by Gini Koch
It was clear he knew I was awake, because he looked amused. I did the flip and roll thing, which flipped me onto the floor. He helped me up and I figured it was time to go to human form, since I’d embarrassed myself enough in wolf form.
“You okay?” He sounded concerned but still amused.
“I think so. Are you one of Ralph’s doctors?” Right-side up, he was pretty cute. Not too bulky but extremely sinewy, big brown eyes, nice smile. He wasn’t Jack, but then again, hopefully that meant he wasn’t also carrying around evil incarnate in his soul. I considered that maybe I should spend more time cruising the medical personnel, then reminded myself that I was here for Ralph, not to pick up one of the people trying to save his unlife.
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “I’m a patient. Just wanted to get out of the room for a minute.” He let go of me and sat on one of the couches. “Sorry, I’m not supposed to be standing for too long right now.”
I considered sitting next to him -- he was in the middle of his couch, arms stretched out on the back of it, one leg crossed over the other. He looked good in this position, but picking up on one of Ralph’s fellow patients didn’t say “I care about you and I’m sorry” any more than making goo-goo eyes at the medical staff did. I checked the clock. It shared that it was six o’clock, but since it was an old-fashioned dial clock, there was no a.m. or p.m. and I was far too out of it still to be able to offer a good guess. “Is it day or night?”
“Night, I think.” He had a nice voice, deeper than you’d expect from just looking at him. I reminded myself that I was not looking. Sort of.
“Good, then I didn’t sleep for twenty-four hours straight.” Not that I couldn’t have used it. I sat back down on my nest and tried not to notice the drool marks on the pillow. I had to figure I’d been quite the sight, particularly if you were looking for a good laugh. “So, what’re you in for?”
“Bad…accident.” He cocked his head at me. “Why are you here?”
My throat felt tight. “A…friend of mine got hurt and I just…I wanted to make sure he was going to be okay.”
“Ah. That’s nice of you.” He sounded a little disappointed.
“I guess.”
His eyebrow raised. “You guess?”
“It’s my fault he’s in here.” I heaved a big sigh, which I hoped meant I wasn’t going to start crying again. “I screwed up, big time, and he paid the price for it.”
“You’re Enforcement,” he said with a shrug. “It happens.”
I didn’t ask how he knew. It wasn’t the first time someone had recognized me even though I didn’t know them well or at all. Besides, I’d been out, so for all I knew he’d just asked someone who the weirdo was sleeping in the waiting room like it was a kennel.
“It shouldn’t have happened. If I’d been paying attention, really paying attention, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“How is that?” He didn’t sound accusatory or even salaciously interested. He sounded genuine.
Put it down to hunger, exhaustion, heartache, or guilt, but I opened my mouth and the whole story poured out. He nodded, asked the right questions at the right time, and pretty soon he had the whole thing. “So, now Ralph’s at death’s door and I’ve given the Adversary all he needs to destroy us.”
“You couldn’t have known,” he said gently. “Besides, you were being set up by the best.”
“That helps Ralph exactly how?”
He gave me a long look. “You know, he’s Enforcement, too. He knew the risks. And it sounds like you think he’s in love with you. Any male who isn’t willing to die to protect his female really isn’t worth keeping around.”
I couldn’t hold his gaze. Rehashing it all hadn’t made me feel better -- it had confirmed that I’d been blithely clueless. “I fell for it, by falling for Jack. So I’ve been stupid for at least a year, and the Gods and Monsters know what he managed to do while I was mooning over him.”
He chuckled. “From what it sounds like, Jack was a sleeper.”
I looked up. “A sleeper?”
“Sure. An agent programmed and put into place. He doesn’t know he’s an agent until he’s triggered. Then, once he is, he reverts to the programming. In some cases, sleepers can have moments when the programming takes over and their conscious mind doesn’t know it. I could go on, but there’ve been a lot of movies about things like this.”
“But there’s no way to know.”
