The Monster Hunters

  “It was on my list of places to look. A mile underground and filled with water. The amulet would have been extremely difficult to find.”

  Earl remembered the smell of the creatures that had held him earlier. They’d stunk of the deep earth. “Unless you had some critters that could dig for you. Then it would have just taken time. He’s probably using the mine as a base of operations now.”

  Nikolai stopped and tilted his head. The expression was recognizable to Earl now. Nikolai was listening to the voices in his head. “Yes. Yes, I believe he would. . . . Follow me.” Nikolai mounted a waiting snowmobile, fired up the engine, and sped off.

  “You trust that crazy?” Aino asked.

  “Not at all.”

  “I better come with you, then,” Aino said.

  “What’re you, seventy?” Earl asked.

  “Meh, I’m only twenty. It’s the climate. Long winters. Hard on the skin,” the old man said. “I can help. I know that place. It’s a big facility. And I know the mines, if you have to go down.”

  Aino Haapasalo was cantankerous and stubbornly brave, but neither of those traits would keep them alive against what they were facing. “It’s been a long time,” Earl pointed out.

  “When a place tries that hard to kill you, you don’t forget it very easy. And don’t you feel guilty about maybe me dying. I shoulda died years ago. I’ve just been passing time since then. Besides . . .” He held up Aksel’s journal. “I’m the only one that can read this. It might come in handy still.”

  Regular people never ceased to amaze him. He reached over and slapped Aino on the arm. “All right. Mount up. Follow the crazy Russian.”

  Stark rolled over with a groan and pressed his sleeve to his broken nose. He flinched when Earl kicked him in the leg. “What’re you waiting for? Let’s move out.”

  “But . . . I—”

  “Oh, you thought making me mad might get you out of some honest work? I don’t think so. See, me and your boss go way back. We sure as hell ain’t friends, but he’s a real letter-of-the-law kind of man, and I know he holds his people to the same standards. You, on the other hand, are taking bribes and breaking PUFF exemptions for money. Help beat this Alpha, and I’ll be inclined to forget some of your misdeeds the next time I talk to Myers. Now get your ass up before I change my mind.”

  Stark glared at Earl as he lumbered to his feet, but he didn’t say another word as he reluctantly got back on the snowmobile. He flipped down his goggles over his stillbleeding nose. There may not have been any words, but Earl could see the message clearly etched on Stark’s jowly face. You’ll regret this. The snowmobile engine started with a roar, and Stark took off after Nikolai.

  “Now, that’s the spirit.” Bringing Stark along might turn out to be a mistake, but he didn’t particularly like the idea of leaving him here to cause trouble, either. So it was either bring him or murder him. When the MCB did show up, it would be nice if he’d have a chance to explain the night’s events before Stark could put his spin on it. But just in case . . . Earl turned to Jason. “Do me a favor. If Agent Stark shoots me in the back, blow his fucking head off.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jason answered as he got onto his snowmobile. It looked far too small to carry him. The whole vehicle creaked as he settled in. “You know, I already like this job better than my last one.”

  Chapter 29

  The forest was eerily quiet in the predawn stillness. The snow had stopped falling. The wind had died. There were still sporadic gunshots coming from town, but they seemed so distant that it was almost peaceful. The fact that anyone was still alive to be shooting seemed like a good sign, while the fact that there was something still to shoot at was very bad.

  Somebody was coming. First she heard the engines. Instinctively taking cover behind a tree, she waited for them to pass. The sounds echoed along the hills a long time before the snowmobiles would be visible. There were several of them, and they were coming from town. That meant they were probably on her side, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

  Next, she smelled them. The engines were hot, the exhaust was acrid. The lead rider was odd; something about his smell distorted her senses, like an air-freshener covering up something pungent. The effect was probably the wolfsbane that Harbinger had warned her about. It was supposed to mess with a werewolf’s nose. The others weren’t cloaked, though, and she could get a clear fix on them. Some of the riders tasted like fear, others of determination and . . . tobacco?

  Heather’s nose crinkled. Harbinger.

