Free Changing Times by Marilu Mann Page A

her
immediate vicinity sharing his delusion.
    She refused to accept that she was becoming a believer even
though she had picked up several books and articles about lycanthropy during
the week that followed. She had also talked to a trusted associate who had
spent some time in southern Mexico dealing with the porphyria victims.
    A little over a week after her backyard encounter with Slade,
Carly was walking toward her car when she heard someone whistling. Normally
that wouldn’t have bothered her but it was the tune that gave her pause. It was
the same one Slade had trilled in her backyard.
    Carly stopped in her tracks and looked around. There wasn’t
another soul in sight. She made it to her car and got inside, quickly locking
the door. Before she could put the key in the ignition there was a loud thump
and her car started shaking slightly from side to side. Suddenly a face
appeared in her windshield.
    “Hey, Doc. How’s it going? Say, why don’t you drop Pantera
and hook up with me?” Slade grinned, chilling her blood in her veins. Once
again, his eyes seemed to be glowing at her from his position on top of her
car. How he had gotten there she had no clue.
    “What do you want from me?”
    “Nothing really. It’s Pantera I want. You? You’re just the
means to an end. Granted, you’re damn attractive but,” Slade shook his head as
he chuckled, “you’re really just not my type. Too…human.”
    “Leave me alone or I’ll call the cops.” Carly’s voice was
calm but her palms sweated as she white-knuckled the steering wheel with a
death grip.
    “And tell them what? That I jumped on your car? That I asked
you out?” Slade laughed again. “Come on, Doc. I haven’t committed any crimes
here.” There was a brief pause before he continued. “Yet.”
    Slade slid off the roof of her car onto the hood. He leered
at her as he eased himself past the windshield. Her muscles tensed at the
controlled slow slide of Tony’s enemy. Slade had somehow hooked his fingers
onto the space between the hood and windshield of her car and his face was
directly in front of hers. Carly drew in a sharp breath. For just a fleeting
moment she had seen the face of a wolf and not a man. His features had blurred
then stabilized, but his eyes were still glowing.
    “Call Pantera, Carly. Tell him I’m really anxious to meet
him again. Tell him I’m close. Tell him I’m watching.”
    Slade rolled completely off her car and vanished. There was
no other word for it. One moment he was standing in front of her car, the next
he was gone. Carly’s hand shook so hard she dropped the keys twice. She managed
to start her car on the third try. She put it in gear and drove home just
slightly over the speed limit.
    When she arrived at her condo, she triple-checked the doors
to make sure they were all locked then sped up to her bedroom. She dug the card
Tony had given her out of her wallet and flipped it over. The first number he
had written on the card was swiftly punched into her cordless phone.
    It seemed to take forever, though in reality it was only
three rings. A sleep-laden voice came over the line.
    “Tony? It’s Carly. Slade was waiting for me tonight.”
    “Carly? Are you all right?” Tony was immediately awake. She
could hear the difference in his voice.
    “I’m okay. Scared but okay. He was on my car. He knows where
I live.” Carly could hear her voice shaking and it made her angry. “What the
hell have you gotten me into?”
    “Carly, I’ll be there in ten minutes. You’ll be safe, I
swear it. Slade won’t hurt you.”
    “He doesn’t want me. He said to tell you he was close, he
was watching and he was anxious to meet you again. Tony, he scares me.”
    “Understandable. Carly, I’m going to come to your house
tonight. If you don’t want me inside, that’s fine but I’m going to make sure
you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you.” Tony had gotten out of bed and was
pulling on clothes even as they had talked.
     
    He