The cars turned a right at the main road and drove away from town. The wide pastures slowly changed to the woods as we approached the foothills of the mountains.
I pressed my hand against the cage divider and looked at the pair of bear-men. They were transformed enough to fit into the car and drive. "Mind telling me where we're going?" They stared straight ahead. "Will it be execution style behind a barn or do we get a forest view?" Stony silence. I frowned and dropped back onto the seat. I crossed my arms and slumped down. "Typical. Police never want to answer questions."
I heard a sniffle beside me and looked to Jasmine. She hung her head and clasped her hands in her laps. A few tears glistened atop her fingers. I straightened and set my hand atop hers.
She looked up and showed off her wet cheeks. "Do you think my dad's okay?"
I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Definitely. He probably won't even remember anything." I looked ahead and sighed. "Which wouldn't be such a bad idea right now." One of the officers chuckled. I glared at him. "What's so funny?"
His partner shot him a warning glance. He resumed his stony face and pursed his lips. I was left with no answers and a worse feeling than before.
The drive lasted about fifteen minutes, including a detour to the left onto a winding dirt road. The branches of the trees scraped against the sides of the car as we bounced up a gentle slope. The road ended at a small clearing, and in the center of that clearing stood a decrepit log cabin. The pane-glass windows were filmy with time and neglect. The huge logs were split and the gaps between them were chinked. A couple of rotten steps led up to a rotten porch. The faint glow of lights floated through flimsy, ragged curtains.
Surrounding the cabin was a mud pit that forced the cars to stop near the opening to the clearing. Our captors stepped out and stood beside our doors.
Darnell stepped out and walked onto the porch to the door. She gingerly knocked and stepped back.
The door swung open and a haggish head stuck of the cabin. The long, matted hair framed a wizened old face of a woman. Her clothes were tattered robes in worse condition than the clothes Darnell wore.
The old woman curled her lips back to sneer at the mayor and revealed her rotten teeth. "Whatta ya doing waking the dead with a knock like that?"
Darnell pursed her lips. I could barely hear her voice as she spoke. "You didn't hear the first, so I-" The old woman waved her hand.
"Never mind the excuses. Whadda ya want from ol' Black?"
Darnell spoke a few words I couldn't catch, but I heard Jasmine suck in her breath. "What'd she say?" I whispered.
Jasmine whipped her head to me and showed off a pair of wide eyes. "They're going to erase our memories!"
I blinked at her. "They're going to do what?"
Jasmine nodded at the old woman. "She's going to-"
"Get them out of the cars!" Darnell called to her men. Our doors opened and Jasmine and I were dragged out of the vehicle through separate sides. Only Orion was taken from the other car.
I squirmed and thrashed in the hold of my captor. "Smoky would be very ashamed of you!" I quipped.
The old woman slipped out of her home and shuffled down the steps with Darnell behind her. She jerked her head toward the left-hand corner of the cabin. "Follow me."
Jasmine and I were dragged to the rear, and Orion was hefted over one shoulder. In the back was the usual assortment of woods-living items: a block of wood and chopped kindling, a bucket of water beside a hand pump, four stockades in front of a board with a pentagram drawn on the surface, and a small tool shed that leaned to one side. While the tool shed was interesting, my attention was invariably drawn to the stockades.
The old woman stopped ten feet from the stockades and nodded at the wooden contraptions. "Put 'em in there, and mind the latches. It won't be my fault if they move and ruin the spell."
Jasmine and I were dragged over to the right ones, and Orion was carried to the far left one. The top of the stocks were lifted, but Orion's handler needed to set down his load to lift the last stock.
The moment Orion touched the ground he spun in a circle like a break-dancer. His feet kicked the legs out from beneath the were-bear and the man crashed to the ground.
The momentary excitement allowed me to reach into my pocket and pulled out the hot peppers. I flung them into the faces of Jasmine and my captor. The stinging spiciness soiled their eyes with pain. They screamed and clawed at their faces as the hot poison sank into their skin.
I grabbed Jasmine's hand and yanked her toward the front of the house. The old woman yelped and skittered back to her hovel. Darnell stepped in our path and narrowed her eyes.
"I can't let you leave," she told us.
I pushed Jasmine behind me. A bulge in my pocket told me I had one last spicy trick up my leave. "Sorry, but we're returning your invitation. This party's no fun." I grabbed the pepper and lodged my last hot grenade at her.
She stepped aside. The pepper flopped harmlessly to the ground behind her. Her eyes shone with a preternatural glow. I sheepishly grinned and stepped back as she stepped toward us. "No hard feelings."
She curled her lips back in a snarl before she leapt at us. I shoved Jasmine away and caught the wrists of her clawed hands. The force of her leap pushed me onto the ground. Darnell stuck her transforming face into mine and snapped her long teeth at me. I flipped my head left and right as we struggled to gain the upper hand.
In my life-and-death struggle I hardly noticed as my own hands took on a more primal look. My clothes stretched and tore open as my instinct to survive called forth the beast inside me. The world, once darkened with night shades, was illuminated by my fresh wolf vision.
Darnell snarled at me. I growled back. I tucked my legs against my chest and pressed my feet against her chest. A good kick and she flew across the barren property. She tumbled a couple of times before she slammed her clawed hands into the ground and stopped herself.
Darnell whipped her head up. Her yellow eyes glared daggers at me and her elongated face was full of sharp teeth that dripped with drool. I climbed onto my thickened legs and beckoned her with my finger.
She howled and lunged at me. I pushed off the ground in a forward direction. We slammed into each other. Claws and fangs bit and slashed. Hair was pulled. Lots of it. What finished her was a head butt into the gut. It knocked the air out of her. Her eyes widened before they rolled back. She dropped to her knees before she face-planted into the mud at my feet.
A clapping noise caught my attention, as did the noticeable silence in the clearing. I glanced around and saw that all four were-bears were unconscious. Three of them hung in the stocks. Orion and Jasmine stood ten feet from me beside the wooden contraptions.
Orion was the one clapping his clawed hands. "Not a bad fighting style for a reporter," he commented.
My eyes narrowed. "How long were you standing there?"
He grinned and shrugged. "Long enough to see I need to stay on your good side." I growled. He held up his hands. "Easy there. The fight's over."
My shoulders slumped and my adrenaline slipped away. I felt my body shrink back to its regularly scheduled human form. My clothes hung off me like rags. The jeans were ruined.
I looked down at myself. "Has anyone invented an outfit werewolves can wear that won't fall apart like a dry cookie?"
Orion chuckled and shook his head. "Not yet, but come on." He held his hand out to me. "Let's go call for some backup before these guys wake up and start Round Two."
CHAPTER 22