As they finished up the foreman said, "I guess I'll stay here with you, Mr. Jenkins..."
    "No, no," he protested. "They're already short a man on the unloading. I'll see to everything here, why don't you go on ahead."
    "Well I..."
    "I am a part owner in the mill, sir. Bear in mind that I am perfectly capable of handling the shutdown," the old man reminded him sternly.
    "Of course, Mr. Jenkins, dreadfully sorry. All right guys, let's go," he directed with a brisk handclap, and the boat full of etherically charged alien timber drifted out into the lake.
    We stayed put.
    "C-c-c-cold," Joe murmured.
    "Yes, the water is very cold this time of year," Jenkins agreed. "It wasn't very smart of you to fall in."
    "Just... k-k-kept feeling like I was going to die."
    "Well..."
    Expecting violence any moment, I took aim with the shotgun.
    "My car is out front, we'll drive you into town," Jenkins offered smoothly, walking over to where the man sat by the fire.
     Kane glared at me. We engaged in a brief, silent argument over the legal niceties as the master werewolf helped the shivering man along. All right, you'll be responsible, I told him. In return I heard an echo of a sigh and, Yeah, that's it, this is the sin that will in fact send my soul to hell.
    "Don't slip," Jenkins told Joe, and pushed him into the water.
    "Now can I shoot him?!"
    The vampire agent nodded on his way to drag the man out of the lake again, and Adam and I fired. I hit him square in the back, and he collapsed face-down.
    "And this time, stay out of the lake," Kane muttered, hauling Joe out of the frigid water by the back of his shirt and starting first aid (again).
    Adam and I approached Jenkins cautiously. There was a large pool of blood, but he kept trying to get up.
    "Cuff him," Kane suggested wearily. I decided to let the gorilla do it. Adam reached down and grabbed his arm and realized that Jenkins wasn't merely writhing in pain, his bones were shifting around as he tried to change to his wolf-shape. As Adam reached for his other arm, Jenkins managed to wrench around, claws raking over Adam's chest as the wolf scrabbled for purchase and used it to get free of the gorilla's grip, then leaped over us and into the mill. Without hesitation Kane launched himself at the other creature of the night and buried his fangs in his throat.
    One of us should stop the boat, Adam told me.
    I certainly wasn't going to be much use in a hand-to-hand fight; Jenkins' car was parked outside, so I ran out, hopped inside and took off along the lake road, hoping to catch them before they reached Ambajejus, where the rest of the Jenkins family could well be waiting for it. It was snowing again.
    
    Once I'd left, Adam tossed his useless gun aside and ran over to help out with Jenkins, stopping only to pick up a huge baulk of timber. It shattered on impact with the sleek grey form; the werewolf seemed unfazed.
    Jenkins had gotten his jaws around Kane's head; he endured that unpleasantness and dug his own teeth in harder. Locked together as they were, the werewolf was effectively immobilized; Adam picked up another quarter-ton of wood and swung it at Jenkins' back, sending them both flying. The vice-like grip released, Kane kept up his tick-like attachment; for one thing, he needed the blood to keep him going through the battering he'd already taken. He felt Jenkins' skin trying to heal around his own fangs.
    
    Howls sounded in the woods; soon I could see them racing along the road behind me. I wished I was a better driver; it was dark and snowing and I didn't know the road. I aimed the shotgun out the window and fired blindly, hoping to scare them off. The wolves fell back for a second, then came on again. One of them stood out as larger and stronger than the others, directly behind the car.
    
    Jenkins reestablished his grip on the vampire, wrenched him loose and shook him like a rat. Kane passed out for a moment, vaguely aware that his neck was broken. Well, it would heal in a little bit....
    At this the red haze fell over Adam's vision; a bellow echoed through the cavernous building. He fell on the wolf barehanded, lifted him off the ground and slammed him into a piece of machinery.
    Jenkins' lupine expression was somewhat shocked as he dragged himself back to his feet. It became a snarl as he, too, fell fully under the sway of his own animal nature, darting in to try to hamstring the gorilla, who wrenched away with no harm done.
    
    I slammed on the brakes, heard a thump and felt the shudder as the car's steel frame absorbed the impact. Then I hit on the gas, leaving a rather dazed-looking werewolf in the road behind me. I could see the lights of the boat ahead, leaned on the horn to try to get their attention.
    
    Adam roared again, reached down and grabbed the wolf and slammed his full weight down onto the creature, shattering ribs. The fangs raked a shallow gash across his stomach.
    
    The other wolves were surrounding the car. I fired again out my window. One of them had jumped onto the running board, knocked in the passenger-side window with his muzzle and hooked his paws in, slaver running from his jaws.
    
    Once his neck had realigned itself, Kane got up carefully and assessed the situation. Jenkins leaped away, then back at Adam, jaws closing on his shoulder this time. Kane sprang again, still feeling somewhat less than his best but aware that Jenkins was in considerably worse shape. Adam grabbed the wolf in his crushing grip, breaking its back, and roared his triumph. Kane kept his own fangs fastened until he was sure the thing was dead. As Adam returned to himself, saw the devastation, the dead wolf and his partner, he also saw that Jenkins was returning to human form as the life drained from him.
    

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