The Night Beat

you,” Jack snarled.
    “Me? You’re the one acting all Call of the Wild.” I managed to scramble away and off the bed. Sadly, Jack was between me and the Necropolis slide point. “So what’s up with you and Susan the Dispatcher?”
    “Come on. Animals aren’t monogamous.”
    “Wolves are.”
    As Jack lunged across the bed at me and I leaped out of the way, all the angelic warnings coursed through my mind. Ken’s worries, too. They’d been worried about Jack’s ability to face the Prince because they were picking up something wrong with him. Something I’d either never noticed or ignored.
    I focused now, while he played with me. It was play, too. He’d lunge, I’d leap, he’d bat at me, I’d scramble out of the way. He never let me get near enough to the slide point to cross over and he also blocked my path to the door. He was good, I had to give him that. Too good for a brand new undead.
    “How did you do it?” I asked as I tried to leap over his head and got batted down onto the bed again.
    “Do what?”
    “Fool me, fool the others.”
    He flipped me onto my stomach and pinned me. His muzzle was next to my ear. “It was easy. You wanted a mate so badly. And you had one, right in front of you. That had to be stopped before it could start.”
    “What are you talking about?” I tried to crawl out from under, but he was using his full weight to hold me. I decided to focus on the more pressing point. “How did you give us away?”
    He chuckled. “It was easy. You were so trusting. I could do anything, you weren’t paying attention. But get over it. It’s time to follow your heart. After all, you’re in love with me.”
    “Not any more.”
    “You promised. None in between us, forever.” His voice was a deep, terrifying growl. “You promised on sanctified ground.”
    Something slammed into Jack and his weight was off me. I rolled to see Ralph between me and Jack. “She’s not her mother, and you’re not taking her.”
    Jack shifted again. Only this time, he wasn’t in wolf or werewolf form. And while he looked human, he sure didn’t look like himself. He looked just like Little Harp. He smiled, and it was the most evil thing I’d ever seen. “Bet me, dog-boy.”

Chapter 57
     
    The Adversary, or at least part of him, was in my bedroom. Inside, point of fact, my until-just-now boyfriend. Meaning I’d slept with the Adversary at least once. Did things get better than this?
    Yes, they did, if by “better” I meant “really, horribly worse”.
    Ralph and Little Harp attacked at the same time. Ralph was all angry, protective werewolf in action, but Little Harp was using Adversary-type skills, including a set of horrific claws I’d only seen on the vamps in major Nosferatu mode. He slashed while Ralph bit and clawed, and they both rolled around my room. Well, until they crashed through the walls. Then they rolled through the living and dining areas, right before they flipped and slid onto the Necropolis side, I assumed to destroy the other half of my living quarters. Not that I was too focused on that.
    I tried to get into the fight, but they were flipping around so much it was impossible to be sure I’d bite the right being. Ralph was holding his own, but I didn’t think it was going to last, especially since I could see him bleeding from a variety of locations. Sadly, I got the feeling Little Harp wasn’t trying too hard. They did like to play with their prey, as I recalled, when they felt they had the time.
    And he seemed to have the time. What was a shock, once we were on the other side, was that no one else was there. I knew for a fact Sexy Cindy and the others had gone to sleep over here. So, where were they? I sniffed -- nowhere around. I didn’t smell death, so hopefully they’d just wandered off for some strange reason.
    The Adversary was playing, but Ralph wasn’t looking good. I ran for my weapons room. But I’d already shown Jack where that was, so the Adversary blocked me. By throwing Ralph at me. Showy, but effective. Ralph slammed into me and we both slammed into the wall. Meanwhile, Little Harp sauntered into my weapons room. This was definitely on the “horribly worse” side of things.
    He sauntered out carrying what looked like an elephant gun. Well, it was an elephant gun, but it was modified into a Duster. Yeah, I was one of the beings entrusted with one. “Nice,” he said to me, grinning widely. “All loaded for me, too. What a good girl you