That's when I heard it, that beautiful familiar sound. It was the howl of a wolf, a wolf I never thought I'd see again or smell again, and it came from the house. I stood, perked up my ears, and lifted my nose to the air. There it was! Even the scent was there! I wasn't dreaming!
I also wasn't dreaming when I heard the sound of gunfire from the house, and a lot of shouting. I raced down the hill and saw the two bodies of the werewolves killed by Emily. She was gone, as were Rick and Steve, but the bedroom window was still open. I flew threw the small space, skidded on the wood floor, and rushed into the main area of the home.
There, standing in the middle of unconscious werewolf scum and the blood of his enemies, was Luke.
13
Luke was in his wolf form, but that didn't stop my elation. I leapt into Luke's side and pressed against him so hard that he toppled to the ground, sending me with him. I nuzzled and purred his face, heedless of the blood and the audience around us. "You're alive! You're alive!" I chanted.
"Yes, fortunately for both of us," he laughed.
I licked his face and whimpered. "I was so worried," I whispered.
"So was I for a time," he replied.
Then I hopped off and reverted back to my human form so I could cross my arms and tap my food on the floor boards. "And where in the hell have you been? You should have rescued me a half hour ago," I scolded him.
Luke stood and transformed back into his human self. His clothes were ragged, his hair matted by long-dried blood, and there were fresh bruises from fending off Brier's men and freeing our friends. "Sorry. It wasn't easy interrogating those rogues," he told me.
"And speaking of rogues," Ian piped up as he walked in with Brier in front of him. The former sheriff cradled his broken wrist against his chest and glared at all of us. "I bring you an offering of peace."
That's when I noticed the interesting crowd we had in the house. There was Adam Brier, Burnbaum, and Stewart, bloodied and showing signs of rope chafing, but otherwise okay. Emily sat in a corner close to the door in her werewolf form wagging her tail and with a smirk on her wide, long lips. Through the open door behind Ian I could just make out Abby and Martha cautiously coming up to the house.
"Martha!" Stewart cried out. He sped past us all in his human form and wrapped his family in his arms.
I smiled and a few tears slid down my cheeks. Then I remembered a couple of missing details. I glanced around and didn't see them anywhere. "Where's Steve and Rick?" I spoke up.
"Right here," came Steve's voice as he and Rick waltzed into the house. They were once again armed with their backpack arsenal. "Just had to get our bags that those werewolves stole from us when they got us. Dumb fools tossed them into the woods thinking we'd never find them in the dark. They don't know I carry a flashlight in my boot at all times." I told myself never to ask to borrow that flashlight. Ever.
"It seems we have ourselves a happy ending on all accounts," Emily spoke up.
Rick aimed one of his arsenal, the double-barreled shotgun, at her.. "Not so fast. We've played before and you didn't play nice," he pointed out.
Emily rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "That was a few days ago, this is today."
"A few days isn't much time to switch without there being a good reason for it," Rick countered.
"Brier intended to have us murdered because Connor no longer trusted us and, by the sounds of Brier's speech, betrayed Cranston," Ian chimed in.
Rick nudged Steve, who pointed his own rifle at Ian. "I don't care who's trying to kill you so long as we make sure you don't kill us," Rick argued.
Luke strode over and grabbed the end of Rick's shotgun barrel. "We can trust them."
Burnbaum stepped forward and shook his head. "I know your judgment, Luke, and I trust you, but this is no good. These two are no smells, so they must be with Lance. We cannot let them leave or let them follow us. They would surely betray us."
"I will have to second that motion, even if they did bring my brother to us," Adam spoke up.
Emily threw up her hands. "Perfect. Out of the frying pan and into the fire."
The sheriff was having none of any hot spots. He wasn't tied nor gagged, and he tore himself from Ian's grasp of his arm and jumped back. I saw that his arm was partially healed already and his eyes glowed like coals in the pits of hell, or in a really hot campfire. You know, the ones that had everything thrown on it, including the diesel fuel.
