Howling Legion (Skinners, Book 2)

by Marcus Pelegrimas

  “Why would they come on their own, Steph? Tell me that,” Paige said. “Can’t think of a reason why they’d do that? That’s because they wouldn’t come on their own. They’re your buddies, and you’re the one who knew about the man from New York.” Paige listened for a few seconds and nearly clipped a minivan as she swerved into the next lane. “That’s better. It feels good to ’fess up, doesn’t it? Hey, speaking of confessions…”

  The bag of rocks pushed down on Cole a bit more. Conversely, Paige was doing her best not to keep her smirk from bleeding into her voice when she said, “You know those two Nymar I was talking about? They’re dead…Yeah, we’re sure. Dead as Abe Lincoln. And that guy from New York? He’s a Full Blood. Send anyone you like down to Schaumburg or you could just flip on the news. You’ll hear all about it. What’s that?…”

  Cole pulled in one deep breath, held it, and then let it out. It helped, but not a lot.

  “You’re sorry?” Paige laughed. “About the Full Blood or the guys you sent to kill us?…Oh, I see. Well, since the only time Full Bloods generally deal with Nymar is to pick them out from between their teeth, you’ll be real sorry before too long. Just thought I’d keep you in the loop, sweetie. Tell Ace me and Cole say hi…Huh?…Oh, well screw you too, then. ’Bye.” Paige snapped her phone shut and threw it toward the backseat. When she heard Daniels yelp, she looked into the rearview mirror and asked, “Wasn’t that great?”

  “What did she say?” Cole asked.

  “Oh, first she tried to say that Burkis came on his own and must have gotten the other two to come along with him. After I told her the news, she got all pissed and said she’d called Burkis and sent all three because we made her look bad in her parlor. When I told her about the Full Blood, that really got her.”

  “Almost got all of us,” Daniels muttered.

  She leaned over to Cole and said, “Nymar don’t like Full Bloods.”

  “Is it the old ‘vampire versus werewolf’ feud?” Cole asked.

  “Not really. Do you like Full Bloods?”

  “No.”

  “There you go. There’s more to it than that. Way back when, a few Nymar got lucky and killed some werewolves in Philadelphia. Whoever did that kept the ball rolling and tried to set themselves up like lords in a stronghold. The Nymar never really controlled the place, but they kept strutting to make themselves look good, and the Full Bloods have just stayed out of the cities since then. Cole, see if there’s anything new about KC on the Internet and then call MEG. After that, you can sleep for a few hours.”

  “I can stay awake until we get home.”

  “We’re not going back to Raza Hill. I already told you that.”

  “Wherever we’re stopping, I can make it there and then crash when we get home,” he insisted.

  “Well, we’ll probably stop for gas in a while, but we’re headed to Kansas City.”

  Both Cole and Daniels sat up and said, “What?”

  Paige nodded and tapped the wheel to a song that could barely be heard over the radio. “We chased away one Full Blood, but there’s another in KC. If we don’t do something about those Half Breeds, the whole city will have one hell of an infestation.”

  “No,” Daniels snapped. “I’ve got appointments. Research to do. Your research! And I need to get back to my apartment before police and who knows who else starts poking around in there.”

  “I told you to grab all the stuff you needed to finish that research,” Paige reminded him. “Did you?”

  Reluctantly, Daniels said, “Yes.”

  Bouncing her eyes between the road and the rearview mirror, Paige shifted her voice to a softer tone. “I didn’t intend on kidnapping you, Daniels. Honestly. That Full Blood was a surprise, and you’re too valuable for me to risk him getting to you again.”

  “Didn’t you just say there’s another one in KC?” Daniels asked. “How much safer am I going to be there?”

  Wincing at how quickly he’d arrived at that, Paige replied, “All right. I’m going to need you to finish the work on that ink. Without the Blood Blade, we’ll need some other advantage to swing things in our direction.”

  “He didn’t get the Blood Blade. If you listened to me before, you would’ve heard me when I told you that.”

