The Bringer

by Jennifer Park

  “They can only blip, as you say, into places they’ve already been. The only reason they could blip into your house was because you took the necklace off and let them know where you were. You really broadcast your location when you did that, by the way. If they ever do catch us and find their way inside the car, then yes, they would be able to blip back into the car any time they wanted to. Now, Jerom and I need to concentrate and so should you. See if you can feel where the constructs are.”

  Brynn’s pulse was racing and she realized the she was sitting on the edge of her seat gripping the seatback in front of her. Her fingers were white with lack of blood from squeezing the seat so hard. Her neck was sore from turning around every few seconds and looking behind them.

  She tried to relax just a bit and loosened her grip on the front seat. She squeezed her hands a few times to get the blood flowing and leaned back into her seat. She tried closing her eyes and concentrating, like Miranda told her to do, to feel where the demons were. Her back starting itching like someone was watching her so she turned and looked out the back window again.

  Chapter 13

  “Are we safe?” asked Brynn. “You know, did we get away? We’ve been driving almost an hour.”

  She had been surprised to realize it had only been an hour. It felt like she’d been sitting in this same position for days. She had tried relaxing back into the seat several times but had finally given up. For most of the last hour she had been perched at the edge of the seat in the middle with her hands gripping the seats in front of her.

  Jerom turned and looked at her for a second. “Yeah, I think we’re good.”

  He slowed down and relaxed his grip on the steering wheel. “How’re you doing back there?”

  Miranda laughed humorlessly, “What do you mean back there, she’s practically in the front seat with us.”

  “I’m good, just nervous,” said Brynn. It felt like they were traveling through a tunnel of green. The trees were so big that their branches met over the top of the road. There didn’t seem to be any breaks in the forest either as the road curved through so there was never a way to see farther than several car lengths ahead without the trees getting in the way. “How long ‘till we get to your house?”

  “Tomorrow sometime. Can you drive?” asked Jerom.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Well, between the three of us, maybe we can drive right through. Get home sooner.”

  Miranda screamed, “Stop! Brakes! Demons!”

  Brynn looked out the front window, between the front seats, and saw two constructs blocking the road in front of them. The demons were standing with legs widespread and their arms outstretched as if they were pushing against something.

  Jerom slammed on the brakes and they started to slide sideways. He spun the steering wheel and stomped on the brakes trying to get them turned around. The tires screeched in protest.

  “Hold on!” Jerom yelled, and Brynn barely had enough time to grab the sides of Miranda’s seat to brace herself. She looked out her side window as they slid toward the demons. It seemed like time had slowed way down and she noticed every little detail about the demons.

  They were really tall and hairy. Claws finished off their hands and bare feet. Their skin was thick with long ropy scars running randomly over their entire bodies. Their ears were pointed and protruded above their heads a little. Their noses were wide and smashed across their faces like an animal. Fangs protruded from their open mouths and they licked their lips, waiting for them. The eyes upset Brynn the most, though. They changed depending on the angle. Sometimes they were black, sometimes they were gold.

  Their car had skidded sideways to the road. The air started to shimmer right in front of the demons. It became cloudy and thickened into something like a wall. The side of their car slammed into the barrier. She saw Miranda’s long, dark hair flow toward the window as they impacted, and then they started to flip up and over the top of the demons.

  Time snapped back into place for Brynn. Now, instead of slo-mo, everything was speeded up as the car continued to fly over onto its roof.

  “Brace yourselves!” shouted Jerom.

  They hit the ground hard. The car slid on its roof and started spinning. The only sounds they could hear were of metal tearing and buckling. Nobody screamed. Brynn was barely able to breath. Suddenly everything stopped with a very audible crunch into a tree on the side of the road.

  Brynn was upside down hanging from the seatbelt then she looked to her left. The back half of the car on Jerom’s side was crushed in. She reached out and touched the damage with her fingers, thankful that she hadn’t been sitting behind Jerom.

  She pushed against the roof of the car with her arm to try to ease some of the pressure on the seatbelt so she could release it with her other hand. She flopped down onto the ceiling of the car when she finally worked the seatbelt loose. She looked out the front window rubbing her head where she had landed on it. The car was completely turned around and then she saw them. The demons were coming right at them.

  “We’ve got to get out of here, the demons are almost on us,” she said shaking Miranda. There was blood flowing down the side of Miranda’s face, but she was moaning and starting to move. Brynn turned to check on Jerom, but he wasn’t moving.

  Everything seemed confusing to her. Upside down was right side up and forwards was backwards. She found herself pulling her body through the broken rear window and sliding across the asphalt to stand up behind the car. She steadied herself against the part of the bumper that wasn’t smashed in, wiping blood off her forehead. She didn’t remember hitting her head. Maybe some broken glass cut her, she thought.

  The car was wedged between the tree that they hit and the slope leading up to the road. Brynn climbed up onto the car and started crawling over the undercarriage of the car, which was now the top of the car.

