“Really?” Sidney said, looking over at Smoke. “He’s not a werewolf.”
“Ah, a skeptic. I love a skeptic.” AV opened a drawer and pulled a knife out. The wavy blade looked ancient. He turned in his chair and grabbed the hand of one of his goons and placed it on the desk. He skinned the hair off its arm. “Sharp, isn’t it?” The knife bit deeper, and he peeled off the skin, exposing the muscle beneath it.
Sidney’s skin crawled.
“See, he doesn’t even scream.” The listless goon leaned back into attention. AV stuck the knife in its thigh. “And he makes for an excellent knife holder.” His dangerous eyes narrowed on Sidney. “Can you explain that, Agent Shaw?”
No.
“We call them deaders.”
We?
“Cursed flesh brought to life. Flesh automatons made for our bidding. Capable of executing simple commands. Fetch. Fight. Kill.”
“That’s quite an accomplishment,” she said, twisting her wrists behind her. I need to get out of here. “Do you have a patent on it?”
“Humph,” he said, plucking a pen from its holder and writing on something. “How did you find me? I need to tie up that loose end.”
“It wasn’t that hard,” Smoke said. “Those wild wolf dogs led us here.”
“I don’t think so,” AV said. “But no matter. I’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“So, who is ‘we’?” she said, turning her ear to him. Keep him talking. “I can use all the leads I can get, because you’re only the first guy, I mean werewolf, on my list.”
“Your tongue is sharp, Agent.” He leered at her. “I’m reconsidering.”
“Reconsidering what?”
“Twisting your head off first.” He picked up a phone that looked to be hers. “You have family, don’t you?” He turned her phone toward her. A picture of Megan, her niece, appeared.
How’d he get in there?
“You’ve seen what I can do,” he continued. “Imagine what I could do to her.”
The blood rushed through her temples. Her heart sank. No!
“Of course, that would be merciful,” AV said, flipping through the pictures. “Maybe I’ll have her turned into a deader.”
“I’m going to kill you,” Sidney replied.
“No, Agent Shaw, I am going to kill you.” He rose from his chair, pushing it back, and stretched out his arms. “Both of you. I’ve been waiting to wake you for hours.” He cracked his neck from side to side. “Nighttime is my time.” He crushed her phone in his fist and dropped the remains on the desk.
“Told you he was strong,” Smoke said, straining at his bonds.
Sidney’s heart quickened. What is happening?!
AV started to change. His body stretched and convulsed. Coarse hairs sprouted from his face and arms. Muscle bulged and bone groaned. His purple shirt split at the seams. A short snout protruded from his jaws, and his head stretched toward the ceiling. In seconds, AV went from a man to a full-blown werewolf. Evil and lust lurked behind the yellow eyes that rested on Sidney.
Horrified, she sagged in her seat and turned her head away.
This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This isn’t real!
CHAPTER 35
“What’s the matter?” AV said, his voice now something monstrous—throaty and raw. “Has your sharp tongue dulled?”
Sidney had seen horrible things, both in real life and in the movies, but nothing compared to the supernatural transformation she’d just witnessed. It was unnatural. Evil. Yet somehow … alluring? Utterly afraid, she pulled her knees up into her chest.
“That’s what I like to see,” AV said, coming from around the desk. “The brave woman turned into a little girl again.” He leaned over her. “Your fear feeds my craving.”
She felt his hot breath on her neck. Now she couldn’t deny there was something seductive and powerful about it. Her iron will started to cave.
“Yes, yes, Agent Shaw. Give yourself away.” He brushed her hair aside with his clawed finger and turned her chin toward him. “Experience every pleasure I can offer that needs awakening in the dark corners of your soul.”
He ran his claw down her face, over her chest, and rested his powerful hand on her thigh and squeezed.
She moaned. Dark fires ignited within. She was powerless in the clutch of the uber-man before her.
“Maybe I’ll keep you around after all.” He ran his finger down her thigh. With his claw, he sliced the cord that bound her ankles. He twisted her around and cut the bonds from her wrists.