“Sure there is. The angels didn’t know what was wrong with him, just that something was. That says sleeper to me. He bothered Ken and plenty of others, heck, he even bothered Sexy Cindy, as you call her.” He grinned. “Not the most subtle of street names. But no one could put their paw onto what was wrong with him. Again, that says sleeper to me. If Martin and Black Angels One and Two couldn’t spot what was wrong with Jack, you certainly couldn’t have known, you don’t have the psychic skills.”
There was something wrong with what he’d said, but I couldn’t put my paw on it. “I suppose. But that doesn’t help Ralph.”
“You in love with him?”
It was so straightforward I was almost taken aback. “I don’t know.”
“But you think you should be, because he’s in love with you?” He seemed intent with this question. I wasn’t sure if it indicated general or specific interest and figured all the recent emotional trauma with Jack and confusion about Ralph had me so turned around that I probably wouldn’t be able to tell, anyway.
“Sort of. But that’s not really it. I feel like I’ve never given him a chance and maybe that was part of the overall plan, too, you know? Maybe if we hadn’t stopped running in packs, things would be different between me and Ralph.”
“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you were supposed to come around to it this way.”
“Maybe Ralph won’t want to speak to me ever again and this entire conversation will be moot.” I didn’t add that maybe Ralph was going to die, which would make the conversation even more pointless and a lot more painful.
“So you think he’s going to decide that you’re not worth it, just because he got hurt?” He sounded annoyed. Great.
“I don’t know. I mean, I’d understand if he did. Wouldn’t you?”
“No. Wolves are monogamous. That includes when they make mistakes.” He stood up. “I think you should stop worrying and just relax.”
I rolled my eyes as I stood up, too. “Thanks for the advice.” I was about to add something sarcastic when a nurse raced in. Like Nurse Nancy, I’d seen her around but didn’t really know her.
She gasped in what sure sounded like relief. “There you are!” She grabbed my waiting room buddy’s arm. “You need to get back into bed, excellent recovery or not.”
He pulled gently out of her grasp. “I’ll get back there myself, I promise.”
She gave an exasperated grunt. “Your kind drive me crazy,” she muttered. “Fine. I’ll tell the doctors and your superior officers.” Interesting. I didn’t know him, so he couldn’t be Enforcement. I tried to think if we had Special Ops in the vicinity and couldn’t come up with any activity I knew about.
“Is Ralph going to be okay?” I asked before she could leave the room. “Ralph Rogers?”
The nurse gave me a look that said I was really weird. “Yes. Obviously. Though he needs to rest.”
“Excuse me? What do you mean ‘obviously’?”
She shook her head. “Special Agent Rogers, the doctors want you back in bed, pronto.” With that she stomped out.
And I stared, with my mouth open.
He grinned. “Surprise.”
Chapter 62
I stood there, still staring, as shock ran through my entire body. “Who are you?” I knew, but some things you wanted to hear live and confirmed.
He laughed. “You heard her. Vic, relax. It’s okay.”
“You…you….” I got a hold of myself. “You jerk!” He looked taken aback. I stepped closer and poked my finger into his chest for emphasis. “You sat th
ere, listening to me tell the story that you already knew about, listening to me wax rhapsodic about you, and you never said a thing.” I was growling. “I ought to put you right back into that hospital bed.”
“The doctors would be happy if you did,” he said easily. “I thought you’d recognize my voice.”
“You don’t sound like you do in wolf or werewolf form, you unutterable jackass! None of us do! And I’ve never seen you in human form, ever. Name someone in all of Necropolis Enforcement who has.”
Ralph shrugged. “The Count. And, before he died, Black Wolf.”
My jaw was back to hanging open. It didn’t help that I also had tears in my eyes.
Ralph closed my mouth gently. “I’m Special Ops, Vic. I have been for almost double the time you’ve been undead. But for the last two hundred and some years, I’ve had one assignment and one assignment only.”
“What was that?” My voice was a whisper. Did I know anything about anyone?
