by Holly Rutan
I barked, unhappy. My shift had pushed further than usual, and I could remain standing upright only with concentration. I leaned forward to place my front feet on the ground for balance, and then continued moving that way, dipping every third or fourth step to keep myself stable. The current pounded through my mind, trying to drag me under.
The next house on the row appeared normal save for the limp forms of several mages draped over the old chairs on the porch. They were all alive, so I decided not to be concerned. If they dwelled on Valerio Street, they were probably long gone anyway.
The third house also appeared normal, but the fourth had imploded and now seemed to be some sort of massive burrow. A huge mound of dirt and debris formed an entrance that looked like a gigantic anthill. I shuddered to think of what might be living inside; the ground near the entryway appeared to be moving.
"How long has this been going on?" Voneshi asked Ricardo. His voice was casual, as though we were on a lazy Sunday stroll.
"This morning," Ricardo answered. He lurched to the side and fired his gun. Something squealed and skittered away. It had far too many legs for comfort. I snapped my teeth, wondering how such a creature would taste if it decided to attack.
"Interesting."
Voneshi said nothing more until we arrived at our destination. There were several tense moments. Much like myself, some of the residents had reverted to their baser natures, not all of which were friendly to humankind. Most of the residents seemed to still respect gang colors, or at the very least fear them, so we had no outright confrontations. The reversions were disturbing. I'd been rolling the scent around in my mouth for a while and finally realized that the mass of brambles we'd seen was actually a dryad. Or had been, anyway. I wondered what I looked like. Voneshi and Ricardo hadn't said a thing.
Antonio's house, at least at first glance, seemed to be unchanged. The double handful of young men on duty were alert, with weapons drawn and hostile expressions. Ricardo whistled and made a hand signal, and they allowed us through. I exchanged glares with one younger boy who must not have recognized me. He was putting up a good front, but fear-scent clung to him in a cloud.
Antonio was waiting in the living room, still stationed in his comfortable chair. The television showed only white static and hissed constant background noise. I sniffed at the carpet, wondering why the room was so empty. The only other person there was an ancient, wrinkled woman, who was knitting a blanket and ignoring everything else.
"Loba," Antonio said. "You still thinking?"
I lifted my head to look at him and nodded.
"Good," he answered. "You shouldn't be here, loba. The snaps are running mad."
"No one should be here," Voneshi said.
"We have survived surges before. Last time, two elementals started tearing shit down, huh? Fucked up half the block before they pushed each other far enough away to get their wits back. Killed ten of my boys. Where was the DMA then, huh? You come now, all we have is a plant monster, an' she's rooted. What the fuck?" Antonio waved his free arm in a frustrated gesture.
Alpha Antonio, I signed. We are not here because of the surge.
"I know. You law enforcement fucks only come in here when you want something. Even you, loba." Antonio's voice was heavy with disgust.
I tilted my head to the side and let my mouth gape open, displaying the barest hint of fang in a warning. This is not our territory, and you do not want us here. So we come only at need. We respect your turf, Alpha Antonio, much as you respect ours. But if you called, we would come. We must; that is our duty.
"So, loba. Why are you here on my turf when you know we don't want you here?" Antonio drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "With a fucking army, no less."
I looked to my boss, who stepped forward to put a hand on my snout. I ducked down with a rumble to land on all fours, acknowledging his dominance display with a dip of my tail. Voneshi considered Antonio for a long moment before speaking.
"This morning, six hostile songs erupted in various areas of Los Angeles. Five of them were successful, creating distortions in the local current that tore apart their surroundings, including people. Eyewitness accounts agree that humans and other living creatures who survived the initial blasts were drawn inside these distortions, which we are calling 'rifts' for lack of a better term." Voneshi sounded as though he were speaking of the weather.
"Yeah, I heard about it before the TV went out," Antonio answered. "We don't got nothing to do with it. Loba had us keeping an eye for those fucks on our turf. My street is clean."
