And then Roarn bent his head and ripped the drug dealer’s throat out.
Blood sprayed in the air just as the trailer door finally burst open, revealing Sheriff Wainright. When he saw Roarn crouched on top of the twitching, bleeding Mike Fenster, his eyes went wide.
“Holy shit! Watch out, McCall!” he shouted back at his deputy. As he spoke, he drew his gun and aimed it right at Roarn.
“No!” Christine cried, but her voice came out in a soft moan. “No, please—don’t hurt him!”
She tried again to raise herself, only to find that gravity had other plans for her. The world spun dizzily and she was right back down on the floor. She watched in horror, unable to do anything as Wainright pointed his gun with a trembling hand.
But just as he pulled the trigger, Dweebo Fenster came blundering right at him.
“Don’t wanna go to jail! Don’t want the tiger man to get me! Lemme out!” he shouted as he ran right into the Sheriff.
There was another gunshot—this one not as loud as the shotgun but still deadly. Christine knew because she could see how the youngest Fenster brother crumpled to the floor, gasping and grasping at his chest.
“Don’t…wanna…” he moaned, bloody foam spraying from his lips. And then, he too, slumped over and was still.
“Holy God!” Sheriff Wainright gasped. Deputy McCall had come to stand beside him by this time—he looked white and shaken.
“You shot him, Sheriff,” he said. “You shot Dwayne Fenster.”
So that was his real name, Christine thought faintly.
“I was trying to shoot that…that thing!” Wainright pointed at Roarn, who was still standing over Mike Fenster’s dead body, his mouth covered in blood and his fangs bared. He was growling—a low, threatening sound like a predator warning another animal away from its prey.
“Don’t shoot him—leave him alone!” Christine begged, but her voice was no more than a whisper in her own ears and it was clear none of the men had heard her.
Silent tears began to pour from her eyes, blurring her vision. Roarn was going to be shot right in front of her and there was nothing she could do about it!
Roarn, honey, I’m so sorry, she thought, wishing she could talk to the big Monstrum one last time. So sorry—I love you! Love you so much, I wish I could save you…
“Well, kill it, why don’t you?” McCall demanded, glaring at Sheriff Wainright. “What is the damn thing anyway?”
“That’s a Monstrum Kindred. And it’s not necessary to shoot him—we’ll take it from here.”
THIRTY-NINE
The new voice came from the doorway behind Sheriff Wainright and his deputy. Both men whirled around, pointing their guns at the intruder, who put up his hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture.
“Hey, get those fuckin’ things out of my face,” he growled. It was the Kindred commander, Christine saw, the big Beast Kindred who had tried to warn her that Roarn was dangerous. Commander Baird, that had been his name, she remembered woozily.
Standing behind the Beast Kindred was Chief Commander Rarev—the Monstrum Kindred who looked like a lion and was married to the British cabinet member. He was holding something in his hand—a device that Christine couldn’t see clearly—though she didn’t think it looked like a gun.
Sheriff Wainright puffed his chest up importantly.
“Who in the Hell are you and what are you doin’ at my crime scene?” he demanded.
“I’m Commander Baird of the Kindred and this is Chief Commander Rarev of the Monstrum,” Commander Baird said. “We’ve been tracking this male—he’s an escapee bound for a prison planet.”
“But what—?” the Sheriff began.
“No more questions right now—let us get this big bastard into custody first,” Commander Baird growled at him. “Rarev?”
“If everyone would just step aside…” The Monstrum commander came forward and pointed the device—which looked like a small black box—right a Roarn, who was still snarling menacingly. Rarev pressed a button on the box and suddenly a net that looked like it was made of pure golden light shot out and covered the big Monstrum.
Roarn roared and fought the net, but it was no good—the glowing golden fibers seemed to stick to him like glue. They pulled tight, incapacitating him, binding his arms and legs to his body until he was wrapped up in a neat, snarling package.
“You got him,” Baird said, nodding. “Come on—let’s get him back to the shuttle.”
“Now just wait a minute—this here is my crime scene!” Sheriff Wainright exclaimed. “And that…thing is a murder suspect. You can’t just take it away!”
“Yes, we can—look up the terms of the treaty between Earth and the Kindred. It’s posted on your Internet,” Commander Baird snapped. “This warrior is in an altered state of consciousness and we need to get him back to the Monstrum Mother Ship to treat him.”
“But he might have killed Mike Fenster—in fact, I’m pretty sure he did!” Wainright protested.