Loving the wolf, p.12
Loving the Wolf, page 12
There were at least twenty ghouls that Trevor could see, some of them female—at least that was what he had to guess from the toga-like wraps they wore across their left shoulders. But more surprising than that were the three humans moving around the cavern. Two women and a man, they all wore filthy rags. The man was hauling pieces of wood for the fire pits, while the two women tended the earthenware pots.
Damn. Davina was right. The ghouls did keep humans as property.
“What the hell are we going to do?” Owen asked softly after they’d moved back down the tunnel a bit. “There are way more of those things than I thought there’d be.”
Trevor wished he had a good answer. He hadn’t seen any obvious weapons anywhere in the cavern. Not that it mattered. With the claws the ghouls had—along with their impervious skin—there was no way he, Hale, and an unarmed Owen could hope to deal with twenty of the creatures.
Not without getting the three captives killed—and outing their own supernatural identities to the last person on earth they’d want to share it with.
Trevor glanced at his watch to see that it was getting close to time for them to head back anyway. “We’ll go back to the rendezvous point and meet up with the others, then come up with a plan to get those people out of there.”
“Should we tell the police?” Owen asked, looking back and forth between him and Hale.
That was the plan most people would go with, so he couldn’t fault Owen for it. But in this situation, that wasn’t going to help.
“You want to take a guess how cops would respond to something like this—assuming we could get them to believe us with anything less than a psychiatric evaluation?” Hale asked softly. “They’d send a couple dozen heavily armored cops into the tunnels above us, making more noise than a herd of elephants, and the ghouls would be long gone before the police ever saw them—along with their captives. Then where would we be? Back in the hospital for round two of that psychiatric evaluation. That’s where.”
In the darkness, Trevor could see Owen consider that idea. Finally, the logic of it must have seeped in, because the man nodded.
“Okay, you’re right,” Owen said. “We get out of here and come up with a plan. Then we’ll come back and get those people out.”
Trevor breathed a sigh of relief. He’d thought for a second that Owen might give them some trouble. But the guy merely turned in the general direction of the tunnel they’d descended down, waiting for Trevor to guide him out.
Before he could, the clanging of metal on metal filled the tunnels, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. Okay, that couldn’t be good. A fraction of a second later, Trevor heard snarls and the slap of unshod feet on stone coming their way from the cavern. He had no idea what had happened, but yup, they were screwed.
“What’s that?” Owen asked nervously.
“Trouble.”
Trevor barely got the word out before a handful of ghouls ran around the corner, fangs and claws reflecting the dim light coming from the fires behind them. Owen’s flashlight flickered to life, illuminating the area of the tunnel around them—and all the creatures coming to kill them.
Hale started shooting first, Trevor pulling Owen behind him before firing the 9mm that STAT had given them to use. It wasn’t the caliber he preferred, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately, in this case, the rounds simply bounced right off the creatures’ skin, not even leaving a dent.
“Davina was right!” Hale shouted. “Bullets are worthless against these things.”
“Get to the tunnel!” Trevor yelled, giving Owen a shove in the right direction. “We’ll try to hold them off long enough for you to get a head start.”
Owen didn’t even think about protesting. He simply started running toward the way out, the beam of his flashlight bouncing in every direction, strobing off the floor, walls, and ceiling. Trevor got his attention back around to face the threat just in time as a three-foot ball of clawed fury came flying his way. He put three bullets right in the creature’s face. It was enough to knock it aside but not damage it.
“Move!” Trevor shouted in Hale’s direction, shoving the 9mm in the holster at his back and letting his claws extend to their full length. “It will be easier to keep them off us once we’re in the tunnel!”
He and Hale covered each other as they continued to fall back toward the sloping tunnel. Then they started moving up it, one slow step at a time. The creatures threw themselves at him and Hale with wild fury, claws whistling through the air like knife blades. It was more luck than skill that kept him and Hale from being sliced to shreds.