  Cole spun around in his seat. “What are you talking about? I saw the blade sticking out of that thing’s head.”

  “As I’ve been trying to tell you, that was the sample I’ve been using to work on Paige’s project. This,” Daniels said, as he dug around in his overstuffed gym bag, “is the Blood Blade.”

  Daniels stretched his arm out between the two front seats. Cole recognized the gleaming, ornate weapon clutched in the Nymar’s fist. It was the blade he’d brought back from Canada all those months ago. The surface was still smudged with the blood that had been melded into the metal, but a good portion of the blade had been chipped off from the hilt all the way to the tip.

  “I grabbed this as soon as I got to the first floor,” Daniels said. “Rather than risk losing it when you were both going to be ripped apart, I used the sample on that creature. It seemed to do well enough.”

  “Yeah,” Cole said. “It sure did.”

  “Now,” Daniels snapped, “can I use someone’s phone to call my girlfriend?”

  Chapter 12

  Westbound on 1-80

  A sharp rattle snapped Cole out of a heavy, dreamless sleep. He sat up, looked around, and saw a few smudges of pink and purple in the sky. The ground was flat and barren enough that he wouldn’t have been too alarmed if Paige was asleep behind the wheel with a brick holding the gas pedal down.

  She was awake, although the bags under her eyes made it clear she was struggling to stay that way. Taking notice of him, she looked over and said, “Welcome to Iowa.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Early. You want some breakfast?”

  Just as he was about to give Paige a hard time for always wanting food, he realized his stomach was gurgling almost loud enough to be heard over the engine and radio. Something from the sixties was coming through the speakers, but he was too groggy to think of the singer’s name, and Paige had the volume down low enough to keep him from hearing anything more than a few murmured melodies. “Breakfast sounds good. How about some sort of muffin-egg sandwich from somewhere?”

  “Perfect.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “About two and a half hours.”

  “That’s all?” Cole growled. “No wonder I feel like I could drop off again.”

  “Well, you’ve got until I find somewhere to stop for breakfast. I need some sleep too and it’s not a lot further to KC.”

  Cole stretched his arms and looked behind him. Daniels was lying on his side on the backseat. His arms and legs looked strange curled around him, but not as strange as the blackened bald spot that took up most of his scalp. “I don’t suppose he can drive?”

  “He’s only just gotten to sleep,” Paige said. “He was on the phone most of the night, talking to his girlfriend. He’s gonna be working hard once I get him set up, so it’s best if he gets all the rest he can.”

  Lowering his voice, Cole asked, “So Nymar really have girlfriends?”

  “I only met her once, but she’s really nice. She was almost a quick snack for another Nymar last night, so she needed plenty of comforting.”

  “I never pictured a Nymar having a girlfriend. That just seems so…I don’t know…normal.”

  “Lots of Nymar are pretty normal. They feed on people they know, or work out some sort of trick for hunting. When I was training, me and another guy found this Nymar in St. Louis who used to run a three card monte game outside of a pool hall. He’d let himself get caught cheating just to start a fight. During the ruckus, he’d scratch and bite and get enough blood to hold him over for a few days.”

  Cole winced. “Feeding in public, huh? That’s not good.”

  Shrugging, Paige told him, “We let it pass. He was on the receiving end of
most of the beatings, and they were handed to him by loudmouthed jackasses who had something to prove outside of a pool hall. None of them wound up dead, and the Nymar was actually pretty slick. Creativity should never be discouraged, especially when it involves creatively beating up loudmouthed jackasses.”

  It wasn’t much longer before Paige pulled off of I-80 to fill the gas tank and snag a few breakfast sandwiches from a drive-through window. Before heading back to the highway, Cole got behind the wheel so she could curl up to get some rest. Daniels woke up for some coffee and then got to work on his laptop. Twenty minutes later Daniels needed to stop for a bathroom break.

  “Vampires still need to use the can,” Cole grumbled. “Learn something new every day.”

