In the distance, the chattering of gunfire was washed away by the thudding rhythm of helicopter blades and the inhuman baritone of a Full Blood’s howl. Cole had to strain to hear any of that, however, since his blood was pumping through him in a quickening rush that had to be spurred on by the tendrils squeezing him from the inside.
“Didn’t Paige tell you the part that doesn’t make me sound like a prick?” Rico asked as an ugly smile crawled onto his face. “I joined up with her Army buddies to check ’em out. A group of them picked me up outside of Louisville and hooked up with a unit of gunships and a few truckloads of soldiers. When Bloodhound decides to sell out, at least it’s with some style, huh?”
“What happened in Toronto? I want to hear it from you.”
“You mean the guy I brought along who turned out to be Kawosa?” Rico’s eyes shifted nervously upward as he asked, “You want to hear this story somewhere a little safer? This place seems to have some sorta big bat infestation.”
“We’ll talk about it here. I haven’t quite decided yet if I want to keep you from being petrified and eaten.”
Rico opened his jacket to reveal the Sig Sauer he always carried. “I could have pointed a gun at you too. I didn’t. That’s because we’re partners. I’m working to earn my points back with Paige, but we don’t got that kinda baggage.”
“You know what would have won a lot of points with me?” Cole asked. “Getting me out of prison. Since you left me to rot in there, I don’t see any reason why I should play favorites with you over Paige. At least she had a reason to do what she did.”
“And we got a reason to do what we’re doin’. It’s the same reason we didn’t drop everything to spring you outta that prison.” Rico let his jacket fall shut again. “Tonight, the world as we knew it cracks wide open. It’s been brewing for a long time and we all seen it comin’. On the way over here, we wiped out four packs of Half Breeds. That’s just what we found when flying low in these choppers or driving down an interstate. You and I both know how much worse it is in spots we can’t see. If humans ain’t at the top of the food chain when the smoke clears, we’ll either be slaves or dead. You’ve already made your choice.”
“What about Toronto?”
Rico dropped his arms as if he no longer cared about the gun pointed at him. “What about Denver? When that skinny shapeshifter told you he was Paige, we believed it! I made some calls and that thing’s not like anything we ever faced. He didn’t even have to change into something that looked like Paige. He tells us something and humans believe him. Haven’t you ever heard of trickster myths?”
“I think so. American Indian stuff, right?”
Rico smiled. “That’s right. You do something other than play video games after all. In most of those myths, Coyote is the trickster. Kawosa is the coyote. He may be the closest thing to a god or demon that we’ve ever faced, and if you want to get pissed off because I fell for a trick thrown at me by a fucking
“Sounds like she woke up just before you shot her. If you were both under the same spell, how’d that happen?” Cole asked.
“I been wondering about that myself. She’s never really trusted anyone all the way ever since she first laid eyes on a Nymar. Maybe that was enough to give her the edge. All I can tell you is I’m damn glad she did because if I would’ve killed her for no reason, I would’ve eaten my next bullet two seconds later.”
The skies directly above them were still clear. Cole could feel the crackle in his scars that told him the gargoyles were still around, but he figured they must be preoccupied elsewhere. From the sound of it, there was plenty more werewolf meat to be had over the next ridge. As far as Rico was concerned, Cole suddenly realized he was holding the big man at gunpoint simply because he wanted to make someone, anyone, pay for driving Paige into a war zone.
What changed things around was something he had learned to trust more than anything else lately: instinct. Rico was talking sense. He knew the big man. He trusted him. Rico had proven himself when it counted the most and was trying his damnedest to do so again, even with a gun pointed at him and death on all sides. The least he could do was alleviate one of those situations. Cole lowered the gun and asked, “How did you know where to find me?”
“We picked up the trail of a Full Blood at that wrecked prison and followed it south. There was some sort of Lancroft storehouse or lab under there and we think the Full Blood got to another Shadow Spore.” Looking up nervously, Rico asked, “Are those bat things coming back or what?”
Cole’s scars were burning so badly from the shapeshifters nearby that he doubted he could feel the gargoyles if they were circling overhead. Fortunately, more howls in the distance were followed by gunfire and a wave of high- pitched shrieks. “They stay in flocks,” he explained. “I think. Anyway, it sounds like they’re over there.”
“Well that’s where we gotta go,” Rico said. “Bloodhound’s Army buddies are already here. That’s one of their choppers behind you, and there’s another that’s about to go down further up the road.”
The battle in the distance was making its way to the downed chopper. The explosions he heard before had sounded like impacts, but the next ones were definitely grenades. Judging by the bellowing roars that followed each one, the soldiers weren’t making much of a dent. Considering everything going on at the moment, Cole knew he didn’t have time to question Rico thoroughly. Instead, he decided to make him prove himself the hard way and handed the big man an assault rifle. Then he picked up his spear, propped against the side of the helicopter, and smiled as his hands closed around the weapon’s familiar grip. Its weight was perfect. The largest spearhead gleamed with metallic varnish containing flakes of the Blood Blade. Even the thorns in the handle punctured his flesh in the spots marked by the very first scars he’d gotten as a Skinner. There was only one other homecoming he’d looked forward to this much.
“Do you know some skinny psychic dude and a Squam?” Rico asked as he started jogging toward the worst of the fighting.
“Yes! Do you know where they are?”
“The IRD picked them up in Colorado. Once I convinced them that I know you well enough to be trusted, they told us you and Jessup were headed here.”
“So that’s also how you found me,” Cole said. “Why didn’t you say that before?”
Rico looked over to him and admitted, “I wasn’t sure about you yet.”
Considering what had happened about a minute ago, Cole had to laugh.
“Your friends are locked up,” Rico said. “I’ll take you to them.”
Cole kept his eyes open for any trace of Jessup. He might not have known the other Skinner for long, but he’d be damned if he would lose a partner. An explosion rolled through the air like a boulder that had been dropped into a still pond. Both Skinners looked toward the hill where several black columns of smoke rose to smear the sky. As Rico checked the rifle he’d been given, Cole pulled on the harness that Rico must have rigged to hold the spear. It wasn’t much more than a large belt with two loops stitched into the leather, but it did the trick. Without another moment of hesitation, they ran toward the growing storm of gunfire and unearthly cries.
“Did you ever meet another Skinner named Jessup?” Cole asked while taking hold of the other assault rifle he’d taken from the helicopter and checked to make sure it was loaded. Now that he had more than a second to examine the weapon, he recognized it as a Heckler & Koch MP5A3 with some slight modifications made to the barrel and stock.
“Yeah, I know Jessup. Is he here?”
“Hopefully.” There were still about a hundred yards to cover before they crested the hill. “Do you know when the Breaking Moon rises?”
“About an hour ago.”
Cole looked up and found the moon hanging in a smoky, darkening sky, but there was nothing about it to catch his eye apart from a slight rusty hue cast upon its wide face. “Is that a Blood Moon? I’ve seen it redder. And the damn thing isn’t even full.”
“After all this time running with Paige, you still think a full moon has anything to do with werewolves?”
“No, but what’s so special about this one?”
“Nothing as far as we can tell,” Rico said. “But it don’t matter what we see or don’t see. The Breaking Moon has to do with Full Bloods, not tides.”
Cole felt a pain in his gut that caused him to stumble for a few steps. The tendrils inside him had picked that
