“Thanks.” She took another drink of water and set the glass on the nightstand next to the bed. “I should go.”
“How are you feeling?” Ulbrecht asked.
“Like shit. I’ll live.”
“You should at least spend the night here,” he countered. “No one will think to look for you here and you should rest. The last thing you need is to walk home.”
Nadya sighed. “You’re as bad as Greta. At least I can understand you.”
She considered what he said. She didn’t have anything more to do for the night. She’d accomplished her job and Vladimir hadn’t called back to give her another. Her own flat was quite a ways off and without a car it would be a long walk. If neither of them had taken advantage of her in her unconscious – not to mention mostly nude – state, she figured she could trust them enough to spend the night. “I guess you’re right. I’ll stay.”
Ulbrecht looked relieved at her decision. She saw something else in his expression that she couldn’t place. He hid the expression quickly and she was left wondering what the look meant.
Deciding it didn’t matter, she lay back in the bed and waited for the pain meds to kick in. Ulbrecht asked if she was hungry and she nodded. He went into the small kitchen to make something.
As she waited, two things happened almost simultaneously. Nadya’s cell phone – sitting on the nightstand – rang. And at the door, there was a knock. She reached over and answered the phone, putting it to her ear.
Across the room, Greta set her sewing materials down and got up, heading for the door.
The voice on the other end of the phone was hurried. “Nadya,” it was Vladimir. “They’re onto you. Leave now.”
Nadya’s eyes widened and she closed the phone, looking over to where Greta was just answering the door.
“Stop!” she yelled, but it was too late.
As the door opened, the man on the other side raised the barrel of the shotgun he held and fired. Greta’s stomach was obliterated and the large girl was knocked back, blood spraying from her back. She fell to the floor, already dead.
Nadya lurched up and – with no other weapons handy – hurled her cell phone at the shotgunner entering the apartment. The small phone flew across the room and smashed the man in the nose, making him stumble back through the door and into the man just behind him. She jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her shoulder and back, and charged the open door.
Leaping into the air as she got within range, she extended a leg outwards and smashed it into the stumbling man’s face. His jaw shifted unnaturally at the impact of her sock-covered foot. The man was forced further back into the hall, knocking the guy behind him to the ground.
Dropping into a standing position, she glanced down the hall in time to see two more armed men raising their guns at her. She ducked back into the apartment a moment before they fired, slamming the door shut.
Ulbrecht had come out of the kitchen at the sound of the first shot. He stared down at Greta’s corpse in shock.
“Weapons?” Nadya asked him.
He made no response and she turned to him, giving him a hard smack across the face to snap him out of his daze.
It seemed to work.
“Weapons!” she yelled.
Ulbrecht looked around the apartment, shaking his head. “Nothing…”
She looked down at his hand and saw that he held a chopping knife. She took it from him then shoved him towards a window.
“Fire escape?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Use it!” She turned back to the door as it was kicked open again, the two hit men moving through. Out in the hall, the man with the broken jaw was crying, still pinning the man under him to the ground.
Nadya dodged to the side as the two men opened fire and she hurled the knife at one of them. The blade slammed into his throat, blood spraying out and making him gurgle as he dropped his gun and reached for the knife. Pulling it free, his blood spurted with more force. He fell to the ground, both hands clamped around his throat.
Nadya moved forward again, raising a leg to kick the second man’s pistol out of her face before she lunged, tackling him to the ground.
In an attempt to force her off of him, the goon inadvertently grabbed hold of her wounded shoulder. His fingers dug into the bullet scrape.
“You motherfucker!” she cried out, slamming the palm of her free hand into the side of the man’s face. His cheekbone shifted under the blow. She slammed her palm into his head again, this time smashing into his temple. Several more blows and the man released his grip on her shoulder. There was a stunned look in his eyes and blood trickling from his nose and ears.
Pushing to her feet, Nadya let out an angered almost snarl-like sound from her throat which was actually Russian. “Cocksucking whore!” She raised her foot over the dazed man and brought the heel down into the bridge of his nose. The bone shattered and blood gushed from his nostrils. She stomped down on him twice more, just as hard. When she stopped, her sock was coated in blood and the man was dead.
A stray shot nearly ended her life as it skimmed by her head. Her hair shifted from it and her heart leapt up her throat for a moment.
“Mother fuck!” she yelled.
She turned and looked out into the hall and saw that the pinned man had worked enough of himself free to aim his pistol at her. He just didn’t have enough mobility to aim it very well. She charged, anger still flooding her face, and the man tried to adjust his aim. He managed one more shot that went wide and nicked the frame of the apartment’s door, and then she was on him.
