Outfoxed Page 2

  Alex didn’t correct her. Somethings were better left alone. “How much further?”

  Jamie squinted at the napkin scrap in her hand. Alex was impressed she could read anything in this light. The streetlamps were few and far between. “Not far,” Jamie said. “You should be able to smell it soon.”

  “That’s the smell of expensive sashimi grade fish.”

  “I think it’s gone a bit off in the heat. Where did you find it anyway?”

  “White River Fish Market. A guy that works there owed me a favor.”

  “Do I even want to know?” Jamie asked.

  “He had a baby waterhorse that he thought would make a nice pet. That is until it outgrew his swimming pool. I found it a home up in Canada.”

  “Only you would rehome a lake monster to Canada.”

  “They like the cool weather,” Alex protested. Waterhorses loved Canada. There were more than a few in the lakes up that way.

  Alex stumbled as he bumped into a furry hind-end. Mike had stopped in the middle of the road, a low growl rumbling deep in his throat. "I don't think it's a cat this time."

  Mike leaned forward and stared into the darkness, his ears pricked at whatever held his attention.

  Metal scraped on concrete and Alex put a hand on his holstered gun. The sweat that trickled down his neck turned to ice. No matter how many years passed.... It could be nothing. A raccoon raiding someone's bins…a cat slipping through a squeaky pet door…a Hellhound's razor-like nails digging into the asphalt as it barreled down the road towards them. Letting go of his firearm, Alex slipped the flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. The familiar yellow glow on the pavement steadied his heart. A second circle of light appeared as Jamie’s flashlight joined his.

  "By the book for a change," Alex said. "Stay together. No sudden movements."

  They inched forward, Mike on point and the light from the flashlights flanking either side.

  "The trap's there," Jamie whispered as they approached two large forsythia bushes at the end of the street.

  Alex nodded, sweeping his light from side to side. Green eyes flashed between branches laden with yellow flowers and Alex backtracked with the light until it rested squarely on the trap.

  A bundle of black fur crouched at the back of the wire cage. It hissed, flicking three bushy, white-tipped tails back and forth within its confines.

  Alex exhaled sharply, not realizing he'd been holding his breath.

  "That was easy enough," Jamie said, some of her usual cheerful self showing in her words.

  "Don't count your dragons before they hatch." Alex knelt down next to the cage and flashed his ID card so that the kitsune could see. "I'm Officer Ford from the local Occult Animal Welfare department. I apologize for the current accommodations, but it couldn’t be helped. I'd like to extend our assistance in relocating you so that we can attempt to track down this illegal Hunt."

  The kitsune narrowed its eyes, but quit hissing. It sniffed at the ID card.

  "Our truck is right up the street. We'll get you moved to a safe house tonight and then on your way to the closest shrine in the morning." Alex reached down and grabbed the handle on the top of the wire cage. The whole thing swayed as he stood up and the kitsune shifted in the trap.

  The fox lunged at his hand. Its thin muzzle slipped through the bars of the cage, sharp teeth sinking into the flesh of his thumb.

  "You little shit.” The trap fell from Alex’s hand, the release springing as it hit the ground. The kitsune yipped, then turned and bolted down the street. Mike took off after it.

  Alex kicked at the now empty cage, missing and stubbing his toe on the pavement instead. Fuck. Why couldn't anything go according to plan? "Mike," Alex growled after his partner. "Get. Back. Here."

  The pounding of Alex’s heart nearly drowned out the sound of his feet against the pavement. His two legs were no match for Mike or the kitsune's four and they pulled ahead with each stride, little more than a pair of dog shaped apparitions in the night. Alex pressed a hand into his aching side as he jogged after them. At least they had the common decency to stick to the street and not go plowing through people's yards. That was a conversation he didn't really want to have with homeowners.

  Turning a corner, Alex skidded to a stop. The kitsune sat motionless under a streetlight. Mike stood about ten feet away, hackles raised and mouth wide in a snarl.

  Alex doubled over, lungs burning as he tried to catch his breath. Jamie stopped beside him, trap in one hand, her flashlight in the other. He tried to ignore the fact that she wasn’t winded.

