Smoke and Mirrors - 1

“It’s all illusion, smoke and mirrors,” Daniel said as he watched from their vantage point high above the street.

Jared rested the palms of his hand on the parapet, peering down at the people walking ten stories below them. With his eyesight he had no problems distinguishing one form from another any more than his partner did. “I know that goblin," he said, pointing. "Stupid but harmless.”

Daniel spotted the one he was talking about and shook his head. “Someone should have told him that teens haven’t dressed that way in fifty years.”

“Retro my dear man, retro.”

“Still an insane form to take if you ask me.”

Jared turned to look at Daniel. “Says the were-jag who lets his hair grow down to his waist so he looks like a hippie.”

“Better than a day-walker who…” Daniel paused, trying to think of an appropriate insult.

“Yes?” Jared cocked an eyebrow, waiting.

“Okay, okay, so you’re the epitome of perfect style to the nth degree.”

Jared’s smirk said it all as he turned back to the job at hand. “We have liftoff,” he said a few minutes later.

Daniel joined him. Nodding, he checked his weapons. “Ready when you are.”

Seconds later they landed in the alley across from the building and stepped out into the throng of pedestrians. A quick glance told them their target was only a few yards ahead of them. The man was tall and muscular, wearing tight-fitting jeans and white T-shirt covered by a leather vest. He moved like the predator he was, his head swiveling right and left as if searching for the perfect prey.

Jared and Daniel closed on him fast. “Looking for something,” Daniel asked menacingly as he dropped the thin stiletto into his hand and pressed the tip to the small of the man’s back while latching on to his arm tightly with his free hand.

Jared stepped in front the man, turning to face him, a small pistol barely visible in his fist. “Silver, in case you couldn’t figure that out by yourself. Come quietly and I may not shoot, ‘may’ being the operative word there. I’m not so certain my friend is quite so inclined to mercy all things considered.”

“Oh,” Daniel said, “and don’t get any ideas about vanishing. Felines always move faster than canines.”

The man gave a low growl that proved he was just what Daniel had said. “If I come with you then what?”

“You face your peers and they will decide your punishment.”

“And if I try to flee you kill me now. Definitely a no-brainer of a decision.” The were-wolf tensed and then leapt up, grabbing the edge of a ledge twelve feet above them.

Daniel was seconds behind him, landing on the ledge just as the were-wolf pulled himself up on to it. “Going somewhere,” Daniel asked with a grin as he moved lithely forward. “Canines ain’t so great at tightrope walking even in human form. You should have run instead.” He slammed his fist into the were-wolf’s chest, the force of the blow pushing the creature through the pane glass window behind him. Before the creature hit the floor Daniel was on him, the dagger piercing his heart just as he started to shift.

A woman screamed. Daniel glanced up, smiled and shrugged.

“Looks like you have things somewhat under control,” Jared said as he appeared beside Daniel and the dead were-wolf. He shot a look at the terrified woman and her eyes glazed over. Touching her mind he wiped it of what she had witnessed before suggesting she get back to work.

Once the woman left Jared shook his head. “You had to pick the lady’s room, right?”

“Hey, not like I really had an option. He’s the one who chose to stand by the window when I punched him.”

“Excuses, always with the excuses,” Jared grumbled, but he was smiling as he said it. “Okay, let’s get this out of here before someone comes in.”

They each grabbed one of the dead were’s arms and seconds later the room was vacant.