The doors swung open and I saw the glow of yellow eyes inside the van. Snarling, the werewolf leapt, over Marta, and directly at me.
I dropped Javier’s body as I fell backward to avoid the creature’s leap and raised my left arm to shield my throat. Teeth latched onto my forearm and bit to the bone. I hit the ground with the were atop me. I yanked my kubotan free with my right hand and took a good grip on it. The wolf released my arm and made another lunge for my throat. I jabbed the kubotan vertically into its mouth as the wolf bit down. I felt teeth in the back of my hand, but the five plus inches of aluminum kept his mouth from closing.
Boom! Gail’s shotgun blasted into the werewolf from close range and the beast sprung off me, almost ripping the kubotan from my hand as it did. I tried to rise, but Javier’s body had fallen across my shins and I had to shove him off before I could stand.
I saw Gail try to get another shot into the beast, but it dodged once and then leapt for her. Rather than going for her throat, the were slashed at her shotgun. It knocked the gun from her hands and at the same time, its claws severed the chain connecting her armbands.
Gail looked shocked, frozen in place, as she stood staring at her freed wrists. Then she dropped to her knees.
Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Oh, shit!
I lunged for her shotgun as I heard the werewolf making a coughing laugh.
My hands found the double barrel Mossberg and I rolled to my feet, the barrel pointed toward where I’d last seen the wolf. It bounded toward me from the opposite side of Gail. Gail was rising, shifting forms, and blocking my shot at Montgomery.
“Damn, Jesse, Gail’s a fucking werewolf!” Marta yelled.
I glanced at her and saw she had picked up the other shotgun and was trying to fire, at Gail. I jumped toward her and slapped the barrel down as the shotgun blasted into the driveway. Gail yelped as silver pellets ricocheted off the pavers.
“Shoot the other one. He’s controlling her,” I shouted and turned to meet the charging werewolf.
The specter appeared beside Montgomery. It seized the werewolf by the throat and lifted it from the ground. Montgomery snarled and twisted, slashing out with his claws to no avail. I turned back to Marta and yanked the shotgun away from her.
“Get in the van and shut the doors,” I ordered.
Without waiting to see if she complied, I ran toward the struggling pair. The werewolf was trying to tear the specter’s hands from around its throat and actually seemed to be having some success.
I heard snarling and saw Gail rising. Her yellow eyes were tracking me.
I spotted the ring on the beast’s right front paw. Its fur nearly covered the ring, but the gold band caught the light and gleamed. I put the shotgun’s barrel a foot from its paw and pulled the trigger.
Boom!
The werewolf’s right front paw flew across the drive and Montgomery howled in pain. I racked the slide.
A body slammed into me and I fell face down onto the pavers with it atop me. I held onto the shotgun and rolled free. Gail lay beside me, her body shifting forms again.
Montgomery howled again as I stood.
The specter still had a grip on his throat, but it looked weaker.
I raised the shotgun and put the end of the barrel in Montgomery’s mouth. His teeth gnashed against the steel and foamy spittle flew as he tried to shake the barrel from his mouth.
“Bite me!” I said.
Boom!
The back of Montgomery’s head disappeared in a spray of blood and gore. The specter released its grip and the werewolf’s body collapsed to the drive.
Chapter 23 – Rings and Bracelets
I knelt beside Gail and put a hand on her human forehead. Her eyes opened.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I—I don’t know. I changed again, didn’t I?”
I nodded. “Montgomery broke the armband’s chain.”
“Where is—”
“Dead, he won’t be bothering us again,” I said.
“Marta?”
I glanced toward the van. I could see a shape moving in the front seat. “She needs first aid, but she wasn’t bitten.”
“Good.” Gail sat up.
I stood and then helped her to her feet. She raised her hands and looked at the broken ends of the chain.
“Can you fix them?” I asked.
“Maybe, it depends on whether we can do it without damaging the spell.” She noticed her clothing was more tattered and disarrayed. She adjusted it to cover her as best she could and then looked at me. “Did you see where my boots went this time?”
I looked toward where she had been when the change took her. Yep, that’s where her boots were.
“I’ll get them for you,” I said.
I retrieved her boots, only found one sock this time. I brought them back just as the old Indian’s ghost floated toward us. It held a severed human hand.
“Now what?” Gail moaned.
When the specter drew near, it held out the hand toward me.
I glanced at Gail, she shrugged, and I held out my own hand. The specter set the hand in mine. The gold ring was still on the ring finger. I got a good grip and pulled it off.
“What do I do with this?” I asked. The specter had been guarding that ring for hundreds of years. What did it expect me to do, bury it again?
The specter almost seemed to understand my question. It raised its right hand and mimed slipping a ring onto its finger. Then it pointed it at me.
“I think he wants you to have the ring,” Gail said.
“But why? I thought he would want it buried or maybe destroyed,” I said.
“Who knows, just do what he wants. That ring will come in handy if we can’t get the armbands fixed.”
“Then you should have it,” I said.
“The specter wants you to have it. Don’t argue with spooks.”
“Okay, okay.” I slipped
