Hurricane #16: The Interrogation (Patreon)

Serrano strained against the force of—the force of what? A spell? Technomagical gadgets? The rain itself? Something was weighing her down, dragging at her limbs. She shook wildly, barking. Were her clothes sliding off?

Something gave, like a rubber band snapping. She tumbled to the side, rolling, all at once out of the rain. Dizzily, she got to her hands and feet—

—her—

“Serrano?” Sarah’s voice came from above, shock clear in her tone.

She tilted her head up, trying to answer, but it came out as a terrified whine. Holy fuck, I’m an unevolved coyote like in the dream! Her tail tucked between her legs. Her hind legs.

“Can you understand me?”

She stared up, trying to answer again, failing to answer again.

“I don’t think we have much time,” Sarah hissed. “Please nod if you understand.”

Serrano forced herself to nod. It didn’t feel right. All the balance in her body was off.

“Oh, thank the Court. All right. We need to—”

The column of rain moved back over Serrano, instantly clouding her vision. She yelped, ears going back, and backed away from the water. It followed.

“Line of sight,” Sarah muttered, barely audible over the rain. “All right, fucker. Serrano, close your eyes.” She held her hands together as if wrapped around something for a moment, then tossed a ball of light into the air, straight over her head. When it reached the top of its arc, it went off like a flash bomb.

Serrano had closed her eyes just in time, but even through her eyelids the world went searingly bright for a moment. When she opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, she and the wolf stood in a shimmering sphere. The rain had stopped.

She sat back on her haunches—what the fuck, she had haunches—and made a quizzical noise. “What’s that?”

Sarah whipped her head down, staring.

Serrano cringed, whining reflexively.

“You can speak? On the Queen’s Blood, why didn’t you—”

“I can’t! I—holy shit.”

Sarah rubbed her face. “One thing at a time. This,” she waved at the sphere, “makes us effectively invisible. Which means…” She pointed. “We can smoke out whoever’s been keeping that thing focused on you.”

A familiar rabbit hurried down the street toward them, angrily panicked, a gun-like gadget with a radar dish on the end in his right hand. “Bob.” Serrano bared her teeth.

Sarah looked down at the coyote, raising a brow, then held out a hand. “Let’s wait a moment before one or the other of us kills him.”

Bob stopped about five yards from them, looking down side streets and swearing. He pulled out a phone, fumbling to get it out of the pocket past a holstered pistol.

Serrano made a soft warning growl. Sarah nodded. “I see it.”

“No,” he said, then winced at the unheard response. “Because she’s got someone helping her, some wolf woman. And she just changed into—”

He fidgeted, then cleared his throat. “Hello, Sarge.” Pause. “I don’t know. Never seen her before.” Another pause. “I know.” A much longer pause and a nervous expression. “Yes, sir. I—” An ear twitch and a wince. He put the phone away.

Sarah waved a hand, and the shimmering sphere disappeared. “Sounds like the boss is angry.”

Bob hopped in place with a startled, scratchy squeak, then put a hand on the pistol’s grip. “Who do you work for?”

“The Queen of Faerie.”

The rabbit’s brows lowered in confusion.

“Sarge?” Serrano growled. “My fucking business manager, Sarge?”

Sarah looked down at Serrano, arching a brow.

Bob drew the gun. “I’m not gonna ask again, wolf girl.”

“I already answered, Bob. Now you answer her, or I’m going to get mean.”

He muttered under his breath and fired twice.

Sarah staggered backward, gasping, one fist clenched. Then she caught her breath, straightened up, and locked eyes with Bob as she opened her hand. Both bullets fell to the ground.

The rabbit’s eyes widened, and he backed away. He made it two steps before he vanished, both the pistol and the sci-fi gadget clattering to the pavement. His jeans and grubby work shirt fell to the ground, too.

Serrano made a quizzical noise, then a soft whff as Sarah walked over and picked the rabbit up in one hand. He hadn’t disappeared; she’d shrunk him to the size of an action figure, maybe eight inches tall.

“Hey!” He struggled in her grip as her fingers wrapped completely around his midsection. “You can’t do this!”

“I just did. Now tell me how to change her back.”

“What?”

She squeezed him like a toy, and he yelped. “How do I change her back to a biped?”

“How the fuck should I—” The words became a pained scream as Sarah squeezed him again. “I don’t know!” he gasped. “She’s supposed to be put in that state in the dream because it somehow maximizes the draw! She changed when I turned up the power, but I don’t know why she’s not changing back now!”

“Hmm.” Sarah looked down at Serrano. “Have you tried transforming yourself?”

