by Leo Romero
Seamus gave me a nod. “Aye, I know. So what?”
“Well, besides the fact that the cartel are armed to the teeth and won’t appreciate us trespassing on their stronghold, these guys are werewolves. And not just any werewolves, they’re super werewolves. You know what that means?”
Seamus juts gave me a blank stare.
“It means that when they turn, they don’t just become wolves, they become wolves in human form, so that’s seven foot tall wolfmen who can sprint on four legs and fight on two. Claws on their fingers that make Freddy Krueger look blunt.”
Seamus’ grin drooped. “Oh.”
I gave him a nasty grin and nodded. “Yeah. Now me and the cartel ain’t exactly friendly since I had their leader’s ears blown out by a siren when he tried to kill me! I don’t think he’s gonna be too pleased when I come along and ask to check his drug factory for leprechaun gold.”
“But where better place to hide it, boyo? No one will think of stealing it.”
“Apart from us. Right now!”
Seamus’ head dropped. “Oh. Didn’t think of that.”
I shook my head. “I swear I could beat your brains in!”
The rain came to a sudden stop. I looked up at the night sky. A fat full moon shone down on everything. I groaned and slapped my thighs. “Great, it’s a full moon too, which means their powers are gonna be supercharged.” I puffed my cheeks in exasperation. I studied the warehouse. It was three stories high. “So, where did you stash it?”
“The attic.”
“Of course! Where else! So, not only have we gotta get in the warehouse, we’ve gotta get up to the attic and back out again without being noticed.”
“Looks that way, Gabriel.” He spoke in a timid voice.
“I’ll never forgive you for this, Shay!”
“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” he said, tugging at my arm. “Please don’t be angry with me. I was just protecting me gold.”
I shrugged him off. “If we make it out of there alive, I might forgive you.”
“Oh thank ye, Gabriel.”
I stuck a finger in the air. “I said ‘might’!”
“Oh, it’s good enough for me. I promise we’ll get me gold and be outta that infernal place in a jiffy and I’ll ne’er put me gold in there again.”
“You know that really makes me feel a whole lot better, Shay.” I turned my attention back to the warehouse. There were two ways to play it. Go in there all guns blazing or stealthy. Seamus was small enough to get in on his own unnoticed, but I didn’t trust him. If he got hold of his gold, he might double-cross me. Yeah, he had to hold up his end of the bargain, but once a lep has his gold in his hands, his head can get all screwy. If I was there with him then I could remind him of his debt to me. I didn’t want him out of my sight. So we both had to go in.
Now, if we stormed in, it meant summoning creatures strong enough to take on a giant pack of super werewolves on a full moon. Werewolves’ weakness was their ears. Their hearing was super-sensitive, which was why I usually used sirens against them. One hit of a siren blast on those delicate eardrums and they were out for the count. But now that I didn’t have a siren in my Deck of Death nor Aurora with me, it meant my best choice of creature was not available. Minotaurs, barbarians, franken-creatures and the like would put up a good fight, but they were susceptible to werewolf claws.
I had bigger creatures to call on, but I didn’t wanna risk them trashing the warehouse and maybe the gold in the process. Besides, I’d rather not agitate the cartel. Even though they were a major pain in the ass for Chicago with their crystal meth crap flooding the streets, they were a formidable foe. They were already pissed at me, but pissing them off even more and effectively declaring war on them by bombarding their turf with creatures from the Void wasn’t a good strategy if I wanted to live past next week.
No, the best thing that could happen right now would be to get to the attic, grab the gold then get back out to my Harley without anyone even knowing we were there.
So stealth it was. “How did you get in there the first time?” I asked Seamus.
“I hopped past everyone and up the drainpipe into the broken roof window and then...”
I held up a hand to stop him.
He shook his head. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think I can crawl up a drainpipe without getting noticed or it breaking under my weight.”
“It’s a good point ye raise, Gabriel.”
“We’ll have to think of another way.” I scanned the grounds. There was a lot of junk loitering around. Old tires, shopping carts, pipes. Things to hide behind. Or to become.
