I was going on autopilot. I needed to divorce myself from feelings to get the job done.
"So your granny is just confused about your folks being alive?" she asked.
"Looks that way," Dwayne confirmed. "Too many coincidences here—makes me uncomfortable. It’s as if I was performing Madonna dressed as Donna Summer."
"God, that does sounds horrible," Vlad said as he flew around the room in agitation.
"Yes. Yes, it does," Dwayne whispered in horror.
"I do believe you might want to look out the window," Vlad informed us as he halted and floated in front of what had to be a fifteen-foot floor to ceiling sheet of glass.
"What the hell?" I muttered as I made my way over and tried to make sense of what I was staring at.
The compound was surrounded by Dragons and Wolves—not feral Wolves—Council Wolves. The feral Wolves were facing off against the Dragons and Council and stood squarely in front of Dwayne's house to defend it.
"Does anyone else think what those feral Wolves are doing is really weird?" I whispered as I made sure I was armed to the teeth.
Dima's quick intake of breath made my stomach drop.
"What?"
"My father is out there with the Dragons. Why in the hell is he out there? It's below him to be with commoners."
"Call me crazy, but my guess is he knows you’re here and has come to kill you," I said.
"Okay, Crazy," Dima said with a grim look on her lovely face. "I think you are correct."
"Vlad, there are people trespassing on my property," Dwayne said casually. "What do you think we should do about them?"
"I think we should politely ask them to leave," Vlad answered with a smile so terrifying I got a little sick to my stomach.
"Yes," Dwayne said as he put on a boa which was conveniently laying on the couch. "I think that is a grand idea."
"Oh shit," Hank muttered under his breath.
"I second your shit and will raise you an oh my hell," I mumbled back.
***
"There were thirty," Hank said as he hung up the phone.
"Thirty what?" I asked as I checked my guns.
"Thirty unsolved deaths of WTF agents over the last thirty years, according to Junior."
"Thirty?" I asked, completely shocked. "The Council let thirty cases go unsolved? Thirty cases where their own agents were murdered?"
Like every other stinking epiphany about WTF, I would deal with the information Hank found later. Right now I wanted to get Angela back if she was out there. I wanted to kill Dima's asshole dad and figure out why the Council was here in the first place.
Was it for me? Was it for Granny?
"Yep. Junior will call with more info as it comes in. He thinks he's on to something," Hank said as he put the burner back in his pocket.
"Why aren't the feral Wolves siding with the Dragons?" I asked.
I looked in dismay at the Cows who were preparing to fight alongside us. It was a tremendously bad idea since they were pacifists.
"Um… maybe you guys should…" I started, but the explosion that rocked the house shut me up quick.
"Half the Cows go to the back of the house and half to the front," Hank yelled as chaos ensued. "Just aim the serum at the mouths of the Dragons, same as we did the other day. We have to stop them from shifting. Vamps divide and cover the Cows. Everyone else go out front."
"Weapons won't work on the Dragons," I called out. "How many of you Vamps can mind meld?”
None of them raised their hands.
Shit.
"I'm the only one," Dwayne said. "I'm a bit drained from feeding Granny, but I'll try if the need arises."
"Good. Dima, you wait to go after your father until we've nailed him with the serum and we're with you. Understand?" I asked tersely.
"Yes," she replied in a clipped tone as pink and silver tendrils of smoke fanned out of her mouth and nose.
"Can you shift?" Hank asked her.
"I can."
"Um, Essie?" Pat called out, raising her hand.
"Yes, Pat?"
"Fart bombs?"
I grinned from ear to ear and bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at such a serious time. "Yes, you can utilize fart bombs, but wait for us to give the go ahead."
The Cows all high-fived while the love-struck Vamps looked on in pride. Again, if it wasn't life or death staring us in the face I'd be on the floor in hysterics. Hank groaned and shook his head.
"We need to add nose plugs to our weapons arsenal," he mumbled.
"Is it that bad?" Dima asked as she checked her stash of knives and daggers and strapped on several more.
"Bad doesn't even begin to describe it," I said with a full body shudder. Simply thinking of it set off my gag reflex.
"Who's watching Granny?" I asked as we all made to go outside.
"Nobody," Granny announced from the doorway that went down to the dungeon. "I'm fine, and if any of them get too close there's a good chance I'll go all Wolfy-Vamp on them. God only knows what that means."
A quick glance at Dwayne confirmed my worst fears. He looked ready to have a fit—similar to the one he'd thrown when he realized Milli Vanilli wasn't really singing. However, this was much worse and far more serious. Granny was a danger to the bad guys, and very possibly the good guys. She needed to go back to the basement with a few of the Cows to protect her.
The second explosion put a stop to moving Granny anywhere.
