Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) (18 page)

“Okay, what’s the plan?” asked Tess.

“We need to find the missing werewolves, find Christina,” I
replied.

“Agreed.” Isaac nodded his head. “Our priority should be
to locate the missing.”

“But don’t you want to know what all those guys are up to?
The ones arriving with your boy Bellemare?” Tess frowned.

“No,” I replied. “Look Tess, I know you want to learn more
about the whole cult thing, but we should leave that to Nash and the other
cops. Let’s just go in as quiet as possible and see if we can find the missing
werewolves.”

“Okay. You’re right,” Tess nodded.

“And one more thing, these are norms; no killing unless they are trying to kill us,”
I added. Isaac raised his eyebrows in surprise
but didn’t protest. “Check the door again, Isaac.”

He cracked the door ajar and looked out. “All clear,” he
said.

The room opened out to a long narrow hallway. To the right
the hall stretched out the length of the building, to the left there was an
exit to a set of stairs leading down to the ground floor.

Isaac looked at me and gave me a little ‘you decide’ shrug.

“Let’s go down,” I said. “I can’t see them keeping wolves
locked up here on the second floor.”

“Agreed.” Isaac moved to the stairs. He was about to start
down when suddenly he backtracked, flattening himself against the wall and
motioning to us to do the same. A second later, a man dressed in a security
uniform jogged up the stairs. As he stepped through the doorway into the hall,
Isaac grabbed him, slapping his hand across the man’s mouth. Instantly, the
man froze, his eyes glazing over.

“Holy crap!” Tess said and I shushed her. “I’ll never get
used to that freeze thing you do.” She waved her hand in front of the guard’s
face. He remained motionless, not even blinking.

“How long will he stay like that?” I looked at Isaac.

“Only for a few minutes. Enough time to get him tied up and
hidden somewhere so he doesn’t cause trouble.”

“Quick! Let’s get him back in there.” I motioned to the
room we had just vacated. Isaac carried the man like he was a mannequin back
into the room. Tess and I hustled along behind him and then closed the door.

“Now what?” Tess stood staring at the guard turned statue.

“Check his pockets, see if he has anything useful like keys.”
I started to pat him down, emptying his jacket pockets. The first thing I
found was a package of zip ties which we proceeded to use to restrain his hands
and feet after lowering him to the floor. There was also a ring of keys, a
two-way radio, some gum and a lighter. Tess snagged the gum and put a piece in
her mouth.

“What?” she said when I glared at her. “It’s not like he’s
going to miss it.” She continued to empty his pants pockets then unclipped the
holster at his waist. She pulled out the gun, examining it. “Nice.” She
nodded her head, a look of appreciation on her face. “A Glock 42,
38-caliber.” She popped the magazine clip out and expelled the round from the
chamber then gave the gun a thorough inspection. “Recently cleaned, well
maintained.” She nodded her head again. “Well, I’d have to say if all the
guards are like this, we aren’t facing amateurs.” She reloaded the gun,
snapping the clip back into place and then tucked it into her waistband at the
small of her back.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” I looked at her skeptically.

“Yes. I’m fully qualified to handle it. You never know, it
might come in handy. As you said, we’re dealing with norms. They always have
guns.”

I couldn’t argue with her on that point. I grabbed the
two-way radio and checked the volume making sure it wasn’t going to blast our
ears off or worse, give our location away if we were hiding, and handed it to
Isaac who clipped it onto his belt. I grabbed the guy’s lighter off the table
as well and shoved it in my pocket just in case. I looked down at the man on
the floor with sympathy. “We’re going to need to gag him. He’ll sound the
alarm once he wakes up.”

“Use his socks,” Tess replied.

“Eww, that’s just cruel and unusual punishment.”

“You got a better idea?”

Unfortunately I didn’t, so we stripped the poor guy’s socks
off his feet and used them to gag him. We propped him in the corner of the
room in a sitting position and then left.

We followed the stairs down to the main floor and the picked
the direction that led away from the front entrance to the building. The
corridor ended not much further along, opening out into the cavernous interior
of the building.

“It appears that only the outer perimeter of the building
has been subdivided into smaller spaces.” Isaac pointed to a similar doorway
on the opposite side of the open space.

