Howling Legion (Skinners, Book 2) (19 page)

“Son of a bitch,” he grumbled as the remaining Half Breeds scattered and bolted into the shadows before he could fire another shot.

Paige turned to keep her current target in front of her. The Half Breeds near the fire moved away from the blaze, using legs that weren’t restricted by joints. One of them crab-walked with its belly pressed against the dirt to climb over the bodies of its fallen brethren. A rasping growl issued from its chest, stuck in its throat, then came out in a huffing bark that made the remaining Half Breeds snap their heads up and look toward the Skinners. One of the werewolves that had scampered away from Cole’s shotgun reappeared, to come at him from another side, and was brought down by one of the hidden bear traps.

Meanwhile, another Half Breed launched itself at Paige. Hitting the ground with one knee, she swept her weapon up and across, to slash its face and stop it with a jarring crack of petrified wood against its temple.

Cole jumped in to help her by snagging the Half Breed by its neck with the forked end of his weapon. Doing his best to pull it off Paige’s back, he managed to give her enough room to wriggle free and slash at two werewolves that had crept closer to them. Her left hand whipped toward the werewolf that Cole had pulled away, if only to knock aside a claw before it dug into her. She snapped her right hand out to try and decapitate another Half Breed, but only ripped through a few layers of fur before the creature twisted around in a way that should have snapped its spine in half. Before it could straighten itself again, Paige drew her revolver and fired two shots at its head. One shot grazed the creature’s skull and the other only clipped its ear. Since neither wound was bad enough to put it down, the Half Breed shook off the effects and stalked around her to find another angle from which to attack.

Cole, still pinning one werewolf by its hind quarters, tried to do something more than annoy it. Just as the creature
pulled away, he jabbed the forked end toward its neck. Both sharpened points stretched out less than a quarter of an inch before snapping shut, but the Half Breed had bent its head back like it was about to dispense candy from its throat.

Putting all of his strength into one motion, Cole flipped his weapon so the spearhead swept up and out, digging a messy trench through the Half Breed’s shoulder. The creature staggered and tried to get away, but wasn’t fast enough to escape before Cole swung again. This time he stabbed it in the side and twisted the weapon before it came loose. The Half Breed contorted just enough to slash at Cole with its paw. He defended against the first swipe, but another Half Breed joined the fray, to create a flurry of teeth and claws. Cole kept his spear in front of his face and chest, pivoting often to answer with a few jabs of his own.

Teeth scraped against the collar of his body armor and ripped away a little piece of his chin. One set of claws sliced less than an inch away from his eyes, and another set shredded the waistband of his jeans. One Half Breed finally reared up and placed its front paws upon his shoulders.

Cole could feel his legs start to buckle and realized that he wouldn’t have the strength to stay up if the werewolf pushed against him with all of its weight. Out of sheer desperation, he brought the spearhead up to impale the creature through the bottom of its jaw. The Half Breed craned its neck to pull away, but not before the modified spearhead dug a tunnel straight up and through its brain. With a quick push, Cole shoved the creature back and then let it drop.

As soon as he stepped back, another creature hit the ground. He turned and saw Paige place her boot on that werewolf’s back and drive her weapons into its sides. Even then, the Half Breed continued to drag itself toward Cole. Paige put a stop to that by pounding the sharpened handle of her weapon through its skull.

“That was a stubborn one,” she said.

There were still a few other Half Breeds nearby, but they seemed hesitant to approach. In fact, they were backing away from another werewolf that had a thicker, meatier frame and larger, longer ears that lay flat against its head. It was tough
for the Skinners to make out the details of the bigger creature since its fur was so black that it absorbed shadow as well as the bit of light cast by the campfire. Once Cole saw the crystalline eyes glittering in the firelight, however, he knew exactly what they were dealing with.

The Full Blood was shorter than he remembered. Despite a more compact frame, raw power exuded from the beast like it would from a hurricane or a black wall of storm clouds. The burning that crackled through Cole’s scars ran like a live current all the way up to his shoulders.

“That’s not Burkis, is it?” he asked.

Paige shook her head. “No. Wrong coloring. That’s the one that took Henry away from us in Wisconsin.”