"And you're wondering what this has to do with you. Antonio, they were targeting snaps. Valerio Street has the largest concentration of snaps in California, and quite probably in the Western United States," Voneshi said.
"We're protected," Antonio answered.
"Are you? Your mages are incoherent, the La Brea current is drifting northward and will intersect with the Valerio spring at around midnight to make the surge twice as strong, and we have not pulled the body of a single snap out of the rubble. Fifty blood bags to milk. No mages. You might as well be naked."
The quiet click of knitting needles stopped. The old woman lifted her wrinkled face to the room, her black button eyes gleaming. Antonio, who had obviously been preparing another stubborn retort, closed his mouth.
"Listen to the man," Great-grandmother Escobar commanded in a voice cracked with age.
"Fine," Antonio said with a sigh. "What is it you want to do?"
"Evacuate. The unfortunate state of most of your snaps presents some difficulties and will require your cooperation to ensure their survival." Voneshi's voice was uncompromising.
I thought wistfully that it might have been better to send Charles. But Antonio wanted Voneshi, and the head of criminal affairs was a hard man.
"So you want to steal my people away from me, huh?" Antonio's jaw tightened.
"Temporarily, yes. The shielding at DMA Headquarters is strong enough to survive a nuclear attack. I doubt anything these wild mages can bring to bear can puncture our protections," Voneshi replied.
"And if I let you take my people away, what will you give me? How will you guarantee their safe return?" Antonio drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Tell me why I should trust you at your word when you come with helicopters and guns pointed at my boys?"
I looked to Voneshi for permission. At his nod, I signed, Your boys and our agents have shed their blood together on the blasted ground. I smelled where it mixed. We will protect your people until our dying breaths like brothers. Is my name not Bloodstained Guardian? This is what we do.
Antonio sat back, startled. His chair creaked, protesting the sudden movement. "You'll tell me your name, huh, loba? But whose blood is on your fur?"
"We've been asking that question for years," Voneshi answered, giving me an inscrutable look.
I met his eyes, no more able to answer now than ever.
"Come here, pup," Grandmother Escobar said, setting her knitting down in her lap.
She reached out a hand, and I lumbered to her, trying not to knock anything over. My tail was thicker and fluffier than usual and kept threatening to sweep over flat surfaces. I crouched next to her and lowered my nose to her hand.
Grandmother Escobar stabbed me in the shoulder with a lightning-quick motion of her knitting needle. I yelped and stumbled back, shocked. Voneshi drew his gun and pointed it at the old woman while I snarled and grumbled to myself, licking the wound.
Disregarding our reactions the old woman turned and with a frown on her wrinkled face, launched the bloodied needle at Antonio. Unable to dodge, he took it in the torso with a grunt. It punctured his skin and quivered for a moment before falling to the ground with a clatter.
"There. You say you'll protect us like family, pup? Now you're family. Antonio, do as your blood sister says for now. I am tired of hearing you bickering," Great-grandmother Escobar said grumpily. She folded her hands in her lap on her discarded knitting and closed her eyes
.
We stared at each other. Voneshi holstered his gun without looking. Antonio pulled up his shirt with his one good hand to peer at the puncture wound in his belly. That knitting needle had packed a mean punch. He finally summed up all of our feelings with one word.
"Damn," he said.
Does she sharpen those things? That really hurt, I answered.
With a wary look at his grandmother, Antonio shrugged. "Gramma says go, we go. Fuck. Loba, go get me Ricardo. You and your boss should get out. Go get me trucks and hands. I got some spare colors in the hall, grab yourselves some cloth and tie it around your arms and even the crazies will leave you alone on the way."
We left. There wasn't any time to waste; it was nearly 5:00 p.m., and already the sunlight was fading. With the trucks would come floodlights, and the sooner the better.
The only thing that bothered us on our way back to the DMA force was a swarm of fist-sized creatures that emerged from the house-burrow as we passed. Their brown carapaces shone in the sun. I snarled and swiped at one, and when I caught it, I shook it in my mouth. Its taste made me gag, so I spat it out, and it scuttled away. It was crunchy and bitter. I wiped at my tongue with my hands to get rid of the taste.
