Howling Legion

“Hey!” Stephanie yapped.

Before the fight was started all over again, Ace steered things back on course. “So we’re done here?”

“Sure,” Paige said while looking around as if daring one of the Nymar to make a move. “Unless one of you still has an itchy trigger finger.”

Finally, Stephanie announced, “We’ve got more customers coming in a few hours and we need to cover the mess you made in here.”

“Just throw around some more red roses or bat statues,” Paige quipped. “Nothing says ‘eternal torment’ like bat statues.”

Chapter 8

“That was great!” Paige said while steering the Cav onto Ontario Street. “If you were saving that for a surprise, it sure worked because it was a hell of a surprise!”

“You mean the surprise where I almost got beaten to death or the surprise where I almost got shot?” Cole asked.

“The second one. Since when could you get your spear to do that?”

Cole knew the truth, but didn’t want to tarnish something that had gone over so well. “Oh, I’ve been working on that for a while.”

“Well, good job. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to hold off until I got there.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, where the hell were you? And why do you smell like antifreeze?”

Paige brought her arm up to her nose and took a few quick sniffs. As she did, the lights from the street played off her skin with a glistening effect. “The grease from that sweatshirt doesn’t dry too well. It kept me hidden for a bit longer than I thought it would, and I didn’t want to waste an opportunity to do some sneaking around in there.”

“You mean you didn’t know how long it would last?”

“I tested it a few times back home, but not the way I did tonight. It seems to really stick to loose cotton like sweatshirts and-pants. Once it starts to evaporate, it really goes fast.”

Suddenly, something about the odor struck a nerve. “Wait a minute,” he grumbled as he sniffed some more. “I’ve smelled that before. Back at Raza Hill.”

“I told you I tested it.”

“In my room!” Cole snapped his fingers and added, “In my room three or four nights ago. I was on my computer and I smelled it. I looked around but didn’t see anything.”

“There you go,” Paige quickly told him. “The stuff really works well.”

“You were in my room? You were spying on me!”

“Testing, Cole. Testing.”

“What did you see?”

“Nothing,” she said while raising her eyebrows. “Nothing at all.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

Paige laughed and patted his arm. “The only time I went in there, you were hunched over a picture of some warehouse with guns on the floor and flags posted at either side.”

“That’s one of the new Hammer Strike maps,” he breathed with a sigh of relief. “Don’t mention anything about that to anyone, by the way. It’s under wraps.”

“Yeah, Cole. With everything we do, I’m more anxious to leak your game levels to the Internet.”

“So what did you find out while I was so expertly distracting everyone?”

“That side entrance led to a back room in the bar. There wasn’t much in there, other than a secret door that opened to some back stairs leading up to the parlor. On the other hand, the monitors in the security room were interesting. Their customers are either into some nasty stuff or Ace sprung for the deluxe S and M channels. He walked right past me without noticing a thing, though. He might have smelled me, but he didn’t see squat. It was great.”

“Did you happen to see me and Stephanie on a monitor?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry. There was a lot more action going on in the room next to yours. Anyway, I got the addresses of other Blood Parlors opening up around town along with a list of new employees. Since Sid’s name was on the list, the others are probably Nymar or potential converts. I jotted down some names and phone numbers, so we’ll be able to keep real busy for a while.” Paige veered to the right, cutting off a blue Lincoln in her haste to get to the ramp onto I-94. “Speaking of getting busy, you should hope you didn’t pick up anything while that skank was grinding on you.”

“Sounds to me like you’re jealous.”

Her pigtails whipped against her cheeks as she glanced at him. “You wish I had a naked chick grinding on me,” she chuckled. “I saw the kind of websites you visit.” Looking back at the road, Paige got another face full of hair. She nearly tore some of it out in her haste to remove the bands that kept it tied up.

“I warned her against going to Cicero,” Cole said in a desperate attempt to change the subject, “but I don’t know how seriously she took me.”

“Did you do anything I might have missed from the security room?”

“No.”

“Then she took you seriously. Trust me, women who strut and flaunt like that are used to guys dropping to their knees and doing whatever it takes just to get on their good side. If you’d caved to that, she wouldn’t have listened to another word from then on. You’d be just another one of her toys. If she had some fake boobs and a sex tape, she’d be in some good celebrity company.”

“You should leave the pigtails in when you bare your claws like that. It’s hotter.” For once, he’d been the one to fluster her. Before she could fire back at him, he added, “Sorry about the fight, by the way. It seemed like she was getting ready to spring something on me, so I thought I’d make a play of my own. I figured you’d be waiting for something like that.”

“I was waiting for something more along the lines of yelling or you getting slammed off a few walls, but you handled yourself really well. I hung back until things got bad because you needed practice other than sparring. And what you did with your weapon was…well, that was impressive.”

“It was an accident,” Cole grumbled.

“I don’t care. It was just what we needed. The whole reason Skinners haven’t been killed off by now is because the Nymar and all those other things out there see us as the freaks. You threw them a curveball with that little trick. Everyone back there will be talking about it for weeks!”

“I don’t know if I’m excited about being the topic of Nymar conversation, but there it is. What’s next? We’re obviously not headed home.”

“We’re paying Daniels a visit.”

“You think we should go there right after we heard about someone looking for him? What if one of Steph’s people follows us?”

“First of all, nobody’s following us,” Paige said confidently. “Second, Steph already knows who Daniels is because she mentioned him by name. The Nymar may not have this city as wired as they say they do, but they can probably track someone down if they want. If she knows where he is, she’ll make a play for him right away. If she doesn’t, then we’ve got nothing to lose by driving there now.”

“Do you think they know Daniels has been helping Skinners come up with new weapons?”

“If they did, he would have been dead a long time ago. What concerns me is that Ace and Stephanie might just call this Burkis guy to let him know we were there so he can give us some grief. That’s why we need to get out to Schaumburg as soon as possible, which would be even easier if someone learned to use a turn signal!”

Paige had stuck her head out the window to aim those last few words at an old man in a new Honda four-door. After leaving him in her dust, she calmly said, “Maybe you should call MEG while I let Daniels know we’re coming.