“Yooouuu waaaant Henrrrry?” the Full Blood snarled, using words that were crudely fashioned from growls and forced out through a latticework of fangs. Unlike the daggerlike protrusions that cut through Burkis’s face, this one’s teeth laced together neatly but prevented its jaws from fully closing.

The few remaining Half Breeds were getting impatient. When two of them huffed and began to rush the Skinners, the Full Blood stretched its body forward and opened its mouth to let out a quick, roaring bark. Upon hearing that, all of the Half Breeds pressed their chests against the earth and slunk away.

As his lips came down and his snarl faded, the Full Blood lowered his shoulders and lifted his chin. When he spoke again, it was through a muzzle that had shortened just enough to accommodate a more human voice. “Henry used to ask about you, Paige.”

“Good,” she replied as she adjusted her grip on her weapons. “Tell him to come see me. I’ve got a couple presents for him.”

The Full Blood’s lips curled into a savage grin. “I thought you’d already gotten to him, but now I see he’s simply run off.”

In the distance, car engines revved and faded as headlights swung wildly down a path leading through the nature preserve.

“It probably won’t be long before the cops or a ranger shows up,” Cole whispered to Paige.

“This’ll be over long before the cops make it out here,” she replied.

“Oh, I hope not,” the Full Blood said in an English accent that tarnished his voice the way rust corrupted glistening steel. “Your founding father didn’t show his face, but I’ll still have plenty of witnesses to see what happens to murdering ghouls like you.”

“Founding father?” Paige asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”

The Full Blood drew in a lungful of passing breeze as if sampling a finely aged wine. “I thought he would come to your aid, but I guess I was mistaken. That changes nothing. I warned you to clear a path for my kind the last time we met. If you refuse to step aside, then I’ll just have to remove a few more Skinners from this world. Funny,” he added with a tilt of his growing head. “I thought more of you would come to defend this piss hole of a city. Perhaps there are fewer of your kind than we thought. How interesting.”

When the Full Blood lowered his chin and dug its claws into the earth, Paige raised her weapons. “Take one more step and I’ll gut you just like I gutted your friends!”

“Thaaat’s it,” the dark Full Blood snarled. “If you scream loud enough, you’ll catch someone’s attention.”

“Who else are you after?” Paige asked.

Standing upon two legs but keeping his body hunched over, the Full Blood approached and stared at her with his unnaturally clear eyes. The upper portion of his skull settled into a more human shape, and his snout retracted to a mildly protruding nose. “The one that’s hiding like a tick wedged in the middle of this continent.”

“I’m the only partner she needs,” Cole said.

The shadowy beast lifted his chin and then cocked his head to one side. His eyes narrowed before widening into glittering circles. “You know what? I believe you really don’t know about the man I seek.”

“Honest mistake, so I’ll give you one chance to leave,”
Paige said. “If you go back to your forest or wherever you were before, we’ll call it a night. If not, then—”

“Then
what?”
the Full Blood roared. “I warned you when I collected Henry to stay away when we came to reclaim our territories! This is where all old debts are repaid, Skinner. The diseased leeches who spit their venom from their bloody cities will be gutted soon enough. Tonight, I send a message to all of those who think they’re strong enough to hunt us. It’s too late to save this place, so do what you can to save yourselves. The only chance you have is for you to tell me where I can find the others of your kind.” Baring his teeth, the Full Blood added, “All of them.”

The Half Breeds stood in the shadows, swaying on their feet and panting with anticipation.

When Paige spoke, it was in a snarl that rivaled the Full Blood’s. “You wanna do more than bark? I’m right here.”

The single puff of air that came out through the Full Blood’s nose was as much of a chuckle as a growl. He stretched out both arms and dropped back down into his compact, barrel-chested form. The challenging smirk remained on his face as his teeth nearly doubled in length. Barely another second passed before he bolted forward.

“Paige! Look out!” Cole shouted as he dove to push her out of the way.

Both Skinners were human, which meant neither of them was fast enough to avoid what was coming. Just when he thought he could shove her to the ground, Cole felt a rush of air as Paige was snatched away from him. Cole landed on his side, rolled over and popped back onto his feet with his spear raised in front of him. He didn’t expect the Full Blood to be close enough to reach out, grab him by the shirt, and toss him through the air.