  The car was quiet as it idled in front of a rest stop. Cole closed his eyes, brought a foam cup to his lips and held it there so the coffee steam could make its way to his nose.

  “You ever fight a puppy?”

  Paige asked the question in a soft, breathy voice that made Cole think she was talking in her sleep. He tipped the cup back and sipped his coffee.

  “Cole?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Have you ever fought a puppy?”

  “Why?” he asked. “Are they running wild in Topeka?”

  She coughed and nestled into her seat. Just when it seemed she was going to drift back to whatever she’d been dreaming, she said, “Sure you have.”

  “Do you realize you’re saying this out loud?”

  Lifting her head from where it had been resting upon her folded arms, Paige turned toward him, but not enough to actually look at him. “You know what I mean. Haven’t you ever wrestled with a puppy or let a kitten swat and scratch your hand? They’ve got those little soft teeth and their claws don’t have enough muscle behind them to really do any damage.”

  “I had a kitten that used to climb up my leg,” Cole told her. “He went all the way up to my shoulder and laid there. Once he got bigger, he really tore me up trying to do that.”

  She fell silent for a second, keeping her head raised and her eyes cast toward the window without really seeing through the glass. “Puppies just sort of gnaw on you,” she mused. “Their teeth feel like rubber or wet plastic. It’s cute, but you can see the concentration in their eyes. They really think they’re goin’ to town and messing you up. That’s how I felt last night. Fighting that Full Blood, I was just some puppy with bad intentions and no teeth. It’s been a long time since I felt that way. I didn’t like it back then and I hate it now.”

  “Well, for a bunch of puppies, we did pretty good,” Cole told her. “The last time two Skinners were in the same room as that Full Blood, neither one of them made it out alive.”

  “We’re only alive because of Daniels.”

  “True, but he’s not at all like a puppy.”

  “Because he’s Nymar?” Paige asked.

  “No, because he’s bald and stabs people in the face.”

  Paige’s head drooped back down to where it could rest against the door. Her shoulders seemed to curl up around her ears, which made Cole wonder if he’d picked the wrong time to make a lame joke. When he heard her start to laugh, he felt a lot better.

  Daniels was set up in a hotel just off of I-35 in Kearney, Missouri. It was on the outskirts of the greater Kansas City area, which was only a short drive to the southwest. The room wasn’t much, but it had enough space for him to work. After promising some results later that night, he turned his back to Paige and shuffled into the room. Nymar might not melt in the sunlight, but this particular member of the species looked as if he really wanted to.

  “You can talk to Sally if you want,” she told him. “Just make sure she doesn’t find out where you are. And don’t use the room phone.”

  That perked him up a little, but not much.

  Before long Cole was driving head first into the moving jungle that was morning rush hour in Kansas City. Even after trudging along for almost an hour, they didn’t make much progress. As if the sheer number of cars and crazed drivers wasn’t enough to contend with, he had another set of obstacles strategically placed around the multiple lanes of traffic. “What the hell is the deal with the construction?”

  “Potholes don’t fix themselves,” Paige said as she dialed another number on her cell phone.

  “I know that, but we’ve been sitting at a dead stop for half an hour. I see blinking lights. I see cones. You know what I don’t see? Workers! Is anyone out here doing anything?”

  “They’re somewhere.”

  “Sure,” Cole griped. “That’s what they want you to believe.”

  “And if you paid taxes here, you’d have every reason to complain. Since you don’t, just shut up and let me make my call.”

  After a few minutes of choppy conversation over her phone, Paige snapped it shut victoriously. “We’ve got an appointment!” she declared.

  “With who?”

  “Remember that cop named Stanze? The new girl answering the phones for MEG got a contact number and I finally got a message through to him! We’re set to meet him for lunch. He even said he’d take us around to the spots where those animals were sighted.”

  Cole nodded. “I could have gotten the number for you, but whatever. So what do we do until lunch?”

  “Let’s worry about getting downtown before you start trying to ration your free time.”

