The Night's Champion Collection: A supernatural werewolf thriller trilogy

by Richard Parry

  “Whaddya mean?” Rex leaned forward to look out through the front seats. “What the fuck is that?”

  She tossed him a look, then followed his eyes. “I mean that I’m into more of a dance scene. Looks like a guy eating a pigeon.”

  Rex leaned back, rubbing a hand over his face. His watch strap jingled in the quiet of the car. “You don’t seem phased.”

  “I guess people like the music they like,” she said. “It’s not an age thing, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  He blinked at her. “What?”

  “The music. I get it. Huey Lewis is cool, for an older guy.” She shrugged, adjusted her seat belt. There was a half-smile on her face as she remembered something. Or someone. “I mean, my boyfriend’s a little bit older.”

  “No,” said Rex. “The guy. Eating the pigeon.”

  “It’s Chicago,” she said, as if it explained everything.

  “How much you make in a day?” said Rex. “I mean, round numbers. I’m not trying to rob you or something like that.”

  “Wouldn’t matter,” she said. “It’s an Uber. No cash, right?”

  “Right,” said Rex. “So what, about five hundred a day?”

  “Hookers make five hundred a day,” she said. “Me, after gas I’m packing a couple hundred a day.”

  “You drive assholes like me for two hundred a day?”

  “More or less,” she said. “It depends.”

  “I saw an article,” said Rex. “Said Uber drivers make up to one fifty large.”

  “I saw an article,” she said, “that said you could get rich on Amway.”

  “Fair point,” said Rex. “Whatever. You ever get hungry enough to eat a pigeon on a couple hundred a day?”

  The car moved forward a few more feet, then stopped again as the gridlocked traffic bunched again. “No,” she said. “I mean, I’m sure it’s nice—”

  “Fucking sky rats,” said Rex. “Psittacosis.”

  “Right,” she said, like she knew what he was talking about. “You eaten one before?”

  “I look like I’m that hungry?” Rex frowned. “Thing is, that guy is wearing an Armani suit.”

  “Right,” she said, less certain now.

  “You ever bought an Armani suit?”

  “I’ve got some Armani sunglasses.”

  “Okay, we’ll use that,” said Rex. “You never got hungry enough to eat a pigeon on two hundred a day and you’re buying Armani shades. That guy’s got a whole suit made of Armani — a lot more than your shades cost, believe me — and he’s eating a sky rat.”

  She nodded, silent for a moment. Her hands tapped against the steering wheel. “He is making kind of a mess of it.”

  Rex saw movement out the left of the car, a person running past them down between the line of cars. He tracked the motion, turning around in his seat, watching until the man disappeared from view. “Huh.”

  He saw her eyes flick up to the rear view mirror again. “’Huh?’ What’s, ‘Huh?’”

  “That guy,” said Rex. “Ran right past.”

  “Yeah,” she said. They both watched as a woman ran between the line of stopped cars, her face frantic. “That is unusual. Won’t cost you extra though.”

  “What?” Rex saw the man who’d been eating the pigeon drop from view as he crouched down low. Weird. “I mean, they’re running down the line of cars. On the road. Get you killed.”

  “Not in this traffic,” she said. “I mean, doesn’t matter how long it takes to get where we’re going. Won’t cost you extra.”

  “I know,” said Rex. “Uber, right?”

  “Right,” she said, distracted now. “Uh. What’s that over there?”

  Rex watched for a moment, frowning. “That looks like a woman hitting a man with a doll.”

  “It’s not a doll,” she said, her voice gone quiet. “It’s a child.”

  “Can’t be,” said Rex. But a voice in his head said, You’ve seen weird shit these past couple days, Rex.

  “Can’t be,” she said, wanting to agree.

  “Say,” said Rex. You mind if I crack a window?”

  “Why?”

  He pressed the control anyway, the window sliding open a couple inches. As the air from Chicago — rich with the smell of smog in the morning’s traffic — came in, they both heard it. The sound of screams, of fear.

  Of panic.

  “Hey,” she said. “Could you close the window?”

