The Night Beat

follow through on that.
    “Nice lyric change to Belafonte’s ‘Jump Down, Spin Around’ song.” Jack said. “Didn’t know you liked oldies.”
    “I like to improvise, I consider anything by Belafonte to be a classic, not an oldie, thank you, and besides, werewolves are very musically inclined.”
    “Really? Interesting.” Jack looked back at Jerry. “You want to answer the lady’s questions now?”
    Jerry whimpered. “They don’t want me to.”
    I sang louder. “Bite him in that place .” I even added a leer. I’d usually let Jack be bad cop, but not any more. He was not allowed to have all the fun.
    Jack coughed. “I think, Jerry, you need to consider who’s going to cause you more pain and anguish, in both the short and long term.”
    Fangs bared, drool dripping, I gave a big growl and looked down at Jerry’s very personal region. As a deader he really had no use for it, but males stayed attached to those parts, whether alive, undead, or in the ground. It was a guy thing, I didn’t try to understand it. I just used it to my advantage when necessary.
    “Okay! Okay! Call her off!”
    “Give her the answers, maybe she’ll stop.”
    “I don’t know all the plan!”
    “Share what you do know,” I growled through bared fangs. “Start with why you were hoping I’d try to eat you.”
    He didn’t want to answer, that was clear. I put a hind paw onto his personal parts and leaned. With all my weight and muscle. Jerry made a very animalistic sound. As a werewolf I’d heard it a lot -- a pathetic whine of pain and terror meant to make you feel sorry and stop.
    But werewolves didn’t feel sorry all that often, and never in a situation like this. And cops didn’t feel bad about roughing up a perp to get information to save hundreds or more. I let up a little, then slammed down, even harder.
    “Okay! Okay!” Jerry sounded like every other perp ready to crack, which was what I wanted. I let up a little, but the indication that I’d lean right back down again if necessary was clearly there in the way my claws were tapping. Yeah, werewolf claws are like digits, we can move them all we want. One of the many benefits.
    “So, tell me what I want to know.” Growled through the teeth with the extra drool, just ‘cause I could. “Why were you okay with getting dusted by me?”
    He gulped. “They…put something in my body. If you eat it, it’ll kill you.”
    “What, exactly?” Jack didn’t sound like good cop now. He sounded like angry boyfriend. I was good with that.
    “Not sure. Something…heavy. It feels heavy.”
    “Silver, silver nitrate, something with silver, maybe liquid mercury, some sort of metallic combo that’s deadly. Probably some unholy water, too.” I nudged Jerry. “Okay, so you just get to be torn to shreds. Check. What’s the plan? As much of it as you know, or else. Oh, and you may be a deader, but you’re giving off more scent than death and decay, probably because of what they put in you, so I can smell when you’re lying.”
    Jerry’s eyes widened and he looked terrified. Good. Because I couldn’t tell for sure from the smell, just a good guess. “I…I don’t know much.”
    I leaned on my hind leg again. “Oh, I’m sure you’re selling yourself short, Jerry.”
    “Tell us what we want to know,” Jack said quietly. “Or I’ll bring your parents to see you.”
    Interestingly enough, more than anything else, this worked. I saw the expression in Jerry’s eyes change. Not to fear, though, or regret. To amusement tinged with mania. “They’ll be here soon enough.”
    “Who’s after your parents?” Jack asked.
    “No one.” Jerry giggled. I really loathed this guy. It was a pity only a Golem would be able to dust him now -- none of us could ingest him and I was going to ensure he was in myriad pieces which, sadly, made it almost impossible for a spell to work.
    “Who’s already with them?”
    Jerry gaped at me. Apparently someone able to think still shocked him. “Ahhh….”
    I leaned on his private parts and sunk my claws in. Squishy and icky, but oh so effective. “Who’s with them, and who’s with the families and associates of the others who were in the alleyway when Abaddon and Apollyon came through?”
    “T-Tomio.”
    “But Tomio’s in Hell already, isn’t he, Jerry? I mean, that’s what you told us.”
    “I didn’t tell you anything!” His voice was raised and I didn’t get the impression he was talking to me.
    Instinct’s a