The late-afternoon sun fell below the horizon and night overtook the shadowed junkyard. The wait was a welcome reprieve. Sort of.
"Too hot! Too hot!" Orion yelped as he lunged for the glass of milk in front of him.
We sat at the dining table, Jasmine beside me and the men opposite us. Between us was a small bowl of innocent-looking red peppers. Orion had just consumed two at once and his mouth was in the final stage of grief, acceptance. It had accepted that the pepper was one of the hottest in the world, and he had been stupid enough to eat two of them.
Orion tipped his head and the glass back, and downed all the contents. He slammed the glass back on the table and hunched over the table. His face was flushed and tears poured down his cheeks. He breathed in and out like he was the last dying dinosaur.
"Wow," he croaked.
Jerry chuckled and popped one of the peppers into his mouth. "It takes practice, my friend."
"Lots of practice," Jasmine added as she, too, partook of the peppers like they were candy.
"Or you could stop now and live to a ripe old age," I quipped.
Orion coughed and nodded at the untouched glass of milk in front of me. "Your turn."
I cringed and glanced at my watch. "Well, would you look at the time. It's almost midnight." I stood and pushed in my chair. "We'd better get going. We wouldn't want to miss the guy."
"Then next time I will insist," Jerry warned me as Orion stumbled to his feet.
"And it'll be double like mine," Orion added.
I made a mental check in my mind to avoid the junkyard in the future. Jerry and Jasmine led Orion out of the room to the front door. I tucked a few of the peppers into my pocket and hurried after them. I met them at the open door where Jerry grabbed his coat.
Orion grasped his arm and shook his head. "I'd rather you and Jazz stayed here."
Jerry frowned. "But this is my duty. I must protect the yard."
Orion nodded. "I know, but this guy's infected with the Sickness, and it wouldn't be a very polite thank-you if we got you involved and you caught the Sickness."
Jerry pursed his lips. "I still do not like this."
Jasmine grasped his arms and tugged. "Please, Dad. Orion knows what he's doing, otherwise Mab wouldn't trust him."
Our host sighed, but nodded his head and replaced his coat on its hook. "Very well, but call if you need help. We will come."
Orion smiled and gave a nod. "And we'll be glad to have it."
The autumn night was cold and dark as the two of us stepped out onto the lawn. The beam of light from the open front door disappeared at its closing, and we were left with the faint glow from the curtained windows. Before us towered the heaping shadows of the junkyard junk. Twisted shapes stabbed the sky and flickering shadows of rats skittered across the ground.
I pressed close to Orion and watched the critters of the night go about their scavenging. "Are we sure Jerry didn't see a giant rat?"
He shook his head. "Jerry's nose is never wrong."
"Even after all that spice intake?"
Orion cracked a smile. "The spice clears the nose, or so he says." He sniffed the air and looked down at my pocket. "Speaking of spice, what's with the load?"
I grinned. "Just a midnight snack."
We reached the spot in the fence where the werewolf had attempted its entrance. The night was still and quiet. A dog howled in the distance. I wondered if it was a neighbor.
Orion stiffened. In the dim night of the clear sky I could see his nostrils flare in and out.
"Smell something?" I whispered.
Orion pressed his finger to his lips, but nodded. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the fence to one of the piles close beside the office supply stack. A few minutes ticked by. My nose tingled with the stench of a thousand garbage cans. I reached out for Orion's sleeve to beg mercy.
A twig snapped. I stiffened. The noise came from the other side of the fence. I focused my eyes on the newly-repaired area of the fence. Something scratched against the metal. I jumped when two hands slammed into the two metal sheets. The fencing groaned as it was pulled apart. A pair of yellow eyes stared through the opening, and sharp teeth glistened in the moonlight.
A scream erupted behind us. I whipped my head in the direction of the house, but I didn't have a direct sight. Feet splashed through the puddles toward us.
"Orion!" Jasmine's voice screamed. The young girl rounded the corner of one of the piles and raced into Orion's arms. She clutched onto his coat and pointed at the house. "My dad! I think he's-!" The sudden wrench of metal brought us back to our first problem.
The werewolf shoved its broad shoulders through the hole it created and stepped on all fours into the junkyard. It raised itself onto its two rear legs and pierced the sky with its extreme height. The werewolf took a step toward the office supply pile.
