Wild Country

CHAPTER 35

Watersday, Frais 1

Jana found two more speed loaders in the storeroom. The darn room still held enough weapons to hold off an army—or supply an army—and she didn’t know what to do about that. She carried the speed loaders and two boxes of ammunition to her desk, then went back for a shotgun and a box of shells.

She hadn’t found any vests. Either they weren’t standard issue here or the cops who had lived in Bennett had been wearing them when the Elders swept in and killed everyone. Either way, she hadn’t found anything she could use as protection in a gunfight.

When she headed for the storeroom again, Virgil said, “How can you run fast if you’re carrying all those things? And how can you use any of them when you’re carrying all of them?”

“I thought I could hide a couple of them or . . . something.” Jana closed her eyes. The idea of having hidden stashes of guns had been alluring—and more like a frontier-story shootout—until she considered the one thing that had never been in those stories. “Some of the men we’re going to be fighting are Intuits and experienced fighters. If they ‘sense’ things in a fight, they might have a feeling of where they could find extra weapons.”

“Yes.” Virgil studied the weapons that filled the top of her desk. He pointed at the boxes of ammunition. “These are the danger. Without them, this”—he pointed at the shotgun—“is a metal club. It can hurt, even kill, but the enemy has to be close enough to hit with it or throw it. And if the enemy is that close, he’s close enough for fangs and claws to kill him.” He considered the weapons for another minute. “You should have a knife.”

She reached down, pulled the switchblade out of her boot, and held it up for him to see. “I’ve got one.”

She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she could guess. “I know this is my first fight, but I won’t let you down. I’m not going to choke or freeze or . . . whatever.”

Virgil smiled. “I don’t care what Tolya says, I still think one of your ancestors mated with a Wolverine and somehow had some young.”

She wasn’t sure if that was meant as an insult or a compliment.

His smile faded. “Once John and I shift to Wolf form, we won’t be able to talk to you.”

She nodded. The Wolves would be able to communicate with each other and the rest of the terra indigene, reporting the enemies’ positions. None of them would be carrying mobile phones—and none of them would be able to afford the seconds needed to shift into a form that could talk to her.

A sudden breeze ruffled Virgil’s hair.

“I can deliver messages to Deputy Jana,” Air said, taking shape near the office door. “The Elementals agreed to help if we’re asked.”

“Then I’m asking.” Virgil turned to Jana. “If you need to tell us anything, you call for Air. And if I need you to go somewhere, she’ll tell you. Understood?”

As soon as Jana nodded, Air disappeared—or was no longer visible.

“We need to hide the ammunition,” Jana said. “You’re right that, without bullets, the long guns are nothing more than metal clubs and the handguns can’t do any more damage than a rock.”

Virgil started to say something, then shook his head. “No time. The Blackstone humans are gathering in the square to challenge Tolya.” He stripped out of his clothes and shifted so fast she had a weird flash image of his naked human body that left her unsure of having actually seen him.

She tucked two of the speed loaders in the special pouch on her duty belt, picked up the shotgun and a handful of shells, then followed Virgil out the door.

“Mom, I’ll say it again. I don’t feel easy about you being in a gunfight.”

Jesse glanced at Tobias, who had been driving at a recklessly high speed ever since he picked her up at her house. “Son, I’m not easy about you being in this fight either, but we have just as much at stake as the people living in Bennett.” And you’re not driving this fast to protect the Sanguinati or the Wolves.

“You think our two guns will make a difference?”

Not their guns, but their presence, would alter the fight. She could feel it.

Jesse closed her eyes as her right hand closed over her left wrist. “Yes. We’ll make a difference.”

Parlan settled the two revolvers into their holsters before he loaded the derringer with its single round. It might carry only one bullet, but that bullet could bring down a horse or blow the leg off a man—or a Wolf. Of course, all the weapons were for show, but he couldn’t issue the challenge without them.

He studied Judd McCall, who seemed oddly elated.

He’d had to tell Judd and Lawry about the deal he’d made with Tolya Sanguinati. Lawry had fretted about what would happen down the road if other associates heard that Parlan had double-crossed the men who had come to Bennett to help him secure the town. And Judd? It was like Judd had expected it, had been waiting for the day when Parlan’s luck ran out and he’d betray everyone to save his own skin.