  “Good idea,” said Rex, flicking the control the other way. The window slid closed, a soft mechanical thump as it sealed them back in. “Good idea—”

  A man collided with the front of their car, his hands leaving a red smear against the windscreen. He looked in at them, and his eyes locked with Rex’s. His voice was faint through the glass, but Rex heard him anyway. “Run! For God’s sake, get—”

  He was interrupted as a shape collided with him, knocking him over. The driver let out a scream, her hands stabbing at the car’s dash. The doors locked with a satisfying clunk. A hand rose up over the edge of the door, fingers hooked like claws. Rex thought he could see the fingernails broken under hot pink nail polish. A face rose up after, a woman—

  What the actual fuck.

  —looking in at them. Young, no more than 25 if she was a day. She had some meat in her teeth and was chewing it as her hand clawed and scrabbled at the window, leaving bloody tracks against the glass. She swallowed whatever—

  Jesus. Is she … eating a part of that guy?

  —was in her mouth, then bared her teeth at them. Her face twisted into a snarl, and she started to slam her fist into the glass of the window.

  Rex’s driver scrabbled for the glove box. It fell open with a clatter, insurance papers falling out, a makeup case, a phone, finally a taser. She pulled it up from the floor, holding it to her chest with both hands.

  “Hey,” said Rex, in between thumps of the woman’s hand against the glass. “She can’t get in here.”

  “Right,” she said. “Right.” She didn’t loosen her grip on the taser.

  There was a crack, a spider’s web fracture crawling up the glass. “Uh,” said Rex.

  There was a sound like wood on wood, and the woman’s face disappeared. Rex looked up into the eyes of a large man, six four and angry with it. He held a baseball bat, the end covered in gore. He locked eyes with Rex, nodded to him, then tried the door handle on the passenger side. “Let me in,” he said. “They’re—”

  Another shape careened into him, a man screaming and yelling, and then both went down. Rex turned to his driver. “Get us the fuck out of here.”

  Her eyes were wide. “Where? There’s—”

  He grabbed her shoulder. “Miss?”

  “Yeah?”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Skyler,” she said. “Sky.”

  He frowned. “Which the fuck one is it?”

  “My friends call me Sky,” she said.

  “Rex,” said Rex, jerking a thumb at his chest. “Sky, we’ve got—”

  “Rex, like a dog?” There was an edge of hysteria in her voice.

  He sighed. Keep her calm. Don’t let her think about what’s out there. “Like a fucking Tyrannosaurus.”

  She nodded at him, mute, eyes wide.

  “So, we’ve got what is called a situation here.” said Rex. “What we’re going to do is use this big ol’ car of yours to make a gap.”

  “Make a gap?”

  “Like a snow plow,” he said. “You’re going to put it in gear, and nudge a hole in the traffic. Slow and steady. Get us on the sidewalk—”

  “Is that safe?”

  “Sky,” said Rex, “safe is in Kansas. We’re in Chicago.”

  She nodded, set her shoulders, and turned back to the front. She was about to move the car forward when Rex spoke again. “Sky?”

  “Yeah?”

  “We still need to get to where we were headed.”

  “You really want to get to work?”

  “I wasn’t goi
ng to work,” said Rex. “I was going to meet a friend.”

  “Right,” she said. She placed the taser on the passenger seat, then gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “My insurance—”

  A man jumped on the hood of the car, yelling at them. Sky screamed, jamming a foot on the gas, and the big town car roared forward, slamming a hole in the cars around them. It bounced onto the pavement, shooting out like a cork from a bottle, and they were away, the man tumbling off the hood.

  Rex spared a look behind them. Well, that’s one way to do it.

  • • •

  “Where we going?” Sky spared a glance at him over her shoulder as the big town car crawled along the sidewalk. “Can you give me directions?”

  “Your phone flat?” Rex felt like his head was on a swivel as he cast about on all sides of the car. There were bodies everywhere, some fallen as if asleep, some torn apart, barely recognizable. They drove past an old Taurus, flames billowing out through the windows.