  Relieved, she stepped out from the cover of the trees and ran for the approaching headlights. There was no problem navigating down to the road, since her vision had changed. Seeing in the dark was easy now. She raised her arms overhead and waved. Someone shouted, and the headlights turned toward her.

  She picked out the other individual scents. Aino Haapasalo smelled like high-blood-pressure medications and the beer he’d had for dinner. The government man that had tried to shoot her earlier was the one giving off the most fear. There was a muscular stranger, bleeding and in pain but trying not to show weakness. Now that he was close enough, she could smell the werewolf under the cloud of wolfsbane. Somehow Nikolai was alive, and his scent screamed danger and made a part of her brain shout Run! but she told that part to pipe down. If that lunatic was riding with Harbinger, there had to be a good reason for it.

  The snowmobiles stopped in a line. Goggles were lifted. Mildly curious, the big one looked her up and down. “Aren’t you cold?”

  It took her a moment to realize that she was completely naked. Shit! She awkwardly tried to cover herself with her hands and mostly failed. It had felt so natural, even in the freezing cold, that she’d kind of forgotten, but now that there were people looking at her, she was suddenly embarrassed.

  Earl Harbinger parked the closest. So many ice crystals stuck to his clothing that he nearly shined. He killed the engine, rested one hand on his holstered revolver, and studied her intently, and it wasn’t just because of her lack of clothing. “Say something.”

  She hadn’t spoken for a while. Her mouth was painfully dry. “Uh . . . Hi? Now can I borrow some clothes?”

  “I’m sure glad to see you.” Harbinger breathed a sigh of relief as he jumped off the snowmobile and headed over. He swept off his leather jacket and draped it protectively over her shoulders. The movement struck her as strangely chivalrous. “How’re you human already?”

  “I don’t know. I just . . . changed back when I wanted to.” She pulled the jacket tight. It was warm with lingering body heat and smelled like Harbinger.

  “You . . . You what? How—never mind. Jason, hand me that blanket.”

  “It’s okay, I’m not cold. Just . . .” The jowly Fed was staring at her. She glared right back. “What? You’ve never seen a woman before?”

  “You’re the deputy from the hospital. You’re one of them now.”

  “Wow. A brain surgeon. No shit, Sherlock.” The big one gave her a blanket, and she wrapped herself in it and leaned against the back of Harbinger’s snowmobile. “What gave me away? The naked snow-jogging?”

  “Are you okay?” Harbinger asked. “Did you—”

  “Hurt anyone? No,” she answered quickly. It seemed very important to her that Harbinger knew that. For some odd reason, his opinion mattered. “I got away from town so I wouldn’t be tempted.”

  “You did good. First time’s the hardest. If you can keep your head through that, you can do anything. I’m impressed.”

  That made her blush. “You sure know how to flatter a girl.” She caught herself grinning uncharacteristically. Harbinger gave her a hesitant smile in response.

  The others dismounted and gathered around. Movement seemed to stand out, with the tiniest flicker easily catching her focus. Every twitch of a finger, every blink of an eyelid. She’d spent the last few hours looking at white snow and black half-covered shapes, so it wasn’t until she saw the sheer dullness of the brightly colored snowmobiles that she understoo
d just how much her vision had changed. “Everything’s so gray . . . How can you stand it?”

  “More rods, less cones,” Harbinger explained patiently. “That’s part of the change. Don’t worry—you’ll be able to see color again by morning. I’d trade you right now. I’m blind as a bat.”

  “What’s he doing here?” Heather asked as Nikolai approached. The scary Russian stopped and tilted his head to the side, studying her.

  “He’s on our side. Marginally. I’ll explain later.”

  She’d found the help she needed to get the cure. The words practically spilled out. “I tracked down our bad guy. I didn’t see him, but he’s in the Quinn facility at building six. There’s a bunch of werewolves standing guard around it. I counted at least eight or nine, but there might have been more inside. There’s multiple dead bodies there, but I smelled a couple of normal people still alive. Don’t know whose side they’re on, though. There were portable lights on upstairs, but I couldn’t see anyone through the windows.”

  “You remember that much?” Nikolai asked sharply.

