging back to brood over the fates of their respective partners. Dale looked at Mia, with her button-down blouse tucked into a pair of slacks. She was a far cry from her tattooed punk of a girlfriend, and eventually curiosity got the better of her. She matched Mia's pace and in doing so gained her attention.

  "Sorry. I just figured if we're going to be walking across the city, we might as well make conversation."

  "Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

  "How did you and Hannah meet?"

  Mia couldn't help but smile. "We don't really match on paper, do we?"

  "Nothing wrong with that," Dale said. "It's just that when two people as different as you two end up together, I figure there's a story behind it."

  "It's not much of one, I'm afraid. I went with Owen to get a tattoo, and Hannah owned the shop. She was cute, she made me smile, and I thought what the hell. She was nowhere near my type. Covered with tats, slovenly, sleeping until noon on work days. Ordinarily I'd have run screaming from her. But I helped straighten her up a little and she helped loosen me up a bit." She looked down at her feet. "If I lose her..."

  Dale put an arm around her shoulders. "That won't happen. Dr. Frost is amazing. He's helped Ari a lot over the past few years."

  "Speaking of great stories," Mia said, "I bet there has to be quite a tale behind a human and a wolf hooking up. I don't even have any real human friends."

  Dale chuckled. "Well, we started as friends. She gave me a job when I really didn't have any other prospects and I helped her make it work. I guess we're kind of like you and Hannah. Neither of us was doing too well on our own. We're better together."

  Mia said, "I'll wager you have quite a few stories."

  "Oh, there are a couple." She chuckled under her breath. "There was this one time, there was a poodle..."

  She continued the story as they walked, ducking into the shadows whenever one of them spotted a police car. Eventually they reached the wealthier side of town and they were able to let their guards down a bit. Dale was breathing hard by the time Gwyneth let them into her home, but both canidae women seemed none the worse for wear. They gathered in the kitchen where Gwyneth poured a glass of water for each of them.

  "There are guest rooms upstairs if you'd like to claim one before the others arrive. There are toiletries in the hall closet."

  Mia shook her head. "I'm not sleeping. I want to be alert in case there's news of Hannah's condition."

  Gwyneth looked like she wanted to argue but thought better of it. "Then you can stretch out on the couch. Dale..." She seemed to consider what she was about to say next before she decided on it. "The room at the top of the stairs is Ariadne's former bedroom. If you wished to spend the night in there, I doubt she would object."

  "Thank you, Miss Willow."

  "Gwen, please."

  Dale nodded. "Good night, Gwen. Night, Mia."

  She went upstairs and used the bathroom, eyed the shower with desire, and reluctantly left it behind. Instead she went into her girlfriend's childhood bedroom and shut the door behind her. The ceiling was sloped to follow the angle of the roof, with a bed tucked into the small side of the room. There were no pictures of pop singers or actors on the wall, and the curtains were pale enough to catch the moonlight and cast it across the floor. It was like seeing a ghost, some snippet of the past stuck in amber. She looked for remnants of what had created the woman she loved.

  Dale took off her shoes with a sigh of relief and wiggled her toes in her socks. Three miles in just under an hour had left her sore and tired. Looking down at herself she saw that she was still wearing clothes stained with Hannah's blood. She cringed at the thought of what would have happened if they'd been stopped by the police.

  She stripped down to her underwear, emptied her pockets, and dumped the ruined clothes in the trash. Her phone was almost entirely dead so she turned it off to save what minimal charge remained in case of emergency. She opened the closet and discovered at some point Ari's mother had transferred the clothes her daughter left to vacuum-sealed storage bags. Dale opened one and took out a T-shirt that was big on her and would have been gigantic on teenage Ariadne. She chuckled quietly as she put it on. "Looks like this time you left a stash for me, puppy."

  She peeled back the blankets and crawled into the bed where Ari had spent her formative years. She curled on her side and hugged the pillow to her chest. It was ludicrous to think any scent remained after so long, but the action allowed her brain to think it was smelling Ari. She closed her eyes and let her exhaustion pummel her adrenaline into submission and she was asleep in seconds.

  #

  Ari hung up the landline after her call to Dale finally went to voicemail. She rubbed her face and hoped Dale was just busy or had her phone turned off. "Be okay, Dale," she whispered. "Just be okay."

  She had left Lorne with a fresh bandage and a second apology for rejecting his kiss, but he assured her he was okay. He offered to drive her back to her car, but she was so tired that she didn't even remember where she had parked it. She lied and told him she would take a cab home but after discovering who owned Alki, she doubted she would ever take a cab again.

  Instead she walked a half mile to a park, stripped, and put her clothes into a plastic grocery bag that had blown against a tree. She hooked the handles of the bag around her collar and transformed into the wolf. She let the wolf's brain focus on home and let it go, hoping it had energy reserves that she lacked in human form. She was vaguely aware of running, the soft grass underneath her paws and the flash of headlights passing by on the street. The wolf always knew to be wary of roadways and police cars, but tonight the warning was stronger than usual. Whenever a car passed close enough to see her, the wolf ducked under whatever was nearby until it was gone.

  She regained consciousness with her forepaw scratching at the wall next to the elevator in her building. She transformed back into her human form, dressed, and went upstairs with pain radiating out from every joint from her quick shift. She let herself into the apartment and collapsed on the couch. She tried calling Dale and knew she would find the strength to go wherever she was if she answered. But the phone just rang, and she resi
gned herself to the fact they would be spending the night apart.

  She told herself that Dale was okay. It had been a long and crazy day, and they could reunite in the morning once they had a chance to rest. The idea of sleep put the image of a bed in her mind, and she rose as if hypnotized to stumble down the hall. She stripped naked and went into the bathroom to find Dale's perfume. She dabbed it behind her ears, made a cross with it over her upper chest, and rubbed it into both wrists.

  Enveloped by Dale's scent, Ari finally went to bed and stretched out on top of the blankets. She was asleep before she found the wherewithal to actually pull them over her.

  Her last conscious thought was, "Two days down of wolf manoth down. Twenty-nine to go."

  Chapter Eight

  January 3

  After suffering through strange wolf-centric nightmares for a few hours, Dale finally gave up on sleeping and got out of bed. It was still the middle of the night, but she knew there was no chance she would get back to sleep. She went into the closet to see if there were any other clothes she could borrow, and she found a pair of pants that fit her. She was bustier than Ari was as an adult, so none of the teenage-size shirts would be appropriate for her. Instead she kept on the oversized nightshirt and tucked it into her jeans until she could change into something better.

  Her exploration of the closet made curious as to what other treasures there were to be found. There was a desk across from the bed, and she turned on the lamp as she took a seat and scanned to find the best place to start snooping. She opened the top desk drawer and found a school book on top of a wild mess of papers. She laughed as she lifted the garbage to peer underneath it.

  "You are going to need a filing system, Miss Willow."

  Ari said, "I have a filing system. Everything I need is in that drawer."

  "That's not a drawer. That's a branch of the city landfill."

  "Fine. If you want to add filing to your tasks, knock yourself out. And it's Ariadne. Or Ari. Don't call me Miss Willow."

  "Okay, fair enough."