  "What's up with them?" Jamie asked, motioning to Mike and the kitsune.

  Alex shrugged, not sure he was capable of speech yet. Mike barked once and Alex forced himself to stand up straight. A short, thin man in a fitted, black suit occupied the space where the kitsune had been only seconds before. The man waved at them.

  "While this has been fun, I'm afraid the thirteenth hour is upon us and the hounds won't be far behind," the man called out. "Until we meet again...."

  In the time it took Alex to blink, the man had turned back into a fox. He took off down the road, his three tails bouncing along behind him.

  Mike whined, taking a few steps in the direction the kitsune had gone.

  Alex glanced at his watch. 1:01 AM. Something howled in the distance. "Leave him," Alex said. "We need to get off the streets. Now."

  Chapter 4

  Alex shifted the pages in his hands, trying to focus on the words while the Captain's eyes peered into his soul from across the desk. The skin on the back of his neck prickled and Alex looked up. Dark eyes studied him from over a pair of wire rimmed glasses.

  "I can accept one random call about a horse with its mane on fire. Two tops. But dispatch intercepted six calls last night about Hellhounds and Nightmares running loose across the city."

  Alex glanced back down at the pages and skimmed through an entry detailing how one woman called an ambulance for chest pain after discovering a dog the size of a Shetland pony in her garden. "It's a Hunt," he tried to explain. The words sounded as pitiful as he feared. Of course it was a Hunt, that wasn't the issue.

  "I realize that, but they’re out of season and operating in a restricted area. Cite them and move them on down the road."

  "It's not that easy," Alex said. Citing a demon pack was sort of like walking up to a poacher with his sights trained on the last Black Rhino in existence and kindly asking him to lay down his weapon. The main difference being the poacher would only shoot you...Hellhounds would tear you limb from limb, then shred your soul into a million pieces.

  The Captain pushed his glasses up his long nose. "I didn't say it was going to be easy, I just need it done." He motioned to a precarious stack of cardboard filing boxes behind his desk. "I've got my hands full with the Feds right now and I don't need this blowing up in my face too."

  "Understood." One of the boxes behind the desk caught Alex’s eye as he stood up. His heart skipped a beat at the case number written across the side in thick, black Sharpie. "Is there something I should know about?"

  The Captain looked over his shoulder to the box that held Alex's attention. "I hope not."

  Taking a deep breath, Alex forced himself out the door before he asked any questions he'd regret.

  "How did that go?" Jamie asked as Alex stepped into the Animal Welfare office.

  "About as you'd expect." Alex tossed the stack of incident reports on his already crowded desk.

  "What now?"

  "I'm going to try Don again, then we'll think of something."

  The phone rang once, then twice. Where the hell was Don? The Seeker’s cell phone was practically attached to his hip. Alex had seen him send a correctly spelled and punctuated text message while loping a horse across a pasture after a herd of cattle. Five rings. Another one or two and Don's voicemail would pick up. Alex shook his head. He'd already left two messages this morning, no sense in leaving another.

  "Hello?" The dull, flat vo
ice that answered was far from Don's usual playful and sarcastic greeting. Alex wished he hadn't called.

  "I was starting to get worried," Alex said. "It isn't like you to let your phone go to voicemail."

  "Dustin had a rough night and I just got to bed an hour ago. How did your hunting turn out?"

  "Not as ideally as I would have liked."

  "Kitsunes are tricky critters. This one more than most. Otherwise he'd have succumbed to the Hellhounds by now."

  Alex hesitated, feeling guilty for what he was about to ask. "I actually called to see if you had some time today...."

  Alex could almost hear Don roll his eyes on the other end of the line.

  "Come on, Alex, I don't have any extra energy today. Why don't you put Mike to work for a change? He's got a hell of a nose on him and he shouldn’t have any trouble tracking the kitsune from the last area I gave you.”

  Alex eyed the oversized dog bed taking up the majority of the cramped office. Mike slept on his back, all four legs in the air like a dead cockroach. "Hope you have the name of your Healer friend handy, because I'm going to need one if I suggest that to Mike."

  "Offer him a Scooby Snack or something."