  “I do. I was coming back to get help when I heard you coming.”

  “Impossible.” Nikolai addressed Harbinger as if Heather wasn’t even present. “No one could have made it through the madness so quickly. Especially a pup. She’s lying.”

  “I’m not,” she turned to Harbinger. He was studying her, but more with concern than suspicion. “Why would I lie?”

  “It’s a trick of the Alpha. There is something not right about her,” Nikolai said.

  “What? No, really. I’m telling the truth.”

  Nikolai’s voice suddenly grew deep. “It’s a trap.” His entire manner changed. His posture slouched, his knees bent. “Kill her now.”

  Harbinger tensed and put his hand back on his gun. “Steady, Nikolai,” he said with forced calm. “Don’t go getting squirrelly on me. That amulet is messing with the natural order of things. That’s all. She’s okay.”

  “Hey, I agree with the bipolar guy,” the federal agent interjected. “Better safe than sorry. Shoot her.”

  “Funny. I thought the same thing about you, Stark,” Aino said.

  “Do it, or I’ll do it myself,” Nikolai growled with that unnaturally low voice. Heather saw the muscles tense in preparation of movement. Time seemed to slow down as Nikolai’s fingers tightened around the stock of his rifle. The barrel rose the slightest bit.

  Heather just reacted. Without conscious thought, faster than any of the humans could blink, faster even than the other werewolf could register, she shrugged out from under the blanket and struck Nikolai with unexpected strength. The impact of her open palm shattered multiple ribs. Time seemed to stop as she stood there, arm extended, while Nikolai arced through the air. He landed ten feet away, sliding through the snow on his back. Instinctively, she moved in for the kill. By the time Nikolai opened his eyes, she was straddling his chest, pinning his arms with her knees, one hand locked viselike around his throat while the other was lifted overhead, fingers spread wide, ready to tear his face off.

  “Heather!”

  “Not now, Harbinger,” she snapped.

  “I gave him my word. We deal with the Alpha first. We’re going to need Nikolai alive.”

  Heather sighed. “Fine.” Nikolai was staring up at her, shocked. She followed his eyes as they tracked up her bare arm to her outstretched hand. Her nails had already stretched into deadly claws. She studied the claws absently. “Well . . . huh. Where’d those come from?” Hadn’t even felt that. She turned her attention back to the stunned werewolf. “What? Didn’t expect that from a pup? You know what I can’t stand? Bullies. I’m sick and tired of bullies. I’m done screwing around. You get me, Nicky?”

  The madness in his eyes seemed to subside. There was no way he could breathe, but he managed a spasmodic nod. Giving one last squeeze, as if to say Got you, fucker, she reluctantly let go and stood up. Clenching her hand into a fist, she felt the claws shrink automatically. It hurt a little bit, but in a good way.

  The four other men were just watching her, mouths agape. She picked Harbinger’s jacket out of the snow and actually put it on this time. It was long enough that she was able to retain a tiny amount of dignity. She zipped it up as she walked over to Harbinger. Even he seemed surprised at how quick she’d been.

  “What the hell is she?” the Fed shouted.

  “She’s with us. That’s all you need to worry about.”

  “But werewolves can’t do that!”

  “Do what?” she asked innocently, making sure to bat her eyes at Stark. The mannerism seemed to unnerve him even more, and she got some enjoyment out of that. I told Harbinger I’d try not to eat anybody, but maybe he’d make an exception for that one. Heather banished the thought immediately. She was no murderer, and besides, Stark was probably high in cholesterol.

  “He’s talking about you partially transforming some body parts at whim . . . and moving damn near master-vamp speed,” Harbinger said. “Impressive, even by my . . . or Nikolai’s standards. Those are some neat tricks, even with a lot of practice. For somebody on their first night? I would’ve said impossible.” He handed her the blanket. Heather threw it over her shoulders like a robe. It hung to her ankles. “But this night’s just full of surprises.”

  The tall stranger and Aino were still gawking at her, obviously scared. Aino had been a friend of the family since before she’d been born. As her curmudgeonly grandfather’s only friend, she’d always thought of him kind of like an uncle. To see him staring, wide-eyed and fearful, broke her heart. He was probably waiting for her to just zip over and shred him. He must think she was a complete monster.

