Page 136 of Forget Me Not

Ray wasn’t human. That was why they’d chosen to do this to him. Strange they would forget that until some eyeshine and a growl reminded them. Ray was a monster. That was their point.

He bared his teeth.

The human fell backward as the elevator doors opened. He dropped the flashlight, letting it roll away while he scrambled to his knees to punch the buttons, probably trying to get the doors to shut faster.

Ray turned and leaped down the stairs, cracking wood beneath him when he landed. He didn’t stop to look at the damage. He came down onto the first floor while the elevator was still lurching to a stop.

A different human was by the elevator doors, but Ray didn’t bother with stealth. The human swung around sharply at the sound of Ray’s arrival.

The first floor reeked of kerosene and alcohol and other sharp, overpowering scents. Ray wavered, shaking his head to clear it, then starting moving forward.

“Did an ambulance arrive?” he demanded, rough. He hadn’t heard sirens, but he wasn’t at his best.

The human’s arm came up. Ray didn’t have time to process more than the muzzle flash and the sound, and then he was pushed back on one side, hard. He stumbled, confused, and smelled hot blood mingling with the kerosene and the nitroglycerin from the gun.

The gun.

Ray charged forward, wincing at the noise of two more panicked shots. He slammed into the one who had shot him, pushing until the man had the wall at his back and Ray’s weight holding him still. The stink of the man’s fear barely registered. Ray ripped the gun from his hand, released the clip, then ejected the last round before tossing the empty gun to a far corner.

Every movement hurt.

The man tried to move. Ray panted in his face, snarling as he grew hotter, his side on fire. “Did help show up?”

“I…” The human nodded, shook his head, watching Ray with terror on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Ray wondered. “Didn’t they tell you you’d be hunting a werewolf? What did you think would I do with a trap on my leg?” He leaned in, letting some of the shift happen, fur and ears and long, sharp fangs, wet with saliva.

The human’s eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp, sagging against Ray’s chest, then dropping to the floor when Ray stepped back.

The elevator doors opened.

Ray turned his head.

What composure the first human had regained while safely in the elevator vanished when he emerged and saw Ray as he was.

“Oh fuck,” he exhaled, pale and wide-eyed and unmoving.

Ray tipped his head up and howled.

The human ran, too scared to watch his steps, falling over and dirtying his suit.

Outside the building, the air was cooler but Ray was still burning. The human turned as he fled, limping now. He must have done something to his ankle in all his falling down. He faced Ray or glanced back as he tried to get away. He must not be armed. He’d had more confidence in the magic than he should have.

Ray followed, scanning the street as he did. A few people were out. An ambulance was double-parked several car lengths down from the building, its lights off, the crew standing by the open doors of the vehicle and gawking at the scene in front of them. Ray didn’t understand why they’d stayed when they’d been told to go, but maybe the other human was a bad liar and they’d been suspicious.

“There are three people inside!” Ray called out, but returned his attention to the terrified human in the dirtied suit in front of him. “One unconscious, two injured. The two are several flights up, on a damaged staircase.”

Ray couldn’t tell if the ambulance crew had heard him or done anything. The human limping away from Ray reached into his suit, only to fumble his phone and drop it. Ray picked it up as he went, stowing it in a pocket.

“Who were you going to call?” he asked, unsure where the human thought he was going. The human continued to stumble down the middle of the street, drawing stares and shouts from those on the sidewalks as well as the handful of people at the plaza.

“Look,” the human twisted around to stare at Ray again, his hands raised in innocence, “you need to be reasonable. If you’d been reasonable from the beginning, they probably wouldn’t have picked you.”

“Who is ‘they?’” Ray had no idea what the end of the night would bring, and at the moment, he really didn’t care. But Penn could use some answers. Cal could… Cal could…

Ray’s second howl tore from his chest and strained something in his side. He put his hand over his ribs and kept moving. “Who are ‘they?’”

“They’ll kill me,” the human protested.

---