Still, Judd slid a look at Durango Jones as he loaded his guns—silent confirmation that he would take care of Durango if Parlan kept the deal with the vampire and got the clan safely out of Bennett. Parlan and Lawry would handle the Parkers if required.

“Where is Sleight-of-Hand Slim?” he asked.

“He’ll take up a position inside the saloon doors to ambush whoever tries to use the place for cover,” Judd said.

Of course, in order to do that, Slim would need to kill the thing that ran the saloon. And that would queer the deal—assuming Slim got off a shot before the thing killed him.

Why hadn’t Judd killed Slim quick and quiet? Or had he, and this was just a way to explain the other man’s absence? No way to tell, and no time to ask.

“My men will take over the train station and shoot any of the Others who are still in there,” Durango said.

Parlan’s hands went cold. Taking over the station wasn’t part of the plan. Not his plan, anyway. “And the Bonney boys?”

The other men looked at each other and shrugged.

“Taking care of their own business, I guess,” William Parker said.

“We’ve got enough men, whether Frank and Eli show up or not.” Judd gave Parlan a cold smile, as if he’d already set payback in motion for the anticipated double-cross.

Parlan remembered the one other person who wasn’t in the room. “Where’s Dalton?”

“Probably going round to have a talk with his bitch sister,” Judd replied. “I found out she was in town and where she lived.”

“And you told him?” He’d told no one that he’d seen Abigail in town because he hadn’t wanted anyone in the family distracted by that news.

Judd smiled. “I did. Figured she owed him more than she owed me.”

Parlan bit back his anger. “It could have waited until after the fight.”

Judd’s smile turned mocking. “We’ve got enough men for this fight. We’ll win it without him.”

Durango Jones and the Parkers were watching this byplay with growing suspicion. If Judd McCall was turning on Parlan Blackstone just before a fight, something was very wrong.

Trying to regain the upper hand, Parlan said, “You have a feeling we’re going to win?”

Judd’s smile sharpened. “Don’t you?”

Even Rusty’s wild barking couldn’t compete with the pounding on the screen door’s frame.

Running to the front of the house, Barb grabbed the pup’s collar and stared at Kenneth Stone, who stood there wringing his hands.

“Maddie?” she asked, hoping he said no. She was still putting together emergency supplies. She wasn’t ready to flee if that’s what Kenneth had come to tell her.

“No.” Kenneth hesitated. “I have a feeling the doctors need to be at the hospital today. It’s a very strong feeling.”

“We’ve barely got the hospital open and only for emergencies,” Barb protested.

“There’s going to be an emergency.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Evan says you should call because Jana is your housemate. The doc will think I’m overreacting, but he’ll listen to you. Please.”

Intuits were sure there was going to be an emergency. Oh gods.

“I’ll call. Are you packed in case . . . ?”

“Almost, but Kane is uneasy about something and keeps getting in the way. Almost bit me when I came over to talk to you. Didn’t want me leaving the house.”

“Go home. Stay inside. I’ll make the call.”

Looking out the door of the land agent’s office, Jana couldn’t see the other side of the square, didn’t know when the men would walk out and do the posturing that, hopefully, wouldn’t end in a real fight.

“Anything we should do?” Dawn Werner asked as she cuddled her puppy to keep it quiet.

“Stay inside and stay away from the windows until you get the all clear,” Jana replied.

She felt a puff of air against her neck a moment before Dawn gasped.

“Deputy Jana, a Hawk says there is a stranger sniffing around the Maddie’s house,” Air said. “The stranger has a gun. Kane is staying inside to protect the sweet blood.”

Which left everyone else on the street unprotected. “Tell Virgil I’m heading to Maddie’s house to back up Kane.”

Jana went out the back door of the land agent’s office and ran to her vehicle. She’d parked on the street instead of in the parking lot behind the sheriff’s office. Now she was glad of the extra precaution since she could drive away without anyone in the town square being the wiser.

“I’m coming, Kane,” she whispered. “Hold on.”

Abigail stuffed a dress and two sets of underwear into a small carryall. She added her prosperity and protection stones and all the money she could find around the house—including the stash she’d found in an envelope taped to the underside of the drawer in her bedside table.

She had the feeling that she had to get out, had to get away, had to leave now.

She stuffed a large bottle of water, a jar of peanut butter, a sleeve of crackers, and a spoon into the carryall.

She dashed out the front door—and froze when a voice said, “You bitch. You’re the reason my name is on a Wanted poster.”

