Dogs of War

by Geonn Cannon

  "We'll get her back, Miss Willow."

  "Good night, Dale. Milo said you could take the bedroom at the top of the stairs, first--"

  "First one on the left. I remember it well. See you in a few hours."

  Dale went upstairs and pushed open the door to the room where she and Ari had spent a few days during the blizzard that shut down Seattle. She didn't bother undressing beyond her shoes and socks, crawling under the blankets and propping up the pillows before she lay down. She curled on her side and looked at the empty spot on the bed next to her. In a way, those blizzard days had been some of the best in their relationship. No cases to pull Ari away, no late-night runs or middle-of-the-night rescues... Dale smiled as she remembered the first time it had happened.

  Dale fumbled with her glasses, putting them on before she grabbed her phone and looked at the display. She didn't recognize the number so she nearly hit ignore before she decided it could be an emergency. The phone didn't let her ignore the fact it was fifteen minutes before four in the morning. She grunted and then cleared her throat. "Low," was the only part of the word she managed to enunciate. She tried to remember her name. "This is Dale."

  "Dale. Uh... shit. You're asleep."

  "Ariadne?" She pushed herself up. "No. I mean, what? What's up?"

  "I sort of need some help. I went for a run, and now I'm up in freaking Windermere. The wolf tired me out and I don't think I'd have the energy to run all the way home even if I changed. I managed to get some clothes out of one of those Goodwill donation bins, since I don't have any stashes up here, and I'm using the phone at this all-night diner with the promise whoever comes to save me will pay for at least a cup of coffee and... shit. Why did I call you? Go back to sleep."

  Dale heard the tremor in Ari's voice and imagined how terrified she must be. Almost ten miles from home, probably barefoot, tired and sore. She pushed back the blankets and sat up, leaning down to retrieve her shoes.

  "Where exactly are you?"

  "Dale, don't come..."

  "I can't leave you out there. I'm glad you called me. Now tell me where you are." She found a pen on the nightstand and wrote the address of the diner on her arm. "I'll be there in twenty minutes. Maybe thirty."

  "This isn't in your job description..."

  "It is now. I just added it." She decided not to change out of her nightshirt and pajama pants and just put on a robe. "Don't worry, I'm on my way. I'll be there soon."

  "Thank you, Dale."

  "If you need me, I'm here."

  Ari had exhaled sharply into the phone and then laughed. "Wow. I'm not used to that."

  "Better get used to it. Tell whoever let you use the phone that I'm on my way."

  She stroked the pillow. For the past five years, whenever Ari had needed her, she was ready. She had seen all sides of Seattle at all hours of the night. She knew how bizarre it could be to fall asleep next to someone only to be woken by a phone call saying they needed to be picked up halfway to Bothell. She knew what it was like to not be woken by a phone call, to instead wake up to pee and discover her girlfriend had simply vanished without a trace. On those nights she would sometimes surf the internet or watch TV just in case Ari called and needed help.

  Sometimes Ari apologized for the burden or felt the need to make up for it with lavish gifts. Dale would take the half-days with pay so she could catch up on sleep, but beyond that she didn't feel the need for reimbursement. Late-night retrievals were just part of being in Ari's life, and it was a price Dale was more than willing to pay. She stroked the pillow.

  "Don't worry," she whispered. "I'm on my way. I'll be there soon. I'll find you, Ariadne."

  She closed her eyes and settled her mind, trying to force herself to sleep, wishing more than anything that she would be woken by a dead-of-night phone call summoning her across town to give Ari a ride home.

  Chapter Eleven

  January 4

  Ari was on her back, hands laced over her stomach, staring at the ghostly image of the bars above her head. There was enough ambient light for her eyes to adjust to the garage after a few minutes, but she couldn't see details to the point where she could formulate an escape plan. Her hunger had ebbed about an hour earlier when her body decided food wasn't forthcoming. Now it was barely more than a constant gurgle low in her gut. The sound of the door being unlocked alerted her to another guest, and she closed her eyes so she wouldn't be blinded by the flood of light when they came inside.