“Protecting the one being likely to be able to stop this time’s Adversary. Protecting you.” He shook his head. “I had the freedom to do that job in any way I saw fit. And I saw fit to do it like Black Wolf told me to -- as a wolf, not a human.”
I felt my bottom lip start to tremble. “Why all the werewolf rights stuff, then?”
He smiled. “You’re right. I’m a werewolf fanatic, Ralph Rogers, werewolf with a cause. I want our kind allowed to do what we do best. I want us no longer afraid to be seen as werewolves.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m still me. As you accurately described me, kind of a dork.”
“Kind of a dork who just managed not to tell me who I was pouring my heart out to for like an hour?” I was working hard to hold onto the anger. It seemed so much better than letting the tears out. Memory waved and reminded me of the last part of our conversation. “And you had the nerve to ask me if I was in love with you, and you aren’t clear why I’m upset?”
He growled and it sent a different kind of shock up and down my spine. I’d never heard Ralph growl like this before. It wasn’t threatening -- it was sexy, deep-seated sexy, the kind of growl that made my butt start moving in that tail-wagging way.
I opened my mouth to try to say something, he grabbed me by my upper arms, pulled me to him, and kissed me, still growling. I tried to resist it, but in about two seconds I’d melted against him while his kiss and growl both got deeper. I managed to keep my cool, if by that I mean I didn’t rip his clothes off. I just pawed at him like I was trying to climb up his body. I was proud -- I kept both feet on the ground. Well, one foot, anyway.
The possibility of our consummating the relationship right here and now was increasing in likelihood when I heard someone give an exasperated sigh. “Mister Rogers, this is not the way the doctors want you resting.” I decided I really didn’t like this nurse. She’d sounded a lot nicer when she’d first found him in here.
Ralph ended our kiss slowly, giving me some time to sort of get myself under control. I only whined a little. “Coming.”
Well, not quite yet, but it’d been close. “When does Nurse Nancy come back on duty?” The base of my tail wanted a quick word, and that word was “mister”, as in, why had she called Ralph that this time, when she’d used his title before?
The nurse gave me a dirty look. “No idea. Why?” I examined her. No nametag. But she’d had on one before, I just hadn’t bothered to look at her name.
“I like her better than you.” I looked closely at her. Eyes were just a little wrong. Everything was just a tiny bit different from when she’d been in here only minutes before. “I like her a lot better than you, as a matter of fact.” I didn’t question the instinct that said to hit her, I just went with it.
My fist slammed into her face and she went flying. I switched to werewolf form as she hit the wall and also changed -- into a being with huge bat-wings.
I got my jaws on her throat while I heard Ralph shouting that we had a loose fallen angel. I hoped he was using an intercom of some kind and wasn’t going to get involved, because it didn’t take genius to guess she was here to kill him, not me.
Angels are hard to kill. Fallen ones are even harder. But she’d waited a little too long and I wasn’t in nearly the bad emotional or physical shape I’d been in hours, even minutes, before. I was still in a form of shock from everything that had happened, but I’d fought the Adversary one-on-one recently and one fallen angel chick wasn’t a real challenge after that.
Plus, I’d spent many an hour up at the University Library, going through every edition of “How to Dust Dangerous Minions” written by a variety of heroes over the ages. There were a lot of chapters on how to deal with fallen angels and they all agreed on one thing -- strip the wings from the body first, sever the head from the body second. Do it right and you wouldn’t need step three.
Did my flip around to the back while still keeping her neck in my jaws maneuver. Used my claws to rake at her wings. Ignored her clawing me back. We were in a hospital, after all. If I needed to get fixed up after this I wouldn’t have far to go.
I heard the sound of running feet and a variety of beings raced into the room. I was a little preoccupied, but I did spot Sexy Cindy and Freddy in the group. She had a spray can which she aimed and emptied right into the fallen angel’s face.
How Evil Fairy Repellent would be useful in this situation I had no idea, but it seemed to stun my opponent enough for me to get the upper claw. I wrenched my head and heard her neck snap. Good, but not good enough, and her wings were still attached, though much worse for wear.
