by Mac Flynn
The light above us was covered by bodies as the werewolves appeared at the hatch opening. A spray of bullets rained down on us. Shadow grabbed me around the waist and pulled me out of the
line of fire and onto the ground. Quinn dove to the left.
Our vampire companion landed on his feet eight feet off from us and jerked his head towards our left. "This way!" he ordered us.
We scrambled to our feet and rushed after him. The cobblestone walkway seemed to go on forever, but we didn't have that much time. The werewolves behind us had the threat of death over their heads if they failed to catch us and had the advantage of not having my slow ass that dragged down our group.
We came to a passage on our left and Quinn turned, but not left. He dove into the sewer sludge on our right and disappeared into the sludge for a moment before he popped up beneath us under the grate.
He pointed at the side passage. "Go in there and have your gun ready, Detective," he hissed at us.
Shadow pulled me into the side passage. We pressed our backs against the wall and listened to the clack of werewolf claws race towards us. My hand was steady as I pressed the top of my gun against my chest. Shadow stood between me and the corner, and I noticed his features and hands changed to less man and more wolf.
The werewolves arrived at our position and paused for only a moment to verify our scent. That moment was enough for Quinn to break through the metal grate with his bare hands and grab the ankles from two different wolves. They let out a pair of yelps before he pulled them into the water.
The distraction was our cue, and Shadow and I jumped into the middle of their confused group. Shadow tore into them while I fired off some damn accurate shots. The wolves dropped like flies until we were the only ones standing. Quinn surfaced from the muck, but the two werewolves he'd grabbed didn't.
Our filthy vampire friend climbed out of the sewage and frowned at Shadow.
"Your bill just went up," Quinn warned him.
Shadow grinned. "I'll risk it."
"Be careful what you say. We're not done yet," Quinn warned him. He nodded at the passage in which we'd hidden. "We go that way. Fortunately, there aren't any cameras so they might not guess we're stupid enough to strike them head-on."
Shadow half-turned to the passage and glanced back at Quinn. "How do you know about this place?" he asked the vampire.
"I told you I had information that none of your other contacts could give you," Quinn reminded him.
"What the hell are we beneath, anyway?" I spoke up.
"Night's estate," Quinn told me. "The interrogation rooms are beneath the garage near the parking lot and this way leads to the house."
I frowned. "Who in their right mind would have the sewer run under their property?"
"Someone with Night's mind who wanted to keep secrets, but we must hurry," Shadow spoke up. "There's no telling when more werewolves will arrive."
Quinn strode towards the passage. "Then follow me and try to keep up."
CHAPTER 37
Quinn guided us down the passage towards the house. It was no picnic being behind someone who smelled like a garbage treatment plant. I sidled up to Shadow.
"So figured out what to do about Night?" I whispered to him.
Shadow pursed his lips, but gave a nod. "Yes. We must kill him."
"Doesn't that sound a little harsh?" I pointed out. "Isn't there some sort of jail we can send him to? We've got enough bodies to bury him for years."
"You don't send those types of people to jail. You kill them," Quinn commented.
"He's not a person, he's a werewolf," I reminded him.
"Then he must be put down," Shadow rephrased. "Either way we can't allow him to use his influence to free himself for even a minute. The consequences would be too dangerous."
"So who's going to pull the trigger?" I wondered.
Shadow looked straight ahead and pursed his lips. "I will," he offered.
The passage ran for a hundred yards, and our fast pace meant the conversation ended there. The tunnel stopped at thick metal door that slid into the wall with a keypad on the wall beside it in which to enter a code.
"Do you know the code?" Shadow asked Quinn.
Quinn frowned and shook his head. "This is one bit of information I don't have. The schematics and my sources didn't say anything about this door."
"Then step aside," I ordered as I pushed to the front of our little group.
"There's no use dusting for fingerprints, Detective," Quinn warned me. "Night's probably taken care of-" I raised my gun and the men scuttled back.
