him. He grabbed one Mongrel by the head to pull it off of him, but the burrowing shapeshifter had sunk all of its claws in, and it came away like a barbed arrowhead carelessly pulled from a deep wound. Flaps of skin tore loose from Liam’s thigh and a spray of blood trickled from the wound, all of which only served to further enrage him.
The sickle in Paige’s left hand moved through the air in a blur, while the one in her right stayed close to her body, to repel anything that might attack. Cole prodded the Full Blood again and again but was at a bad angle and risked hitting one of the Mongrels instead. It wasn’t until he buried the spear into the patch of gray fur where the broken tooth was embedded that he knew he’d struck pay dirt.
After hitting the chink in Liam’s armor, Cole wished his spear was sharper or even hooked at the end to do more damage. It creaked in his hands, and the Full Blood twitched as if something had scraped against a raw nerve. Judging by the howl that ripped through the air, the spearhead might have even made contact with the tooth still lodged in the werewolf’s flesh. Liam grabbed the spear and pulled it out, but howled as it snagged on a piece of flesh before finally coming loose. Sure enough, the end of the spear had sharpened to a finer edge and curled into a hook.
Liam howled and grabbed a Mongrel that had clamped onto his arm. Tightening his fist around its chest, he squeezed until the burrower’s spine and several ribs cracked. For good measure, he pounded his other fist into the limp Mongrel’s skull and then gnawed off a large portion of its body.
Ben crawled up along Liam’s back and bit his neck with a set of short, thin teeth. Liam pulled him off, but the burrower wriggled out of his grip and scurried onto the street. From there, Ben let out a series of high-pitched chirps that sounded like a mix of lizard and bird cries.
Within seconds more of the burrowers came to Ben’s side. Some of the Mongrels were wounded and a few were still wrestling with Half Breeds, but no fewer than eight of them answered the call. Cole had expected Paige to join the battle as well, then saw that a Half Breed had blindsided her. He ran past Liam, impaled the Half Breed on his spear, and pulled it away so Paige could drop her right-handed weapon down like a sledgehammer.
“Thanks,” she breathed.
By now some more policemen had arrived, and they opened fire on Liam. One of them screamed into a radio while huddling behind a car, “Any press I see around here will be brought up on obstruction charges. Keep this area
Liam was still hurting from Cole’s attack, so Paige jumped onto the police cruiser and launched herself at his back. When her body hit the Full Blood’s shoulder blades, she drove her machete in like she was planting a flag.
Liam reared up to his full height, but since he didn’t have the unnatural flexibility of a Half Breed, he was unable to turn his head around and bite Paige. After missing her with a few wild swipes of his claws, he dropped to all fours and took off like a shot.
Cole stood with weapon in hand, feeling like a useless bump on that particular stretch of road as he viewed the scene. Gunshots crackled around him, mixed with the occasional shotgun blast. More people ran farther down the street as he stood there, and he saw others leaning out of open windows in buildings down the block. The helicopters had drifted away, but he could still hear the flutter of blades in the distance. An ambulance was parked near several cops dressed in riot gear, but the EMTs had been taken out by the Half Breeds. Werewolves snarled and attacked the police. Seeing one of those creatures pounce on an officer in riot gear got Cole moving again.
He reached the officer just as the man had emptied his weapon into the Half Breed’s face. Slug after slug punched into the werewolf, but it still wasn’t enough to put it down. The creature was about to clamp its jaws around the officer’s leg when Cole drove his spear through its upper body. It occurred to him that he might have been overcompensating for allowing Paige to get away, after he brought his spear down so many times that he could have turned the thing into paste.
“Cole?”
He turned at the sound of his name and spotted a familiar face among the frazzled cops. “Officer Stanze!”
Stanze jogged toward Cole with his gun drawn. “Is Paige around here?” the officer asked. “These things look just like the one I sold her.”
“She’s with the big one that got away.”
“Huh?”
“When did you get here?” Cole asked.
“Just now. Damn near every unit in the city will be here in another minute or two.”
Stanze suddenly straightened his arms and legs into the classic firing stance. He pulled his trigger once before Cole got a look at what he was shooting at.
The Mongrel darted from one shadow to another like a six-foot eel slithering through shallow water. Cole slapped his hand beneath Stanze’s arms so his next bullet tunneled into a wall across the street.
“Hey!” Stanze said. “I just saw another one of those things!”
A low growl rolled through the air, followed by the scrape of claws against pavement. A Half Breed jumped over an empty police car, its eyes wide and glassy, front legs outstretched and teeth bared. Just as it cleared the top of its arc, the Half Breed was intercepted by the Mongrel that had just crossed the street. Both furry bodies met with a thud and slammed to the ground.
“There’s some of them!” another cop shouted. “Fire!”
Bullets filled the air, chipping the street and punching into their targets. Cole tried to think of a way to save the Mongrel, but wasn’t about to dive into the middle of all that lead. Fortunately, it seemed that none of the bullets were doing much damage. Ben came along to sink his teeth into the Half Breed’s thigh, and then both burrowers dragged the wretch into the nearest alley.
“What the hell is going on here?” Stanze asked him. “Damn near the whole force is here instead of on patrol. Shit’s getting busted up. Wild animals are all over the place. Now I heard there’s another riot down on the other side of the highway.”
“More animals?” Cole asked.
Stanze shook his head. “Just a bunch of assholes who see this kind of general craziness as a license to steal,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “Wait! Where do you think you’re going?”
Cole had turned away and taken several steps toward the Cavalier. “I need to get to Paige,” he said.
“Get in my cruiser,” Stanze said. “If you know where to look for her, I’ll get you there a hell of a lot quicker than you could on yer own.” Cole hesitated, and Stanze grabbed his arm. “Seems like you both know what these things are, so don’t try to tell me any different. I wanna help, so let me help.”
“You want to help? Fine.” Raising his voice and looking toward something creeping through a shadow, he said, “Those weasel things are running straight for her! Maybe you should follow them.”
One of the Mongrels within earshot got the hint and scampered into the open just long enough to be spotted.
Cole pointed and said, “Right there!”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” Stanze asked.
Cole held up his hands and replied, “Hey, you’re the guys with the guns. All I got is this stick.”
Stanze slapped him on the shoulder. “Smart man. If you get ahold of her, find out where she is and tell any of these cops to radio me.” With that, Stanze jogged to his car, and he and another officer piled in to pursue the Mongrels.
Even though the cops would just be led somewhere out of harm’s way, Cole had to admire their willingness to charge after them. He got to the Cav and was about to turn the key in the ignition when he realized someone was there with him. Kayla had taken a form that was almost human, but was wiry enough to be nearly absorbed by all the crap piled in the backseat. A portion of her body was camouflaged by the same type of substance that had been soaked into Paige’s hooded sweatshirt, and the smell had given her away.
“Ben and the others must really trust you,” she said. “We’ve already lost three of our number clearing most of the Half Breeds from this area.”
“Yeah? Paige just got carried off to Lord knows where. Think you can track her down?”
“The stench of Full Bloods is so powerful that they might as well have spotlights strapped to their backs.”
“More than one?” Seeing Kayla nod into the rearview mirror, Cole grunted, “Shit! Right now I need the one that’s got Paige.”
“Ben and I can take you to her.”
“Perfect,” Cole said, starting the car. His hand was poised over the gear shift when he stopped before taking
