Dogs of War

by Geonn Cannon

  Ari said, "They're not all killers."

  "Close enough." He sniffed and looked out the window, rolling his shoulders as he tightened his grip on the wheel. "How about you, Willow? You heard my origin story, pathetic and weepy though it was. What's yours? When did you find out you were a hunter?"

  She'd prepared a story in anticipation of just such a question, but his revelation had thrown her. "Uh. Well, it's hardly as traumatic as yours. It was just me and my mother, no brothers to carry on the tradition. So she taught me. Figured the skills I learned would come in handy when I started dating and the boys got a little too adventurous. So she trained me and I realized that everything she taught me would help out if I was a private investigator. Sneaking around, following people..."

  "No guns, though."

  "No, I don't really like guns."

  "What kind of hunter doesn't like guns?"

  "The kind that prefers to use her mind."

  Lorne scoffed. "That's why there aren't many huntresses around."

  "I guess so," Ari muttered.

  He drove downtown, following the monorail tracks to Westlake Square. He used his badge to park without paying, then escorted Ari down the street to McGraw Square. It was still early enough that people were at work and kids were in school, so the small park was mostly empty when they arrived. Ari had always thought the circular center of the square looked like a full moon, and she awkwardly crossed it as she followed Lorne to one of the south-facing benches. Her eye was immediately drawn to a building across the street with a cursive sign announcing it as headquarters for THE ORARIAN GROUP written between the first and second floors, the words flanking the logo of a dragon wrapping its wings around a sun. Lorne watched traffic as he settled in, arranging his blazer so it fell more naturally over the weapon holstered on his hip.

  "That's where the wolfsbane is being made? Over the Bartell Drugs?"

  "Well, not officially. The labs are on the third floor, and we have people in place. They manufacture the stuff and get it out to us."

  Ari said, "So we have all kinds of layers through the entire city. Have you ever met the people at the top? The big bosses?"

  "The big bosses, no. I mean, there are people who are in charge of the operation here in Seattle. Them, I've met. But the hunter's council? They're still over in England. They were going to come over here for that big ceremony the wolves were going to have, but once it was called off they cancelled their plans. Kind of a shame. It would be nice to meet the guys at the top of the pyramid." He began patting down his pockets and looked over his shoulder at the food cart. "I think I'm going to grab something to eat. I missed lunch. Want anything?"

  "No, I'm fine."

  "Be right back."

  He got up and walked away, and Ari immediately took out her phone to see if Dale had replied to her text. There was nothing new, so she sent a new message to her mother's phone. "Wolfsbane made in Orarian Group labs. Third floor. Hunters on the ground now, may be vulnerable later." She sent it and pocketed her phone as Lorne walked back. He put a drink down between them. "Figured you might want something to drink. If not, I'll just be forced to drink two sodas. And I don't like diet."

  "Thanks," she said. She took the flag-like remnant of straw paper off and sipped the drink. She wasn't a fan of soda but she appreciated the thought. Lorne needed to think they were allies for as long as possible. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and Lorne looked over when she didn't reach for it.

  "Gonna get that?"

  "It's probably just Dale with something about a case. I'll check it later."

  Lorne folded back the paper on his burger and took a bite as he watched the street. "Way I figure it, whoever the wolves send to check this place out are going to make themselves obvious if we're paying attention. They won't just walk in and storm the castle, they're going to case the joint. It's our job to spot them. You probably do a lot of that, huh?"

  "Yeah, I've done my fair share of sitting and watching. But what if the wolves show up and wonder why we're just sitting here watching the building? We could scare them off."

  "Not if they think we're just two people hanging out in the middle of the day. We could pretend like we're on a date."

  Ari tensed to prevent herself from shuddering. "Please. I could never date anyone with a beard like that."

  He reached up and rubbed his chin. "You don't like the soup strainer?"

  "I could live without it."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  She bit the inside of her cheek to stop her sneer from forming. "It's hard to date anyone. How do you know they're not a wolf?"

  "I have a sense."