  "Sit up."

  She cringed inwardly at the sound of his voice. Part of her hoped that he'd be kept out of it somehow, but that was just foolishness. She pushed herself up on her elbows and watched as Lorne unfolded a metal chair in front of the cage and sat down.

  "Hi, Detective. You look pissed. Was there something I forgot to mention?" She pretended to think. "It's not the wolf thing, right? I'm seventy-five percent sure I told you about the wolf thing."

  He glared at her. "Are you done?"

  "Nah." She lay back down. "I could go all night. But what's the point?"

  "Is it true?"

  She laughed. "I'm sitting here in a dog crate, Kyle."

  "Keighley could be wrong."

  "Nah. A daddy knows."

  "A... what?"

  She sat up again, this time bending her knees to cross her arms over them. "Oh, he didn't tell you that? Yeah, it's a really romantic story. See, thirty years ago when my mother was a student, she met a dark and mysterious man. They had a quick and aggressive relationship, just one night really, and it resulted in a bouncing baby girl named Ariadne. Mama raised me alone because Daddy didn't leave any contact information when he was done raping her. You know how these whirlwind romances are."

  "And your mother was..."

  "Canidae. Yep."

  He leaned forward and pushed his hand through his hair. "That's not possible."

  "What, a hunter wanting to bang a wolf? Sure it is. You wanted to bang me, remember?"

  "That was... God. I've never been happier a woman rejected me. I can't believe I kissed you."

  "Well, now. That's just hurtful, Kyle."

  He stood up and walked toward the cage. "The attack. You did that, didn't you? Told your mother and her mangy friends where we'd be. It was all you."

  "Wolfsbane is a tool of biological warfare. It's heinous, and yeah, I was willing to do whatever it took to get it off the streets."

  He paced for a moment before he settled in front of her cage. "I want to see it."

  "What?"

  "I want to see you change into a wolf."

  Ari laughed. "Did you hear that I have to be naked? Go look at tits on the internet like everyone else."

  He crouched. "No. I've spent the past few years getting to know you. I liked you, Willow. I trusted you. I thought we were partners. And now this asshole comes strolling in and says he kidnapped you and he's holding you prisoner in a cage because you're a werewolf. I'm having a little trouble believing that, so yeah. I need to see it."

  "I'm not getting naked, and I'm not shredding through the only clothes I have here. Looks like you'll just have to take my word for it, champ."

  "What did your mother do with the wolfsbane?"

  "I've spent the entire day with you, Detective. How would I know what they did with it?"

  "You're telling me you haven't been in contact with your mother or your girlfriend all day?"

  Ari shrugged. "It's almost like they're trying to fly under the radar after causing a big car accident last night. This city is full of hunters who packed their pockets with shit to make her go crazy and kill whoever happens to be inside chomping distance. She's hiding, you idiot."

  "And your girlfriend? I guess she's a wolf, too?"

  "Dale? No. She's... blissfully normal."

  Lorne stared at her. "That's disgusting."

  She held her hands out. "Well, you guys gave us same-sex marriage, and you all said it was a slippery slope to people marrying their house pets. Who knew? I've got a question for you, th
ough. You and Keighley are hunters. I'm a wolf. And this isn't me advocating the plan by any means, but you can understand why I'd be a little confused by the fact I'm still breathing. You guys aren't really known for your imprisoning skills."

  "Keighley has plans for you."

  "That sounds ominous. What kind of plans?"

  "The kind of plans you don't have to worry about. You just have to sit in this cage and wait until we're ready to use you. You're a weapon, Willow. Now that we know what you really are, we've been digging around. Seems like the entire time you've been working with me, you've also been working with the wolves. Warning them, telling them to beware. Once we knew the right places to look we realized that you were making quite a name for yourself. The Chicken Little of the canidae community. We're going to make sure you get known as a butcher of wolves. The biggest serial killer your kind has ever seen. We're going to make you kill your mother, your girlfriend..."

