by C. E. Martin
"Doctor Olson! Laura!" Dr. King said, pleading with the monster. He reached up and removed his glasses, allowing his one petrified eye to stare lifelessly at the beast.
To King's left, Maria Guerrera was in shock, about to faint from the sight before her. The monster took a step towards the woman then abruptly stopped. Its horrific face seemed to soften, then it spoke in a terrifying voice.
"You're pregnant!"
***
The massive werewolf was a good head taller than even Jimmy when he transformed. It's chest was almost twice as big around. Had he been there, it would have made Kane look like a greyhound standing beside a lion.
Pam Keegan quickly emptied the remaining rounds from her sidearm into the beast. The silver bullets all found their mark—a small grouping less than three inches across, directly over where the monster's heart should be.
Pam dropped her spent magazine and was reaching for a spare when the monster roared and lunged toward her.
Moments before the beast could reach her, its long claws inches away, a stone soldier smashed into the creature.
Pam heard bones shatter from the terrific impact and the giant werewolf was knocked to the side, into and through a wall—propelled by Isaac Jacobson, who had finally come out of hiding.
The werewolf was surprised at the impact, and was actually carried well into the next apartment, it and Jacobson's much smaller body obliterating wall and furniture.
When the creature recovered, it grabbed Jacobson then swung him around and threw him through the next wall, into the bedroom of the apartment. Then it charged in after him, roaring like a bull.
Pam Keegan wasted no time and pulled Yadid to his feet. "Run!" she screamed and pushed the old man toward the door of the apartment.
She fumbled with the lock but finally got the door open and pushed Yadid through first. She followed him quickly, glancing back to see if they were being pursued. But the horrific beast had not yet come back through the huge hole in the wall. And judging from the sounds coming out of that hole it would be busy for a moment or two more.
Pam pushed Yadid along as fast as she could.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The monstrous form Laura Olson had transformed into was gone now. She had shrunk back in on herself in seconds, her skin returning to its smooth, unblemished form, her body resuming the proportions of a young, physically fit woman. Her wings and horns were gone now as well, reabsorbed into her body.
"Amazing!" Dr. King said, his eyes wide. There was not a mark anywhere on Laura's body. No scar, no blemishes. Just smooth, creamy skin—all of it exposed.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer!" Laura snapped.
Dr. King blinked several times, then finally realized Olson was stark naked. He quickly turned around and slapped a hand over his good eye. "So, sorry!"
Laura took a step forward, then was just suddenly beside Dr. Guerrera. She had moved so fast, she was a naked blur.
"Are you okay?" she asked Guerrera.
The doctor shook her head, still partly dumbfounded. "What was that?"
Laura pulled Dr. Guerrera to her feet gently as the doctor also looked her up and down, amazed there was no trace of the horrendous transformation. "I guess I've got an inner demon now."
Across the chamber, Jason Trumball was stirring, groaning as he tried to sit up. Dr. King finally lowered his hand and walked quickly over to him.
"Jason? Are you all right, my boy?"
He propped Jason up into a sitting position, leaning him back against the damaged wall. He checked Jason's eyes and then felt at his wrist for a pulse.
"Amazing," Dr. Guerrera said, touching Laura's forehead gently, looking for any signs of the horns that had sprouted there moments ago.
"Doc," Laura said. "Are you okay?" She asked, looking down at Guerrera's stomach when she said it.
"What?" Guerrera asked. "Did you say I was pregnant?"
"Oh, great, you didn't know," Laura said. "Yes, I can hear the heartbeat. The baby's heartbeat."
Dr. Guerrera got a sudden shocked look on her face and held a hand to her stomach. "That's not possible..."
"Mark's, right?" Laura said, almost disappointed.
"Mark's?" Dr. Guerrera repeated, completely bewildered by the question. "Do you mean Colonel Kenslir? Why-?"
Before they could discuss it further, the lights in the room switched from bright white to red and warning klaxon sounded.
