Werepanther Paranormal Hunter 3 Chapter 2

“What in the sweet Mary mother of Jesus are those things?” Tony screamed from across the clearing.

“Don’t care,” Paul grumbled as he pulled his Desert Eagle pistol from its holster. “As long as they ain’t bulletproof, that is.”

“They aren’t,” Ada explained. “But they will tear you apart within seconds if they get to you.”

“They ain’t getting to me, doll,” the old man snorted. “How ‘bout you, Tony? You packin’ heat?”

“N-No.” Tony gulped with wide eyes. “I-I don’t carry any weapons on me. I u-usually don’t need them.”

“Then you’d better get the fuck outta here,” Ada warned. “Now.”

Tony didn’t hesitate for a second. The burly head of security took off to the south at a breakneck speed, but he didn’t get far before the first set of Haraami-ba started to give chase.

Two of the creepy-crawlies hissed as they scuttled after the fleeing security guard, and I knew there was no way he was escaping on his own two feet.

Thankfully, Ada must have thought the same thing.

The succubus popped her wings out as she jumped into the air, and then she zipped over to intercept the Servants of Osiris. Ada slammed into the first creature from the right side, and her momentum knocked the fucker into the second one. Then there was a spray of black mist as she tackled them both to the ground.

I could hear Tony’s heart hammering in his chest as he disappeared into the woods, but at least he was safe for now.

The same couldn’t be said for the rest of us.

There were still eighteen creepy crawling creatures, and they were out for blood. Ten of the bastards turned and began to scuttle toward me, while the remaining eight headed for my friends.

I really, really hoped they’d be able to put up a fight against the Servants of Osiris, at least until I could get over there and help.

Janine had her luck powers, and Paul had his giant pistol, but Leia and Ada were the only ones with any combat experience. If I didn’t get over there quickly, they were screwed.

But, before I could even start to worry about my friends, I had to worry about the fuckers in front of me. It was ten against one, and normally those would be horrible odds.

With a werepanther, though? Those odds were pretty even.

I roared as I bounded forward on all fours and bared my teeth. If I wanted to stand a chance against these superior numbers, I needed to stay on the offensive. I couldn’t let the Haraami-ba catch me off-guard, even if they did outnumber me by a lot.

Once I was about ten feet away from the Servants of Osiris, I leapt into the air and unsheathed my claws. Then I twisted my body into a somersault as I aimed for the Haraami-ba at the center, and I made sure to lash out with my paws as I passed over his head. My claws dug into both sides of his faceless skull, and he let out an inhuman hiss as I pulled him off his feet, landed on the ground, and then slammed his body into the dirt.

Before he could retaliate, I pressed my hands against his head, and it exploded in my grasp like a smoke-filled water balloon.

The creature’s legs went rigid and curled up like a spider’s as it died, but I wasn’t done with it yet.

I grabbed one of the Haraami-ba’s legs and then spun myself in a circular pattern, and the monster’s body was lifted up off the ground and swung around me like I was doing a hammer throw. I heard several snarls as the dead creature’s body slammed into his brethren, and once I was done, I launched the fucker off into the woods.

When I came out of my spin, I saw all but two of the bastards were down on the ground, and those two were coming at me with pure hatred in their yellow eyes.

The first one lowered its head in an attempt to ram my stomach, but I was too fast for the bastard. I sprang up into the air, and he passed harmlessly underneath me.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to avoid the second Haraami-ba.

I felt four gangly, skeletal hands wrap around my legs, and the next thing I knew I was being swung through the air like a club. A wave of pain shot through my body as I slammed into the ground, and then two more of the Haraami-ba’s hands wrapped around my wrists.

The fucker let out an angry hiss as he started to pull my appendages in four different directions, and I roared in pain as the joints in my elbows and knees started to pop out of place.

I had to get out of this guy’s grip, or else I would be toast. Even if he didn’t have the strength to completely pull my body apart like a wishbone, he could easily hold me long enough for the rest of his friends to come over and finish the job.

Come on, Carter.

I was a fucking werepanther, and I was way stronger than these spider-crawling fuckfaces.

