by Rachel Red
“Enough with the suspense already,” said Allison. “How did it go?”
“I get to keep my job,” said Miriam, “but I’m on probation. I’m also strictly forbidden from fucking any more of my students, although those aren’t exactly the words the old crone heading the review panel used.”
“Miriam, you know I love you,” said Walter, “but how on earth did you not lose your job?”
“It’s hard to bring a case against someone if you don’t have any real witnesses to bring forward. None of the guys I was with wanted to testify against me. It was mostly rumor brought forward by a few female students, one of which I think was pissed because I fucked her boyfriend.”
“You’re never going to learn, are you?” asked Allison. She wanted to be serious and to let her friend know how much she needed to clean up her act, but she couldn’t help but smile. Miriam was just Miriam, and that was never going to change.
“Hopefully not,” replied Miriam. “I could really use a drink. Know of a good bar we can go to?”
“Har har,” said Walter with a roll of his eyes. “I’ve got to get back to the Oakwood to open up anyways.”
“Don’t you normally have a late class to teach today?” asked Allison as they walked through campus towards the loaner car Walter had been given by his insurance company.
“Yeah, good point. Maybe I’ll just have to go drink alone in my office. Care to join me for a celebratory sip?”
Allison shook her head in disapproval. “I should say no, but I know that won’t work with you. One drink, then we’re on our way. Okay?”
Miriam smiled and threw an arm around each of the two siblings, walking between them as they traversed the campus green and went into Miriam’s department building. They were almost to her office when Allison overheard something that made her jerk away and run to the window.
“What’s up, Ally?” asked Miriam.
“Do you hear that?”
“It sounds like…”
The roar of motorcycles with modified exhausts to make them obnoxiously loud filled the air and had more than a few heads turning towards the windows. Outside, just visible through the tree-lined edges of the college grounds, was a stream of gleaming chrome and black leather. A motorcycle gang had just rolled into town and Allison had a pretty good idea of who they were.
“Shit, I told him not to come,” said Allison.
“He doesn’t seem to have listened,” offered Miriam.
The noise from the bikes had receded into the distance, and Allison realized that they’d be arriving at the Oakwood any second, if that’s where they were going. She said a hasty goodbye to Miriam, and she and Walter were halfway back to their car when her phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Allison? It’s Craig. We’re at the Oakwood. Where are you?”
“I thought I told you that you didn’t have to come back.”
“Who says I came because I had to?” There was the sound of raucous yelling in the background. “You and Walt better get back here quick. Your girls are doing the best they can to take care of us, but they look like a bunch of scared rabbits running around in the middle of a pack of wolves.”
Allison ended the call and frowned at her brother.
“Look at it this way,” he said as they picked up the pace and started jogging back to the car. “At least we’re going to make a bunch of money tonight.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Walter went straight to the bar to begin serving drinks. As weak and tired as he was from getting over his illness, Walter looked happier than ever working the taps and rushing to get drinks out to the bikers, knowing how much money they could easily drop in a single session of drinking. Ricky was already working on several orders in the kitchen and Walter had called backup to come in and help deal with the heavy workload.
Sitting beside the bar, Allison watched the servers work the room. Kaylee and Becca had rushed over since they both remembered the Hellclaws from the last visit, and it was clear a few of the boys remembered them, too. The new girls were having a harder time adjusting to the craziness of having a full biker gang take over the tavern, and so Allison had set them to taking care of the few tables not dominated by the Hellclaws.
“There you are,” said Craig, approaching her and leaning against the bar next to her. “Are you mad that I came back?”
“You know what, Craig? I really don’t know what to think. Some crazy bitch comes in here and ties me up to ask me questions about you and the Hellclaws and when I call to warn you away from her, you just rush right into danger. Why did you come back?”
“I was worried about you.” Craig’s eyes were as hard as ever, his stubble coated face betraying no underlying emotion.
“Obviously not worried enough about me to say goodbye when you left last time.”
“Look, you know what it’s like for me. When Mike says go, we go. I wanted to talk to you before we left, I really did, but you were still in the hospital and it was outside of visiting hours.”
Allison twisted a cocktail straw into knots to keep her hands occupied. She felt like punching something or someone. What was worse, she felt just as much like grabbing Craig and kissing him right after popping him in the face. “It’s too dangerous for you to be here.”
“Mike lost it when I told him the Huntress was looking for us. She’s a dangerous woman, and if she didn’t find us in Chicago, she was just going to come back here to raise hell with you in the hopes of drawing us out.”
“Isn’t that exactly what you just did?” Allison threw the twisted straw on the ground and ran a hand through her hair. “I mean, fuck, Craig. You just walked right into her hands.”