I nodded my head. I focused some light magic in my palm, clicked my fingers and jabbed my finger at Seamus. Seamus quivered for a moment like someone had walked over his grave. “What are ye doing to me?”
“Getting you covered,” I replied as my trick of the light masking spell went to work. His image flickered and reformed into an old tire.
The top of the tire bowed left and right. “Ooh, boyo! This is amazing, so it is. I’m a tire.”
I clicked my fingers along my own body and I became a pile of rubble. Seamus stared right at me. “Yikes! That’s some fine work, Gabriel.”
“Thanks,” I said, checking out my brick arms and old pipe legs. They looked pretty good. “Now, follow my lead. When I’m still, you keep still too. I don’t know how long this trick of the light will hold out. These guys aren’t the smartest, but they’re no fools either. The trick might not work on them at all. Keep low and blend in and we might just make it to your gold.”
“Ooh, I can’t wait!”
“Just keep it cool, Shay. Okay?”
“Righteo, boyo.”
I shook my head, my rubble rustling. I prayed the lep’s excitement didn’t give the game away. “All right, follow me.” I ambled up to the wall, had a quick glance left and right and leaped up. Anyone seeing a bunch of rubble jumping over a wall would no doubt think their beer had been laced with LSD. Thankfully, people were in short supply around here.
I made it over the wall and into the warehouse grounds where I stopped and looked around.
Before I had a chance, Seamus landed on my head. “Ow!”
“Sorry, Gabriel,” he said, as his tire form bounced away.
“Watch it!” I snarled. I scanned the area. Guys were still patrolling. They hadn’t noticed the tire or rubble that had come to life. Good. “Okay, follow me,” I told Seamus.
I began shuffling across the cracked asphalt, stopping every now and then if a guard turned our way. Seamus followed up behind, managing to keep his cool. Hoped it held out. We made it halfway across the courtyard when a guard appeared from behind a steel container. He sauntered right into our path while lighting the cigarette he held between his lips. I came to an abrupt halt, Seamus bumping into me. I held my breath and became perfectly still, my heart beating hard against my ribs. It was like a game of musical statues and the music had just been switched off. The guard came to a stop as well as if he was playing too. We faced each other off, all of us frozen in time. He narrowed his eyes, the flame on his lighter dancing on the air an inch from his cigarette. His eyebrows came together as he studied us. I could feel my legs trembling. This guy saw that something was up, he didn’t know what exactly, but his hardened instincts told him something wasn’t right about that pile of rubble and old tire. I rolled my eyes to the side and understood why. We were sitting in the middle of nowhere, totally out of place. The guy pulled the cigarette out from between his lips, his mouth becoming a small O. He leaned his head and lighter in closer, using the flame to get a better look at us, his eyes narrowing even more as he scrutinized harder.
Panic erupted in my mind. I prayed my trick of the light would hold out. Just a little more. Just a little.
He took a step toward us. My fight or flight instinct triggered. I needed to take this guy out or he’d raise the alarm. I watched his eyes widen in shock. We were rumbled. I went to go for my De
ck of Death, when a voice shouted, “Raul!”
Our guy spun away to where the voice came from. Another guy was now standing in the warehouse doorway.
“Jefe wants you,” the guy told Raul.
Raul gave us a quick final glance, then marched off toward the warehouse.
My chest collapsed in relief.
“I almost pooped myself, boyo!” Seamus whispered to me.
He wasn’t the only one. I gave Raul a few seconds to make it to the warehouse before I got going again. This time in more of a hurry. I veered away from the front door toward the side. I’d noticed a smashed window on the first floor. Our way in. We made it across the courtyard to the warehouse where I went and stood next to a dumpster pushed up against the wall.
Seamus came and joined me. “What now?” he asked.
“We get in that window,” I told him. I checked both ways then scrambled up onto the dumpster and began climbing the wall up to the window, trying to be as quick as possible. There were plenty of nooks and crannies to get my feet and fingers into. I hoped nobody noticed the rubble and tire scaling the wall. I made it to the window where I hauled myself through, landing on the concrete floor beyond. Seamus came bundling through the window landing flat on the floor beside me. I got up on my haunches and looked around. It was a massive, empty floor, stone pillars holding up the floor above. And that’s where we needed to go.
