by Nigel Henry
“We need you to shift into a mosquito, fly into the building and make sure the pack is still in there.”
He starts whining, so I crouch down and take his face in both of my hands. “Hey now,” I say firmly. “None of that. You want to be a part of our pack, you’re going to have to be brave. Just fly in and out. Be quick. We’ll handle the rest. Can you do that?”
He lets out a huff. “Okay.”
I ruffle his head. “Good boy!”
He steps back and suddenly he’s gone. It’s not until I hear him buzz past my ear do I realize he shifted.
“Good luck,” I say, hoping he can hear me.
Once he’s gone, there’s nothing for us to do but wait. It’d be easier if Dad wasn’t glaring at me the whole time. Part of me wants to laugh because he’s giving me stink-eye while wearing a Robin mask, so he kind of looks like an unhappy trick-or-treater.
“We’re going to have a long talk when this is over,” he says.
“Honestly, you’d have killed him and then we’d be nowhere,” I argue.
“Can the two of you focus?” Mom says.
“Fine, but she’s grounded.”
Now it’s my turn to huff. “Oh, that is so unfair!”
“Don’t talk to me about fair—”
We all get cut off by Cal’s voice, sounding loudly in our heads. “They’re there. All four of them.”
“Four?” Mom says. “I thought there were only three.”
I shake my head. “Perkins said they were working with someone inside the armored car company, remember?”
“Great,” Dad groans, “We’re going to be outnumbered against a pack of shape-shifting wild dogs. Just great.”
“Come on,” Mom says, “Move it, you two.”
Together, we move across the street filled with windowless brick warehouses. It’s dark around here, which is weird because two blocks away is the High Line, a big park built on an old railroad track. That’s well lit, but I guess money for lights can’t go where tourists don’t.
We arrive at the warehouse in question. There’s a single green door out front. We open it and creep inside. Immediately we fan out in different directions. We don’t speak; it’s too risky when dealing with creatures that have better hearing than us.
Instead, we all rely on the cell trackers we picked up after tangling with the spiders. If anyone gets into trouble, a quick tap on the tracker in our breast pocket will send a signal to the others.
Sweeping the area is rough, given how dark it is. It’d be nice if we had help. I guess it’s time to test out Cal’s mind-reading abilities.
“Hey Cal,” I think, “How about turning into something with night-vision?”
The lights flash on, and suddenly I’m in front of a big, growling dog. A quick glance around shows Mom and Dad facing similar problems.
“No need,” A voice says into our heads. “If you were looking for trouble, you’ve found it.”
I reach for my slingshot, but the dog bares its teeth. “There’s five of us and three of you. Be smart.”
“Five?” I say aloud.
The dog steps aside, revealing a growling husky puppy. “Good job, Cal,” the dog says.
Shit.
Cal betrayed us.
TEN
“BAD DOG!” I say.
Cal continues baring his teeth at me and takes a step forward. I back up, trying to plan my next move.
Dammit, we’re so screwed. Cal played us. The whole, scared puppy routine was just an act to draw us in.
That means I got dog pee on my pants for no good reason.
Damn it all to hell.
“You should’ve left well enough alone,” the big dog, which I’m guessing is Dale, tells us. “We didn’t want to hurt no one. We just wanted the cash. We would’ve been done after today.”
Dad snorts. “You mean you didn’t want to hurt anyone TODAY.” Dale turns to him.
“How’s the shoulder, old man?”
“You know, you should learn to respect your elders,” Dad counters.
“And you should open your eyes. What did you expect to happen when you came here: that you’d sneak in, take us all down while we were sleeping and cart us off to jail?”
“Something like that.”
“Wake up. There’s no prison in the world that can hold us.”
“Outkast, you’re grounded.”
“What?” I say, “You’re blaming me for being trusting?”
“I’m blaming you for trusting the shape-shifter that peed in my house after it helped pull off a string of bank robberies. And when we get out of here, you better believe you’re going to make it up to us.”
“Oh, that is so typical! One thing goes wrong and suddenly it’s all my fault!”