"What's that?" Laura asked, looking over at Dr. King. He was still helping Jason, who appeared to be dazed, but otherwise uninjured.
"The building is under attack," Dr. King said.
Laura stepped back from Dr. Guerrera. "Give me your coat."
"What?"
"You jacket—I need your jacket," Laura said. "I can't go running around in my birthday suit."
Dr. Guerrera nodded, still a little confused, and quickly shrugged off her labcoat.
"We are supposed to stay in here," Dr. King said, standing. "Protocol is to remain in place and let security handle the situation."
Laura was struggling to fit into the small coat. She was nearly a head taller than Guerrera and the coat just wasn't big enough. "I am not sitting here on my ass and leaving the humans to fend for themselves-"
She glanced quickly at Dr. Guerrera. "No offense."
"-not when I can help again," she finished, looking at Dr. King.
"The door is locked, you'll never get past it," Dr. King said.
Laura ran to the door, the small labcoat flapping behind her like a cape. She grabbed at the door and strained. Her eyes turned black and her muscles started to swell again, her skin taking on a purplish hue. Metal shrieked and finally gave way and the big door swung inwards.
"Wait!" Dr. King said.
Laura turned, halfway out the door.
"Take my jacket," Dr. King said, pitching his labcoat over.
***
Isaac Jacobson had been itching for a fight since his petrification. He'd sort of gotten one in Oklahoma a few months back, fighting a coven of witches, their zombified servants, a couple of resurrected dinosaurs and some bizarre, blue-skinned aliens from the past. Or something. He still wasn't sure what they had been.
Then there were the zombies in St. Louis. One hundred baby boomers, turned into cannibal monsters by some kind of demonic creature.
Neither fight had been particularly satisfying. In each, Jacobson had barely got to cut loose. In fact, he wondered if in his former flesh and blood life as a Navy SEAL he couldn't have handled them with the right equipment.
No, Isaac wanted a real challenge. Something to test his indestructible stone body and superhuman strength. And now he was getting it.
The beast he was facing was huge. Far larger than Jimmy Kane, the Detachment's own werewolf who helped out with the training missions Isaac and his fellow stone soldiers endured on an almost daily basis. Its head nearly touched the ceiling of the apartment they were in the process of destroying. Isaac guessed it weighed over eight hundred pounds.
And it was strong.
The beast had thrown Isaac—who weighed nearly four hundred pounds himself—around like a ragdoll. If he weren't made of living stone, he'd surely be dead by now. As it was, he might end up that way yet if some reinforcements didn't get here. He was stone, but not completely indestructible.
Isaac charged back in at the white-and-tan werewolf, striking out with his stone fists. He knew those fists were lethal. He'd enjoyed smashing steel plates and cracking bowling balls those first few weeks of training. But brute strength alone wasn't going to be enough.
Each of his blows could easily break bones, but Isaac had paid close attention in training. Kane could heal wounds in minutes, the curse that enabled him to turn into a beast mending flesh and bone from nearly any injury in seconds. The larger werewolf Isaac faced now was no different. It kept taking punch after punch from him without slowing. That meant he needed to fight smart.
Isaac ducked under a swipe from the long claws of the beast as it cou
nter-attacked. He moved in and drove a foot into the side of the creature's knee. It was weird to use hand-to-hand techniques he'd learned in the SEALs with his stone body, but he was glad the Colonel had insisted the men practice it.
The huge werewolf bellowed in rage and dropped to one knee. Isaac drove his elbow into its snout then slipped around behind it, looping an arm around its neck and putting it in a sleeper hold. The Colonel had drilled into the men that even supernatural creatures often had physiologies similar to wild animals. Maybe he could cut off its air supply.
The werewolf instantly realized what Isaac was up to. It clawed back at him, raking its lethal talons over his face and eyes. Isaac was glad everything was made of stone, or he'd be blind now. As it was, he might have some grooves in his petrified flesh, as impossible as that seemed.
