The Night Beat

can probably clean this off before we go in.”
    “Go in?” I hoped my burp at the end of that short sentence had been discreet enough to be missed.
    “Into the Little Church,” L.K. called from the driver’s seat. “Because that’s where we are and Ralph’s stopped, but only because they aren’t allowing pets.”
    “Hilarious.”
    “No, really. There’s a sign and everything.”
    I trotted to the front of the Bus. Sure enough, they had their huge parking lot cordoned off and there were a variety of signs, one of which clearly stated that no pets were allowed.
    Merc opened the door and Ralph scrambled in, grabbing the ham in his jaws on the way. Yeah, he was hungry, if how fast he ate it was any indication. He also had strong jaws, possibly stronger than mine, because he crunched through the ham bone like it was a banana.
    “He went into the Church,” Ralph said as he finished in record time and we gathered back in what, for want of a better term, I considered the Bus’ living room. “I figured I’d better wait for you.”
    “Why was he able to beat you up here?” Ghouls weren’t normally considered faster than werewolves.
    “No idea, but I’d guess he had warlock help.” Ralph looked and sounded exceptionally irritated. “Just how did he get away? I thought Wagner here was supposed to be watching him.”
    “He was surrounded by four of us,” Jack replied. “Sorry, I guess I assumed your werewolf senses would have noticed when our prisoner took off.”
    “We don’t have time for internal bickering,” I interrupted. I didn’t want to go back to wondering if Ralph, or anyone else, was a mole and so had somehow let Nero escape. We had too much trouble right in front of us. “We’re likely to be facing at least one major minion, probably a whole lot more than one. We need to work together or we’re all going to be dusted.”
    “Good point,” Jack said. “What is our plan?”
    “Call for backup,” L.K. said quietly from the driver’s seat.
    “What? Our team’s out, it’s just us.”
    “I don’t think we’re going to care about that, Vic.” L.K.’s voice was measured but tense.
    I went back to the front, the others trailing after me. It was a big driver and shotgun area, so we all fit, though it was a bit tight. Jack was on one side of me and Ralph was shoved up against the other. I was about to mention that this was a tad too cozy when Sexy Cindy pointed at what I realized L.K. was already looking at.
    “What’s going on?” Her voice shook, but then she hadn’t spent most of her life performing. At least, not on stage and for large audiences.
    Not that I could fault Sexy Cindy for sounding like she was about to lose it. Because I had a feeling fear and horror were the right reactions here.
    The suns -- both the one for the human plane and the one for Necropolis -- were different. They were blood red for starters, and it was like they were much closer, because we could see the eruptions and solar flares and the like. It looked like death throes.
    A black disc was covering each sun. Normally, you’d think this meant we were in for an eclipse. But one wasn’t scheduled for either plane and the discs weren’t moons.
    I tapped the code into my wrist-com without looking. Some things they trained us to do from the first day on Enforcement payroll, and this was the number one thing.
    “All being alert, all being alert. We have the start of Armageddon. Repeat, we have the start of Armageddon.”

Chapter 52
     
    I didn’t wait for replies. “Let’s get everything out of the trunk and get in there.”
    L.K. opened the door and we piled out. I popped the S-Class’ trunk and started handing paraphernalia to the rest of the team. Ralph didn’t even argue about the bullet-proof K-9 vest. Too much.
    “It hinders me,” he muttered as I strapped it around him.
    “You want to go to human, then you can wear the other one.”
    “No, thanks. What’s the plan?”
    “We storm in and kill anything that looks, smells or acts like minion.”
    “Doesn’t that mean innocent people could get killed?” Jack asked.
    “Yeah, it does. Here’s a news flash -- if they bring about Armageddon, all the innocent people will be dead. You pick.”
    “There’s one positive,” Merc said quietly.
    “What’s that? I’d love a positive.” I felt completely out of my depth. Stopping the evil bad guys was my job, on both planes, but stopping Armageddon once it was begun? That wasn’t