"Pathetic, all of you!" Brier snapped at us. "You think you can actually win? That Lance will let your feeble plans get anywhere?"
Adam stepped forward and glared at his sheriff brother. "Are you prepared to tell us what you know, or shame yourself further?" he asked his blood relative. Sheriff Brier sneered, and Adam glared back at him. "Well, what have you to say?" he persisted.
"Duel," the sheriff drawled.
Adam's eyes narrowed, and Luke stiffened. I glanced from Luke to Adam and back. "What? What's going on?" I wondered.
"A duel between werewolves," Luke told me.
"What? A duel? We don't have time for duels!" I argued.
"Some challenges of strength are worth making the time," Burnbaum spoke up.
"Do we seriously need to be doing this?" I insisted as Adam and the sheriff transformed into their wolf forms. "Can't we just talk this over outside-"
The time for talk ended abruptly as the pair snarled and flew at each other. Years of bitter hatred was evident as both of them pulled out all the stops for the mortal combat. Teeth biting, hair pulling, and tail whacking were acceptable tactics as they tore into each other. I make light of their methods, but their intentions were obvious: they meant to kill the other one, or at least the sheriff was trying to ensure that outcome for his brother. He did have the advantage of larger girth and the desperation that comes from being surrounded by foe and former friend. Brier threw all his weight, muscle, teeth, and claws into defeating Adam for the duel benefit of settling their differences and eliminating one less obstacle to the cause.
I envied the Stewarts being outside. They could flee the carnage of gnashing teeth and flying fur. I was a trapped audience as I, Luke, and the rest of the crowd pressed against the walls and watched the duel. Chairs, the innards of couch cushions, and the remains of the dining table flew or were smashed into the floor as the pair of werewolves raced, rolled, and battered one another like a furry typhoon., or a hurricane minus all the mobile homes. The only good thing about the battle was its length. They fought for maybe five long, agonizing minutes before Adam managed to pin Brier beneath him with his paws on Brier's shoulders.
"Do you concede?" Adam growled. Brier sneered and looked away. "Do you concede?" he repeated.
"I concede," Brier grumbled.
Adam jumped off him and onto his shaky, tired legs. I could relate. It'd been a hell of a night. Unfortunately, Brier wasn't exactly telling the truth about that whole concession thing, or maybe he didn't know the meaning. Maybe it was an honest mistake, maybe he meant to say he was hungry and wanted a hot dog from a concession stand. Or maybe he was just a bloodthirsty ass. Either way Brier rolled onto his feet, snarled at Adam, and jumped at him with his jaws aimed at Adam's neck.
Adam turned his neck to one side, missing Brier's teeth by a fraction of an inch, or maybe even less. He turned the tables, slammed Brier to the ground with his front paws, took Brier's own neck in his jaws and gave a twist. The resounding crack told all of us that the battle was forever finished, and nearly told my stomach to lose its delicious, home-cooked dinner.
I turned to Luke and pressed my face into his chest. "Please tell me the fighting is over," I whispered.
"For now," he promised.
I sighed. "How much more?"
"I wish I knew."
Adam stepped off his brother and reverted back to his human form. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as Brier's body also changed to his human form. Adam shook his head as he looked down at his dead brother. Burnbaum stepped up and set a hea
vy hand on Adam's shoulder. "The fight was fair. No more can be said," he told him.
"Maybe we should get these bodies out of here before some of them start waking up," Rick spoke up. He kicked one of the werewolves on the floor and the man groaned. "We don't want to be carrying any more out in body bags. To much work burying them."
Adam gave a nod and straightened."And they may have information we can use," he added.
"Need a hand?" Emily chimed in. We all turned to glare at her and Ian who stood by her side. She looked back and frowned. "What?"
Burnbaum stalked over to them, grabbed each of them in his large hands, and glanced from one to the other. "You will help us by coming with us without fight," he told them. Emily sighed and shrugged, but let him lead them out the house.
