by Ruby Loren
“You here to tell me we have to go back on already? Can’t I even get a decent smoke break?” Cherri Fine walked back into the room before January could warn her about the wire. Her head passed straight under it and January thought she heard the quietest of pings as a few hairs were clipped from the top of the blonde girl’s head. Cherri would probably be furious if she knew what had just befallen some of her expensive extensions.
The singer stomped off towards the stage without waiting for January.
“I guess there are benefits to being small enough to fit into someone’s pocket after all,” she said, as she un-tacked the sticky tape and carefully wound up the wire. The next person to walk through the doorway probably wouldn’t be under five feet tall.
“You okay?” Leah asked when January walked back on stage. She must still be looking puzzled.
“Yeah, I just tried to talk to Cherri, that’s all.”
“Oh, fair enough. Did you find out what’s up?”
January shook her head and picked up her bass. A thousand questions were jumping around in her head. Who had that razor wire been meant for? Was Cherri being off her game something to do with it? Had Cherri herself planted the wire in the hopes that January would come and find her on her smoking break and walk straight into it?
January shook her head. The blonde singer may not like her, but there were easier, non-lethal ways, to get rid of a bass player you didn’t like.
None of her theories made sense, so she resolved to keep a watchful eye on Cherri and everything else that was going on in the vicinity. Her bones were buzzing with a feeling that warned her that something was about to happen.
“Let’s get this over with,” Cherri drawled into the microphone, setting the tone for the rest of the evening.
January and Leah pulled faces at each other and launched into a version of Primal Scream’s ‘Rocks’. It was too bad Cherri wasn’t feeling it. January thought she and Leah were killing it tonight.
She was so into the music by the middle of their final set, she almost didn’t notice the man staring at her. Sure, it wasn’t unusual to have people watching you when you were on stage, but there was something different about this guy with his carelessly ruffled dark brown hair. He was wearing an immaculate suit, which definitely made him stand out from the average bar dweller. Secondly, he never looked away from her, even when she looked straight back at him. Was it a challenge, or something else?
January was so focused on the mysterious man that her fingers slipped and she hit a wrong note. Mike glared at her. She looked down at the bass, making sure she corrected. When she looked up again, the man was gone.
“Well, it could have been worse,” Mike said when they finished the set.
Cherri had rushed off outside to smoke another cigarette without speaking to any of them.
“Hopefully I can tell the manager that Cherri is really ill and it’s lucky she was here at all tonight. Maybe then we’ll have his pity and get another gig here. I wouldn’t count on it, though.”
January nodded in agreement. Their audience had definitely dwindled during the last set, due to Cherri’s complete lack of interest and off pitch singing. They may not be on good terms with each other, but January could still admit that Cherri had a fair bit of talent when it came to singing.
Tonight, she wouldn’t have made it through the first round of The X Factor.
“Do you think she’ll be okay for the next few gigs we have?” January asked Mike.
He shrugged. “Who the hell knows? I’ll try to talk to her in the week and find out what’s up. She doesn’t usually smoke this much, either. Maybe she’s stressed out. I’ll get to the bottom of it,” he said. “No one can resist Mike’s magic touch.”
January tried to ignore just how creepy that sounded.
“Hey, where’s Leah gone? I wanted to tell her how amazing she was.” Mike looked around.
January noticed the drummer was missing for the first time. She suspected Leah had seized the opportunity to get away from Mike.
“I think you’ve already told her that a few hundred times,” January said with a kindly smile. “Just between us, Mike, maybe you should play things a little cooler with her. Let the girl get to know you before you make your move. You’re a lovely guy, and in time, you never know.” It was the best she could do as far as advice went. Not that she knew much about relationships. The one she was currently in with Ryan was her longest yet.
“I think I might ask her if she wants to get a drink,” Mike said, completely ignoring her.
January’s eye was caught by a flash of black and white suit and she knew her mysterious man had reappeared. She wasn’t even sure Mike noticed when she slipped away; he was so wrapped up in his thoughts about Leah.
January stalked through the crowd, willing them to part so she could see the mysterious man again. Some instinct told her that she had to speak to him. She just wasn’t sure how much danger she might be about to put herself in. She bit her lip and pushed more people aside. A stranger turning up on the same night that she found razor wire stretched across a door at her neck height… it probably wasn’t a coincidence.
I know it’s almost certainly a horrendously obvious trap, but I have to know who he is! She thought, pushing closer to the vanishing man.
Curiosity killed the cat, her mind warned her. It’s a good thing I’m a unicorn, she batted back.
The man in the suit slipped out of a fire exit. January waited a couple of seconds before cautiously checking the door for more razor wire and then sticking her head out. The fire exit led into a dark side alley between the bar and a laundrette. Not sensing any booby traps, January stepped out to follow the mysterious man, but discovered he’d vanished. Rustling noises in a plastic bin nearby caught her attention, but she could tell it was just a fox, or a cat.
“It seems too easy. After receiving a brief like that, I wasn’t expecting her to be out in the open for anyone to take a shot at.”