I just had to prove it.

I gritted my teeth and snarled as I began to fight back against the Haraami-ba’s grip. Within seconds, I regained control of my appendages, and then I started to pull back against the gnarly fucker. I let out a full-on roar as I snapped my arms and legs into my body in one swift motion, and I heard a wet pop as the Haraami-ba’s arms came loose from his shoulders before he could even think to let go.

Dark smoke poured into the air from the fresh stumps on my opponent’s body as I flipped over on all fours, and then I attacked.

I launched myself forward, sunk my teeth into the fucker’s head, and yanked my head backward. The Haraami-ba’s skull popped off his neck with a hiss of dark smoke, and his body went limp.

I spat out the Servant of Osiris’ head and then turned to face my remaining enemies.

The rest of the fuckers were already back on their feet, and they were scuttling toward me like a bunch of hungry cockroaches. Two of them flanked me from either side, and I quickly rolled out of the way as they slammed into each other harmlessly.

As I popped back to my feet, three more Haraami-ba were on me, and I felt several dull thuds of pain as their fists slammed into my back, sides, and face. My vision turned white as I stumbled forward and let out a growl, and then I roared with pain when one of their claws tore into my back.

I quickly sprang to the left, rolled away from my attackers, and then went down in a crouch. I spat out a mouthful of blood as the eight fuckers tried to swarm me, but I refused to go on the defensive.

I pushed my feet into the ground and propelled myself forward, with my claws at the ready. I hit the Haraami-ba at the center of the group as I sunk my claws into his torso, and then I pulled my hands away from his body as hard as I could. The pained shriek nearly deafened me as smoke billowed out from the two fresh wounds in his sides, but I silenced him with a slash across his throat. The creature gurgled as his body collapsed to the ground and dark mist sprayed from his neck, but I didn’t have time to soak in my victory.

I used the newfound hole in the Haraami-bas’ line to push through before they could attack, and I went about thirty feet before I circled back around and prepared to mount another offensive.

At this point, my enemies were far enough away that I could afford to check on my friends, so I glanced over to see how they were holding up.

To the surprise of nobody, Leia and Ada appeared to be doing the heavy lifting.

Leia stood on the back of one of the Haraami-ba with her tongue wrapped around its neck, and she used the appendage like a makeshift bridle. The blonde jerked her head to the right, which caused the creature to also veer to the right and slam into a bunch of his friends.

Meanwhile, Ada stood atop the bodies of two of the Servants of Osiris. Her pale flesh was covered with a dark, soot-like material I assumed was the mist from the Haraami-ba, and she laughed as she flipped into the sky and away from another opponent’s attack.

Then there were Paul and Janine, who were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. However, they seemed to be a good pair, as Janine’s luck magic seemed to be working in full effect. Paul fired off a round from his Desert Eagle blindly, but the bullet somehow struck a Servant of Osiris in the leg and sent the beast tumbling to the ground.

But luck would only get them so far, so I needed to get over there and help them out.

This time, the Haraami-ba seemed to catch on to what I was doing because all seven of them approached me slowly and cautiously as they let out a few garbled, low hisses.

“What’s the matter?” I taunted. “Are you finally realizing you’re fucked, no matter how many of you there are?”

The creatures simply stopped in place, tilted their heads, and hissed.

The sound sent shivers up my spine, but I wasn’t going to let them get into my head.

Then they swarmed.

All seven of the Haraami-ba came at me in a single, wave-like scuttle, and my heart fell into my stomach as I tried to get away. I took off on all fours to the left and attempted to jump away from their attack, but they were too fast.

I felt a pair of slender hands wrap around my rear feet, and then I was yanked to the ground with the force of a fucking freight train. I let out a yowl as I hit the dirt, but the Servants of Osiris were on me like flies on shit.

Dozens of hands pounded into my back, and I roared with agony as my vision started to tunnel. These assholes had me right where they wanted me, and there wasn’t anything I could do but sit here and take their pummeling. They were fully intending to beat me to death, and if I didn’t do something soon, they were going to fulfill their desire.