  Ari lunged at him, but Lorne was anticipating the attack. He grabbed her arm and pulled her tight against the walls of the cage, then put his arm through the bars and cupped the back of her head to keep her from pulling away.

  "You're going to regret threatening my people," Ari growled.

  Lorne smiled. "Maybe I get to see the wolf after all."

  She bared her teeth at him. They held the staring contest for a long moment before Lorne pushed her away and stood up. He turned to leave, but Ari couldn't let him get the last word.

  "How's your arm?" He stopped but didn't turn around. "Did you tell Keighley about that? Does he know you're a ticking time bomb waiting to go wolf on him?"

  "He knows what he has to know. And I won't ‘go wolf' until wolf manoth is over anyway."

  "That's how you want to spend your last few weeks? Fighting this insane war, killing innocent people?"

  "There's no such thing as an innocent wolf."

  "We've been around as long as you have," she said. "We have the same rights you have. We've done nothing wrong, we just want the chance to live."

  Lorne walked back to her. "This isn't your world. Your kind was supposed to be exterminated a thousand years ago. You were a... a wrong thing that hunters were supposed to put right. You're a branch of evolution that should have been pruned before you had a chance to fake civility. When the going gets rough, you're animals. We're the dominant species in this world, Willow."

  "Why don't you let me out of this cage and we can put that theory to the test?"

  He walked away and turned off the lights. "Get some sleep while you can. Pretty soon you're going to be so busy you won't have a second to rest."

  The door closed and Ari's eyes, which had gotten used to the light, saw only darkness when the door was closed behind him.

  #

  Dale was startled to find someone hovering over her when she woke. She recoiled into the pillows as she tried to disentangle her arms from the blankets. Mia shushed her, hands on her shoulders, and then whispered, "I didn't want to wake you early, but Gwen insisted. Boylston Avenue... does that mean anything to you?"

  Dale was still half asleep, but she recognized the address immediately. "Ari lives there. Why?"

  "Come on."

  Dale kicked back the blankets and followed Mia through the house. The lights were out save for a few lamps in the living room that created a surreal, dream-like glow to the house. Gwen was seated on the couch with a laptop open in front of her. She looked up as Dale approached.

  "The eighteen-hundred block of Boylston?" she asked.

  "Yeah. What's going on?"

  "There's a fire. Ariadne's apartment building is on fire."

  Dale crossed to sit next to Gwen on the couch. She was on a website with a live feed to police, fire, and EMT scanners. Next to the computer was a notebook where she had taken down times, addresses, and possible connections to the war. The last entry was Boylston Avenue and Dale tensed. Gwen reached over and massaged her shoulder.

  "We think Keighley had people search her apartment to find out what she knew. Her contacts in the canidae community, anything that could lead them to me or where I hid the wolfsbane. Then when they were done, they just... they just burned it."

  "All of Ari's stuff," Dale whispered, trying to think of everything that was being destroyed at that moment. There were some clothes in Dale's closet, and some of her books had migrated over in the past few months, but it was devastating to think of how much was being turned to ash. "God, that's just cruel."

  Mia was standing off to one side with her arms crossed. "It could also be an attempt to draw us out. Right now they know where Ariadne lives, and they can likely find Gwyneth's house without much effort. They don't know we're here."

  "Unless they followed us back from the office."

  "That was a bluff," Gwen said. "They wouldn't have taunted us with the phone call if they knew where we were. They would have gathered up an army and broken down the doors so they could torture us until we told them where the wolfsbane was. I think Mia is right. This is a signal flare trying to get us to show our hand."

  Dale said, "Where is the wolfsbane? I'm not entirely sure I was told what happened to it."

  "Mia and I took care of it last night. It's a temporary solution, but it's safe for now."

  "How long ago did the fire start?"

  Mia said, "The fire department was called about ten minutes ago."

  "So what do we do?"

  Gwen said, "There's nothing we can do. Whether the fire is a trap or not, there's nothing to gain by going to check out the site. We'd only be risking Keighley or another hunter spotting us. We sit tight and wait."

  "No." Dale rested her elbows on her knees, hands on her lips, and then pushed herself up. "No, screw that plan. Screw all of this."