The creature began to buck and try and throw Isaac off its back. It clawed at his hands and arms. Finally, it pushed off from the ground and staggered backwards.
Isaac felt a sudden sense of panic as the creature pushed them both out of the building, right through a plate glass window.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Laura Olson was definitely liking this. Her new body was far more powerful than it had been before. And faster.
She was a blur as she raced through the building. Steel security doors gave way before her with little resistance, allowing her to race up the stairs to the first floor. She emerged in the main lobby, quickly glancing left and right to get her bearings.
The security teams were all charging toward the west doors, sprinting for the parking lot. Laura wasn't sure why, but it seemed like a good idea. She dashed off after them, streaking by the slower moving men, a flesh and white-colored blur in her flapping labcoat.
She crashed through the glass doors of the lobby, ignoring the many cuts and scrapes. She knew she could heal such minor injuries before she'd gone more than a few feet.
Outside, she quickly located the source of concern—the biggest werewolf she'd ever seen was pummeling one of the stone soldiers. With a car.
Laura raced on, leaping and throwing her shoulder into the beast's back as it raised a mangled convertible car over its head again, ready to smash it down on the stunned stone soldier laying on his back on the ground.
The impact of her charge staggered the beast and it dropped the car, barely able to keep its footing. It spun in place to face its attacker. Laura raked a handful of her own claws across its face, shredding flesh and removing several teeth from torn gums.
The blow nearly spun the werewolf in place. It staggered to the side, but quickly recovered.
Laura smiled and raced in. Even before, when she was just a vampire, she'd have been fast enough to filet the beast. But now, her speed was-
The werewolf was faster. It caught Laura's wrist, surprising her. It wrenched at the arm, intent on tearing it free of Laura's shoulder.
The redhead allowed herself to be jerked off the pavement, twisting around and wrapping her legs around the arm like an inhuman sleeve. She immediately began flaying the wolf's arm with her claws, rending flesh off in long strips.
The werewolf bellowed in pain and spun around, lashing out at a nearby parked car.
Laura ignored the pain as the beast smashed her against the car, caving in the roof and shattering windows. She was seeing flashes of bone now as she sliced through flesh faster than the werewolf could regenerate the wounds. In another few seconds, she'd be through the joint and the werewolf would have to regrow its left arm from the elbow down.
Hard pavement rushed up to meet Laura and the wind was knocked from her lungs. She felt the pavement give from the impact and she was almost jarred loose. She quickly tightened her grip to keep from sliding off, then sunk her long nails back into the creature's arm.
Another quick smash and this time Laura felt her head deform against the pavement. The pain from her brain compressing was excruciating.
The werewolf kept smashing Laura into the ground, beating her against the pavement on one side of its body, then the other. The fourth hit did its job and Laura's grip relaxed. The werewolf's arm was free of her.
Laying on the ground, her tongue hanging limply in her mouth, unable to see or talk, Laura struggled to rise. Her brain was still repairing itself, as were her bones and skin.
A large hand encircled her neck and she felt herself raised into the air.
Her vision cleared just in time to see the werewolf's other hand reared back, ready to punch a hole into her chest.
Then blue-white light filled her vision and every cell in Laura's body burned with an exquisite pain.
The cavalry had finally arrived.
***
Pam Keegan was completely baffled. How had the monster even found them? How could it possibly have known they were in the Tower? Had it already been to Greenberg's apartment and somehow defeated Kenslir and the team there?
Pam shook her head. That wasn't possible. Four stone soldiers, Jimmy, the Colonel and Josie would make mincemeat of any werewolf—even one as big as this one. If it was there.
Pam fumbled for the phone on her belt. She didn't have her tactical glasses with her—she hated the things, with all their annoying head up displays. If she wasn't in the field, she didn't wear them. She was going to have to reconsider that.
The smart phone wasn't exactly over-the-counter, but it was still just a phone. Pam started tapping her foot impatiently as the phone tried to connect to the Command center four floors down.