“Maybe, but this is definitely where the fights are held.”
Tess pointed to the centre of the building. A large chain link cage was set up
surrounded by temporary seating in the form of portable bleachers. The cage
was empty, thankfully. “And there’s Bellemare.”

Bellemare stood at the head of a group of eight or nine men
in front of the cage. He had removed his suit jacket and rolled up his shirt
sleeves and appeared to be making a speech of some sort, judging from the way
his mouth was moving and everyone else seemed to stare at him in rapt
attention.

“I can’t hear what he’s saying.” I frowned and looked at
Tess and Isaac. “Can either of you?”

“No, let’s move closer.” Tess darted ahead about thirty
feet and ducked behind a stack of crates.

“Tess!” I hissed at her.

“Come on Harry.” She waved at me.

With a sigh, I scampered over to join her, followed by
Isaac. “I still can’t hear anything. Can you?” Tess shook her head. I
looked further across the room and spotted another potential hiding spot that
would probably get us close enough. “I’m going to try to get closer. Wait
here for a second.” I took off before Tess or Isaac could gainsay me.

From my new vantage point, I could see Bellemare and his
cronies much better although the low lighting left everything in shadows. I
could hear them too, not that it mattered. Bellemare seemed to be speaking in
a different language. My Latin is basic grade school, but I was pretty sure
that’s what he was using. It seemed to be almost a sort of prayer or
incantation. Partway through, he stopped as another man approached, carrying a
gold tray. I cursed the poor lighting, wishing I had Issac’s binoculars, in
order to see better.

I needn’t have worried because a minute later, Bellemare
grabbed whatever was on the tray and held it aloft. I looked over at Tess in
concern. Isaac had a hand firmly wrapped around her arm and she was cussing
quietly but vehemently, trying to get loose. I couldn’t say as I blamed her.
Bellemare was holding up a freshly severed haunch from a wolf, the blood
dripping down his arm.

“What the hell?” I mouthed at Isaac.

“
I’m afraid I’m at a loss as well
,” Isaac’s voice
whispered through my head. Oh yeah, I forgot we could still do that.

“
I don’t like the looks of this. Take Tess and circle
around to the rooms on the other side and see if you can find Christina
.”

“
I don’t think it is a good idea for us to split up
.”

“
I’ll be right behind you. I just want to see what they’re
up to first. You need to find Christina.
”

Isaac cocked his head with a puzzled frown and then nodded.
“
All right, Tess and I will go. You wait there. Our reinforcements have
arrived.
”

“
What
?” I looked around but didn’t see anyone. When
I turned back to look at Isaac, he and Tess were already circling around to the
doorway on the far side of the building. I turned my attention back to
Bellemare and his fellow fanatics, immediately wishing I hadn’t.

Bellemare had acquired a large knife and was carving strips
of flesh from the wolf haunch. He was handing the flesh out to his followers
like some sort of sick communion. The men were taking the offering, looks of
euphoria on their faces. It was revolting. The only consolation I could think
of was that it had to actually be wolf they were eating and not werewolf. When
a werewolf dies in wolf form, their body reverts to their two legged form.
Even if a limb is lost and the werewolf doesn’t die, the detached body part
quickly reverts to its human shape.

I pulled out my cellphone and flipped the camera to video.
If nothing else, I could get every one of these sickos’ faces recorded so that
Nash could track them down later. As I recorded the sickening rite, I heard a
quiet rustling. Bellemare and his buddies didn’t seem to notice. Slowly, a
tactical team began to take places around the perimeter of the large space.
The cavalry had arrived.

I pocketed my phone and was about to sneak away to follow
Isaac and Tess when a body came up behind me, pinning me to the crates I was
hiding behind.

“Harry! What the hell?” Nash spun me around to look at me.

“Nash! You made it,” I said, ignoring his scowl. “How did
you get here so fast?”

“What are you doing here Harry?” The look Nash gave me would
have curdled milk.

“I told you, we had a lead. Didn’t you get my message?”

“What message?”

“If you didn’t get my voicemail, how did you find this
place?”

Nash’s eyes narrowed and then he huffed out an exasperated breath. “I
don’t know, Harry. Maybe it’s a little something I do in my spare time when
I’m not out saving your ass. It’s called fucking police work.”