But what the fuck could I even do? I may have been stronger than one or two of the Haraami-ba, but seven? The sheer numbers alone were enough to overwhelm me.

Claws dug into my back, and I felt my own blood splatter out as they tore into me from behind.

I didn’t have much longer. I could feel the weakness starting to overtake my body, and I wasn’t going to be able to fight it soon.

It was now or never.

I needed to get at least one of my appendages free, or I was dead.

I yanked my head to the right and bit down at the first thing I saw. There was a spray of black mist as my teeth crushed one of the Haraami-ba’s hands, and he instantly let go of my right arm.

That was all I needed.

I unsheathed my claws and lashed out blindly, and I heard several hisses as I tore through the flesh of the Servants of Osiris. My right leg came free of their grasp a second later, so I attacked with it, too.

The creatures hissed in pain again, but I was starting to feel woozy. They had done a number on my body, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep conscious at this point.

With the right half of my body completely free, I decided to try something different. I pulled my right arm and leg up against my side and then threw them outward as I twisted my whole body to the right. My momentum carried me over, and the Haraami-ba who’d been holding onto my left side were taken for a fucking ride.

They snarled as their bodies slammed into the ground, and they instantly released their grips on me.

Now, I was free.

But I was still surrounded.

I let out an angry roar as I began to slash, bite, and punch at any bit of dark leathery flesh I could see. I sliced open the chest of a nearby Haraami-ba before I spun around and stabbed my claws into the eyes of a second one, and before he could retaliate, I yanked his head to the side and slammed it into the creature beside him.

I snarled as three more fists struck me from behind and caused me to stumble forward, but then I got an idea. I used the momentum from the blow to fall forward on all fours, and then I picked up my back legs and donkey-kicked the bastards behind me.

They shrieked as my feet slammed into their chests and threw them across the landscape, and then I swiftly bounded away on all fours. When I finally got the nerve to look back over my shoulder, I saw my blind attacks had killed one more of the bastards.

The other six, however, were on their feet and hot on my tail, but as I led them over to the small wooded area of the park, the light bulb came on in my head.

If I could get out of their sight for even a second or two, I could make myself completely invisible. And, if I was able to actually do that, I could take them out like fish in a barrel. There wasn’t much wooded area in this park, only about an acre or two, but it was dense with enough foliage and trees that I could use it as cover.

Once I was close enough to the nearest tree, I leapt up into the air and dug the claws on all four feet into the trunk. Then I scurried up as quickly as I could, until I reached the cluster of branches that made up the canopy.

The Haraami-ba were right behind me, though their climbing abilities left a bit to be desired. They moved much slower than I did, so before they were anywhere close, I took a running jump and leapt over to another tree. Then I moved to another, and then to another.

By the time the six Haraami-ba were at the canopy level of the small wooded area, I was far away and hidden in the trees.

And, even though I was confident they couldn’t see me, I sure as hell could see them.

I watched from afar as the Servants of Osiris began to split up in six different directions, and I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. These morons may have been deadly creatures from the netherworld, but they weren’t exactly tactical geniuses.

By splitting up, they’d given up the one tactical advantage they had over me.

And I was going to make them pay dearly for it.

I remained in my hiding spot, pressed up against the tree trunk, as I watched one of the Haraami-ba scuttle closer to my position. My heart pounded in my chest as I held my breath and tried to remain as still as possible, until finally the creature wandered across a branch just below me, about two feet to the left and ten feet down.

I continued to hold my breath as I went down in a crouch and began to crawl forward on all fours. Thanks to my powers, none of my footsteps made a single sound, and within seconds, I was right over my target.

Then I pounced.

I jumped down on top of the bastard and landed on his back with all of my bodyweight. I dug my back claws into his body, and he roared with pain as he started to writhe back and forth in an attempt to throw me off.

But it was no use. I was stuck on him like white on rice.

I bent down at the waist, stabbed my front claws into the back of his neck, and then ripped out two massive hunks of flesh with a spray of black mist. The Haraami-ba bellowed with agony as the smoke poured out of his wounds, and then I clapped my hands together right on his slender neck. It snapped like a twig, and the fucker’s body went rigid as he collapsed.