Barb listened to the doctor tell her with growing impatience that he wasn’t going to the hospital today, that he had office hours today, that there was no reason . . .

“Doc, are you an Intuit?” Barb interrupted.

A weighted silence. “Yes. I am.”

“Then you understand that some things shouldn’t be dismissed.”

“You’re not an Intuit, Ms. Debany.”

“No, but I was asked to tell you that it was important—vital—that you work at the hospital today.” She swallowed hard, remembering little Maddie’s hand pointing at all of them like a gun. “Something bad is going to happen. You need to go to the hospital now or you won’t be able to get there and help the people who need you.”

Heavy breathing. Then the doctor said, “I’ll make some calls and get to the hospital as soon as I can.”

“Thank you.”

She hung up and started to call Jana. Before she finished dialing, she heard someone outside say in a loud voice, “You bitch. You’re the reason my name is on a Wanted poster.”

Tolya walked out of the government building, Yuri beside him. Virgil, in Wolf form, was waiting for him in the square. John was also in the square near the spring, keeping watch for any humans who might be doing something sneaky. The other Sanguinati were in position, as was Scythe.

Virgil said.

That either took Jana out of the fight or put her in a confrontation on her own, since Kane would protect Maddie.

Parlan Blackstone walked out of the hotel, flanked by two men and followed by three more.

Virgil focused on the man standing to Parlan’s left.

Tolya asked.

A flurry of reports from the terra indigene who were keeping watch. Humans sneaking around the back of the bank and saloon. Humans sneaking up to the train station. More humans sneaking toward the Universal Temple and the community center.

Too many humans sneaking around if Parlan Blackstone had intended to keep his word.

Ravens gathered in the trees from one end of the square to the other, acting as sentries and reporting on the humans’ movements. Hawks and Eagles flew overhead, circling the square, ready to attack. Coyotes were keeping watch at the side streets. Saul was somewhere in the square, in his true form, moving silently toward Blackstone’s pack.

Tolya smiled, showing a hint of fang. “Mr. Blackstone. Is there something you want to say to me?”

Their footsteps filled the land with an odd and terrible silence as they moved along the wide, flat trails the humans had built. It didn’t matter if these Outlaw humans hid inside the dens or tried to run away in the metal boxes that rolled on these flat trails. The enemy would be hunted down and destroyed.

They quickened their steps, salivating at the thought of the coming feast.

Parlan studied the Sanguinati. Did the vampire want him to look like a fool? How was he supposed to yield to a stronger force when Tolya had brought one other vampire and a Wolf and was so clearly outnumbered?

He didn’t like Judd being on his left, didn’t like the knife hand being in position for a strike to the back or ribs. He didn’t like a lot of things about this deal, and he wondered exactly when this game had gotten away from him.

And he wondered if Judd McCall was working for himself these days or had gone into business with someone else.

For now he had to play this hand and do his best to win.

“I think this town would be better served by having a human mayor and a human sheriff,” Parlan said, raising his voice to be heard by any people listening at the hotel doorway or hiding in the other nearby stores. “In frontier parlance, I’m calling you out, Mr. Mayor, but I’m doing so in the manner you said was required for a change in government. I’m challenging you for dominance, and the human residents of Bennett are behind me.”

Tolya looked at the men with Parlan. “I don’t see any residents, Mr. Blackstone. I see strangers who have come into town over the past couple of days. Drifters. Outlaws.”

“Humans looking for a fresh start,” Parlan countered.

“Humans who have made no effort to come to my office and ask about available jobs.”

Call and raise, Parlan thought. “Humans who will take their place in Bennett society as soon as there is a human government.”

“There will not be a human government,” Tolya said. “This town exists with the Elders’ permission, and it will continue to exist only as long as it is ruled by the terra indigene. If you manage to form a human government, you condemn all the humans living here—including you and your delegation.”

What to do? Parlan felt the tension in Lawry, had a feeling the men behind him no longer had his back.

Tolya studied him. “You can’t win. Your only choice is—”

Hearing a familiar female voice coming from the direction of the bank’s back entrance, Stazia Sanguinati flowed over the counter and shifted to human form from the waist up.

“I don’t think they’re open.” The woman sounded breathless—and frightened. “I don’t think . . . Oh. Hello.”

