Jed and Lance had both moved to the door. Jed put his eye to the spy hole and then nodded to Lance who turned the handle and opened the door.
A young man shorter than both the brothers stood in the doorway. Where they looked like they were built for strength this young man looked built for speed. He had long slim limbs with the muscles of a professional martial artist. He was wearing a uniform, the kind worn in the kitchens of some restaurants or hotels. His hair was blonde and his eyes a deep brown.
He peered around Jed and Lance and saw Claire. Then his eyes darted back to Jed's.
"They're here" he said sounding nervous. "I don't know how but they found you."
"Amsel is more resourceful than we gave him credit for" Jed said nodding. "We will have to leave. Can you get us out the back way?"
The young man nodded. "What about her?" he asked looking at Claire.
"She comes with us. It's not a problem is it, little Wolf?" Lance barked at him. The young man snarled and for a moment his eyes shone golden.
"Just not sure a human can keep up is all, and the name's Paul" said Paul.
"I'll be just fine thank you" Claire said and then bit her tongue when all three turned to look at her.
Lance and Jed both looked proud, like they had expected her to say that. Then they moved into action. Lance strode into the bedroom while Jed took a bottle of something out of a bag that had been stationed by the door. It was a blue glass bottle with a cork stopper. He used his teeth to pull out the cork and then began to splash its contents around the room.
The air filled with a heavy scent of peppermint, lavender and something else that made Claire's head spin a little.
"What is that?" she asked picking up her bag from the floor where she'd let it drop.
Lance, returning from the bedroom, two other bags in his hands was the one to answer, "Amsel uses magic to find us. This way, we can confuse his spells."
"Magic? Seriously?" Claire said and then felt ridiculously stupid.
"Yes," Lance said looking sternly at her and handing her one of the bags, "Magic. Carry this please, Jed will need to be free to fight, if they catch up."
"What about you?" Claire asked taking the bag. It was a backpack and really heavy, but when she slung it on her back it seemed fine.
"Silver bullet to the left arm, I'm not as strong as I should be" Lance confessed sounding pained.
"Lance will protect you" Jed said coming up behind her. For a moment he was close Claire could feel his body heat against her again and she longed to be back in his arms, feel his kiss. But this really wasn't the time for stupid emotions. She turned and following Jed and Paul, she headed for the door.
Paul led them down the hall and to a door marked with a no entry sign. He waved a keycard in front of a security panel and it clicked open. The stairwell inside was long and dimly lit with no windows. They descended the stairs, Paul in the lead.
"So when we get to the basement level, take the tunnel. It's for maintenance, so should be empty. Go up it. It opens into an alley. Then you're on your own, man."
"Thank you, Paul" Jed said sincerely patting Paul on the back. "We are grateful."
At the end of the stairwell Paul said his farewell and left them. He pressed his keycard to the panel and the door opened. Jed, Lance and Claire spilled into a brick lined basement. As Claire entered she was hit by the smell of damp and mold hanging on the musty air. Then a sound ripped into the silence. It was harsh and for a moment Claire couldn't't place it because a sound like that should never be heard in a place like this. It was reserved for lighter, happier occasions. It was the sound of clapping.
"Well done boys, well done!" A man stepped into the little patch of light offered by an overhead bulb.
"Dieter Amsel, and cronies" Jed said pulling up short.
"Indeed. We all know each other don't we? You have led us on a merry chase all around Europe, England and now here." Amsel said. He was an older man, greying at the temples, but he still looked strong. His eyes were clear blue, his hair light brown and his skin pale. A livid scar ran down his right cheek from just under the eye to his chin. He wore the trench coat Claire had seen him in the previous evening, but it was unbuttoned and Claire could see a sword in a scabbard at his waist.
Behind him stood a young man, tall and muscled in black and a young woman about Claire's own age, her hair blonde, her eyes clear blue. She was dressed in black leather too and had a set of guns holstered at her hips.
Boy they do kick it old school, Claire marvelled.
"And who is this vision of loveliness?" Amsel said looking at her.
"My name is Claire Underwood" Claire said before anyone else could say anything.
"Well, Claire I'm pleased to meet you. This is Klaus my right hand, and Elsa my daughter. Now we are all introduced. Isn't this lovely?" Amsel said spreading his arms wide and turning a little side to side.
"What do you want?" Lance asked in a rumble that barely hid his anger. "All this standing around is tiresome."
"I agree. So let the girl go and we will arrest you. You have so many crimes to answer for, don't add her death to them," Amsel said his eyes boring into Claire.
"I don't think so" Jed said and moved like lightning grabbing Claire around the neck, using her as a shield. He dragged her a little to the left, toward the darkness. For a moment she was shocked and scared. Is this what she meant to him? But his voice came soft in her ear as his grip lessened.
He said, "Trust me."
"Now, now Jed, you don't want to hurt her" Amsel said his hands up in surrender, "Do you? Just come quietly and we need not spill any blood. You know you deserve to be punished. You killed humans. The Brotherhood has very strict rules about that sort of thing."
"The Brotherhood be damned" Lance said and flung something at Amsel and his crew.
Smoke rose up around them. Claire felt Jed's hold on her disappear as a sound like bones crunching filled the air. A big black bear ran passed her and somehow Claire knew it was Jed. She watched him go until the smoke consumed him. Then she heard terribly sounds, shouts, gunfire and the thud of a sword on brick.
A moment later a bigger black bear stepped up to her. It had blood dripping from its jaws where it held Lance's bag. It looked at her and she saw the piercing eyes. Lance. Claire touched the thick black fur and felt its silkiness. She slung the bag in front of her and hauled herself up onto his back.
Lance ran and Claire hung on for dear life. She had ridden a pony once in her life at a petting zoo when she was about five years old and there were still things like that. This was nothing like how she remembered that experience. This was raw and primal, a beast panting and straining under her as he ran up the tunnel and out into the sunlight.
The alleyway was full of garbage and the smell of rot. Lance burst out of a round hole and cannoned down the alley, garbage flying in his wake. Claire, still clinging onto his fur, risked a moment to look back over her shoulder for Jed. But he wasn't there.
"Lance!" she yelled. "Lance, he's not out of the tunnel! We have to go back."
Lance hearing her skidded to a halt and turned panting. He stood for a moment unsure than sniffed the air.
"So now what?" Claire asked sliding down off his back. "We can't have you looking like that and running through the streets. You'll cause panic."
The bear seemed to consider this. The change back to human was also accompanied by the sounds of bones crunching and Claire looked away not able to watch that horrific transformation. Lance stood before her once again in his jeans and black t-shirt. He took his and Jed's bags from her and then clasped her hand in his.
"We have another hideout we can go to" Lance said. "Jed will meet us there."
Claire nodded and let Lance lead her out of the alley, across the street and into another alley so fast she barely had time to see anything around her. She still had no idea which part of the city she was in. Lance moved in fits and bursts, and she was moved along with him. They were keeping to alleyways, and the back entrances to hotels and apartment buildings. Everywhere they went people like him opened the doors for Lance. Eyes glinted golden and emerald green, there was the hint of a fang, or a slightly pointed ear. And finally Claire realized that they were at the marina, where all the rich folks tied up their yachts and pleasure boats.
Lance led her along a jetty to a particularly fine looking boat, the Margo. Claire knew nothing about boats except that this was a big one.
"We can't go on that!" she exclaimed. "Doesn't someone own it?"
"Yes" Lance said smiling and Claire noticed how handsome he was. How in this light, as the sun began to draw on another night, he looked boyish and charming. His big shoulders shook as he chuckled. "And you thought we were poor little thieves, huh?"