January froze at the sound of voices.
“She may be a good killer, but that doesn’t mean she knows how to protect her own life,” a second voice responded.
She had a nasty feeling she knew who they were talking about.
6
January pinpointed their location as being further down the alley, around the back of the bar. She hoped Cherri had finished her cigarette break.
January chewed her fingernails. What should she do? The sensible thing would be to call Ryan and Gregory for back-up. The killer around the corner who’d said that she might not know how to protect her own life was all too close to the truth. She did feel like she didn’t have a clue. Evidently, she had been right to start feeling paranoid, but she hadn’t been paranoid enough. Fearing killers that may be come was very different from finding out they really existed… and were currently standing a few metres away.
I’ve got to find out what I’m up against, she thought, and started to inch her way along the wall. The bounty hunters were still talking, now discussing future surveillance and when they might finish the job. One of them was saying he thought that they could probably walk into the bar and stick a bullet through her forehead when January risked a glance around the corner. She pulled her head straight back around and flattened against the wall.
They were massive!
What’s more, she’d caught a whiff of what they were when she’d stuck her head out. Werewolves… it had to be werewolves.
January tiptoed back down the alley and waited until she was three shops down the road before she was convinced she’d managed to remain undetected by the bounty hunters. She dived into another dark alley and pulled out her phone to make the two phone calls.
“Did you see anyone?” January asked Ryan when he arrived in the dark alley five minutes later. The shifter bar was only a short walk from the place were January had been performing.
Ryan shook his head. “Some of the pack may come. I called up the first one on the phone chain.”
January pushed her curly blonde hair back from her face, feeling more flustered by the second.
“Do you really think we need them? I was hoping this could be sorted quietly.”
“Are you expecting them to want to chat? This is a cleanup operation and our first chance to show whoever it is that’s sending these people that we aren’t easy to get rid of. They have to die.”
January’s face hardened. She found herself back in her hunting mindset. She’d never had a moral dilemma over the vampires she’d been paid to kill (until she’d met Gregory) and this time it was personal. You’re getting rusty.
“I’m hoping we won’t need to get the pack involved, but think of it as insurance. Even if we fail, there’s no way those two are getting away with their lives,” Ryan finished, his voice grim.
“Well, well… a cat that’s afraid of wolves. You’re welcome to sit on the side and watch, if you prefer?” As usual, Gregory arrived at completely the wrong moment.
“Please remember who we’re meant to be killing tonight,” January said, when Ryan’s eyes began to glow green and change. She flinched inwardly at how callous that sounded and then bit her tongue.
Had she gone soft during her time spent in Hailfield?
“What’s the plan of action?” Gregory asked.
January gave him a blank look.
“Excellent. My favourite kind of plan,” he finished.
“They might not even be there anymore. It’s been ten minutes and they’ll probably have noticed I’ve disappeared by now,” she said. “I suppose there’s only one way to find out. Oh, from what they were saying, I think they have guns.” She looked pointedly at Gregory, who nodded. He was fast enough to take a gun from someone before they had a chance to shoot it. No one was going to kill a vampire with a speeding bullet, unless you miraculously managed to catch them by surprise. January wasn’t too sluggish herself, but unlike Gregory, it took her a good gallop and a whole lot of space to work up to bullet racing speed.
All was quiet when the three of them peered round the corner of the alley between the laundrette and the bar.
“Can anyone else smell wet dog?” January said and ducked.
Brick dust exploded where her head had been a second earlier. Gregory was already behind the werewolves, who had been crouching behind the wall in front of the bar, waiting for January’s return. He managed to wrestle the guns from their hands, but the in next moment, he was thrown halfway across the street.
January blinked.
That was way more strength than your average werewolf possessed.
“Maybe we should talk about this first…” She began, but was forced to dodge again as the same wolf ripped the brick wall from its foundations and threw it her way. Her arm stung when a flying shard of brick caught it. January felt the first hints of nerves and wondered if they might have bitten off more than they could chew.
She heard a growl next to her. There was a rending of tearing fabric as Ryan changed into a huge jaguar. I hope no one is looking out of their window! January thought when Ryan prowled forwards. Their kind had worked so hard to keep their existence quiet, but when your life was under threat, the rules often went out of the window.
The two killers glanced at each other. The air shimmered and a pair of jet black wolves emerged. Ryan was slightly bigger than they were, but January hoped he wouldn’t forget the way the wolf on the left had shown such unnatural strength. She didn’t think they’d played all of their cards yet, either.
There was a muted thud, as a silenced gun went off.
January jumped, but the bullet hadn’t been meant for her. Gregory was back on his feet and holding one of the guns he’d confiscated from the killers. January looked back at the wolves and saw they were unharmed. The one on the right looked down at the floor and looked at the crushed piece of metal, that had once been a bullet, lying on the ground.
January paled.
Were these wolves invincible?
“Ryan, be careful!” She called, but it was too late.
