Free In the Werewolf's Den by Rob Preece Page B

she'd thought.
    Dean was halfway across the courtyard when the doors of three nearby shops opened and an assortment of elves, Were , and trolls surrounded the imp.
    "I guess you missed your rendezvous point, Mr. Dean,” one of the elves observed. “Perhaps you forgot that we had a meeting scheduled. But you didn't forget to bring us the research report, did you?” The tall elf wore black jeans and a western-styled shirt covered, despite the heat, by a long coat. Her warder training practically shouted out the warning. Strangely, the elf's face was serene, calm, and beautiful.
    She could barely see Dean but she couldn't miss the stark fear that filled his eyes. Even more fear than when she'd caught him rifling Carl's files that morning.
    "I, uh, thought I saw someone at the rendezvous,” the imp explained. “Naturally I knew you would track me down."
    "But?"
    "But I did get the papers, Mr. Arenesol,” Dean said. The imp could have won an Oscar if the impaired were eligible. They weren't, of course. “It wasn't easy,” the imp explained, possibly gilding the lily. “But I was able to make a copy when the others were at lunch. They'll never notice it was touched. Exactly as you ordered."
    The elf reached for the briefcase the imp clutched under his arm. “Good. So you never told anyone about our meeting?"
    "Of course not.” Dean let go with a sign of reluctance.
    "Excellent.” The elf laughed, an almost silent exhalation, then tossed the case to one of the Were .
    "I guess we'll just have to give him his reward, then Rocky."
    Danielle blurred.
    She pressed the detonator as she jumped from her chair, suppressing the urge to duck at the sharp slap of explosion.
    She was prepared for the noise and the bits of Were that landed around her. The mob that had attacked Dean wasn't so lucky. Several ducked. One ran, cutting down on the number that she was left to deal with. The troll, Rocky, barely flinched.
    But that flinch was enough to let her close the distance from the cafe. She blocked the troll's knife inches from Dean's throat, slapped a finger strike at Rocky's eyes, and then brought a hundred and twenty pounds of angry woman straight down onto the troll's instep.
    Rocky howled, but earned his name, keeping to his feet as he swung the knife at Danielle. Dean had the sense to drop to the ground and start crawling away from the fight, which had expanded with the arrival of Mike the Vampire, Carl, Snori, and the two dwarves.
    Rocky was strong enough to be dangerous. If one of his grasping hands caught her, he could pick her up and snap her spine before she had a chance to do much. On the other hand, he was so slow that Danielle could have evaded his grasps even without warder training. So she had the chance to watch the others in her impromptu mob as they waded into the battle.
    After only a little training from her, the dwarves, Billy and Willie, had perfected street fighting as an art form. The two worked together, one distracting while the other pounded rock-hard punches into any body part they could reach.
    Snori seemed clumsy even for a troll, but somehow managed to knock down two of the trolls in the mob and then picked up a gnome by the ears.
    The troll and dwarves concentrated, Danielle noticed, on the lower-ranking members of the mob that had surrounded Carl's research assistant, leaving the core of the organization to herself, Mike the Vampire, and Carl.
    Mike was a martial arts machine. With an economy of movement that would have made any of Danielle's instructors green with envy, he reached through ineffectual blocks to touch pressure points, sending his opponents reeling in pain or temporary paralysis.Carl had half-shifted. He'd kept enough of his human form to deliver powerful kicks and punches, but fought low to the ground, threatening his enemies with powerful wolf jaws. While Mike and the dwarves kept the elf's bodyguards from coming into play, Carl attacked Arenesol.
    Thanks to Joe's warning, Danielle