“I will have to second that motion, even if they did bring my brother to us,” Adam spoke up.
Emily threw up her hands. “Perfect. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
The sheriff was having none of any hot spots. He wasn’t tied nor gagged, and he tore himself from Ian’s grasp of his arm and jumped back. I saw that his arm was partially healed already and his eyes glowed like coals in the pits of hell, or in a really hot campfire. You know, the ones that had everything thrown on it, including the diesel fuel.
“Pathetic, all of you!” Brier snapped at us. “You think you can actually win? That Lance will let your feeble plans get anywhere?”
Adam stepped forward and glared at his sheriff brother. “Are you prepared to tell us what you know, or shame yourself further?” he asked his blood relative. Sheriff Brier sneered, and Adam glared back at him. “Well, what have you to say?” he persisted.
“Duel,” the sheriff drawled.
Adam’s eyes narrowed, and Luke stiffened. I glanced from Luke to Adam and back. “What? What’s going on?” I wondered.
“A duel between werewolves,” Luke told me.
“What? A duel? We don’t have time for duels!” I argued.
“Some challenges of strength are worth making the time,” Burnbaum spoke up.
“Do we seriously need to be doing this?” I insisted as Adam and the sheriff transformed into their wolf forms. “Can’t we just talk this over outside-”
The time for talk ended abruptly as the pair snarled and flew at each other. Years of bitter hatred was evident as both of them pulled out all the stops for the mortal combat. Teeth biting, hair pulling, and tail whacking were acceptable tactics as they tore into each other. I make light of their methods, but their intentions were obvious: they meant to kill the other one, or at least the sheriff was trying to ensure that outcome for his brother. He did have the advantage of larger girth and the desperation that comes from being surrounded by foe and former friend. Brier threw all his weight, muscle, teeth, and claws into defeating Adam for the duel benefit of settling their differences and eliminating one less obstacle to the cause.
I envied the Stewarts being outside. They could flee the carnage of gnashing teeth and flying fur. I was a trapped audience as I, Luke, and the rest of the crowd pressed against the walls and watched the duel. Chairs, the innards of couch cushions, and the remains of the dining table flew or were smashed into the floor as the pair of werewolves raced, rolled, and battered one another like a furry typhoon., or a hurricane minus all the mobile homes. The only good thing about the battle was its length. They fought for maybe five long, agonizing minutes before Adam managed to pin Brier beneath him with his paws on Brier’s shoulders.
“Do you concede?” Adam growled. Brier sneered and looked away. “Do you concede?” he repeated.
“I concede,” Brier grumbled.
Adam jumped off him and onto his shaky, tired legs. I could relate. It’d been a hell of a night. Unfortunately, Brier wasn’t exactly telling the truth about that whole concession thing, or maybe he didn’t know the meaning. Maybe it was an honest mistake, maybe he meant to say he was hungry and wanted a hot dog from a concession stand. Or maybe he was just a bloodthirsty ass. Either way Brier rolled onto his feet, snarled at Adam, and jumped at him with his jaws aimed at Adam’s neck.
Adam turned his neck to one side, missing Brier’s teeth by a fraction of an inch, or maybe even less. He turned the tables, slammed Brier to the ground with his front paws, took Brier’s own neck in his jaws and gave a twist. The resounding crack told all of us that the battle was forever finished, and nearly told my stomach to lose its delicious, home-cooked dinner.
I turned to Luke and pressed my face into his chest. “Please tell me the fighting is over,” I whispered.
“For now,” he promised.
I sighed. “How much more?”
“I wish I knew.”
Adam stepped off his brother and reverted back to his human form. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as Brier’s body also changed to his human form. Adam shook his head as he looked down at his dead brother. Burnbaum stepped up and set a heavy hand on Adam’s shoulder. “The fight was fair. No more can be said,” he told him.
“Maybe we should get these bodies out of here before some of them start waking up,” Rick spoke up. He kicked one of the werewolves on the floor and the man groaned. “We don’t want to be carrying any more out in body bags. To much work burying them.”
