My arms were going into muscle failure. I was ready to drop them when something flew over my head.
“Ahhh, what the hell?” The girl with the gun was screaming. I glanced over my shoulder, and I was speechless. She was being attacked by a cat. Before she could rip the cat off, two more jumped at her and her friend.
“Isis, run. Now.”
I didn’t need Constantine’s instructions. I was on my feet and running straight back to the apartment area.
“No! Get that bitch!” The first girl fired the gun at the same time she was screaming. I wasn’t sure where they were coming from, but more cats kept appearing.
“Constantine, cats! Really! They’re going to get hurt.”
“Isis, on such short notice, just be thankful. They’re as stealthy as they get. Besides, they have to catch them first to hurt them. Get to the street, and hurry.” Constantine was right. They were stealthy, and they moved faster than anything I had ever seen.
Between the screams of the witches, the hissing of the cats, and the gunshots, the parking lot of Shooters had become a battle zone. I kept low among the cars, trying to avoid attention.
“She’s over there. Get her.” Too loud to avoid attention, the girl with the gun yelled orders in my direction. That evil van had made it around the corner and was heading straight at me. I was going to get run over. I was too far from Bumblebee to get away.
I ran between cars, heading to the service road. The passenger in the van was halfway out the window. She threw something at me. Fortunately I slipped, and it went over my head. Whatever it was, it hit the Ford F-150 on the side and left a huge hole. I struggled to my feet and started running again. I was so dead.
The two witches from the back had joined the chase. I was out of breath. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and almost got run over by a dirt bike. I stopped dead in my tracks. The driver lifted his shield. “Isis, hop on. Now.” I was hallucinating. I had to be. There was no way Bartholomew was driving a dirt bike.
“Isis, hurry!” he screamed at me.
I hopped on the bike. I had no idea where he had learned to drive, but Bartholomew was handling the bike like a pro.
“Package recovered,” I heard Bartholomew say through my earpiece.
“Nicely done. Bring her home.” Constantine sounded relieved, and I was exhausted.
Bartholomew did a U-turn and headed up the street going the wrong way. I heard the witches scream. I closed my eyes and let Bartholomew take us home.
Chapter 22
After an hour of tossing around in my bed, I decided to get up. It wasn’t even six in the morning, and I had had less than five hours of sleep again. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t shut my mind off, either. We had less than two days, and we knew nothing besides the fact that these witches were tough and arrogant. Not a lot of information. Bob was still missing. People were still disappearing, and I kept getting beaten up. After last night, I was overwhelmed and lost. I got dressed and headed to the training area. Maybe I could take some of my aggression out on the punching bags.
I guessed I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep. Constantine and Bartholomew were already on the first floor. Unfortunately, they were not alone. I had forgotten Sexy-Butt was coming over. A large practice mat was set up in the middle of the floor. It looked like a martial arts ring. Bartholomew was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and no shoes, and he was facing Sexy-Butt in the center of the ring. Sexy-Butt, on the other hand, had loose sweats on with a long-sleeve workout shirt. Constantine was sitting on a chair on the outside of the ring. They all stopped when I approached.
“I was planning to let you rest through Bartholomew’s session before calling you up.” Constantine was being nice. Now I was worried.
“Couldn’t sleep. I can come back if you’d like.” I guessed I could always go back upstairs and watch TV.
“Don’t be silly. You’re here; let’s get busy. I assume you both have met, based on the number of warnings.” Constantine looked between Officer Sexy-Butt and me.
“Yeah, I guess.” That was a way to put it.
“Good. We can skip the introductions. Eric is our resident martial arts expert and local wizard.” Great. He was a martial arts expert on top of being a wizard.
“Wait. Why can’t you stop those lunatics?” I was pissed. All this time I had been running around, and he had been doing nothing.
“First, I’m a police officer above all. I cannot act on behalf of the order and be a cop. Those two things should never cross. And since nobody has made a public report about those psychos, I can’t even enforce the law. So thank you!” He was actually mad at me. As if this were my fault.
“Hey, this is not my fault. What was I supposed to do? File a report that witches are taking people in Texarkana? I already filed one for Bob, and you see how well that turned out. Have you found my friend yet?” I was ready for a fight, and sexy little Eric made for a great target.
“Enough, you two. This is childish. We all know these witches are dangerous and somehow are always ahead of us. Fighting each other is not going to solve this mess. Stop it.” Constantine didn’t raise his voice when he spoke. He looked like a king on his throne. “Now, let’s review what we know calmly. There are at least five witches in town and at least half a dozen missing people. What else?” Constantine had taken his teacher voice again.
“They have a way of making men do whatever they want.” I was not happy about that.
“Most women have that effect on men, Isis.” Constantine was not amused.
“Not
