Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,99
other human I happen to meet.”
“Run!” screamed A’marie.
It sounded like good advice. But instead I lunged forward and grabbed one of the chairs. As Queen, Leticia, and Timon backpedaled, and Davis jerked the Pharaoh away from the table, I swung it over my head, and, bellowing, smashed it into Wotan’s face.
The chair broke apart in my hands, and I saw that it had cut and scraped his nose, cheeks, and forehead. But it hadn’t rocked him backward or even knocked the grin off his face. His eyes completely red with blood, he grew and changed.
You probably think you know what it looked like from movies, and you’re not completely wrong. But, his fancy clothes splitting and ripping into rags, other things popping and cracking under his skin, Wotan got taller and put on more muscle than any wolfman I ever saw on TV. His arms stretched long like an ape’s, and the claws that hooked out from the tips of his fingers belonged on a lion or tiger. His head turned into a mix of wolf and bear, and as all that black body hair lengthened and thickened into fur, it gave off a rank animal stink. Everything happened fast, too. My eyes could hardly track the changes.
I decided A’marie had the right idea. I spun around and ran out into the lobby, scared shitless and also mad at how unfair this was. I’d won the damn tournament. At the very least I deserved some down time.
Wotan finished changing and charged the doorway. He was running on all fours, and since his arms were now longer than his legs, it could have been clumsy. It wasn’t. What it was, was fast.
Which might mean I could knock him out like I had the fire shark. I flashed the Thunderbird and plugged the opening with an invisible wall.
He slammed into it, bounced back, roared a word in some other language, and threw himself at it again. This time he broke through, and the feedback jolted me like a punch. The servants on duty in the lobby screamed and cringed at the sight of him.
I knew I’d never make it to my car. I had to fight, so I burned what mojo I had left to call Shadow. Fortunately, he answered fast. He filled me up in an instant, like an explosion of black paint.
It felt great, too. I wasn’t even a little bit scared anymore, and with fear gone, my hate was pure and eager. Joyful in a horrible way that didn’t feel horrible from the inside.
Wotan sensed the change in me. He snarled at it, but it didn’t slow him down. He sprang, landed on his feet only, and slashed at me with the claws on his right hand.
I ducked, and the fur on his forearm ruffled my hair. Then I snap-kicked at the inside of his knee.
He shifted the leg, and I only grazed the kneecap. It probably hurt, but it certainly hadn’t crippled him.
Since I was inside his reach, I felt more than saw him trying to catch me in a bear hug. I dropped low and spun left, slamming my elbow into his kidney as I escaped. He grunted.
He whirled to keep me in front of him, too, and his left hand raked at me. I retreated out of range. As he chased after me, he swung his right arm up and over like you’d swat a fly on a tabletop. The flyswatter was a couch he’d somehow grabbed without me noticing, sinking his claws and fingers into the armrest.
I jumped back again. Wood cracked when the sofa slammed into the marble floor, but it didn’t fall to pieces like my chair had. Wotan instantly picked it up again and whipped it in a horizontal arc.
That one caught me. If I hadn’t been backpedaling, and if the couch hadn’t been upholstered, it probably would have broken several bones. As it was, it knocked me flying through the air. When I thumped down, I slid until my head rammed into the base of the front desk. The little bell on top of it dinged.
For a split second, everything was blurry, meaningless, and then Shadow’s viciousness snapped it back into focus. I kept on acting dazed and helpless, though, until Wotan stepped in, took the remains of the sofa in both hands, and lifted it over his head.
Then I rolled up onto my knees, and, screaming, drove a punch into his crotch. That locked him up, and I scrambled to