Chapter 1
“I AMnot going to wear that to a demon slaying.” Nero Bramson stood naked to the waist in the Wisconsin snow. He was surrounded by his werewolf team, and they were headed into serious business. But apparently Pauly’s brain was still on last night’s Trivial Pursuit game.
“You lost, so you have to wear this,” he said as he held up a pink tee. It readCrazy Cat Ladyand was covered in stupidly cute kittens.
“We’re here to do a job—”
“Yeah, yeah.” His friend rolled his eyes as he waved toward the lake. “We’re here to kill a basic demon who’s been eating ice fishermen for who knows how long. Human body, big teeth. We can take care of one of those in our sleep.” He shifted the tee in the predawn light enough to show off the glitter on the kitten collars. “You lost, you have to wear this today.”
Nero bared his teeth, not surprised when it had no effect on his team. Pauly’s partner, Mother, actually snorted as she started to strip out of her clothing. “You shouldn’t bet on trivia when you suck at it.”
“I grew up in Florida. What do I care about Big Ten football?” He’d lost the game—and the bet—on some obscure Michigan versus Ohio State statistic. “But I’m not going to wear something stupid and endanger this mission.” He looked to the other two members of his team for help, but Cream and Coffee had already shifted into their animal forms. They were timber wolves and were prancing about in the snow, oblivious to Pauly’s attempt to humiliate their leader.
“The fabric’s so thin it’ll rip in a stiff breeze,” Pauly said. “It’s not going to endanger anything.”
Just his pride. Bad enough to wear pink, but the cat lady moniker was going to stick. And for a werewolf, that was adding insult to injury.
But Pauly was grinning as he tried to hide his cell phone, no doubt ready to snap pictures the moment Nero put on the garment. Mother was chuckling as she shucked the last of her clothing. And even Cream and Coffee had laid off rolling around in the snow to watch him with expectant expressions.
It was what he’d wanted for his team. They’d been going full-out for the past few months, and everyone was starting to feel the strain. They’d taken out a banshee, two sewer demons, and his personal favorite: a zombie wizard on a bad acid trip. When Pauly had suggested a night of trivia and shots, Nero had thought it was the perfect stress relief. Who knew the guy had an encyclopedia of sports facts in his brain? Or that they’d finally get a location on the demon chomping on unwary Wisconsinites next to Lake Wacka Wacka? That wasn’t its real name, but it was all he could remember.
He fingered the garment. It really was paper thin, and though the pink would stand out against the snow, his team was the best. They’d have no trouble taking out the demon, even if it spotted them a few seconds early. Maybe he could manage to rip the shirt on one of the evergreens.
“Come on,” Pauly wheedled. “A gentleman always honors his debts.”
“Now you’re just being rude.” He was not a gentleman by any stretch of the imagination, but damn it, he’d fake it if it meant keeping those smiles on his team’s faces. “Fine,” he said as he pulled the shirt over his head. “But you’re paying for breakfast.” It was his favorite part of every mission—the celebratory meal afterward. He had the perfect pancake house in mind, and it would cost Pauly a pretty penny since they’d all be starving after a demon killing followed by a glorious romp through the snow.
“Totally worth it,” Pauly said as he snapped pictures rapid-fire.
“Get into position,” Nero grumbled, and then he stripped out of his pants.
Damn, it was cold. He waited until everyone had gone full furry to slam and lock the van door. He put the keys in a box hidden inside the driver’s side wheel well, then gratefully sprouted fur as he turned into the big, bad wolf of all those childhood fairy tales. Only this wolf was going to kill a demon before breakfast.
All in all, today would be a great day… even if he was going to be staring at pictures of himself in a pink tee for a long time. It stretched tight across his wolf chest, and though he tried to rip it as he breathed deeply, the fabric strained but didn’t tear.
Pauly’s gray muzzle pulled wide in a wolfish grin, and even Mother yipped quietly in laughter. He growled to silence them, but that only made Cream and Coffee snort. Nero then let out a stern bark and everyone settled. It was time to get down to business.
After five years of working together—three with him as alpha—they knew his moves as well as he did. They peeled out in formation, ranging wide as they searched for the demon. Cream scented it first, but the stench soon enveloped them all—brine badly covered by Axe Body Spray. Gah. Even a human nose would notice that. They picked up speed, and Nero quickly forgot the embarrassment of his attire. They were all caught up in the chase.
They found the demon squatting behind some young evergreens near an iced-over lake. It looked to Nero like a maraschino cherry: all its colors were off. Sure, it was shaped like a normal human male, but the skin looked pinker than flesh, the hair had green undertones, and the eyes seemed flat and creepy. Like glass eyes because—according to the fairy who had put them onto this thing—the demon didn’t use its eyes to see. Those empty baby blues were for appearance only, since its whole body pulsed with paranormal radar and its receptors were on its skin. The only part of it that seemed normal was the mouth, though it was too wide and the teeth were sharp.
He went in first. It was his right as alpha. Plus, it was just plain fun to get in the first swipe.
The creature was focused on the lake, probably waiting for careless ice fishers, since there were some winter cabins nearby. It had been chomping on them, as well as cross-country skiers, for at least a decade before it had caught the Paranormal Alliance’s attention. Thanks to the internet and cell phone cameras, it was getting easier to find the silent munchers. And now that it had been located, Nero’s strike team would end it forever.
Seeing that the others were in place, he bolted forward through the snow. God, he loved this part—the sheer joy of his body moving like black lightning through the white landscape. Something about his wolf body erased his human aches. Bum knee, stubbed toe, achy shoulder—it all disappeared when he was a wolf.
He took a wide arc around the creature’s hiding place, then dashed in to hamstring it.
The thing was prepared. Whatever radar it had had alerted it to the danger, but it was hemmed in by evergreens and too slow to leap away. It was faster than a human but not than a werewolf, and Nero dodged the swipe with ease. Better yet, he timed it just right, swerving around, then ducking under the swing, taking a bite of demon calf.
Score!He ripped out a solid chunk of the demon’s leg. He was grinning around demon flesh.
Then the taste hit.Gah.Brine. It tasted like shit, but he’d done his job. Blood spurted from the creature’s leg. Like everything else about this thing, the color was off. Orangey-pink like shrimp. He darted away before he could get covered in the crap.
He spit the mouthful out as soon as he could, his momentum taking him well out of the reach of the demon’s hands. Mother and Pauly went in second. She’d go for the throat or crotch—she was vicious that way. Pauly would take out the other leg. Then it would all be over and they could go for a real run in the woods.
He kept his tail high as a message that said,All’s good. He was spinning around when the first gunshot rang out.