Her shoulders sagged. Her body was loose. Languid.
He eased her legs apart. “It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it, woman?”
Lost in his power, her head fell over on her shoulder. She wanted him. She loathed him. Her eyes found Smoke’s. He had a fierce look about him. Seeing the sweat bead on his forehead, a glimmer of her senses returned. AV took her chin and turned it away.
“Don’t worry about him—he’s a dead man, but you might have a promising future ahead.”
“Sidney! Close your eyes! Think of pancakes and butterflies.”
What kind of man says that?
“Deaders, kill that fool!” AV ordered. “Feed his corpse to the wolves. I’ll be needing Agent Shaw all to myself.”
Pancakes and butterflies? The flames of passion turned to angry fires. Pancakes and butterflies! She kicked AV’s groin with all her force.
He slammed back into the desk.
“Fool woman!” He lurched forward and backhanded her in the face, spinning her like a top from the chair so that she tumbled over.
Her head rang, and all she saw was bright spots and stars.
AV put his big paw on her head and tugged her up to her toes by the hair. “I’m not big on second chances, Pretty.”
A clamor rose. Smoke, somehow free of his bonds, wrestled against the clutches of the deaders.
“Excuse me,” AV said a moment before he slung Sidney into the wall.
She smacked into it hard and sagged to the floor. Groaning, she forced herself up to her knees and spat blood.
“Run, Sidney!” Smoke urged. “Run!” He slipped away from the deaders only to find himself cornered by AV. The werewolf sneered down on him. Smoke punched him in the throat and poked him in the eye.
AV roared. His claws slashed out.
Smoke twisted away, ducked, and popped up with a knife in his hand. It was the ancient blade that AV had planted in the deader. He cut into the monster’s slashing arms, spun under a powerful blow, and drove the blade home into AV’s abdomen.
The werewolf staggered back against the wall.
“No! No!” AV cried. “You stabbed me with the Blade of Hoknar. Darkness falls. Darkness falls.” He slumped back against the wall, and his eyes began to close.
Sidney got up and wiped the blood from her mouth.
“That was close.”
Smoke skipped away from the deaders, who wandered the room but didn’t attack.
Laughter rumbled in AV’s throat, and his mighty form rose again. He plucked the blade from his stomach and showed a mouthful of sharp teeth.
“Fools.” He hurled the blade at Smoke.
The big man plucked it out of the air, spun, and buried it hilt-deep in the heart of a deader. He ripped it out and said, “Sid, get out of here!”
“Oh please,” AV said, “no one has ever escaped alive.” He wiped the saliva dripping from his fangs off of his chin. “I just need to decide which one of you to kill first.” He chomped his teeth. “Deader, kill her. I shall kill him.” AV sprang from one side of the room to the other. His heavy frame drove the evading Smoke to the ground. His fists came down with speed and power.
Sidney ran for the door.
The dead man cut into her path. Fingers clutched at her waist and tore a belt loop off her pants.
She slugged it in the face.
It leered back into her eyes. Soulless. Empty. Its grabby hand locked around her wrist and slung her to the floor.
<
br /> She hit hard. “Ugh!”
The deader held her in a fierce grip and pummeled her with its free fist. The hammering blows rocked her body.
She kept her shoulder up to absorb what she could and kicked her hardest with her legs. Her heel connected with its jaw.
“Nuh!” it said, sounding almost human.
With an angry shout, Sidney twisted her wrist free and was on her feet again.
The werewolf had Smoke pinned to the wall by the neck. Smoke’s shaky hand was pointing at the desk. The gun. The bullets. Silver nodules caught her eye. She snatched the old wheel gun up. Strong hands grabbed her feet and jerked her to the floor.
“Ulp!”
Crack!
Her head bounced off the edge of the hardwood desk. She saw red.
“No!”
She kicked it in the face.
“No!”
Her heel crushed its nose in.
“NO!”
