floor. The combatants were coming through the roof. Mike fired a couple rounds, but the smoke was too dense to identify the targets. A strong odor of werewolf confirmed the arrival of Sheila and her pack of assassins.
The smoke residue stung Ari eyes, temporarily blinding her. She released a powder from her magical pouch and the smoke thinned around her. Snarls and growls seemed to come from every direction. Ari glimpsed a furry hand, but wasn’t sure whether it was friend or foe. A human form appeared in the haze carrying an Uzi, but combat was too close for him to use it effectively. Ari lunged forward, knocking his feet out from under him as she delivered two sharp jabs to his face and throat. He bucked her off, swinging the weapon around like a hammer and clipping her shoulder. He scrambled away. She threw a binding spell, but he vanished into the smoke.
A furry body crashed into her left side. Ari staggered and whirled to land a sidekick on the wolf’s hindquarters. As the creature turned to swipe with its claws, Ari caught a good whiff of its scent. The same scent that had been all over Yana. Ari’s blood pumped with the realization she’d finally come face-to-face with Sheila. The she-wolf’s claws raked across Ari’s waist, ripping her shirt and tearing away her belt. The dagger and bag of potions skidded across the floor. A gun exploded near Ari’s ear and blood splattered her face, blinding her, as Sheila yelped and rolled away. Mike yanked Ari behind the table.
Ari took a deep breath. The sweet, metallic smell of blood saturated the air. She wiped her face, removing a layer of blood and bits of fur. Sheila would heal her injuries, but Mike’s bullet had given the she-wolf something to think about.
A gray wolf face loomed over the table. Ari hit him between the eyes with witch fire. The face exploded in flames. Let him try to heal that.
The ventilation system kicked in, and the heavy smoke drifted toward the vents. Ari saw dark shadows to go with the various screams, growls, and loud blasts from the guns. She finally located the rest of her team. Lilith was in the surveillance room, firing from behind a computer desk that partially blocked the door. Russell, transformed into a small but muscular lion, was locked in a biting, clawing struggle with a large, dark-brown wolf. Ari figured Russell’s greater agility would win that fight. Mike had traded the rifle for a handgun. All of her team members were armed with silver bullets. After that brief second of assessment, Ari went to Benny’s aid. He had shifted into lion form but was outnumbered by three wolves who had trapped him in a corner. She blasted two of them with three stuns, at least temporarily evening the fight.
Two more smoke bombs exploded, obscuring the scene again, and she heard more wolves drop from the roof. Ari crept forward, stepping over two bodies on the floor. When she reached the wall, she spotted human forms directly ahead, one with an Uzi. They were running their hands over the knotty pine wall. Damn, damn, damn. Ari fired into the smoky haze with two more stunners, hoping to stop them before they found the latch. With her magic level now low and needing to regenerate, she was forced to retreat, leaping over the table to avoid the return fire from the Uzi. She nudged Mike. Although the smoke was still too thick to aim, he fired blindly in the direction of the secret passage. Ari heard an anguished yelp. She pulled the derringer from her ankle holster and started forward again.
Ari stumbled over the wolf Mike had shot. She had nearly reached the wall again, when she heard the distinctive click of the latch opening. Abandoning caution, she sprang forward, arriving in time to see three wolves escape inside. Sheila sprang out of the smoke to follow them, but her injuries made her one step too slow. Ari knocked her aside and fired the derringer into the she-wolf’s gut. Sheila howled with pain and anger, falling back into the smoke. Ari yelled at Mike for someone to follow the she-wolf, then she plunged into the tunnel.
Like the passage to Club Dintero, there were no lamps, no electrical system. For the first ten feet, the light from the open panel revealed the way. As soon as Ari rounded the first turn, the light faded to total darkness.