by Aimée Thurlo
Lee fired two shots into her chest. The big bitch yelped as the bullets struck, but she managed to bowl him over as she slammed into his upper body.
Lee fell onto his back, concentrating on holding on to his pistol. The attack by the others was fierce, but skinwalkers just didn’t have the natural instincts of the creatures they’d mimicked.
Instead of striking at his arms or legs wherever they could make contact, the two skinwalkers kept straining to grab his throat, getting in each other’s way as well. They rolled around on the sand; it was like wrestling two bears at once. He managed to free his weapon for a second and shot one below the eye, pushing it away with his other arm as it suddenly relaxed.
Lee rolled up to a squatting position and twisted around just as the remaining wolf made a grab for his head from behind. A small-caliber gunshot rang out and the animal jerked, hit along the spine.
Someone cursed and Lee realized that the skinwalker had been shot by Angela. Lee dove behind Marie’s animal form and rolled, firing at the closest man. The man went down from two rounds in the chest; then Lee rolled again in the opposite direction, nearly avoiding a shotgun blast. Most of the buckshot struck the ground beside his outstretched leg, but a few caught his thigh and pain shot through him like hot needles.
“No, you idiot. Don’t you know what he is?” Angela yelled, pointing a small .32 auto at Stump and firing right into the surprised man’s chest, causing him to drop his shotgun. “Bitch!” Stump yelled, grabbing her pistol hand.
Lee could hear her fingers crunching under the pressure, but Angela hung on to the weapon. “Shoot him, shoot him,” she screamed.
Lee tried to get a bead on Stump’s head, but he kept Angela between them as he tried to wrench away the pistol. Stump punched her brutally in the face with his free hand and her head snapped back.
Lee shot Stump in the thigh and the butt and he grunted, but the bullets didn’t stop him. With a mighty yell, Stump finally swung Angela around like a rag doll and the pistol in her hand went off as he tore it free. Angela sagged and he let her drop to the ground.
Lee squeezed the trigger twice more. The first round caught Stump in the center of his chest and he dropped the handgun, collapsing to his knees. There was no second shot. The action remained open on an empty chamber.
In a split second Lee had his backup .45 in his hand. Stump made the mistake of reaching for the shotgun and Lee shot him in the chest again. The man fell forward onto the sand.
A quick turn of his head showed that everyone was down. Lee found his pocket recorder, luckily still intact and in his pocket, and turned it off as he stepped quickly over to Angela, who was groaning, her hands clutching her bloody abdomen.
“I tried to help, Uncle”
Uncle? What was she talking about? Navajos sometimes gave others these titles as signs of respect, but it sure as hell was an odd time for that. “You did fine, Angela.” Lee got down on his knees beside her, checking to see how badly she’d been hit. She’d been gut-shot and was losing a lot of blood. He thought about the cell phone in his jacket, if it still worked, but even the best medical care would probably be too little, too late. The only thing that might save her now was vampire blood.
Lee looked up the trail leading to the road and couldn’t see anyone, though there were plenty of sirens bearing down. If Diane was coming at all it wouldn’t be much longer, and the police were probably running in his direction from both east and west. It was now or never.
Lee pulled out his boot dagger and slid the blade across his wrist just enough to open a vein. His arm felt warm as blood began to flow across his skin. He pressed his wound gently into hers, then applied pressure with his other hand, hoping to slow her own blood loss.
“What are you doing, Uncle?” Angela said softly. “I’m going to die. You can’t stop it. Had I been shot while in wolf form, I could have shape-shifted back into a human and healed myself, but my luck’s run out.”
“My blood can heal. I’m different from other people, you know.” Lee looked into her eyes and for a second imagined he saw Annie in there someplace. Was his memory of his lost wife so faded now that Angela’s image had taken her place? Or was there a real connection? Angela had called him uncle …
Angela had her eyes closed, and he examined her features without having to confront those demanding eyes. They weren’t like Annie’s. His wife had been kind and gentle, but this woman was hard and manipulative. Yet the cheekbones, the lips, and the shape of the chin was so familiar.
