The Night Beat

about it, the truth of the matter was that I couldn’t come up with anyone Ralph “hung out” with. I had Amanda and Maurice for the off hours, and now Jack, too. And those were just for starters. Clearly Freddy and Sexy Cindy were going to stay together -- maybe not romantically, but they were sort of clinging to each other in an understandable way. Everyone had someone, but as I rolled back through the years, Ralph didn’t. And for all his pack talk, it was an ideal. We had no pack. Werewolves hadn’t run in packs for decades for a variety of reasons.
    “Why don’t you like him?” Sexy Cindy asked quietly.
    “Ralph?” He was sniffing the Hellfire again. Jack had the Savior Spray. I had no idea what he thought he’d do with it should Ralph and I be wrong about this, but at least he was going to try.
    “Yeah.”
    “He’s…he’s kind of a dork. And sometimes he’s a real goof, too.” And a werewolf solidarity fanatic, but now probably wasn’t the time to list all his faults.
    “I suppose.” She sounded thoughtful. “Only, he’s brave and loyal and it sure seems like he’s got the major crush on you. And he’s willing to risk his life to protect you. I don’t know, I wish I had a guy who was like that interested in me, kind of goofy or dorky or not.”
    I almost mentioned that Ralph tended to grandstand any time he was around me, but it died before it could get off my tongue. Because if we were wrong, then Ralph was really offering to die to protect me, and Sexy Cindy was right -- that wasn’t grandstanding, that was heroic.
    “Yeah, I guess he is. Jack’s brave, too,” I added apropos of pointing out I was already with someone.
    “I guess.” She sounded a little doubtful. Then again, she’d already been dead when he’d grabbed the gun and taken on Slimy. “But…he’s not the one who offered to go through the Hellfire.”
    I found myself wishing Amanda and Maurice were here. The need to discuss this with someone was almost overwhelming. But the only someones I could so discuss with were in the backseat.
    “We should perhaps call him Cyrano,” Freddy said.
    “The guy with the big nose?” Sexy Cindy asked. I was impressed she knew.
    “Yes.” Freddy chuckled. “You do know your classics, don’t you, my dear?”
    We were spared any more literary comparisons by the fact that Ralph moved into a springing stance. I guessed he’d chosen the find out and/or die fast option. Couldn’t blame him. He sprang and I held my breath.
    He sailed through, looking like he was practicing to get the blue ribbon in the dog show agility event. But he didn’t burn and turn to dust. I let my breath out.
    Ralph landed, spun and trotted back. Still no harm and no foul. He came over to my side of the car and I opened the door. “It’s a good illusion. It felt hot when I went through it.”
    I sniffed him. “You smell wrong. Not of Hellfire, not of anything related to fire, really.”
    “Yeah. I’m not sure what base they used for the incantation, but this is warlock-created. I’d bet my tail on it.”
    “You feel okay?” He looked okay and he smelled reasonably normal, but it never hurt to check.
    Ralph nodded. “I don’t think it’s supposed to do anything more than it did. Keep us out and make us waste time and effort.” He crawled into the car and got into the backseat as Jack tossed the Savior Spray into the trunk.
    Jack got back behind the wheel and we started off through the fake Hellfire. I still held my breath as we went through it. So did everyone else, if the collective sigh as we passed through it unscathed was any indication.
    We wound up into the Estates through the narrowest road I’d been on in a long time. Any part of the Estates not covered with house or grandiose grounds was covered with nature -- trees, bushes, grass, flowers, anything and everything. I’d heard they imported deer and other benign wildlife, but I’d never hunted up here so couldn’t confirm or deny. It was shady and lovely and all that, but there was no shoulder or turnout. “Why do you think they make this road so hard to use?”
    “No idea,” Jack said. “But if we meet another vehicle we’re going to be in trouble.”
    “Maybe they restrict how many workmen can come in at a time,” Sexy Cindy suggested.
    “Maybe. But you know, one of the things they brag about is how this isn’t a gated community. It’s to let the people who live here kid themselves that they’re both exclusive and