by A and E Kirk
“He’s probably after the valet I just saw,” Tristan said.
“What valet?” Matthias said.
“That guy!” Tristan pointed, but the man was no longer in sight.
“He couldn’t have gotten far.” Matthias moved in the direction Tristan had indicated. “Stay here!”
Metal groaned and people screamed. But not inside. Matthias and Tristan whirled, scanning the windows. Outside, a car soared through the air and crashed into a lamppost with a loud crunch and screech of metal.
Tristan squeaked.
Matthias swore under his breath.
“We should call your dad,” Tristan said.
“No, we’ve got this under control.”
With a loud crack, Ayden exploded out a door down the hall. He righted quickly and fire billowed off his hands like two out-of-control flame throwers. Too many witnesses whirled around and screamed at the sight.
“One date!” Ayden screamed. “Is that too much to ask?”
“Ayden!” Matthias yelled from down the hall.
Ayden barely spared his friend a glance and wave, his fury focused entirely on something inside the room he had just come from. “I can handle this one.”
“No, wait!” Matthias started after him as Ayden stomped back into the room.
“Matthias!” Tristan said.
“Go help Jayden!”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know!” Matthias snapped as he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m calling him.”
OPERATION:
Murder is the Most Logical Choice
LOCATION:
Gossamer Falls Country Club Parking Lot
Jayden sprinted to the overly crowded parking lot. People gossiped in anxious tones outside their automobiles and peered back at the country club. A few shouted in search of family and friends. Mothers and fathers hurriedly maneuvered their children into cars and away from the chaos of screeching fire alarms and impending danger.
Car horns blared as drivers jockeyed to get out of the lot. Despite the unruly mob, Jayden quickly spotted his target. A tall man in a janitor’s uniform.
As Jayden neared him, the Hex Boy became immediately certain Aurora must be mistaken. In all his research, he had never heard of a demon disguising its true form to the naked eye of a hunter. Unless, of course, the demon was hidden inside a human host. Jayden quickly decided that the janitor was, at worst, the victim of possession. Nothing more.
He slipped in front of the janitor and stopped his retreat from the club. With a frown, the man eased a step back.
“Hello, sir,” Jayden said with what he hoped was a charming smile. “There is a situation inside that requires your immediate presence.”
“Excuse me?” the janitor said.
Jayden found it difficult to read the man’s expression and wished he was in the company of Ayden. His brother excelled in catching such nuances. Remembering Ayden’s advice that using names increased trust, Jayden checked the nametag sewn on the breast pocket of the uniform.
“Good evening, Bob,” Jayden said with a slight bow of his head. “The fire and resulting stampede of fleeing patrons has left the club in disarray. You are the janitor, Bob. Therefore, Bob, it is logical that your skill set is required.” Jayden smiled at the cleverness of the ruse which would isolate the man away from others and get him alone with Jayden.
“Uh, look,” Bob said. “I’m not risking my neck to empty a trashcan in a burning building. I’m going home.” He side-stepped Jayden.
Jayden swerved into his path. “Bob, at the very least, you should talk with your supervisor. Check if your colleagues are unharmed. Bob.”
“Son.” The janitor laid a hand on Jayden’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m going home to my wife, and thank God I’m not dead or laid up in some hospital. I suggest you get home to your parents and do the same.”
With a smile, he mussed Jayden’s long hair as he walked past.
Jayden barely squelched a frustrated sigh. Bob’s responses sounded reasonable and gave no indication as to whether he suffered possession or was an innocent bystander. However, until certain, Jayden could not let Bob get away.
In one smooth move, Jayden hooked an arm around Bob’s throat and they both dropped to the pavement between two parked cars. The janitor rasped and struggled. Jayden tightened his hold on Bob’s neck.
Jayden whispered in his ear, “My sincerest regrets regarding my actions if you are merely human.”
“Abort! Abort!” a faint voice crackled.
“Oh, you’ll be regretting this, son,” Bob grunted.
