“Sadly, no. But I knew a Chippewa woman by that name, many seasons past. She was lovely, but never so lovely as you.”
Namida laughed and looked at me. “I see why you tripped him.” She slid her hand from Gee’s. “Kill the things that are killing my people and you have my permission to court me, little misericord. Until then, you two need to get cracking, eh?” Namida went to the far corner of the abandoned room and brought back a plastic baggie. The closer she got to us the worse the stink. She held it out. “One of my people managed to hurt the attackers. These are three samples of blood that aren’t human or Mithran. Good luck.” With that, she walked past us and out the back. She paused there, one hand on the door, and said to us, “I’ll have all this stuff”—she waved my list in the air—“by dawn.” She closed the door behind her.
Gee stared after her, a hand on his chest, and murmured, “I am in love.”
“Uh-huh.” I pushed him to the door. Outside, Namida was gone, the night even colder. I opened the baggie and stuck it beneath his nose. Gee nearly threw up, but now we both had the scent. I placed the baggiebeneath a rock on the top step. Between retches, he managed to say, “Duba. Kerit.”
Using a cell phone provided by Namida, I wiki’d it and discovered that the Duba kerit was a cryptid, a creature never proved to be alive, also called Ngoloko, Nandi, Chimosit, and other less pronounceable names. It was a half-bear, half-hyena, and it was carnivorous, vicious, and nearly impossible to kill, except with silver. It also ate the brains of its victims—so, zombie were-bear-hyenas. Bears were solitary except for mothers and cubs, and hyenas lived in groups, making our prey an improbable were-hybrid. One that stank and scared the crap out of Gee. Just ducky. But we had its scent. Anzu had a great sense of smell and were able to follow a scent over very, very,verylong distances. We walked out of town and I made Gee turn his back so I could strip, repack my gobag, and shift again. Back on the wing, we soared over Foleyet in widening circles. A snowstorm blew in, ice stinging my eyes. I discovered that I had nictitating membranes and the discomfort eased.
Within an hour, a hundred miles from Foyelet, we caught the scent of the were-Duba. Heard screaming. Gunshots—two shotgun blasts.
I tilted my head down and folded my wings.
“Jane! No!” Gee shrilled.
I dove at the surface. The piercing wind whistled sharp. Lights below were blurred by snow and driving wind. A dozen rounds sounded from semiautomatic handguns. I smelled the stench of blood, human, and Duba. The smell of wood smoke.
The screams cut off.
A large log cabin came into view, metal roof, smoking fireplaces, backyard fenced with tall planks. Cars inside the yard. Children’s toys. A green-and-blue swing set.
I landed hard. The gobag slammed forward. My body rocked with momentum, wings slashing out to catch my fall. My wing hit something. Duba. It was holding a human head in its claws. It dropped the head and charged.
In the moment of attack, everything slowed, a thick, gluey bending of time: The falling snowflakes sluggish. The spin of the head the Duba had been chewing, its long, blond, bloody hair in a whirl, bearded face with two-inch fangs. True dead. My own body still tilting. My chest hittingthe ground. The thing in midleap, hyena jaw and ears, bear nose and shoulders, hyena forelegs and bear back, paws a mix of the two. Bloody snout. Black-spotted tongue. Huge.
Scent and sight of a child in the broken window, her face filled with fear and fury. Smoking gun in her hands. The stink of silvershot in the were-blood.
The Duba’s mouth opened, roaring. It leaped toward me.
I’d have died. But Gee hit the earth running, in human form, swords drawn. He attacked. Time crashed back over me. A tsunami of sound. The swords of the Mercy Blade whirled into the arcane forms of the vampire Spanish Circle—La Destreza. The attacking Duba flipped to the side in midleap and landed near me. Already bleeding. The swords were a cage of death that cut and cut and cut. The Duba bled, the silvered blades like acid in the wounds. The stink of silver and Duba blood filled the small area. The Duba screamed in fury.
Other Duba raced from the house into the black night, carrying various body parts. Dinner. One turned and looked back at us, roared. The reverberation beat on my ears like a bass drum.
I caught my balance and screamed an Anzu challenge.
Stupid. Stupid, stupid,stupid. Like I could fight in this form.
The Duba who had screamed raced toward me. I folded my wings and slid between two of the parked cars. And thought about my human form. So very different from the form of the Anzu, so banal and ordinary and...Prey, Beast thought at me. She took over the shift and forced me away, a clawed paw on my mind.
Bones shifted and broke and slid and cracked into place. Muscle re-formed. Feathers became pelt. Beast screamed our challenge.
Leaped to the top of nearest car, long tail spinning for balance. Saw Duba attack Gee from behind. His head in her claws. She was mammal, and carried milk for young in long teats. The male that Gee had fought was dead on the ground. It had been her mate. Duba female was killing Gee.
Beast leaped again, rotating body and tail. Stretching out front claws. Landed on top of female Duba. Bit her head. Blood was hot and stinky. Like meat of old possum on hot road, long dead. Killing teeth scraped skull, holding. Reached around and sank claws into Duba throat. Rippedwith claws, tearing and shredding flesh of throat. Blood flew. Duba let go of Gee. Mercy Blade fell. Bloody heap of flesh.
You can kill the Duba or help Gee, Jane thought.Not both.
Female Duba shook self like dog in water and raced for broken wood of hole in fence, black night beyond. Beast sank claws in. Duba leaped. Jagged spines of bloody wood bit into Beast flesh at shoulders and back. Should let go. But twisted forelegs in moves had seen Gee’s sword make, claws biting deep.
Duba fell. Beast tore into throat, savaging flesh. Tore off Duba head. Spine cracking. Carried it to lighted side of fence. Raced to Gee. Dropped head. Gee blood everywhere. Gee could not heal self of injury. Needed Jane. Needed hands and—
“I got this.”
Whirled. Paws and claws out, head down. Snarled. Saw little girl who stood at window. Little girl holding gun and rags and... with fangs.Is not child.Was small vampire female.
“Don’t make me shoot you, eh?” She held up gun. Pointed at Beast. Beast snarled. Looked to Gee. Growled. “Go change shape,” she ordered. “I talked to Namida Blackburn, so I’m unimpressed with the display of teeth. Go.” She shooed with hands as if to send a kit out to play in grass. Beast snarled again and walked back to cars. Changed.
—
