Seven Deadly Sons by C. E. Martin

uniform. "I might even be able to track the one who fled on foot," he added, touching a finger to his nose.
    "Doctor Olson?"
    Laura Olson, now wearing a dark green silk blouse, her hair styled and wearing makeup, sighed. "Who knows what these things' capabilities are. We shouldn't rule it out." She looked back down, going back to painting her fingernails a bright red.
    "Who cares how they got here," Javi Wallach, now in a dark business suit said, hands palm down on the table. She'd kept quiet so far, but this meeting was a waste of time. Yadid Greenberg was dead and his killers had gotten away. Sitting wouldn't solve that. "We should be out there finding them."
    "I'm with Ms. Wallach," Pam Keegan said. The tiny FBI agent was particularly somber and had worn all black, with her blouse buttoned up for once.
    Mark Kenslir looked around the table. "Before we take these... creatures on again, we need to know what we're up against. Specifically, are they vampires or werewolves?"
    "I think they might be both," Dr. Guerrera said quietly.
    "The research wouldn't be so different from our own," Dr. King added.
    "The Nazis did all kinds of stuff like that," Jimmy said, drawing surprised looks from around the room and a few rolled eyes.
    "What?" he said. "They're murdering Nazi hunters, and they're some kind of vampire-werewolf hybrids. Sounds like Nazis to me."
    "That's ridiculous," Josie said. She had changed into tan slacks and a blue polo shirt bearing the embroidered Department of the Interior logo.
    "We'd have encountered them before now," Chad Phillips offered. Phillips and Hornbeck were dressed like Kenslir and Jimmy in multicam. The green, black and brown pattern looked strange against their gray, stony skin.
    "Perhaps they are from one of Stalin's programs," Dr. Guerrera added.
    "No!" Javi Wallach said loudly, quieting the group. "Your werewolf must be right. It's the one common thread between all the victims."
    "Nazis? Wouldn't they be ancient? World War II was like sixty years ago," Victor Hornbeck said.
    Javi regarded the stone soldier and Chad Phillips beside him coldly. She made no effort to hide her dislike for the two men of stone.
    "Hey," Laura said, breaking the moment of silence. "I'm sixty-three, and I look damn good." She blew on freshly painted nails to dry them and to emphasize her point.
    Dr. King leaned forward. "There could be something to this.
    "A werewolf or a vampire could still be alive and healthy today, just like Doctor Olson."
    "Why strike now, all these years later?" Pam Keegan asked.
    Silence filled the room. Not even Jimmy, with all his many bizarre, internet conspiracy theories could come up with an answer.
    "Maybe their handlers are dead," Detective Sierra at last suggested. He felt stupid bringing it up, but he'd seen it before. He brushed at nonexistent lint on the borrowed Bermuda shirt the Colonel had given him. He was reluctant to continue, but finally looked up and did.
    "Gangs often act up when there's a power vacuum—before new leadership emerges. Maybe whoever was in control of them died recently. Of old age?"
    Laura Olson winked at Alvarro. "Vampires do the same thing. Without a central leader, they'll act out, exposing themselves. Or at least they used to. Before we hunted them almost to extinction."
    "This is too organized," Javi countered. "They're striking at precise targets—targets they shouldn't even have the identities or locations of."
    "Let's not worry about the how and why," Kenslir said. "We need to locate and eliminate. That takes priority. Particularly for the one running around Miami."
    "Assuming he hasn't already escaped through another portal," Dr. King said.
    "Yeah, how does that even work?" Chad Phillips asked. "I thought there had to be a portal device at each end."
    "Yes, the portal you discovered in Greece was paired to another device, according to Father Schuler," Dr. King said. "But I theorize that a portal could be generated from one end only, so long as there was