White Fangs by Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden Page B

Callie's wrist. "They're no threat to you!"
    Callie's eyes glimmered with rage, but she went back to scanning the river as Vukovich and Maurilio began to lope alongside the rest of them.
    "That about what you guessed?" Jack asked her, clutching the hunting knife he'd taken from his pack.
    "I've heard about all kinda strange critters in this world," Callie huffed, trying to catch her breath. "I just never figured to be partnered up with any of 'em."
    If not for the echoes of the screams still lingering in the air, Jack might have smiled at that. They ran on, breath rasping, packs heavy on their backs, grunting with effort. They had knives and guns at the ready, but of all of them only Callie King seemed to wield those weapons with any confidence. She knew what she was facing. She had fought some version of this evil before.
    "I smell something," the Reverend called out. "Smells like — "
    "There!" Sabine shouted, pointing at a point in the rushing river even as she kept on running. "They're — "
    A huge shape erupted from the current, water spilling off of it. Moon and starlight turned white fur to a pale yellow, but even in dark silhouette, there was no mistaking the bear. It roared and lunged toward them. Jack clutched his knife, knowing how pitiful a weapon it would be. Louis and Vukovich fired their pistols and the bullets struck home, thunking into dry flesh but not slowing the monster at all.
    Sabine whimpered and Jack thought for a moment she might be afraid. Then he glanced at her and saw that she had been transformed. Her hair whipped in a wind that seemed to swirl only around her. The river began to surge and churn and crash against the monstrous bear, its red eyes bright with fury and contempt as it was dragged backward. It thrashed against the water and fought its way nearer.
    Wispy clouds formed above the river. Sabine's witchery was limited here. Sparks of gold lightning danced in her eyes, and the clouds over the river lit up with electrical static. She reached toward the sky, but Jack could see the frustration in her face, because the true power of the elements was out of her reach. The lightning would not come.
    Gunshots boomed out over the water. Jack spun to see Callie King standing boldly on the bank. She'd put her knife away and stood firing both of her pistols at the massive, red-eyed bear. Four shots, grouped in the center of its chest. The bear staggered, dark blood spilling from its wounds where the bullets had struck it. Then it slid into the water, vanishing beneath the river as the current dragged it away.
    "That's what I smelled," the Reverend growled, turning his gun toward Callie. "The woman's using silver bullets!"
    The werewolves all rounded on her, standing in a half-circle to face her. Vukovich and Maurilio were still half-transformed, while Louis and the Reverend wore the faces of men, but their monstrous, savage nature contorted their features.
    "Damn right," Callie said. "And this silver just saved yer bacon, ya damn fool mutts."
    "It's not over," Sabine warned. "There's another in the water."
    "And two more in the woods," Jack added. He sensed them there, pacing, waiting. They'd been toying with their prey before, but now perhaps they were a bit wary after one of their own had been killed.
    "Keep moving," Jack snapped at the werewolves.
    They hesitated, but Sabine shouted at them to go, and this time they obeyed. Whether any of the people who'd followed Underwood were still alive, Jack didn't know. Perhaps he would have the opportunity to go back and check on them once the danger had passed.
    As the wolfish pirates ran, they all glanced back at Callie every few moments, nervous about having silver at their backs.
    "Polar bears?" Sabine said, running close beside Jack, her eyes still alight with the tiny crackle of lightning that danced inside them. "Those things aren't ordinary bears. The malice that burns in them — "
    "Vampires," Jack said, glancing at her. "They can masquerade as