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The dark-haired man was standing. He was pointing his gun very steadily at me. His glasses reflected the light hiding his eyes.
"Everybody calm down, now," Titus said. "Aikensen deserved that, I guess."
Aikensen came up off the floor, blood covering the lower half of his face. He fumbled for his gun.
"If that gun clears your holster, I will shoot you myself," Titus said.
Aikensen was breathing fast and heavy through his mouth. Little bubbles of blood showed at his nose when he tried to breathe through it. It was definitely broken. It wasn't as good as eviscerating him, but it was a start. He kept his hands on his gun, but he didn't pull it. He stayed on his knees for a long time. You could see the struggle in his eyes. He wanted to shoot me almost enough to try for it. Great. The feeling was mutual.
"Aikensen," Titus said softly. His voice was very serious, as if he were just realizing that Aikensen might go for it. "I mean what I say, boy. Don't you be toying with me."
He got to his feet, spitting blood, trying to get it away from his mouth. "You're going to die tonight."
"Maybe, but it won't be you."
"Ms. Blake, if you could refrain from teasing Aikensen long enough for me to get him away from you, I'd appreciate it."
"Always glad to cooperate with the police," I said.
Titus laughed. The bastard. "Well, now the criminals pay better, Ms. Blake."
"Fuck you."
"No need to get abusive." He tucked his own gun into his side holster. "Now, I'm not going to do a thing but search you for weapons. Any more of this nonsense and we're going to have to shoot one of you to prove we're serious. You don't want to lose your sweetheart here. Or your friend here." He smiled. Just good ol' Sheriff Titus. Friendly. Jesus.
He found both guns, then patted me down a second time. I must have winced, because he said, "How'd you hurt your arm, Ms. Blake?"
"I was helping the police on another case."
"They let a civvie get hurt?"
"Sergeant Storr and Detective Zerbrowski are in the hospital. They were injured in the line of duty."
Something passed over his chubby face. It might have been regret. "Heroes don't get anything but dead, Ms. Blake. You best remember that."
"Bad guys die, too, Titus."
He pushed the sleeve of the red coat up and took the knife. He hefted it, testing its balance. "Custom made?"
I nodded.
"I do admire good equipment."
"Keep it. I'll get it later."
He chuckled. "You have guts, girl, I'll give you that."
"And you're a f**king coward."
The smile vanished. "Always needing to have the last word is a bad trait, Ms. Blake. Pisses people off."
"That's the idea."
He moved to Edward. I'd give Titus one thing, he was thorough. He took two automatics, a derringer, and a knife big enough to pass for a short sword from Edward. I had no idea where he'd been hiding the knife.
"Who do the two of you think you are? The freaking cavalry?"
Edward didn't say a thing. If he could be quiet, so could I. There were too many guns to make one of them angry and try to jump the rest. We were outnumbered and outgunned. It was not a good way to start the week.
"Now we are all going to go downstairs," Titus said. "We want you all to join us in the hunt. You will be let out into the woods. If you can get away from us, then you are free. You can run to the nearest police and turn us in. You try anything funny before we let you go, and we will just kill you. You all understand that?"
We just looked at him.
"I can't hear you."
"I heard what you said," I said.
"How 'bout you, blondie?"
"I heard you, too," Edward said.
"Wolfman, you hear me?"
"Don't call me that," Richard said. He didn't sound particularly scared, either. Good.
If you're going to die, at least die brave. It pisses your enemies off.
"Can we put our hands down now?" I asked.
"No," Titus said.
My left arm was beginning to throb. If that was the most painful thing that happened to me tonight, I'd be ahead of the game.
Aikensen went first. Richard next with the dark-haired man and his calm eyes at his back. The bearded man. Then me. Titus. Edward. Grey Hair and his rifle next. Kaspar brought up the rear. It was a parade.
The stairs led into a natural cavern below the house. It was about sixty by thirty feet, with a ceiling that wasn't higher than twelve feet. A tunnel led out the far wall. Electric lights gave a harsh yellow glow to everything. Two cages were set into the granite walls. In the far cage Jason was huddled into a fetal ball. He didn't move as we all trooped in.
"What have you done to him?" Richard said.
"Tried to get him to change for us," Titus said. "Birdie here said he'd be an easy mark."
Kaspar looked uncomfortable. Whether it was the Birdie remark or Jason's stubbornness, it was hard to tell. "He will change for us."
"So you say," Grey Hair said.
Kaspar frowned at him.
Aikensen opened the empty cage. His nose was still bleeding. He had a wad of Kleenex held to it, but it wasn't helping much. The Kleenexes were crimson.
"In ya go, Wolfie," Titus said.
Richard hesitated.
"Mr. Carmichael, the boy, if you please."
Dark Hair put up his 9mm, and got out a .22 from his waistband. He pointed it at Jason's huddled form.
"We'd been discussing putting a bullet in him anyway. See if it would help persuade him to change for us. Now get in the cage."
Richard stood there.
Carmichael pointed the gun through the bars, sighting down his arm.
"Don't," Richard said. "I'll do it." He walked into the cage.
"Now you, Blondie."
Edward didn't argue. He just walked in. He was taking this a lot better than I thought he would.
Aikensen shut the door. He locked the door, then walked across to the second cage. He didn't unlock it. He waited with the soggy Kleenex pressed to his nose. A drop of blood fell to the floor.
"You get to share accommodations with our young friend."
Richard gripped the bars of his cage. "You can't put her in there. When he changes, he'll need to feed."
"Two things help the change happen," Kaspar said, "sex and blood. I saw how much Jason likes your lady friend."
"Don't do this, Kaspar."
"Too late," he said.
If I went in the cage, I was going to end up eaten alive. That was actually one of my top five ways not to die. I wasn't going in the cage. I'd make them shoot me first.
"Aikensen is going to open the cage, then you step inside, Ms. Blake."
"No," I said.
Titus looked at me. "Ms. Blake, Mr. Fienstien here will shoot you, won't you Mr. Fienstien?"
The bearded man, uncertain eyes and all, pointed a 9mm Beretta at me. A nice gun, if you didn't insist on buying American. The barrel looked very big, and solid from the wrong end.
"Fine, shoot me."
"Ms. Blake, we are not joking."
"Neither am I. My choices are being eaten alive or being shot. So shoot me."
"Mr. Carmichael, if you will point your .22 over here." Carmichael did. "We can wound you, Ms. Blake. Put a bullet in your leg and then shove you in that cage."
I looked into his beady little eyes and knew he would do it. I didn't want to go into the cage, but I really didn't want to go in wounded.
"I'm going to count to five, Ms. Blake, then Carmichael here is going to wound you and we will drag you into that cage. One... two... three... four..."
"All right, all right, damn you. Unlock the damn door."
Aikensen did. I walked in. The door clanged shut behind me. I stood there near the door. Jason was shivering as if he had a fever, but he never moved otherwise.
The men outside seemed disappointed. "We paid good money to hunt a werewolf," Grey Hair said. "We are not getting our money's worth."
"We've got all night, gentlemen. He won't resist this luscious tidbit forever," Kaspar said.
I didn't like being called a tidbit. Luscious or otherwise. "I called Garroway before we drove up here. I told him about his deputies getting ambushed. I told him it was Aikensen."
"Liar."
I looked straight at Titus. "You think I'm lying."
