Lupi 08 - Death Magic

Shuddered. “Yes.”
    She went to him and put her arms around him. “I’ll live if you will.”
    “You can’t promise that.”
    “Tough. I am anyway.”
     
     
    1225 N. Hammond was a box. It had once had pretensions toward being a house, but the shape was all that was left; the roof lacked much in the way of shingles and the windows were gaping holes. The front door tilted drunkenly, a single hinge being insufficient to hold it upright.
    It didn’t stand out all that much in this neighborhood. The Mercedes did, but that couldn’t be helped. “Okay,” Lily told Mike. “Chris and Scott should be in place by now. Let’s go.”
    If Mullins did need backup, he’d be getting it. Lily hadn’t waited for Rule to tell her to take guards with her. She’d asked for Scott and three men of his choosing, one of whom was really good at sneaking. The sneak he picked was Shannon, a skinny young guy they’d dropped off a couple blocks up. The other two were a Nokolai she knew and liked named Chris . . . and Mike of the bad attitude and broken table.
    She thought she knew what Scott was doing. Rule had taken Mike down hard and publically. This was his chance to redeem himself. But Mike must also be nearly as good as he thought he was, or Scott wouldn’t have taken the chance.
    At least she hoped so.
    The abandoned house didn’t offer much in the way of cover, so Lily hoped Scott and Chris were good at sneaking, too. She wanted them as close as possible. They couldn’t use phones to stay in touch; even texts were out, since the lit screen would give away their positions. But Scott had said five minutes, and she trusted him.
    Unlike most lupi, Scott was good with a gun, plus he’d learned the basic hand signals Nokolai used. Chris, being Nokolai, knew them all, including ASL, which was more than Lily did. But she knew enough to direct them silently, if necessary ... and if they could keep a visual on her.
    That was why Mike walked beside her down the dirty sidewalk instead of one of the others. He didn’t know the hand signals. He didn’t have a gun, either, but he made a fine display of strength—which wasn’t his main purpose, but it didn’t hurt.
    Lily had her weapon out, though she kept it at her side. Even if someone in the houses they passed could see what she held, she didn’t think they’d call the cops. “You have any problems taking orders from a woman, Mike? You could take me in a fight. Maybe you think you should be in charge here.”
    “You’re a Chosen. My Rho’s Chosen.”
    “Which means you think I’m cool as cream cheese, but doesn’t answer the question.”
    He was silent a moment. “Rule said we are to obey you as long as your orders do not contradict his. He also said you are a warrior. LeBron said that, too. I don’t know Rule well enough to know what he means by that word, but I knew LeBron. I can take orders from a warrior.”
    Startled, she glanced up at him. Way up. “You knew LeBron?”
    “We trained together. Fought together. He was a good man.”
    “He was.” And she wished fiercely and futilely he was walking beside her now . . . but in a way, he was. In a way he was still watching out for her. It was his word that inclined Mike to trust her to lead.
    Across the street a dog barked over and over—the endless repetitive barking of a bored and lonely animal. The wind was up, blowing Lily’s hair in her face. Should’ve grabbed an elastic to hold it back. It wasn’t doing much to dispel the cloud cover, though; Lily could see a glow behind those clouds where the full moon rode low in the west, but it was dark down here.
    Mike could probably see pretty well. Lots better than she could, anyway. “You ever worked with a human?”
    “Not this kind of work.”
    “Compared to you, I’m scent-blind. I don’t hear half what you do, and to me it’s still too dark to see much. Don’t assume I see, smell, or hear what you do.”
    “Maybe you don’t see the guy leaning against the wall of the house next to our target, then. He’s in the shadow.”
    “Ah—no. Wait. Now I do.” He’d moved toward the front of the house. The houses were spaced closely, with only a narrow strip between; that strip was completely black to Lily’s eyes.
    “Can’t see his face well, but what I see matches the description you gave me of Mullins.”
    The man beckoned urgently at them. Lily broke into a quick jog. “If he draws, take him down.”
    A whisper reached her as she drew near.