Free Motor City Mage by Cindy Spencer Pape

before. Or a dog, for that matter. Though why the hell I’m talking to you, I don’t know.” He studied her closely. “Unless you’re a werewolf? I’ve heard of those, back when I was working in the mine.”
    The other Gravakis had imprisoned him for a reason. That made him at least a potential ally. Lana looked him in the eye and nodded cautiously.
    “So, what’d you do to rile up Malen?” The horned, green-and-black demon snickered. “Oh, wait, can’t talk much like that, can you?”
    She shook her head, but eased off Des and sat on her haunches between him and the demons. For long moments they stared at each other in silence, until Des started to stir, his faint movements ruffling her tail.
    “Fuck me.” Des’s voice was groggy and soft, but Lana’s ears pricked up and she edged back so she could watch him with one eye while keeping track of the demons with the other.
    “You’re not my type, hominid,” the Gravaki said with what Lana thought was meant to be a reassuring laugh.
    Des ignored the demon. “Lana?”
    She leaned over and licked his ear, hoping he understood that she was fine, just worried about him.
    He struggled to sit, then slumped back to the floor with a groan. “Concussion,” he told her. “Something else internal. This is going to take a while.”
    Lana whined and licked his hand. He reached up and buried it in her fur. “I’ll be okay, babe. But it’s going to take me a few hours to patch myself up. I’m not nearly as good at healing as my sister.”
    “Hey, human, what did y’all do to get dragged across the portal instead of just having your throat slit?”
    “Took him on in his own office.” His voice was weak and he’d started to shiver. Whatever the internal injuries were, they were sending him into shock. She spotted something that might have been a blanket on the bench with the demons and limped over to take it in her teeth. Neither of them gave her any trouble, moving aside to let her take the filthy rag. It was all she could do not to gag as she carried the blanket over and laid it over Des, before lying down, full length next to him. Her body temperature was higher than a human’s and might help keep him warm.
    Once she was under the blanket herself, with Des’s arm around her, she shifted, feeling some of her own wounds repair themselves as her body transformed from wolf to human. Unfortunately, her lupine regeneration was limited to herself. It wasn’t something she could share with Des. “Water?”
    The Gravaki shook his head. “Only when they feel like it, little lady. Same with food. Sometimes once a day, sometimes twice. Occasionally they forget altogether.”
    “Shit.”
    The purple thing burbled something at his friend and the Gravaki nodded. When purple-boy talked, Lana felt a sort of buzzing in her head, as if her brain was trying to translate the speech. Tall, grape and slimy pulled a plastic bottle out from under his tunic and rolled it across the floor to Lana.
    A half-full bottle of spring water. Lana looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you. My name is Lana, and this is Desmond.”
    “Ordwel.” The Gravaki pointed his thumb at himself. “And Flshhsshhhplth.” The noise he made sounded a lot like someone blowing a raspberry. “I usually call him Fish.”
    “Then thank you, Fish, for the water.”
    The purple guy nodded, bowing over his hands. Lana could have sworn she heard him say, you’re welcome, inside her head. Ignoring her own nudity, Lana sat up to return the gesture.
    “And, Ordwel, thanks for translating.” Turning her back to them, she leaned over Des to lift his head. Once his eyes opened, she trickled a small amount of water between his lips. He swallowed, took another drink before closing his eyes.
    “Good. Thanks.”
    As she laid him back on the floor, his eyes popped back open and he gasped out, “Put some clothes on.”
    Ordwel snickered and Fish made a gurgling sound that might have been a laugh. Somehow, she could