  She was compelled to protect Miranda and Jerom. She couldn’t let the demons take them or her. “If I really am the Bringer,” she thought to herself, “then this is probably a good time to bring something.” Her whole body was trembling as she swung her feet out over in front of the car. She was afraid if she stood up her legs wouldn’t support her. She had never been this terrified.

  Always before she had been running from these things and now there was nowhere left to run. She had to face them. She slowly put her feet on the ground and stood up in front of the car. The demons weren’t more than ten yards away. She couldn’t bear to close her eyes, so she tried to focus with them open.

  She pictured an angel with white, flowing robes, glowing white hair, and wings… beautiful feathery wings. She pushed all her energy into this visual she had in her mind of an angel. If she concentrated hard enough, maybe she could fill in the picture with reality. Heat grew in the center of her chest. Her shaking body shook harder. She could hear Miranda, or who she hoped was Miranda crawling out of the car. She didn’t take the time to turn around to look.

  The demons were so close now, she could smell them. They smelled like the worst kind of fire. It was like burning rubber or really hot asphalt. They were the kinds of odors that clog up in your throat and choke you. She started coughing and lost her concentration. The panic stopped her from being able to bring the picture of the angel back into her head.

  The demons continued to stalk forward. She almost wished they would just run at them and get it over. The slow buildup was killing her. Demons must like stalking.

  The terror made it difficult for her to breath and she started to pant. She couldn’t seem to move anything, not even a finger.

  She heard Miranda’s breath suck in. Just the sound of another human helped to shake her out of her paralysis. She jumped up and down a couple of times, like she was getting ready for a fight, took a deep breath and then she closed her eyes. Closing her eyes at that moment was the bravest thing she could ever remember doing.

  She pictured the angel then filled in with as much detail as she could. The heat in her chest started to build again
and then to radiate out into her arms and down her legs. She couldn’t stand the thought of looking at the demons and since they were about to kill her anyway, she kept her eyes closed. She really didn’t want to watch them do what they were about to do to her. She focused all her attention inward on her picture of an angel. It was so real to her she could feel feathery soft wings brush her face.

  A comforting warmth surrounded her. She could feel a presence and she could smell a presence. It wasn’t the burned rubber smell of the demons. It was like fresh air after a rainstorm. She felt almost as brave trying to open her eyes at this point, as she did closing them just a few seconds before. She raised just one eyelid into kind of a squint and then the other and she found him. Her angel was standing in front of her, blocking her from the demons.

  Chapter 14

  She couldn’t see his face and she had to look up sharply to see the top of his head. His fine, blonde hair fanned out around his shoulders. His shoulders were broad and he was dressed in a white tunic and pants. Okay, she thought, not a robe but I wasn’t that far off.

  She was so close to him that as the wind rustled his wings they would brush across her face. It tingled and tickled and suddenly she wasn’t afraid anymore. She actually felt really good, which seemed, just…wrong, since on the other side of the angel was a demon.

  The angel moved forward, away from her. She wanted to follow him, stay right with him. He sensed this and stopped her with a hand. He walked toward the demons. Just him…alone. He moved enough away from her that she could see around him. There were still two demons. She wanted to feel scared for him, but he was so bright and shiny and perfect that his very presence seemed to weaken the two dark monsters in front of him.

  “You are not welcome here.” His voice was quiet and soft, but still resonated within her, filling her whole body and mind with his words. “You will not harm these humans.”

  The demon constructs stopped their advance, but did not back down.

  “I have only come for the Bringer, Calden. You can keep the other two,” the handler said as she closed the distance.

  Brynn was mesmerized by her walk, all arrogance and style. It took her a moment but then she recognized her, the same woman from her bedroom last night. She was tall, slender, but not willowy. She obviously worked out and she was incredibly beautiful with long dark gorgeous hair. She was dressed simply in soft pants and a light colored blouse. Very sophisticated Brynn thought. She could have been on her way to a board meeting.

  Brynn was a little surprised at how normal she looked. Her eyes though, they looked as if they had seen things they shouldn’t have. Brynn dropped her gaze to the ground and shuddered.

  “You’ll have a hard time banishing my pets. They are my strongest creations yet,” said the handler.

  “I do not wish to hurt you, but if you will not relinquish your hold on these abominations, you will hurt,” the angel said, the formality of his words made them all the more menacing.

  She stopped advancing and positioned herself firmly, but there was something about her stance that looked a little hesitant. “You are alone this time. You are the one that will be hurt.”

  Brynn backed up until she bumped into the car. She felt a hand wrap around her arm and she jumped. It was Miranda pulling her back and around behind the car. They peered over the trunk and through the broken glass of the windows.

  “I don’t want to watch, but I can’t help myself,” whispered Miranda.

  “I know, me too,” agreed Brynn, shocked that she and Miranda could agree on something.

  The angel pressed his hands together and bowed his head as if he was praying, but when he looked up and pulled his hands apart a glowing sword emerged. He appeared to be drawing it out from between his hands as they spread. He gripped his sword with both hands in front of him and moved in to confront the demon constructs.

  Miranda whimpered a little. Brynn stole a look inside the car and saw that Jerom still wasn’t moving. The slight movement of his chest was the only sign that he was alive.