“There’s a difference between walking into a trap and going to face someone head on. We know what we’re in for, and we’d rather deal with the Huntress now than have her on our tail. Do you even know who she is? Do you know what she does, for fuck’s sake?” Craig slammed his fist on the bar, drawing looks from a few of the bikers around him.
Allison shook her head.
Craig leaned in close and spoke into her ear. “She’s called the Huntress because she hunts shifters. She’s after our fur. People like her trap people like me when we’re in our animal form, and skin them alive to preserve the magical properties of the hide.”
“Craig… I had no idea.”
He pulled away from her and spoke through a clenched jaw. “No, you didn’t.”
“Allison!” boomed the voice of Mike American right next to them.
She’d been so wrapped up in what Craig was telling her, that she hadn’t even noticed him approaching. She was swept up in a giant hug before she knew what was going on.
“Mike,” she said, laughing despite the awkward tension between her and Craig. “It’s good to see you too.”
“What are you two squawking about over here?” asked Mike. “Doesn’t look like a happy reunion to me. Didn’t you tell her that the Hellclaws only accept happy reunions, Craig?”
“Guess I never got around to it,” replied Craig, his voice dripping with irritation at being interrupted.
“Drinks. We need drinks.” Mike reached over the bar and grabbed the closest bottle he could manage. “Rum? Not my favorite, but it’ll do.”
He tilted the bottle back and let a stream of alcohol pour into his open mouth. When he’d had a surprisingly large swig of it, he passed it to Allison and grinned as she helped herself to a good slug before passing it on to Craig.
“See? Now we’re all friends again,” said Mike. “Did Craig tell you about the puppy farm? So we’re out in some place called Grantsville, Kentucky… or was that in Ohio? Doesn’t matter. We’re basically just passing through and one of our boys gets to talking to this chick at a bar, right, and she’s all sad about this place in town that breeds puppies in these awful conditions. So what do we do? We roll in there to find a barn that’s packed with dogs in these tiny crates, and we knock around the guys running the place, tell them we’re gonna chec
k up on them to make sure they don’t do it again, and then let all the animals free from their cages.”
Mike was laughing hard enough that he could hardly talk. He steadied himself on the bar, took a deep breath, and picked up where he left off. “So we’ve got all these dogs, right? And what the hell are we supposed to do with them now? So we call up the chick from the bar, and she says bring them to the shelter. There we are, thirty odd big dudes on motorcycles, with like two or three puppies stuffed in our jackets riding down the highway. Looked like the scariest damn parade you’ve ever seen. We’ve got nearly a hundred pups and dogs with us, and we roll into the shelter, and they’re all ‘we can’t take these animals. We don’t have room!’”
“What did you do?” asked Allison. She was laughing now too, caught up in Mike American’s infectious good mood.
“We told ‘em they better well find a home for them, or we’ll take the shelter staff out to the farm and stuff them into those cages.”
“So that’s what you guys have been up to for the last year and a half?” asked Allison, her eyes drifting back to Craig.
“Well, it’s been a lot of the usual business with a little fun in between.” If Mike noticed the tension that still hung heavy between his buddy and Allison he seemed intent on acknowledging it. “Couple days ago we beat the snot out of some guy we caught creeping on underage girls. I can proudly say that I’ve never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, but damn, if I don’t like giving guys like that what they have coming.”
“Aren’t you boys the big gallant heroes riding in to save the day. Too bad you just ride back off into the sunset when you’re done again.”
“Come on, Allison,” said Craig. “It’s not like that. You knew what we were all about when we first showed up in West Liberty. You knew what you were getting into.”
They were prevented from continuing that particular track of the conversation when Mike threw back his head and let out a loud growl. He clenched his fists and roared at the ceiling, his big muscles flexing and threatening to tear at his clothes.
“I feel the change coming up on me,” said Mike. “Maybe we should get on out back to keep from wrecking the place.”
“I feel it too,” said Craig. He looked at Allison and his eyes seemed to be alight with a powerful fire. “I don’t want to leave you feeling mad at me. Can we talk about this later?”
Allison nodded silently and went with Mike to open the back door so everyone could file out into the large protected grassy area where the bears had spent the night the first time they were in town. She watched in awe at the miraculous transformation as each of the bikers stripped out of their clothes and shifted from man to bear before trundling off to find a patch of ground to flop onto. It would have been weird watching so many guys take their clothes off in front of her, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was immediately followed by the insane transformation that she still couldn’t believe was real.
So caught up in watching them shift w, that Allison jumped at the sound of a soft and unnatural pop like a muted rifle shot. She watched in horror as the bear that Mike American had transformed into swayed drunkenly before slamming to the ground.