He waited, watching Angela’s wounds. There seemed to be no change, but it had been only a short time, and she was, after all, a skinwalker, not a normal human by any stretch of the imagination.
Angela opened her eyes. “Lee? Is that your real name? I have to tell you something … You’ve always looked at me so strangely, haven’t you? Like I’m someone you’ve known before.”
Lee nodded. He was starting to see the connection now, and it made his heart beat a little faster. He concentrated on keeping his blood mixing with hers, but now he couldn’t take his eyes off her face.
“I didn’t recognize you at first, not when I first saw you over by Fort Wingate that night. But later I remembered a photo my mother had of you and her sister.” Angela smiled. There was a trace of blood on her lips now.
“Connie! Was that your mother?” Lee knew the truth. Connie had been Annie’s little sister and had attended their wedding. He hadn’t seen her since Annie’s burial, but remembered reading about her death a few years ago in a car accident. Annie and Connie had looked a lot alike, and Connie had had children.
“Yes. You’re my uncle, Lee Nez. But you should be eighty years old by now. I’ve seen some very strange things and I’ve become something … evil. But what creature are you … so strong and quick?” Angela’s voice was nearly gone. Unless his half-vampire blood started healing her soon, she’d die.
It didn’t matter what he told her now. If Angela lived, she would be part vampire and know the truth anyway. If she died …
“I’m a nightwalker, Niece.”
Angela was shivering. Lee held her as closely as he could, trying to transfer some heat. But he had to keep his blood in contact with hers if there was a chance at all.
She was barely able to whisper. I’ve heard stories. The one who made me an animal said that if we drank the blood of a nightwalker we might become immortal. But Marie laughed … said that was a lie. Skinwalkers only have a few years, so we must take what we want quickly.” Angela smiled. “I wanted you, even … my uncle.”
Lee could hear someone running down the hill and he looked back. It was Diane, followed by another two officers, and he raised his arm to signal where he was.
“Look out!” Diane shouted, and Lee realized someone was coming up from the opposite direction.
As Lee reached for the .45 in his pocket, two shots rang out, then a third blast nearly shattered his eardrums.
Finally he had his pistol out. Stump was standing there, an ugly mess, the shotgun sagging to the ground at his feet. An angry wound had appeared in his forehead, and it was amazing he was still on his feet. Diane fired again and the big Navajo dropped to the sand. His feet twitched for a moment, then stopped.
Lee turned back to Angela and could see her eyes had lost their light, glazing over. “Good-bye, Niece.” He eased her body down onto the sand just as Diane ran up, gasping for air.
“You okay? It looks like a massacre,” Diane managed. “Sorry I was late.” The officers with her began to examine the downed skinwalkers.
Lee could see more officers coming over the hill right now.
“Well, things did get out of hand quicker than I expected,” Lee said.
“You tried to save Angela?” she whispered, seeing his wrist, now healing up quickly on its own.
“Yeah. Guess my blood won’t work on her kind,” he whispered, looking around to make sure the other cops weren’t within hearing range. He covered her up with his jacket. “She saved my ass
, I owed her one.”
“She wasn’t completely bad …” Diane reached over and touched his arm.
“Guess not, but I’ll never know if she did it for me or for what she wanted.” Lee saw flashlights along the bridge and the lights from a squad car, and realized more cavalry was about to arrive. He put his pistol into his pocket, then wiped the blade of his dagger on his pant leg and placed it back in his boot sheath.
“If it makes it any easier, try and remember that she stood with you tonight, Lee.” Diane nodded, then turned to look around at the wreckage of humans and the shape-shifted animal forms three had been trapped in as they died. “You get anything on the murdered cops?”
“Enough on audio to show they were responsible.” Lee showed her the recorder, then played back a few seconds of speech to verify the device had done the job. “We can close the case now—except for the missing gang members we’re going to have to explain away. At least the Silver Eagle pack won’t be killing any more cops.”