  Gwen said, "Dale, what..."

  "We're going to sit here and hide while we wait for them to come find us? We're going to let them burn down Ariadne's apartment just because they found her out, and our solution is to cower and hide? Ari is sacrificing everything and I'm sick of letting her be the only one risking her life. I'm not going to sit here in this fortress and cross my fingers and hope she finds a way out of it. They threw wolfsbane in your faces and you took it. They kidnapped Ari and we're taking that, too. They burn down her apartment? That's the line. I'm not going to just sit here anymore."

  Gwen stood up. "Where are you going?"

  "I'm going to get dressed and then I'm going to find Ariadne."

  Mia looked at Gwen, then followed Dale back to the bedroom. "I'd like to come with you."

  "You don't have to do that. Your girlfriend--"

  "My girlfriend is recuperating because you took a risk you didn't have to take. I'm a cop back in England and I'm a fair-to-middling bodyguard if push comes to shove."

  Dale considered it for a moment and then finally nodded. "Okay. Let me change clothes and then we can go." She went into her room and shut the door, trying to calm her shaking hands as she undressed. She put on a black T-shirt under a dark blue blouse. She didn't know if she would be forced to blend in with the shadows, but she decided it would be best if she didn't stand out. She tied her hair back rather than dealing with a brush, placed the olive-drab hat Milo had given her on top of the mess, and stepped outside.

  Milo and Owen had joined Mia in the hall. She looked at the wolves and said, "What is this?"

  "You're a member of our pack now," Owen said. "We're not going to let you go off alone."

  "What about the house security?"

  Milo said, "Tarun and Benji are still here, as are Paige and Hannah. That's more than enough to raise an alarm if things go tits-up. We're not leaving the house unprotected, but we're not leaving you unprotected, either."

  "Thank you."

  Owen said, "I'm just doing it to meet this Ariadne once and for all. She must be quite a lady if so many people are willing to risk their skins for her."

  "She is," Dale said. "And thank you."

  They filed back into the living room, where Gwen had appar
ently been filled in about the plan. She looked up from the computer and stood, brushing her hands over her slacks before she said, "This is the plan I should have come up with in the first place. Hiding was a knee-jerk reaction. I'm embarrassed that I offered it at all. Go. Bring my girls back in one piece."

  "Your girls?" Dale said.

  "I wasn't talking to you. Milo... bring both of my girls home."

  Dale blinked back her tears as Milo promised. Gwen rounded the table, pushed up Dale's cap, and kissed her forehead.

  "Be safe, Dale."

  "I will, Gwen."

  "The same goes for all of you. This pack has sacrificed enough for this war. It's time the bloodshed ends."

  Owen led them into the garage where they'd stored their weapons from the van siege. He offered her a pistol and she fought the urge to refuse. This was a war, and she needed to be armed if she was going to be effective. But the very idea of holding a gun was repulsive to her. Fortunately she was saved from making a choice when Mia took the gun instead. Owen looked at her and Mia shook her head.

  "I'm not having someone out there without training. She can stay behind us if there's any trouble. And if there's a lot of trouble, she can pick up the guns when we wolf out."

  Dale said, "I'm completely okay with that plan."

  "All right," Owen said. "Have it your way. Where are we going first?"

  "They hit Ari at home. We're going to do the same to them," Dale said. "She's been working with a hunter named Kyle Lorne. I know I can get my hands on his address, so we're going to pay him a little visit. We'll see if we can convince him to tell us what happened with Ari."

  "And if he can't be convinced?"

  Milo said, "Then we convince him harder."

  Owen raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Works for me. Let's go."

  #

  Despite being less than a mile away from Ari's building, Dale knew she had to resist the urge to drive by to watch the fire. They could see the smoke as they drove through downtown to the office so Dale could access her programs to find Lorne's home address. It was still an hour before rush hour, but the sky was pink and purple with the coming sunrise. It was the fourth day of wolf manoth, and Dale felt as if they were already stacking up the casualties. The time had come to wound the hunters a little.