  "I'll give it a try." Alex paused again, not sure whether he should say something. Don was self-sufficient by nature, but.... "You guys need anything? I'm a little tied up here, but I can try to make it out to help with chores."

  "We're fine, Alex. Catch your kitsune. Everyone will sleep better without Nightmares roaming the streets."

  "No Don?" Jamie asked when Alex hung up the phone.

  "Not today."

  "So what now?"

  Alex glanced down at the incident list on his desk. "I guess we head back out with the traps this evening. We can track the Hunt’s movement through the reports and...." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "Maybe Mike can try sniffing the kitsune out.”

  Mike's upper lip curled, showing his canines, and he growled at whatever monster he chased in his dreams.

  "I think he heard you," Jamie said.

  Mike jerked once and then flipped over, on his feet before Alex could blink. Hackles raised, his faint dream growl become the real thing as he crept towards the room's back door an inch at a time.

  "Easy, Mike," Alex said. "It's only a dream."

  Mike held his ground, his growl growing louder and more insistent until the saliva at the corner of his mouth started to foam.

  "What's wrong with him?" Jamie asked.

  "No clue." Alex pushed back from his desk and went to Mike's side. "Must have been some bad dream, partner." Alex pushed the door open, hoping that Mike would calm down once he realized there was nothing there. A light breeze tainted with the smell of exhaust blew last year’s leftover dead leaves along the concrete. "See, nothing...."

  Alex stopped as a black fox sporting three tails ambled down the alley as if he owned the place.

  The kitsune bowed its head slightly as it walked through the door. He wound in and out of Mike's legs, flicking his tails in the wolf's face.

  "Enjoy your chase last night?" Alex asked.

  "Immensely," the kitsune said, brushing some imaginary dirt off his suit jacket.

  "I'm glad you're having fun." Alex closed the door a bit more forcefully than necessary.

  "Aren't you?"

  "No."

  The kitsune smiled at Jamie. He glided across the room, taking her hand and raising it to his lips. "How about you?" he asked. "Are you having fun, Miss...?"

  Jamie blushed and Alex felt something start to gnaw its way out of his stomach. "Let go of her," he said.

  The kitsune smiled. "I think the lady can speak for herself.”

  "You can call me Jamie."

  "What a lovely name. Mine is Charlie. Charlie Todd.

  Alex scoffed, walking across the room so that he was back in the kitsune's line of sight. "What kind of name is that?"

  Charlie dropped Jamie's hand. "A name that my family has passed down for generations. One of my ancestors was a bit…non-traditional."

  Goosebumps broke out along Alex’s arm as the kitsune's smile faded and his congenial gaze chilled to a frosty glare. Alex wasn't sure if it was him or the man's relatives that sparked such a change in demeanor. He worried it was the former.

  Charlie's eyes thawed as quickly as they had frozen over. "I'm hungry. Take me to lunch and we can discuss this safe home of yours. I'm bored with the Hunt."

  "There's a diner up the street,” Alex offered.

  Charlie winkled his nose in disgust. "Sushi," the kitsune said.

  Alex forced himself to smile. Of course the fox wanted sushi.

  "I hear Yokozuma is good," Jamie said.

  "Sushi Train is more like it," Alex grumbled.

  Chapter 5

  "I don't like it," Charlie said, turning a slow circle in the center of the living room.

  Alex shrugged. The safe house had seen its share of use. The once blue carpet had faded to the color of dirty lake water and a distinct path had been tread from the couch to the kitchen. A few stray paw prints decorated the furniture from the last time they had used the place. He flipped the light switch. Three of the four bulbs flickered to life. The marginally improved lighting didn't help the appearance of the living room. "It's only for one night."

  Charlie's upper lip wrinkled until his teeth showed. The enamel gleamed against his dark skin.

  "I could probably get you a kennel if you prefer." Alex wasn't sure which was worse—a wolf that still acted like a human or a kitsune in human form that still acted like a fox.

  "I suppose this will have to suffice." Charlie pulled a white handkerchief from his jacket pocket and laid it on the couch cushion. He smoothed the material then perched on top of it. "You promised the young vixen would join us."