Adam gave a nod and straightened.“And they may have information we can use,” he added.
“Need a hand?” Emily chimed in. We all turned to glare at her and Ian who stood by her side. She looked back and frowned. “What?”
Burnbaum stalked over to them, grabbed each of them in his large hands, and glanced from one to the other. “You will help us by coming with us without fight,” he told them. Emily sighed and shrugged, but let him lead them out the house.
We got to work tying up the live foes, and burying the dead ones. Those tied up were placed against the trees around the edge of the meadow opposite the front of the house. Out of the dozen men with Brier, and the two Captains, there were six of them left. The vials of poison were taken from their person along with vials of the invisibility. None of the scent mesmerizing stuff was found, which I was grateful. It meant they weren’t wandering the countryside forcing people to convert to their side.
Burnbaum left for a moment, and when he came back there were a dozen people with him, allies of the good cause. “They will guard while we will talk,” he told us.
I happened to look to our prisoners and noticed Emily leaning against a tree smirking at us. Ian sat beside her with his eyes closed as though asleep. Her eyes told me she wanted to speak to me. I wandered over, mindful that though the ropes were strong and tight she was still a crafty beast. “You really don’t have to worry about me. I don’t bite,” she told me.
I scoffed and rubbed my arm. “Then you must have given me a love-tap with your long, sharp tail fur,” I quipped.
She laughed. “You’re a special one, you know that?”
“Flattery won’t get those ropes loosened,” I countered.
“We don’t expect help from you, but we can still offer help to you,” she told me.
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest. “Like info help or help leading us into a trap?”
“Information. Like the fact that Lance will soon be moving his operations,” she explained.
“Don’t speak too freely,” Ian spoke up. His eyes opened and he looked disapprovingly at Emily. “We need some cards in our hand.”
“I’m just giving them what they can verify from these fools with us,” she told him, indicating the other four still-unconscious werewolves.
“No need. I have that information already,” Luke spoke up as he came up behind me. “But for what it’s worth, I thank you for your honesty.”
Emily scoffed. “Honesty nothing. I want to get back at Lance for siccing that lunatic on us, and see what he’s done to Cranston. If he believes we Captains are so useless than I would dearly like to correct him.”
“You will have to pray we do the job for you,” Luke replied.
“Can’t you pull some strings and have us released? We saved a lot of yours friends,” she pointed out.
“I will see what I can do,” Luke promised. He turned me away from the prisoners and led me toward Stewart’s house. “Mind what you say around them,” he whispered to me.
“You think they’ll turn coat color and jump back to Lance?” I guessed.
He pursed his lips and nodded. “That may be the truth, but until we know for sure we must be wary of them.”
I glanced ahead at the house. The exterior marks of Rick’s gun were patched over, and through the open door I could see Martha and Abby cleaning up the last of the furniture splinters. The blood was already mopped up from both the floor and our allies. We stepped inside and I noticed Burnbaum, Adam, the Stewarts, Rick, and Steve were already present for this little get-together to decide the fate of the werewolf race.
14
Luke closed the door behind us and the meeting began.
“If we are all here we must make plan to attack Lance,” Burnbaum spoke up.
“Do we know enough of his plan to make our own?” Adam wondered.
Luke stepped forward and all eyes turned to him. “We know a few bits from our pursuers from the compound, and our friends tied up under the trees outside. Lance will be on the move as soon as possible, but we’re fortunate in that he’s weighed down by his own large operation.”
“He’s gathered all the idiots from every village, so that’s a lot of fools to move around,” I quipped.
“We must destroy this convoy and ensure Lance doesn’t escape,” Luke added.
Adam frowned. “What would be the point in destroying a single convoy? Wouldn’t Lance know you would want such an opportunity and keep other samples in a different location?” he pointed out.
“We will be relying on his paranoia to overcome his common sense,” Luke explained. “My brother is also very possessive of his things. He prefers to keep a firm hand on everything important to him, and right now the most important are the de-scenter, mind control formula and everything with it.”