wasn't trying to be covert. Drenched in nervous sweat how many times over, I must have smelled like a wild animal. My hair, despite the dousing in the sink, stood up in grainy, stiff hanks. I didn't mind.
I wanted them to hear me, smell me, come after me. I didn't have all night.
"Come on!" I shouted as I picked up my pace.
Edward had taught me to hunt from the trees as often as possible. Even when you found their lair, being up in a tree to take them out was preferable to being on the ground.
Wolves were quick; werewolves were slippery and sly. Wolf body, person brain, deadly combination. A tall tree was the safest place. Though these wolves were special, they couldn't fly - yet.
But sometimes an opportunity presented itself and there was no convenient tree stand nearby. If Edward ever found out just how many times I broke the rules in order to kill the monsters, he would revoke my hunting rights for more than a day. He'd lock me up in a white room. Again.
I picked up my pace, needing to get farther into the forest, farther from Damien and his incredible nose. I planned on having another bonfire before daylight.
I'd been in decent shape before I became a Jager-Sucher, but once I signed on I learned how out of shape I was. Wolves would catch me if I ran. They can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour and cover 125 miles in a day, though 40 is average. Wolves can follow a herd at a run for 5 or 6 miles and then accelerate. Werewolves don't need supernatural abilities when just being wolves makes them superhuman. Which was why I always carried a gun.
"There's just one of me!" I shouted. "I'm out here all alone. Come and get it!"
The J-S rule book said we needed to be sure we were shooting a werewolf. One way to do this, the preferred way, was to watch the beast change. However, Edward had taught me a few other less certain but no less acceptable ways, to be sure.
Real wolves would run from a human. Only werewolves ran toward them.
Both wolves and werewolves culled the weakest from the herd. Only werewolves attacked the strong.
Only animals with human intelligence did so with military precision.
The rasp of my breath, the stomp of my boots, the crackle of branches nearly drowned out the whisper of the wind through the trees, the buzz of any remaining mosquitoes, the rustle of night creatures in the underbrush. Because of that I didn't hear the silence. Not at first.
By the time I noticed how still everything had gotten - eerily so - it was too late. They were coming in fast from every direction.
"Standard attack formation," I muttered. "God, you're predictable."
My rifle had been modified from semi- to fully automatic by the geniuses of the Jdger-Sucher weapons division. The gun appeared normal, but it wasn't. One of the reasons I preferred it to the standard-issue DNR shotgun - a nice piece of hardware but not for supernatural baddies.
The automatic was completely illegal, of course, so arrest me. I didn't think the werewolves were going to call foul because I possessed the gun of a modern terrorist. When I got through with them they wouldn't be able to do anything but burn.
The first one burst from the foliage to my right. They were rarely able to wait. To stalk. To attack simultaneously. Someone always got eager, and then he was mine.
I waited until I saw the whites of their eyes. That they had whites was the reason I shot them. Look at a human's eyes, then look at a wolf's. You'll see what I mean.
I shot a gray wolf in the chest. Then the one next to that, and the one next to that. I put my back to those bodies and mowed the rest down in a sweeping semicircle of gunfire.
Werewolves are good at making a plan, what they can't seem to do is improvise.
The last wolf hit the ground and silence returned to the forest.
"Automatic weapon, sweep pattern. Screws 'em every time," I murmured.
My heart still pounded fast and loud, but my hands had stopped shaking. I no longer felt weak. I no longer heard the voices in my head or the screaming in my ears. Life was good.
I counted bodies. Eight. Not bad for a night's work. Damn good for an hour's.