A shot ran out and the bullet embedded itself into the machinery. The panel sizzled and sparked, and the door slid open an inch. I turned to the men and raised the gun beside my face.
"You were saying?" I asked Quinn.
"I was saying that your blunt fashion suits you," Quinn finished.
Shadow tilted his head back and glared at the ceiling. "Save the compliments for later. The shot set off the alarms in the house."
I looked to Quinn and jerked the barrel of my gun at the crack in the doorway. "Lead the way."
Quinn stepped forward and shoved his lanky hands into the hole. He shoved the door open and revealed a wine cellar. There were rows upon rows of stacked bottles and barrels of expensive wine. The walls of the large room were earthen and the air had a dry quality to it. A flight of wooden stairs twenty yards off climbed the wall opposite us and led to a door. Our only obstacles out of the cellar were the distance, and the swarm of werewolves who poured from the door.
Fortunate for us that at their heels came Night. His face was red and he cracked a finger at us.
"Kill them, and don't spoil the wine!" he shouted at his men.
They jumped over the banister of the steps and down the stairs towards us.
"Separate!" Shadow shouted.
We broke into three directions. Quinn and I took the left and right, and Shadow jumped onto the top of the wine racks and barrels. The werewolves followed close at our heels which was just fine by me. I turned around and shot point-blank into their faces. They dropped to the dusty floor and transformed back into their human selves. Quinn grabbed the bottles and used them like knives to slice open his pursuers. Shadow had a less gory way of dealing with his foes; he got around them and snapped their necks.
Quinn's wanton destruction of the booze supply got Night to the bottom of the stairs. The stream of werewolves ran thin, and only a half dozen stayed around Night to protect him. Shadow took advantage of the chaos to jump off the racks, and in so doing he started a chain reaction of toppling wooden shelves. The whole place was awash with shattered bottles, broken caskets, and splashing wine.
"Kill them! Kill them!" Night shouted as though his louder voice would make his wish come true.
Shadow aimed to dash his dreams as he dropped down two yards from where Night stood. Father and son faced off with only the handful of guards to interrupt them.
"Why won't you just die?" Night growled.
"Because we have unfinished business," Shadow returned.
Night raised his hand and pointed his finger at Shadow. "Tear his throat open," he ordered his guards.
The half dozen werewolves lunged forward with their jaws opened and clawed splayed. I was finished with my followers, and picked off two of them. Quinn sprang from his side of the room and killed two others. Shadow finished off the final pair and stood facing Night like an old-fashioned gunfight.
"I don't want to kill you," Shadow told his son.
A sly smile slipped onto Night's face. "Don't worry. You won't."
Night whipped his hand behind him and pulled out a gun. I aimed my weapon and fired off two shots. One hit Night's hand and forced him to drop the gun. The other hit him between his eyes. Night's eyes widened before he slowly fell face-first into the dirt floor. A cloud of dust rose up around his form and settled over his body.
Quinn and I walked through the carnage of our own making and stopped on either
side of Shadow. He stared at his son and shook his head.
"What a fool. . ." he murmured.
"Power does that to a lot of people. Believe me, I've seen it," Quinn commented.
I put a hand on his shoulder and looked into his face. "You gonna be all right?" I whispered.
A small, sad smile slipped onto his lips, but he patted my hand. "Yes, and. . .and thank you."
"For what?" I asked him.
"For dealing with a problem in a way I might have hesitated to perform, and possibly been killed," he explained.
I pocketed my gun and shrugged. "There are just some things you shouldn't have to do yourself," I told him.
He leaned down and pressed a kiss against my lips. "Thank you," he whispered.
I grinned. "What are mates for?"
Quinn stiffened and whipped his head up so he stared at the open-rafter ceiling above us. "You two can finish your kissing elsewhere. We have problems."
My ears picked up on what sounded like a herd of elephants that stampeded through the house. Shadow swept me into his arms, and we three turned to the broken metal door. A flood of werewolves spilled out of the tunnel numbering in the dozens. Too many to handle when I didn't have much ammo left.