  The traffic inched along all the way to Crown Center. It would have taken a row of topless bikini models lining the streets to make it a destination worth the hassle of getting there, but it was a nice place all the same. The buildings along Pershing Road had a futuristic, glassy look to them complete with walkways crossing above the street in several places. Cole couldn’t take in many more sights than that because he had his hands full trying to drive without getting killed. By the time he found a spot to park, he practically had to peel his fingers from the grooves they’d dug into the steering wheel. For someone who’d become accustomed to driving in Chicago, that was saying a lot.

  As soon as he turned the engine off, heat seeped into the Cavalier from all sides like an invading army that had been waiting for the right moment to make its big push. “Where to?” he asked.

  Since the air conditioner barely managed to turn the air lukewarm, Paige hung her arm out the window. “He said he’d come by to pick us up.” Before long her phone rang. She answered it and immediately perked up. “Officer Stanze? We’re a little early, but we’re here…That’s right. The Cavalier with the Illinois plates…All right. Thanks.” Hanging up, she looked over to Cole and said, “He’s almost here.”

  When Cole saw the red and blue lights flashing nearby, he swore under his breath. There were no fire hydrants or important signs nearby, but the police cruiser separated itself from the traffic on Pershing and headed his way.

  “Just take it easy,” Paige said as she patted his arm. “If anyone asks, we are not carrying firearms in the glove compartment.”

  After pulling to a stop behind the Cav, a policeman who looked to be anywhere in his late twenties to early thirties stepped out. He had the build of a football player and carried enough gear on his belt to make a superhero jealous. Judging by the spotless uniform and friendly smile he wore, one of his powers was immunity to the summer heat. “Is Paige Strobel in that car with you?”

  “Yes,” Cole replied.

  “I’m Officer Stanze. We spoke on the phone.”

  Paige leaned toward the driver side window. “Officer Stanze? That was quick.”

  “My shift’s over, so I was just waiting for you to get here.”

  “Oh. I was expecting someone a lot more…never mind. I’m Paige.”

  “Right. So you two are with the Ectological Group?”

  “Yep. I’ve been with MEG for a few years and Cole’s new.”

  “Cole, huh?” Stanze asked as he offered his hand. When Cole tried to shake it, Stanze shook his head and asked, “Mind if I see some ID?”

  “We don’t carry badges
or anything,” Cole said.

  Paige took something from her pocket and placed it into Stanze’s hand. It was one of the few business cards she carried around that she hadn’t designed herself. Apparently, MEG offered more benefits than a phone service. “You can call the number on there if you like,” she said. “Just ask for Jarvis.”

  Taking the card from her, Stanze examined it for a few seconds and then tucked it into his shirt pocket. “That’s the same number I called when I spotted that UFO a year or so back. Sorry if I seem suspicious, but messy cases attract all sorts of crazies. Not that you or your friend are crazy, but would you mind answering a question for me?”

  “Ask away,” Paige said.

  “What’s the stick for?”

  Cole reflexively glanced toward the spear propped within his reach behind Paige’s seat when she answered, “It’s a divining rod. You can find anything, from spiritual activity to a well, from a hundred yards away.”

  “A divining rod, huh?” Stanze said. “Takes all sorts, I guess. That’s Penn Valley Park over there. Some of those strange calls we talked about before came from there. Most of ’em were weird animal sightings, but we haven’t been able to spot anything ourselves. There’s a good amount of nutcases living in that park, so the calls are probably just them trying to get some attention.”

  Paige found a notepad somewhere among the garbage on the floor at her feet and flipped it open. “What kind of animals were sighted?” she asked in her best reporter impression.

  Stanze glanced toward the park. Only a few trees could be seen from where they were, but he pointed as if the place was laid out in front of him. “Some homeless guy named Alvin swore a giant dog with big teeth ran past him over at the west end of the park. He said it moved like a cougar or some sort of mountain lion, but the animal I found definitely has a snout like a dog.”