  "Oh, really." She kept her voice flat, her eyes locked on the building.

  He nodded. "Yeah. From the moment I started hunting the wolf that killed my mother... and God, doesn't that sound like a damn Western song... I've been able to tell when there's a wolf nearby. I can smell it on them. It's kind of an earthy, dirty scent."

  Ari wondered if he could smell it on her, or if he was ignoring it because he was so obviously attracted to her. As far as she knew, hunters didn't have any valid ways of identifying someone as a canidae unless they actually witnessed a transformation. On the other hand, Lorne was a detective who had spent his entire life seeking vengeance on a group of people he'd been raised to see as the enemy. There was a chance he could see things others couldn't. She put down the cup of soda and put her hand on top of his. He looked down at it, then at her.

  "Sorry. The cup made my hand a little cold."

  "No problem."

  She decided that if he didn't feel a hint of revulsion when she was touching his hand, she didn't have to worry about him sensing something more ephemeral like a scent. She took her hand back and resisted the urge to wipe it on her jeans.

  "I called a couple of uniformed officers who are on our side, and they're going to keep a watch for any suspicious activity. And the hunters who are working inside are aware of the situation. They're getting ready to move the wolfsbane reserves to another, more secure location, but they have to do it when they don't have bosses breathing down their necks."

  "Yeah? You want someone keeping an eye on the transfer making sure no wolves try to sabotage it?"

  "Someone like a private eye?"

  She shrugged. "You did say you were going to try bringing us on as consultants after the whole Missing Melody thing. That hasn't really turned into anything."

  "It's barely been two months! And we've been pretty busy getting ready for this wolf manoth."

  "Yeah. I'm hearing a lot of excuses."

  He sighed, smiling his surrender. "We'll be moving it tonight. I'll take you to meet the guys who will be in charge so they won't mistake you for a wolf in the dark."

  "Wouldn't want that."

  Lorne took the final bite of his burger and slipped his hand out from under hers. "Have you ever killed one?"

  She looked at him. "A wolf? No."

  "I'm still thinking about the one I shot last night. Ahearn. I've killed wolves before, but to kill one during wolf manoth feels different. It feels like I'm part of something larger. You know?"

  "No," Ari said. "I really don't."

  "We could change that, you know. Tonight you could skip security and come out hunting with me. Find a wolf, chase it down. We make a pretty good team, Willow."

  Ari forced a smile. "By which you mean I do all the work and you swoop in to put a pin on it?"

  He chuckled. "That's what I call teamwork."

  "Maybe another time. I think it'll be important to keep an eye out when the wolfsbane is being moved." She wasn't lying about that part. She knew her presence would make a difference, even if it was just making sure they didn't kill her mother.

  "Well, don't wait too long. You keep putting it off, you'll miss your opportunity. Wolf manoth won't last forever."

  Maybe not, but sometimes Ari felt like it was never going to end.

  #

  Dale ignored Ari's text when it came
in, focusing on the last bit of cleanup necessary before she felt confident the canidae would be safe inside. She had worked up a sweat and gotten her clothes dirty from crawling around on her hands and knees to check every nook and cranny. When she was finished, Milhous went to bring the others inside. They'd been stationed outside to warn off customers, spreading the word about the wolfsbane outbreak. She was polishing off the counter when Milhous approached with a tall thin man wearing a plaid shirt tucked into his jeans. He looked to be in his seventies but he walked with the energetic stride of a thirty-year old, his eyes hidden behind tinted eyeglasses.

  "Miss Frye? Milhous tells me you've spent your whole day decontaminating my bar."

  Dale looked at the time and was surprised to see how close that was to being true. "Wow. No wonder I'm hungry. Yeah, I wanted to be sure the place was clear."

  He held out his hand. "I'm Harvey. I own the bar. I wanted to thank you personally, and I wanted to make sure you were reimbursed for your efforts."

  "Oh... that's not necessary..."