They made surprisingly good time retreating up the sloping tunnel, punching, kicking, and slashing to keep the creatures at bay, but it still seemed to take forever. It was exhausting, but knowing that every step took them closer to daylight and safety, Trevor kept fighting. The ghouls were coming at them hard as hell, like they were desperate to keep him and Hale from getting away. In between snarling and growling, the creatures let out an endless series of chirps and grunts. Trevor was pretty sure they were talking to each other.
He glanced at Hale to see his friend fighting right there with him, claws and fangs fully extended, smashing creatures into the wall over and over again. It still didn’t hurt them, but at least it slowed them down a little.
Trevor thought this might actually work out. By his guess, they only had four or five hundred feet to go to reach the intersection where they’d split from Mike, Connor, and Isaac. If everything went according to plan, the guys would be waiting for them. Their increased numbers would hopefully scare the creatures off their pursuit.
Then he heard the thud of running footsteps.
At first, he thought it was his pack mates coming to the rescue. Then he picked up an incredibly familiar scent, and suddenly every scrap of hope he had for a good outcome to this situation blew up in his face.
Trevor barely had time to force his fangs and claws to retract before Jenna ran up to him, a hiker’s light strapped to her forehead and an aluminum softball bat in her hands. She immediately started swinging it at the closest ghoul, looking about as freaked out as Trevor was.
Esme and Maya were right behind Jenna, each carrying their own bats, with lights on their heads. Owen raced after them, flashlight bobbing like wild as he tried to run forward and look backward at the same time.
“They’ve gotten behind us!” he shouted, a frigging rock clutched in his free hand for a weapon. “They popped out of those little holes in the walls and are coming this way. We’re cut off from the rendezvous point with the others!”
Well, crap.
CHAPTER 11
“So what’s with the softball bats?” Esme asked curiously as she and Maya led Jenna through the alleys toward the manhole cover Trevor and the others had disappeared through well over an hour ago. With all the twists and turns, Jenna was surprised they’d remembered the way.
They’d gotten the bats Esme was referring to a few blocks from their present location at a sporting goods shop on Maple Avenue. Along with three sets of those fancy LED lights that you can wear on your head so you can keep your hands free. Jenna wasn’t sure if she would look cool—or stupid—in the thing. But if she was going underground—as terrifying as that idea might be—she was bringing the brightest light she could find.
“I have it on good authority that these creatures have a problem with metal,” she answered. Stopping in front of the open manhole cover positioned in the middle of the alley, she pulled the aluminum bats out of the duffel bag she’d bought in the same sporting goods shop. “I hope we never have to find out one way or another, but if it comes down to it, I’d like us to be able to protect ourselves if we run into one of those things.”
It was like the air temperature dropped as Esme and Maya suddenly froze right in front of her. Maybe they’d come to the unsettling conclusion that this was for real and that they were going to climb down into the same hole that an extremely dangerous creature had disappeared into a few days ago. And while the idea of coming to the rescue of their friends might have seemed like a good one at the time, she got the feeling they were scared right now.
“Maybe they’ve already come out,” Esme said softly, almost hopefully. “You know, while we were going to get you.”
“I think they would have closed the manhole cover if that was the case,” Jenna pointed out, even though she was sure the other women already knew that.
Esme took a deep breath. “So we’re really going to do this?” She looked down at the aluminum bat Jenna handed her with wide-eyed intensity, then at the inky blackness that filled the hole in the asphalt. “We’re really going to go down there looking for them?”
Nobody said a word, but then again, an answer wasn’t necessary.
Jenna gazed down into the hole, barely able to see farther than the first rung of the ladder stuck in the side of the concrete wall. But that was all it took to make her heart beat faster.
“Okay,” she started, taking a step closer to the opening. “In the interest of full disclosure, I should probably mention that I’m deathly afraid of tight, dark places, and the thought of going down in the sewer makes me want to pass out—or throw up—or both.”