She ripped her foot out of its grip and scrambled away on all fours. The other deader lay still, with a knife stuck in its chest. She ripped it out and turned just as the deader dove on top of her. She drove the blade into its chest and pushed it off her.
Smoke!
She pushed off the floor. Smoke held on for his life against the werewolf. Sidney plucked a bullet from the desk and loaded it into the chamber. She cocked back the hammer. “Let him go, AV!”
The wolfman froze with the battered Smoke held tightly in his grip and said, “You don’t really think that will work, do you?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“Aren’t you here to arrest me? After all, I’m no good to your handlers if I’m dead. They need the knowledge within this body.”
“Shoot him,” Smoke spat out from busted lips. “Shoot him now.”
“Let him down,” she warned. The adrenaline cleared her mind. She felt in control again.
“Certainly,” AV replied, lowering Smoke’s busted frame to the ground. “But I don’t think you have strong enough cuffs to hold me. Remember what happened the last time. And another thing, silver bullets don’t really kill werewolves.”
“Then why are you doing what I say?”
“Because I enjoy the game.” In a flash, he rocketed by the desk toward the office door.
Sidney fired. Blam!
The wolfman burst through the door with a wounded howl and vanished into the hall.
Sidney peeked down both ways. AV the werewolf was gone.
CHAPTER 36
“That was fast,” Sidney said, rushing over to Smoke. She helped him to his feet. His hair was matted in blood, and his face was swelling. His Kevlar vest was all torn up. “Are you going to make it?”
He straightened up. “I had my doubts.” With a bloody hand, he picked up the other bullets from the table. “Why didn’t you shoot him?”
“They want him alive.”
“They? Don’t let your overzealous sense of duty get me or you killed, Agent Shaw. ” He stepped past her and plucked the knife out of the deader’s chest. He flipped it around and faced her. “He’s a murderer. And murderers must die.” He pointed his finger in her face. “I told you he was a werewolf. Now hand over the gun.”
“No.” She held out her hand. “Hand over the bullets.”
“It’s my gun.”
“I’m not arguing with a twelve-year-old.”
Smoke’s face drew tight as he handed over the bullets. “Fine. Just, the next time you hesitate, remember—he twists people’s heads off!” He made his way into the hall and knelt down by some blood drops on the floor. “Seems you clipped him, and my guess is he didn’t like it.”
“Follow the blood,” she said, loading the bullets into their cylinders. As she made her way down the hall toward the cafeteria, one of the double doors squeaked open. Smoke darted in front of her. A shotgun blast rang out. She flattened on the floor. Aimed her weapon.
In a burst of motion, Smoke jerked one of the pea-coat men through the door and ripped the shotgun from his grasp. He lowered the barrel to between the man’s eyes.
“No, no man! Please, don’t shoot me.”
Smoke kneeled down, pressing the barrel deeper into the man’s face. “Where’s Mister Vaughn?”
“Who?”
Smoke punched him in the gut. “The werewolf.”
“Aw man, aw man, I don’t know!”
“How many others?” Sidney piped in.
“Just me. Just me.”
“Liar,” Sidney said, backing into the cafeteria. There were no signs of anybody anywhere.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Bullets ripped through the air from the other end of the hall.
Smoke dragged the man into the cafeteria.
“Who was that?”
“The other man, Allen. Like me, he stayed to finish you off.” He chuckled. “And if he doesn’t, the others will.”
Smoke looked up at Sid. “We’ve got to go. Time’s wasting.”
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
“Yer gonna get wasted, all right,” the goon said.
Smoke took the shotgun stock and clocked the goon in the jaw. “I hate big talkers.” He nodded at the table. “Get the gear. I’ll cover the hall.”
Sidney moved, picking up pistols and holsters.
Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam!
She whipped around. Smoke was gone. “Dammit.”
He reappeared back inside the door with another shotgun strapped on his shoulder. “Got him.”
She took a moment and caught her breath. Is this really going on? Werewolves and zombie-like men called deaders? She swooned a little.