I clicked my fingers, removing the trick of the light from us both. Now inside, we needed new disguises. I turned Seamus into a cardboard box and myself into an old, broken crate. At the far end of the room were the stairs leading up and down.
“Up there is where me gold is,” Seamus whispered to me.
I nodded my head and set off, two boxes come to life and moving around. Holy moly.
I kept looking around me. The coast was clear. I didn’t know what was going on downstairs or how many guys there were down there, but as long as they didn’t come up and interfere with us, I didn’t care.
We made it halfway to the stairs, the sound of our feet scratching across the cement echoing all around us, my heart thudding hard. Hope rose inside me the closer we got to those stairs. I felt a grin emerge on my face, when the sound of feet clanging on metal began playing out. I came to a stop. A head popped up from the stairs below, cigarette between his lips. Raul.
He sauntered up the stairs onto the first floor, submachine gun hanging from his shoulder, bottle of beer in hand.
I growled to myself. What did this asshole want up here?
Both me and Seamus went into statue mode again as Raul came over to where we were and stopped ahead of us. My heart picked up pace. I prayed he didn’t notice anything. His eyes fell on me and for a split second, I thought he was about to rumble us again. Instead, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed. After a brief moment, he began talking in Spanish. From the dopey voice he put on, I guessed he was talking to his girlfriend. Great. He stood there yakking, facing us, taking sips of his beer and drags on his cigarette. He was so close I could smell his cheap cologne mixed with cigarette smoke.
I remained as I was, hoping he’d finish his conversation and leave us alone. But he just kept on talking and laughing. I growled to myself. How long was this guy gonna talk for? He kept going, smoking and drinking instead of being on patrol. Lazy asshole.
Pretty soon, the tension built up inside me. It wasn’t easy being perfectly still and I was worried about Seamus. How long could he hold out?
Raul spoke some more, his laughter like razors on my mind. Then finally, he sent a kiss down the line and ended the call. He threw his cigarette butt down to the ground and stamped it out. My heart began to ease off. He finished off the last of his beer and turned to leave. Relief flowered in my stomach. At last. Now off you go, asshole!
Raul set off for the stairs. As he went, he threw his empty bottle behind him, aiming for the cardboard box, which of course was Seamus. I watched in horror as that bottle arced through the air. It landed on Seamus and bounced away. Seamus let out a small yelp.
Raul came to a stop.
Oh no.
He whipped his head to the side, a frown of confusion embedded in his face. He stared at box-Seamus with an open mouth. And then he approached it, confusion and intrigue all over his face. I growled to myself. Raul was gonna see through that trick of the light any second and it would melt right off Seamus. I watched him crane his neck right into Seamus, studying the open flaps of his box, where his bottle should’ve landed. Not bounced off. His nose twitched, his werewolf sense of smell kicking in. No doubt the aroma of a leprechaun that hadn’t bathed in who knew how long was filling his nostrils. My instincts went into overdrive. My eyes landed on that empty beer bottle. I crept over to it, Raul’s attention solely on that cardboard box. I snatched it up by the neck, just as Raul’s eyes widened in recognition. Seamus’ masking spell frazzled away and the lep was now standing there, a clownish grin spread across his face. Raul gasped and raised his gun.
Seamus threw his hands over his face. “No—”
Raul went to pull the trigger. I brought that bottle down on the back of his head. There was a hollow pop as it smashed to pieces. The blow sent Raul down before he could shoot. He landed on the concrete in a heap. And stayed where he was. I watched him with hot eyes, giving him a poke with the tip of my boot just to make sure he was out for the count.
Seamus grabbed his chest. “Thank ye, Gabriel. I thought I was a goner for sure.”