Despite Jayden’s arm around his throat, Bob easily stood up, taking Jayden with him. Not letting go, Jayden’s feet barely touched the ground as he hung from the man’s back. The janitor reached a long arm back, grabbed a fistful of Jayden’s shirt and flung the Hex Boy into the air. Jayden somersaulted and managed to land on his feet. Unharmed, though missing a flip-flop.
Several families and couples loading into their cars paused to look at the exchange. Jayden gave them a shaky smile as he wondered if he should brawl openly and send Tristan after the onlookers later.
The janitor turned and ran.
Jayden swung his arm up in a large arc that ended with him brushing hair behind his ear. The movement seized moisture from the humid air and swirled two thick globs around the janitor’s feet. The water froze instantly. Trapped to the ground, Bob yelped and fell to his knees.
“Don’t worry, I’ll assist him.” Jayden told the potential witnesses as he moved toward the man.
Jayden snatched more water from the air creating two icy knives which he clutched in each hand, the frigid blades hidden against his forearms. Bob’s strength exceeded that of a mere human. It was not out of the ordinary, as the possessed displayed supernatural levels of strength.
Jayden had never experienced a possession in the field, but he knew the procedure. Subdue, relocate to an exorcist, kill the exorcised demon, memory wipe the human, and return the human to its natural habitat. A fairly simple protocol. However, the means of subduing the host were varied and, more often than not, ethically ambiguous.
“No!” Bob slammed his fists down on the frozen puddles. A sharp crack splintered the night. Ice shattered. With a snarl, he kicked free of the frigid remains.
Jayden tightened his grip on the blades and sped up. Bob took two long steps forward, snatched the front bumper of the nearest sedan and heaved. The two tons of metal hefted into the air.
Jayden stopped. His jaw dropped as Bob flung the car with the effort of chucking a Frisbee.
Jayden flinched back and ducked. A thick dome of water locked frozen around him. Ice cracked under the car’s impact. The sedan screeched across the shield then up into the air. It hurtled into a lamppost with a thundering boom! The ground shuddered as the vehicle and post toppled down toward guests. They screamed in terror and tried to flee.
Jayden shot a hand forward. His own shield morphed into liquid and serpentined through the air. The water hardened once again around the patrons a second before the screeching metal crashed down on top of them.
With Jayden busy saving bystanders, Bob rushed him and landed a solid kick to Jayden’s side, sending him airborne several seconds before he thudded and spun out on the pavement. The Hex Boy groaned and placed a cold hand on his painful ribs.
Footsteps crunched close. A large shadow fell over him.
Jayden looked up. Bob loomed, a large silver sedan held high as if it weighed nothing. Then with a scream of rage and a violent swing, Bob brought it down toward the fallen Hex Boy.
Jayden scraped a hand on the ground. Icicles exploded around him and their sharp points surged up to stab the janitor.
But a hair’s breadth from Bob’s torso, Jayden stopped the frozen spears.
He could not kill the human host.
Bob smiled.
The car kept coming.
&
nbsp; Jayden winced, closed his eyes, and pulled water to shield himself, knowing he had started too late to actually succeed.
Metal crunched and screamed. Ice cracked and shattered. Air ruffled Jayden’s hair, and ice chips pinged off his skin.
But nothing else.
“Not cool, dude!”
Jayden looked up. The underbelly of the vehicle hovered inches from his nose. Blake stood opposite the janitor, his legs trembling under the weight of the car.
With a grunt, Blake heaved, and the car flipped over both Jayden and Bob. It squealed and skittered on the pavement in a storm of sparks. Bob tripped backward in shock and quickly scrambled to his feet and ran.
“Yeah, you better run!” Blake yelled.
Before Jayden could even begin to stand, Blake snatched the waistband of his friend’s pants and hauled him up.
“You okay, dude?” Blake dusted off Jayden’s shoulders.
“I am finding it difficult to subdue a human target as my experience lies with lethal means,” Jayden snapped as he readjusted his shorts.
