He walked over to the van. Michele was seated, head down, arms wrapped tightly around her legs, her whole body quivering as she silently wept.
“Michele...?”
She looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy and her whole face was blotchy from crying.
“I’m here to get you out of there,” said George. “Where’s Ivan?”
“I don’t know.”
“Which way did he go?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Michele, I need you to focus. Everything’s going to be all right. I promise, I’m not going to let him hurt you.”
“You can’t promise anything,” Michele said. She sniffled, then held up her right hand, revealing a curved row of deep puncture wounds.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The Wolf’s Bite
“It’ll be okay,” George assured her. “That’s an ugly bite but it’s not too bad. Lou got clawed up a lot worse and he’s still kicking around.”
“Don’t pretend to be dense. You know what this means.”
“No, he doesn’t play by the werewolf rules. This doesn’t mean anything.”
“He said it did.”
“Well, Ivan’s a liar. He just said that to scare you. Don’t listen to anything he says. I swear to you that you’ll be fine.”
Michele shook her head sadly. “No. I can feel it.”
“You’re just stressed out. It could be anything.”
“I’ve been stressed all day. This is something horrible. As soon as his teeth went into me I knew what he’d done.”
George hurriedly glanced around the area for any sign of Ivan. There was none. “Okay, okay, for the sake of argument let’s say that he did make you into a werewolf. Is that really such a bad thing? He seems pretty happy.”
“He can control it.”
“Maybe they all can. Maybe that’s why we never hear about werewolves--they all have total control over their powers, so only the lunatic idiots like Ivan let out the secret.”
“You shouldn’t be here.” She began to sob uncontrollably.
“Just calm down. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s all going to be fine. I need to know, did Ivan set a trap?”
“Me, maybe.”
“Why did he leave you? Was I supposed to find you?”
Michele shook her head. “He looked nervous all of a sudden and just left.”
“Good, good. So he’s either running or watching us.”
Ivan spoke. “What the hell do you want, George?”
George spun around. He couldn’t see Ivan’s face, but he was at the edge of the trees, mostly obscured by some tall bushes.
“I want the girl back.”
“Bullshit. You wouldn’t put yourself at risk for her. Why are you here?”
“I just want her back. That’s the truth.”
“You weren’t even around when I nabbed her.”
“It was on the news.”
“Then where did I catch her?”
Crap. “A gas station.”
“Wrong. How did you find me?”
“There were several reports of the van coming this way. You should be more careful.”
“Uh-huh. Then why aren’t the cops here?”
“How should I know? Maybe they’ve got the area surrounded. Do you really think I work with the police?”
“George, I’ve had a good time ruining your life today, but I’m tired. I know you’re tired, too.”
“Exhausted.”
“Why don’t we just go our separate ways and work this out some other time, huh?”
“See, I’d love to, and if you give me the girl, I will.”
“What’s stopping you from taking her? I’m all the way over here.”
“Not a goddamn thing.”
Ivan stepped to the side, revealing his smiling face, which was now missing a tooth. His wounds were no longer bleeding, though his entire face was so caked with blood that he was almost unrecognizable. “I should warn you, though, that she’s damaged goods in a big way. My recommendation is that you just discard her.”
“Why would you do that to her?” George asked. When the hell was Prescott or Angie going to put a tranquilizer dart into that prick?
“I guess there are a lot of possibilities,” said Ivan. “Maybe she’s the first inductee into my werewolf army. Or, this should have you quaking in your booties; maybe she’s the thousandth one. Maybe my whole purpose is to enslave humanity, and you just got caught in the middle. You could be humanity’s last chance, George. Hell of a bad deal for the human race.”
“I don’t buy that one. What’s the next possibility?”
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know. Let me think. Maybe I’ve been looking to get it on in my werewolf form, but I can’t find any chicks who are into the whole bestiality scene, so I decided that my only option was to make a she-wolf who can handle me.”
“That sounds more reasonable.”
“But, no, that can’t be it, because it’s way more fun when the coin is bigger than the slot, if you know what I mean. You probably do. Despite our differences, you seem like you might be pretty well-endowed.”
“So how does this end, Ivan? I know you don’t want to just stand around and gab all day.”
“You’re right. I’ve actually been pretty bored with this conversation for the past thirty seconds or so but I didn’t want to say anything. The plan was actually to just hide out for a moment, wait to see who was coming, and then give them the ol’ Cotton Mouse Tavern treatment. I had no idea it would be you. Where’s Lou?”
“He’s in police custody.”
“Aw, man, that’s too bad. You must be pretty bummed. Well, my original plan was to murder whoever came down the path, and I can’t think of any good reason to change that, so I think it’s all over for you, Mr. George.”
Ivan stepped onto the path.
George took out the pistol and pointed it at him. Ivan stopped walking and stared at him for a moment.
“And...?”
“This is loaded with silver bullets.”
“Really? And where exactly does one acquire silver bullets these days?”
“It was a shop for Goth kids. A novelty item.”
“You are a good liar,” said Ivan. “You don’t blink, you don’t break eye contact, you don’t put your hand over your mouth--I’m impressed. The only problem with your lie is that you’re standing there talking instead of shooting me with the legendary silver bullet.”
Ivan stepped completely out of the bushes. His hands transformed into claws as he strode toward George.
A dart struck him in the side of the neck.
Ivan looked confused for a moment, then positively furious. He plucked the dart out of his neck, tossed it to the ground, then transformed into a full wolfman and leapt back into the bushes.
George resisted the urge to raise his clenched fist into the air and let out a victory shout. They got him!
Still no sign of either Prescott or Angie, but George heard the rustling as Ivan ran off. Hopefully the tranquilizer wouldn’t take too long to take him down.
He stood there, listening carefully.
“What happened?” Michele asked.
“The cavalry’s here,” George said. “He’ll be snoozing any second now.”
“What’ll they do with me?”
“Nothing. I mean, they won’t hurt you. I won’t let them. We’ll get you help.”
“You’ll deliver me just like you were going to deliver Ivan.”
“No. That’s not part of any bargain.” He thought he heard something, and gestured for Michele to stop talking. “Shhhh.”
He stood as still as possible. The only sound was Michele’s rapid panicked breathing.
And then a scream.
Not from Ivan.
Prescott’s scream was a mixture of agony and terror. George couldn’t hear any attempt at bravery--this was the sound of a man who knew that screaming would be the last thing he ever did.
The scream did not cut off. It did not fade.
What the hell was George supposed to do? He couldn’t just go running off after them. He’d get himself killed, too. Ivan had been hit with the dart, so maybe he’d succumb to the drug’s influence before he could finish off Prescott. If not, thanks to the noise, Angie had to know exactly where they were.