Things heat up a lot in this chapter. Plus you find out a little more about Kate. Please be sure to vote and comment! I love hearing from my readers.
Jaisen.
Sunday went quietly. The boys called to update Eric and Kate on rabbit and coyote hunts and to see if everything was still quiet. Eric checked the alarms he had set around the house and Kate tried to stay busy with what housework she could muster. After dinner, they sat down and watched a movie before finally heading to bed. Eric was getting antsy. He wasn't sure if waiting for the attack wasn't worse than actual battle. He knew it would be ugly, but felt he could handle that. He'd been in combat before. Kate was nervous and when they finally did go to bed, they snuggled close. Kate fell asleep first, while Eric swore he woke up at every tick of the clock.
It was just after four in the morning when there was a clatter by the French doors. Eric had piled empty tin cans up on the inside out of sight of the windows.
"Eric," Kate whispered.
"I hear them." He was slowly getting out of bed.
"Be careful!"
Eric shot her a look that said of course he would.
"The collar!" she whispered.
Eric rolled his eyes, grabbed the collar and dropped it over his shoulders. He really didn't want to take the damned thing, but she had a point. If this did spill out into the street, she at least deserved the right body to bury if things went wrong.
He grabbed the handgun off the dresser as well. Opening the door slowly, he slid around the corner. Peering down the hall, he didn't see anything, although his nose told him that there were at least two of them in the house. Luna was beginning to woof and Gretchen was barking in that odd half choked noise she made. Eric moved farther down the hall. Andy's door was still closed and the paper was still stuck in the frame. No one had come in that way.
He was almost to the kitchen when one of the cats came ripping around the corner all fuzzed out and hissing. Eric could hear other growls as Polo the big Siamese tomcat confronted whatever was in the dining room. Polo wasn't afraid of dogs, which in this instance might not be a good thing. Eric used the noise as cover to move into the kitchen. Near the stove was the pot rack, which gave him a chance to peek across the rest of the kitchen and into the dining room without being seen. He could see the wolves trying to decide whether to eat the small fuzzy grey cat or just smack it out of the way. Luna and Gretchen were starting to bark louder downstairs. The basement door reverberated with the sound.
Eric knew he could shoot at least one wolf. Question was, could he hit the second one? Either way, he had to give it a chance. They were both still distracted by the myriad of cats in the room. He braced himself on the stove, aimed through the pot rack and squeezed off the first shot. He aimed and fired again before the retort of the first shot had finished ringing in his ears. Waiting a second, and not taking his eyes off of the wolves, he slowly moved forward. Neither wolf moved. From the vantage point of the doorway, he put two more bullets into the heads of the animals laying on the floor.
*
Kate jumped when the first shots went off. She was out the door with the rifle in her hands at the second set. She moved down the hall like Eric had showed her, looking before stepping out. When she got to the kitchen, she could see the smoke from the gunshots still in the air.
"Eric?" she said softly.
"I'm in the dining room."
Kate walked around the corner and saw the two dead wolves on the floor with Eric kneeling over them. Fluff, the grey cat was still hissing from the window frame.
"Is it over?"
"No, I think there is still one more..." he stopped suddenly, realizing that Luna and Gretchen were no longer barking. They were whining. "Shit! Kate, get back to the bedroom fast." He was starting to move towards the basement door.
Kate had almost made it back across the kitchen when the basement door splintered into a million pieces and the biggest wolf she'd ever seen appeared on the landing.
Eric was moving fast, and trying to shift. Kate was in the way, and he refused to fire. He didn't know if he would make it in time.
Kate saw the wolf head towards them and froze for a second. Realizing that she didn't have time to aim the rifle, she used it like a club. She brought it up in the path of the charging wolf. The rifle caught it across the bottom of the jaw and upper chest. The wolf spun to the right, taking it away from her and Eric. The impact was enough to jar the rifle out of her hands. The wolf moved back towards them, shaking it's head. Kate moved towards the hall door, moved through it and slammed it. She braced against it as the wolf hit it hard enough to rattle the teeth in her head.
Eric had seen Kate club the wolf and was part of the weight that impacted the door as she slammed it shut. He was on top of the other wolf trying to bite it's neck. The two wolves, one with a dark blue collar, rolled and fought. There were breaking dishes, knocked down pans. The two wolves trashed the kitchen.
Eric slipped in something sticky, and the other wolf broke the hold. It took that moment to run down the stairs and out the basement door which it had broken through earlier. Eric was in fast pursuit. The two started to fight again in the far corner of the back yard where Eric caught up to the other wolf just before it jumped the fence. The snarls and growls were causing lights to flip on in neighboring houses.
Kate had gotten to her feet and headed towards the bedroom to look out the window. She got there just in time to see Eric's tail sail over the fence in pursuit of the other wolf.
Still shaking, she went to see if Luna and Gretchen were okay. Both were downstairs cowering in the corner of the laundry room. Luna had a cut on her muzzle and Gretchen had bites on her muzzle and front paws. Kate knew she could wait to treat these injuries. She gave them each a dog treat and then headed back upstairs.
*
Looking at the carcasses in the dining room made her head spin. Neither had shifted back into human form which made things easier. Eric said that they wouldn't, but she still hadn't been sure. Now to call the police and Ronny.
Dialing the police had been the easy part. They were actually already on the way. The neighbors had reported the gun shots. James was at the back door before she had time to hang up the phone. He walked in and they met in the kitchen. Kate literally flew right into him. He gave her a quick hug, and asked her what happened. Kate lead him to the dining room and pointed at the dead animals on the floor.
"What the?...." he started to say and then turned back to Kate.
Kate by this time was trying to be calm, and yet not vomit. There was blood seeping everywhere as well as bits of brain on the floor.
"Kate, what happened? Where's Eric?" James said softly.
"They... they broke through the doors." She pointed to the remains of the French doors. "Er... Eric heard the noise and grabbed his gun. The cats were howling and hissing and the dogs were barking and..." She stopped, as another sheriff came in the dining room at this point.
"Go check downstairs. Now," James told his deputy. He had seen the remains of the basement door, and wondered what on earth had come through that door if this was what was in the dining room.
"Then what happened Kate?" he said in a low voice as he moved her back towards the kitchen.