I backflipped off my opponent’s body as it fell from the tree and hit the ground with a dull thud, and then I instantly surveyed my surroundings. The other five Servants of Osiris had obviously spotted me, so I needed to move quickly if I wanted to avoid another pummeling. I jumped off the branch I was standing on, grabbed onto another hefty offshoot, and used my momentum to swing myself forward like a gymnast on a bar. I let go once my body was at the apex of its swing, and then I flipped up onto another branch and took off at a full sprint.

I heard the Haraami-ba’s snarls behind me as I ran, but I didn’t dare look back as I jumped over into another tree, dropped down a few branches silently, and then hid once more.

This time, the fuckers wised up, and they only split up into two groups. Two of the dark, spider-looking creatures scuttled down to the ground and then began patrolling from there, while the other three searched the branches for any sign of me.

It was time to get a little more creative.

I reached over to a branch that was about two inches thick and broke it off at the base. The wood made a sound as it snapped, and I heard the Haraami-ba growl as they looked over in my direction.

Just like I’d intended.

I snapped off another hunk of the wooden stick, and then another, until it formed into a jagged makeshift spear, and I used my claws to sharpen the tip. Then I silently dropped down below and waited for the fuckers to approach.

Not a full minute later, three Haraami-ba appeared above me, and I took aim with my pointed branch.

I took a deep breath as I aimed for the one on the far right, and then I hauled back my arm and let my makeshift spear fly. It shot upward with the speed of a javelin, and it stabbed straight through the chest of my target and knocked the fucker clean off the branch.

The beast snarled and hissed as it plummeted down to the ground, but then it went silent when it hit it with a dull thud.

There were still two more six-legged assholes in this group that I needed to take care of, so I sprang up, dug my claws into the branch they were standing on, and then pulled down as hard as I fucking could. My arm muscles screamed in my body as they were put to the test, but then I heard a wooden snap. I let out a sigh of relief as the branch I was holding splintered off its trunk, and then I let go as I watched the two Haraami-ba lose their footing.

One of the bastards was smart enough to jump onto another branch, but the other just flailed helplessly as he fell downward and plummeted to his death.

The remaining Servant of Osiris sprang onto me like a fucking jumping spider, and all I could do was toss out my hands and try to keep his fists away from my body. He hit me hard, and I felt myself slip off the branch. My heart stopped for a split second as we both began the forty-foot dive, but I couldn’t let myself get flustered, so I took inspiration from the family cat I’d had when I was little.

I tossed up my back legs, stabbed them into the Haraami-ba’s chest, and then repeatedly kicked him with my claws unsheathed. The monster roared with agony as I tore through him like he was made of cardboard, and dark mist sprayed into the air all around us. Then I hung onto his body, flipped around in the air, and aimed his back toward the ground.

A shock of pain went through my legs when we finally landed, but the Haraami-ba took most of the damage. His eyes went dark as his head slammed into the dirt and bent at an awkward angle, and the smoke continued to pour from his chest as he went rigid.

And then there was the last group of two.

Both of the remaining Haraami-ba tried to flank me, but I simply flipped backward and out of the way. They were scuttling toward me when I landed, so I instantly jumped up and grabbed onto the trunk of the nearest tree.

I started up the tree as the two fuckers followed me, but that was all part of my plan.

Once I was at the nearest set of branches, I leapt up, grabbed onto a large growth, and swung my lower body as hard as I could. I tried to make it look like I was preparing to swing over to another branch and flee, but that wasn’t the plan at all. Instead, I used my superhuman hearing to pinpoint where exactly the Haraami-ba were on the tree. Then I gave my lower body a few weak pumps as I listened to them crawling closer and closer, until finally I made my move.

Once the Servants of Osiris were only a few feet away, I lunged my lower body forward and made a full three-sixty around the tree branch.

As I swung around, my back legs slammed into the head of one of the Haraami-ba, and it yelped as it was thrown from the tree and plummeted down to the ground. I saw it hit several branches as it fell, but before I could witness its fate, I felt four gangly hands wrap around my waist.

