”A pleasure,” Belinda said calmly as she reached over to me and shook my hand.

Looking back to shake her hand, I saw that what had looked like purple dreadlocks were actually tentacles, complete with octopus-like suckers. They waved around as if they had a life of their own.

”How many did you kill?” Astrid asked almost nonchalantly.

I glanced back at Belinda to see what her reaction would be.

”Seven,” Belinda replied. She had violet-colored irises and a button nose over white teeth. I had to admit that she looked almost cute, if it weren’t for the fact that she was fresh off a killing spree. ”You?” she asked Astrid.

“Why do you always beat me?” the lycan huffed. “I killed four. Well, actually, three. Jeremy killed two. One got away. A bald guy. Looked kinda familiar but I couldn’t place his face.”

”Uh. . .” I was still coming to terms with the fact that I’d just killed two men.

“You let one get away?” Belinda said. “You’re getting sloppy, Astrid.”

”He had this weird forcefield. Kinda like a Force Barrier but much more powerful. I couldn’t breach it.” Astrid sighed. “I’m the lycan. I’m meant to be better at combat than you.”

Belinda shrugged as she buckled on her seat belt. ”I’ve had more practice. Shall we get moving?”

These two women were talking about killing people like it was a basketball game and they were discussing how many three-pointers they’d made. I wasn’t ready to start driving yet, though. I wanted answers.

I killed the engine, pulled the key out of the ignition, and turned around so I was facing both Astrid in the passenger’s seat and Belinda in the back.

”I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on,” I said. ”I’ve never killed anyone. In fact, I’ve never seen anyone die before. And you guys are speaking about it like it’s nothing. I’m doing my best to keep my head on here. I like to think I’m a reasonable guy, but none of this is reasonable!”

Belinda sighed, as though she were about to explain something to a child. She quirked an eyebrow at Astrid, who shrugged apologetically.

”The soldiers tried to kill us,” Belinda said, “but they are weak, so we kill them instead. Think of it like sport, perhaps that will help you understand.”

”Sport doesn’t normally end with dead bodies,” I said. “That sounds more like war.”

”I don’t object to the term,” Belinda said.

“Would it help you if we reminded you it was self-defense?” Astrid asked. ”Or that we enjoyed it?”

Both women laughed. This wasn’t helping, and I was about to tell them so when Astrid placed one warm hand on my thigh.