The Night Beat

Hampering, maybe, but not slowing. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I could hear, and the sounds were awful. Miriam was one of my heroes, and he was killing her, slowly and with great malice aforethought.
    It’s risky to change form while you’re only holding onto something with your jaws, because the human bite is nothing like the werewolf one. But I needed hands, not paws. I took as deep a breath as I could, relaxed, and did the switch, grabbing his leg as my jaws lost their hold.
    It worked. I was still flying through the air attached to the Adversary. I considered my concept of “working” but decided to table it for when my feet were on terra firma. I wrapped my legs around his leg and started to climb up his body.
    This gave new meaning to the term “icky” but I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore what I felt moving under his clothes. It wasn’t Jack, it was the Adversary. It wasn’t someone I’d been in love with, it was my most sworn enemy.
    He was either vastly overconfident or Miriam was causing him to have to concentrate. Either way, I made it up to his neck. Then I wrapped my arms around it and squeezed. “Let her go.”
    He laughed. “If you insist.” He opened his hands and Miriam dropped like a stone. I saw Black Angel One catch her. Magdalena was still on our trail. “So brave. All of you. But you can make it stop.”
    “How’s that? By killing you? Good plan.” I squeezed harder.
    “No. By accepting your true place. I’ll let them all live, if you just acquiesce and come home with me. I promise.”
    He sounded calm and reasonable. I was exhausted and heartsick and, the moment I thought about it, frightened. Giving up sounded so safe and easy.
    The base of my tail wanted a word. “Really? You’ll just stop trying to kill all my friends and associates, stop trying to take over all the planes of existence? And all I need to do is say yes to you and go down to the depths of Hell as your baby-mamma?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Really. Does that offer cover Ken?”
    “Yes.”
    “Jude?”
    “Yes.”
    “How about Ralph?”
    I knew what the answer was going to be, before it came. I felt the Adversary flail about, felt the kick connect, heard Ralph’s canine whimper of pain, looked around to see him plummeting towards the buildings below. “No. He’s dusted. Sorry.”
    “Then I have nothing to lose, right?”
    “Right.”
    “That’s what I thought.” I flipped myself into the Adversary’s arms. “Let’s kiss and make up.”
    He smiled, and shifted to look like Jack again. “I knew you’d come around.”
    I wondered just how stupid the major minions really were. I shifted to werewolf form as I bit his neck again. Only this time, I wasn’t going to let go.

Chapter 58
     
    Jack, or whatever he was, really hadn’t been expecting me to bite him, if his reactions were any indication. He flailed about and I was happy to note he was having trouble flying. How he could fly without wings I didn’t know, but now seemed the wrong time to inquire.
    “Let go, you stupid bitch!”
    “Nuh-uh.” That was about all I could reply with that wouldn’t cause me to lose my hold. I took the opportunity to rake all four sets of claws against his chest and stomach. I couldn’t tell for sure about his body, but I knew the clothes he had on were trashed.
    He pried at my jaws. He was strong, but he wasn’t able to get me off. I wondered about this. I figured he’d been able to kick Ralph off because he’d been so badly injured. I wasn’t really hurt, so he wasn’t having the same effect on me.
    Of course, I wasn’t the only one able to put two and two together. Jack started hitting me, hard. “You want me to really make you hurt?” he snarled. “Let go, or I shred you like I did your pathetic wannabe-mate.”
    I sank my claws into his flesh, let go of his throat, and grabbed an arm with my jaws. I bit down, hard, and heard the happy sound of bone breaking and Jack screaming in pain. He was going to have to change forms soon, or this one was going to be trashed.
    He hit me with the other arm. Okay, I was happy to switch sides. Let go, grabbed the working arm, chomped down again, heard the bone crunch and the scream of pain. So far, so good. But at the same time, so very stupid.
    Jack wasn’t a moron. He was a great cop. All other issues aside, he was smart enough to know that he should be defending himself differently, at least changing form. The Adversary, on the other hand,