My number wasn’t called in heaven, though, as a werewolf sprinted out of the darkness in front of me and picked me up with one arm. They loped down the safe path just as the explosive went off behind us. The single plastic brick wasn’t powerful, but the tunnel wasn’t strong. The explosion destroyed the integrity of the tunnel and behind us the ceiling collapsed. We made it to the chamber just before the path at our rear fell in on itself. My hero jumped into the center of the chamber and cloud of dust blew over us from the fallen tunnel.
I coughed and looked up into a pair of unfamiliar eyes. My hero wasn’t Luke, who I expected, but a slightly smaller werewolf with a familiar scowl to his expression. I sniffed his scent and thought I detected farm dirt stuck on it. “Baker?” I guessed in my guttural voice.
“Get up and follow me,” he growled back. Yep, it was Baker.
He sprinted down the tunnel toward the dungeon, but I paused and looked for the former combatants. All that remained of Brier and Fuller were tufts of fur and splotches of blood. I raced after Baker and shot into the dungeon where I saw a welcomed sight. The whole gang of non-scented people sat on the ground fully human with their backs together and surrounded by Burnbaum’s men, most of whom were still transformed into werewolves. Upstairs I heard countless feet running and people yelling in fright. The explosion hadn’t gone unnoticed by the residents of Sanctuary.
Luke stood close by in the tattered remains of his clothes with Stacy by his side, and when he spotted me his eyes widened in horror. He hurried over and knelt down in front of me. “What are you doing here?” he harshly scolded me.
“Nice to see you, too,” I growled in my wolf voice.
He managed a small, worried smile as he looked over my scuffed, furry form. “Are you all right?” he asked me.
I nodded. “A little itchy, but okay,” I growled.
Luke smiled, but our happy reunion was interrupted by Brier. The man was human again and stood in the torn remains of his clothing with extra wounds from the brawl with Fuller, who I saw in the group of captives. “Mind telling me the full story now?” Brier requested of me.
“I’d like to know, also,” Baker spoke up.
Luke turned to him with a raised brow. “I’m curious to know how you got down here,” he wondered.
“I saw this she-wolf drag Brier to the foyer and followed her down here,” Baker explained to us. “I noticed the hole in the wall and investigated it.”
“He defused the explosives she missed and went for her while I carried my prey back to the dungeon,” Brier finished for him. “Now tell us what happened,” he ordered.
“These men intended to blow up specific sections of Sanctuary and blame it on the Lone Wolf group,” Luke spoke up. He walked over to a pile of empty explosive boxes and pulled out the missing green armbands. “You remember these were stolen from the Lone Wolf members, and they were going to use the scent to implicate Burnbaum and the others in the explosion while their part in the plot would remain undetected by our senses.”
Burnbaum himself appeared from the far side of the dungeon where I noticed another secret doorway. I was relieved to see Mr. Stewart at his side. “They set explosives in their own section to throw off suspicion from them,” he informed us.
Brier scowled, strode over to the captives, knelt in front of Fuller and roughly grabbed the man’s chin. He jerked Fuller’s head up so they looked into each other’s eyes. “Is this true?” Fuller spat in the man’s face and Brier knocked him upside the head.
Fuller turned back to him with a stream of blood trickling down the side of his face, but there was that sneer of defiance on his lips. “Yer not going to make us talk,” he refused.
“I just did, but you didn’t say anything that would help you get out of this mess,” Brier shot back. He turned to his officers. “We’ll take them to the High Lord and get them to talk,” he told them.
At that moment I heard a strange noise on the stairs to my right. Luke also heard it, and we both turned our heads in time to see a small metallic ball bounce into the dungeon. Luke’s eyes widened and he dove on top of me. “Duck!” he yelled to everyone else, but it was too late. The metallic ball sprang open and blinded the onlookers with a flash of light. Those unaffected, including us, were hit with a blast of a white smoke with an overwhelming scent. The smoke filled the room at the same time its smell invaded my nose and paralyzed my body. “Garlic!” Luke cried out. There were cries of fear and shouts from captives and heroes alike, but nobody could see, and those who could see couldn’t move.
