wolves to fight for my cause, I’ll be able to make every last one of you sadistic, godless Skinners pay for the pain you’ve caused.”
Listening to the howls and screams coming from the parking structure, Cole expected to hear sirens or some other sign of a police presence. Instead it seemed as if the entire town was curled up and ignoring the battle being waged within its boundaries.
“Henry will feed and allow me to claim this city for my own,” Misonyk growled. “He should be done with that bitch of yours before my partners have finished dealing with this town’s police.”
“And maybe you and that big, crazy hunchback of yours should lie down in another hospital room so you can whisper in each other’s ears,” Cole replied. It wasn’t his best insult, but it was good enough to get an angry twitch from Misonyk. “Then you can play God all you want with the one person on this planet that’s crazy enough to believe you.”
He could see that his words prickled against Misonyk’s skin. The corners of the Nymar’s eyes kept twitching and his lip jerked upward as if it had been hooked by a fishing line. He walked toward Cole slowly, but snapped his hand out to grab the weapon in Cole’s hands and take it away as if he were disarming a small child. When Cole turned and started running toward the car, Misonyk laughed.
“I admit, I didn’t think you’d take me up on my offer to run,” he said. “The Skinners must surely have fallen since the days when Jonah Lancroft was among them. Or perhaps that was a fluke. Perhaps you have always been an order of morbid braggarts who pick at carcasses and then strut about as if they are to be feared.”
Cole made it to the car and got the trunk open. Knowing he wouldn’t have much time to work, he rummaged through the towels stuffed on top of Paige’s cases. He took out the plastic retainer case she’d given him, opened it and managed to find the thing he was after. His hands worked feverishly as blood from his palms soaked into the white towel. Within seconds he could hear footsteps behind him that were quick enough to have come from a rat scrambling across a hard-wood floor.
“My offer was for you to run, Skinner,” Misonyk practically whispered into his ear. “Not for you to dig out another toy to be used against me.” Grabbing Cole by the shoulder and spinning him around, he looked to the second bodyguard and growled, “Search him.”
Cole raised his arms high over his head and dropped Paige’s towel. Looking past the two Nymar, he saw Walter still in his perch, glancing nervously back at him. He looked away from Walter as the bodyguard roughly patted him down.
“I cannot abide a coward,” Misonyk sneered.
The bodyguard’s fangs extended from his gums, and the muscles in his jaw twitched with the anticipation of sinking all three sets into fresh meat. No venom dripped from the slender set of fangs, making it clear he wanted Cole to spend his last moments kicking and flailing.
“Did you ever tell any of your followers how much you cried when you were laying on your back on Lancroft’s floor?” Cole asked before the bodyguard could get any closer.
With a subtle motion from Misonyk, the bodyguard froze.
The air was cold against Cole’s face, and the chaotic sounds from the garage rumbled through the park. Sirens and gunshots finally echoed from farther down the street. Cole even thought he could hear tires squealing and people shouting, but that was just background static. As Misonyk leaned in closer, Cole’s ears filled with the pounding of his own heart mixed with the mad Nymar’s voice.
“What…did you say?” Misonyk asked ominously.
“I saw your memories,” Cole said in the steadiest voice he could manage. “I saw how you laid on that floor with Lancroft’s spear in your chest, crying like a little…like a little bitch every time Lancroft or one of his men would do whatever the hell they wanted to you.” Even though he somehow got his words out, Cole thought his own nervousness might overtake him. Sweat pushed out of his face when he added, “I’ll bet you liked it. Maybe that’s why you want to find more Skinners. Maybe you just miss the days when Lancroft would—”
Misonyk’s hand clamped around his throat in the space between heartbeats. Jagged claws pressed against his windpipe, turning Cole’s head so he was forced look directly into the Nymar’s twitching eyes. Cole let out a breath that caused his body to droop within Misonyk’s grasp. That way, he was able to line up his left hand with the thick black tendril that ran beneath Misonyk’s skin and reached all the way to the top of his scalp. Then, using every bit of strength he had, Cole delivered a single blow to Misonyk’s neck.