Esme blinked. “Then why are you doing this?”
“Because Trevor is down there and so are my brother and two of their friends,” she said. “They could be in trouble, so I have to go after them.”
“I understand what you’re saying,” Esme answered. “I feel the same way about Isaac and Owen. It’s just that I can’t help but wonder what the three of us are supposed to do down there that the four of them can’t?”
Taking another deep breath, Jenna leaned down to slip her foot through the sewer entrance, one toe searching for the ladder rung on the curving wall of the tunnel beneath her. “I guess we’re about to find out,” she whispered, breathing getting harder and faster the deeper she descended into the darkness, like she was slipping into freezing cold water.
Jenna almost forgot to turn on her headlamp, only remembering it when she was completely below street level and the darkness threatened to overwhelm her. She felt silly wearing the thing but was glad to have it all the same. The bright light from the multiple LED bulbs filled the space around her, revealing filthy walls and sludge-covered ladder rungs.
When she reached the bottom of the tunnel, Jenna forced herself to take a few steps to the side to make room for Esme and Maya. The already-tight walls began to close in on her and her legs refused to listen to her any longer. Then her lungs started to pump like two bellows and the dark space began to get even darker.
Okay, coming down here had been a really bad idea.
Esme and Maya joined her a few moments later, neither one of them noticing that she was in distress.
“Look, there’s the chalk mark they told us they’d be using,” Maya said, aiming her headlamp at a blue powder marking on the left side of the tunnel wall. “All we have to do is follow the marks and we should be able to easily find them.”
Esme and Maya started to move down the tunnel, only to stop when they realized Jenna wasn’t following. They hurried back, apparently picking up on the fact that there was something wrong with her.
“Hey, are you okay?” Esme asked softly, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
At least Jenna thought there was a hand on her shoulder. Her head was spinning so much from lack of oxygen that she wasn’t sure of anything.
“She’s hyperventilating,” Maya said a moment later. “I think she’s having a panic attack from being down here.”
Both women moved closer—which didn’t help at all—and started trying to help her, providing suggestions such as “try to slow your breathing,” “focus on a happy thought,” and “calm down.”
Unfortunately, their advice only made her more anxious.
Ignoring the well-intentioned but ultimately worthless guidance, Jenna fell back on the techniques her therapist had taught her for dealing with an anxiety attack.
Three things you can see, she whispered in the recesses of her mind. Blue chalk mark, the concrete wall of the tunnel, and mud.
Three sounds you can hear, she said to herself next. Esme and Maya’s voices, the hum of vehicles moving on the streets nearby, and the trickle of water running across the floor of the tunnel.
Three parts of your body you can move, Jenna thought last as fresh air finally started finding its way into her lungs. Toes, fingers, and tongue.
Jenna had to run through the whole 333 rule a second time before she felt enough control to lift her head and look at Esme and Maya, letting them know she was okay.
“Sorry about that,” she whispered. “Coming down here hit me harder than I thought it would.”
Esme exchanged looks with Maya. “Maybe your panic attack is a sign that we should go back up topside and wait for the guys there.”
Jenna only had to think of Trevor being in trouble somewhere down in the sewer for a few seconds before shaking her head. “No, we should keep going. I just need you guys to talk to me and help keep me out of my own head.”
She expected the standard response to her request—what should we talk about? But instead, Maya nodded and moved up close so she was walking right beside her, Esme on their heels.
“I saw a mermaid when I was fourteen,” Esme said suddenly, the announcement so unexpected that it definitely had the desired effect. Because Jenna certainly wasn’t thinking about being underground anymore. “It changed my life and is why I ended up becoming part of HOPD.”
Jenna kept walking but slowed a little as she glanced at Esme. “You’re not just making that up to get me talking, are you?”