A howl broke the already-panicked air. Large, furry brown forms lunged from beneath the trash piles and loped at the werewolf. They tackled him to the ground with their hulking bodies. The werewolf thrashed and kicked. It managed to free one hand and gash the face of one of its attackers.
The creature reared back its head and revealed itself to be a gigantic bear. It roared in pain while its fellow bear comrades pinned the werewolf to the ground. Their weight and numbers subdued the werewolf long enough for a familiar shadow to step from behind the office supply pile. The moonlight glistened off the needle in their hand. They strode over to the struggle and knelt beside the werewolf. The creature paused and growled at the person.
"This is long overdue," Mayor Darnell commented just before she stabbed the needle into the werewolf's arm.
The creature howled and thrashed, but the effects were almost immediate. Its eyes rolled back in its head and its head dropped onto the ground. The fur and thick muscles on its body shrank into his human form. In a few seconds a naked man of forty lay beneath the bear squad.
Darnell stood and pocketed the needle. She turned to us and narrowed her eyes. "I had hoped not to have such a large audience."
Orion drew his arm in front of us and snarled at her. "So it was a trap. The officers knew we were in the basement."
A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips. "I would prefer to think of it as a joint operation. I am grateful for your assistance, but-" the bears came up behind Darnell, "-now something must be done about you." She nodded at us. "Capture them."
Orion grabbed Jasmine and my shoulders and shoved us toward the house. "Run!"
We made it a few steps before I sensed something was wrong. Orion wasn't following us. I paused and glanced over my shoulder in time to see his clothes burst open as he assumed the wolfy position. The bears barreled down on him, but the first one took a hard punch to the face and was knocked down. He sidestepped the clumsy swings from the others, and looked to us.
"Damn it, run!" he shouted.
Jasmine shook her head. "We can't leave you!"
I grabbed Jasmine's hand and pulled her along with me. "Don't argue with the man when he's working!"
We raced to the house and reached the lawn. Jasmine dug her heels into the grass and pulled on my hand. "We can't go in!"
I half-turned to her and frowned. "Why not?"
Me and my big mouth as my question was answered by the sudden annihilation of the front door from the inside. The shattered pieces of wood flew into the lawn. I pressed Jasmine against me and faced my back toward the house so the pieces hit me. A terrible growl filled the night. Jasmine and I looked to the front door in time to watch the large tiger that was Jerry stride onto the lawn. Its wide, black eyes glistened with the insanity of a wild house cat about to kill its store-purchased prey.
I pulled Jasmine behind me and stepped back away from the approaching kitty. "Come on, Jerry! You don't want to hurt your own daughter!"
Apparently I was wrong as the tiger stalked us in a circle and pulled its lips back in a growl. I ke
pt Jazz in back of me as it came closer, but she slipped around to my front. "Dad! It's me!"
The tiger lunged. I pushed Jasmine out of the way and raised my arms to block the blow. The shadow of another large, black cat leapt from the darkness and collided with the tiger. They rolled over the lawn with their claws swiping and their teeth gnashing at each other. They stopped their rolling with one beast atop the other. The victor was the black cat, some species of panther. The tiger's eyes were closed. He didn't move.
Jasmine tried to run to them, but I grabbed her shoulders. She stretched her hand out to her tiger father. "Dad!"
The black cat partially transformed into a woman with torn pants and a blouse. She pulled out a familiar needle from her pocket and stabbed the point into the tiger. The tiger growled, and in a few moments Jerry reverted back to his tattered-clothes self.
The panther stood on its back legs and completely transformed into her human self. She turned to us, and my eyes widened as I beheld the tired face of Darnell.
Jasmine glared at her. "What did you do to my dad?"
Darnell held up the needle. "Nothing more than give him the antidote." She looked past us. "It is an easier remedy than one I have planned for you three."
I turned and followed her gaze. The four bears walked toward us. Draped over one of their backs was the stranger. On another back lay Orion.
"Don't think of trying to escape without Orion's help," Darnell advised us.
We were led from the junkyard to two patrol cars and a black sedan. Jazz and I were placed in the back of one patrol car and the men were tossed into the other. Darnell took the sedan for herself, and we were driven to our fate.
CHAPTER 21