I was about to reply when the sound of automatic gunfire
echoed through the building. Nash grabbed me and pushed me to the floor
covering me with his body.

“Fuck! Stay down Harry.” He listened to a voice squawking
through the two way radio he had attached to his jacket at his shoulder.
“Shit, he has his own army,” he muttered to himself. He looked over to the men
that had come in and quietly taken up positions around us, signalling them to
move forward. He glanced down at me as he pulled an automatic weapon strapped
to his back around and settled it into his hands. That’s when I realized what
he was wearing. He was dressed in full riot gear, the letters SRU stencilled
on the front of his jacket. “Stay here,” he growled at me. “I mean it Harry.
Stay here until I come back for you or so help me I’ll paddle your ass.”

“I am not a child.” I glared at him.

“No, you most definitely are not.” He grabbed my arms,
pulling me up against his chest and then kissed me firmly before pushing me
back down to the floor. Before I could even realize what had happened, I found
myself securely fastened with a handcuff on my arm. “Now stay,” Nash said with
a grin as he secured the other cuff to a handle on the largest crate. Without
another word he was gone, skirting around the crates towards the centre of the
building.

“Nash!” I hissed at him. “Nash, you get back here and uncuff
me.”

Gunfire continued to echo as shouts began to fill the air.
I tugged helplessly on the cuffs, but they were secure. The handle of the
crate must have been bolted on rather than screwed on because it wasn’t
budging. The crate itself was over four feet by four feet and weighed a ton.
It wasn’t going anywhere. With a loud sigh, I gave up on the cuffs temporarily
and peeked out over the stack of crates to see what was happening. The SRU
team converged on Bellemare and his men and so far hadn’t fired any shots. The
firefight with security must have been taking place elsewhere in the building
and I hoped Isaac and Tess were okay.

As I watched, a man wearing a security guard uniform burst
through a door on the opposite side of the room. He was carrying an automatic
weapon and he began to fire, targeting Nash and his men. Bellemare and his
followers scattered, running for cover or running to escape. Either way, it
was chaos as more of Bellemare’s security team began to spill into the room.

I kept my eyes on Bellemare who had ducked down and was
skirting his way around the cage. He was going to get away! I hopelessly
pulled at the handcuffs again. Damn that Nash.

I huffed out a breath, trying to calm down. Yanking on the
cuffs in anger wasn’t doing anything except giving me a sore wrist. I was a
witch for Pete’s sake. I could unlock a lock, even if it was a handcuff lock.
Feeling better, I concentrated on the cuff on my wrist and used a minor opening
spell. A split second later, I found myself lying on the floor panting in pain
as the aftershock of an electrical charge sizzled up my arm and across my
shoulders. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that a member of the
Supernatural
Response Unit would have handcuffs charmed to resist magical tampering. Damn that Nash again.

“Well, what do we have here?” The voice was deep and rough.

Surprised, I jumped to my feet. Two men, dressed in
Bellemare security uniforms had managed to come up behind me unnoticed in the
commotion. Neither of them were carrying weapons, at least not in their hands.

“Looks like someone left us a present.” The second man was long
and thin and he looked at me like he was thirsty and I was a tall glass of
water.

“Just stop right there, boys,” I said with as much bravado as
I could muster. “You might as well just turn yourselves in to me now and you
won’t get hurt.”

“You hear that Tom? We won’t get hurt.” The first man
that had spoken looked at me menacingly and then pulled a knife from the
holster on his belt. “I think you have that the wrong way ‘round, missy.
Cooperate with Tom and me here, and you won’t get hurt…much.” He licked his
lips.

“Seriously?” I shook my head in disbelief. “You’re being
raided by the police and you’re going to take time to rape me? What kind of
idiots are you?”

The two men stood, their mouths agape. I don’t think my
reaction was what they had been expecting. The first one shook his head as if
coming out of a trance and then scowled at me.

“You talk too much, bitch. I don’t need long to make you
bleed.” He started to advance towards me, passing the knife back and forth
from hand to hand.

I let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Okay,” I said, shaking
my head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” In one smooth motion I pulled my
katana from my back bringing it down on the handcuff chain. It sliced through
the links like they were butter and I was free, the cuff and remaining chain
dangling from my wrist. I pivoted stepping out towards the advancing man and
delivered a hook kick to his head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes to the
floor.