One of the cleaners who worked with Abigail Burch. A timid woman who came in every Firesday to cash her paycheck and put a small amount in a savings account. Usually she came in alone. Today, when she shouldn’t be here, she came in with two men. The taller one had a hand wrapped around the woman’s skinny arm.

“The bank is closed today,” Stazia said—and wondered how they’d gotten in when she was certain she’d locked the front and back doors.

“That’s all right,” the taller one said. “We’re not customers.”

As the shorter one raised his weapon and fired, Stazia shifted her upper body to her smoke form. That shift could be done in moments.

But this time, she wasn’t quite fast enough.

Gunshot. Across the street. One shot.

The humans looked toward the bank.

That moment when the Knife looked away instead of watching him, Virgil shifted to his true form and ran. A bullet whizzed under his tail, but the Knife couldn’t see him, no longer had any idea of his size or his speed.

Blackstone and the other enemies shooting now at anything. Everything.

Virgil hit one of the men at full speed, knocking the enemy to the ground. He tore at the hand, the wrist. Tore at the face and throat. Then he leaped away as other enemies shot their own companions while trying to shoot him. But he was gone again, running, charging, slashing.

More enemies entered the square, shooting at everything. Blood and feathers on the ground as other terra indigene entered the fight. A Coyote screamed in pain.

He didn’t think about Tolya or Yuri. He didn’t think about Kane or the wolverine. Couldn’t. Too many enemies now, and he was fighting alone, separated from his pack.

But he would keep on fighting, keeping on killing, until the enemy took his last breath.

“They tricked me!” Abby cried. “They tricked me into telling them your name.”

Barb dropped the phone and ran to the front door, forgetting what her brother had told her about finding cover in dangerous situations—only thinking about helping a friend who was in trouble.

As she reached the screen door, she hesitated and saw the next few moments as a nightmarish montage.

Bang! Abby falling, a bloom of red spreading over the front of her dress.

Kane bursting through of the screen door of Maddie’s house so fast the man didn’t have time to turn and fire before the Wolf’s teeth closed on an arm and pulled the man down.

Bang! The gun went off as the man fell.

Kane savaging the man, closing his teeth on the man’s throat at the same time the man got his hand under the Wolf’s belly, and—

Bang! Bang!

Silence.

Silence and . . .

There was a hole in the screen door big enough to let in the flies. Why was there a hole in . . .

The moment he heard the gunshot, Tolya knew what would happen. What had to happen.

He and Yuri shifted to smoke and raced to the nearest tree a heartbeat before Parlan and the other men started shooting.

A Raven flew toward them.

A shot from the direction of the livery stable. The Raven fell.

Gunshots at the far end of the square, where Saul and Joshua had been keeping watch. More of the enemy must have slipped into town and would surround them.

He didn’t call to the other Sanguinati. Some of them wouldn’t answer, and he didn’t want to know. But he felt a hatred for humans that ran deeper and blacker than anything he’d ever felt before.

Staying close to the ground, he and Yuri raced across the street and wove through the low-growing plants that dotted the area between the stable and the blacksmith’s. Reaching the stable, they flowed around the building and over the sill of an open window in the back wall.

The two men with rifles who were using the stable doors for cover never realized the Sanguinati were there until Tolya and Yuri shifted to human form from the waist up and tore out the humans’ throats.

Scythe heard the first gunshot and abandoned the napkins she’d been folding—a useless human activity that Candice Caravelli had assured her would give the impression that she was occupied by a necessary task if someone should come into the saloon. After ordering Candice to go to her dressing room and stay there, Scythe had taken up a position at the end of the bar.

Now, underneath the sound of gunshots in the square, she heard the faint sound of a boot on the wooden floor, coming from the saloon’s rear exit.

Her hair turned solid black and coiled as she silently moved into position.

The gun and gun hand entered the main room first. Then the arm. Finally the rest of the man came into view—and he caught sight of her.

She looked him in the eyes and absorbed every drop of his life energy before he hit the floor.

Dead. Completely harvested. Still . . .

Remembering how it was done in frontier stories, Scythe stepped on his gun and moved it out of reach.

She was sated—a sensation she hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. It felt delicious, but . . . Maybe she was a little too sated? If more prey crossed her path, she wouldn’t be able to absorb enough life energy to do more than a little damage, and there were many enemies out there fighting with the Wolves and Sanguinati.

She looked at the gun. Six-shooter just like in the frontier stories. She pulled back the hammer, aimed at the already dead man, and fired.

