Hair of the Wolf Read Free

broken streetlamp. She glanced up at the jagged teeth of the shattered light, running her tongue over her lips and briefly revealing fangs.
    Yes, she thought, this will do nicely.
    Walking into the alley, she stepped to the left, letting the shadows envelope her. Growling greeted her distantly, a soft echo from the far end of the darkness.
    The growl came from around a dimly lit corner. Hmm. Now this was interesting. She had found another predator in here, though not of her kind.
    There was a mugging in progress down the alley. Four street thugs, all in their mid-twenties, stood surrounding what appeared to be a family of three. Predatory instinct was obviously lacking in them, and they had chosen the alley for ease and apparent invisibility. Dirty to a man, the muggers were grimy from the wear and tear of life on the streets. Grey clothing, which might have once been white, or just as easily black, adorned them. None of them was clean shaven, ranging from scruffy to scraggly full bearded. Bathory smiled. Bottom feeders. Focusing further on, she turned her attention to the family instead.
    A woman with flowing dark red tresses, in her early twenties, stood protectively in front of a man holding a child. She was wearing a tie-dyed sweater, sun dress, and high heels, obviously dressed for a night out, but her stance and physical tone gave lie to the outfit. She was a fighter, and experienced.
    The man was in his late twenties, perhaps even early thirties, and dressed in bellbottom jeans and a flannel work shirt. The lines of his face were strong and chiseled, handsome even, but he had a rough look about him, like someone used to physical labor. Curly light brown locks, almost dirty blond, framed a deeply tanned face. His arms were wrapped around a toddler, an incongruous sight for the time of night. Who brings a child out for a night on the town?
    The three of them were backed up against a Dumpster, with the claustrophobically tight walls of the buildings hemming them in on either side. The four dark-clad muggers were spread around them, herding the victims towards the dead end.
    Elizabeth smiled to herself. It was bad planning on the mugger’s parts. Always leave an untested opponent a difficult way out, that didn’t require going through you.
    The trapped girl illustrated the reasoning behind that point. Her growl deepened to something bestial. It went straight through the ear to a part of the brain that polite society had long since covered with decorum and etiquette. Eons ago, the human race somehow stumbled upright, and the parts of the brain that raged against the Night got covered by tea, manners, conversation, and other niceties. Elizabeth smiled as she watched that growl freeze the muggers.
    A single heartbeat of inaction was all the woman in the tie-dyed outfit needed. Shadows blurred and the woman sprang forward. Watching from the mouth of the alley, Elizabeth saw the young man jerk, pulling the child close. Floral colors erupted into a whirlwind as the tie-dyed virago quickly swept the legs of one mugger, destroying his left kneecap with a loud crunch. As he went down, she sprang to the side, delivering a fierce uppercut to the second man. His knife clattered to the ground as his jaw shattered. Mugger number three peed his pants, turned around, and ran for it.
    He never even saw the clawed hand reach out of the shadows. One moment he was running, the next he was on the ground, sans throat. Elizabeth was intrigued by this werewolf who didn’t use her claws.
    The woman spun to face the shadows. “Smell you, Vampire.” Her voice came out gravelly, half growling.
    Elizabeth stepped out of the shadows, frowning as she glared at the lapel of her suit. “Do you know how impossible it is to get blood out of white polyester? This suit is ruined. Simply unacceptable.”
    “You!” Spat the other woman. Her body blurred slightly as fur grew out from the back of her hands. Her fingers lengthened and nasty claws sprang