Alex’s eyelids drooped and he blinked several times trying to clear his blurry vision. Surely it would be okay to close them for just a second…. Alex jerked awake as his chin touched his chest. He was getting too old for this shit. Night stakeouts were for the young and gullible.
Jamie slept curled up in the truck’s passenger seat, head resting against the window. Her hair had mostly escaped the confines of her ponytail holder and stuck out in a million different angles. She’d be mortified when she woke. Jamie liked her hair sleek and bound into submission. Alex smiled, resisting the urge to reach out and smooth it back into place. She’d probably break his arm before she was fully awake.
Mike had taken up what space was left. His long body stretched out over the seat and his head rested in Jamie’s lap.
"You awake, Mike?"
A hairy ear twitched. Mike always had managed to be the one to stay awake when they worked nights.
Something buzzed and Alex reached instinctively to the phone at his hip. It lay dormant in its holder. The buzzing continued and Alex looked to the colored stones lined up across the dashboard. A pale blue light emanated from one as it jittered back and forth like a drunk, phosphorescent June bug.
"Hey, wake up." Alex reached across and tapped Jamie on the shoulder. "We've got something."
Jamie stirred, stretching as much as the cramped seat would allow. "Probably another tom cat." Her words slurred with sleep and she lay her head back down on the door frame.
"Maybe, but we have to check it out." Alex flicked on the overhead light and Jamie groaned. "You're not quite as chipper in the middle of the night."
Jamie glared at him. "Bite me. What color?"
"Blue."
Checking some scribbled notes on the back of a napkin, Jamie pointed straight ahead out the windshield. "Two blocks that way."
Though it was another week before summer officially started, Alex’s shirt clung to his skin before they’d made it half a block. Humidity hung heavy around them even in the middle of the night. Summer was going to be brutal.
“That map at Don’s place…,” Jamie said as they walked.
Alex sighed. Of course she had questions about the map. Anyone would. Problem was, the information wasn’t his to share. “It’s a map of the Center of the Universe.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jamie laughed. “The Center of the Universe is a cheesy roadside attraction. Like the Blue Whale…or the largest ball of twine…or Cadillac Ranch….
Alex didn’t correct her. Somethings were better left alone. “How much further?”
Jamie squinted at the napkin scrap in her hand. Alex was impressed she could read anything in this light. The streetlamps were few and far between. “Not far,” Jamie said. “You should be able to smell it soon.”
“That’s the smell of expensive sashimi grade fish.”
“I think it’s gone a bit off in the heat. Where did you find it anyway?”
“White River Fish Market. A guy that works there owed me a favor.”
“Do I even want to know?” Jamie asked.
“He had a baby waterhorse that he thought would make a nice pet. That is until it outgrew his swimming pool. I found it a home up in Canada.”
“Only you would rehome a lake monster to Canada.”
“They like the cool weather,” Alex protested. Waterhorses loved Canada. There were more than a few in the lakes up that way.
Alex stumbled as he bumped into a furry hind-end. Mike had stopped in the middle of the road, a low growl rumbling deep in his throat. "I don't think it's a cat this time."
Mike leaned forward and stared into the darkness, his ears pricked at whatever held his attention.
Metal scraped on concrete and Alex put a hand on his holstered gun. The sweat that trickled down his neck turned to ice. No matter how many years passed.... It could be nothing. A raccoon raiding someone's bins…a cat slipping through a squeaky pet door…a Hellhound's razor-like nails digging into the asphalt as it barreled down the road towards them. Letting go of his firearm, Alex slipped the flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. The familiar yellow glow on the pavement steadied his heart. A second circle of light appeared as Jamie’s flashlight joined his.
"By the book for a change," Alex said. "Stay together. No sudden movements."
They inched forward, Mike on point and the light from the flashlights flanking either side.
"The trap's there," Jamie whispered as they approached two large forsythia bushes at the end of the street.
Alex nodded, sweeping his light from side to side. Green eyes flashed between branches laden with yellow flowers and Alex backtracked with the light until it rested squarely on the trap.
A bundle of black fur crouched at the back of the wire cage. It hissed, flicking three bushy, white-tipped tails back and forth within its confines.
Alex exhaled sharply, not realizing he'd been holding his breath.
"That was easy enough," Jamie said, some of her usual cheerful self showing in her words.
"Don't count your dragons before they hatch." Alex knelt down next to the cage and flashed his ID card so that the kitsune could see. "I'm Officer Ford from the local Occult Animal Welfare department. I apologize for the current accommodations, but it couldn’t be helped. I'd like to extend our assistance in relocating you so that we can attempt to track down this illegal Hunt."
The kitsune narrowed its eyes, but quit hissing. It sniffed at the ID card.
"Our truck is right up the street. We'll get you moved to a safe house tonight and then on your way to the closest shrine in the morning." Alex reached down and grabbed the handle on the top of the wire cage. The whole thing swayed as he stood up and the kitsune shifted in the trap.
The fox lunged at his hand. Its thin muzzle slipped through the bars of the cage, sharp teeth sinking into the flesh of his thumb.
"You little shit.” The trap fell from Alex’s hand, the release springing as it hit the ground. The kitsune yipped, then turned and bolted down the street. Mike took off after it.
Alex kicked at the now empty cage, missing and stubbing his toe on the pavement instead. Fuck. Why couldn't anything go according to plan? "Mike," Alex growled after his partner. "Get. Back. Here."
The pounding of Alex’s heart nearly drowned out the sound of his feet against the pavement. His two legs were no match for Mike or the kitsune's four and they pulled ahead with each stride, little more than a pair of dog shaped apparitions in the night. Alex pressed a hand into his aching side as he jogged after them. At least they had the common decency to stick to the street and not go plowing through people's yards. That was a conversation he didn't really want to have with homeowners.
Turning a corner, Alex skidded to a stop. The kitsune sat motionless under a streetlight. Mike stood about ten feet away, hackles raised and mouth wide in a snarl.
Alex doubled over, lungs burning as he tried to catch his breath. Jamie stopped beside him, trap in one hand, her flashlight in the other. He tried to ignore the fact that she wasn’t winded.
"What's up with them?" Jamie asked, motioning to Mike and the kitsune.
Alex shrugged, not sure he was capable of speech yet. Mike barked once and Alex forced himself to stand up straight. A short, thin man in a fitted, black suit occupied the space where the kitsune had been only seconds before. The man waved at them.
"While this has been fun, I'm afraid the thirteenth hour is upon us and the hounds won't be far behind," the man called out. "Until we meet again...."
In the time it took Alex to blink, the man had turned back into a fox. He took off down the road, his three tails bouncing along behind him.
Mike whined, taking a few steps in the direction the kitsune had gone.
Alex glanced at his watch. 1:01 AM. Something howled in the distance. "Leave him," Alex said. "We need to get off the streets. Now."