The last Haraami-ba had me in its grasp. The fucker had caught me off-guard, and all I could do was gasp as his body weight pulled me from the branch.

Gravity took over, and my heart jumped up into my throat as we both began to plummet toward the ground. The Servant of Osiris used his remaining two hands to tear at the flesh over my kidney’s, and I roared with pain as blood oozed out from the new wounds.

But I couldn’t focus on the pain. I had to focus on halting my descent.

I twisted my body around, stabbed my front claws into the trunk of the tree, and growled as splinters of wood shot around me and into my face. I felt a few of my claws get torn straight out of my paw as they dragged down the tree trunk, but I couldn’t let the pain overwhelm me.

I had to hold on.

Seconds later, our descent slowed to a crawl, and then I made my next move. I aimed for the branch below us, and then I kicked off the truck and slammed my opponent into the branch with the force of a Mike Tyson punch.

The Haraami-ba snarled as his body hit the wood, but he didn’t let go. His claws tore into the flesh on my leg, and pain shot through my lower body as I tried to shake the bastard off.

Finally, I was able to get one leg free of his grip, so I stabbed my claws straight into his beady yellow eyes. The Haraami-ba hissed as black smoke poured out of his eye sockets, and then I kicked my paw back as hard as I could.

The poor bastard’s entire face came away with my paw, and smoke billowed out of the void that was now his head. The Haraami-ba’s body went limp, and his grip released as he fell away from me and plummeted to the ground below.

I took a deep breath as I looked down at the six dead Servants of Osiris below me, but then I instantly realized it was far from over.

There were still the Haraami-ba that had been attacking my friends.

I slowly crawled down the tree, landed on the ground, and then began to sprint back to the main area of the park. When I broke through the tree line, I saw there were only three Servants of Osiris left, and my friends seemed to be taking care of them.

“Get back, ya bastard!” Paul growled as he fired his pistol at the creature nearest to him.

The bullet slammed into the Haraami-ba’s chest, and it yelped as it stumbled a few feet backward. Then Leia’s tongue wrapped around its neck and yanked it down to the ground, where Janine finished it off with a silver dagger. The redhead plunged the knife into her opponent’s chest repeatedly, and black smoke completely surrounded her as the life drained from the Haraami-ba’s body.

Ada was taking on two Servants of Osiris at once, though she didn’t seem to be too concerned about it. The two spider-looking assholes jumped into the air and swiped at the succubus with their clawed hands, but she simply dodged out of the way with the grace of a floating ballet dancer. Every now and again, she would take a dive downward and slash her claws across one of the Haraami-ba, but she didn’t seem to be landing any killing blows.

I could help with that.

Even though my body was aching like I’d just been tossed around inside a giant blender, and I could feel the blood oozing from my wounds and pouring down my hairy stomach, I got a sudden burst of adrenaline. My eyes narrowed as I fell down on all fours and started to dash toward our final two enemies, and I couldn’t help but let out a snarl as I drew closer.

The Haraami-ba turned their attention to me, but it was too late.

I pounced on the first fucker in a flash, knocked him to the ground, and then dug my claws into his face. I pulled my arms in opposite directions, and his head split open like a ripe watermelon as dark mist sprayed out into the sky.

Before I could catch my breath, the second Servant of Osiris tackled me from the side, but I was more than ready for him. I curled myself up into a ball as we rolled across the ground, and then I pulled my legs up into my chest, slammed them into the Haraami-ba’s gut, and raked my claws across his flesh.

He let out an inhuman hiss as he flew up into the air, and I seized the moment of weakness. I flipped to my feet, took aim at his stomach, and slashed my right paw across it in a diagonal pattern.

Black smoke poured out of the monster’s chest as he roared in agony. He writhed and shrieked when he hit the ground, and within seconds, his body went rigid.

He was dead.

“Holy shit!” Ada cackled. “That was soooooo hot.”

“Is that all of them?” Leia asked as she retracted her tongue.

