"So how are we doing this?" Alex spoke out while clenching his fists, his ears lifted sharply forward.
"I say we just hit them by surprise. There's no mistake which ones they are. I could have a bullet in both their heads before they have a chance to shift." I showed my teeth in a sneer while focusing on the road.
"You haven't even killed yet Alice, are you going to be okay with that?" Alex prodded me with concern in his voice.
My eyes shifted to red while I chewed on my lower lip. "Normally, I would say no. These guys aren't mundane though..." I felt heat fill my chest and showed my teeth in a snarl. "Besides... I can't stop thinking that a kid was involved."
"We may yet be able to commune with them, they are not rabid, perhaps they are just lost." Gloria frowned as she spoke the words gently.
"You're kidding, right?" I shifted my eyes to the dog sitting next to me. "These guys killed a mother and child, you think there's any redemption from that?"
Gloria frowned and looked away with her one open eye. Alex cleared his throat from between us. "I'm not opposed to trying. If Gloria thinks it's worth a shot, I have no reason to argue with an angel."
The retriever smiled at the wolf. "Thank you, Alex. I simply wish to avoid any more death if we can help it."
"So I'm getting outvoted eh?" I shook my head and sighed. "This is going to be a shit show, but we will do it your way, love."
"Thank you, I'm sorry, my rabbit." Gloria put her hand to her chest and offered a silent prayer.
Tracking the two lycanthropes was a simple matter with the celestial's ritual spell. We followed them to the east side of the city where the crime was more common and the reach of law less secure. It stood to reason they would be in the slummy areas of the town, it's pretty hard to find easy lone targets in the bustling tourist areas.
We parked the car several blocks from their present location and piled out of the little red vehicle. I sighed and put my hands on my hips, looking between the two of them. "So how do we do this?"
"I will approach them and try to speak with them." Gloria spoke the words as if it would be a simple matter.
I frowned and rolled my eyes. "Cool and what's plan B when that backfires."
Gloria fixed me with a frown. "Have you so little faith in me, Alice?"
"My lack of faith is in them, not you." I fired back, clenching my fists.
"Okay okay... that's enough. We are losing time arguing." Alex spoke out above us. We both looked to him as he continued. "Gloria, you approach them, I and Alice will wait nearby out of sight. They will be more receptive to a lone celestial, me and Alice would just put them on edge."
"That sounds reasonable." Gloria gave a nod to the wolf while speaking.
"I'm keeping my guns trained on them, they show the slightest hostile intent I'm taking the shots." I spoke the words matter of fact, drawing my revolvers from my back holsters.
"Understood." Gloria gave me a nod.
We made our way to an intercept course with them and I clenched my teeth as I caught their silhouettes in the distance. "Hang on... there's three of them!" I spat out the words and stopped.
"You can already see them?" Gloria frowned at me.
"Crazy vampire senses remember?" I bumped the barrel of my gun to my temple. "This changes things, why are there three?"
"I only see two lycanthropes, the third is most certainly not one." The celestial nodded her head, as if focusing on her closed left eye. "Yes... though I can feel the power from them, they are not mundane..."
Alex showed his large sharp canines in a snarl. "Alright... it doesn't change our plans. We will stick to the original idea."
"Fine... which one isn't a were-creature?" I squinted as I looked ahead, seeing the trio slowly moving towards us.
"Mmm... the two lycanthropes are walking together." Gloria nodded, having closed both of her eyes to focus.
"Right..." I sighed out the word and could clearly see the third was following behind them, that made things a little easier.
"Alright Gloria, we've got your back." Alex gave her a grin.
"Yeah... be careful, my angel." I nodded to her and I and the wolf quickly slipped into the darkness of an adjoining alley.
"What do you think?" Alex spoke in a whisper into my ears while we waited.
"I think you're both stupid and I should have picked them off by now." I frowned and sighed. "But I love both of your dumb asses, so here we are."
The wolf showed me a confident grin. "Don't worry, I will protect her and you."
I gave him a long look, then closed my eyes thinking about the situation. I thought about my lovely wolf and my beautiful retriever. We were out of time and I opened my eyes, the irises blood red. I trained a gun on one of the men in the front and the third in the back.
