I shivered as I stepped out of the vehicle and looked around. One of the larger trucks in our group had its front mashed in. Another vehicle had half the side gouged out like someone tried to ram them. One of the cars was on fire and all the vehicles had bullet holes. The Murtaz did not come to play. They were trying to take us out.

"Thank the heavens for Napalm's crazy ass," Cisero muttered going past me.

Graven snorted as he tossed something up into the air. "Yeah, if it wasn't for his ribbon bombs we'd be screwed."

"Ribbon bombs?" I asked. There was a loud flap sound above and the enchanted medical tent opened up. Golden sparkles twirled about as the tent stakes drove themselves into the ground. The ropes were like charmed snakes as they danced and coiled, tying the tent to the stakes securely. Magic was amazing.

Zev- carrying large boxes, appeared for a moment, disappeared, then reappeared again carrying different boxes. "It's like setting off a series of bombs or explosives at one time only he uses one bomb."

"Wow."

Cisero looked up from where he'd been checking the stakes for security. "Daniel, stop being mesmerized and get the bags."

There was chatter on the radio but I couldn't hear it as I felt my face heat up. I quickly teleported as they began to laugh. That was embarrassing. I didn't realize I'd been acting like a fanboy.

Inside the vehicle, I used my superspeed and strength to gather all our medical equipment and Graven's hat that had fallen from his pocket. That should help minimize any further teasing or them thinking I was a useless shrimp. When I returned, they were using enchantments to unpack the boxes Zev had brought in and set up beds for the injured.

I jumped when Zev appeared in front of me, winked, and was gone again with all of the bags. We were all capable of such things back at the pack and clan but no one did it. It felt a lot like showing off. I had to remind myself that in situations like this, we needed to use all our skills and abilities to save lives and preserve our own.  Graven thanked me and ruffled my hair when I handed him his hat.   

"I'm not a little kid," I muttered trying to fix my hair.

He snickered.  "You may not be a kid, but you are little."  He held his hand up waist high.

"Bet he's not even five feet," the driver chuckled.

Heat rushed into my cheeks again.  "Shut up!  I'm small but mighty."

They doubled over with laughter.  

"Alright," Cisero's deep voice brought us to attention.  We were here to help. Time to focus.

"Heavy Metal checked in. There is a fire fight going on. There are several casualties. Mumble Rap and New Wave are holding. Grunge and EDM are going to use some heavy duty mix to get the drop on the Murtaz."

He looked around at all of us. Somehow we had all ended up in a line, side by side. Ingrained behavior? Cisero paced in front of us, looking each of us in the face. The friendliness and warmth I'd grown used to seeing from him was replaced with a hard stare. His cobalt and milky eyes landed on me.

"Any captured -injured Murtaz are to be kept alive for interrogation. They are tricky. They will try to charm you, manipulate you, lie to you, fight you, use other forms of magic on you. Immobilize and defend as you will but don't let them die. They may or may not have been searched before coming here so be alert. Murtaz are known to have suicide capsules on them or in their mouths so be careful."

An idea suddenly came to me.  For a minute I debated keeping it to myself but then I remembered something Marcus had said to me once about trusting my instincts.  "What if they activate it before we can stop them?"

"What do you mean?" Craven snorted. "They die." Zev and the driver, Amon, began laughing.

Way to make a guy feel stupid.  I rolled my eyes. "No. I mean is death instantaneous or is there some time?"

Cisero and Graven looked at each other. Zev's eyes watched me with interest if his raised eyebrow and rubbing his chin meant anything.  Amon looked like he was thinking entirely too long as if trying to figure out where I was going with this.  

Cisero eyes me with caution.  "Death isn't instantaneous but it happens within a minute or so of activation. Why?"

I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face.  That was plenty of time.  "As an incubus I can see their memories. I might be able to siphon some of their life essence to see what they know."

Zev's face lit up as Graven hooted with laughter.

"Not bad, kid." Cisero's large hand landed on my shoulder. "Not bad at all."

I felt proud of myself as we finished setting up the area. The groups were preparing to break into the building, when a rustling of leaves and a whisper caught my attention. I stopped unpacking gauze rolls and turned.

A few yards behind me was a grove of trees that lead into a forest.  Large green bushes obscured most of the ground. I let my wolf and demon out to use their enhanced abilities. There was nothing there. With a shrug, I turned back to my work. I must have been all nerves if I thought I'd heard something in those trees.

A breeze tickled my skin and a soft voice caressed my ear like a dear friend. 

"Daniel."

Gadise began to glow. My wolf and demon went on alert as I got to my feet and stared into the brush. A small section of foliage began to shift and I put my hands up prepared to fight. My claws grew and my tail began swishing behind me. My eyes narrowed as I strained my ears to listen to the sounds around me.

I couldn't detect any animals flying nearby or any little critters scurrying in the underbrush. Looking over my shoulder, I saw all the men milling around behind me going about their business but there wasn't any sound.  I was as if all sound had been turned off. 

There was a child-like giggle.  The shift came on before I could stop it.  I turned and came face to face with a pair of laughing brown eyes.