  “It’s not flat,” she said. “I can’t get a signal.”

  “Who you with?”

  “AT&T.”

  “That’ll be why,” said Rex. “I’m with Verizon. They’re…” His voice trailed off as he checked his own phone, NO SERVICE showing at the top. “Well, fuck me running,” he said.

  “Verizon not giving it to you?” She tried on a smirk, left it there. Definitely a cute nose.

  “I’m on a plan,” he said. “Got six months to run.”

  “Thieves, right?”

  “Right,” said Rex. “Look, I know the way. You need to go up another couple blocks, take a right.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then nothing. We’ll be there.” Rex drummed his fingers on his leg. “Say.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Why you doing this?” Rex pointed out the front of the car at a shopping cart full of cans. “Watch out for that.”

  “I see it,” she said, easing the car around the cart. “People don’t waste time, do they?”

  “What?”

  Sky jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the cart falling away behind them. “Looting.”

  “Oh,” said Rex. “No. They never do.”

  “You been in places like this before?” He noticed her hands gripped the wheel so tight her fingers where white, bloodless.

  “L.A. fires,” said Rex. “Worked in the Department, thirty years.”

  “Right,” said Sky. Then, “They looted in the L.A. fires?”

  “People loot everywhere,” said Rex. “Humans are basically jackals. Hold up here.”

  “Why—” but then she saw it. A pack of people loping, shoulders hunched over. Five of them, skittering around the edges of stopped and empty cars. He watched as Sky put the car in park, left the engine idling. “Do you—”

  “Hush now,” said Rex. He reached forward, put a hand on her arm. “Don’t move.”

  They sat still and silent in the car as the five people — if that’s what they are — moved like a pack of wild dogs through the stopped traffic. One of them passed close to the town car, sparing a glance inside. Rex tightened his fingers on Sky’s arm, but made no other movement, not even his eyes. The face looking in at them moved on, and they both breathed out.

  “They didn’t see us,” said Sky. “Why didn’t they see us?”

  “They expected to see something else,” said Rex.

  “Like what?”

  “You ever see a lion hunting?”

  “In Chicago?”

  “No,” said Rex. “On the nature channel, or whatever you kids watch today.”

  “Discovery?”

  “Is that a nature channel?”

  “Yes.” She ran a nervous hand through her hair.

  “Then Discovery,” said Rex. “You see a lion hunting?”

  “I’ve seen a show,” she said.

  This is why you don’t date younger women, thought Rex. No context. “They track movement.”

  “Those people are lions?”

  “Those people are hunting,” said Rex. “You run, you’re prey.”

  “Got it,” said Sky. “Don’t run. Except…”

  “Yeah?”

  “What if you need to run?” Sky tossed a look back at him, then slipped the big town car back into gear.

  “Then,” said Rex, “you run fast, Sky. You run really fast.”

  “It’s because you seem nice,” she said. “It’s because you wanted to get your friend.”

  “What?” Rex looked at her, then back out the window. “I don’t follow.”

  “You asked me why I was doing this,” she said. “You’ve got a sprained wrist. You’re … don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a little bit older.”

  “I’m retired,” said Rex. “Or I thought I was, until this morning.”

  The town car made the right turn, edging along the sidewalk. Sky was looking out the front, focused. “That’s what I mean,” she said. “You don’t look like you’re looting the place.”

  “Stop here,” he said as they edged next to the entrance to a brownstone. The front doors were hanging open. “This is the place.”

  “Who we picking up?”

  Rex let out a breath. “Sky?”

  “Yeah, Rex?”

  “Sky, you should go now,” he said. “Find your family.”

  “It’s okay,” said Sky. “They’ll find me.”

  “How you figure?”

  She thought for a moment. “I’m not sure. John just seems like the type.” She seemed so certain. That’s a hell of a guy.

  “John your boyfriend?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “How’s he going to find you?”

  “Easy,” she said. “He is always in some kind of trouble. If I’m in trouble too, we’ll just…” She trailed off.

  “You’ll be in the eye of the storm,” said Rex. “I get it. But it’s okay, Sky. I got it from here.”