His buddy stood for a second, blinking at me and then
started to try and pull his gun from his holster. I was on him in two steps,
bringing him to the floor, my hands on either side of his head cracking it on
the hard surface. He was out like a light, just like his dumbass buddy.

I rifled through their pockets coming up with enough zip
ties to secure them both. Just for fun, I secured guy number one’s left wrist
to guy number two’s left ankle, dragging the smaller man face down on top of
his unconscious buddy. By the time I was done, they were starfished together
each with his head between the other man’s legs. For good measure, I hiked
their pants down around their ankles. Karma is a bitch and today my name was
Karma.

I looked across the room. Nash and his team seemed to have things
under control. But where was Bellemare? Movement to my right drew my
attention. It was Daniel. He looked at me and bared his teeth, turning to
disappear through a doorway. With no better ideas, I dashed across the space
to follow.

“Harry!” Nash’s voice echoed behind me. “Damn it, Harry.”

I glanced back over my shoulder to see Nash standing beside
the two guards I had secured. Our eyes met and I gave him a little apologetic
shrug before disappearing through the doorway.

Daniel was waiting in the hallway. He yipped and then turned,
trotting down the corridor. I followed, my katana held at the ready. Someone
had turned the power off to the lights in the corridor so it was darker than
the room I left behind. I hurried to catch up to Daniel, not wanting to lose
him in the dark. Footsteps suddenly rushed up from behind me and I turned
ready to defend myself. I pulled up short when I saw Nash’s scowling face.

“Harry, what the fuck do you…”

“Nash.” I breathed out a sigh of relief. “It’s you.”

Nash grabbed me by the arm, yanking me up close. “No more
games Harry. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You’re the
one putting me in danger, leaving me handcuffed to a crate.” As soon as the
words left my mouth and I saw the look of regret on Nash’s face, I wished I
could take them back. “Look, I’m fine. I’m not helpless you know.”

Nash huffed out a heavy sigh. “What are you doing here,
Harry?”

I grabbed his hand so we’d have skin to skin contact.
“Look.” I pointed to Daniel who paced impatiently ahead of us in the corridor.

“Pop?” Nash’s voice was a mix of wonder and pain. He looked
at me and I nodded encouragingly.

“Your dad led us here. I think he is trying to help Christina.”

Nash stepped towards Daniel, his hand squeezing mine
tightly, pulling me after him. “Pop, what are you doing here still?” The wolf
pawed at the air and then bared his teeth. He barked once and Nash flinched at
the sound.

“He wants us to follow him. Bellemare got away, didn’t he?
Maybe he can lead us to him.” I tugged on Nash’s hand. “Come on. We’re
wasting time.” When Nash didn’t move, I reached up and touched his face.
“Cian. We have to go.”

Nash reached up and covered my hand with his. His hand felt
so warm compared to mine. He blinked as if rousing himself. “Alright. But
you stay behind me and do as I say.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes sir.” We didn’t have time to
argue.

I turned and looked at Daniel. The wolf yipped and then
bolted down the hall. Nash and I followed cautiously. The only light in the
corridor came from the occasional security light mounted high on the wall.
“Did someone cut the power to the building?” I whispered.

“It wasn’t us.” He slowed, putting a finger to his lips for
silence. We were approaching a set of sliding glass doors, like you’d see in a
hospital. They appeared to be automatic, but with the power out, they remained
closed even as we stepped in range of their sensors. Daniel had stopped in
front of the doors and yipped.

There was a sound of crashing from the other side of the
door, but they were frosted and we couldn’t see through them. Nash stepped up
to the doors and grasped the edge of each one, pulling them apart slightly. I
moved in to help, grabbing the edge of one door. With a little effort, we were
able to push them far enough apart to slip through. When I turned back to
look, Daniel was gone.

“Which way?” The corridor stretched out in either
direction, perpendicular to the one we had just left. Nash reached for my
hand.

“He’s gone,” I said quietly. Nash grasped my hand anyway,
giving it a squeeze.

Another crash sounded down the hall to the left, followed by
some unintelligible shouts. “This way.” Nash let go of my hand and took
a look at my katana clenched in the other. “Don’t stick me with that thing.”
He winked at me and then trotted down the hall towards the sound.