  He shrugged. "You're a private investigator and you just spent hours making this place safe for not only my patrons, but for my staff and for myself. I don't care if you just did it to be nice, sometimes niceness needs to be rewarded."

  "Sometimes niceness is its own reward."

  He ignored that. "What's your hourly rate, and when did you get here?"

  Dale hesitated but finally told him. He took a checkbook from his back pocket and bent over the bar so he could fill it out. "If it wasn't for you, I'm not sure what we would have done. I wouldn't feel confident letting people in here tonight, that's for damn sure. So thank you, Miss Frye." She took the check and thanked him. He put his hands on his hips and regarded her for a moment. "Milhous tells me you're in a relationship with a wolf."

  She chuckled. "I am. Her name is Ariadne Willow."

  "Ah, the canidae Paul Revere. Give her our thanks."

  "I will."

  "Do you need a ride somewhere?" Milhous asked. "I'd be happy to give you a lift."

  Dale shook her head. "I have my car down the street. Let me know if you need a human canary to test something for you."

  Harvey smiled. "Will do."

  She had draped her jacket over the back of a booth and slipped it on as she went outside. She looked at the check once she was outside and saw that either Harvey was terrible at math or he'd given her a heck of a bonus. She decided it wasn't worth arguing about and folded the check to put it in her pocket. She was shocked to find the street was already dark, even though the sun did set pretty early in the winter. She buttoned up her jacket and started toward the street where she'd left her car.

  Halfway there she heard the shoe scuffing on the sidewalk behind her. She didn't slow or look back, but she became much more aware of her surroundings as she continued walking. Ari had once told her not to react until she knew what exactly she was running from, and she glanced at storefront windows she passed in an attempt to see behind her.

  "Going to granny's?" someone said in a voice lower than a shout but louder than a normal speaking voice. "Gonna take her a basket of goodies?"

  "I bet she has some good goodies..."

  Dale picked up the pace, not quite running yet. She moved her hand to the pocket holding her phone and kept her breath steady. She had her keys in her hand already, trying to keep herself calm as she approached her car. One of her pursuers picked up his pace and caught up with her, slinging an arm around her shoulder. She twisted away from him only to bump into someone else. She fell back so she wasn't pinned between them. They were wide-shouldered and dressed in layers. The one who had put his arm around her was tall and pear-shaped around the middle, while his friend had his hair gelled into a wave that rose from his forehead.

  Dale decided to try for nonchalance. "Hey guys. What's the problem?"

  "No problem here, little red."

  She bristled. "I'm not a hood. I told Milhous and..."

  "Yeah, we know what you said. But look at that pretty red hair. You're a hood."

  "I'm not. I just want to get to my car and--"

  Someone grabbed her from behind. She fought herself free and spun on her heel, panic starting to rise as she realized there were more of them than she'd expected. She also understood now that she'd only heard the first two because they had wanted her to know they were there. She swallowed the lump in her throat and watched the men as they formed a semi-circle around her. The streetlights weren't on yet, and they were little more than shadowy gremlins.

  "Don't do this."

  "We're just talking to you, little red," said the one who'd done all the speaking so far. "Been so long since we talked to a real human girl. Least, not one that wasn't trying to kill us."

  Another man said, "Yeah, your kind have been really bringing it on the past few weeks. Calling themselves hunters, making us out to be monsters. But you're the monsters."

  "Look, I'm not even close to a hunter. I'm not like them."

  "No. No, you ain't," the first man said. "You're sweet. Bet you taste sweet, too."

  Dale took her keys out of her pocket. "You don't want to do this."

  "Oh, I think I know what I want to do. I want to leave a message for these hunters. We're wolves. We're not gonna take this wolf manoth bullshit lying down. So I think leaving them a cute little red riding hood is just the thing we need to show them just what they're up against."

  "But we're gonna have a little fun with her first, right?"

  The first wolf laughed in a way that made Dale's skin crawl. "Oh, yeah. We're gonna have fun with her all right. C'mere, little red."