Dale barks. “Oh my God, can you two please shut up so that we can kill you?”
He takes a step forward and I raise up my hands. “Wait! You don’t have to do this!”
“What, afraid, little girl?”
“I wasn’t talking to you, dip-shit, I was talking to Cal.”
“Language!” Mom says.
“Really? Right now? Right now!”
I turn my attention back to Cal, who’s standing next to Dale and trying his best to look ferocious. Of course, he’s failing because he’s a puppy, so it looks kinda silly. It’d be funny, you know, had he not betrayed us.
“Listen, Cal,” I say, “I know you feel like you have to do this to stay with your pack, but think about what I said earlier. You don’t want to hurt people. I know you don’t.”
“I can’t betray my pack,” Cal replies.
“They betrayed you!” I counter. “And I get it; I know you feel like you have to fit in. But family doesn’t leave you on the side of the road when you mess up. Family looks out for each other and friends forgive when you mess up. My pack taught me that.”
Cal pauses for a moment. I hold my breath, hoping that maybe I’m getting through to him. Then he lowers his head.
“I’m sorry. I can’t go against my pack.”
Dammit.
Dale steps forward. “Looks like you’re out of options. Let’s see how long you can survive against the five of us.”
Well, it looks like this is going to end in a fight, and we’re going to have to put Cal down.
Shame, I would’ve liked a dog.
My hand twitches toward my baton.
“Ria?”
Wait, what?
“Private thoughts, remember?”
Ca—
“You’re the only one who can hear me right now. Don’t say anything. Don’t think anything. Just follow my lead.”
Dale crouches. “Goodbye.”
He pounces toward me. Cal launches himself a split-second earlier, but he’s not aiming for me.
He’s aiming for Dale.
Good boy!
The two of them collapse into a pile of fur and teeth. And at that moment the other shifters attack. I draw my baton and smack the snout of the one closest to me. We’re still fighting a bunch of supernatural dogs, but with Cal on our side, it’s four-on-four.
I’ll take those numbers.
Mom and Dad both attack at the same time and the scene turns into chaos. Dogs are charging at us, we’re dodging and hitting muzzles, eyes, paws, whatever comes closest. A dog leaps for my throat and I duck and toss it into the wall. That’s when another one knocks me over.
We both land on the floor and it’s pinned me. Again, it’s snapping at my face, but this one’s not as strong as Dale. I can hold him off.
My baton’s just out of reach. I stretch for it, and as I reach I see Cal facing off with Dale. Cal’s bloody and limping, but he doesn’t look cute anymore. For the first time, he looks ferocious.
Give him hell, puppy.
My fingers wrap around my baton and I bring it up right as the shifter tries to take a bite out of my face. It gets a mouthful of metal instead and I can hear the teeth crack as they clamp down. Still, it gives me an opening and da
mned if I’m not going to use it.
I reach into my pocket, pull out the syringe Mom gave me and jab it into the shifter. It immediately goes limp. It collapses onto my chest and, Jesus is it heavy. I don’t know what shifters are eating, but man they grow up strong.
I roll it off me and get up to see Mom and Dad taking care of their shifters. That just leaves Cal and Dale. Dale’s got Cal pinned down and is biting his front paw. You can hear their mental barbs going back and forth.
“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY YOUR PACK?” Dale is shouting.
“I’ve got a new one!” Cal responds.
Remind me never to question this little guy’s loyalty again.
But, you know, I’ve gotta save him first.
I run over and introduce Dale’s face to my Doc Marten. I kick him hard, and it’s enough to knock him off.
“Bad dog!” I shout.
“Go to hell, bitch.”
Dale charges at me, but not before Cal can knock him over again. Dad joins the fray, slamming a baton into Dale’s face before jamming the tranquilizer into his neck.
Dale backs up, whimpering. “What? What did you—”
And then he’s out.
Mom and Dad come over to check on me. “Are you all right?” Mom asks.
