"Did you see the other Hunter?" Nick asked him.
Stan shook his head. "Nope, not a sign of him, but the other guy did keep the door cracked open behind him. I figured the other guy was inside."
"Did he see you?" Nick questioned.
Stan pursed his lips together. "I'm not sure. The guy stood there smoking his cigarette and tapping his ashes onto the parking lot, but when he finished he flicked the burning butt into the bushes I was hiding in. Then he went back inside and shut the door behind him."
Nick frowned. "And at no time did you see the other man?" he wondered.
"No, but he had to have been there because both their cars were there," Stan pointed out.
Lenore scrutinized Nick's worried face. "Is there something wrong with Stan not seeing both of them?"
"When an animal feels it's being hunted one of the group will keep watch of the predator while the others will hide," he told us.
"You mean like quail?" she suggested.
"Yes, but what we have here are a pair of far more dangerous animals," he countered.
Stan frowned. "So what you're saying is one of them purposefully hid from me while the other guy went out onto the balcony to see what I was doing?" he guessed.
"Exactly," Nick agreed.
"How'd they see me?" Stan asked him.
"Does their room have windows that look out on the parking lot where you met your friend?" Nick wondered.
The color drained from Stan's face. "Yeah, a big one," he replied.
"Then one of them was watching you. No doubt your friend pointed at their room and their cars for your benefit, and that alerted them to your curiosity," Nick explained.
Stan balled his hands into fists and turned his head away from his companions. "Damn it!" he swore.
"But why'd that one guy leave the room at all? Why not just hide in the room and wait for Stan to leave?" Lenore asked her mate.
"Perhaps they believed the revealing was worth the risk," Nick suggested.
"Either way I messed up," Stan spoke up.
Nick smiled and shook his head. "No, you did quite well for your first time hunting a pair of Hunters. We know where they are and what vehicles they have at their disposal," he pointed out.
"So what now?" Lenore wondered.
"Now we-duck!" Nick yelled. He shoved Lenore down and Stan obeyed the order as a quiet bullet whizzed past them. The three huddled against the side of Stan's truck with Nick between the siblings.
Lenore clutching at her beating chest to keep it from ejecting itself from her body. "What the hell was that?" she yelped.
"A bullet from a gun with a suppression cap," Stan told her.
She leaned forward and glared across Nick at her brother. "That's not what I meant," she snapped. Another bullet hit the truck and penetrated both fenders to shoot out the right one over their heads.
Nick's clear, whispering voice broke the tense atmosphere. "Now is not the time for squabbling," he ordered the siblings.
Lenore glared at him, but dropped her voice to a whisper. "I thought that was better than panicking," she snapped.
"The situation isn't as grave as that. We have some advantage over our foe," Nick argued.
She snorted. "Like what? This hunk of junk?" She knocked her elbow against the truck tire and it let out a little hiss.
"This piece of junk is the only thing keeping us from being ventilated," Stan hissed.
She glared at him. "This piece of junk is probably what led this gun-happy guy to us. It's exhaust leaves a trail a mile long."
Another bullet hit the truck and broke through the fender a few inches from the first penetration. Both Stan and Lenore opened their mouths, but Nick pressed his hands against them. "Focus, my friends," he insisted. "The Hunter no doubt followed your brother, but it is better to face them here than anywhere else. We have the advantage of the wilderness of my land and the setting sun."
Nick nodded up at the darkening sky. It would be night in a few minutes. The street, filled with old houses and occupied by older people, was dark and deserted. That helped explain why no one was curious about the three of them ducked down behind the truck.
Stan tore Nick's hand off his mouth. "So how do you suggest we reach the lawn without being picked off by our new friend here?"
Lenore yelped and raised her hand. Embedded in her palm was a small piece of rock from the gravel beneath them. Nick's eyes widened and a sly smile slid onto his lips. "We will give our friend more targets than he expects."
Chapter 18
"We're going to do what?" Lenore asked him.