"Don't eat weird things," Voneshi chastised me. I snorted and scuffed at the concrete.
Chapter Twenty
To my astonishment, Grandmother Escobar's impromptu blood-brother ceremony was accepted as gospel by Antonio's boys. Word spread before we even got back to the border. Whoops and catcalls followed us as we moved through the crowd of armed youths, and someone slapped me on the butt. I knocked the offending gangster over with a toothless shove of my snout, provoking mocking laughter from his friends.
Voneshi went to speak with Tyrant to get the ball rolling. I bounded over the concrete barrier and loped a short way down the street to meet back up with Penny, Charles, and Paul, past the cordon that marked the limits that the mages were permitted to go. My extra-bulky battle form did not subside as I moved farther away from the epicenter of the surge.
"What've you been doing, taking steroids? Damn girl," Penny commented, ruffling my ears. "You look really strange."
I leaned back onto my haunches and signed, There is no way you will be able to go in, Paul. If anything, they didn't put the perimeter far enough away. I'm sorry. Even the snaps are feeling it. You would not believe what I saw in there!
Paul looked me over and grimaced. "If you're an example of what the surge is doing, you're probably right."
"Fill us in," Charles ordered, his face tight with concern.
Everything is running wild. I saw not one coherent mage, and some snaps have mutated beyond recognition. Antonio has agreed to evacuate. While this is on his grandmother's say-so, I would not be surprised if the surge played some part in his decision. I stood up and peered over at our bosses. We don't have much time left. I doubt we'll be able to get everyone out.
Charles nodded. "Probably best to plan for that eventuality. Let's get to work."
"Agreed," Penny said and I signed at the same time.
Paul sighed. "I'm sure there's work I can do on the outside. Don't worry about me, Penny. Medical's going to be swamped and Vanessa is always bitching she needs help."
Penny nodded. "I'll call you if I need you. Be safe."
And then there were three, I thought, but kept it to myself. I missed Moira. Her stabilizing influence would be so useful here, and it bothered me tremendously that each of us had lost our partners for this operation. Paul turned away, shoulders set, and disappeared into the growing crowd of agents.
* * * *
By an hour to midnight, the job was as done as it was going to be. Allying with what was effectively the independent dictatorship of the area had proven efficient. Antonio's boys were not concerned with little things like "civil rights" or "excessive force." Anyone found within the confines of their territory not in gang colors was ordered out. If they protested, they were picked up and hauled bodily to the waiting trucks. Few protested; the muzzle of a gun looks very large when it is pointed at you.
Antonio employed a wereboar nicknamed Brutus who did most of the heavy lifting. I'd never met or even heard of such a creature, but damn, was I fascinated. Much like myself, he'd regressed to a more primal, less refined version of his battle form when the surge began, and he had to top a thousand pounds of pure muscle. A rigid brush of black mane stood erect along his neck to contrast with his thick russet hide, under which cords of muscle stood out like massive ropes. Saying no to the gangsters with the guns would earn you his personal attention. I saw him charge a barricaded door and smash a hole in it. It was a simple matter to extract the holdout after that.
Damn, I signed to Penny. That makes me feel practically useless.
She nodded and tucked a lock of blonde hair behind one ear. After a moment of admiring silence, she spread her hands. "There's always someone more impressive. Why don't you come help me carry my equipment out? I want to take some measurements of the current."
Sure, I signed.
The two of us made our way back up to the staging area in front of Valerio Street's eastern entrance. People rushed back and forth under glaring lights, doing God only knew what tasks. I spotted a local news van and jerked my head toward it, my ears going flat to my head. A broad-shouldered figure with gleaming, slicked-down brown hair was motioning at another man holding a camera.
Penny winced. "That's Bruce Simon. He seems nice, but he never lets go. Tyrant had a run-in with him about six months ago and bitches about it every chance he gets."