I nod and look over to Cal, who’s laying on the floor whimpering again. Gently, I scoop him up, and he raises a sad eye toward me. “I was good, right?”
“Yeah, buddy,” I say, hugging him close. “You were totally good.”
ELEVEN
INSPECTOR PERKINS CAME through for us big time. Turns out that after the spider incident he’s been at work converting an old station house in Staten Island to a jail that could hold supernaturals, so he was more than happy to whisk away the shifters after we gave him the call.
Cal suffered a couple of bad bites on his legs and paws and re-opened the wound on his chest, but the emergency vet we took him to said he’d live. He just needed rest. So to that end, I tried to not make too much noise on the ride home.
Of course, knowing my Dad, there’s no way he wasn’t going to have it out with me. Sure enough, the moment we got Cal inside the crate and put the weapons away he started to guilt me.
“You know we can’t keep him, right?” He says as we descend the attic stairs.
“What do you mean we can’t keep him? He saved our butts tonight. We’d have totally been dog food if he hadn’t taken the bite for us.”
“He’s not a dog, Ria. He’s a shape-shifter. We have no idea what he’s capable of or what he’s going to be like when he gets older. How do you know he won’t turn out like Dale?”
“He won’t,” I counter.
“But he might.”
“He won’t,” I repeat.
“I’m not taking that risk.”
“There is no risk! He won’t be like Dale!”
“And how do you know that?”
“Because Dale didn’t have you and Mom!”
That shuts him up, so I continue. “Cal’s scared and alone. He needs a family, someone to teach him right and wrong. That’s how I felt after … after Patrick.”
Dad looks down at the mention of my dead brother, and Mom comes over and puts a hand on his shoulder.
“I was so confused and scared when we lost Patrick,” I tell them. “Sometimes I felt like I was going to do something crazy. But I didn’t because you guys were there for me. We figured it out together. We can do that for Cal. I know we can.”
He and Mom exchange looks. “Please,” I say. “He’s not a criminal, and we can’t abandon him.”
Mom sighs. “I guess, what’s the point of doing this if we can save as many lives possible?”
Dad hangs his head and exhales. “Ugh, fine.”
I jump and down. “Oh my God, oh my God, do you mean it? We can keep him!”
“Yes,” Mom says, “but you’re the one who cleans up after his poop.”
“Deal! Let’s go break the news!”
We head back to the attic and find Cal curled up in a ball, his eyes peeking out at us from just above his tail. “Please don’t send me away,” he begs. “I’ll be good! I promise!”
I smile as I open the crate. “Come on out, Cal. Take a sniff around.”
He takes a few tentative steps out before looking up. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re going to need to get used to the place. This is your home now.”
Cal’s tail starts wagging a mile a minute and he limps around in a circle. “Do you mean it? I can stay?”
“You can stay,” Dad says. “Welcome to your new pack, Cal. From now on, you’re a Miller.”
Cal howls in joy and jumps up, knocking Dad over and licking his face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“First rule,” Dad says, “don’t ever do that again!”
DID YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nigel Henry writes gripping fantasy novels about monsters that want to beat up the world, heroes who have to beat the monsters, and distress-free damsels who can beat up everyone.
As a child, Nigel was the boy who constantly walked into street signs because his nose was buried in a mystery, adventure, or fantasy book. As an adult, he’s managed to get his sign-bumping down to “only occasionally.”
Nigel is the author of The Demons of Sedona epic fantasy series and Ria Miller and the Monsters, an urban fantasy adventure series. By day, Nigel is an award-winning digital journalist. He and his wife live in New York City.
www.nigelshenry.com
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ALSO BY NIGEL HENRY
Ria Miller and the Monsters
Ria and the Revenant (Book 0.5)
Ria’s Web of Lies (Book 1)
Ria’s Bank Job (Book 1.5)
Book 2 coming December 2017
The Demons of Sedona
The Healer’s Pact (Book 1)
From Death (Book 2)
Death Walker (Book 3)
Daywalker (Book 4)
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Did you like what you read?
About the Author
Also by Nigel Henry