He grabbed a handful of gravel in both hands and pushed off from the truck so he faced toward the pair. "These rocks will provide us with both a distraction and a cover. Our friend has revealed the direction in which he hides through the penetration of his bullets. We will each throw a handful of gravel in his direction and, all at once, we race for the trees and the house."
Lenore tilted her head to one side and her face twisted with disbelief. "That sounds like a terrible plan," she commented.
"Do you have a better one?" Stan countered. He picked up two handfuls of gravel and looked to Nick. "On who's mark?" he asked Nick.
"I will count to three and we will all throw our rocks across the hood at the bushes across the road. I believe he's hiding there," Nick replied. Lenore hurriedly grabbed her own supply in her shaking hands and waiting for the countdown. "One-" A bullet flew under the car and between himself and Stan.
"Two-three-throw!" Stan yelled.
The three of them jumped up and tossed their gravel at the bushes. Normally such a barrage wouldn't have scared a child, but two of the tossers were werewolves. Their strength meant the stones were thrown as though from a high-powered slingshot, and several handfuls penetrated deep into the bushes. They heard a cry as someone inside the brush was wounded.
"Run!" Nick yelled.
The three scrambled toward the dense trees and brush that enveloped the property while from somewhere in the brush a man swore and cursed. The companions zigged and zagged to avoid being easy targets as their foe fired off a dozen shots. The bullets whizzed and whirled past them, and Lenore aimed her steps toward a large tree. Nick came up beside her and pushed her out of the way just as a bullet struck where she'd been only moments before. The bullet his Nick in the shoulder, and he cried out and fell to the ground.
Lenore hit the ground close beside him and crawled over to where he lay. Nick clutched at his bleeding shoulder and his teeth were clenched together against the horrible agony. "Let me see it," she ordered him as she pried off his hands. Her eyes widened when she glimpsed smoke rise from the wound. Deep inside she could see the shimmer of the shining bullet.
"Silver," he growled in explanation.
Stan slid down on Nick's other side and grabbed the man. "Get up! That guy isn't going to let you two sit here forever!" he ordered them.
Stan pulled Nick along the ground, keeping low in the brush, and Lenore followed behind. The bullets stopped flying, but the silence didn't bring them comfort. Lenore's new sensitive ears picked up on soft footsteps treading the path to their far right. Their foe was on the move. She glanced around them and spotted a large bush with a hollow center. A small path created by countless generations of rabbits led inside.
Lenore grabbed Stan and nodded toward the bush. "You hide in there with Nick. I'll go distract this guy," she offered.
Stan looked at her like she was nuts. She couldn't blame him. This plan was nuts. "Are you crazy? He'll kill you for sure," he protested.
"I might be crazy, but he won't kill me," she argued. She jumped to her feet, turned toward the path, and wildly waved her hands in the air. "Over here, crazy Hunter!" she called out.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Stan yelled at her.
"Get moving!" she hissed at him. Stan pursed his lips, but lifted Nick and dragged him toward the house. Nick's wound oozed blood and he was only semiconscious.
A bulle
t whizzed past her head and she took off across the wide expanse of yard. Lenore ducked and zigged through the brush while the shots grew closer and closer to her head. Without her werewolf reflexes she would have been shot down halfway across the lawn. She dove behind a large tree just as a bullet hit the bark near her throat. Lenore clutched at her beating heart and listened. Stan and Nick reached the house and slipped inside. She sighed with relief and focused on the man's footsteps, but instead she heard his gravely voice.
"You don't know what you're doing, miss," the man called to her. He took a few careful steps and stopped. "Whatever he's told you, what this monster's done to you can't be cured."
"I already know that, but thanks for caring," she called back.
"Did he also tell you that you need to kill to sustain your life?" the man wondered. Lenore froze and her eyes widened. Nick hadn't said anything about needing to kill. The stranger chuckled. "No witty reply for that one? It's true, though. That store bought meat isn't going to satisfy your hunger forever. You're going to need fresh meat, and when you do you'll take it when you can get it." He stepped a little closer to her and she heard his fingers rifle for bullets in his pockets. "Maybe you'll eat that man that was snooping around our motel. He looks a lot like you. He your brother?"
