for Heath to finish. He was fast for a wolf, just like I was fast for a werecat my age. I wondered if there was some similarity between us that caused it, or maybe we were just both lucky.
Jabari walked into the caves first with Heath and me able to walk beside each other behind him.
“He’s a big motherfucker,” Heath pointed out. “Every time I see him, I wonder if he can crush my damn head with those paws.”
“Probably. He would wipe the floor with me, that’s for sure.” There were reasons I never got physical over the insults my siblings threw at me. Mischa and Zuri were more my size, maybe a little bigger, but they were older, more powerful, and more resilient, so size essentially didn’t matter. Davor was the smallest of the guys in the family, still bigger than me, while Jabari and Hasan were the biggest werecats on the planet. I didn’t think anyone would ever match them in size.
We entered the cave, going down. It smelled of dirt and water, along with some other choice things like decay. They had left bodies down in the mud, apparent to anyone with a nose. Even humans could have walked down here and known there were dead bodies of some sort—it reeked.
Heath growled softly. There was one problem with the reek of dead for our noses. We knew they were dead wolves.
“Do you think they’re asleep?” I asked Jabari and Heath, wondering what they thought about the welcome we weren’t getting. Jabari’s big head nodded, and Heath provided more information.
“Most vampires feel an undeniable urge to sleep once the sun comes up. From what I know, as they get older, they can resist it but not well. It’s just safer to hide and sleep.” Heath sniffed the air. “There’s a small draft, and I can smell…a wolf on it. I think the last one is still alive.”
“Then we’ll find him,” I promised. My nose, not being as sensitive, couldn’t discern that. All I could smell was earth, death, and wolf. Unless I was missing some key way death changed scents, I had no idea how he came to the conclusion the last wolf was still alive. Maybe it was just hope.
Jabari continued in the lead, deeper into the caverns. We walked silently, placing our paws carefully to keep from causing too much of a disturbance. If we hadn’t woken them up already, there was no reason to wake them up now. Sleeping vampires had to be easier to kill.
We cut into a small passageway, a thin, narrow walk into what seemed like a back chamber. Jabari crouched, which allowed Heath ahead of me to see over his head. And I could see over Heath’s head.
Inside the chamber, there were mattresses and furniture. Couches with throw blankets and pillows. A power generator, probably using gasoline to run electrical items like the TV I saw. The vampires had set up a nice home in their cavern.
The only reason it wouldn’t be a cool little clubhouse was the werewolf in human form on a small blanket in the corner. Even from where I was, I could see how gaunt he was. Heath pawed at the ground, anxious. I sniffed and realized he was right. This werewolf was alive. How I didn’t know, but he was still fucking alive.
Jabari began to walk again, low to the ground. Once he was out of the small passage, Heath moved out faster, though still very silent, and went toward the werewolf.
“Don’t. He could wake up and wake them up,” I said.
“He’s going to die if we don’t get him out of here now,” Heath snapped.
I shook my head. “Let Jabari and I get into position, then you can run him out. We can handle the vampires, but you have to wait for the right moment.”
Heath looked from me to the sleeping, half-dead werewolf, then nodded. I moved toward Jabari and saw what he was focused on. In the corner of the cavern I couldn’t see from the narrow passage, the vampires had set up an impressive bed and were sleeping together on it in a tangled amalgamation of bodies and limbs. They looked peaceful and clean, nearly harmless. They must have washed the blood and mud off themselves when they had run from the trap we had set. Now, injured and sleeping, they were easy prey.
Jabari and I stalked to the bed. We didn’t touch any of the pieces hanging off, not yet. The leader