Blaedergil's Host by C.M. Simpson (reading well .TXT) 📕

was either accessing the feeds through her own implant, or piggybacking on what I could see via mine.

“Clever idea,” she said, as I wound the feed back, and we watched the three scientists inject themselves with what had to be pure werewolf blood... taken from the wolf they had in the stasis pod tucked in beside the refrigeration unit in one corner of the lab.

“You guys took a risk,” I said, having seen the first signs of plague on their faces fade shortly after they’d used the blood. I made a show of inspecting them closely for plague symptoms, and seeing none. “Looks like it worked.”

Delight looked over at me.

“It’s not an option for us,” she said, “and we need to wrap this up. You and I are both infected, and the station is—”

“We know!” Mack said. “Looks like our problem is directly related to yours... werewolves excluded.”

I stepped away from the computer, and faced up to the wolf that appeared to be the most dominant.

“You want Odyssey’s help?” I asked, and didn’t wait for it to reply. “Then you need to let us get on with our job.”

He growled, and I glared at him, feeling the vibration of that growl right down to my bones, and fighting the urge to run.

“You can either help us, or Odyssey will put you down when they get here, instead of seeing what they can do to reverse it... or help you get on with life.”

A moan rose from outside the door, punctuated by a banging on the outside. I turned my head, directing the wolves’ attention to it.

“Right now, that is our job, along with trying to save the station. You going to let us do it? Or does she start shooting?”

I didn’t know how much these guys had researched their subjects, but I was betting they didn’t know every vulnerability a werewolf had. I figured Corovan had been getting ready to build an army, at the same time as he’d been getting ready to spread his plague off-world. That crazy bastard hadn’t just been going to hold Costral or the Hazernas to ransom; he’d been going for as much of known space as he could.

Corovan Chem, my sainted aunt’s backside! Crazy Lord Andreus had himself a whole new line in genetic modification, and it wasn’t going to fly. The guy with the steak, stuffed the last piece into his mouth, rolled his heavy shoulders in a shrug, and went back to the rest of the pile I’d set on the table. I kept my eyes focused on the most hostile of the three.

“Well?” I asked, just as the plague-ridden folk outside, rattled the door again.

“Stay away from the doors.” Tens voice came through the intercom, loud and clear. “I am activating secondary security measures.”

I was going to ask what those were, but I caught the hum of electrical current, the sudden crackle of discharge, and shrieks of agony from the corridor. The wolf looked from me, to the intercom, to the door, and then back again, clearly trying to work out what was happening.

“That was Odyssey,” I said, since, technically, it was true. We were Odyssey contractors. “You going to let us go, or what?”

I watched as the wolf laid back his ears, and snarled, but he went back to the table and pulled up a chair beside his subordinate. Picking up a steak between his clawed fingers, and ripping a savage bite out of it, he kept glaring at us. The third wolf followed shortly thereafter.

Delight slid out from behind her table, and walked the outside of the room to another door. The wolves watched her, ears pricked, but none of them left the table, or put down their steaks.

“Where does that one go?” she asked, looking at me, and indicating the door.

I noticed she didn’t touch it, so I pulled the blueprints from the Corovan database, now that I’d established a link to it. Honestly, it was easy, once you were inside the complex. This part of things, at least, reminded me of what it had been like inside Ghoul’s domain.

At least the Corovans hadn’t thought to partition the systems between each lab.

“Back-to-back storage with ventilation shared between them,” I said, and took a peek at what might be waiting for us.

I discovered I couldn’t see a thing, as the lights were turned off in the storage bays. The lab beyond was lit with emergency lighting, and empty, as far as I could tell. I pulled my head out of my files, and looked over at the wolves. After all, they had been scientists, once.

“You know what they were working on next door?” I asked, jerking a thumb in the general direction of the storage room.”

The wolf that had been stuffing his face frowned, shrugged, and went back to eating. The leader wolf shrugged. The third wolf, the quietest of the three looked from one to the other of them and back again, frowning.

“Don’t make me come over there,” Delight said, and they all swiveled their heads towards her, flattening their ears against their skulls.

I decided on a different approach. After all, dogs, wolves, guys... you just had to feed them, right?

“I’ll stay long enough to fix another tray of steak,” I said, and their ears flicked forward.

Steak-Boy looked at the quiet one, and nudged him, indicating he should go ahead. Boss-Boy nodded, too, so the quiet one licked his chops, and tried.

“Wurroof.” He stopped and frowned, and I watched his form ripple, the furred outline of his shoulders get less shaggy, and his snout melt back into his face.

He looked down at his, now, very human hands and his face lit up, just a little.

“Virus stuff,” he said, and then caught us all staring at him. “What?”

“I guess you shredded your clothes when you changed.” Delight pointed out, and we watched him blush.

A short, sharp bark from Boss Boy, made us look towards him, but the head werewolf wasn’t interested in us, just his quiet and very nude