Guards tend to watch people going in, not people going out. It is like a natural law, what you don’t believe is there is almost impossible to see.

  No sooner had I walked out the front door than four big ugly guys came running down the street. Keeping my head shielded, I let them pass me. They were projecting power expecting to be feared. They were not human and I doubt anyone who saw them could do other than back away in fear. They were so busy running down that they didn’t even pause to see what was in front of them.

  A bit late, I understood that every had fallen back - everyone but me.

  What was it with supernaturals and those damn coats? Seriously, I had had enough of supes in long black leather coats. They all came across like fetish slash bondage people, but I doubted it really had anything to do with it. But I had problems with the damn Matrix-look – either too much TV or too little imagination.

  One of the supes was a straggler. He either couldn’t keep up, or he didn’t want to. As he ran past me, I heard him swear in surprise. I doubted he had recognized me, but he had noticed that I wasn’t like the rest of the people cringing in fear. Something had pinged his radar.

  I didn’t wait for the reason. I palmed a knife and jammed it with all my strength into the guy’s leg. With a twist I broke the ceramic blade. He might heal fast, but I hoped that a blade embedded in his thigh would screw things up. Then I pulled his head down on the metal handrail, breaking his nose and then followed up with breaking his jaw with the knife handle. He didn’t scream as the knife went in, but when I broke his nose and jaw, he gave up a muffled wet scream.

  Without waiting for the others to react I ran like hell towards the east, hoping I would get around the corner before one of them got me in their sights. I was almost at the corner when the shooting started. Thankfully nothing hit me.

  I was running like a demon through the shadows and all the dark places I could find. The streets were dark and the small walkways between the houses were even more so. That gave me long stretches of paths where I could run flat out.

  I tried to take everything in as I was running away from my pursuers, to do my best to keep my lead. My senses flooded me with information as I concentrated on being aware of my surroundings and running the hell away.

  I was aiming for a nearby park. My pursuers would be in their element there, but so would I. I had no intention of letting them get the best of me, but I needed space to take them out, to make sure that they couldn’t follow me anymore. Severely injured would do, but if I had to, I would take them down. I doubted that I could fight three or four weres at the same time. I would have to even the odds.

  I could hear faint sounds from about a block behind me – sounds that were in no way human. From the sounds, it seemed that there were still only three – and they were slipping further behind.

  They were careless and missing the trail every now and again. Even though I was masking my scent as much as I could while using my powers, they would be able to track it. The long jumps I did every now and again together with the weak scent made it harder for them to follow. If I remembered what Gemini had told me, the werewolves had better sense of smell than any other breed, so they would probably find me eventually. Slower than they would be used to, due to my talent, but still able to track me. They reminded me of dogs, running around sniffing hoping to find something.

  Running into the park I picked up the scents of other weres. New scents and old scents, some days old, but still recognizable. There weren’t that many tracks, but more than I would have thought.

  There was also a barrier of a sort. I felt like a warning and a resistance as I passed through it. It was like it wanted to repel me but then let me inside. I could feel something almost clinging to me as I headed deeper into the park, like oil on my skin. This must be how they made sure regular humans did not stumble into the park at the wrong time.

  There were a lot of animal scents in the park. And I mean a lot! I could identify wolves and cats, but the other scents were unknown to me.

  Then it hit me; it had been the new moon four days ago. It made perfect sense – where did big weres turn into to beasts in a city if they couldn’t get to the wilderness? The parks, of course. Perhaps old, abandoned factory properties and things like that as well. The parks would be better if they could keep the activities from being noticed by humans. In some of the parks and fenced-in areas they would be able to move around almost as they liked.

  They had to police the supernaturals in some way. And, they would have to have a way to put a lid on things if someone noticed big fucking animals roaming the parks. Or if they snapped a picture or video. I would bet money that they had their fingers in every type of first responder units out there, to keep it all under wraps.

  But most parks would have to be sheltered by more than just bad lighting and fear of unsavory characters, if the weres ran around in there. Most parks were too open for anything too conspicuous.

  Even though the park I had enetered wasn’t much of a park, it had enough of open spaces and places to hide to set up an ambush. Now, if I only could get them far enough from the streets and buildings so no bystanders would be in danger.

  I wished I was in the woods and not in a damn piss-poor excuse for park.

  Running flat out was amazing. It was such a sense of freedom that I can’t even begin to explain it. In running silently through the shadows, not letting anyone see or hear me, it became a deadly game that I took enormous pleasure in. My eyes caught every movement. Out on the street, outside of the park, some joggers almost triggered my hunting instincts.

  There were so many new things to learn. If I could stay alive long enough and keep my promises. Otherwise, it would not be living. Not for me. Breaking the oath I had made was unthinkable.

