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Needing some comfort in the cold, dank basement filled with the scent of blood and death, she lifted the head of the sleeping wolf-kin off his makeshift pillow and laid it in her lap.
Pete curled around her legs in his sleep and muttered, “A few more minutes, Ben.”
She petted his thick red hair absently while she considered her options. They would simply have to fight as best they could and hope beyond reason they beat the odds.
Pete’s destroyed jacket lay under her legs now. Something hard in it poked at the bottom of her leg. She reached into the tattered folds and found Pete’s outdated pocket phone. She turned the phone over in her hand.
Wrist phones had electronics built into the wrist band, sensors and such. The wolf-kin had probably not found a way to get one to flex with his size changes like all his other clothing.
She placed his thumb on the sensor pad to activate the phone. She looked over Pete’s contacts. Doctor Nudd’s number met her eye. Pete trusted Doctor Nudd with his life.
Oh. Pete has allies!
Why hadn’t she thought of this before? Unlike her, he had other friends who might be willing to fight at his side.
She touched Doctor Nudd’s name in the list to call him.
“What now, Pete?” Nudd’s gruff voice answered after several rings.
“I am not Pete. I am Liliana.” She kept her voice soft so as not to wake the sleeping wolf-kin. She looked backward in time to see how Pete used the phone. Oh. She touched a small image resembling an old-fashioned video recorder. A tiny, poorly lit image of herself appeared in one corner of the screen. The rest of the screen filled with a flat image of the tall goblin.
It seemed likely she had woken Doctor Nudd. It was a bit past three in the morning. He sat in a bed big enough for Liliana and three other normal-sized people to sleep in comfortably. A single lamp beside the bed lit the goblin’s messy hair and grizzled face. “Is he in trouble again?” Doctor Nudd asked.
“Pete is safe for the moment, but Sergeant Giovanni is still in danger, and we will both be in very great danger soon, when we go to help her.”
“How can I help?” He rubbed at his face. He wore an old-fashioned flannel sleep shirt. She wondered if his bedroom was cold at night.
She opened her fourth eyes to look around Doctor Nudd’s room where the phone camera didn’t reach. He kept his window open at night. Sheer curtains blew in the light breeze. “I do not know how you can help. I only know we are highly likely to die without aid.”
Liliana gave a general outline of their situation to the unseelie healer.
He became more and more agitated as she spoke. “You should have called me sooner,” he shouted at her, pacing next to his bed. “Even the mag lev train won’t be fast enough to get me from Fayetteville to Raleigh in time to matter.”
Guilt and frustration flooded Liliana. “I did not think of it sooner.” She was so used to doing everything alone.
Doctor Nudd sighed. “Nothing to be done about it.” He scratched at the wiry brown whiskers on his unshaven chin. “I’ll see what I can manage. Watch Pete’s back, would you? The boy is too brave for his own good, if you know what I mean.”
Liliana smiled fondly at the sleeping red wolf. “I do know what you mean.”
It was time, but she hated to wake Pete. Sergeant Giovanni had less than an hour to live. If they moved now, there was at least a chance they could save her, and their probability of living was the highest right now.
Rather than putting it back in his shredded and useless jacket, she put Pete’s phone in the pocket of his blue jeans. She shook him gently.
“Huh?” Pete sat up with a huge jaw-cracking yawn and rubbed at his eyes. The wounds on his neck were closed, and even in the shadows of the single light bulb, his pale skin had better color.
Her venom had granted him a few hours of pleasant, healing sleep free of ugly dreams, despite his recent circumstances. Considering her advice nearly got him killed in the most horrible way possible, she was glad she’d at least been able to give him that.
“It is time, Pete.” Liliana got to her feet. “Follow me and be as quiet as you can.”
He nodded, yawned again, and followed on her heels.
Liliana was relieved to see he planned to keep his word to follow her lead, even now that her venom’s influence had worn off. She smiled a little in spite of their dire situation. He gave precise oaths because he kept them.
They crept up the stairs. The pounding bass no longer vibrated into the stairwell. It left everything eerily silent. Liliana opened the door leading to the first floor of the empty nightclub.
The stairwell opened into a narrow corridor behind one-way glass. On one side of the hall, she could look out through the glass to the darkened dance floor. On the other side, a line of doors led to offices and storage areas.
Liliana knew which office door was the right one, but when she turned the handle, it didn’t move. Locked.
