“What is that?” Cara yelled over the roar of the vehicles. She pointed to a large square building that looked like a soundstage. But that couldn’t possibly be. They were in the backwoods of Wisconsin. It was probably just a really large barn or something.
It didn’t matter. The kangaroos were hopping straight for it. And because they were phantoms, they leaped right through the wall.
Damn. He sure hoped the building was empty, because otherwise….
Hell. He couldn’t hear the screams over the ATV, but he was sure there were some. Within moments, people started running out the side door. Their eyes were wild as they fled toward a makeshift parking lot. Bing shot Cara a frustrated look, and she shrugged in response.
They skidded to a stop, then tried to go inside—something that wasn’t easy to do when people were still running out. What the hell had all those people been doing in there?
As he quickly shoved and maneuvered his way inside, he briefly considered going wolf. Everybody ran away from a wolf. But he wouldn’t be able to use his hypnotism power that way. It was Red Wolf’s specialty—the ability to see energy patterns and press his will, with words, onto them. As a wolf, he could still see the patterns, but he couldn’t form words with his wolf mouth.
So he remained in his human form and finally made his way inside—then had to jump around tall dividers and thick cables. He frowned. Lights, cameras, good grief—itwasa soundstage!
He heard the kangaroos before he saw them. They were growling, and there was a clatter of some sort. And someone was bellowing, “Shoo! Get away!”
Bing paused, his mind reeling. He knew that voice. He dreamed of that voice. But it wasn’t possible. What in the hell was Walter doing in Wisconsin?
He shook his head. It couldn’t be. Still, his senses were on full alert as he rushed around a divider to see the two kangaroos in the center of the stage. They were disoriented by the lights, growling at each other, and some idiot was dangling from the ropes and making things worse. He kicked them as he swung back and forth, but not with enough force to do anything but piss them off. And because the guy was tied up for aerial stunt work, he dangled from the ceiling right in front of the kangaroo’s faces.
“Shoo!”
Again, there was that voice that sounded like Walter’s. Bing looked up, but he couldn’t see the man’s face. The costume covered it as he awkwardly flailed at the kangaroos.Oh hell.Something about the movement told him that this was indeed Walter. His best friend who probably thought he was dead was caught up in ropes above two kangaroos that were going to kill him.
Just great.
“Stop moving!” Bing yelled as he ran forward. “Climb! Up the ropes!” It was the only way Walter could escape. He had to get himself higher than the kangaroos could jump. Unfortunately, he’d need an Olympic gymnast’s strength to pull himself out of the way, and Walter was notthatbuff. Which meant it was up to Bing.
He leaped forward and punched the nearest kangaroo in the face. Predictably, it rounded straight on him, and—bonus—its tail whacked the other one. Cara came around the corner at that second and struck it on its side. That put them one-on-one, but she didn’t have any ability to dispatch them. She’d already told him she was out of juice. He’d have to find a way to focus on doing it on the fly. But it wasn’t easy when he was fighting a pissed-off kangaroo.
“I’ve got them!” Cara called. “Pick one and do it!”
Brave woman. Also possibly stupid. But they were out of options. He aimed the hardest, most powerful kick he could straight at the kangaroo’s face, hoping to stun it. Then he dropped down into a half crouch and concentrated.
He needed to quiet his mind and let his vision adjust to a deeper level. The first time he’d ever done this was during meditation, so he went there. Of course, with his heart pounding and his breath sawing in and out, he couldn’t exactly drop into lotus position and start breathing deeply. Especially when half his mind was wrapped up in the thought of Walter dangling right above him. What the hell was he going to say to his best friend? How could he tell him he’d been turned into a werewolf when he wasn’t allowed to say that to anybody? Walter was going to think he’d gone crazy, which in a way, he had. And—
Concentrate!
He tried. He closed his eyes and stretched, trying for a moving meditation. Fortunately, he felt the answer before he actually saw it. Everything had a vibration that came from a pattern. It was like a grid woven together to create form. He could see the straight lines of a chair or the curving, moving ribbons of the nearest kangaroo. He saw it flex, saw it jerk sideways from a kick, thanks to Walter being too stubborn to keep out of the way. He saw the kangaroo’s ribbons tighten as it prepared to leap straight at Bing.
There was no time to dodge. He just had to work fast or suffer a body blow that could very well kill him.
Talk about incentive.
He mentally grabbed a ribbon at random. The moving, flowing energy matrix that was the nearest kangaroo was more complicated than a chair, but still understandable. He mentally flowed along it, weaving up, down, and around until he found it. The lynchpin. It was like the peg at the center of the fabric that held the whole thing together. All he had to do was pull it out. Or break it. Or unravel it. Or do something to end it.
The problem was, how did he break something that was energy and that he was only touching with his mind? He didn’t know. Mentally he clawed at it, kicked it, even screamed at it, but nothing worked. And the beast was about to knock him unconscious.
Thank heaven he had partners. Just as he was about to die, Walter and Cara worked together to save his life.
“Stay away from him, you f—” Walter bellowed from above. As Bing fought mentally with the lynchpin, part of him watched Walter coordinate his swings with his kicks. Smart. The man had always been clever when he calmed down enough to think. Apparently he’d taken a moment to figure things out. Walter was delivering real damage as he kicked, hit, and generally pummeled the kangaroo while the ropes swung him back and forth in a dizzying, twisting dance. Whenever Walter was open and vulnerable, Cara shot in with her mace, distracting the creature long enough for Walter to swing out of the way.
It was easy to get distracted. He’d always enjoyed watching Walter move, and he really hoped the man didn’t get himself bitten by a furious kangaroo. But in the midst of that random thought, the lynchpin dissolved. It simply faded out, which meant the matrix that held the phantom kangaroo together began to unravel. Ribbons of energy spun out and dissolved. In this case, the lynchpin was down in the kangaroo’s butt, so the unraveling came from its core out. Its belly seemed to shiver and fade. It had been leaning back on its tail, preparing to kick out with its feet, but there was no substance behind its legs. The chest and arms seemed to wobble, and the ghostly creature released a strangled bark of frustration. Then it was gone, the head and tail disappearing in a gray kind of mist.
“A little help here!” Cara called.
Bing turned, belatedly realizing that there was still another kangaroo here, and Cara had been holding her own against it. She was tiring, and the thing was advancing, kicking at her with his back legs. She’d managed to dance out of the way, but as he watched, she got clipped on the knee. She went down with a scream, and suddenly he was out of time.
Fortunately, he was still somewhat in his meditative space. He saw the energy ribbons that made up this phantom right away. Having learned from the last one that the lynchpin was somewhere deep at the creature’s base, he plunged his mental sight right there.