The sound hurt her ears, but the action was simple enough.

As she moved to the front doors of the saloon, her black hair gained a few threads of red. She was too full to be instantly lethal if someone looked at her, but she could still take enough life energy to confuse her enemy—and the gun would do the rest.

Jana turned onto her street and hit the brakes as Kane burst through the door of Maddie’s house and attacked the armed man.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Throwing the gearshift into park, Jana scrambled out of the vehicle and used the car door for cover as she drew her own weapon and shouted, “Police!”

No sound. No movement. Nothing.

Abby was on the ground too, but Jana ran to Kane and the man, needing to disarm the assailant in case he was wounded but still alive.

Maybe her presence was perceived as a signal that it was all right to come out. Or maybe so little time had passed that people were just now shaking off fear-freeze. Either way, by the time she reached Kane and saw that the assailant had bled out from a torn throat, Hannah and Sarah Gott were running toward her, and Evan and Kenneth were rushing to check on Abby.

Holstering her own weapon, Jana touched the Wolf’s shoulder as she looked into unseeing eyes. “Kane?”

Already gone.

He went down in the line of duty. She wasn’t sure that would be any comfort to anyone—and it occurred to her that the first time she had to notify next of kin, she’d be telling Virgil that his brother was dead.

After pulling Kane off the man far enough to secure the weapon, she looked at Evan and Kenneth. “Abby?”

Evan shook his head.

Something wasn’t right. More than the three dead bodies. Something . . .

Rusty’s frantic barking finally got through to her. “Barb?” she shouted. “Barb!”

How many shots had been fired?

Jana ran to her own house, pulled open the screen door, and . . . “Barb!”

Arriving just behind Jana, Hannah pulled off her apron, swiftly folded it, and crouched beside Jana, saying, “Use this for the wound. It’s freshly washed.”

She pressed the fabric against the wound. “We have to get Barb to the doctor’s.” Except the medical building was on the town square, smack in the middle of the fight.

Evan rushed up. “We had a feeling, so Barb called the doctor just before all this . . . At least one of the doctors will be at the hospital today.”

The dead would have to wait. “Help me load her into my vehicle. We can’t wait for the ambulance.”

Evan and Kenneth carried Barb while Jana kept pressure on the wound as best she could.

“I’ll go with you,” Hannah said. “Sarah will take your pup and the bird to our house, and clean up . . .”

“Anything we can do?” Evan asked after he and Kenneth got Barb settled in the back with Hannah now applying pressure on the wound while Jana wiped her hands on her jeans, smearing them with blood before she got behind the wheel.

“Call the neighbors and make sure nobody else was hurt,” Jana said, putting the vehicle in drive. “And stay inside until this is over—unless you have to run.”

Then she put the vehicle in park again and stepped out shouting, “Air! Air, I need you to send a message!”

Air appeared. She looked at the Wolf in the street. “Virgil is fighting.”

“You don’t need to tell Virgil anything.” Jana pointed toward the Elder Hills. “Can you get a message to them?”

“Yes. But they are dealing with humans who are in their territory. They are not fighting inside the town boundaries.”

“You tell them . . .” Jana struggled to breathe past a sudden flood of anger at beings who ignored boundaries whenever it suited them but couldn’t be bothered now? “You tell them if they don’t want the rest of the Wolves to die, they’d better . . . ffffffuck the boundaries and get in the fight!”

She jumped in her vehicle and drove off.

Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. Did she really say that? Well, the Elders wouldn’t know the F word, right? And what difference did it make if they did? They needed to stop sniffing their own tails and do something!

As she raced to the hospital, Jana realized Virgil wasn’t the only notification she would have to make that day. She’d have to tell Kelley about Abby. And as she drove, she prayed she wouldn’t have to send that kind of message to Lakeside police officer Michael Debany.

Their footsteps filled the street with an odd and terrible silence as they moved unseen toward the bodies, Wolfgard and human.

They hadn’t needed Air to deliver a message. They had been close enough to hear the howling of that . . . female . . . who dared to challenge Namid’s teeth and claws. They didn’t understand all the words, but they understood the tone.

The female didn’t want boundaries? Then there would be no boundaries. And the first human they would deal with . . .

The terrible one sniffed around the bodies and breathed in that female’s scent. They didn’t need to follow the trail of the metal box, so they would join the fight in the center of the Sanguinati and Wolfgard territory. Sooner or later that female would come to the watering hole—and he would find her.

