The Night Beat

changed to resemble Big Harp. “You have no understanding, no vision.”
    “I also don’t have a part of me infected with something deadly to me.” I looked at Jack. “You’re going to be destroyed. Not by me, but by your own, well, being. Because it can’t join you in any more, but still feels the effects of your…infection.”
    “That’s not true. Vic, you love being dramatic. There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m stronger, faster, better.”
    “Yeah, uh huh. Show me how you walk as a wolf.”
    He growled. It was good, but it wasn’t as good as his had been before. “Drop and do me, bitch.”
    Ralph growled, and his truly was frightening. I put my hand on him and did the low talking with no lips moving thing. “Down, boy. Sit, stay. You jump, you engage right now, they win.”
    Jack smirked. “We win anyway.” So he had the werewolf hearing. Pity, but not the end of the world. I hoped.
    “I don’t think so.” I shifted to wolf form. It was hard, but I could keep a hold of the statue in my paw. “Feel free to destroy this now.”
    My mother hissed. “You evil, wanton girl!”
    “Oh, don’t start with me.” I looked to Lucifer. “See, here’s the thing. I think that, if I attack them now, holding this, they die. I think if I don’t attack them and they just go back into the Depths, they die. And I don’t think the Prince wants to lose this particular Adversary, does he?”
    Lucifer inclined his head. “This Adversary is particularly…effective, yes.”
    “Yeah. So, while we’re all here, first lines of defense all ready to go, let me point out a couple of things.”
    “Please do.”
    “First off, we have you surrounded. I know, I know, you’re the all-powerful baddies and such. But we have a lot of soldiers, undead and human. Sure, some of them might turn, but not most. And some of them will die or dust, but not all of them, and you’ll lose minions for sure, after having lost plenty already. Plus we have more firepower than you might be aware of.” I sincerely hoped.
    “Perhaps.” Lucifer smiled. “Any other points?”
    “Yep. We have all the people who Hitler conned into doing that nifty prayer that wasn’t really a prayer back on our side. But, they were so effective, we have them praying for us.”
    “Really? What are they praying for?”
    “You’ll find out.” I sincerely hoped. “Last point. I have this beyond-butt-ugly statue thing of Adlet and I’m not afraid to use it. If the rumors are true, it’s not going to create any issues for me in the short term and who knows about the long term?”
    “It will destroy your race,” Lucifer said calmly.
    “Worse than you all, the Adversary in particular, are already trying to?”
    Lucifer shrugged. “Good point. But still…to be the destroyer of your race. Are you willing to bear that burden?”
    I looked straight at him, right in his eyes. “If that’s what it takes to keep the Prince in the Depths and the planes of existence as they should be, then by all the Gods and Monsters -- yes.”
    Lucifer nodded slowly. “Then…do what you must. What you feel is right.”
    Jude said I always knew what to do in these situations. But I had no idea. The base of my tail wanted a word, however, and the word was “Susan”. I broke eye contact with Lucifer and looked around. “Jack, where’s your girlfriend?”
    He grinned. “She was a lot more adaptable than you.”
    “You bit her?”
    “Of course.” He nodded towards my mother. “And joined her in. We like it better that way.”
    I looked and sure enough my mother shifted and there was a blonde chick who looked vaguely familiar standing there, smirking and looking like she’d won the Baby Daddy fight. She also, I realized without a lot of shock, resembled my mother. And they were both named Susan. How sweet. I managed to hold off on the gagging, but it was hard.
    However, this brought up an interesting point. My mother had never, as far as I’d known, shared her soul. Which meant either she’d changed her mind now, always a possibility, or she and Susan were somehow sharing a body. This was also possible. Good undeads almost never tried this. It had been done, but only in the most extreme of emergencies, and you’d really better like the being you were sharing with, because if you co-joined too long, it was permanent. It was a safe bet Susan and my mother had been co-joined long enough for this to last for eternity. Or until I dusted them.
    “So, you’re