I nodded and lifted my hands. Which van are we headed for?
"Tyrant's. That white one back there with the dent in the front fender," Penny answered, pointing.
You and your partner work with him directly? I asked.
"Yeah, Research is pretty small compared to law enforcement, and Tyrant likes to spend time in the labs. I'm super junior, so we end up under his direct supervision a lot."
We'd reached the van. Penny fished around in her pockets and pulled out a jingling set of keys, which she used to open the back door. I snorted at the heavy-looking crates. How much of this crap do you need?
"Most of it," she replied, and then laughed at my expression.
We were returning to the Street when Bruce Simon struck. It had turned out that most of the equipment would fit comfortably on two dollies, so I towed one and Penny the other. I was spending more attention on walking without creating a disaster than on my immediate surroundings—dollies are very awkward when your body does not bend the same as a human's. My tail kept getting in the way. I was surprised when a beam of light illuminated me, and stood still, blinking and squinting.
"And here we are, lucky to encounter Miss Samantha Davis. The only werewolf in Southern California's branch of the DMA, she has participated in a number of high-profile missions during her short career. Miss Davis, I see you are wearing a yellow and black cloth around your arm. What is that about?" The reporter shoved a microphone in my face.
I blinked, the fur slowly settling along my back. What did he expect me to do, talk? I looked at Penny, who shrugged. Carefully, I stood my dolly up so I could use both hands.
I am sorry sir, I signed. I cannot comment at this time.
"It is a well-known fact that most weres cannot talk while they are shape-shifted, although Miss Davis is reputed to be able to if she is in the mood. Not all of our viewers speak sign language. Agent, what did she say?" Bruce Simon redirected his microphone to Penny.
"She apologizes and says 'no comment,'" Penny answered. "Listen, we don't have the authority to speak to the press. Why don't you talk to our bosses? They're over there, next to the barricade."
Bruce Simon looked in the direction that she pointed. "Yes, I see them there. Thank you, young lady. Come on, Fritz." He motioned to his cameraman.
Before he could get any momentum toward his next target, I reached out and tugged on his shirt. Wait, I signed.
"What?" he a
nswered, drawing himself up in surprise at my touch.
I sense you're a latent, and there's a surge on. Please be careful, we do not know what the effects of this much magic will have on you or your body. You might snap! I urge you to turn back if you feel the slightest bit strange, I signed.
My tail tucked itself between my legs. Penny translated, her expression mirroring mine when she realized what I was saying.
"If the threat of danger were to discourage the press, we would never be able to bring breaking news to the public! But I do appreciate your concern," Bruce announced. He patted me on the head like a dog before gesturing to his cameraman and hightailing it toward Valerio Street.
Is it just me, or is his jaw really...square? I asked Penny as we followed, our progress slowed by the delicacy of our burdens. We had to avoid bumps and cracks in the ground.
"Huh?" she asked, maneuvering around a pile of rubble. I wondered what had created the collection of shattered concrete and tree branches, since it hadn't existed earlier in the afternoon.
I paused to explain. Very Clark Kent. Broad shoulders, nerdy, black-rimmed glasses, pecs, carefully styled hair, and smells like magic.
"If you're calling that reporter Superman, my boss is going to kill you," Penny said, laughing.
I did not mean to suggest that. But you have to wonder. A latent is just someone that never snapped, after all. I shrugged and spread my hands. He is disregarding the surge. Who knows what could happen?
"You're right, the effects could be interesting," Penny answered. "It's a pity we don't have time to stand around and observe. Let's get this stuff set up quick, we only have thirty minutes or so."
You got it, I answered. How quick can you move? I need enough time to hustle out.
We brought her equipment down to the very edge of the Street proper. Looking disgruntled, Tyrant joined us only moments later and helped Penny unload. He moved with no wasted actions. The metal boxes were wired together and arranged in a line in moments. "Agent Davis, retreat to the perimeter. Gather up the rest of the snaps still working; some idiots may have lost track of time," Tyrant ordered.