“No, I’m not making it up—promise,” Esme said with a shake of her head. “My family went to Catalina on vacation that summer. Isaac and I were out walking along the pier at Avalon Harbor when I heard a splash in the water, then a giggle. I thought it was somebody diving off one of the boats in the harbor. Maybe even skinny-dipping.”
“Let me guess.” Maya let out a soft laugh. “You immediately went running to see so you could get a free show?”
“I was very mature for my age—and curious.” Esme shrugged. “Regardless, I ran ahead, and when I reached the end of the pier, there was a girl in the water about my age with really long, platinum-blond hair. She giggled and waved at me, then surged out of the water, doing a complete flip in the air. That’s when I saw her tail—as in her mermaid tail, scales and all.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t someone wearing a fake mermaid tail?” Jenna asked curiously. “You know, like the ones they use in those mermaid shows in Vegas.”
Esme shook her head. “I’ve seen those shows and her tail wasn’t like the costumes they wear. She surged ten feet out of the water, then slapped the water so hard with her tail that she soaked me where I stood twenty feet away on the pier. That was no fake tail.”
“What happened then?” Maya asked eagerly. “Did Isaac see her, too?”
“He ran up seconds after I got splashed,” Esme said, checking the wall to find the next chalk mark. “But all he was able to catch was the mermaid’s tail and part of her back.”
“Did he realize what she was?” Maya asked, practically bouncing up and down now as she walked. “Did he know she was a mermaid?”
“No.” Esme smiled a little, like she was replaying the memory. “He didn’t realize it was a mermaid until I told him.”
“Did he believe you’d really seen a mermaid?” Jenna asked, suddenly feeling out of breath again, but for a completely different reason this time.
“Yeah, of course,” Esme said, giving her a confused look. “He’s my brother. Why wouldn’t he believe me? In fact, Isaac was so sure I was right, he’s the one who insisted we start looking for other supernatural creatures. It’s why he stayed here in LA with me, so we could look for them together. He’s the real reason we joined up with Owen and Maya.”
Jenna felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She told herself that what had happened between Esme and her brother was completely different from the situation with Connor, but in the end, she knew it wasn’t. Esme’s brother had believed her totally and without hesitation when she’d claimed to see something strange and impossible. Jenna’s brother had called her insane—and then abandoned her. Jenna was glad the tunnels were so dark, so Esme and Maya couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes.
Fortunately, the hole in the floor of the tunnel they almost fell through a few minutes later served to get Jenna’s head back in the game, distracting her enough so that she stopped thinking about trading brothers with Esme.
“There’s a chalk mark right beside the hole,” Maya said. She looked kind of pale, even in the bright light from their headlamps. “This is definitely the way they went.”
Jenna leaned over to peek into the hole, her light illuminating the tight confines of the passage underneath. The idea of crawling through that tunnel on her hands and knees made her want to hyperventilate all over again.
Until Maya jumped down in the hole without warning, quickly disappearing from sight. Jenna followed before she could chicken out.
The passage under the sewer tunnel was as bad as she’d thought it would be and more than a little hard on her jean-clad knees. But Esme and Maya kept up a nonstop dialogue of their life here in LA, their jobs, things they’d gotten into with HOPD, and guys—lots and lots about guys. Esme and Maya seemed to follow the maxim that when in doubt, ask him out.
But the endless conversation served its purpose. Before Jenna even realized it, the tunnel was large enough for them to stand up and walk. Admittedly, there was another moment of panic when they reached a Y intersection in the tunnel, two passages leading off into the darkness, both with chalk marks scratched on the walls.
“Which way should we go?” Jenna whispered, looking from the blue mark on the rightmost passage to the white mark on the left. It was obvious the guys had split up, but she had no idea which direction Trevor would have gone. It struck her then that almost the entirety of her concern was for Trevor. She still loved her brother, regardless of him being a dumbass, but her first thought was still for the man she’d just met. She knew that meant something monumental, though she wasn’t sure what.