Smoke wrapped his arms around her waist and steadied her. “We aren’t finished yet. And I think you’re going to have quite a shiner, but I can live with it.”
“Look who’s talking,” she said.
Smoke’s clothes were blood-soaked in some parts.
The cafeteria suddenly became quiet. She remembered what AV had said: no one ever left alive. She took a shotgun from Smoke’s shoulder and pumped the handle.
“Until today.”
“Until what today?”
“Nothing,” she said, looking at the floor. She found AV’s blood. “Let’s go.”
The blood trail led into the darkness of the stairwell. She turned on her flashlight.
Smoke cut in front of her. “You shine. I’ll lead.” He took off up the steps, clearing the first floor and heading up the second flight. He cracked the door open.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
Bullets blasted into the stairwell doors.
“Turn off the light and cover me,” Smoke said.
“Wait.”
He surged through the door.
Sidney laid down shotgun cover fire into the middle of the hall. Shots cracked out from everywhere. Muzzle flashes flared. Shielded behind the door, she cracked off a few more rounds and everything fell silent. Now that it was night, the hallway was almost pitch black. The seconds seemed like minutes as she peered into the shadows.
Pop!
A man cried out. A group of shadows tussled in the hall. Something cracked. Another man screamed.
Blam! Blam!
“It’s clear,” Smoke said, his voice hollow in the blackness of the hall. “Come on. There’s still a trail of blood.”
Just as Sidney eased into the hallway, the fine hairs on her neck rose. She started to turn. A hairy paw clamped down on her shoulder and dug its sharp nails into her skin.
“I’ll take this,” the soft savage voice of the wolfman said, sliding Smoke’s pistol with the silver bullets out of the back of her pants. “Set down your weapons and stop resisting. You don’t know what you’re missing.”
Hot saliva dripped onto her neck, arousing her carnal senses. Compelled to obey, she set the shotgun and pistol down.
“I’m not so bad, Pretty,” AV said, wrapping his powerful arm around her waist. He picked her up off her feet like a child. “Come quietly now and everything will be fine.”
/>
She wanted to believe him. Her rigid body slackened. “No,” she managed to say.
“Yes,” he replied, moving down into the stairwell’s blackness.
In a twisted moment of fate, her terror turned to attraction as she felt herself being carried over the threshold of wickedness. Everything she knew to be right suddenly turned wrong. Reaching deep inside, she found a spark and tried to cry out against her captivating bonds.
AV clamped his hand over her mouth. “Sssh…”
CHAPTER 37
The second-floor doors to the stairwell flung open, and Smoke emerged. He hurled himself down the stairwell, crashing into Sidney and AV. The jolt knocked her loose from the werewolf’s clutches.
“Fool!” AV roared, lashing out and striking Smoke in the chest.
The hardened soldier crashed into the wall. The stairwell lit up with bright barrel flashes.
Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam! Ka-Blam!
Smoke unloaded his shotgun into AV’s chest, rocking the werewolf backward.
Click.
“You’re a dead man!” AV roared.
Sidney crawled through the darkness as she heard heavy blows smacking into flesh. Man and monster cursed and snarled. I have to help! A clatter of metal skidded over the landing. She dove toward it and felt the cool pistol clutched in her fingers.
Whap! Whap! Whap!
Punches and angry howls filled the stairwell. The heavy scuffles and grunts were inseparable. Weapon ready, she rushed into the fray, grabbed a handful of coarse hair, and fired.
Blam!
A shrieking howl split her ears, and a swipe of claws knocked her from her feet. She fired again at the sound of feet fleeing up the stairs.
Blam!
Smoke grabbed her hand and moaned, “Stop! Only three more bullets left.”
They helped each other to their feet. Smoke leaned on her, limping down the stairwell. He looked like he had crawled out of a mine field.
“We need to get you help.”
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files Collector's Set: Books 1-10: Urban Fantasy Shifter Series Page 14