“How the shit do I do that?”

“I don’t know. But he does.” Sarah looked at Bob. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen, Bob. I’m going to start swallowing you whole, and you’ll answer every question Serrano has before I finish.” She lifted him up over her head and opened her jaws wide.

“What? No! You can’t—” His words became a hysterical yelp as her lips closed around his paws and she sucked his legs in all at once.

“She obviously can,” Serrano said, sitting back on her haunches. “You need to stop saying stupid shit like that.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Sarah agreed, and swallowed once. Bob jerked back into her mouth by an inch, her lips now past his hips, and screamed again.

“Okay, Bob.” Serrano looked up at him. “How do I change back?”

He looked down at her, terror on his face as his little hands pressed futilely against the wolf’s lower lip. “I don’t know, I swear I—”

Another swallow, another inch deeper into the wolf’s muzzle. Sarah made an mmmm noise.

Bob wailed. “Look, gather power, try making it fucking rain, I don’t know! You’re the storm god, not me!”

“I’m not…” She shook her head, then closed her eyes. Okay, Ulohne, they’re not trying to steal your power through me anymore, and I can fight this for you. Somehow. Change me back.

Thunder rumbled overhead. Her ears skewed, and she looked up. No rain, but was that cloud-to-cloud lightning? Yes, it was—

Another bright flash filled her vision with a matching ear-ringing crack. She yelped, rolling onto her back again, then sat up. “Crap, Sarah, what the hell!”

The wolf made a nuh-uh! sound around her mouthful of rabbit, shaking her head, then pointing up at the sky and down at the coyote. Bob made a wailing noise.

“Huh?” Serrano realized she felt different—normal. She had bipedal legs to stretch out, fingers to wave. She laughed incredulously, getting to her paws. “How did that even happen?”

“You got struck by lightning!” Bob spluttered. “I don’t know—no!” The last came as Sarah swallowed him down another couple inches. His head was between her enormous-to-him fangs now. He wriggled violently.

“Oh, yeah, we’d better get to you answering those questions before it’s too late. What do you mean I’m a storm god?”

“That’s what they told me! My job’s to draw the storm power out of you.” Bob’s voice was faster, higher-pitched, decidedly desperate.

“And you were just speaking to Sergeant Eddie, my music manager.”

“I guess. I know he works with you.”

“You said ‘tell Sark’ in my dream. Who’s that?”

Bob hesitated long enough that Sarah made a tch tch! and swallowed again. The rabbit screamed, now fully inside the wolf’s mouth. No, halfway down her throat. Serrano could faintly see his legs trying to kick, making her throat ruff ripple. She watched a moment, transfixed. That should absolutely not be hot, but, well.

“He’s the guy we’re all working for!” Bob wrapped a hand around one of Sarah’s fangs as if clinging for dear life. He was panting now, his breath fogging in the humid air of the wolf’s mouth, and as he squirmed it sounded…squelchy.

“Great. Okay, if I were you, I’d answer real fast now, Bob. You’re working with Ward, my apartment manager.”

“Yes!”

“He knows what you’re doing.”

“He just knows to take the money and not ask questions.”

“Anyone else?”

“Ask Sarge! I don’t know! It’s all about keeping you where you are, okay?”

“You’re chasing me around out here.”

“It’s because you’re getting control somehow and you’re gonna fuck everything up!” He gasped, doing his best to glare from between the wolf’s teeth. “You don’t know the power you’re channeling and you’re gonna just fuck up the weather system if we don’t drain you!”

“Oh, you’re doing this for my own good. Thanks. What happens to me when I’m ‘drained?’”

“I guess you’re just a normal damn coyote lady.”

Serrano thought a moment, then held up a finger. “Okay, last question. Where is Sark?”

“I…what?”

She leaned in close so she could watch his face. “Is he in our branch of reality here, or in the one the storms are going to?”

Recognition—and fear of something other than Sarah—flashed over his face. “The other one.”

“Okay.” She sighed, straightening.

Sarah made an okay? noise and gave Serrano a thumbs up sign in query.

She gave a thumbs up back. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Sarah tilted her head back. Bob’s terrified wail cut off abruptly, the wolf’s throat distending briefly as the rest of the rabbit went down all at once.

Serrano stared. “Holy shit. Sarah, you said—”

“That he’d answer all of your questions before I finished swallowing him. I didn’t lie.” She picked up the ray gun and Bob’s phone. “Get your clothes. Let’s get to my hotel before anything else comes after us, and visit your mad scientist in the morning.”