"Yeah, why would they?"
"Because they're boxenwolves. "
I blinked, and my gun dipped. I'd never had anyone actually admit to what they were doing without a little "encouragement. "
"Who are you?" I asked. "And I don't mean your name. What are you up to here and why? How do you know about boxenwolves?"
"I created them. "
Inventing a new kind of creature was never good.
"I'll be happy to tell you everything, Jessie. "
I frowned. "How did you know--?"
"Did you really think your feeble DNR lie would fool me?"
It had fooled everyone else.
Zachau's hair fell in a charming tousle over his unlined forehead. I suddenly wanted to shoot him with silver just to see if he caught fire.
"You're Jessie McQuade, one of Herr Mandenauer's best hunters. "
"You know Edward?"
"My grandfather did. "
"And who was your grandfather?"
"His name is unimportant. His work is what matters. He spent his final days in a laboratory in the Black Forest. "
"Mengele," I muttered.
"Oh, I'm not related to that great man. I only wish that I was. "
"You say great man, I say psychopath. " I shrugged. "Tomato. To-ma-toe. "
Anger flashed in Zachau's eyes. "Mengele was brilliant. A visionary. "
"He was an insane, elitist pig who killed people because they were different. "
Zachau shrugged. "In the advancement of science, sacrifices must be made. "
My trigger-finger began to itch.
"Jessie," Will warned.
"Yeah, yeah. " I tried to relax, but it wasn't easy. "Mengele wasn't advancing science," I continued, "he was building a werewolf army. "
"He did build one. "
Which was how Edward had become . . . well, Edward. Back in WW2 he had been a double agent, assigned to discover just what in hell the "great man" was up to in the Black Forest. Unfortunately, Edward hadn't found out quickly enough. By the time he reached Mengele's lab, the doctor had panicked at the incoming allied invasion and released everything he'd created into the world. Edward had been chasing them ever since.
"I've perfected his formula," Zachau said.
I went cold, even though the temperature in the clinic had been set to steam bath.
"Perfected how?" Will asked. He was always the voice of reason. Thank God. Someone had to be.