Nadya kicked out with her foot, knocking the pistol out of the man’s hand and sending it skidding down the hallway. She spun with the kick, putting her back to the man briefly as she jumped into the air and brought her other leg up for a second kick. As she finished her spin and faced the man again, she extended her leg and smashed her foot into his mouth. The man’s head flew back, blood and teeth spewing from his mouth as he fell back to the floor. Dazed or unconscious, she didn’t know and didn’t waste time to check.
She crouched down over the two wounded men and made short work of them, snapping each of their necks.
Nadya relieved the dead man with the broken jaw of his shotgun, pumping a fresh shell into it.
As she did, she heard the elevator ding as it stopped on the floor. She turned to face the lift, raising the shotgun, ready for more armed goons. The gate began to slide up to allow the occupants of the elevator to exit but it never managed to open fully.
A furred fist slammed into it. There was the sound of metal bending and then a loud twang as the gate was knocked clear of its tracks, sending it smashing into the wall on the other side of the hall. Nadya’s eyes widened as she saw the hulking beast emerge from the elevator. The head was distinctly wolf-like but it walked upright, like a human. It was covered in midnight black fur. And the sheer size and bulk of muscles it had was something that neither wolf nor man possessed.
“Son of a fucking bitch…” Nadya muttered. “Goddamn werewolf…”
Chapter Eight: Narrow Escape
Nadya ran back into Ulbrecht’s apartment, bending down to scoop up one of the dead goons’ pistols and shoving it into the waist of her pants. She grabbed her jacket off the table and slung it on then headed for the open window.
She stood on the fire escape outside the window. The hard metal dug into her feet and she realized she’d forgotten to grab her boots. Looking through the window, she saw the werewolf move into the apartment’s doorway. His head turned and he looked straight at her.
No time to go back for them now.
She turned and started down the fire escape as quickly as she safely could. She saw Ulbrecht below her, just about to the ground level. Once he reached it, he stopped and looked back up to her. His expression told her that he wasn’t sure what to do next.
She didn’t have time to give him any hints. She was too busy concentrating on not falling down the steps and breaking her nec
k. Up above, glass shattered and bricks crumbled. She didn’t look up but the expression on Ulbrecht’s face told her enough. The werewolf wanted onto the fire escape as well.
A moment later, the metal scaffolding shook hard and made Nadya stumble. She was close enough to the ground so she leapt over the side of the railing and landed on the sidewalk beside Ulbrecht. She hazarded a glance back and saw the beast on the fire escape, looking down at her.
“Got a car?” she asked Ulbrecht.
He nodded.
“Well, move it!” She gave him a shove and he took off.
“My keys…” Ulbrecht said, looking back at her helplessly.
“Don’t worry about it!” Nadya yelled back. “Just get us to the fucking car!”
The ground shook underneath her feet and she glanced back, seeing the werewolf rising from a large crack of crumbled bricks where he had landed. The beast turned to the pair and started towards them at a running pace. He was much faster than either of them and it was abundantly clear that he would reach them before they could get to the car.
Nadya selected a few choice Russian expletives and turned to face the monster, backpedaling as she lifted the shotgun to her shoulder. She was willing to bet none of the goons had been packing silver ammunition. She just hoped that the firepower would be enough to slow the creature down.
She fired the shotgun at the werewolf and watched a spray pattern speckle his chest, drawing some blood but barely slowing him. She pumped the weapon and aimed lower.
Firing again, she was rewarded with a howl of pain as one of the werewolf’s knees was destroyed. The monster stumbled forward, slamming into the ground and rolling a few times. She hoped the wound would buy them enough time.
Turning, she ran after Ulbrecht. He’d managed to cover a good deal of ground. He stopped next to an older model Mercedes Benz and pointed to it.
“It’s locked. How are we -?”
Nadya moved past him and slammed the butt of the shotgun into the window, shattering it.
Ulbrecht didn’t even bother finishing his sentence.
She reached in, unlocked the car, opened the door, and jumped in.
Ulbrecht moved around to the other side, getting in the passenger seat.
“Catch.” She tossed him the shotgun and ducked under the dash, yanking at wires.
Outside, the werewolf had gotten to his feet. The nasty wound in his leg was rapidly healing. In a few moments he charged towards the Benz. Ulbrecht saw the creature but Nadya was too busy trying to get the car hotwired.
“It’s coming,” he told her.
“Fucking shoot it!” Nadya replied, hands full of wires. “Fucking Benz’s… pain in the ass to hot wire…”
Ulbrecht raised the shotgun to his shoulder and aimed over Nadya’s back and out the broken window at the rapidly approaching werewolf. He pulled the trigger.
And nothing happened.
