I couldn’t help but grunt as I hit the ground, the wind knocked out of me, fire along my spine. The two henchmen followed me over, crawling up and over the fence like spiders.

I needed help. I needed a friend.

“Robert, now’s a good time!”

The albino lunged for me and I sidestepped, right into the arms of the midnight-skinned man. Well, maybe man was a bit of a push with those teeth of his.

Teeth that were awfully close to my own flesh now. I snapped my head back, cracking the back of it into his nose. He bellowed and the smell of his breath about suffocated me.

Sulfur and rot filled my lungs and I gagged on the stench, but I stuck my butt out and leaned forward and took him with me, flipping him over my body onto the ground.

Stunned, he stared up at me and I saw the same power in him that the demon at Crash’s place had possessed. My knife was in my hand and I drove it into his left eye.

An explosion of wings swept up around me, his body breaking apart into a thousand flying bugs that swept up through my hair, biting my face, my neck, any bare skin they could find. I batted them away, trying to catch a glimpse of the albino through them.

When they finally did clear, all I saw was Robert swaying, a single bone held in his hand, a thigh bone. “Help. Friend.”

“He’s gone? You killed him?”

“Dispersed,” Robert said.

I turned and limped around the edge of the fence to see Hattie bent over Eric, that blade in her hand.

I couldn’t get to them in time.

I had to throw a knife and hope I could do it again. Third time’s the charm, right?

One flick of the wrist upward, I caught the knife on the way down and threw it with all I had.

End over end it flew on what was left of my strength and a prayer that I threw true, to save Eric.

Hattie stiffened with the sound of a thick thunk, her arms raising over her head, the demon-steel knife clutched between both hands. Slowly, she turned to the side, my knife sticking out of the middle of her back.

“Just like your gran, always messing up my plans,” she whispered as she slowly went to her knees, then forward onto her face.

“Best compliment ever,” I said. I watched her body from where I stood, because a) I was too tired to move and b) I didn’t think I could survive another bluffing. “Eric, are you okay?”

“I think so.” His voice was shaky, with the hint of tears in it.

I made my way around to the opening in the fence and limped my way over to him. I pulled my phone from my bag and flipped it open. Still no juice.

I looked around for Crash, but he was nowhere to be found. Good thing too. I’d have thrown my other knife at him.

I did a quick frisk of Hattie and found a phone. I flicked it on and dialed Darv’s number.

“Bonaventure,” I said when he picked up, and then I dropped the phone back into Hattie’s still body. I pulled my knife out of her back, wiped it on her shirt and tucked it away.

I probably should feel worse about the whole killing another person thing, but remember what I said?

Behold, my field of ducks, and see that it is barren. Absolutely not one duck in sight as far as I could see.

Eric trembled so hard the tips of his fur shook in the limited light of the moon, stars, and the bare coals under the brazier. There was no doubt shock was settling in. I needed to fix this. I’d just rescued him—the last thing I wanted was for him to fall over dead from shock.

“Is that a bottle of whiskey?” I pointed at a sealed bottle of amber liquid that Hattie had set up across from the brazier.

“I think so?” Eric mumbled through chattering teeth.

I stumbled across to the bottle, picked it up, cracked the seal, and tipped it up to my lips. Three big glugs later, I handed it to Eric as the fire burned its way down my throat and into my very empty belly. “Drink.”

By the time Darv arrived, Eric and I were singing the sea shanty from Jaws and the bottle was more than half empty.

“I’m tired and I wanna go hoooooome!” I bellowed as Darv shoved me into the back of the van.

“You saved him, but it would have been nice to find out who she was working with,” Darv snapped as Eric and I fell into a fit of giggles in the back of the van. “We had insiders that were trying to find out who she was with, you little idiot! If the bigfoot had died, it would have sealed the deal!”

I looked up from the floor up the nose of a rather familiar face. “Oh, hey, Corb! You need to shave those long hairs still.” I blinked a few times. “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be in jail?”

His jaw ticked. “Out on good behavior.”

“Oh, I doubt that!” I laughed. “What did you give them? Wait, are you the insider?” I lowered my voice to a whisper.

“There was another ceremony at Centennial Park,” Darv sneered. “There were two sacrifices being made. We don’t know which one was the more important one. Maybe they both were.”

“Oh.” I blinked a couple times and then reached for the bottle. Eric handed it off to me with a burping giggle that he tried and failed to cover up with a big mitt of his.