“The international aspects of the smuggling operation will have to fall in someone else’s lap now that our cover’s blown. Think this’ll put the presidential visit on page two tomorrow? The politicians would hate that.” Diane waved to the officers coming in their direction. One was Lieutenant Richmond.
“The threat to the President still exists if Elka is still out there somewhere in this community. She can make headlines on her own. I wish I knew what she had in mind. You’re no closer than we were earlier tonight to tracking her, right?” Lee asked.
“No, not really. Maybe our houseguest can give us some suggestions,” she whispered, seeing Richmond draw closer.
“If she’s still there,” Lee said softly.
CHAPTER 19
ours went by at the crime scene beneath the old Corrales bridge on Alameda, with Lee and Diane going over the details for Logan and Richmond. Lee, who did almost all the talking, had to hide his healed-up wounds and introduce some fiction, omitting his attempt to save Angela by turning her into a vampire. At least Diane didn’t have to corroborate what had actually happened before she’d arrived, and the recording Lee had made satisfied both of their supervisors.
Angela was identified as the newest member of the gang, and both Lee and Diane reported that Angela had become their informant after they learned she’d witnessed the killing of the first undercover officers on the case.
The wolves were identified as trained wolf-dog hybrids belonging to the Silver Eagle gang. Lee explained that they obviously intended on killing him and ripping off the buy-money. The duffel bag didn’t contain any of the smuggled Mexican silver or turquoise, only some dirty laundry.
While Lee and Diane were being debriefed, state police officers and local Bureau agents raided Frank’s Automotive and the gang’s house in the North Valley. Officers recovered thousands of dollars’ worth of smuggled silver, turquoise, and other jewelry-making supplies, along with more weapons and over two hundred thousand dollars in cash.
Word was sent to Las Cruces, and other state police officers and Bureau agents were scheduled to visit the smugglers’ base near the Mexican border. Mexican authorities would be informed about the suppliers but what they chose to do after that was strictly up to them.
Lee and Diane believed that ballistics would identify at least some of the weapons on the scene or confiscated on the raids as those used to kill the state police officer and Navajo tribal cop. That evidence, when combined with the recorded confrontation and dialogue Lee provided, would be enough to end his and Diane’s involvement in the investigation.
When they finally arrived at her apartment complex, Diane was nearly dead on her feet. Lee was starting to tire as well, but they both kept careful watch as they left the car.
“There’s something you need to be aware of,” he said. “Leaving Bridget alone in the apartment with a phone could mean that she’s already contacted Elka.”
“You really didn’t have another choice. Do you think this’ll draw Elka to us?”
“If Bridget’s on the level, we’ll be safe. If not…”
As they climbed the stairs to the apartment he made it clear that both of them wouldn’t be able to go to sleep around Bridget at the same time. “We need to have eyes in the back of our heads now,” Lee said softly.
“The TV is on,” Diane whispered as they reached the door. They could see the flickering of colors on the curtain. “Doesn’t Blondie ever sleep?”
Lee whispered back, “But there’s no sound. Let’s play it safe. It’s us,” he called, loud enough for anyone inside to hear.
“Come on in.” It sounded like Bridget’s voice. There was the sound of the lock mechanism, and then the door opened from the inside. “I’m still alone.” Bridget showed her face in the darkness. “How about you two?”
“We weren’t followed,” Lee said.
They slipped inside and Diane locked the door behind them. Then she turned on the lamp. “Not everyone can see so well in the dark, people.”
Bridget was in Diane’s robe, and her hair looked a little damp. “I hope you don’t mind, Diane. I borrowed this after taking a shower. My clothes were getting a little funky.”
Lee quickly checked the bedroom and the bathroom, his hand on the butt of his gun. As he looked in the kitchen area he noted that Bridget’s knife was still on the table where he’d left it. Finally he relaxed. Sensing Bridget’s gaze, he glanced at her. “Don’t take it too personally. I always check the apartment when I get in.”
“Vampires are paranoid. I picked up on that right away once Elka sank her teeth into me and I became part of her family,” Bridget said.