  Nikolai had stood. There was a terrible crack as he jerked his arm back into the socket. Bones realigned, he could begin to heal. He was watching her carefully, but it looked like the slightly less evil side was back in control. How bad was it that even a werewolf assassin with multiple personalities didn’t trust her? If a monster like him couldn’t trust her, how could she expect relatively normal humans to? She was really scraping the bottom of the trust barrel here, but she needed all of them if she was going to break the curse.

  Heather tried to sound as contrite as possible. “Listen, all of you, please. I’m not like those others. I know this is a little weird, but I’m on your side. All I want is to get that amulet back so I can be cured. Please, I’m begging you. I need your help.”

  Aino surprised her then as he came over and put an unexpectedly gentle hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, girl. You didn’t ask for this. We all know you’re doing the best you can. Besides, I didn’t shoot you when you got real ugly earlier, not gonna start now. You’re the same person as you’ve always been, and you’ve always been okay by me.”

  Heather almost choked up at the unexpected display of affection. “Thanks . . . I . . .”

  The old miner had exhausted his supply of empathy. “Eh . . . More? You need a hug or something? Come on, let’s go get you cured already. I’ve been up for like twenty hours. I’m tired.”

  “My apologies, Deputy Kerkonen.” Nikolai’s words were polite, his attitude not so much. “It will not happen again.” She didn’t believe him at all. It will not happen again could just as easily be referring to her surprising him and getting the upper hand.

  “Thank you,” she said. “We cool?”

  Nikolai nodded curtly and climbed back on his snowmobile. The others followed suit. Stark was still scared of her. The big one, Jason, seemed ambivalent but kept a real close eye on her. The air filled with the sound of high-pitched engines. One by one, they pulled off to spoil the pristine white swath covering Cliff Road.

  Only Harbinger waited. She stepped closer to him. “So, how was that?”

  “Unexpected . . . The amulet’s magic is doing different things to you than the other recently bitten, and I don’t know why. You know, Kerkonen, there’s something really special about you.”

  “Why, Mr. Harbinger, are you flirting with me?”
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  “Huh? No,” Harbinger answered before he realized that she was messing with him. He rolled his eyes. “Special, as in you’re one peculiar werewolf. You’re exercising a surprising amount of control for somebody who shouldn’t have even turned yet. I just saw you do things that took me forty years to get the hang of. There’s got to be an explanation.”

  Heather found herself grinning again. Why does he have that effect on me? She barely knew him, but there was something about Harbinger that just felt right. He was a gentleman, but she also liked his no-BS honesty. He was completely fearless but not a brute. This one was a keeper.

  Heather had never been the social type. She’d always been the prettiest wallflower, but being a werewolf made her feel kind of fun. “Bummer . . . On the flirting that is. I’d gotten my hopes up.”

  For the first time since she’d met him, which had only been yesterday but seemed like an eternity ago, Harbinger didn’t seem to know what to say. “Well . . . I’m . . .”

  “Flattered?”

  Harbinger actually laughed. “I suppose. You’re an impressive lady. Maybe if we don’t die, we can . . .” There was an awkward pause. “I don’t know, catch a movie or something?”

  She’d done the impossible. She’d found somebody who sucked at this kind of thing even more than she did. “You’re pretty rusty on the whole dating scene, aren’t you?”

  “The last picture I took a woman to starred Humphrey Bogart, and it was new. What do you think?”

  “Cradle robber.” He was over a hundred, after all.

  Harbinger shrugged. “That whole werewolf thing is hell on a social life. . . . It’s hard when everyone ages but you. Makes anything long term kinda . . . complicated. I hadn’t even thought about that part of being human again, but we will get you cured, too,” he promised, and she could tell that he meant it.

  She got closer. “You’re sweet.” And then she kissed him.

  She hadn’t planned on it. Harbinger’s lips were freezing cold. Hers were abnormally hot. Harbinger was too confused to respond at first, but then he seemed to warm up to the idea.