Being whipped around like that took away his perspective. The ground rushed along the edges of his vision, and the moon flew by in another direction. His feet knocked into his legs. His arms flailed through empty air, and just when he thought he’d figured out which way was up, he was proven wrong. He hit the ground on his back, expelling all of
the wind from his lungs in the process. Paige wasn’t in sight, but the Full Blood was only a few inches away.

Cole knew he needed to move, but he couldn’t. The Full Blood loomed over him, gazing down and drizzling saliva onto his arm. When Cole dug the business end of his spear into a huge paw, the massive creature seemed genuinely surprised. “I see you’ve already met Randolph,” the Full Blood said as he reached down to grab Cole’s weapon. “Either that, or he’s losing his teeth in his old age. Needn’t worry about that from me.”

Cole rolled away as the beast’s claws dug a row of trenches through the ground where he’d just been. When he felt the brush of a twig against his backside, he stopped rolling and scrambled to his feet. The Full Blood stood upright, flowing easily into his taller form. While this one looked a bit smaller than Mr. Burkis, he made up for it with speed and ferocity. Even with a burst of panic-induced strength coursing through him, Cole only barely managed to deflect a powerful swing with his spear, then felt the shock wave of the creature’s attack rattle all the way up to his teeth. Somehow, the petrified weapon remained in one piece.

Unable to get a look at Paige, Cole had to assume she was holding her own against the Half Breeds that snarled and clawed at her several yards away. Even if she wasn’t, he knew he couldn’t do anything to help her. The Full Blood roared and swiped at him again and again. When the beast finally delivered the overhand swing he’d been waiting for, Cole jumped aside. The thump of its massive paw against the earth was followed by the clang of iron jaws of a bear trap snapping shut around the Full Blood’s wrist. When it reared up and pulled the trap from the ground, Cole drove his modified spearhead into its chest.

The creature’s entire face twisted into a mask of pure rage. Although the tooth attached to Cole’s weapon pierced its skin, the bone beneath its flesh was like an iron plate. Cole leaned into the strike, but knew he’d reached his limit. After plucking the weapon free, he aimed for the stomach and stabbed the outermost layer of thickly banded muscle. The Full Blood pivoted on its feet and slapped the weapon
away. Cole’s hands were nearly torn apart, but the thorns in the spear’s handle kept it rooted within his grasp. After that, he could only run away before the fury of an unnatural cataclysm rained down upon him.

Cole knew he’d never moved so fast in his life. He barely even felt his feet touch the ground until he dug in and skidded to a stop beside the campfire. The Half Breeds had nudged the kettle away from the flames when they’d sniffed at it, but there was still some of the concoction inside. Cole grabbed the kettle by its handle and hurried to retrace his steps. Heat from the handle would have burned a whole lot more if he didn’t already have a thick layer of blood and scar tissue on his palm.

The Full Blood ran toward him in easy, loping strides, the bear trap rattling from one wrist like a grisly accessory. It gripped the earth using all four paws and panted expectantly at the sight of its next meal.

Cole veered to the left, planted his feet, grabbed the bottom of the kettle and tossed the contents toward the Full Blood. Since the hulking werewolf hadn’t slowed down, Cole also slammed the kettle against its nose. Scorched iron met snout with a muted clang. The Full Blood snapped his head from side to side and huffed angrily through both nostrils.

Working his jaw only seemed to aggravate the beast. It arched its back and erupted with a bellowing roar as muscles swelled to form a thicker shell around a growing, two-legged form. Even as he brought his forepaws up to hold them like arms, the Full Blood was too enraged to act as anything other than an animal.

“Come on,” Cole whispered.
“Come on!”

Just when it seemed that he had made the worst call of his short fighting career by goading the huge creature, smaller footsteps scrambled in from all sides. The Full Blood glanced to his right and spotted a trio of Half Breeds baring their teeth. Some more of the leaner werewolves closed in, while most of the ones fighting Paige left her to attack the Full Blood that was now covered in the bait mixture.