The wolves knew their secret had been uncovered and now they attacked. January watched in horror as the big jaguar raked his claws across the face of one of the wolves - or he would have, if it weren’t for the invisible force field of protection. Things were about to go very badly for Ryan if she didn’t do something.
January hesitated for a fraction of a second, looking down at her nearly new gold sequinned dress and silently bidding it a sorry farewell. The next moment, she was a black unicorn, racing to join the fight.
“They must have a witch protecting them. I haven’t seen magic like this in a thousand years!” Gregory called, as January charged at the wolf currently biting into Ryan’s back leg. Her hooves made contact and she succeeded in kicking the werewolf halfway across the street. It didn’t escape her notice that she hadn’t hurt him at all. Instead, she’d just kicked a bubble containing the wolf across the street. She could move them, but she couldn’t make a mark on them.
The wolf with the super strength crouched and leapt. January rose to meet him with her horn. They made contact and January felt like she’d smashed her head against a block of concrete. Both she and the wolf were thrown back from the impact, but January was the one who’d come off worst. Her eyes refused to focus and her head jangled from the force of the collision. She’d never failed to hit her target before! Part of her had hoped that whatever magic it was that had made her a unicorn would mean that her horn would be the secret to beating these strange wolves. Now she knew that there was nothing they could do to win. All they could do was run and hide.
When she looked up and saw a wolf sink its teeth into Ryan, she realised that wasn’t an option anymore. There was an audible crack as the bone in his leg snapped. January knew he wasn’t going to be running anywhere. Her eyes turned to Gregory for help, but all she saw in his face was the confirmation of what she was feeling.
They were all going to die tonight.
No, this isn’t how it’s supposed to end! January thought. She saw the unnaturally strong wolf open his jaws in preparation to crunch down on Ryan’s neck.
Something inside of her, that she’d only felt once before when Luke had been attacking her mind, stretched its claws and woke up. Desperate, she reached out with this invisible will and found the strands of energy that had been wrapped tightly around the wolves by their mysterious protector. It was desperation that allowed her to rip them open and even tear away the deadly strength, which someone had knitted into the joints of one of the wolves.
When she opened her eyes, the wolf who had been about to kill Ryan was lying dead on the floor with every limb broken and snapped. The other wolf was staring at his partner in horror.
His eyes met January’s and in them she saw all of the fear and knowledge of imminent death that she knew had been in her own eyes just a few moments earlier. Ryan dragged himself up on three legs and lashed out with a paw, ripping through the wolf’s neck and severing the jugular. January felt nothing as the blood ran down the road into the storm drains, and the wolf slept in his form forever.
It was her or them… and she wanted to live.
She turned back into a human - still praying that no one was looking outside at two in the morning. The fight hadn’t exactly been silent, but this wasn’t a residential area, so she was keeping her fingers and toes crossed she wouldn’t be looking at the weirdest newspaper headline ever, come tomorrow morning.
Gregory walked over and wordlessly handed her his trench coat. She tried not to feel like a flasher when she put it on.
“Gregory, do you think you could…” There was a blur as the bodies of the wolves were spirited away by the vampire, to wherever it was he dumped corpses. January hoped the place had plenty of room for new residents. She had a feeling this was far from over.
With the vampire gone, Ryan stopped trying to remain upright and lay on the ground panting. He was a mess of torn fur and flesh and the angle of his foot was sickening.
“Stay a
s you are, it’ll be easier for you to walk,” she told the jaguar.
His mouth opened a little in response, but his eyes swam with pain.
She knew he would heal faster than your average human, but that didn’t make the initial pain any better.
“Thanks for saving me.” She stroked an un-battered piece of spotted fur on his head and he growled softly in a way that said he appreciated it. I wonder if we can get to the shifter bar without being seen? January thought and had her doubts.
The street they were currently in was miraculously deserted, but it was Saturday night and Witchwood didn’t go to bed early. She also suspected that the empty street wasn’t entirely down to chance. She hoped it was something the wolves had arranged ahead of time. She didn’t want to meet a witch carrying her death warrant - not when she had no idea how she’d managed to unpick the spells. There was no telling if she’d be able to do it again. I feel like Hagrid’s going to turn up and tell me I’m a wizard, She thought.
“Well, that was interesting.”
January jumped when Gregory appeared behind her. Usually, she was pretty hard to sneak up on, but the strange fight had left her feeling like she was immersed in a ball of cotton wool.
“For a moment back there I thought my walk through this world might finally have come to an end. You’re full of surprises, January Chevalier.”
January frowned at him. “Why would you have stayed when the wolves had ripped me and Ryan apart? Running would have been the smart thing to do.”
Gregory gave her an unreadable look. “It would have been.”
At their feet, Ryan growled. His green and gold jaguar eyes challenged Gregory. January fought the urge to roll her eyes. Her boyfriend had a broken leg and God knows what other injuries, and he still wanted to fight with a vampire who was hundreds of times his age. Fortunately, Gregory looked at him in the same condescending way you would if a cute puppy had decided to chew on your leg.