"Go, go, go!" she yelled as we all broke and headed for the doors. Several of the Cows dove right out of the windows with the Vamps flying on their heels. Two of the Vampyres exploded out of Dwayne's chimney, blowing fieldstone hundreds of feet into the air and the rest of us took the doors. It was a spectacular entrance.
And then there was silence.
Nothing was happening outside. I wasn't even sure who set off the explosions.
Was it the Council? The Dragons? The feral Wolves?
There were about ten or so of the feral Wolves standing guard. Where were the others? We'd killed seven—there should be twenty-three…
They completely ignored us and stayed focused on the quiet threat hovering in the hills surrounding us.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Hank on my left.
"No freakin' clue," he answered.
"Oddest thing I've ever witnessed," Dima said as she squinted up the hill. "Why aren't they charging us? We're outnumbered by a shitload."
"We want Essie McGee and Hank Wilson."
A Wolf I recognized from the zoo had shouted the demand.
"There will be no bloodshed if you hand them over without a fight."
"I don't know about the no bloodshed part," a gorgeous male Dragon with an evidently vicious streak purred. "I quite enjoy a little friendly bloodshed."
Dima hissed next to me and smoke wafted from every orifice on her head.
"Daddy?" I asked.
"Yep, but not for much longer," she replied evenly.
"Nice."
"Along with a little spilling of blood, I'd like my daughter to come home. Her loving father misses her so," the Dragon spat sarcastically.
"I'll see you dead first," Dima yelled across the field.
"Now that's not a very respectful way to speak to one's sire," he said silkily with narrowed eyes and fire coming out of his nose.
The feral Wolves growled and pawed at the ground in agitation. I suppose they figured we were a lesser evil than the Dragons. They didn't really like our little mixed species group, but they absolutely despised the Dragons.
"Respect is given where respect is due," Dima shot back to her very displeased father.
"I'm having a problem here," Dwayne called out. "You see, I just had the grounds seeded around my home and you douchecanoes are stepping on it. This makes me grumpy. You are not getting Essie or Hank."
Dwayne paced dramatically as he spoke to the Wolves.
"They have entirely too much to do with planning their wedding. There is not ti
me for them to be incarcerated and tortured by idiots who don't know their heads from their asses. And you," he pointed to Dima's father with his middle finger and a huge smile on his face, "are not getting your daughter."
"Who do you think you are, Vampyre?" an old Wolf yelled.
"I'm Dwayne the Gay Vampyre Drag Queen Priest with a Keen Dress Sense and Fabu Abs. I am the wildly proud father of eight daughters and I moonlight at a wedding shop I also model for. Most importantly, I am your worst nightmare along with my somewhat violent friends slash acquaintances slash occasional mortal enemies… "
"Who want to marry your Cow daughters," Vlad chimed in.
"Yes, well, that's a conversation for another day… or century," Dwayne muttered with an eye roll. "My frenemies like to decapitate things. Say hello to Vlad, Edward, Barnabus, Bones, Dimitri and Spike!"
"Is this a joke?" the Council Wolf growled and began to pace the hillside. "We are your supreme rulers. You will hand over the prisoners or we will take them."
"It's Aramini," Hank said softly. "One of the members who want the reveal."
"Is Gades with him?" I asked as I scanned the crowd.
"He is," Hank ground out. "Only those who want the reveal are here. Interesting."
"I think we know now which Council members are in cahoots with the Dragons," I stated the obvious.
"Our mission should be over," Hank said as he ran his hands through his hair and grunted in disgust.
"Yep, it should, but I'd have to say it's definitely not."
"Affirmative."
"If we live through this can I ride you like a cowboy tonight?" I asked.
"I have no problem with that," he said with a lopsided grin.
"TMI," Dima muttered with a groan. "Some of us are single."
"Sorry," I said insincerely.
"Right," she said with a snort. "Get your head in the game."
"Will do."
The Dragons were up on the hill to the left and the Wolves to the right. They stood about six hundred feet away. Both groups were against us, but they were not together by anyone's stretch of the imagination. The sound of screaming and a body running at us made me pull my Glock and a dagger. The Vamps got ready to shred the attacker and the feral Wolves howled with fury.
"Stand down," Hank yelled. "We know her."
Angela was a bloody mess as she tore forward away from the Council Wolves and ran as if her life depended on it. They gave a halfhearted chase, but she was near death and they didn't seem to care. What was wrong with my people?
"Angela," I cried out as she fell in a heap at my feet.
I was so relieved to see her, but some of the others were not. It was fast and I was so concerned with Angela I was almost unaware it was happening. Almost.
I shifted to my Wolf on instinct as the female feral Wolf my Granny had refused to fight dove forward and went for Angela's neck. I used my body to block her and rolled with her into a now destroyed flowerbed. I wasn't sure if Dwayne's shriek was because I was in danger of biting it or because we'd just wiped out several thousand dollars worth of Knockout Roses.
