They were wearing khaki pants and matching polo shirts to make them look like they were in uniform. Even worse, one of them dropped a duffel bag, and after unzipping it, started tossing nasty looking weapons to his buddies. I stood there, frozen. Were they nuts? This went way beyond a public show of strength. Hell, even vamps never did this! Not in broad daylight and on the street where any passing human could see, anyway.

Someone cocked their weapon, and Jenks jerked me back. My mouth was still hanging open when we landed against a salt-rusted four-door, the front full of crumpled fast food sacks.

Brett came around the corner, his pace fast and his eyes darting everywhere. Seeing me, he smiled. “We have them, sir,” he said into the phone at his ear, slowing to a stop behind the three Weres with aggressive stances. “Behind the fudge shop. It’s all over but the howling.”

Heart pounding, I looked at the road and the sporadic traffic. The memory of finding Nick tied to the wall swam up from my subconscious. A chill purged everything from me but a fierce determination. I wasn’t strong enough to survive that. I couldn’t let them take me.

“You want me to make a circle and wait for Ivy, or you want to fight our way out, Jenks?” I said, my grip on my splat gun going sweaty.

In a sliding sound of metal, Jenks pulled a dull metal bar from the nearby recycling bin, swinging it a couple of times. The three Weres with guns took a more aggressive stance. “You think we need Ivy?” he asked.

“Just checking,” I answered, then turned to the Weres, my arms shaking. “Right. Like you’re going to shoot us?” I taunted. “If we’re dead, you can’t beat Nick’s location out of us.”

Brett’s jaw clenched. From the other side, three more Weres loped into view, to make seven men. I had fourteen sleepy-time potions. I had to act, and act now.

“Subdue them,” Brett said, squinting from the sun. Annoyed, he snatched the weapon from the nearest man. “Use your fists. You outnumber them, and I don’t want the I.S. out here because of weapon discharges.”

Adrenaline surged, making me feel weak, not strong. From beside me, Jenks shouted, then leapt forward. Half the Weres came to meet him, their speed and ferocity shocking.

Panic struck. Taking aim, I downed one with a charm. Then another. I wanted to help Jenks, but they were coming too fast. One slipped past him, and I gasped, falling to one knee.

“Not today, you son of a bitch!” I exclaimed, plugging him. He slid to within three feet of me. I leveled my gun for the next one. He got three steps closer than the first.

“Jenks! Fall back!” I shouted, retreating with my gun going puff-puff-puff.