  “With your arm?”

  “It’s only sprained.” Rex looked down at his bandage. “Even with that.”

  “I’ll keep the engine running,” she said.

  “But—”

  “What’s your friend’s name?” she asked, cutting over the top of him.

  “Just James,” said Rex.

  “What’s he like?”

  “He’s a good kid,” said Rex. “I don’t know him that well, to be honest. We were in the accident together.” Rex looked at his arm. The one I caused. “My fault, right? I’ve been trying to look out for him.”

  She ignored everything but the first part. “He’s a kid?”

  “He’s alone,” said Rex. “His Dad’s an asshole.”

  “We getting his Dad too?”

  “Don’t think that’ll be an option,” said Rex. “He’ll be in the wind.”

  “You go get Just James,” said Sky, “and I’ll see you back down here. Then we’ll go…”

  “It’s okay,” said Rex. “We’ll work it out in a bit. And Sky?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” said Sky. “Here.” She held out the taser.

  He thought about refusing it, then looked up at the broken doors to the brownstone. God damn old body, God damn seven flights of stairs, God damn people eating people. He took it from her with a nod, then opened the door and stepped out into the smell of smoke, a scream sounding in the distance.

  You left L.A. to get away from this kind of shit, he thought. Welcome home. At least the bandage has stopped itching. With that thought he stepped through the shadowed doorway of the brownstone and into the quiet lobby inside.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  “Border Control,” said Ajay. “Should be easy.”

  “How you figure?” Carlisle craned her neck forward. Yellow painted steel rose up to form arches across the road, UNITED STATES BORDER INSPECTION STATION writ large over an awning as utilitarian as it was non-functional. Rain tumbled and turned in eddies underneath the awning, promising a cold,
wet, and taciturn border guard experience, if it came to that. “You see those cameras?”

  “I see the cameras,” Ajay said. He looked tired, his face gaunt. An all-night drive will do that to you, she thought. “I don’t see the problem.”

  “Guards,” said Carlisle.

  “Are you wanted criminals?” Ajay tapped the steering wheel with his fingers.

  Carlisle cut back an angry retort. “Uh.”

  “Do you have valid United States passports?” He threw a look at her over his shoulder, sparing a glance for Danny and the kid, both asleep. The kid had fallen asleep on her mom’s shoulder.

  “Uh,” said Carlisle again. “Sure.”

  “And,” said Ajay, “do you have a permit for that large gun you carry?”

  “It’s not that large,” said Carlisle.

  “You fired it next to me,” he said. “It sounded very large.”

  “Oh,” said Carlisle. “It fires large bullets.”

  “Will its presence about your person,” said Ajay, “cause undue alarm to the officers here?”

  “Probably,” said Carlisle. “It’s a Desert Eagle.” She caught his intake of breath. “But no, I’m not carrying it illegally.”

  “Good,” said Ajay. “We should have no problems.”

  Carlisle leaned back. “I guess. It’s just…” She trailed off.

  “You’re used to being hunted,” said Ajay. “I know the feeling.”

  “You do?” Carlisle closed her eyes for a moment. “Aren’t you a hunter?”

  “Exactly so,” said Ajay.

  “How you figure it feels to be hunted?” Carlisle opened her eyes, looking at Ajay in the rear view mirror.

  His eyes found hers. “I was a child once too.”

  She bit down on her lip. “Are you telling me—”

  “I’m telling you nothing, Detective Carlisle,” he said, “that you don’t already know.”

  “I’m not a cop anymore,” she said, almost absently.

  He shook his head. “Being a Shield of the people, the voice that speaks for victims when the wicked have stolen away their will before the coming of the dawn? That is not a job. That is what you are.”

  “What would you know about that?” She heard the bitterness in her voice, caught herself looking at Danny.

  He thought for a moment before responding. The cars in front of them moved forward, and he let the big Yukon slide forward in the snow. “Names have power.” His accent made the last word sound like powa. “I know that you need reminding of some things that you might … prefer to forget.”