“You kill my wife,” Mi-sook said, “and I’ll bring your head to the queen, you being her favorite or not. Don’t care.”
What?“Not in my plans, Mi-sook,” Shiloh growled, fighting a fanghead response to Kang’s fury.
Fred placed the barrel of her gun at Shiloh’s head. She said, “Swords are fast. Bullets are faster. Your blade moves a fraction,Shiloh, and I’ll make a couple new holes in your head. One entry, one exit. I’ll deal with the consequences of the queen’s wrath. Got it?” She spat to the side.
Mi-sook disappeared with a little popping sound.
Favorite? Wrath?Shiloh was tolerated. The queen had favorites among Shiloh’s witch family, but none were her.
Moments later, Mi-sook was back, standing behind Kang, facing Shiloh. She had vamped out fully. Tears trickled down her face. Her vamp-killer was drawn, point up. She brought the small sword down. Hard. Fast. The pommel slammed into her wife’s forehead. Kang’s eyes rolled back. She went lax.
Faster than Shiloh could react, the point of Mi-sook’s blade was poking into Shiloh’s throat. Shiloh dropped her weapon.
“How did you put my wife’s scent here?”
Shiloh slowly raised her hands in the air. “I’ve been under constant supervision for weeks. If someone planted Kang’s scent here, they had to have her sheets, underwear, clothes, and anything they used would also carry your scent. And then there would be the planter person’s scent too. Use your brain.”
Fred stepped back, lowered her nine-mil to point at the ground. “Well, sheeit.” She spat again between her yellowed fangs. The smell of snuff was strong on the air. Werewolves would never know where she was, confused by the snuff spit all over.Interesting.
The two vamps stepped back. Still on her knees, Shiloh eased away from Kang.
“How long will she stay down without being staked?” Fred asked, scratching her chin with her off hand.
“No one stakes my wife.” Mi-sook sprayed chaw juice over the ground.
Reluctantly, Shiloh said, “I have astasisamulet in my pocket.” She had hoped to use it on a werewolf, but if she was right aboutKang, an attack from the rear was possible. She searched the downed vamp while she detailed the particulars of the clearing and the cabin. She took all Kang’s ammo, her sidearm, and her blades, strapping them to her own body. Mi-sook didn’t quarrel. With her thumbnail, Shiloh activated thestasisworking, placed the amulet into Kang’s lapel pocket, and stepped away. Five seconds later, it initiated, a wave of sparkling witch magic. It worked. She hid her relief.
Retrieving the wolf-man’s head, she stuck it on a winter-dead sapling. Bloody. Messy.
“How you want to handle the dogs?” Fred asked.
When Mi-sook turned away, Shiloh realized Fred was askingShilohto make an assault plan. On the fly. She stared back toward the cabin, her head clearer than it had been in weeks. There were now three vamps against five male weres and their bitch.
“Anyone got a hand grenade?” Shiloh jested.
Fred pulled one out of her overall bib. “Ain’t legal. Only got the one. But I also got three flash-bangs. And a pepper bomb.” She spat again, her tobacco-stained fangs dripping.
“We drop the pepper bomb down the chimney,” Shiloh said, “ram the door open, and toss two flash-bangs.”
“Pros to your plan,” Fred said, “simple, easy, uncomplicated. Cons: Dogs’ll shift. Pepper’s too much for their noses. We don’t want to fight them in full wolf or hybrid form. We don’t breathe, but our eyes will be affected by the pepper, and I got one pair of goggles. I ain’t givin’ mine up.” She spat again, far into the woods. Wiped her fangs on her armor sleeve. “Despite you two being blind from the pepper, we’d have to go in fast and take them down mid-shift. Silver-lead rounds or silver-edged blades.”
“Shiloh likes trees,” Mi-sook said, her eyes on her wife. “She takes the chimney, tosses the pepper bomb. I’ll ram the door.Fred, with the goggles, goes in first and I’ll back her up. Shiloh picks off any runners.”
“Done,” Fred said. She tossed Shiloh a small can of pepper spray. Neither one mentioned the bitch-queen, or how to handle the three new werewolves who hadn’t bitten anyone. Nor had they come up with agosign.Figure it out on the fly.
She focused on the pepper spray bottle’s instructions. Fred strode into the dark beneath the trees. Mi-sook followed Fred, not looking back.
The pepper spray worked like a grenade, sort of. Pull the tab and it released the pepper in four seconds. Easy, if she could hit the chimney with it. She would get only one try.
Shiloh tucked the pepper grenade into an overfull ammo pocket. She leaped straight up into the trees and ran, swinging from tree to tree, angling toward the metal roof.
When she found a perch that would allow her to hit the chimney—if she was lucky—Mi-sook was already in position. Shiloh pulled the tab and tossed the can. It rattled down the air shaft.
The vamp raced toward the door at vamp speed, air popping behind her.
Shiloh realized she heard no sounds, no laughter, no heartbeats from the cabin. She opened her mouth to shout a warning.
Mi-sook hit the door.
