Keri Arthur - Kissing Sin

The road's surface was slick with moisture, the street lights few and far between. Had it been humans chasing me, I could have used the cloak of night to disappear from sight. But the scenting actions these creatures made when they first appeared suggested the vampire ability to fade into shadow wouldn't help me here.

Nor would shifting into wolf form, because my only real weapon in my alternate shape was teeth. Not a good option when there was more than one foe.

I raced down the middle of the wet street, passing silent shops and terraced houses. No one seemed to be home in any of them, and none of them looked familiar. In fact, all the buildings looked rather strange, almost as if they were one-dimensional.

The air behind me stirred and the sense of evil sharpened. I swore softly and dropped to the ground. A dark shape leapt over me, its sharp howl becoming a sound of frustration. I sighted the dart and fired again, then rolled onto my back, kicking with all my might at the second creature. The blow caught it in the jaw and deflected its leap. It crashed to the left of me, shaking its head, a low rumble coming from deep within its chest.

I scrambled to my feet, and fired the last of the darts at it. Movement caught my eye. The first creature had climbed to its feet and was scrambling toward me.

I threw the empty gun at its face, then jumped out of its way. It slid past, claws scrabbling against the wet road as it tried to stop. I grabbed a fistful of shaggy brown hair and swung onto its back, wrapping an arm around its throat and squeezing tight. I had the power of wolf and vampire behind me, which meant I was more than capable of crushing the larynx of any normal creature in an instant. Trouble was, this creature wasn't normal.

It roared—a harsh, strangled sound—then began to buck and twist violently. I wrapped my legs around its body, hanging on tight as I continued my attempts to strangle it.

The other creature came out of nowhere and hit me side-on, knocking me off its companion. I hit the road with enough force to see stars, but the scrape of approaching claws got me moving. I rolled upright, and scrambled away on all fours.

Claws raked my side, drawing blood. I twisted, grabbed the creature's paw, and pulled it forward hard. The creature sailed past and landed with a crash on its back, hard up against a shop wall. A wall that shook under the impact.

I frowned, but the second creature gave me no time to wonder why the wall had moved. I spun around, sweeping with my foot, battering the hairy beastie off its feet. It roared in frustration and lashed out. Sharp claws caught my thigh, tearing flesh even as the blow sent me staggering. The creature was up almost instantly, nasty sharp teeth gleaming yellow in the cold, dark night.

I faked a blow to its head, then spun and kicked at its chest, embedding the darts even farther. The ends of the darts hurt my bare foot, but the blow obviously hurt the creature more, because it howled in fury and leapt. I dropped and spun. Then, as the creature's leap took it high above me, I kicked it as hard as I could in the goolies. It grunted, dropped to the road, and didn't move.

For a moment, I simply remained where I was, the wet road cold against my shins as I battled to get some air into my lungs. When the world finally stopped threatening to go black, I called to the wolf that prowled within.

Power swept around me, through me, blurring my vision, blurring the pain. Limbs shortened, shifted, rearranged, until what was sitting on the road was wolf not woman. I had no desire to stay too long in my alternate form. There might be more of those things prowling the night, and meeting two or more in this shape could be deadly.

But in shifting, I'd helped accelerate the healing process. The cells in a werewolf's body retained data on body makeup, which was why wolves were so long-lived. In changing, damaged cells were repaired. Wounds were healed. And while it generally took more than one shift to heal deep wounds, one would at least stem the bleeding and begin the healing process.

I shifted back to human form and climbed slowly to my feet. The first creature still lay in a heap at the base of the shop front. Obviously, whatever had been in those two darts had finally taken effect. I walked over to the second creature, grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, and dragged it off the road. Then I went to the window and peered inside.

It wasn't a shop, just a front. Beyond the window there was only framework and rubbish. The next shop was much the same, as was the house next to that. Only there were wooden people inside it was well.

It looked an awful lot like one of those police or military weapons training grounds, only this training ground had warped-looking creatures patrolling its perimeter.

That bad feeling I'd woken with began to get a whole lot worse. I had to get out of here, before anything or anyone else discovered I was free.

The thought made me pause.

Free?

Did that mean I'd been a prisoner in this place? If so, why?

No answers emerged from the fog encasing the part of my brain that held my memories. Frowning, I continued down the street. The road banked sharply to the left, then fell away, revealing the lower half of the complex. Partially built houses and shops lined the rest of this road, but this time they were interspersed between lush gum trees. At the end of the street stood a formidable-looking gate, and to one side of this, a guard's box. Warm light seeped out of a small window at the side of the box, suggesting someone was home.

To the left, beyond the partial buildings, there were concrete structures lit by harsh spotlights. To the right, a long building that looked like stables, and beyond that, several blocky concrete structures and lots more trees.

And surrounding the whole complex, a six-foot wire fence.

"Any sign of Max or the two orsini?"

The sharp voice came out of nowhere. I jumped a mile, my heart racing so hard I swear it was going to tear out of my chest. Wrapping the cloak of night around myself, I melted back into the shadows of the shopfront and waited.

Footsteps approached, their leisurely manner suggesting the missing Max and orsini weren't yet causing concern. Though considering I'd probably just killed Max and seriously damaged the missing orsini, that lack of concern would very quickly disappear.

A figure appeared out of a small lane just ahead. He was human—had to be, because anything else I would have sensed. He was dressed in brown, and like the man I'd killed, had brown hair and eyes. He stopped, his gaze sweeping the street. The spicy scent of his aftershave stung the night air, mingling uneasily with the reek of garlic on his breath.

He pressed a button on his lapel, then said, "No sign of them yet. I'll head up to the breeding labs and see if Max is there."

"He was supposed to have reported in half an hour ago."

"Won't be the first time he's slacked off."

"Might be his last, though. The boss ain't gonna like this."

The guard grunted. "I'll give you a call in ten."

Ten minutes wasn't much time, but it was better than the two it would take him to walk up the road and discover the knocked-out beasties.

"Do that."

I waited until the guard came close, then clenched my fist and let rip with a blow to his chin. The force of it sent a shockwave up my arm, but he was out long before he hit the ground. I rolled him into the shadows of the fake shop's doorway, then scanned the road ahead.

With the main gate guarded, I'd have to try and climb the wire fence. The best place to do that was in the shadows created by the stable.

I ran down a side road into a slightly larger street. More mock shopfronts and houses met me, but the night air carried a hint of hay and horse. It was stables. What in hell would a testing ground want with horses?