"Upstairs!" Quinn yelled.
We rushed over Night's stiff body and up the stairs. The stairs led into the kitchen which was situated at the rear of the house. The closest exit wasn't an option when wolves burst through the door and slipped their claws on the floor as they tried to get at us. We turned to the front and rushed across the dividing hallway to the front part of the house.
We reached the entrance hall before the shit hit the fan. The werewolf guards burst from every door, window, and hole. They blocked off the front entrance and the hallway we'd come down. Shadow set me down, but pressed himself close to me. We turned in different directions and backed up until our backs touched, and the werewolves closed in on us.
"Anybody got any bright ideas?" Quinn asked us.
I looked into their yellow, greedy eyes, and something hit me.
"I've got one," I spoke up. I took a step forward and held up my hands. "One sec! Before you kill us I've got some last words to tell you!"
The werewolves stopped their slinking towards us and tilted their heads. They glanced at one another until one of them spoke up.
"What is it?" he growled.
I turned in a slow circle and looked from one furry face to the other. "Just this. Your boss is dead."
The werewolves stiffened. The leader growled at me. "Then you'll be dead, too," the leader told me.
"You could do that, but why?" I countered. I looked them in the eye and spoke loud and clear. "It's not like any of you guys are going to get pay from a dead man, or his estate."
"Especially when his mother inherits his fortune," Shadow spoke up. He moved to stand beside me. "And if any of you know Dawn then you know she doesn't like to share, and isn't great at paying her bills." Some of the werewolves growled and others looked around the lavishly decorated rooms.
I leaned close to Shadow's ear. "Is that true?" I whispered.
"It was a constant point of contention between us," Shadow replied.
Quinn stepped forward and gestured at the walls around us. "It's first come first serve, so you'd better get packing."
Quinn's call started a feeding frenzy for luxury items. The werewolves scattered in all directions as they sought to grab whatever valuables lay in reach. They bit and snarled at each other, and more than one performed a tug-of-war for rugs and statues. The chaos allowed us to slip between the wolves and out the front door. We sprinted down the driveway and Quinn opened the gate bars wide enough for us to step out into the freedom of the outside world.
Quinn's car stood close by, and he turned to us with a grin. "You'll get my bill in a couple of days."
"I've never looked forward to paying a bill with more pleasure," Shadow assured him.
Quinn chuckled and shook hands with Shadow, then turned to me. "You take care of yourself, Detective."
"I always do," I returned as I shook his hands.
"And if you two ever need anything, you can find me at Shadow's club," Quinn added as he walked backwards towards his car. "I figure it's the safest place now for my business."
"I'll reserve a table for you," Shadow promised.
"You do that, and I expect a couple of Bloody Mary's thrown into the mix," Quinn warned him.
Our vampire friend jumped into his car and sped off. We half-turned to the gate and the mansion beyond. Our ears picked up on the sounds of smashing windows and terrible howls. Night's dreams, and house, would soon be in ruins.
I glanced at Shadow's face. "So what do we do now?" I asked him.
He shrugged. "I have no idea."
I furrowed my brow. "You know, I could really go for a hamburger right about now," I told him.
Shadow turned to me and grinned. "I was thinking the same thing."
I looped my arms threw one of his and guided him towards the front door. "Good, because I know of this little place along the river that's got the best grub and service."
"It sounds wonderful," he commented.
"And best of all, no werewolves," I added.
Shadow chuckled. "Not even room for me?" he teased.
"I suppose I could let you take a seat beside me," I returned.
He smiled and squeezed my arm. "I'd like nothing better."
And for the first time, though not for the last, so did I. I wouldn't admit that to him for a little while longer, but love is strange that way. You never know when it'll hit you, and then suddenly you're neck-deep in it. I was neck-deep in the stuff for a long, long, long time, and with my shadow by my side the years were never long, and the adventures never boring.
Maybe being a werewolf wasn't so bad.
