Both Cole and Paige looked down at his left leg, which had a set of deep, bloody tracks starting just above his knee and running almost down to his ankle.
“Can you stay up on your own?” Paige asked.
“I think so.”
“If not, drop to your knees and fight from there.” Once she’d dispensed that tidbit, Paige locked eyes with the closest Half Breed and took half a lunging step forward. The feint was just enough to set the creature off, and it charged straight at her, with a second one following close behind. There was a good amount of ground to cover, but the Half Breeds practically flew over it. Cole fired in the general direction of the creatures and dropped the closest one chin first to the ground. It skidded a few feet before its companions jumped over it and continued on.
“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.”