“We’ve got company.” Tobias took his foot off the gas and tapped the brake.

“We don’t have time for this,” Jesse snapped. Then she saw what Tobias must have sensed moments before—the horse and rider in the middle of the road.

“We make time for him.” He stopped the truck and rolled down his window.

Yes, Jesse thought as she watched Fire and a brown horse with a storm-gray mane and tail move up alongside the truck.

Fire leaned down to look at both of them. “You don’t want to go to Bennett today.”

Jesse leaned across Tobias. “We have to. A fight is going to happen today.”

“It has already started.”

Oh gods. How much of Hope Wolfsong’s drawing is going to come true?

“Where are the other humans coming from?” Tobias asked. “Which direction? North or south?”

“Both. The Sanguinati and Wolfgard are too few to fight so many humans.”

Jesse studied the Elemental. “Can’t you help?”

Fire met her eyes. “If we are asked, we will help. That was our agreement with the Elders.”

This was about saving Prairie Gold—not just the town but the ranch and the farms that were part of it. It was about saving Bennett and the friends who lived there. It was about making a choice that would claw at her heart and shred her sleep for years, if not forever.

“A red flare means we need help,” she said quietly. “That’s correct, isn’t it?”

Fire nodded. His steed moved to the side of the road to let them pass.

“Why did you ask him about the flare?” Tobias asked a minute later as he turned down a street that was a couple of blocks away from the Universal Temple, then parked in front of a house. “Mom? What are you thinking?”

Jesse said nothing, just loaded the red flare before slipping the flare gun into her daypack. Then she picked up her rifle and got out of the truck.

Giving her a worried look, Tobias chambered a round in his own rifle as soon as he joined her.

“We have to stop the reinforcements from reaching the town square,” she said.

The briefest hesitation. “Then we’d better get moving.”

He headed for the temple, and Jesse wondered if her boy knew what she was about to do.

Tolya flowed along the branches of the trees, searching for Parlan Blackstone. The humans had scattered, hiding in doorways and along the sides of buildings, firing their guns at random at every furred or feathered being. Ravens, Hawks, and Eagles had been turned into bloody mist and feathers. At least one Coyote was dead near the pond.

And the outlaws kept coming.

He didn’t know where Virgil was, or Saul, but he’d seen some humans trying to crawl away from the square with their bellies torn open or their hamstrings sliced by sharp teeth. He didn’t know where Yuri was either. Nicolai wasn’t answering him. Neither was Stazia. Dead? Or too focused on the hunt to respond?

Spotting one of the males who had stood with Parlan Blackstone when the human had made the challenge, Tolya flowed down the shadow side of the tree trunk nearest his enemy. Then he hesitated. Why would an enemy simply stand there unless . . .

Reversing direction, Tolya flowed back up the tree—and saw one of the other humans waiting for one of the terra indigene to try for the man acting as bait. The human with the rifle was so focused on shooting whatever came for the bait that he didn’t notice the smoke at the base of a tree, didn’t notice it moving up his leg—moving into a long tear in the man’s jeans.

The human didn’t notice anything until he staggered from rapid blood loss.

That was the moment Tolya flowed down the tree, formed solid hands and forearms, and snapped the bait’s neck.

A shot. A sting.

Tolya released the body and rushed up the tree to take cover in the branches—and saw part of his finger lying in the grass below.

Fucking vampires, Parlan thought as odd pockets of fog began filling the square, turning a fight that had gone on longer than it should have into a bullet-filled game of hide and seek. They had to finish this, had to take control of the town. All they needed to do was kill the mayor and the sheriff—and he couldn’t find either one of them.

And they needed to end this fight before they became so befuddled by the fog that they started shooting each other by mistake.

Jana drove away from the hospital. Both doctors were there, as well as the nurse/midwife. There had been other cars in the parking lot, along with a van that belonged to Fagen.

She hoped those cars didn’t belong to people who had been injured. She hoped Barb wouldn’t need more help than the doctors could provide.

Then she stopped hoping about things she couldn’t influence and put all her energy into getting to the town square in time to help Virgil.

Tobias ducked behind an abandoned car and opened and closed his hand four times.

Twenty men in the parking lot behind the Universal Temple and the community center, ready to move out and join the fight in the town square.

Twenty men. Twenty lives against the fate of two towns—and all the other humans who depended on those towns existing.