"What was that thing?" Yadid asked. The old man had recovered his wits and was slowing his breathing. Impressive for someone his age.
"Shh!" Pam hissed. At last the phone connected. "Command! This agent Keegan! I need immediate assistance on the-"
Pam's panicked call was interrupted by a noise in the hall, outside of the laundry room she and Yadid were hiding in. It was a deep grunt, a breath like something large would make. Something not normally found in Argon Tower.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
This time when Laura hit the pavement, it was far gentler—the result of gravity, instead of the werewolf's inhuman strength. It barely tickled.
Laura rolled quickly away from where she imagined the beast to be, smelling burning flesh in her nostrils. She realized it was probably hers. She finally stopped her rolling, face down, and her vision at last cleared, her vampiric healing abilities finally undoing the incredible damage she'd suffered. She rose to her feet, her strength slowly returning.
Another blue-white flash of light threatened to sear her retinas and she held a hand up to shield her eyes. When she lowered it, she saw the werewolf, charred black, smoke rising from it, as it stood on unsteady feet.
Another blast of lightning struck the beast—travelling parallel to the ground, from the direction of the Tower. Laura turned and smiled. Chad Phillips had finally gotten his ass in gear.
The stone soldier was wearing only boxer shorts—apparently roused from sleep by the alarms. He had one hand stretched out in front of him, as though he were about to catch a ball. Instead, he unleashed another flash of lightning, sending millions of psychokinetically generated volts into the large werewolf.
The beast's flesh now burst in several places, visible due to the lack of hair on its burned hide. It staggered and tried to gather its wits—not an easy feat with its brain boiled inside its skull.
Phillips struck again.
This time, the creature collapsed back onto the ground, falling onto its back. Almost immediately, Isaac Jacobson pounced on the smoking beast. He began raining punch after punch on the monster, smashing its head to a battered pulp.
"I'd offer you my shirt, but I don't have one," Phillips said, walking over to Laura Olson. She hadn't realized she was leaning against a car for support. The fight had taxed even her vampiric powers. She was feeling hungry.
"What?" She looked down and saw she was once more naked, her body covered with burnt residue that had been her borrowed labcoat and skin charred by the lightning blasts.
>
Security guards were running over now, weapons at the ready, as Jacobson continued to reduce the werewolf to a fleshy bag of broken bones.
"How'd you know I was a vampire again?" Laura said, trying to be nonchalant about her lack of clothes.
"I didn't," Phillips said, giving her a wide grin filled with stone teeth.
"Sir!" one of the security guards in black body armor and fatigues yelled. "Command reports a second intruder on sixteen!"
Phillips spun around and looked up at the black glass sides of the twenty-two story office building. "Dammit!"
"I can make it!" Laura said. She stepped around and grabbed Phillips and pressed her lips against his.
Blue lightning crackled between them as she drained the lifeforce from Phillips. Laura's body began to swell and convulse as she once more turned into the winged monster. As her wings snapped open, she released Phillips—who's body had turned to flesh, save for his face. He collapsed to the ground shocked at the horrific creature Laura had turned into.
"Don't be long," the monster bellowed, then snapped open its wings and took to the air.
***
The door to the sixteenth floor's community laundry room was just simple wood. It hadn't been designed to withstand anything and was for privacy and appearance above all else.
The giant werewolf crashed through it with ridiculous ease.
Pam Keegan once more fired her pistol, pumping lethal 9mm silver slugs into the creature—this time aiming for its face.
The monster recoiled, pausing half-in, half-out of the doorway. But only for a moment. The holes in its flesh sealed up, closing around the silver slugs it now carried. It seemed to almost grin, a teeth-displaying grimace.
"No! Take me!" Yadid croaked, stepping out from behind Pam.
Keegan tried to push the old man back, but the werewolf was too fast. It charged forward, stepping onto and over Keegan, knocking her to the floor. Then it was on the old man.