  All those thoughts brought back my anger. I snarled silently as I ran towards the baseball fields in the south end of the park. They would give me a good field of fire. There were some possible escape routes as well if I botched it.

  I settled down close to a shed. The position wasn’t ideal, but at least I had a clear field of fire and no risk to bystanders if they came from the right way.

  I didn’t like the fact that there were so many roads crisscrossing the area. It limited my field of fire, even if it increased my escape routes. But it was the best I could find, since I didn’t like to fire my gun into more populated areas if I could avoid it. I had never hit a bystander so far, and I wasn’t about to start either.

  They came scuttling out of the shadows in a tight group. If I had had a sniper rifle, I could have shot them all with one shot on several occasions. Obviously, dispersion wasn’t taught at supe-school. Idiocy seemed to be the norm, or perhaps they really thought themselves so superior that they had no need for caution. Maybe they were all like Freaky Fred – no brain and all arrogance in the most stupid of combinations.

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  Two of them had changed into wolves and were snarling and snuffling around the baseball field trying to pick up the scent. Why they even let these guys out on their own was a mystery to me. They were running around playing the perfect targets.

  They were fast and agile, but they were moving in patterns. They were using their senses, but not their brains. If they had any clear thought, it should have been “why the hell does the trail go straight towards the most isolated and open space in the whole park?” But no, they were sniffing along like happy little dogs.

  I was only ten meters from the batting cage, behind some bins. They should at least have been suspicious, but they walked straight into it. I fired two shots at the nearest wolf, knowing that the others would try and rush me instead of running away. Two shots. Dead center. And then one in the head. And down he went.

  The other wolf jumped towards me with his jaws open. I shot him in the face, or rather the snout, with two rapid shots.

  The third rushed me like some enraged bull with his arms outstretched looking decidedly silly. I let him come at me. I needed to know how strong I was compared to one of the regular weres. And now was as good a time as any. Not to mention that this guy fought stupid.

  I had been too cautious and afraid when I had fought Lexi Hill. She had been good, and considering what she said and how she talked to Sam, she was one of their best. I had gotten lucky that time, so this time I was going for skill.

  I could feel how powerful he was, and compared to Lexi he wasn’t that strong, but he was stronger than the other two. He might be the strongest in this group, but I felt I was much stronger than him.

  The guy was big. A little over two meters – perhaps even two-ten. He had long hair, not that well-kept, and he smelled like he had slept in those clothes for quite a while. His eyes were glowing yellow, but he hadn’t changed.

  I met him head on, ducking under his arms and kicking him in the stomach with powerful roundhouse kick. There was a loud whoosh as the guy’s air disappeared and he got sent several yards back.

  That made him cautious and confused. Like this isn’t how it was supposed to go.

  “Don’t,” I warned him as he crouched to spring at me again. “You talk and you’ll live. For now!”

  He looked a little lost, not really knowing what to do. He must have felt that he was outclassed. He hesitated and then took a good look at me, trying to measure my strength and dominance.

  I walked towards him relaxed but angry. He was too weak, too submissive to be any real threat. “You don’t stand a chance.” I sounded certain, and I was. I knew he stood no chance. I also knew he had to try again.

  He jumped, going for more speed, but this time with more control. To me he was slow.

  I didn’t even move. I caught his hands, pulled him downwards and head-butted him in the face as hard as I could. His head snapped back and the force of the blow threatened to throw him on his back, but I held on to his wrists.

  I turned with his hands still in an iron grip and with a hard pull made him fly forward again. Almost gently I stepped to the side, letting go of one arm, making sure the other was wrenched out of its socket as he twisted around.

  He slumped to the ground with a muffled howl, conscious but in pain.

  I grabbed his neck with one of my hands letting claws come out and nick his neck. I growled low, waiting for the whimper I knew would state my victory. And he did whimper, low and pleading.

  “Now,” I said brushing some sand off my trousers, “we talk. I always seem to be out of time when I talk to one of you guys, and you always make things messy. I don’t really want messy, so if you’d please answer my questions, and we’ll all go home tonight. Well, maybe not those guys, “I said and pointed at the tow I had shot. He had changed back to human and was flopping around like a newly landed fish, “but the rest of us may. Okay, that would be just you and me. If you cooperate, you stand a very good chance of walking away. Otherwise, I’ll be the only one walking away.”

  I stood over the man, watching him for the slightest indication of an attack. But he seemed defeated. I stood straight, overshadowing him, dominating his personal space, and he let me.

  The man refused to look at his friends. “What do you want to know?” His voice was low and empty of all emotion, but he smelled of fear.