Jesse took the flare gun out of her daypack.

“Mom?” Tobias whispered. “What are you . . . ?”

Her son was a good man. She didn’t want this on his conscience, and she didn’t want him to stop her. This is why they were here. This is what would make the difference.

She popped to her feet, aimed the flare gun at the community center—and fired the red flare that was a call for help.

She dropped to the ground as some of the men started shooting at her. Then they stopped shooting because . . .

“Get down, Tobias. Get down!”

Jesse pressed herself to the ground and held her son’s hand. She wept as they listened to men scream.

As they listened to men burn.

Leaving the car near the stable, Jana raced to the town square. Sporadic gunfire meant either there weren’t many of the outlaws left in the fight or they were hesitating because the drifts of fog that were concentrated in the square made it difficult to tell friend from foe.

Was that a familiar snarl? Drawing her weapon, Jana moved toward the sound.

As he ripped and tore the enemies’ flesh, the terrible one caught the scent of that female. A faint scent, but not one he would forget.

Tossing aside the meat, he entered the town square.

Finally—finally—he’d cornered the challenger, the reason for all this misery.

Snarling, Virgil shifted to his Wolf form because he wanted this enemy to see what would tear out a throat. He approached Parlan Blackstone, who dropped his guns and backed away.

John approached on Virgil’s right, and the two Wolves focused on pushing the enemy back and back and back.

Then the wind shifted, bringing the scent of an enemy behind them.

Trap! he snarled at John, leaping to one side as Parlan pulled out a little gun and fired.

Virgil circled tight around a tree and ran straight at the short man who had been in the saloon with Blackstone and had howled about giving up his guns. He hit the man with such speed and force, when his jaws closed on an arm and he used his own weight to throw the prey to the ground, he felt the prey’s shoulder tear.

Two guns fired in rapid succession. One bullet hit the ground right next to his right front paw. The other . . .

He saw another enemy fall, heard Jana shout his name.

And heard another shot.

That little derringer could blow the leg off a horse—or a Wolf. Parlan watched the Wolf struggle to get up on its remaining three legs.

He was out of ammunition, but the fight was over. Had to be over.

Then he saw that fucking sheriff bring down Eli Bonney, saw Frank Bonney’s shot miss the Wolf as Frank took a bullet in the chest.

Then he saw the smoke, caught a whiff of something that made him think of country fairs when those huge grills were fired up to cook up loads of meat.

Parlan knew then. He had to get out of this fucking town.

He turned, intending to run to the car rental place next to the train station—and stared into the black eyes of a female with coiling black hair that held thin streaks of red. Then a sudden exhaustion brought him to his knees.

Jana saw Virgil knock a man to the ground. Saw another man aim at the Wolf.

As she raised her weapon and fired at the man, she shouted, “Virgil!”

Something hit her in the side, knocked her off her feet. Knocked the gun out of her hand.

She tried to reach for her gun, but her body wouldn’t move right. Gasping, she looked at the man who approached her with a smile on his face and a gun aimed at her heart.

The air behind him shimmered, like heat. Then . . .

He must have sensed it, tried to turn and fire. But it was too fast—so fast—and it grabbed him by his torso and thighs, lifted him as if a grown man weighed nothing and . . .

When she was a girl, she had a set of pop beads—colored beads that could be put together and taken apart to make many combinations of necklaces and bracelets, and when you pulled them apart they made a distinct popping sound.

She heard that sound now as a man’s spine popped, as his body ripped in half.

Blood flooded out of that body, forming a puddle. Red red red.

The Elder that took a visible form stood on two legs—furred and fanged and clawed and huge. A nightmare humans were never meant to see. It stared at her as it held the two halves of the man.

This is what that woman saw when it killed her husband, Jana thought. This is why she killed herself.

It bared its teeth, and she felt its snarl rumble in the ground beneath her.

It took a step toward her, still holding its prey.

Then Virgil was there, standing over her, snarling in challenge as he faced down the Elder.

“Virgil,” she whispered. “Run.” She couldn’t help him, and she couldn’t escape. The best thing he could do for the rest of the shifters was get away from a predator that could break him as easily as it broke the man. “Run.”

Of course Virgil, being Virgil, didn’t run. He just snarled louder.

Stupid Wolf.

The last thing she saw before her vision faded was Virgil’s foot too close to her face—and that terrible Elder walking away with its prey.