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With two bolts gone, the tolves wedged their bodies into the opening and began to physical y push,the sphere apart bodily The lass broke, and water fil ed the smal compartment

Even in al the chaos, Professor Lyal heard several out-of-context noises and, moments later, saw from the corner of his eye as the earl popped out of the sphere and began wildly thrashing about But Lyal s off the edge of the sphere, he dove for the drone, grabbed him around the waist, and with another treed, panting, Biffy clutched against hi man was suspiciously li but the need to get hi on every last iota of his olf strength to give hi the West the drone out onto the bottom of a filthy set of stone steps

Professor Lyal was no medical doctor, but he could say with confidence that the best thing for Biffy at that s So the olf stood, lifting the young le him off the side of the steps; Biffy was tal er than he Then the Beta proceeded to shake the li, Professor Lyal looked over at the midpoint of the river The h for his olf eyes to see everything clearly His Alpha was engaged in a splashy battle with three assailants Much frothing of the water, yel ing, and growling was involved Lord Maccon was in his Anubis Form, his head that of a wolf but his body stil human This al owed hiing It see His opponents were human, and, while they were ar and swi as Lord Maccon

Professor Lyal returned to his task As the shaking was proving to be ineffective, he positioned the young her step and bent over him

He was at a loss Werewolves breathed, but not so deeply, nor so frequently as mortals He wasn’t convinced his next idea would even work But, blushing furiously

--after al , he and Biffy had only met casual y a few times; they were hardly on terout in a powerful blast, he atte happened So he did it again And again

A loud cry caused hi Biffy’s survival The figure of athe rail bridge, faster than was huure stopped and, in one iun and fired down into the churning mass of combatants

Professor Lyal ’s protective instincts reared up He had no doubt that the va silver bul ets at his Alpha Desperately, he breathed harder, hoping against hope that Biffy would revive so that he could go to his Alpha’s aid

Behind him, Lord Maccon behaved in an unexpectedly sensible , the Alpha dove under the surface of the Tha toward the steps and his Beta He stuck his muzzle up for air only once and briefly

Unfortunately, with his first target underwater, the vampire simply moved on to the second best option He fired at Professor Lyal and his charge as they hunched unprotected against the embankment The bul et whizzed by perilously close to Lyal ’s head and struck the stone wal , causing fragments of rock to pel et doard Lyal curled hi it with his own

Then Biffy began to cough and sputter, spewing out Thames river water in a ant, was most prudent of him The drone’s eyes opened, and he stared up into the olf’s syhs

Lord Maccon reached the steps at that point and hauled himself up, stil in Anubis For the leather case safely fastened there, and pul ed out his gun The case had served its purpose, for the Tue Tue was stil dry He took aiainst the moon and fired

He missed

"I’raphor and the tea?

How do you do?"

"Where’s--?" But Biffy did not get to finish his thought, for the vaht past both Lord Maccon and his Beta, striking the poor drone in the stomach Biffy’s sentence stopped midquestion with a cry, as his body, emaciated from weeks in confinement, convulsed and writhed

Lord Maccon’s second shot back at the vampire did not miss It was a lucky one, for at such a distance, even his trusty Tue Tue was unreliable Nevertheless, the bul et struck ho the Thaents--or were they drones?--ceased paddling about, recovering from their altercation with the earl, and swa cries of distress, what they discovered was not to their liking

Lord Maccon’s attention remained fixed on the tableau in the water, but Professor Lyal was onceman’s injury smel ed divine, of course, but Lyal was no pup to be diverted by the scent of freshNo doctor in Britain could patch up a daut like that There was real y only one solution and no one, in the end, was going to be happy with it

Taking a deep breath, the Beta reached into the wound, fishing about for the bul et with no care for Biffy’s finer feelings The young man conveniently fainted from the pain

Lord Maccon caave a confused whine, unable to talk, as his head was stil that of a wolf

"I’et out the bul et," Professor Lyal explained

Another whine