"That's an order, Cooper!" Sarge snapped back, before writhing underneath Cooper's hands. He was doing his best to hold off the transformation, but he knew he wouldn't last much longer.
"When was he bitten?" asked the woman, suddenly in their mist, gently checking Sarge's eyes, currently wolf yellow, whilst managing to hold him down with ease. Cooper glared at her.
"This evening," he said curtly. She nodded once and changed her hand so it had grown claws, lifting it up to her face. Cooper grabbed her still human arm. "What are you doing!" he half-yelled at her. She looked at him, her own eyes yellow, her skull beginning to reshape itself. Sarge writhed again, gritting pointy teeth.
"What I must. Trust me, Cooper." She brought her maw to her own hand and bit off one of the clawed tips, picking it up in the other hand.
"Jesus Christ," said Spoon as Sarge let out an inhuman moan of pain. The woman became human again and grabbed Sarge's head with one hand, yanking on his hair to get his attention.
"Sarge. Sarge! Listen to me! Take this!" she yelled at him, holding her claw to his face so he could see it. "Trust me, Sarge, do it!" His own clawed hand came up and shakily grabbed the woman's claw, scratching her in the process. And the pain was gone. Just like that. Sarge blinked a few times, sat up. He looked at his hands, human once more.
"What just happened?" he asked softly, looking at Cooper and Spoon. The three of them couldn't help but smile at each other, relieved.
"Just don't drop the claw," panted the woman, pushing herself back from the group to sit down with her legs sprawled. "Had to be full moon. Phew," she gasped to herself, clutching her own abdomen. The soldiers turned to look at her as she staggered to her feet and leaned against the wall next to Sam.
"How did you…" started Sarge, checking himself over once more. The woman gave a faint smile.
"It's the claw," she said, holding up her hand, which had healed but not grown back the tip of the finger. "When you voluntarily took it, it allowed me to…hold back your transformation." A grimace flashed over her face before the smile returned.
"Wait, 'hold back'? You mean he's not cured?" asked Spoon standing. Sarge and Cooper joined him while the woman frowned.
"I wouldn't call it a disease, but no. You're still a shifter. I don't have time to train you tonight, not with these rogues here." She tilted her head as though listening.
"You mean the other werewolves," stated Cooper. She nodded then grimaced again, doubling slightly. "You're not changing now, are you?" he asked, raising the frying pan again. She coughed a laugh.
"No. At least I hope not. I'm holding back Sarge's wolf mentally. You're holding the claw so I can take the pain as well. Unless you'd rather have it?" She managed a grin. "What are your names, anyway?" Cooper hesitated, looking her over.
"Cooper. That's Spoon. Sergeant Wells." Cooper put the frying pan on the china cabinet. "Who, and what, are you? Why are you here?"
"Name's Noble Howlitt. Pleasure to meet you boys, though I would have preferred it under different circumstances. Maybe over dinner. I'm here to take out this pack of wolves, though your presence just changed that. Now my top priority is to keep you safe." She smiled cheerily.
"So, you're a werewolf hunting werewolf," said Sarge. Noble frowned.
"Not quite."
"I'll say," broke in Spoon. "I've haven't seen any of these beauties breath fire yet."
"Breathe fire?" asked Cooper. "What are you talking about?"
"Before you blokes came in from upstairs, two of those things were at my throat. She pulled 'em off, then turned all reptilian like and spat fire at 'em. Burnt to cinders," Spoon told his teammates.
"I've never heard of werewolves being able to do that," said Sarge cocking his head.
"Please, shifter. Werewolf is for rookies or rogues, of which I am neither," she paused to grimace, baring teeth. "Long story short, I have some dragon in me, which is why they send me after rogues. Dragon fire kills everything."
"Who's 'they'?" asked Cooper.
"And, uh, what qualifies as 'rogue'?" Sarge added, shifting his weight nervously.
"'They' are my pack. A rogue is a shifter who breaks our laws, usually by eating humans." She smiled. "We're not all movie monsters, you know."
"As long as you don't try to eat us," said Spoon seriously and the other two nodded in agreement. Noble grinned.
"Oh, there'd be no 'trying' involved. If I had wanted to eat you, you'd be eaten. Lucky for you I'm not rogue." She saw that this was not helping. "Sorry, quirky sense of humor. Comes with the terrain. Soooo, ah, whose dog?" she asked, petting Sam.
"His name is Sam. He belongs to the werewolves," Cooper told her.
"Really? I'm surprised they haven't eaten him."
"He was locked in a closet when I found him," Cooper added, watching their interaction. Sam didn't seem afraid of her at all. Of course, he hadn't been afraid of Megan either.
"Ah. Do you know how many rogues there are?"
"If you've killed two, that leaves three," Sarge told her.
"Four. You forgot about Ryan," corrected Cooper.
"Meagan might still be around," added Spoon.
"Would that be the girl in there with the bullet in the brain?" Noble asked, moving to wrap both arms around her stomach. "'Cause she's dead. Headshots work quite nicely, actually. Who's Ryan?"