We passed several rooms along the way, approaching each
cautiously. They appeared to be exam rooms, like what I had seen in my dreams,
equipped with medical tech and a raised bed that would allow them to strap
their subject down securely. I shuddered at the thought of what must have gone
on in those rooms.

Nash’s breathing had become harsher, like he was trying to
keep his anger in check. He remembered my dreams as well. As we progressed
down the hall, we were able to begin to distinguish what the voices were
saying.

“We don’t have any time left. You must finish now before
they find us.” It was a man’s voice. He had an imperious tone, one that could
easily belong to Bellemare.

“But sir, we haven’t even tested this iteration. We
shouldn’t –” It was a woman’s voice. She sounded frightened and unsure.

“Time is up. We need to take what we have or we will lose
all our hard work.”

There was another crash. The woman gasped in fright. “Please
be careful sir. Some of the chemicals in the lab shouldn’t be mixed.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have to burn the place to the ground.
No one can know what we’ve been doing here.”

“But all my research, my notes – “

“We don’t have time for any of that now. Just grab the
samples and finish preparing a dosage.”

“I-I-I don’t think that is a good idea, sir.”

“I didn’t ask your opinion.” Bellemare’s voice sounded
cruel.

The woman gasped. We had reached the room where the voices
were coming from. Nash signalled for me to hang back, but I peeked in the
window. It was a lab of some kind. There were several work benches and a fume
hood along the side of the room. Broken glass and various coloured liquids
littered the floor. The man’s voice did in fact belong to Bellemare. He was
standing beside a work bench where a woman in a blue lab coat was working with
some test tubes and other vials, sealing them and putting them into a foam-lined
case. Bellemare was holding her at gunpoint.

“Just hurry up, doctor.” Bellemare sneered at her, waving
the gun menacingly.

Nash tensed and I could tell he was about to storm into the
room when suddenly, a door on the far side of the room opened. The woman
gasped again and Bellemare turned to look at the newcomer. He was tall and
muscular and very handsome. His hair was the deepest black I had ever seen. I
didn’t need a playbook to figure out that it must be Elian Navarre, the Fae
prince. Beside me, Nash froze. If he had been in wolf form, I would have said
his hackles rose, his whole body seemed to go on alert.

“You!” Bellemare spat the word out. “You were supposed to
supply me with the wolves I needed, not go off half-cocked hunting down every
werewolf you could find. You brought this attention to our doorstep.”

Navarre stepped further into the room, a look of pure
contempt on his face. “It was not I that brought the authorities to your
doorstep, but rather your fool’s errand to find a cure for your own
mortality.” Navarre waved his arms around the room indicating all the
equipment. “There is no magic elixir for immortality, old man. You are nothing
more than a puny mortal and that is all you will ever be.” He brushed some
imaginary lint off his sleeve. “And now because of your stupidity, my time
here is at an end.”

“No, you haven’t fulfilled your side of the bargain. You
can’t leave.” Bellemare turned to face Navarre. “I called you to this plane,
you must obey me.”

Navarre laughed heartily. “You are not my master, you
little bug.” He held up his hand and made a pinching motion. Bellemare
grabbed his throat, clearly choking. Omigod! Where was Tess when I needed
her? Navarre was practically acting out one of her favourite Darth Vadar scenes
from
Star Wars
. She was never going to believe me.

Bellemare continued to gasp for breath. The woman began to
cry. “Please, please don’t hurt me.” She put her hands up as if to fend
Navarre off.

Navarre cocked his head towards her as if noticing her for
the first time. “Quiet girl. I hold no animus to you.” He released his
invisible grasp on Bellemare’s windpipe with a flick of his fingers. Bellemare
fell forward gulping for air. He caught himself on the edge of the bench,
holding himself up with effort.

“Is that the
magic elixir
?” Navarre raised an eyebrow
in question at the doctor, his words dripping with contempt.

“I…yes…no…I mean it is the latest version but…”

“Yes, yes.” Navarre waved his hand in impatience. “Give it
to me, girl.” He held out his hand to the doctor who scurried over and dropped
the syringe into Navarre’s waiting palm.