Closer to time she took out the large cooler in the back of her SUV. The cooler was full of fresh cow brains. Not human, yet she was sure the Nandi Bear would find it to be a delicious snack. They had been known to eat animal brains when human ones could not be found.
She had never figured out why it was tearing up the cars. There was nothing in their history to indicate that they liked metal.
Climbing back into her SUV she had about two hours to kill before midnight. She chugged two energy drinks to make sure she would be awake and made herself eat a protein bar.
Midnight came and went. There was no sign of the Nandi Bear. Near one in the morning she heard it. It must have been going from car to car to try and damage something, because she could hear small grunts of pain.
As she rounded the corner of the building she called Rodriquez cell phone. He answered on the first ring.
“It’s on.”
Harley tensed, hearing the creature coming closer. When she had the chance to look, she saw it was making its way toward the cage. The smell of fresh brains was drawing it in.
The Nandi Bear reached the back of the cage. She “flipped” the switch on the spell by intoning the last words. The cage door slid shut and it electrified at the same time.
“Got it. We got it!”
She was overjoyed to have caught the creature without anyone else coming to harm. Her overzealous confirmation attracted the creature’s attention.
It began to bang up against the sides of the cage, howling every time it received a shock. The creature seemed to be ignoring the shocks in an effort to break free of the cage.
It managed to get its great jaws around the bars and bite into them. Three things happened at once. The Nandi Bear bit through the bars, the spell shorted out sending sparks flying, and Harley screamed.
She could hear Rodriguez talking to her, but she didn’t have the voice or the time to react. She quickly called the sword from her back and managed to get the point up before it charged her.
The blow knocked her to the ground. Harley scrambled to get out of the way of its snapping jaws. Though she managed to do that, one of its great front paws sliced down her arm leaving large gashes.
Another scream tore from Harley’s lips. This one from the pain. She rolled, again and again, dodging the great beast. Finally, she ran up against a truck. The only reason it didn’t shock her was because she cast the spell.
Harley heard sirens in the distance. Help was on its way. Would she survive? Would more people get killed? Her thoughts left her open to an attack. The Nandi Bear bit into her arm and may have ripped it off, if not for the bullets that just hit it.
She heard the gun go off and felt the creature release her. She staggered back, blood pouring everywhere. The arm was nearly useless.
Help me Freya. Please. Harley struck wildly at the Nandi Bear while the sound of more firearms went off. Someone grabbed her and knocked her to the ground. The sound of automatic fire sounded over her head.
The rounds of ammo continued to go off for what seemed like hours and Harley realized someone was lying on top of her, shielding her body. The roars from the Nandi Bear became like screams. It was so loud that her ears were beginning to ring.
It took several moments for Harley to realize that whoever had been covering her had moved off, and someone was trying to talk to her.
She didn’t understand. The world seemed to be blurred. She couldn’t have lost that much blood.
“Harley, can you hear me?” It was Lieutenant Meyer’s voice. “Harlowe.”
Using her full first name seemed to register. She looked up, her eyes barely focusing. “Rick?”
“It’s me. There is an ambulance on the way. I need you to hold on.”
“Am I hurt? He just got an arm. I’ll be ok.
“Of course, you will be okay.” He looked worried. Lieutenant Rick Meyers was never worried. She didn’t understand why he looked worried. It was just an arm, after all.
Harley was loaded up into the ambulance. They let Lieutenant Meyers ride along. That seemed strange to Harley. It was just an arm. A few stitches and she would be good as new.
Maybe he got called in on the case. Someone did get murdered after all. Mike was murdered by that beast.
“What happened to the Nandi Bear?”
Meyers smiled at her. “It’s gone, Harley. The police managed to kill it. You don’t have to worry about it hurting anyone again. Just lay back and relax. We are almost to the hospital.”
Harley closed her eyes. She didn’t feel so good.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Harley woke up to the sounds of monitors beeping. She felt groggy. Pain flared from several different points of her body. Both of her arms felt like they were on fire. Her head and neck felt even worse. She didn’t understand.
She remembered the creature damaging both of her arms, but not her head or neck. One of her eyes felt like it was swollen shut.
She licked her lips and realized they were cracked and swollen. Harley looked around with her one good eye. IVs were hooked up to her hand. She counted at least four bags.
Though she couldn’t be sure. She saw a heart monitor and felt a breathing tube around her face going into her nose.
The shades in her room were drawn. She didn’t know if it was night or day. How long she had