  The handler, with a slight nod of her head, signaled the demons forward. They seemed to relish the opportunity to fight the angel. Their grizzled mouths upturned into gruesome smiles. The one licked its lips with a black, swollen tongue.

  The demons flexed their claws. Then they charged. Brynn cried out, Miranda froze up and a little whine escaped her lips. The ground shook as the demons ran. Brynn crouched down behind the bumper seeking any protection possible. She pulled Miranda down with her.

  “What’s going on?” asked Miranda.

  “I don’t know. Should we look?” asked Brynn.

  Miranda stuck her head up just enough to look. Brynn followed.

  The demons came at the angel from both sides, attacking at the same time. The angel didn’t even look perturbed as he struck out with a powerful kick to the demon’s torso knocking it off its feet. He then turned and slashed down at the second demon with his sword cutting through the demon’s lower abdomen.

  “Oh, that’s just nasty!” said Miranda.

  “What is that?” asked Brynn.

  “Whatever it is, I don’t think it’s supposed to be on the outside.”

  “I think he killed it.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think it could live very long like that.”

  “Okay, I’ve been doing pretty good up ‘till now, but that,” Brynn pointed at the fallen demon, “that is just too much.” She moved away from Miranda a couple of feet, because she knew there was no stopping everything in her stomach from making a re-appearance.

  She heard sounds of the fighting over her retching. The demon’s screams were worse than nails on a chalkboard and she shuddered as they seem to tear through her eardrums. She wiped her mouth and turned back to see Miranda huddled against the bumper with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears.

  As Brynn focused again on the battle, she saw the angel just pulling his sword back out of the last demon. The demon folded in upon itself as it collapsed to the ground. The other demon was laid out on its back the slash to its torso clearly visible.

  Just behind the demons opened a window or portal. The smell emanating from the portal was foul beyond words. Brynn crawled back over to Miranda.

  “What is that smell?” asked Miranda.

  “It’s like the demon smell times a thousand,” said Brynn covering her mouth and nose with her hand.

  The heat was almost unbearable as they crouched down behind the car even more trying to escape the burning sensation.

  Up, out of the portal came small, hunched beings.

  “Now that is just weird,” said Miranda.

  “They’re like little gremlins or something,” agreed Brynn.

  The creatures scuttled across the asphalt like crabs to surround the constructs, four or five to each one. Their bodies were misshapen with arms longer than legs. Greasy bits of hair straggled out their skulls. Their black skin was stretched taught over angular protruding bones.

  The gremlins ran their skeletal hands over the bodies of the constructs, jabbering to each other. Then they looked toward the handler who fell to her knees, forehead brushing the ground in fear and submission. They turned back to the constructs and started chanting. Their voices like metal gears grating against each other.

  The bodies of the constructs pitched and convulsed. The chanting increased in volume and urgency. The bodies both sat up suddenly, opened their dead eyes wide as if startled and spewed out of their mouths a black oily substance. Then the bodies collapsed back to the ground.

  “What’s going on. I don’t understand any of this?” whispered Brynn.

  “I think those gremlin things just broke the handler’s spell. The bodies kind of threw up the demon’s spirit. See that black greasy stuff hovering in the air over the bodies? I think those are the demon’s spirits and they’re going to take them back down to Hell,” said Miranda.

  The gremlins backed up toward the portal, motioning with their hands as if pulling the demon
’s spirits along with them. Two black oily masses followed sluggishly behind them through the air. They dragged the demon’s spirits back through the opening. The portal’s edges writhed, from the heat distorting the air, and then the fissure slowly closed with a sound like grinding teeth.

  Chapter 15

  Brynn sat motionless from the shock of all that she had just seen until the angel moved catching her attention. She watched him as he put his sword away by pressing his hands together. Then he shook out his wings adjusting the feathers to sit smoothly as he slowly turned to find Brynn watching him. He smiled as Brynn came back to herself, moving from behind the car and running to him tripping and falling at his feet. You came! Thank you,” she said with tears running down her face.

  He extended his hands to her and helped her stand. “You called,” was all he said as he smiled. His face was golden with radiance.

  “Brynn, get over here and help me with Jerom!” yelled Miranda. Brynn looked at her, but still she hesitated to pull herself away from him.

  He leaned down and whispered in her ear. She felt his breath against her cheek like a caress, “Go help your friend, I have someone to attend to also.” She followed him with her eyes as he turned to the demon’s handler curled fetus-like on the hot asphalt.

  Brynn reluctantly released the angel’s hands and took a step toward Jerom when she felt his wing brush against the side of her body. His wing was so soft. She leaned into it trying to prolong the contact.

  “Brynn, now!” Miranda was insistent so Brynn pulled herself together and ran to the driver’s side of the car and kneeled. The whole left side of Jerom’s face was starting to bruise. She took that as a good sign.

  Miranda climbed through to Jerom from the broken passenger window. “Help me get him out of the car.”

  “Be careful, don’t cut yourself,” Brynn said.