with a thin plastic tube of a pungent substance with the color and consistency of maple syrup. Holding the tube up to a light, she shook it to watch the piece of Kawosa’s earlobe move around within the liquid. She’d been carrying the little bundle with her since Toronto. The little chunk of skin had been soft and moist when she cut it from Kawosa’s ear, but when she fished it from the tube it felt more like a glob of coagulated tomato sauce. She squashed the earlobe into the tube and then shook it some more. It didn’t take much Nymar or werewolf blood to create a good batch of varnish, but this was something different. She wasn’t even sure if Kawosa’s sample would have an effect when added to the varnish. No matter what had happened the last time she tested her own innovation, the potential benefits were too great to pass up.
After adding a few drops and some water, the stuff was smeared onto a rag and applied to her weapons to strengthen the coat of varnish that allowed them to bond with her and change shape. This wasn’t the first time she’d whipped up something in the field or modified a weapon. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it backfired. Sometimes nothing happened at all. She considered all of those options while looking at the little chunks of earlobe swirling around in the tube. The safe thing to do would be to add a little bit of the varnish to her weapon and see what happened. Maybe later she could add more. If she didn’t run out of the sample she’d gotten, she could keep trying until she got it right.
Having dealt with Kawosa, Paige knew that something needed to be done quickly. She’d been lucky to realize he was trying to influence her, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d gotten so close in the first place. He was a master deceiver and would only get better as he dealt with more Skinners. If something wasn’t done to help sniff him out, the skinny bastard would have free reign.
Paige checked the tube, held it up to the light and swirled it around again. It seemed that all of the chunks were absorbed, so she opened it.
It smelled gross, but no more so than usual.
She carefully tipped the tube until a few drops fell onto the wet cloth sitting next to her on the stack of boxes where she was seated. About three-quarters of the usual amount, just to be safe. Sliding her hand under the cloth, she folded it once, rubbed the varnish in, then drew her main weapon. She worked the varnish into the machete with the cloth in the usual ritualistic fashion. The stuff glistened on the wood grain for a few seconds before soaking in to give the weapon a slightly darker color. She then applied another coat, waited for it to dry, and set the cloth down. It didn’t take long for her weapon to drink in the varnish, and when it did, she picked it up and clenched her fist around its handle.
Paige barely twitched at the pain from the thorns, but she did feel a chill at the points where they pierced her flesh. She closed her eyes, waiting for something else. It had been a while after her arm was hurt before the thorns would even puncture that hand. If anything else went wrong, she might not be able to fight at all. But she knew that if things were allowed to slide much further without somehow being put into check, no amount of fighting would do much good anyway.
The chill subsided.
When she tried to shift her weapon into a deadlier shape, it responded sluggishly. Normal for that hand, so she removed the stake from her other boot. It still felt like a poor substitute for the sickle that had been destroyed, but she started working the varnish into its handle all the same.
Her phone rang. Even though she didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID, she wasn’t about to take a chance on missing a call from Cole. “Hello?”
“Hey, Bloodhound. Long time no see.”
“Rico?”
“That’s right. Sorry about the mix-up in Canada. Where you been?”
Paige set down the cloth and fought back the impulse to reach for her Beretta. “You’re sorry?” she asked. “You tried to kill me.”
“That was some kind of brainwashing bullshit,” Rico told her. “You know that. He got both of us with that trick.”
“What