“Yeah!” Tony’s voice called from way off in the distance. “Is that all of them?”

“The coast is clear,” Paul said with a roll of his eyes, and then he clicked on the safety of his Desert Eagle. “They’re all dead.”

The bushes on the far south side of the park began to rustle as Tony emerged and began to walk toward us.

Meanwhile, Janine’s chocolate-colored eyes widened, and she let out a gasp.

“Carter…” the redhead breathed as she reached for me. “You look terrible.”

“Thanks,” I laughed sarcastically.

“You know what I mean,” Janine said with a frown. “That’s a lot of blood.”

“You know it’ll heal the second I turn back.” I shrugged.

“Speaking of which,” Ada noted as she looked around. “Do you want to do that here? Or do you want to try and get back to Cincy’s Jewel first?”

“I haven’t heard anybody else in the park,” I admitted as I gritted my teeth and tried to push through the pain. “So I think we’re good. Honestly… I don’t know if I can make it out of this clearing without changing back. Those Haraami-ba beat the shit outta me.”

“Yet you were still victorious, love,” the succubus purred as she placed her hand on my hairy chest. “As I knew you would be.”

“Ada,” I said through gritted teeth. “As much as I’d love to engage in flirty, playful banter with you right now, I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train. Maybe after I transform back?”

“It’s alright, Carter,” Janine reassured me as she stepped forward and ran her hands along my side. “Leia and I will make you feel all better. Won’t we, Leia?”

“Of course.” The Poliwarm nodded as she stepped toward me.

I laid down on my belly and let out a long sigh as I tried to fight back against the pain. My body was throbbing, and I could feel myself getting weaker as the adrenaline wore off.

Thankfully, the second Leia and Janine started to pet me, all of the pain seemed to go away.

A long, deep purr started at my very core, and I smiled as I let the happy tingle spread throughout my body. Soon, I felt the muscles in my arms and legs begin to contract, and all the thick, blood-soaked hair thinned out. My canines and snout returned to normal size, and within seconds, the cold autumn breeze brushed against my bare flesh.

My bare, human, healed flesh.

“See?” Janine giggled. “Good as new!”

“I still don’t get how you heal up like that,” Paul admitted with a raised eyebrow. “You were practically on death’s door, kid.”

“It’s all part of being a werepanther,” I explained with a shrug. “You heal when you transform back.”

“Shit.” The old man whistled. “Can you bite me or something and turn me into a werepanther? I’ve got some severe arthritis in my right knee that could use some healing up.”

“That’s not how it works,” Janine said as she rolled her chocolate-brown eyes. “Carter wasn’t bitten by a werepanther or turned thanks to a ritual or anything like that. He was created in the image of the goddess Baast from the day he was conceived by his parents.”

“Sooooo, there’s no hope for my arthritis, then?” Paul sighed.

“Not with our current magic,” Ada said with a smirk before she turned and regarded the OLG corpses. “I cannot believe they actually used a resurrection spell. That is dark magic that has been strictly forbidden by all of the gods, new and old.”

“It doesn’t surprise me.” Janine shrugged. “It’s not like Khonsu was ever one to follow the rules.”

“I’m just glad it didn’t bring Div completely back,” Ada added and wrinkled her nose with disgust. “If I had to deal with that motherfucker one more second, I think I’d commit seppuku.”

“Makes two of us,” Paul said as he made a finger gun and placed it against his temple. “I woulda blown my brains out if I had to hear that annoying voice again.”

“I would have loved to have the opportunity to kick Div’s ass,” Tony said with a scowl. “He mistreated me the entire time I worked for him, so it would have been sweet revenge.”

“Sweet revenge from the bushes?” Paul teased his co-worker.

“I-It’s not my fault I didn’t have a weapon!” the head of security argued. “Carter said we were just having a meeting in the park!”

“You’re in cahoots with a werepanther now, love,” Ada said with a wink. “You should just expect to be attacked by strange creatures at any time of any day.”

“That was quick thinking, Carter,” Janine said as she looked over at me. “Destroying the hand, I mean. If you hadn’t, Div’s entire body would have reformed, and we would have had to fight him all over again.”