“Not yet, buddy. But we will be if anyone finds Raul here. We better get up there quick.” I raced for the stairs, my head shifting in its socket, paranoid of anyone else coming up here. I hit the metal steps, wincing at the clang of my footfalls. Behind me, smaller sounds echoed out from Seamus as he made his way up the steps. I went on my tiptoes, sneaking up them like a burglar. We entered the darkness at the summit, an old, musty aroma permeating the air. I fully entered the pitch-black of the attic where I reached out a hand to steady myself; it touched ice-cold brick and I shivered. With my free hand, I focused light magic. I clapped my hands together and light bloomed from my palms. I threw up my hands and the light burst outward, lighting up the attic, the beams bouncing around off everything and back again.
A bunch of junk layered in thick dust now stared back at us. Old boxes, broken glass, sections of metal. Severed mannequin limbs lay strewn around like it was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
As I took everything in, Seamus scampered onto the attic floor. He began frantically scratching around a creepy old-fashioned baby carriage covered in cobwebs and dust. He grabbed the front handlebar and hoisted himself up onto the carriage.
“What are you doing, Shay?” I asked, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he reached inside the carriage and threw something over his shoulder. A plastic doll with one eye missing landed by my feet. I cringed at the disturbing smile now beaming up at me. I stepped away from it and moved next to the carriage, watching that doll the whole way. I turned my attention back to Seamus, who was gibbering to himself like a gibbon. He pulled away the dust-caked blanket covering the carriage interior and slung it away. His whole body and face lit up in a bright-white glow.
His eyes bulged and he gasped. “Me gold!” he said in a breathless voice. He reached down and grabbed two handfuls of the stuff and raised it up to his face. His irises flashed white. I stared down at his hands. Golden-white coins rained down between his fingers. A grin crept up my cheek. Leprechaun gold. White gold. It was as beautiful as a cascading waterfall at sunrise, the sun glinting off the surface of the water like diamonds. I nodded in appreciation. Bracken was gonna go crazy for this stuff.
“Okay, Shay. Let’s get—”
“Me gold!” Seamus screeched, stopping me mid-sentence.
I cringed, spinning my head around.
“Me gold!” he screeched again, throwing his head down into the contents of the carriage.
I whipped my head around to the stairwell. They’ll hear him! What’s he doing?
> He popped his head back up from within the gold, his eyes rolling in ecstasy. “Me gold!” he repeated in that high-pitched wail like a crazed hyena, pumping his fists on the air.
“Seamus!” I snapped in a hot whisper. “Stop! They’ll hear!”
He got up and began dancing on the carriage. “Me gold! Me gold! One, two, three, four! Five, six, seven, count em some more!”
Oh crap! I had to shut the little bastard up or the cartel would be alerted. We still needed to get outta there. I went and grabbed him by the waist and he kicked me away like he was a mule. I staggered back, my ribs aching.
He continued dancing. “Five, six, seven, eight! What do we appreciate? Gold! Me gold!”
A burst of anger shot through me. I stomped over to him, my hands bared like claws. Man, I was gonna take this lep to the cleaners. I was about to grab him when raised voices from the floor below stopped me in my tracks. Before I knew what was happening, the clang of feet on metal reverberated all around us. I stared at Seamus in horror. Someone was coming up.
Seamus continued with his ecstatic wails regardless. I turned left and right, my mind split in two. I knew we had to hide, but trying to drag Seamus away from the gold would be like tearing a hunk of meat from a lion. Tricks of the light would be no good as Seamus couldn’t keep still. My mind whirled in a million directions. I literally had seconds to think.
A head popped up from the stairwell. He laid eyes on me. “There’s someone up here!” he shouted back down.
I made my move. With Seamus still sitting atop it, I grabbed the carriage by the handle, whipped it around and charged at the stairwell. By the time Seamus realized he was on the move, I’d reached the stairwell. “What are ye doing?” Seamus screamed.
I didn’t stop. With a juddering roar, I bombed down the stairs, using the carriage as a battering ram. I caught a glimpse of the guy’s eyes widening before I slammed the carriage right into him. The blow caused him to reel off to the side where he fell over the railing and hit the concrete below.