  He reached for her and Dale brought her hand up at the same time. She had worked her ignition key between two fingers and she dropped under his arm, rolling forward and stabbing the key into his chest. The blade wasn't sharp enough to pierce his skin or even his shirt, but it did make him rock back on his heels and gave her an opening to escape. She continued forward, avoiding the sloppy attempts by the other two to grab her. She looked at her car but knew that if she stopped long enough to unlock the door they would swarm her. She would have to put some distance between it and her pursuers before she could use it to escape.

  Her plans didn't have time to advance much farther, for just after she started to cross the street to use the alley as a shortcut, she was grabbed around the waist and knocked to the ground. Her knees were scraped as the man held her down, snatching one of her arms and holding it against her side as she flailed at him with the nails of her other hand. She pulled her leg up underneath herself, rolled on her hip, and kicked. Her sneaker landed on the soft flesh of his thigh and he doubled over on top of her as his friends caught up with them.

  "Feisty, for a human."

  "We'll take care of that, won't we little red?"

  One man lingering at the edge of the group was scanning the street. "Come on, get her out of the street."

  Dale fought, but two of them were now working in concert to pin her down. They lifted her and let her feet drag on the ground as she was pulled into the alley she'd so recently seen as her salvation. "No," she grunted as she was dropped, flailing in the darkness for anything that could be used as a weapon. She heard a growl, low and bestial, and her blood turned to ice.

  "Who is already changing? God, have some fucking patie--"

  The leader's gripe was cut off by a bark that echoed off the bricks of the alley. Something large and furry passed over Dale and tackled the boy who was holding her down. He cried out in surprise as he was knocked to the ground. They grappled, and one of the others tried to pull the wolf off of him. Dale got onto her hands and knees and threw herself at the man trying to help. She knocked him to the ground, he punched her in the head, and Dale got her body arranged to bury her knee in his groin. His body tightened in pain and he went still as she got wearily to her feet.

  She didn't know how many had been attacking her, but all the men left standing had taken off down the street once the tide turned. Dale c
onsidered chasing them but decided to let the moment end. She was shaking from adrenaline, well aware the crash was coming, and sagged against the wall. The wolf and human-form canidae continued to fight on the ground, but the wolf was soon thrown off so the man could get away. Dale heard footsteps as he fled, could see the silhouette as the wolf started to follow but then thought better of it and came back to check on Dale.

  There was the sound of dry twigs cracking in a fire, a few quiet grunts and soft exhalations as pain turned into relief, and then there was a person standing in front of her.

  Dale ran her hand over a sweat-slicked shoulder, up into the thick hair, and pulled her close. "Thank you, Ari." She kissed her hard, a kiss of gratitude and apology for their earlier fight and passion at the thought that someone would fight so valiantly for her. To her surprise, however, the woman in her arms hunched her shoulders and recoiled backward, breaking the kiss with enough force that their lips made a popping sound.

  The woman put her hands on Dale's chest to prevent another forward assault and spoke with a British accent. "Um... yeah. Not Ari."

  Dale took out her phone and shined the light into the wolf's face, eyes widening as she saw who it was. "What the hell are you doing in Seattle?"

  "Well," Milo Duncan said with an appropriately sheepish grin. "This is a little awkward."

  Chapter Six

  Dale took off her coat and helped Milo into it. On Dale it reached halfway down her thighs, but with Milo it was just barely long enough for decency. They left they alley and Dale used the light from her phone to scan the street for the keys she'd dropped when she was tackled. Milo silently got into the backseat of the car, and Dale went into the trunk to receive a pair of pants from Ari's stash. She handed them into the backseat once she was behind the wheel and waited as Milo squirmed into them.

  "Are you all right?"

  "Me?" Dale looked at her in the rearview mirror. "I'm fine."

  "Seriously? After what just happened?"

  Dale shook her head. "Nothing happened."

  Milo sighed and leaned forward between the seats. "Dale, I'm a reasonably attractive woman who spends the better part of her nights running around naked. I've been in situations like that before, and they're never something you can just brush off."