“I was just trying to stop the spell they were casting,” I admitted. “I had no fucking clue what I was doing, but I’m glad to know it actually helped.”

“What I want to know is how those motherfuckers found us,” Leia grumbled as she placed her hands on her hips. “Nobody comes out to this part of the park, especially during work hours on a weekday. I don’t think we were followed from Cincy’s Jewel, either, since Carter would have sensed them.”

“Maybe they heard all the birdies tweeting up a storm?” Paul suggested. “They were pretty damn loud.”

“No, that’s not it,” I said with a sigh. “Before I killed those three cultists, they said… They said Khonsu told them where we were.”

“Khonsu told them?” Janine asked as she pushed her glasses up on her nose. “Are you sure?”

“That’s what they said.” I shrugged. “And since they were literally here to act as willing ritual sacrifices, I don’t see why they’d lie.”

“That is… troubling, to say the least.” Ada looked at the ground with a thousand-yard stare.

“Why?” Leia asked as she glanced back and forth between Janine and Ada. “Why does it matter if the ancient god is telling his followers where we are? Isn’t that kinda expected?”

“No.” Janine shook her head. “It’s not. You see, back in the days before the gods had influence over the human race, they made a sacred pact… A pact that said they could not directly interfere with the lives of their subjects.”

“Uhhh… Didn’t Baast make a bunch of us in her image?” I chuckled. “A whole race of people who can turn into deadly, powerful beasts at will? Seems a lot like interference to me.”

“Not directly,” the redhead corrected me. “She made you guys, but then she simply lets you go into the world and watches. Hence why she never interferes when your kind ends up getting sacrificed.”

“Right.” I grimaced. “That would be pretty damn helpful.”

“But it appears Khonsu is now breaking the sacred vow,” Ada said. “This is bad. Very, very bad.”

“What the fuck can we do about it?” Leia demanded as she threw her hands up in the air. “Is there, like, a council of gods we can contact or something?”

“The gods of ancient Egypt don’t have a customer service line,” Janine chuckled.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Ada sighed. “Other than hope the other gods break their vows and interfere against Khonsu.”

“Well, fuck,” I growled. “If Khonsu knows where we are at all times, and he’s telling his cultists, then we’ll never get a moment’s peace. Cincy’s Jewel and your nightclub will keep getting attacked, and they’ll basically be giant money pits before they’re even opened.”

“Well…” Janine trailed off. “There is one thing we could do. Ada, are you familiar with how to cast hexes?”

“Hexes?” Ada scoffed. “I’m terrible at those. But I do know how to do some.”

“Hexes?” I asked. “Like, the things witches cast?”

“Exactly.” Janine nodded. “Ada and I both have magical abilities, which means we could try to cast a hex over the places we want protected from invasion, particularly by Khonsu’s cronies.”

“We can do that?” I gasped. “Because that would be really fucking helpful.”

“We can try,” Ada warned as she crossed her arms over her chest. “But don’t get your hopes up… Neither of us are very powerful magic users. It will be like a fresh-faced amateur trying to take Ron Jeremy’s cock in her asshole.”

“Strange analogy,” I snorted. “But I get it. What do we need to do to make that happen?”

“We’ll need to figure out which spell to cast first,” Janine explained and tapped her lip in thought. “Once we have that figured out, we can see what it all entails.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said with a shiver. “Now, can we get back to Cincy’s Jewel? I feel like I’m about to freeze my balls off out here.”

“And I got a sudoku calling my name,” Paul added.

“You heard the man,” I chuckled. “We can’t leave the sudoku waiting.”

“What about the bodies of the Haraami-ba?” Leia asked as she pointed to the dead creatures around the park. “Won’t somebody eventually come by and see them?”

“I’ll call the cleaner,” Ada sighed as she pulled out her cell phone and began to scroll through her contacts. “Let’s just hope nobody shows up in the next thirty minutes or so.”

As Ada made her phone call, the six of us started back toward the car, and even though it was only two in the afternoon, it had been a hell of a day so far.

And I had a feeling it was far from over.