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Blossom…
With one eye open, Blossom listened carefully to everything the four men said, cataloging each word in her mind. They assumed wrongly that in her Wolf shape, she wouldn’t understand them. With every word the vile creatures said, she added a bit of dialog into a drawer in her brain. Remembering everything was important. Even though her body ached from the forced shift, she had to keep focused.
The big lazy one they called Sam stretched his arms upward, uncaring about his companion’s house burning to the ground. “I’m thinking we could go get some pizza.”
Orp looked horrified. “What are you talking about?”
Sam flicked his fingers toward her cage. “It’s going to be a while before she flips about and we can interrogate her. We should eat.” He scratched his ribcage. “Cary already tried making her shift back by poking her with the stick. That didn’t work.”
“How can you think about food?” Orp hissed. “You are ridiculous. Must you always be driven by your most basic instincts?”
Sam looked unfazed. “Says the man who can’t abandon technology long enough to go pheasant hunting with me.”
“I would if you agreed to limit the time to two hours.”
The sadistic man who liked to caress her cage, Cary, stood by the window, holding the blue-tipped stick in his hands. “Most likely, there needs to be some time between applications of blue to trigger a chemical reaction that forces change. I’ve never seen anything like what her body did.” He stepped back to the side of her cage and peered in. She closed her eyes and pretended to be unconscious, slowing her breath. “I’d love to do an autopsy. Maybe I could keep the body on life support as I take it apart piece by piece. We could learn so much.” She heard his disgusting fingers stroke the bars of her cage again. “And not just for you dumb asses and your desire to become gods. For science.”
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Across the room, Sam gave an impatient snort. “For science,” he mimicked. “Right this moment, I’m going to start planning how to field dress a tiny wolf if we don’t order something. How can the three of you not be hungry?”
Cary lingered next to her cage, and she cataloged his distinct scent, marking the traces that reminded her of hospitals. He settled the stick on the top of her cage and said, “I could eat.”
Balor looked at each of them. “Have all of you forgotten about Orp’s little friend? Our decoy?”
Orp pulled up the video feed of a room filled with smoke. Blossom slit her eyes open a tiny crack, but his body obscured the bank of screens. “Do you think he got out?” The evil creature scrolled backward until he got to the grainy footage of the man, Remmy, leaving the room. When Orp bent lower, she saw that the place had been filling with smoke when the man fled.
Balor reached over and clapped his hand down on Orp’s shoulder. “Looks like you failed brainwashing 101.”
“Shit,” Sam said. “I guess we better go get him before we go to Slopies. We don’t want him falling into the cop’s hands. If he’s dead, that is fine, but we don’t need him telling his sad story to the authorities.” The big man winked at Orp. “Considering he didn’t break until the house was actually on fire, I would say you did a pretty good job.”
Cary shuddered next to her cage. “I don’t want to risk getting seen by the cops.”
“It’s two miles away. We can be there and back before the firemen arrive. The closest station is forty minutes away.” Balor placed his mask on the end table.
“Jesus, I want pizza,” Sam said.
“Order it.” Balor ran his fingers through his expensive haircut. “If Orp’s pet lived, we can find him and be back here before the delivery guys make it up this way. Our furry guest is locked in, so I don’t imagine she will be much trouble if we leave her behind.”
“I prefer to pick it up.” Sam swung his long legs off the couch. “But if it will make the rest of you happy, I’ll make the call. Cary, do you want your jacket? I’ll call Slopies and put in the order on the way to view the fireball.”
“I think I’ll stay here.”