“Tell me about it,” Blake sighed, exasperated. “Logan keeps saying—”
“Blake!” Logan shouted in the distance.
“That, like I don’t know my own name, and to just give them a bloody nose.” Blake skipped a few steps back. “You got this?”
“Oh,” Jayden assured him. “I have this.”
“Remember, no murder!” Blake sprinted off.
Jayden stalked through the parking lot after his target with a menacing look that would very much cause Blake to worry.
The water hunter twirled his wrists. Like baby ducks following their mother, the icicles on the ground lifted into the air and floated to either side of Jayden. The icicles spun round and round in the air. They thickened with each rotation, until finally converging together to form two blunt-end batons. Jayden snatched them from the air and flung one.
The projectile slammed across the back of Bob’s knees, spun, and whirled back to Jayden like a boomerang. Bob fell. Jayden caught up to him and swung.
Bob ducked and unleashed a fist. Jayden knocked the blow aside with one baton and struck with the other. Bob leapt backwards and onto his feet to dodge Jayden’s assault. Jayden attacked again, his other baton striking Bob’s skull.
Bob raised his arm to block another blow, and buried a powerful kick into Jayden’s stomach. Jayden hit the asphalt hard and tumbled back. The man’s wristwatch cracked from the strike of Jayden’s icy weapon. The watch smoked and spit sparks before the digital face faded to black.
Jayden came out of his roll and flipped hair off his face. A monstrous beast stood before him. Jagged, sharp teeth. Grotesque muscles strained against leathered red skin. Claws instead of hands. Slitted eyes glowed red.
Jayden smiled.
The demon frowned a moment then shrugged. “Guess I don’t need to hold back anymore, son.”
“Nor do I,” Jayden replied in an ominous tone.
Then he hurtled both batons, one right after the other. As they flew through the air, their tips speared down to blades, no longer blunt. The demon swung out of the way of the first baton.
And right into the path of the second.
The weapon pierced through the demon’s chest.
The creature staggered back. Jayden reached out a hand, closed it into a fist, then he yanked back. The first baton pulled a swift U-turn and knifed through the back of the demon’s skull. The monster exploded into black dust.
Jayden moved to snatch his returning weapon mid-spin.
“Oh come on, mate!”
Jayden jumped at the voice directly behind him and missed catching his icy spear. It zipped past his shoulder. Matthias leaned to the side. It sailed harmlessly by. And stabbed into the ground a centimeter from Tristan’s foot.
Tristan yelped and tripped backwards onto his butt. “Watch what you’re doing!”
Matthias turned his scowl on Jayden and pointed at the vortexing black mist of demon matter. “We needed that thing alive!”
“What?” Jayden said.
“For questioning,” Matthias said.
“Oh.” Jayden blinked. “Oh, of course. How could I have been so short-sighted? I believe my fury in the heat of battle overrode my better intellect. I apologize.”
Matthias clapped a hand on Jayden’s shoulder and grinned. “Just kidding. You okay?”
“My injuries are minor,” Jayden said. “We should call—”
“Already called my dad.”
Tristan pushed to his feet, grumbling, “Oh, I’m fine, thanks for asking.” With a grimace, he kicked the icy spear.
“The demons are counting on us holding back.” Matthias grabbed Jayden’s arm and turned it over, frowning at the bloodied scrapes. “Blake’s going to be in trouble with this one. Tristan, you deal with the witnesses. Jayden, find Ayden. I’ll go help Logan and Blake.”
“What about Aurora?” Jayden said.
“The moron is fine.”
An explosion rocked the ground. Light flashed. The sky washed white for a blinding moment. A second later, a concussion of wind blasted, creaking every tree in the forest and ruffling the Hex Boys’ hair and clothes. They stumbled back. Car alarms blared.
The Boys looked in the direction of the explosion. The lake. Over the treetops, a flaming yacht arched through the air. Several burning sails fluttered. The glow of fire warmed the trees and sparkled the lake with glittering oranges and golds.