She bared her teeth and snapped at me as she struggled to get back to Angela. She was strong and large and she wanted Angela—bad. Why in the hell did everyone want to kill my boss? She was a pain in the ass, but being one was not an offense that merited death. I felt the Vampyre blood in my system burst free and flow through my body. My need to fight the female wolf was intense. She was not going to kill what was mine. Only I could kill what was mine…
Wait. Where did that come from?
She hissed and growled. Hank shifted and had my back. The male feral Wolf, who I also recognized, had hers. The Vamps floated above ready to dive in at my first sign of distress. I needed no help whatsoever. I blocked her every move to get back to Angela and her frustration was evident. However, she refused to engage me. What was her problem? Did she fear me? Why in the hell would she fear me? I was smaller and clearly not as old or as skilled as she was.
She made the mistake of looking away and I pounced. I held her pinned under me and she whimpered only once before she offered her neck to me in submission. Why? Why was she doing this?
"Kill her," Angela hissed. "Kill the bitch. She wants me dead. Kill her. Now."
Angela was both frightened and furious. She had to be in shock from repeated beatings, but what she wanted from me was wrong.
It would be so easy to follow orders, but I had stopped taking orders from Angela several days ago. I wasn't going to start now and kill a Wolf that had offered its throat to me. To do so would be cold-blooded murder. I would kill—it was part of my job, but only when necessary or provoked. Period.
I backed off of the female Wolf and gave Angela a withering look as I shifted back to human.
"Bring her in the house," I told Pat and Harley, referring to my boss. "She's in no shape to fight."
"I told you to kill her," Angela rasped out as blood poured from a cut over her eye and from her nose.
Holy hell, they'd worked her over good.
"You'll be happy later that I followed protocol and didn't kill a defenseless being. You'll be safe inside."
"When I tell you to do something, you do it," she screamed as she let Pat and Harley lead her inside. "No one is listening anymore."
I noticed the Aramini and Gades chuckling at the scene. The Dragons appeared bored and the feral Wolves pinned me with stares.
"What?" I snapped at the ferals. "What do you want? And where are the rest of you? There are supposed to be thirty of you… well, I guess twenty-three because of the other day, but…"
"Thirty," Hank said in shock. "There were thirty."
"Ferals?" Dwayne asked confused.
I felt cold and hot at the same time. My head was light and I felt a little like I was floating above myself. It was all in front of us the entire time…
"Agents. Thirty missing agents presumed dead with no proof of death," I said as my body started to shake uncontrollably. "Oh my god," I shouted at the entire hillside. "Is this what you're hiding? Wouldn't the rest of the Werewolf nation be interested to learn that service to your government means you end up as an experiment with half of a fucking life? Is this why you want me? So I can be part of your game along with my parents?"
I wanted to peel my skin off and I wanted to throw up. I was fairly certain at this point I had almost just killed my mother. I had also dropped the f-bomb which was something Granny would wash my mouth out with soap for, but it felt right and Granny was inside.
Of course… now it all made sense. Granny had recognized her daughter and her son-in-law. She had been sure which was what had killed her. It's why those two Wolves stayed and protected her body… and it's why they were still here.
"This ends now," I ground out through clenched teeth. "All of the Wolves and Dragons on the hill die today. Are we all on the same page?"
"Yes, we are," Vlad said as he rubbed his hands together with glee.
"Cows, inside the house," Hank directed as the Wolves on the hill began to shift and howl.
"We will fight," Harley said as she and Pat came back out of the house.
"Absolutely not," I said. "Your blood will not be on my hands. Inside. NOW."
The howling of the Wolves and the unfortunate shifts of the dozen or so Dragons did not bode well for us winning. However, I was not going down without putting up a fight and I planned to take a few Council members with me.
I sincerely hoped I survived the day and I prayed I made it through with all of my limbs intact. I wanted to get married with all of my original parts. But I also hoped the two feral Wolves made it. I was pretty sure I knew who they were now, but I was too frightened to hope it was true.
The Cows ignored us and shifted, which was one of the most alarming things I'd ever seen. There were roughly the size of the cab of a Mac truck and their tusks were about five feet long. The gals were hairy and their eyes bulged to the point I thought they might fall out. No one would believe me if I
described them. It was like your worst and strangest nightmare come to life… and they could speak.
Holy crap.
"Everybody stand back," Pat bellowed in a voice definitely more manly than girly. The Vamps flew around and squealed like girls. "It's gonna get stinky."
"Oh my hell," Dima sputtered as she pulled me back toward the house. "Are they going to kill my father with anal acoustics?"
Some Were In Time Page 23