  I didn’t like that of all the feelings I could sense it was fear that gave me the biggest rush. A predator or high-ranking pack predator would feel the rush of being more powerful or higher ranking than another, but the human in me was disgusted.

  Right then I hated myself.

  I was acting on instinct and it was paying off. Perhaps Gemini was wrong about me. Maybe I wasn’t a Doppelg?nger, but just a were who matured differently.

  “I need to know who was at Tony’s Groceries. Do you know what I’m talking about?” Thinking of Tony made my claws come out again.

  Teeth were lengthening, claws were almost fully formed and the end of my hands, and I could feel my ears were lengthening and moving. It all felt natural and that scared the shit out of me. I had had years being me and now two weeks of being a freak and it was all natural? I didn’t know if my eyes were glowing, but I definitely felt the rage.

  “They were five…” He whispered. “Derek, Lexi, Martin, Phil, and Paul…Paul didn’t come back.” He looked up at me then. “Paul was our Tracker. He was the first true Tracker in fifty years. Did you kill him?”

  I knew that he had recognized me. “Yeah, I killed him.” I answered.

  “Good.” The man said with more feeling than he had anything else he had said. I could sense him relaxing a little.

  “Okay…” I said, not really knowing what to say.

  “He was high on power. And not his own. As a Tracker he was protected by our alphas, and he made everyone else’s life hell. No one could challenge him, because Derek wouldn’t allow it. Are you going to kill me?” There was resignation in his voice.

  “No, not if I can avoid it. Only those who killed Tony. Everyone else can fuck off and die, as far as I’m concerned. Though I will kill anyone that interferes. If they do, they are fair game. Understood?” I made the change recede.

  The man gasped. “I have never seen anyone being able to stop the change that fast! I can stop it from happening, but I can’t stop it beyond a certain point! I know that powerful alphas can do that, but I have never seen anyone doing it that fast!”

  I just shook my head. If he thought I had control, he was wrong. I was sprouting teeth and claws every time I got angry. That wasn’t control.

  I picked the man’s wallet out of his back pocket. Nick Carter was his name. Hmm, like the old SF comic book about the Martians.

  “Well, Nick Carter…I’m going to keep your driver’s license so I know where I can find you if I have to. I’m guessing you’re an upstanding citizen when you’re not furry, so I’ll have little trouble finding you, should I have need. You can go…”

  “You gonna’ kill Derek?” Nick Carter asked.

  “Oh yes, “I whispered with feeling. “Oh yes I am!”

  “You do it right then. You do the challenge right, and no one will question it. Speak the ritual words and challenge Derek, and no one else can interfere. That is if you can reach him to say it…” That could have been a threat, if it wasn’t for that dead voice and the smell of defeat.

  “Where is the pack lair? And what else can you tell me?”

  “The docks, Route 20. Towards the steel mills…a big old machine shop. Red and rust, you can’t miss it. Everyone think it is a front, but we have four underground stories with a lot of tunnels connecting us to the Underground.”

  Nick Carter had quickly spilled the beans on what little he knew about what was really going on. He had given me names, but only two addresses. I understood that he wasn’t that high in the packs pecking order. His whole attitude and submissiveness spoke against that. But what little he knew, he told me.

  They must have been calling on Dimitri for something else. I forgot to ask about that. They were definitely not expecting me, that much was clear.

  I already knew about Derek Carpenter and Lexi Hill. And Lexi and Paul were dead. Derek Carpenter , Martin Simmons, AKA Tony Marsh, and Phil Drummond were the remaining men. Martin Simmons was the Bounty Hunter and ran the pack’s security. It was tight security, according to Nick Carter, but conventional. Phil Drummond worked the pack’s Parcel and Delivery business. And I had gotten Phil’s address.

  I didn’t need to know more about Derek. He would be the last anyway. Unless I got lucky and ran across him in some alley.

  I had scratched Lexi off the list. Or rather the hospital had done that. She died of an allergic reaction to the treatment. It was probably silver in her treatment that had caused her heart to stop in her weakened state.

  I was trying to sort everything in my mind when I felt someone entering the park. They were announcing themselves. Someone not human. Someone really powerful!

  I seemed to have had an unprecedented amount of luck with the supernaturals so far. The more I learned the more I knew that me managing to kill Freaky Fred had been a fluke of astronomical odds. And Lexi dying in the hospital was almost unheard of.

  The new presence was closing in fast.

  “Get out of here, Nick…someone else is about to pay me a visit.” I turned my back on him and walked away towards the source of my discomfort.

  “Remember what I said, Maria.” It was the first time he had used my name. “I will tell no one about this…I just woke up after being unconscious and you were gone…” And with that Nick slipped away into the darkness.