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"Palm," Derek murun to a one-handed stance, slapped his hand on the laser-reader box, and hit the button for the e floor Just take an to rise, and I realized I had spoken aloud, not just in h le word, over and over, under his breath In the h his shirt So had Wrassler So had I "Someone want to tell me what the hell that was?" Derek de more coherent

Wrassler, a faint tremor in his hands, holstered his weapon and said, "Don’t know Tall tales Stuff to scare children Stories the regulars used to tell the newbies, about a dark roos that used to be human Maybe Orreed "Tall tales Till now And we gotta get you better weapons," he said to us

"Yeah," we both said

The doors opened and we stepped off onto thepeople, and the bloody ss--herbs, funeral flowers, blood, huhed So nor my spine, as my adrenal system did a quiver and shake My mouth suddenly tasted bitter

I pulledBethany, one of the outclan priestesses She was dressed in a vibrant crimson skirt and shaith a purple shirt and bell-shaped earrings that tinkled As always, she was barefoot, and her toenails were painted the same shade of red as her skirt Either that or she had been dancing in blood I turned around in ot another look Yeah Polish With Bethany, one never knew

On her heels was Sabina, the other priestess, dressed in her starched, nun-habit-like whites It was good to see thehtSabina’s whites weren’t splashed with blood, so at least they weren’t killing anyone together Today Yet I grabbed uy at the front door checkpoint, without speaking, without glad-handing, without good-byes, and blew out of HQ into the night

It had rained while I was inside, ensconced in less offices, on ht smelled fresh, of water-water-everywhere, the air still so full of rain ized both To the south, lightning still flickered between clouds, brightening the horizon in white-gray flashes Thunder rureat show over the Gulf of Mexico

I strapped into the SUV and took a deep breath, seeingwheel They looked calm, steady, competent, not terrified, shaky, or useless I turned the key and ed not to put the pedal to the ate rolled back along its tracks as I approached I tiate to be fully open as my SUV--one not driven by a heavy-footed speed demon or a panicked evacuee--reached the entrance

And then I was gone, the gate pulling closed behind , trying to analyze what I had heard and s in the dark It had felt cloying and heavy, the taste oily and vinegary, like really bad salad dressing and raw erous My hindbrain, however, said otherwise That subconscious, reptile brain had inforhtless roo

Beast pulled on the power that lay between us, the gray place of the change, and our energies danced along le, like holiday sparklers She rus Do not go back to den of dead hungry things

The laughter that had re as panicked as a twelve-year-old kid at a Halloween slumber party--not that I had ever been to one Whatever had been there, in the dark, waiting, so about it had hit me and theso prihteyman Yeah That hat had activated eyood Just freaking not good

I rolled on through the French Quarter streets, the h rain the only sound, shaking off the fear-sweats as Beast let go of our et anywhere in a car in New Orleans Like forever The Harley had been so o the wrong way up one-way streets--as long as a cop wasn’t around--and slip between cars stuck in traffic The city seeer and a lot more crowded in the SUV I didn’t particularly like it Not at all Everything took too long to get to

One block out fro hitthe vehicle into the oncothe door, rocking the SUV on its tires A squealing sound pierced my ears, e to the screa ainst the side , creating a round iht-line cracks radiating out from the center, like the spokes of a broken wheel It looked like daun, fired point-blank into the lalass I whipped the heavy vehicle back into ine Froli wings And then it was gone, leaving behind only the sound of its screa wheel so hard the leather squeaked I slowed and caotten there I was shaking, breathing all wonky Eyes darting around, searching for an ene The street was empty at this hour No attacker, no witnesses As my eyes darted around, I spotted a security camera And then realized that I had stopped after an attack, instead of clearing the scene at all speeds Too much adrenaline in my system in too short a time had made me fuzzy-brained "Not smart Outta here" I pressed the accelerator and drove on I wasn’t attacked again