We got to work tying up the live foes, and burying the dead ones. Those tied up were placed against the trees around the edge of the meadow opposite the front of the house. Out of the dozen men with Brier, and the two Captains, there were six of them left. The vials of poison were taken from their person along with vials of the invisibility. None of the scent mesmerizing stuff was found, which I was grateful. It meant they weren't wandering the countryside forcing people to convert to their side.
Burnbaum left for a moment, and when he came back there were a dozen people with him, allies of the good cause. "They will guard while we will talk," he told us.
I happened to look to our prisoners and noticed Emily leaning against a tree smirking at us. Ian sat beside her with his eyes closed as though asleep. Her eyes told me she wanted to speak to me. I wandered over, mindful that though the ropes were strong and tight she was still a crafty beast. "You really don't have to worry about me. I don't bite," she told me.
I scoffed and rubbed my arm. "Then you must have given me a love-tap with your long, sharp tail fur," I quipped.
She laughed. "You're a special one, you know that?"
"Flattery won't get those ropes loosened," I countered.
"We don't expect help from you, but we can still offer help to you," she told me.
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. "Like info help or help leading us into a trap?"
"Information. Like the fact that Lance will soon be moving his operations," she explained.
"Don't speak too freely," Ian spoke up. His eyes opened and he looked disapprovingly at Emily. "We need some cards in our hand."
"I'm just giving them what they can verify from these fools with us," she told him, indicating the other four still-unconscious werewolves.
"No need. I have that information already," Luke spoke up as he came up behind me. "But for what it's worth, I thank you for your honesty."
Emily scoffed. "Honesty nothing. I want to get back at Lance for siccing that lunatic on us, and see what he's done to Cranston. If he believes we Captains are so useless than I would dearly like to correct him."
"You will have to pray we do the job for you," Luke replied.
"Can't you pull some strings and have us released? We saved a lot of yours friends," she pointed out.
"I will see what I can do," Luke promised. He turned me away from the prisoners and led me toward Stewart's house. "Mind what you say around them," he whispered to me.
"You think they'll turn coat color and jump back to Lance?" I guessed.
He pursed his lips and nodded. "That may be the truth, but until we know for sure we must be wary of them."
I glanced ahead at the house. The exterior marks of Rick's gun were patched over, and through the open door I could see Martha and Abby cleaning up the last of the furniture splinters. The blood was already mopped up from both the floor and our allies. We stepped inside and I noticed Burnbaum, Adam, the Stewarts, Rick, and Steve were already present for this little get-together to decide the fate of the werewolf race.
14
Luke closed the door behind us and the meeting began.
"If we are all here we must make plan to attack Lance," Burnbaum spoke up.
"Do we know enough of his plan to make our own?" Adam wondered.
Luke stepped forward and all eyes turned to him. "We know a few bits from our pursuers from the compound, and our friends tied up under the trees outside. Lance will be on the move as soon as possible, but we're fortunate in that he's weighed down by his own large operation."
"He's gathered all the idiots from every village, so that's a lot of fools to move around," I quipped.
"We must destroy this convoy and ensure Lance doesn't escape," Luke added.
Adam frowned. "What would be the point in destroying a single convoy? Wouldn't Lance know you would want such an opportunity and keep other samples in a different location?" he pointed out.
"We will be relying on his paranoia to overcome his common sense," Luke explained. "My brother is also very possessive of his things. He prefers to keep a firm hand on everything important to him, and right now the most important are the de-scenter, mind control formula and everything with it."
"But where are we going to get a group large enough to help us?" Brier asked him.
"From Callean, if we can find him. He has the men and money to back us up, if he's willing."
Burnbaum chuckled. "It is simple to find him. He is in the Prospera region."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "That's Lance's region. What's he doing there?"
I snorted. "Prospera? Can Lance really be that conceited?"
"Hiding from Lance. What better place to hide than beneath the nose of your enemy?" Burnbaum pointed out.
