“What are we going to do now?” Carl asked looking at the doorway.

“We’ll have to risk it, grab him and bring him with us down the front steps. There really isn’t another option.” Lucian said.

Carl picked up the unconscious wolf and threw him over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, stepped into the room and past the bed before looking back at his friend. “Just so you know, it’s going to take a decent bit to kill us, so if the cops shoot you don’t worry too much. It’ll hurt like hell, but unless they get a headshot you’ll be fine.”

Lucian nodded and held Bonnie closer. “I’ll keep you as safe as I can.”

She smiled at him and caressed his cheek before he nodded to Carl that he was ready. They moved as quickly as they could out the door, once on the small open walkway connecting all eight rooms on the second level they rushed towards the stairs, the sounds of sirens increasing as the authorities got closer.

Quite a crowd had gathered from the sounds of gunfire and the trio realized how lucky they’d have to be to make it. Carl led the way down the stairs and pushed his way through the handful of people by the foot of the stairs, shouldering them away and clearing a path for Lucian and Bonnie.

He sprinted for the car and everyone just stood there, some staring in disbelief and others using their damned phones to record everything as he threw the unconscious man in the trunk of his car and slammed it shut. Carl helped get Bonnie in the backseat and Lucian sat with her head on his lap, holding her hand as Carl got the car started and peeled out seconds before the police arrived.

They were on a side-street attempting to follow the speed limit and not draw attention to themselves until they could get out of town. Carl kept a white knuckle grip on the wheel as they drove through the small town, he hoped they could get too somewhere safe soon enough.

“Take a left up here, the house is on Third and Sycamore.”

“And you’re absolutely sure it’s safe here right?” Carl couldn’t help it, he had to know they’d be safe until he could get Lucian where he needed to go.

They wove through the streets trying to avoid both the police, and any other werewolves that were hunting them. The windows were kept up to keep their scent from escaping the car and luring their pursuers to them. “It’ll be safe, there’s plenty of wards on it and it’s a family home so there’s a reason it’s safe to any I allow in.”

Carl didn’t like the sound of that one bit but he couldn’t refuse her help at this point. If it wasn’t for her they might still be back there dealing with the human authorities and possibly dealing with a firefight that ended in their deaths, if the police were lucky that is.

He drove a few more blocks and he knew he’d found her house when he felt the aura around it. The fear was palpable as he got closer, but the house didn’t look scary in the least. In fact it looked like a common colonial house complete with an American flag hanging off of a pole attached to the porch. But when they pulled into the driveway she explained the truth.

“This house has been in my family for generations, ever since before the revolutionary war it was a home to banshees, and because it’s in my family line only those I choose to allow entry can enter it without consequences.” She tried to sit up some and the pain in the areas she could feel healing was excruciating.

“What sorts of consequences?” Lucian asked her as he helped her back to his lap while Carl turned off the car and got out.

“They’ll feel a sense of foreboding, it’ll get worse the longer they stay around. If they choose to try coming into the house without my permission they’ll end up feeling all of the fear my victims have over my entire lifespan. It’s paralyzed people before, it’s even killed some back in the day. But we always make sure that we aren’t going to harm an innocent. That is one thing my family is big on is we only harm the guilty.”

“This is a little crazy, you have a house that can scare people away. But it’s safe for us?”

“Because I’m allowing you entry. Don’t worry about the car, anyone passing by won’t be able to see it anyway,” Carl looked at her funny and she explained. “There’s a glamour spell on the house that it only shows what I want it to show, and it hides what I don’t want shown.”

“Well that’s pretty convenient. Is there any other tricks this place has?”

“I wish it cleaned itself, but sadly I have to do that.” She said chuckling as Lucian helped her out of the car and to the front door. She pulled her key from her waist and once it was inserted she said “It’s okay, they’re friends of mine.”

It was said too thin air, but something was listening as they both felt the fear and foreboding suddenly lift off of their shoulders.

“That was amazing. Your house did that?” Lucian asked her and she nodded. “Incredible. Now let's get you inside and somewhere safe.” He took her in the front door and immediately saw the couch in the living room which was her middle room, he took her to it and lay her gently so she wouldn’t be jarred too much. “What are we going to do with that wolf?”