He looked at the weapon, confused. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Pump it!” she yelled. “Doctors… I swear…” she added under her breath in Russian.
He pumped the shotgun and aimed again. The werewolf was only about ten feet away. He pulled the trigger a second time and the weapon roared and bucked in his hands, nearly jumping free.
The shot hit the werewolf in his right shoulder and spun him half to the side, but he kept coming.
Five feet away from the Benz, the werewolf lowered his shoulder, intent on ramming the vehicle. The car came to life and Nadya sat up, slamming her foot down on the gas pedal as she extended a middle finger to the beast. The tires squealed for an instant then caught tread and the car sped forward.
Instead of smashing into the driver door, the werewolf creamed the rear corner, putting a large dent in the side and destroying the left taillight. The car skidded sideways but kept moving forward. Nadya kept her foot on the accelerator and sped down the road, glancing in the rear view mirror to see the werewolf giving chase. She skidded around a corner and continued to speed. The werewolf kept after them.
Driving fast and hard, she took turns much more recklessly than any sane driver would. She figured there weren’t too many drivers who would drive sanely while being chased by a giant wolf-creature so she didn’t let it bother her too much.
After a lot of speed and tight turns, she no longer saw the werewolf behind them. She slowed down – slightly – but kept putting distance between themselves and the creature chasing them. She looked over at Ulbrecht, who seemed in a perpetual state of shock.
“That was…” he started to say.
“Werewolf,” she finished for him. “Cell phone?”
Ulbrecht blinked and looked over at her.
“A cell phone. Do you have one?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled one out, handing it to her.
She took it and dialed Vladimir, putting it to her ear.
I’m getting pretty pissed off at this night. Taking out a building full of guards and a Summoner is one thing. Hell, that was a cakewalk compared to Billy Blob the fucking tentacle demon. But now, after all that shit, I have to deal with a goddamn werewolf?
Nadezhda Valentina was not pleased.
Vlad answered on the third ring. She didn’t announce herself or even let him say anything.
“They sent a fucking werewolf!”
“You got away alright?” he asked.
“No shit!” she yelled into the phone. “Did you hear me? A fucking werewolf! Don’t get me started on the fucking blob critter that bitch had calling her ‘mommy’.”
“What?” Vlad asked, confusion in his voice.
“I said, don’t get me started on it!” she responded. “I’ve got no silver to kill this fucking thing. I don’t even have any fucking shoes! You get me back up and you do it quick.”
“I’ll make some calls,” he said. Apparently, her anger didn’t bother him much because he sounded as calm as ever. “Stay on the move.”
The phone call ended abruptly and she tightened her grip on the cell phone, fighting the urge to throw it out the window. “Fuck your mother!” she yelled, dropping the phone in Ulbrecht’s lap before slamming the palm of her hand into the steering wheel several times. She gritted her teeth before looking over to the young med student who was still a bit dazed.
“You better snap out of that shit fast,” she told him. “Because I don’t have time to babysit you.”
Chapter Nine: Car Crash
Nadya noticed the high beams on the vehicle behind them come on and looked into the rearview mirror. Another car sped up behind them. She knew what they were after even before the first shots smashed the rear window. She ducked her head down and swerved the car, yelling for Ulbrecht to stay down. She pulled the pistol she’d stolen out of her pants and tossed it to him.
He looked down at it, uncertain what to do with the weapon.
She glanced over at him, rolling her eyes. “Shoot back!”
Ulbrecht turned in the seat and aimed the gun out the smashed rear windshield. He pulled the trigger, filling the vehicle with the sound of gunfire. More shots came back and Nadya could hear them plunking into the back of the car.
“Hold on!” she yelled before swerving to the right.
Ulbrecht, having not had enough time to hold on to anything, fell across the car and into her. Her wounded left shoulder bashed into the side of the car door and she cursed, shoving Ulbrecht back to his side of the car. The Benz swerved hazardously on the road before taking off in a more or less straight line.
Behind, the pursuing car made the turn and continued after them.
“Gimme that,” she said, taking the pistol from Ulbrecht. Then she reconsidered. “No… gimme that!”
She tossed the pistol back to him and took the shotgun in one hand. She looked in the rearview mirror again at the speeding car behind them.
“Hold on,” she told him again, before twisting the wheel to the left and slamming on the brakes. The car swerved sideways and screeched several feet before coming t
o a halt.
Nadya turned in the seat to look out the shattered driver side window and raised the shotgun, aiming at the approaching car. All she could see were headlights and the subtle silhouette of the car behind them. She aimed for where she figured the driver was and fired. There were only three more shells in the shotgun and she fired them all as rapidly as she could.
Nadya's Nights: Road to Vengeance Page 6