Diane looked at her oddly. “That’s how you became a vampire then—a bite on the jugular?”
“No, of course not,” Bridget said, and chuckled. “It was one of those palm-slicing exchanges. Like young boys becoming blood brothers, except for keeps.”
Bridget looked at Lee’s clothes, apparently just noting the blood on his jacket, pants, and sleeve. “Yours or somebody else’s?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“A little of both, I suppose,” Lee mumbled, then turned away and walked toward the kitchen area. “Anybody want coffee?”
“Not me,” Diane replied. “Just a shower and a little sleep. We need to be out looking for Elka around the base area by the time the President arrives in town.”
“You want your robe back?” Bridget reached for the cloth belt that held it in place and started unfastening the knot.
“No!” Diane said abruptly.
Lee laughed and Bridget smiled broadly.
“I mean, no thanks,” Diane said. “I have another old one in the closet that will suit me just fine.”
“I was just teasing. How’d I do, Lee?” Bridget turned to see his expression.
Lee shook his head. “I see nothing, I hear nothing.”
“Bridget, you’re about my size, so you ought to fit into my slacks and blouses. Go ahead and see what you can find to wear while I’m in the shower.” Then Diane caught Lee’s eye.
“I’ll take a shower when you’re through, Diane,” he said, trying to figure out what was on her mind. “Then we can work out the sleeping arrangements.”
Lee lay motionless on the living-room chair, resting but not sleeping, and taking occasional, refreshing sips from a juice glass containing the last of his current supply of pig’s blood. Revitalized somewhat, he knew that if someone either moved or tried to enter the room he would hear them.
Eyes closed now, he focused his hearing and could detect two separate breathing patterns, one from the sofa just ten feet away where Diane was asleep, and from the bedroom the faint, deep breaths belonging to Bridget.
Diane had made it clear that either she or Lee had to be close to the only entrance to the apartment, and he’d agreed. Elka was out there somewhere, and if she managed to find them the door was the only quick way into or out of the place. One of the chairs from the dining set had been wedged under the knob to slow anyone down, eve
n a vampire. Climbing in the second-story window would require a long ladder or rappelling down from the roof, then breaking through the glass, also a noisy operation.
It was Diane’s apartment, so she got the sofa and he settled on the easy chair. Bridget still couldn’t be trusted enough for either of them to risk falling asleep beside her, so she occupied the bed.
Bridget said she understood, and offered to keep the bedroom door closed so they’d feel safer. The door hinge squeaked a bit, so Lee knew he’d hear it when she came back out into the living-room area.
Lee opened his eyes, noting that sunlight was beginning to creep in around the sides of the window curtain. The room was just as he’d left it, and the exit door locked and chained, the chair still wedged under the knob.
Bridget was the last to wake up. The young vampire, a pleasant expression on her face, came over to the table where Lee and Diane were having breakfast. She was now wearing eye shadow, blush, and lipstick beneath the sunblock, details that had been missing before.
“How did you sleep, Bridget?” Lee asked, putting down his coffee mug. He’d quit worrying about the rounds Bridget had fired from the pistol he now had tucked under the seat of his car. No bodies had turned up except for those he already knew about, and none that had died by gunfire.
“Very well, I even slept on my back and didn’t have to worry if I snored. I feel so free I’ve decided to wear a little more makeup. Elka has taught me not to attract any more attention than necessary when on a job, but now I’m unemployed, I guess.”
“What are your plans now?” Diane asked, her tone more businesslike than friendly.
Bridget looked at Lee, then back to Diane. “So you’re really going to let me walk away?”
Diane nodded. “We’ve had the chance to talk about it while you were in the other room. Just don’t give us any reason to believe you’ve started breaking any laws, okay?”
“But we need you to stay here in the apartment until the issue with Elka is resolved,” Lee added. “Which brings up a question we’ve been trying to answer since last night. Is there anything that Elka said to you that can help confirm her target? Think hard, Bridget. I know she told you it was Rogers, but is it possible she’s after the President or someone else in addition to Rogers?”