“Vic, jump now!” Ralph shouted in a voice that didn’t really brook argument.
And I didn’t argue. I leaped off, up and over. I felt something swish by my tail as I flipped. I saw Merc swing an ax and cut off the fallen angel’s wings while L.K. did the same with her head. Apparently others had read up on fallen angel destruction. I got the distinct feeling these two were over bus driving as their main pursuit.
I didn’t stick the landing, but instead gracefully slammed right into Ralph. I was afraid I’d hurt him, but he didn’t seem too rocked by it. I switched back to human as he helped me up. “Nice one. Thanks for the save.” He kept his arms around me. I didn’t mention it. And my arms were around his waist purely in the interest of not falling over.
“I kind of owed you.” I didn’t know what else to say. There were a lot of other beings in the room and I wasn’t sure if that one kiss had been just to see what it was like before he trotted off into the sunset.
“Is that why you kissed me?” he asked softly. I wasn’t prepared to swear to anything, but he looked like he was trying to act casual and brave. But his eyes were sad and disappointed.
“Well, you kissed me.” Hey, it was true. “But that’s not why I kissed you back.”
He swallowed. “Why did you?”
I heard a dramatic sigh before I could answer. “Because she’s finally seen what you look like on two legs.” I looked over my shoulder to see Maurice saunter into the room. He shook his head. “I told you to go human a century ago, Ralphie. But did you listen?” He looked around. “What a mess. I hate to interrupt, but we do have a situation.”
“You’re not interrupting,” Ralph said, sounding very disappointed.
Maurice rolled his eyes. “She thinks you’re hot, stop acting hangdog.”
I looked back and forth between them. “I thought you two didn’t like each other.”
Ralph shrugged. “It was easier to deal with you that way.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Maurice sighed again. “Ralphie didn’t want you compromised, Vicster. However, not exactly being a wolf of the world, he somehow felt that you thinking we couldn’t stand each other was a good way to protect you.” He shook his head. “The things I’ve had to put up with over the decades. Specifically the whining. No being whines quite like a werewolf in love.”
“Are you Special Ops, too?” I was prepared for Maurice to say yes. Maybe the entire team was
Special Ops. Maybe all of Necropolis Enforcement was there as an illusion for me, the clueless idiot.
Maurice snorted. “Hardly. I just found Ralphie a little…secretive and checked him out carefully, a long time ago.”
“He thought I was hiding that I was gay,” Ralph said flatly.
“He’s not,” Maurice reassured, though if the kiss had been any indicator, I didn’t need the confirmation. “However, what he is is Minion Target Number One. As I see you realized.”
“Why are they trying to kill Ralph now?”
This time everyone in the room gave me the “really?” look. “I don’t know,” Sexy Cindy said, sarcasm overly evident. “Maybe it’s because the dude’s finally gotten you to look at him as more than an annoyance?” I couldn’t argue. Ralph’s arms were still around me and I hadn’t exactly let go of him, either.
“Could we have maybe one minute alone?” Ralph asked. “Perhaps while everyone else cleans up the dead lesser minion?”
“Not lesser,” Merc said quietly. “I think we just offed Enepsigos.”
The room was quiet. She’d been very powerful, not up to the Three A’s level, but close. “Uh, yay team.”
“Thanks, Vic,” L.K. said with a morose chuckle. “You know what this means?”
“We’re really popular?”
“There’s a convergence point open,” Maurice said. “We’ll advise the Count while you two get your situation taken care of.” I opened my mouth but he put his hand up. “It wasn’t a guess. I’m here because there’s a convergence point open. Three guesses which one and the first two don’t count. Beings are advised. Trust me when I say you two getting your one minute of requested alone time is probably a good use of time and leave it at that.” He spun on his heel and flounced out.
The others followed him, taking the dead body and severed wings and head with them.
Ralph sighed. “Back in action.”
“Not you. You need to rest and get well.”
He stroked my hair and the side of my face. “I am well. And I’m also not letting you face all of this without me.”