Page 10 of Stealthy as a Wolf

While snakes might have good eyesight, they had piss-poor hearing. Even when they were in human form, they relied more on vibrations than their ears to register sounds. And even at this distance, I could tell these two goons were just grunts, hired for their brawn rather than their brains.

“I don’t understand why we can’t just kill them now and dump the bodies,” the second snake whined after he nearly went sprawling when he slipped on a puddle of congealed blood. “No one would need to know.”

The other stooge grunted and grabbed the feet of the next body, glaring at his companion. “Fangs would know, then it would beourcorpses that would get dumped on a dark night.”

He aimed a pointed look at the other end of the body, and they both got back to work. When they lifted, the wound on the body gaped open, blood and guts spilling to the ground in a slurpy mess. The one in charge cursed and dropped his end of the body. It landed with a thud, and he placed his hands on his hips, glaring down at the corpse, as if pissed at the man for dying and inconveniencing him.

“Clean that shit up,” he barked.

The first goon just scratched his forehead, a confused look on his face. “How?”

While the two men bickered back and forth, I glanced at the cat at my side, then nodded toward the second van. Understanding darkened his bright green eyes, and he nodded back, then took the lead. Even injured, he was light on his feet, not making even a whisper of sound as he moved. I followed, wincing when the barely there scuff of my boots on the gravelly pavement rang like thunder in my ears.

I froze for a second, waiting for a shout, expecting someone to tackle me to the ground, only it never came. Knowing time was of the essence, I resolutely kept my eyes glued on the van, refusing to look behind me.

I didn’t need the distraction.

When the cat went to walk around the front of the van, I reached out and pointed toward the passenger seat. He was in no condition to drive. His lips tightened, a scowl darkening his face. When he tightened his grip around his torso, no doubt to protest, a fresh wave of blood trickled down his abdomen, and I just raised my brow at him in challenge.

He rolled his eyes with a silent huff before he accepted defeat and nodded. It was all the permission I needed. I hurried around the front of the van, stopping just outside the door, and stared at the cat through the windows. We would have to move quickly. Once we opened the doors, the noise would give away our presence.

A glance down showed the keys were still in the ignition.

I held up my fingers, then counted down.

Three.

Two.

One.

As I curled down my last finger, I lifted the latch and yanked open the door.

The horrible screech of rusty hinges shattered the silence, like a beast was trying to crawl out of the gates of hell.

“Hey!” The shout from the two snakes jolted me into action, and I threw myself into the van, wrenching the door shut behind me. I fumbled with the keys, breathing a sigh of relief when the engine turned over.

I slipped the vehicle into gear, then slammed my foot down on the gas pedal.

The van lurched backward.

Ooops!

Two very distinct thumps landed heavily against the rear doors, hard enough to leave dents in the metal. I winced but refused to look behind me while I yanked down the gearshift, wrenched it into drive, and mashed my foot on the gas again.

The vehicle shot forward this time with a squeal of tires, then lurched wildly, and I swallowed down the bile that rose in my throat at knowing I probably just ran over a freaking person!

Twice!

At least it wasn’t my vehicle this time! Having to pick out all the blood and hair and bits of people from the undercarriage fucking sucked.

I didn’t let up as we careened down the road, looking obsessively in the mirrors for signs of pursuit, barely watching where I was going. I was going close to seventy miles per hour as I hit the edge of town and barreled into the inky darkness of midnight.

Since I researched the town before I moved here, I knew every street, every alley, every maintenance road. Only when we were five miles out of town with no signs of pursuit did my heart rate finally settle back into normal rhythm, and my brain began to function again.

“Listen, I’m just going to grab my bag, then head toward the train station. You can drop me off and take the van.” An awkward silence greeted me, stretching from one minute to two.

I spared him a quick glance, then cursed when I saw the man was slumped unconscious against the door, his head resting at an awkward angle on the window. Another glance showed blood was still oozing sluggishly from the slashes across his abdomen.

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