  "Jamie,” Alex snapped. “Her name is Jamie." It was going to be one hell of a long night.

  Charlie lifted an eyebrow, his eyes gleaming. "Of course."

  They sat in silence, each unwilling to break the other's gaze. Alex could hear the wall clock in the kitchen tick by the seconds. One Mississippi...two Mississippi.... Somewhere around twenty, Charlie smiled and turned to stare out the large picture window overlooking the front lawn.

  The bite wound on Alex's thumb throbbed as he relaxed.

  "Have you ever faced a Hunt before?" Charlie asked.

  "Once." The word balled up in Alex's throat, threatening to choke him.

  Planes slept dormant on the tarmac in the early morning hours. Baggage carts sat abandoned, their canvas covers flapping gently in the night breeze. Light glowed from the windowed walls of the terminal, but no figures stood at the glass. Somewhere packages were being loaded on cargo planes bound for Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Paris, New York.... Somewhere third shift airline workers swapped the latest gossip over stale coffee.... Somewhere janitors waged battle against the invasion of refuse and germs left behind by the travelers that passed through the airport every day.... Somewhere people packed the last items into their suitcases.... But here things were quiet. Here the world waited.

  "Do you still hear them?" Mike asked as they walked along a wide yellow line painted down the center of the asphalt.

  "No." Alex had lost track of the hounds’ bark a few minutes prior. Apparently so had Mike. "Maybe they lost the scent."

  "I doubt we'd be that lucky."

  The sharp staccato of hooves on concrete made Alex jump. He spun around, gun in hand, trying to isolate the direction of the sound as it echoed off the buildings around them.

  Mike grabbed his shoulder and pointed. "There."

  The hounds had given up their cry because they'd found their quarry. A young faun, barely old enough to be separated from its family, cowered in the center of a circle of soot colored dogs the size of lions. The sound of hoof beats grew louder. Alex could see the glow of the Nightmares' fiery manes and tails in the distance. "What do we do now?"

  Mike shook his head. "Nothing."

  Something cold slithered do
wn Alex's spine. Mike was always the first to run in and save the day, even with the odds stacked against him. "We can't do nothing."

  "Too late. It's one thing to catch up with him before the Hunt, but now...they'd just as soon rip us apart as the faun. We can't.... They'll move on afterwards."

  It took all of Alex's effort to turn away from the faun and head back to the truck. Halfway there a scream shattered the night. The barrel of Alex's gun jerked erratically in his shaking hands. Taking a deep breath, he holstered his weapon before an accident occurred. Mike doubled over next to him, hands covering his ears.

  …cry ‘havoc’ and let slip the hounds of war…

  "One time too many for most," Charlie said.

  "Not you. You're playing with them."

  Charlie continued to gaze out the window. "I needed a change of scenery."

  "And now?"

  "Now I am bored of the Hunt. The vixen—Jamie—," he drug the syllables of her name out like a melody, "approaches with that mangy mutt you call a partner."

  ***

  Alex shifted in his lumpy armchair and tried to focus on the book in his hands. Charlie sat like a statue on his square of white silk, staring at the curtains. Alex didn’t know whether the kitsune was contemplating the drapes’ horrid retro pattern or trying to feel the world on the other side of the thick material. Either way the man’s stillness was disconcerting. He’d hardly moved all night

  Mike let out a sharp yelp. His paws twitched violently in his sleep, claws digging at the carpet fibers.

  "Easy, Mike,” Alex said.

  "The Hunt is awake." Charlie’s words were matter of fact.

  Alex knew what the numbers on his watch said before he looked. 1:01 AM. If it was possible to hate a moment of time…. "The protections the wizards laid down will hold."

  "Perhaps. Perhaps not." Charlie's attention wavered from the window for a moment as Jamie cried out from the bedroom.

  "They'll be angry that they can't pick up the scent. The whole city will sleep uneasy tonight.” Alex turned his attention back to the text in front of him, but the words refused to form themselves into coherent sentences. Alex let the book fall shut. Colostrum supplementation in orphaned unicorn foals wasn't gripping enough for the wee hours of the morning.