“I love you, Bree. You are like the best. You are amazing. They were going to let me die, and you saved me,” he slurred out as he lay on the floor and went promptly to sleep.

I patted his head and tried to take another swig, but Corb snatched it from me. I pointed at him. “It’s good.”

He sighed and took a quick drink, then made a face. “Never liked whiskey much.”

I kept looking at the ceiling of the vehicle, and then my eyes must have closed because we were picking up Tom and Eammon, both of whom took drinks from the whiskey bottle.

They all seemed a bit cozy to me, but I didn’t care. Of course, maybe they’d known Corb was the insider all along? Possible. Would have been nice if they’d filled me in on it.

Someone picked me up and carried me at one point, and then I had my face buried in my own blankets and pillows. I think a large furry animal might have curled up across my feet, but for the first time in days, I slept like the dead.

Funnier when you didn’t think about what had just happened.

Of course, nothing was funny the next morning when I woke up with a pounding headache, fuzz all over my tongue, and not one but two large animals on top of me.

26

Amber eyes and dog breath filled my vision and my nose as I tried to pull myself out of a funk that was undeniably self-induced. I might love me some whiskey, but it didn’t always love me back. To be fair, I didn’t mind all that much. After all, what was a celebration without at least one person hung over?

“Sarge, get out of here,” I mumbled, pushing the dog breath away.

Sarge.

I jerked backward and would have fallen out of my bed on the far side if not for the bigfoot sleeping across my legs.

Eric muttered something and rolled over so his back was to me, grabbing a blanket and tearing it off me so he could wrap it around himself. Still all furry, he hardly needed the blanket. Then again, he’d been living in a house that he’d had cranked up as hot as he could have it for months.

I just stared at Sarge from the far side of the bed as he stood there, filling the doorway, staring right back at me. “You can’t be here. You hurt all the trainees! You bit Luke!” I was shouting. The shouting hurt my head, but this was so not okay.

He was one of the bad guys.

He shook his head, turned and walked out of the room.

Voices filled the air. A whole bunch of angry male voices. I stood up abruptly, immediately regretted that movement, and sat down. Screw it. Sounded like there were enough people around to handle the situation. I didn’t need to solve every problem.

It took me ten long, pain-filled minutes to find clean clothes, not so easy through squinted eyes, and a few more minutes to get to the shower across the hall.

The hot water was heavenly, but it barely muted what was now shouting in the other room. “Idiots,” I muttered as I scrubbed my hair.

The shouting escalated further, what sounded like a plate hitting the floor reverberated.

“Fools,” I said a little louder as I rinsed out the conditioner.

Something in the other room crashed. Maybe a chair?

Enough of that. I didn’t know what was going on, but I wasn’t about to rush in on their behalf. I wrapped myself in a towel, left my hair hanging down loose and sloppy wet, which meant I trailed water all the way across Corb’s hardwood floors to the kitchen and living area.

Corb, Sarge (on two legs), and Darv were on one side of the room, and Eammon, Tom, and Louis were on the other.

And every single one of the “hurt” trainees sat on the floor between them. Very much unhurt.

I gave them a nod and they all gave me weak waves, even grumpy Chad.

Onto the yelling. “Hey!” I snapped the word and every head swiveled my way. I glared at them. “If you are going to behave like children, you can all go sit in a corner and wait until the one adult in this house is done showering!”

I turned on my heel and slipped and slid my way back to the bathroom. I took my time drying off, braided my hair and put on clean clothes. My jeans were looser than the last time I’d tried them on.

Looked like almost getting killed, not having time to eat, and stressing about keeping a bigfoot alive was the diet for me. I snorted as I padded back out to the kitchen. Maybe I wouldn’t need to keep on that keto diet after all.

By the time I reached the kitchen, I felt a little better, less nauseous, less like smacking heads together.

It was quiet.

In fact, no one was talking now.

I sighed and pointed at Corb. “Talk. And don’t make me put you in the same bracket as Himself.”

Corb’s mouth twisted to the side. “I’m nothing like my cousin. He’s an ass.”

I agreed that Himself was an ass. I wasn’t sure yet about Corb.

“You mean you don’t lie and manipulate people?” I asked with as much innocence as I could muster that early in the morning.

He had the grace to flush. “Not to take advantage of them.”