The Nymar hadn’t seen it coming.
Wincing at the quick pinch in his neck, Misonyk looked down at Cole’s fist. Something shimmered within Cole’s grasp, as if the pale moonlight had wrapped around it instead of shining directly upon it. Only when he shoved away from Cole did Misonyk see his own black, oily blood dripping from the end of a needle that appeared to hover in the air beneath Cole’s fist.
“What? What’s…?” Misonyk stammered as he reached for the aching spot in his neck.
Cole knew he should run, but he couldn’t resist holding his arm out and wiping away the greasy residue that he’d smeared onto the antidote-filled syringe from his emergency kit in the scant moments before Misonyk had gotten to the car. If those towels with the Mongrel substance hadn’t been at the top of the pile in the trunk, he might not have had enough time to fully cover the thin plastic tube. Fortunately, Paige had collected more than enough from the trashed hotel room.
Misonyk’s hand twitched, and Cole was just fast enough to slap it away before it could close around his throat. The Nymar leaned his head back and started to let out a pained grunt, but quickly began to gag on the venom he’d collected in his mouth. Coughing and staggering a few more steps, Misonyk dropped to his knees and grabbed the earth beneath him as the distant sirens grew louder.
Hacking up a strained laugh, Misonyk said, “The wheels are…already turning. I am the only one who could… control the fire that has been lit. And when your authorities arrive, the monkeys you try to protect will…throw you into a cage…just as they did to me.”
Walter had climbed down from his perch and walked up to Cole while keeping his rifle trained on the remaining bodyguard. “He’s right. There’s a bunch of cops headed this way. Whatever was distracting them before isn’t holding them back anymore.”
“And they will…find bodies,” Misonyk promised. “Here and…more in the years to come.”
Although still holding his head up, Misonyk was losing the strength to keep it there. Death wrapped its arms around him, starting at the spot where the antidote had entered the vein in his neck. A pale gray shadow spread throughout his body while draining the moisture from Misonyk’s skin. The thick black markings beneath the Nymar’s flesh dulled like paint left too long in the unforgiving elements. A faltering breath escaped Misonyk’s throat and the tendrils dwindled into thin, quivering lines.
Since he’d dropped the syringe and didn’t have another to replace it, Cole picked up his double-ended spear and faced the remaining Nymar.
The bodyguard stalked forward, but as his employer crumpled to the ground like a broken cement statue, he backed away from Cole so he could run into another section of the park.
Turning to Walter, Cole asked, “What’s going on with Paige?”
Walter had his rifle reloaded and against his shoulder. “There’s enough cop cars headed toward this park to form a parade,” he said while pointing his scope toward a part of town that had suddenly become very active. “Looks like they’re chasing someone. Aw, hell! Someone’s already firing back at them!” Placing a finger to his earpiece, he spoke in a quick rush. “Paige? Can you hear me?”
Henry held Paige against the garage in a way that prevented the other Nymar from getting to her. Then again, the other Nymar weren’t her main concern.
“Hungry,” Henry groaned as he sniffed the oily blood on her neck and the front of her jacket. “So…hungry.” With that, he slammed her even harder against the wall. His claws scraped against her torso and his teeth gnashed against her stomach in a flurry that peeled away the outer layers of body armor before getting to the thin layer of werewolf hide beneath it. The Half Breed fur absorbed some punishment from Henry’s attacks, but more of the impacts were getting through the heavy plates that lay against her body.
A voice drifted through Paige’s head that made her wonder if Henry was doing more damage than she’d originally thought. She slammed the side of one weapon against Henry’s temple in a blow that would have dropped most men. He reeled a bit from the impact but quickly recovered. When a freshly turned Nymar got bold enough to try and tear off a piece of Paige for himself, Henry slapped him away like he was swatting a fly. Paige took advantage of the small opening to deliver a blow to Henry’s other temple with her left weapon. It didn’t do any