"Can you get him in touch with us?" Luke asked him.
Burnbaum frowned and shook his head. "No, that is no longer possible. We were in contact with him using radio codes created by Stacy, but no more. She is captured, and the plan if that happened was to change everything in code, even the message reader. He-how do you say?-cracked our old code long ago, but there is no way to send him this new code without showing Lance we are transmitting."
Luke gave a nod. "I agree. Lance no doubt has Stacy under his control and is using her knowledge of the former network to gather information. We'll just have to go to Callean ourselves and convince him to join us on a raid on the convoy."
"How do you propose we travel across one and a half regions without being caught?" Adam questioned him.
My eyes widened. "Wilson!" I blurted out. Everyone looked to me, and I sheepishly grinned and shrugged. "He seemed to know his way around at least the Manutia region."
Luke turned to Burnbaum. "Can we get a hold of this Wilson?"
"We could if there was not the problem with the radio message speakers," Burnbaum replied.
"What's the problem? Hasn't the code been changed?" Luke asked him.
"We have the code changed, but we forgot that Stacy listened much to the network. She may recognize the voices of the radio message speakers," Burnbaum pointed out.
Luke frowned. "So we need someone to transmit the message in a voice she might not recognize."
"What about Steve?" I spoke up.
"Me?" Steve squeaked.
Again I was met with looks of surprise. I scowled back at them. "Is it really that ridiculous? Stacy knew Rick, but did she know Steve?"
"Nope," Rick spoke up. "She wasn't too familiar with Steve. Didn't really want me to get him involved with this mess."
"I wish you wouldn't have. . ." Steve mumbled.
"And Wilson knows Steve a little," I added.
"So we have our transmitter and we can send the message through the new code. How soon can we send a message for this Wilson to meet us at a rendezvous point?" Luke inquired.
"Any time," Burnbaum answered.
"Good, then we'll send it immediately and-"
"Wait a sec," I spoke up. "What if Stacy knows where Callean is hiding?"
"If she does then we will have to find Callean before Lance sends his own men," Luke commented.
"I will be sending message to Wilson after meeting," Burnbaum told us. He wrapped an arm around Steve's should
ers and grinned at the cowering young man. "We will find this fun. All equipment at barn and sometimes the chickens like to play."
"Oh goody," Steve muttered.
"Who will be meeting this Wilson?" Adam wondered.
"The fewer the better," Luke replied. "Callean is familiar with me, so I will go."
"And I'm not going to let you get yourself killed alone," I added.
"And I'm staying right here with Steve," Rick spoke up.
That surprised me. The old gruff-and-suicidal, trigger-happy war machine wanted to stay behind. "But how are you two going to keep up with a bunch of werewolves if they have to run somewhere?" I pointed out.
"I have big pickup full of guns. They have promised to drive if they are careful," Burnbaum spoke up.
My eyes widened, my mouth dropped open, and I held up a finger. "Uh, I don't think that's-"
Luke wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against him. "That will be for the best. They will only slow us down in getting to the rendezvous point, and finding Callean."
"Then I will go with you. I know the new code," Adam volunteered.
"We would be glad for your company," Luke agreed.
"I will stay, also, and wait for any message you have," Burnbaum told us.
"Yes. If we manage to reach Callean we can communicate with you through the new code and coordinate our movements," Luke agreed.
"We will be sending message now to Wilson. Come, little one," Burnbaum commanded Steve, and he dragged off the hapless young man to deliver the message.
"I better see that he behaves himself," Rick spoke up, and followed them outside.
I wrapped my arms around one of Luke's and tugged him toward the door. "And I have some questions I want to ask you," I told him.
"And I will try to answer them," he teased.
"Do not wander too far. We may hear back from Wilson in thirty minutes or four hours depending on when he's listening," Adam advised us.
"Plenty of time," I cooed at Luke.
His eyebrows shot up as I pulled him outside and around the house towards the uncrowded woods. "Do I hope too much to receive a hero's welcome?" he teased.