“Is that so? What did she say when it did work?”
“She’d say, ‘give it a few minutes.’ ” Cole started to laugh in earnest, but the effort became too much for him so he turned his attention back to the spear.
George finished his breakfast sandwich in a few overzealous bites and then leaned forward to glance down at the large plastic mug near Cole’s feet. “Is that coffee?”
“Yeah,” Cole replied. “My coffee.”
“Can I have some?”
“If you don’t mind my backwash.”
George shrugged and reached down to grab the mug. “We’ve fought and bled together. We’ve lost dear ones on the same night we both nearly died. I think I can stand to drink some of your coffee.”
“What about the backwash?”
“There was probably worse things in the fast food you insist on buying.”
The whittling stopped and Cole’s hand drifted to the sickles. Rather than pretend he was doing something else or busying himself with the spear, he picked them up and set them upon his knee. The blades were folded down against the handle, which he touched gingerly, as if he was once again afraid of the thorns.
“She’s a hero,” George said. “Everyone who knows what happened in Shreveport knows that.”
“Yeah.”
“The Weshruuv continue to howl, but nobody breaks like they used to.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s over,” Cole said. “There are still more Half Breeds than ever and they can still make more by attacking humans.”
“But the planes no longer drop from the skies,” George pointed out. “The IRD can fight them. Armies across the world are fighting them.”
“Adderson said it was close, but the ones above him in the chain of command aren’t talking about nukes anymore.”
“They were considering nukes?” George asked as the optimism he’d been injecting into his voice dissipated. When Cole nodded, he took another sip of coffee.
“The IRD took some major losses, but they’re recruiting from every branch of the military to make up for it. They’re even splitting into international groups now.”
“I know. I already heard from the IRD UK.” Seeing the question in Cole’s eyes, he added, “That’s the United Kingdom.”
“I know. I just didn’t know they knew about the Amriany.”
“I’ve been trying to drag the clans into the new century for a while now, but they all just want to stay quiet and bitch about you Skinners. I think Shreveport brought us together in more ways than you know. That was Paige’s doing also.”
Leaning back, Cole looked at the water and closed his eyes. A lazy smile drifted onto his face and his eyes pinched in at the edges. “I can still hear her voice. I don’t ever want to forget that sound, but I can’t think about her face for too long before . . .”
“Before you want to break something,” George said. “I know.”
“Killing those Half Breeds helped.”
“Well there are plenty more out there.”
“Plenty more of them along with the Full Bloods and the Nymar.” Cole opened his eyes and tightened his grip on the sickles. “The bloodsuckers have been cleaning their own houses and already started trying to sneak into ours. Tried to get a Shadow Spore into the IRD. One of Adderson’s boys shot the son of a bitch and burned him alive before the antidote rounds could do their thing. Wish I could have seen that.”
“I think you’ll be seeing plenty of that sort of thing for a while. Every country is under some sort of lockdown because of the damn wolves. Eight of our cities back home have fallen to Vasily while the Amriany turned their attention elsewhere. And if you would believe it,” George added, “things continue to become stranger. In Peru and Colombia they say the snakes are reclaiming the rain forests.”
“Snakes?”
“Uh-huh.”
Cole ran his thumb along the edge of his Blood Blade. “Esteban is still out there. Lots of Full Bloods are. The Nymar have just been waiting, and now they’ve got a chance to sink in even deeper.”
“That doesn’t mean we can give up,” George said.
“Give up? That’s never really been an option, and now I don’t even want to hear anyone say those words. This is a war, but it’s because of Paige that it’s no longer an extermination. It was only a matter of time before the shapeshifters either turned or killed most of the people in the world. The ones that survived would have been caught in the cross fire as the military kept trying to kill Full Bloods using the wrong weapons.”
George rubbed his eyes and stuffed the wrapper from his sandwich into the bag with the others. “For a while even we didn’t have the right weapons for that.”
“Now we do, but this fight’s got a long way to go. The Nymar will make another move. The Full Bloods aren’t finished. The Half Breeds are always hungry.”
“And the snakes,” George sighed. “Don’t forget about those snakes.”
Cole grinned. “Paige died to make this war winnable, so I’m going to win it for her. The Amriany can help me. The IRD can help me. Nobody can help me. I don’t care. I’ll find a way to win.”
“Do you know someone other than the IRD or Amriany?”
“There are some assholes in Louisville I plan on visiting.”
“You need someone to come with you?”
Standing up, Cole put his spear into its harness and then collected the sickles. “Check back with me in a few days. There’s one more stop I need to make.”
Epilogue
St. Louis, Missouri
Cole felt strange going to the cathedral in the section of St. Louis known as Dog Town. The last time he’d been to St. James the Greater was when people were still worried about the Mud Flu. Lancroft’s plague seemed like a fond memory compared to the circumstances that brought him back to that chapel on Tamm Avenue. When he tried the door, he found it was locked. His knocks were answered by a stout, balding man wearing glasses that were thick enough to be bulletproof. As soon as the man laid eyes on him, he flashed a wide, friendly smile.
“I remember you!” he said. “Looks like things’ve been rough since we last met.”
Cole’s hand drifted to the three fresh scars that ran down his left temple and picked up again to form three similar gouges on that side of his chin. Since touching the scars would only make them itch, he pulled his hand away and asked, “Can I come in?”
“Where’s Paige?”
Cole twitched but was too tired to react more than that. “Mind if I come in?”
The man with the glasses nodded and opened the door the rest of the way. “Probably a good idea. Nowadays, Dog Town really lives up to the name. Had to keep the place locked up so the wolves wouldn’t get in. Hasn’t been too bad for a little while now, though.”
It was cold, but the layers Cole wore beneath his stitched-up coat kept away the chill. He walked straight through a small room filled with chairs and folding tables to the cathedral, pausing as soon as he got a look at the familiar stained-glass windows and statuary. Even the smell brought back memories. When he clenched his fist, he swore he could feel Paige’s hand in his grasp. “I shouldn’t have come here,” he said.
The man behind the glasses rubbed Cole’s shoulder. “Don’t be silly! What’s this place for if not to give shelter to a fella like you? You’re not about to sprout fur and fangs are ya?” he asked with a subtle St. Louis drawl.
“No,” Cole replied with an uneasy laugh. When he felt his strength start to ebb, he lowered himself down onto one of the pews.
“I didn’t catch yer name,” the man said as he sat down beside him.
“Cole.”
“I’m Bill. Can I get something for you to drink? We’ve got coffee, or maybe something stronger?”
“No thanks.”
After folding his hands across an ample belly, Bill sat quietly for a few seconds before saying, “Paige won’t be coming, will she?”