I struggled to move but my body wouldn’t obey. Luke was more prepared and had part of his clothes wrapped around his lower face. I heard footsteps step lightly along the stone floor, and felt Luke stand when they came near. There was a brief scuffle before Luke fell by my side. In the dim air I could see he was alive, but unconscious. Then the footsteps moved past us further down the dungeon corridor. I heard faint sounds like a dart gun and there were cries of fear, then nothing. The footsteps retreated, and the smoke cleared enough to reveal that our captives all had a bullet fired into their heads, and nobody needed to ask if it was silver because they were all dead. Victory was snatched from us and replaced with a deadly defeat.
27
Everyone staggered to their feet and I crawled over to Luke’s side. There was an egg-bruise growing on his forehead where he’d been struck. I nudged him with my snout and he stirred a moment before his eyes fluttered open. They widened and he jumped up to survey the horrible scene as everyone else arose to the same picture. “Damn it!” he swore.
“This isn’t good,” Stacy muttered as she held her head in one hand. I felt her pain. The smell of the strong garlic left a lasting impression in the sinus cavities and head.
“What happened here? Who did this?” Burnbaum exclaimed as he whipped his head around. Nobody replied because nobody knew the answer, or rather not the specific answer.
“We don’t know who tossed that bomb, but we know who told him to do it,” Luke spoke up.
“Lance,” Stacy stated rather than asked.
“That’s a tough accusation,” Brier spoke up.
Luke turned to him with a scowl. “It’s more than an accusation, it’s the truth,” he insisted.
Brier nodded at the dead men. “How are you going to prove a lord like Lance is connected to this plot without their confessions?” he countered.
“We have the stolen armbands and their lack of scent,” Luke pointed out.
I sniffed the air and wrinkled my nose. “What’s that smell?”
“Death,” Brier replied. “Their smell is returning with their deaths.”
Luke frowned and strode over to the bodies. He sniffed and pulled back with a look of disgust on his face. “Whatever unholy thing they used to mask their scent must die with them.”
“Along with your evidence,” Brier reiterated.
“Maybe, but I’ll see if I can convince my father,” Stacy spoke up. She crossed her arms and smirked. “He hasn’t failed me yet.”
“First we tend to our allies,” Luke insisted. He was right. Some of Burnbaum’s werewolves looked in pretty bad shape, I was still stuck in my wolf form, and the whole dungeon still smelled like a pizza parlor. “We should get them all upstairs out of this smell.”
Stacy nodded at the bodies. “What do we do about them?” she asked us.
“I’ll fetch my men to protect them and make sure all the explosives are destroyed,” Brier offered. He hurried up the dungeon steps to bring his men.
“My men will manage each other,” Burnbaum assured us. The less wounded hauled the more gravely injured up the dungeon steps. I had my doubts whether I could fit up those things, and so did Luke. That, and with my erratic change my clothes were in worse shape than anyone else’s.
He glanced between the stairs and me. “This may be easier if you change down here. Are you able to?” he wondered.
I shrugged with my furry shoulders. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried yet and I don’t think I’d be dressed for the occasion,” I quipped. Luke glanced around and snatched a blanket from inside one of the cells. It was dirty, disgusting, and the only option I had. He wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and stepped back.
“Now focus on your human form-”
“-as though I’m looking in a mirror. I know, I know.” I shut my eyes and brought up my mirror image. Even with the horrid garlic smell distracting me transforming my entire body was a lot easier than the hand as the general areas shifted back to my human self. I quickly wrapped the filthy blanket around my nakedness and sheepishly smiled at everyone. “Next time we face up against terrorists I’ll remember to wear some more loose-fitting clothing.”
Luke chuckled. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for a long while, but what the hell do you think you’re doing here? I told you to stay with Mrs. Stewart,” he scolded.
I scowled at him. “And I said I wasn’t going to stay there. If you were going to get yourself blown up then I was going to blow to smithereens with you.” I whipped my head around to the group.