The other bears panicked and ran off into the trees, the hissing pop of a second shot echoing into the night, but seeming to miss any of the fleeing animals. Walter ran out at the sound of the growling and running bears, and he held Allison back from going towards Mike’s still form.
“Look, he’s just been tranquilized,” said Walter, pointing at the silver and white dart end sticking out of Mike’s shoulder.
“You folks okay?” shouted someone from the tree line. “Looked like those bears were just about to raid your garbage. You’re lucky I was passing by and spotted that one. He looks like a big sucker.”
“Who are you and what the hell are you doing on our property?” asked Walter as the man approached.
“State Ranger Abernathy, at your service.” When he came a little closer, they could see his iconic ranger clothing and the menacing looking tranquilizer gun that dangled from a strap over his shoulder. “I’ve been tracking these bears across the state, and based on what I heard about this place a year and a half ago, I figured they might show up here on their way to wherever they’re going. Once we tag this guy, we’ll have a better idea of what exactly they’re up to. Weirdest thing we’ve ever seen.”
“You can’t tag him! He’d never hurt anyone innocent,” said Allison before she realized that she couldn’t exactly explain why she was so sure of it.
“Now ma’am, I’m sure these animals look cute and cuddly to a pretty girl like you, but they can be a real menace when they start getting into towns like this. One swat of that guy’s paw, and he’ll crush your head like a melon.”
“Why don’t we go inside for a drink,” said Walter. “That bear looks like it’ll be out for a while. Why not rest a minute and have a beer? How long have you been out in the woods?”
“That’s mighty kind of you,” said the ranger. His eyes never left Allison. “I’ve been out there a few hours, and I could sure use a cold beer.”
Walter held open the door for the ranger. He grabbed his sister by the wrist and pulled her over the bar where he drew a pint from the tap.
“Go flirt with that guy while I figure out what to do,” he said.
“What?” Allison had no idea what flirting with the idiot ranger was going to accomplish.
“He’s clearly into you. The guy can’t take his eyes of your rack. Just go keep him occupied while I figure out how to keep him from tagging Mike.”
“I am not going to slut myself out for that asshole,” said Allison. “I have had a shitty night, and I’m not going to let that dumb ranger tag my friend out there. Give me that glass, and I’ll smash it over his head.”
“Oh no you don’t,” said Walter. “Calm down a second and leave him to me. I’ll just get him drunk enough to not call animal control.”
Allison and Walter returned to the table where the ranger sat. They’d brought three beers and a bottle of whiskey, and Walter used an old bartender’s trick to fill the ranger’s glass nice and full while barely giving any to Allison or himself. They were able to get him slurring drunk in less than an hour, and Allison was thankful she didn’t have to say much of anything at all. Still, she didn’t like having to sit there while the guy leered at her tits. He’d had the good graces to try to hide it at first, but the drunker he got, the more clear it was that he wanted to get inside Allison’s pants.
“If you boys’ll excuse me,” she said, pushing up from her chair.
She walked off in the direction of the restroom, but turned at the last second and ducked out into the back. With one last check on the ranger to make sure he didn’t notice, she peered out the door to check on Mike. He lay sleeping soundly where he’d fallen, and the pack of Hellclaw bears had returned to camp out beside him and protect him from any possible danger.
Satisfied that neither the Hellclaws nor ranger Abernathy would do any more damage that night, Allison climbed the steps to her apartment and flopped into bed. Walter could take care of the ranger from here on out. What she needed was a good night’s sleep. She didn’t want to think about the biker gang sleeping outside, the ranger downstairs or the fact that Craig was back in town and obviously feeling bad about riding out on her. All she wanted was rest.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was still dark when Allison awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. Bleary eyed and sleep deprived, she threw off her blanket, pulled on a shirt, and shuffled to see who it was. A younger version of Allison might have been surprised to see Craig Arctos leaning on her door frame but she’d been through a lot over the last year and a half, and she just sighed and told him to come in.
“We need to make a plan for when the Huntress comes back,” said Craig, following her into the room.
“It’s six o’clock in the morning. Do we have to do this now?”
“Mike was tranquillized by that cart
oon character of a state ranger out there last night. If we’re caught unawares by the Huntress, it will likely be a different story. What’d you do to take care of him anyway?”
“Walt got him drunk. For all I know, he’s still passed out under a table down there.”
“Still, we need to have a plan. You and Walt are in danger as long as the Huntress is after us. She knows you’re tied to us somehow, and she won’t hesitate to harm you to get to us.”
“What makes you think I need you to come rescue me? You disappear for months on end, give me no idea where the hell you’ve gone, and then you think you’re helping me because you decided to come back into town?”