Gloria blinked her left eye open a few times as the trio made their final approach. She stood before them on the sidewalk, her left hand upon her rosary. The two in the front were dressed in ragged torn shirts and jeans, most likely having shifted recently. The third in the back wore a long billowing duster and seemed to be dressed in clean, untattered clothes. The trio were all cats, judging by the ears and tail I would have guessed lynx most likely. I lifted my ears and focused to hear them.
"You pick a bad part of town to go for a walk alone in, sweetie." The leftmost male in the front spoke out. His skin looked dirty and he had several days of unshaved growth on his face.
"Yeah, what's a classy looking thing like you doing out here? Don't you know it's dangerous?" The second cat spoke the words out playfully. He was a bit larger in build than the other but shared the same complexion and skin tone.
Gloria met their gaze and her eyes shimmered gold. "Lost children, I know of your deeds. I offer you one and only one chance at redemption. Stand down and you may yet be saved from this path you walk!" She thrust her hand out, her will washing out like a wave of energy.
"What the fuck?" The rightmost cat hissed out.
The one in the back looked less surprised and threw his hand out. "She's a celestial you fools, I told you to keep it to one a night!"
The rightmost cat showed his teeth in a grin. "Fine with me, I've always wanted to taste one of those. Offer me redemption after I rape you and tear your throat out!"
My eyes focused in and shifted to a hot white at the cat's words. I squeezed the trigger on both my guns and all hell broke loose from there. I willed my fire through the thaumaturgy and both bullets became ablaze in white flames.
The first bullet found it's mark slamming into the rightmost lycanthropes head. There was a sickening thump of impact and the cat crumpled to the ground, the fires slowly spreading over his head. The second bullet hit some kind of force before the man in the back, I saw him stagger back a pace from the impact.
The first lycanthrope howled in fury and in the blink of the eye had shifted into a massive hulking form bigger than Alex's.
"A fucking bear?!" Alex barked out in shock. I heard threads and denim shred as he shifted to his own werewolf form.
"Go to Gloria!" I shouted out to the wolf and fired two more rounds at the cat behind the bear. I didn't even wait on the chambers in my gun to cycle, the microsecond the bullets had left the chamber I blurred towards the cat.
"He's a mage!" Gloria shouted out at me, her rapier drawn while she jumped from the bear's massive slam to the ground. The whole tile of sidewalk shifted at the impact, rocks and dirt scattering into the air.
The flaming bullets slammed into the field again and the cat staggered back from the blows once more. I was on top of him instantly, my teeth showing as I fired off two more rounds at a point-blank distance, again he parried them with some sort of invisible screen of power.
Harold had instructed me about mages. I knew they used their willpower to create all kinds of supernatural effects. When I asked him what I should do if I encountered one, he told me simply to keep the pressure up. Keep them using their power until they were too weak to fight back and then they were as powerful as a mundane.
The set of blasts from my fiery shots plainly had winded the cat. He showed his teeth and cut his yellow eyes up to my white ones. He didn't have the figure of the other two, it was sleeker and more frail-looking. I saw his lips part to speak and I fired off another shot.
He uttered a curse while focusing to deflect the shot. I had begun alternating the bullets, charging one with white fire and the other with red. It seemed to have the effect I wanted, his screen clearly weakening. The final bullets left the chamber of my revolvers and I simply dropped them to the ground knowing I wouldn't have time to reload them.
My hand moved to my whip and I chanced a glance towards Alex and Gloria. The wolf and bear were locked together mauling at one another with bites and paws. Gloria was practically dancing through their melee, her sword making precision stabs and slashes at the bear. Each touch of the holy silver blade left singed fur and burned flesh in its wake.
The mage had been on a knee panting when I glanced back to the two of them, it had been a mistake to do so. I turned back just in time for him to mutter a word and several blades of air launched towards me. I wasn't sure if I could deflect them with my whip or not. I decided better to just avoid them.
I darted between the gale of blades easily but the cat was just sending hundreds of them at me. I yelped out as one finally caught my shoulder. I had worn a jacket reinforced with a ballistic weave, but the blade sliced through it like it were paper. I snarled and gripped my shoulder with my left hand, feeling my blood pouring over my fingertips.
"Out of parol tricks, demon?" The cat showed his teeth at me in a victorious grin.
