The Night Beat

great shakes, either.”
    “Boy, do you two always complain this much or are Freddy and I just getting the special treatment?”
    Freddy chuckled. “Some people bicker when they’re nervous.”
    “I’m not nervous,” Jack snapped. “I’m annoyed and a little tense.”
    “I’m with the big guy,” Sexy Cindy said. “Annoyed and tense.”
    “I’m resisting the urge to spin and shout ‘boo!’ at the two of you. Relax. It’s either very bad or it’s going to be business as usual.” I sounded very reassuring, calm and cool. I was glad we had to take courses in that in order to move up in Enforcement ranks. Because, in reality, I was as nervous as Jack and Sexy Cindy were, and I was pretty sure Freddy wasn’t as calm as he was pretending, either.
    So, in this great state of mind, snipping and snapping at each other’s tails all the way, we reached the entrance to Necropolis Enforcement.
    “Everyone, weapons at the ready. If I attack, follow me. If I run like a bat out of Hell, follow me. If we’re attacked and they don’t call off when they know it’s us, shoot to kill. If I’m shot down, grab me and run for OLOC.”
    “Don’t I feel all safe now ?” Sexy Cindy muttered.
    “Why don’t you think they’ll shoot one of the rest of us first?” Jack asked.
    I took a deep breath and shifted into full werewolf form. I was still on two legs, gun in one paw, single-shot mini-bow in the other. The beauty of an undead life was years and years in which to practice things that were awkward or downright close to impossible. Claws and paws or no, I was going to shoot first, bite second, and ask questions whenever I got around to it.
    “Because I’m the strongest and scariest of the four of us, and the hardest to dust. What would you aim for?”
    Jack sighed. “Gotcha.”
    “Oh, and don’t forget, I’m gonna be hiding behind her, and so is Freddy if he has any sense at all,” Sexy Cindy tossed out. “So, they won’t have us to aim for.”
    “I feel the love.”
    “Hey, I’m the evil spotter, not the evil sniffer.”
    “Hilarious. When this particular situation is over, remind me to lift my leg in your general direction.”
    Jack shook his head. “Shall I get the door, Cujo?”
    I gave him as dirty a look as it was possible to give. “Oh, please, Prince Charming.”
    Jack grinned, gun at the ready. He stood to the side, grabbed the door handle, and pulled it open.

Chapter 36
     
    “Bad night, Vic?” Clyde asked, as he slowly lowered the weapon he’d had trained on the door.
    “You tell me, you’re the one sporting the Duster.”
    Clyde didn’t normally hang around the entrance to Necropolis Enforcement. He also rarely if ever carried a Duster -- not the long coat they wore in the Old West, and not something with feathers on it. Dusters were the final solution for undeads, their shots containing a mix of everything known to destroy any and all unalive beings with some extras thrown in just in case. They were weapons of vast, scary power, and only a few were allowed to carry them in non-war situations. Clyde was one of those few -- age and experience had a lot of prerogatives in the undead world -- but I hadn’t seen him wield a weapon of any kind for decades.
    He did the slow mummy shrug. “True. However, under the circumstances, the Count felt it would be a good idea for me to watch the door.”
    “Everyone all right?” I didn’t see or hear anything wrong, Sexy Cindy wasn’t suggesting things were going evil dead, and hard as I sniffed, nothing smelled out of place. Though I did get a faint whiff of sulfur.
    “We are now.” Clyde pulled a wand out from his back. Mummies used their entire bodies as one big pocket. I was glad I couldn’t see from where exactly he’d pulled. He waved the wand around all four of us. The air sparkled.
    “Pretty. Are we late for a surprise party?”
    Clyde chuckled. “No. You haven’t had to deal with one of these much, I suppose. Easy way of proving you’re who we think you are.”
    “How does it work?” Jack asked.
    “If the air around you sparkles, you’re not possessed, turned, a dupe, or similar.”
    “Dupe?” Jack sounded like he was back in class.
    “Short for doppelgänger,” Clyde explained. “Since we had some fun with them earlier, the Count and I decided to go for the easy confirmation. If you’d been more dupes, the air would have looked muddy, like dried blood.”
    “Gag me,” Sexy Cindy said. “So, we good to get out