Carl set his keys down and looked over the house. There was a small foyer when they first walked in and it broke off into two directions as well as a staircase that led upstairs, the middle room which was the living room with a couch and loveseat, her television and a rack of Blu-ray discs. One wall had some paintings and some black and white prints hanging on it and the other had a picture of her with a cap and gown on receiving a diploma in something from a woman.

On the other side of the break was the kitchen with a tall counter bar, two stools and on the other side plenty of counter space to make any kitchen crazy happy for a lifetime. There was a small bowl on a stand next to the doorway for keys and such and he wondered just what sort of protections the house had against sound.

“Is this house soundproofed?” he asked her.

“No, however the garage is, if you take the wolf in there you can do whatever you want and no one will hear.”

“Then I guess we have our answer for that, mind if I take this chair and do you have any bungee cords or duct tape?” he asked her.

“In the garage and I have some gorilla tape out there. Don’t worry about the chair though there’s something better out there for you.” She said smiling and it was the first time her true dark nature came through, a smile creepy and cold enough it could have frozen both men solid.

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As he and Lucian walked to the car, after he’d been assured by Bonnie that she would be okay, Carl explained a few things to him.

“Okay so here’s the deal. There’s a breakdown to the different races of creatures, most of us have a strict some are good, some are evil like with werewolves and shifters. Then there’s the purely good creatures like the angels and the nymphs. But there’s also the evil races like the vampires, and demons.”

Lucian put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Wait, if the demons are all supposed to be evil then why are you helping me? Are you evil too?”

“No man, it’s because you are nothing like the other demons, you didn’t even know you were one for how many years, that being said if you didn’t know then you couldn’t be influenced by it. Who knows how many other demons could have come out as good as you if they were raised by humans and not other demons?” he shook his head and opened the trunk. “There’s some separation between shifters because some of us are good like the panthers, the lions and a few others. But there are some shifters that give us a bad name, namely the ones who shift into snakes and dragons. The dragons are most definitely a story for another time, but suffice it to say there’s some issues with my people that go skin deep and some that go soul deep.”

He pulled the wolf from the car, he was still unconscious and it made him wonder if the damned thing was in a coma or something. But as he lifted the wolf’s arms his eyes snapped open and he let out a howl. Lucian reacted and punched him in the jaw, hard, to make him stop. The wolf with limp again and he looked to Carl. “How bad was that?”

“Let’s hope it’s not as bad as it normally is, that was a call for help and if the spells on the house don’t keep the other wolves away, well we could have a dozen or more to deal with. The pack here isn’t large but their packmaster is brother to the packmaster in Pittsburgh, a half hour for a wolf to run isn’t really as much work as you’d think.”

He hefted the man and they walked him into the closed door of the garage, Carl lifted the door and they took him right inside before shutting it. They needed some sort of privacy before torturing the poor soul, right?

Inside the garage they lay him on a work table near a circular saw, Lucian wondered if Bonnie used this space for torturing others or if she was the handy one out of the three. He used movers straps to anchor the wolf to the table so he couldn’t move, one strap wrapped around his upper chest area, one around his midsection and wrists, and the last around his ankles. Lucian wasn’t taking any chances here. Then they had the pleasure of waking him up.

A slap to the face brought the wolf to the fore as Carl smirked and the man bucked against the restraints holding him, trying to get free from them, his teeth gnashing together as he fought. “I’ll kill you!” he screamed at them.

“No one will find you here. And we have all the time in the world right now, so how about you answer some questions for us and I keep my friend from exploring everything he can do to you with his incubi side?” Carl was good at threatening, and his words were delivered with such ice even Lucian felt a little afraid for the man.

“He’s new, he can’t do anything worthwhile.” The wolf spat back, venom dripped from each word.

“That’s right, he’s new. Just emerged and that means he doesn’t have much control over his demon half. So if he can’t keep enough control over his abilities, well you just might end up with your soul ripped from your body and you’ll end up telling us what we want to know anyway. What’s the point in fighting?” Carl leaned forward and placed a hand on the wolf’s jaw, turned his head to stare him in the eye and let his hand begin shifting into the panther paw, his claws extended slightly so he could draw blood. “Or if you want to do this the hard way, sorry, I mean the fun way…”

The wolf stared at him with disdain but when he looked to Lucian he saw how excited he was and it terrified him. Lucian wondered just how much of what Carl said was improvisation and how much was truth, though he was a little worried to find out.