Lenore ground her teeth and risked a glance around the tree. A bullet nicked the wood just above her temple and she jerked backward. The stranger cursed and stepped a little closer. Lenore crawled around the tree opposite her foe and listened to her heart beat in tune with his. The smell of adrenaline hit her nose and her nostrils flared. Her hands gripped the tree bark and her fingers dug deep into the trunk.
Lenore's eyes wandered down to her hands and she noticed the fingers were lengthened and hairy. Her tense fear was forcing her transformation, and high overhead was a near-full moon. Its brilliant light shone down on them as night took full possession of the day. She took a calming breath and focused on the animal inside her. If ever she needed lightning-fast reflexes and powerful strength, that time was now.
Her foe edged closer as she allowed the change to take over her body. Her muscles tightened and her clothes were stretched to the limit. A thin sheen of fur sprouted over her body and her ears stretched upward to end in a sharp point. Her breasts pressed against her shirt, and she softly growled and tore away the buttons and bra. She leaned forward and pushed her swollen breasts against the tree as a tail tore through her pants. Her fingers stretched into claws and her teeth sharpened. The night was no longer a dark place as her new, golden eyes lit up the world. A cool breeze blew over her naked, fur-covered body and sent delicious chills up her spine.
The Hunter's footsteps closed in on her. She grinned and glanced up the tree. The canopy was thick and low. She dug her claws into the bark and climbed up the tree just as the Hunter rounded the trunk. He followed her trail with the barrel of his gun, but she disappeared into the thick branches.
The Hunter hurriedly stepped out from beneath the canopy, but kept his gun pointed at the limbs. "Don't do anything you'll regret," the Hunter warned her. His eyes roamed the branches searching for movement. He noticed a branch twitch and shot at it. It was a miss. Sweat poured down his temple as a creeping feeling of being the hunted rather than the hunter washed over him. "You don't want to be killing people, girl. I know you're scared and confused. That monster's probably given you a whole bunch of lies, but I'll tell you the truth. You're a cursed monster, and nothing you can do can change that. There's only one way out of this curse on you, and that's with a silver bullet. Now if you would just get down and talk to me we can put you to rest."
Another branch twitched. He shot at it, but the bullet didn't hit anything solid. High in the canopy, close to the trunk, Lenore watched him trembling beneath her. She could smell his fear and sweat, and it both excited and repulsed her. Every now and again she would press on one of the large branches to fool him into believing she was traveling on the limb, and he would waste a shot. Judging by the jingle of his pockets he could do this all night, and she was impatient to see how Nick was doing.
The Hunter, sensing trickery, stepped around the canopy of that tree and toward the house. Lenore growled and pushed off from the body of the tree. She tried to land atop the Hunter, but he stumbled backward and fired off a wild shot at her. It nicked her arm as he'd done to Nick, but the bullet didn't lodge itself into her flesh. The silver seared her flesh and a shot of pain raced up and down her arm. Her whole body trembled with agony, and she yelped at the pain and clutched at the wound.
The Hunter righted himself and aimed the barrel at her head. There was a hideous grin on his face as he tightened his finger on the trigger. "Good girl, now just hold still," he commanded her.
Something hard flew from the Hunter's left side and knocked him upside the head. The stranger's head tilted back and he collapsed to the ground. Lenore glanced down at her salvation and saw it was a hammer. She whipped her head to her right and watched Stan step out of the shadows. He had another hammer at his belt, and some looped rope beside it.
"Though you might need some help," he commented.
Lenore sighed and slumped to the dirt. "Just a little," she agreed.
Stan stepped over to her and looked down at his transformed sister. There was a hint of pain in his eyes. "So this is the real you now?" he wondered.
Lenore glanced down at herself and grinned. "No, it's only my evening dress," she joked. Her brother snorted and knelt down beside her. He pressed a hand against her simmering wound, and she batted his curious fingers away. "Do you mind? I'm bleeding there," she growled.