Tristan gaped. “You think that’s Ayden or—?”
“Aurora.” Matthias’ crystal grey eyes squinted in an icy glare. He brushed waves of dark mahogany hair off his forehead and raced into the trees. “It’s always Aurora.”
OPERATION:
I Knew the Dude was a Demon All Along
LOCATION:
Gossamer Falls Country Club Spa
Blake and Logan found their target on the man’s way to the spa. Seeing him in person did little to dispel their concerns as to whether he was indeed a demon.
The target stood at average height, his face unremarkable, and the neatly trimmed hair could be described as brown or dark blond. The country club uniform hung slightly too large for him, but the uniforms flattered no employee. His movements appeared boringly normal when he slipped around the empty receptionist desk and into the spa entrance behind it.
The two Boys slunk after him into the deserted spa.
They passed heavily cushioned lounge chairs, pristine white towels neatly folded and stacked in artful towers, and vibrant flower bouquets in natural stone vases. The fresh blooms’ fragrant aromas melded nicely with an underlying subtle eucalyptus scent Blake always enjoyed. He let his fingers brush against another of his spa favorites, the plush robes which hung from doors that led to private treatment rooms.
But the carefully crafted serene atmosphere that Blake usually so appreciated after a tough workout in the gym, or a bad day dealing with demons, was currently disturbed by flashing red lights and the loud, relentless shrill of the fire alarm.
The Boys caught the shadow of their quarry hurrying away at the far end of the spa toward the steam room.
“This dead-ends, right?” Logan whispered as they crept forward.
“I think this could be a possessed dude,” Blake whispered. “I mean, he looks human.”
“Aurora says it’s a demon. No possession.”
“What if she’s wrong?”
Logan’s mouth opened but no words came out. It suddenly struck Logan that he was putting a lot of trust in Aurora, considering her lack of experience. There were no stories of the hellions appearing human unless they were possessing a person or were one of the false gods. And since Aurora told them the demon appeared monstrous to her, there was no way the creature they hunted was anything like Eros.
Logan shrugged off the unease. “Matthias said the waitress disappeared like a demon. I mean, if Matthias believes her…”
“What i
f this one is a human servant?”
Logan frowned. Something was amiss and instead of figuring out what was going on, they were acting with blind faith in Aurora’s abilities. Abilities for which she had no training. Aurora could make mistakes. There was a very real possibility that the man before them could be just a man.
Blake was questioning orders from the Divinicus Nex. Not something the Mandatum approved of. But the truth was, Logan had doubts of his own.
The little guy peeked through the glass door to the steam room. Though musty, there was no active steam so it was easy to spot the man. He walked across the space with an odd sense of purpose, his back to the Boys.
“I’m not cool with killing a dude,” Blake whispered.
“Me either.” Logan pressed his back flat against the wall. “So we treat it like a Mandatum training exercise. Just capture him. Tristan can memory wipe him if he ends up being human.”
“Okay, yeah, let’s do that.”
“There’s no exit in there. He has to come back out this way.”
Blake grinned and leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the door from Logan. “And then I’ll tackle him.”
“Not a good idea if he’s a demon. Just give him a bloody nose.”
“Pretty sure dude’s a human.”
An explosion shook the floor. The glass door shattered. Shards knifed through the air. Logan and Blake stumbled, then shared a startled look. They scrambled through the now doorless doorway.
The far wall had a gaping hole large enough to drive Tristan’s SUV through. Stone crumbled and steam whistled from bent and broken exposed pipes. The man was gone.
“Guess Aurora’s right.” Logan sprinted across the space and out the hole.
“Dude could’ve used explosives!”
A golf cart hurtled through the air directly at the Boys. Logan stomped into a deep lunge and shoved his hands forward. Wind snapped around him. He swung his arms high. A powerful gust of air caught the golf cart and diverted it up and over. It slammed onto the roof of the spa, blasted through the ceiling, and crashed onto the floor, cratering the spa’s imported Italian tile.
