The golden eyes had dimmed. “I’ve been fighting every crazy thing you can think of since we got stuck here. When I saw your little friend I thought it had started throwing ninjas at me.” She bent over and picked up some camouflage clothing from the ground and used that to cover herself. “Quit staring.”

“If it helps, I’m focusing on my sight. Not you. No offense.”

Ed, seeming satisfied that the scary werewolf lady wasn’t going to eat him, sheathed his swords and bowed. The werewolf woman gave Ed a look that suggested she didn’t trust him at all. There was a huge bloody gash in her side, but it was already knitting itself closed. It didn’t seem to be bothering her much now, but Ed had tagged her good.

“Gonna introduce us or what, Lacoco?”

“Z, this is Heather Kerkonen.”

Heather? Earl’s girlfriend? Blame it on the head injury, but I’d been too frazzled to realize who I was talking to. I’d met the red werewolf at last. “Your team went missing.”

“I’m the only one left. It’s been a long day. You’re MHI then. Yeah, you’ve got the happy face patch.” She was suddenly hopeful. “Is Earl here?”

“He’s down in the casino. But how’d you get here?” I was still suspicious that this was another trick. I was no longer pointing Abomination at her, but I was pointing it near her.

“We tracked the Mark Thirteen after it escaped Dugway. We caught him, fought him, and next thing I knew we were wandering through a fog filled with monsters. At least until this hotel appeared out of thin air. I was checking it out when your little buddy stabbed me.”

“That’s how he says hello.” There wasn’t time to chitchat. Every second I was here the Hunters in the casino would be under siege. “We’ve got to keep going. I need to get to the roof now. I know how to beat this thing.”

“Not until I get to talk to Earl Harbinger,” she insisted, but she did pick up her backpack and follow.

The need for haste was suddenly punctuated by a loud crashing noise from behind us. The floor popped, cracked, and lifted. The Nachtmar’s gargoyles were active again.

Heather sighed. “More? Hell…not again.” She looked over at Lacoco. “Leave me your radio. I’ll contact Earl myself.”

I was surprised when the big man didn’t argue. Lacoco really trusted her. He unclipped his radio and passed it over. “It’s on the right channel.”

“I’ve got this. Go do what you’ve got to do.” Heather began quickly shoving the clothing back into the backpack at her feet. There were even shoes in there. I’d never heard of a werewolf with the presence of mind to keep its human things with it before. “This is such a pain.”