He grinned. "I didn't know you smoked," he teased.
She rolled her eyes and they fell on their unconscious foe. "Before we get to too distracted we should do something about this guy."
"I have that covered," Stan told her as he grasp the rope at his waist. He cast one last glance at her, paused and leaned in close. "Speaking of covered, are you-well, um, are you-"
"Naked beneath all this fur? Yep," Lenore replied.
Stan whipped his head away from her and focused on tying the man. They tore off a piece of his shirt and stuffed it into his mouth. The pair stepped back and admired their work. "Now you take the legs and I'll take the arms, and we'll drag him-" Lenore stepped forward and slung the man over her shoulder. "Or you could do that," Stan agreed.
Chapter 19
Lenore carried their unconscious foe back to the house. She stepped into the entrance hall and her senses were assaulted by the smell of wolf blood. Her eyes followed her nose and she looked to her right into the living room. Nick lay on the couch with his shoulder a mass of clotted blood and his face as pale as the plaster on the walls. He didn't move, and she could barely perceive the rise and drop of his chest as he breathed. She dropped her dead weight onto the hardwood floor with a dull thud and rushed over to kneel by his side.
"Nick? Nick?" she whispered. Stan came to stand beside her, and she glanced up at him. "Is he going to be all right?" she asked him.
Stan pursed his lips and shook his head. "I don't know. That's a bad wound and the bullet's still inside. I thought maybe you werewolves healed fast, but I haven't seen any healing around all that burning," he told her.
Lenore gingerly touched the wound on her arm. It hadn't healed like wounds past. She turned back to Nick and gently shook him. "Nick? Nick, please wake up." Nick's eyes fluttered open. There was a haze over them, and it seemed like he didn't recognize her. "It's me, Lenore," she whispered. His eyes widened and a faint hint of remembrance flickered through them. He opened his lips and muttered a few words.
Stan heard the sound, but couldn't make out the words. Lenore's eyes widened, and she pushed past him into the hall. "What's wrong? What is it?" he asked her.
"The basement!" she yelled at him. He heard the basement door fling open and rushed into the entrance hall in time to see her disappear down the stairs.
"Hey!" he protested.
Stan hurried after her and fo
und Lenore digging through the pile of boxes that still sat in the center of the basement. Tables with the beakers and glassware stood along the walls, and beneath them were more boxes. Some had been unpacked and the empties lay in a stack in front of the others. He ducked in time to avoid being hit in the head by one of those empty ones as she tossed them aside.
"Mind telling me what's going on?" he wondered.
"Nick said there was an antidote to silver somewhere down here. He mentioned something about clean blood or something," she told him.
Stan's eyes widened. "The samples!" he exclaimed. He dove into the boxes and pushed her aside. "Help me find the box labeled 'Samples'!" he ordered her.
With both their eyes searching they found the box of samples beneath one of the tables. Lenore pulled it out and opened the flaps. There were dozens of samples places in a secure metal rack with four tiers. Stan and she pulled the vials out one at a time and glanced at the labels on the sides of the glass containers.
"Here!" Stan yelled. He held up a vial with the words 'Clean Sample' written on the side.
Lenore snatched it from him and raced up the stairs with Stan following as well as he could. She ignored the awakening Hunter in the hall and hurried into the living room. Nick's eyes were closed, but his breathing was ragged and his teeth were clenched. Stan came into the room after her, distracted for a moment by giving a swift kick to the face that rendered him unconscious again. Lenore pried his mouth open with one hand, pulled the cork off the vial with her sharp teeth, and shoved the contents down his throat.
Nick coughed and his body convulsed with wild, jerking tremors. Stan and Lenore held him down, and after a few moments they passed. Nick sunk back onto the couch and groaned. The siblings watched in amazement as, little by little, his muscles pushed the bullet out of his body. The bullet clattered to the floor and Lenore reached for it.