“If you promise to leave my soul alone, I’ll tell you.” He finally said. He looked defeated and both men were excited they didn’t have to torture him.

“Well damn, I was hoping for some excitement.” Carl said as he looked over to Lucian, then back at the man on the table. “Who sent you after him?”

“My packmaster did, Michael, he runs the pack here, and his brother runs the one in Pittsburgh. I don’t know who told him to send us, I just know he told us to get to the hotel as soon as possible.”

Lucian cut Carl off before he could ask his next question. “What exactly were your orders?” he asked as he moved closer to the table, his arms crossed over his chest.

“We were told to capture you, as unharmed as possible. But you were supposed to be killed if you got in our way. Michael doesn’t like cats.” He said it with a snarl and Lucian wanted to slap him, Carl beat him to it and slapped the taste out of his mouth.

Carl pulled his hand back to slap him again and Lucian grabbed him. “So this Michael is interested in doing what exactly? Killing me? Torturing me? Huh?” he looked into the wolf’s eyes as he tried to find out just what he was up against.

“Oh, he’s going to kill you alright, after a good bit of torture. He hates your kind with a burning passion.”

“Good, then where can I find him?” Lucian was done being nice, he couldn’t do it any longer and he could feel something slipping inside his mind. It had to be his demonic side coming to the fore a little more with each question and each slap. It was a dark need to hurt someone, he could feel it deep in his very soul. Did he even have a soul?

“Find him? He finds you little man. I’m sure he’s going to be here any time now and when he is, woo-hoo this place is going to be burned to the ground. And he’ll kill your friend without a second thought.”

Lucian looked to Carl who was seething and asked him “You said that I wouldn’t be able to control taking his soul. How does that work exactly?” this got the wolf’s attention as his eyes darted between the pair.

“From my understanding all you have to do is have a physical touch, get your mouth close to his and suck his soul out of his body. That might be the best thing you can do though, if you take it then it’ll give you a boost and if his men are following so close then it’ll be welcome.”

He shook his head, “I was thinking something different with it.” He whispered into Carl’s ear and when he finished he stepped back and looked at the wolf.

Carl rubbed his chin and shook his head. “I don’t know if it’ll work, I’ve never heard of it before, but it’s worth a shot at least.”

Lucian leaned over the wolf and tried to keep some sort of control over the demon clawing at his mind, trying to break through the barrier. Lucian gripped the wolf’s head tightly and forced him to stare into his eyes. “This won’t hurt me in the least.” He said as he tried to control how much of his demon he let out. Focusing on the demon inside him, he kept telling himself the same thing over and over to keep mental control over the beast.

He could feel the thing take hold of him, could feel a slight change in the air as the hair on his arms rose, but his skin didn’t change color nor did his claws extend. But the look in the wolf’s eyes told him he was on the right path.

Drawing in his breath he began to see the glow of the wolf’s soul as it was dragged from his body. The ethereal blue of his soul pulled, it mirrored his face as Lucian did his best to swallow the soul, he could feel the power of it even before it entered him.

He drew it in completely and the wolf fell back to the table, dead. His eyes lifelessly staring at the ceiling as Lucian felt the rush of power. “Okay, now what do I do?” he asked as he stepped away from the now dead wolf.

Carl led him into the house and up to Bonnie. “So we might have some good news.” He told her as Lucian walked up and knelt next to her.

“I hope I do this right.” He said as he placed a hand under her head and drew her in for a kiss. Using his mind he forced the soul he’d just taken into her body, and he felt himself harden at the feelings it stirred in him and he smelled her arousal, knowing she was just as excited as he was. Leaning back he smiled at her and held out his hand.

She took it and he helped her stand up, she was using her legs now and he couldn’t help but smile at it. “This is amazing! I didn’t know you could heal me like that.”

“I wasn’t sure I could either, but I had to try something because we’ll need the help. That wolf told us who was after us, and we’re going to need your help fighting them off.”

She shook her head, “They won’t know what hit them when we’re done with them.” She did a spin just to make sure it was real, that she’d healed a hell of a lot quicker than she normally would. Then waived them to follow her as she walked out to the foyer and up the stairway to the second floor. She took them along the open hallway to the second door on the left and opened it. “I think we’ll be covered if they try anything here.” She said as they walked into the room and realized just what it held.

It was her own armory.