Blood Creek Beast

by Jay Barnson

  “She won’t run. Nothing so simple. She won’t dare show her face again unless she can declare a victory. She might, however, have the woman call the cops when she returns the key. Why don’t you do Min a favor and return the key for her when she’s done?”

  Jessabelle nodded. She wanted to ask what they’d been discussing while she’d been in the restroom, but she had to make sure Min wasn’t too quick taking care of business. Jessabelle arrived at the restroom door only seconds before Min exited. Jessabelle opened her hand and said, “I’ll take the key back for you.”

  Min dangled the flyswatter in front of Jessabelle. “If I was really planning to do something, do you think you could stop me? Do you think I couldn’t make you step aside or even help me?”

  Jessabelle felt her face grow hot, but not with shame. “I don’t know,” she answered. “Evelyn did that to me once, and I nearly tore her throat out.” Min paled, and Jessabelle snatched the flyswatter from the air. She gripped it like a knife. “Instead, I hid and watched the man in the white suit snap her neck.” With that, she turned her back on Min, and walked around the corner to return the key.

  “Y’all have a safe trip,” the woman at the counter said to Jessabelle. She seemed sincere. If she had noticed the gun, she took pains to ignore it. Jessabelle just smiled, waved thanks, and returned to the car.

  By the time they reached the palace three days later, people had already heard of Jack’s victory. A crowd lined the road for nearly a quarter mile, cheering Jack and the three guardsmen. “Jack the Giant Killer!” they cried out.

  It beat, “Lyin’ Jack,” but it still felt wrong. Jack kept his head down, and Bachan likewise ignored the crowds. While he didn’t neglect Jack’s training, he had become increasingly distracted and even dour as they grew closer to the palace. Zeke and Aidan had only barely prevented Bachan from riding their horses to exhaustion and pushing their way to Sanguine through the night. Now that the crowd had gathered in the city, Zeke and Aidan soaked up the attention, waving as if they’d personally been the ones responsible to slaying Korak Lash.

  Jack was fine letting the two of them receive the attention. After years of scrupulously telling the truth, this was the second time Jack had defeated his enemies through deception. Even with plenty of justifications, he could not get Korak’s shocked expression out of his head. Sometimes, instead of Korak’s face, he saw his papa’s, the shocked moment before a younger Jack had fought back to defend his mother. That had been a costly victory, too, and Jack was never entirely certain he’d done the right thing.

  At the palace a man in long tails and a bow tie ushered them all to the hall just outside the great feasting chamber. Bachan stood with great calm, almost as if he had fallen asleep standing up. Zeke and Aidan elbowed each other, but quickly returned to a formal pose as the formally attired man appeared once more to take them into the king.

  As they entered, a man announced, “Captain Bachan and Guards Aros and Kelmen of the Royal Guard.” Jack wondered who the other two people were at first, before realizing they were the last names for Zeke and Aidan. The man continued after a tiny but awkward hesitation, “... with Jack.”

  What had been a dining room only a few days before was now a proper throne room, at least by Jack’s estimation. The king sat in an ornate chair at the far end of the room, with the queen seated in a somewhat smaller chair beside him. Something about her still felt familiar to Jack, perhaps like an actress in a movie he couldn’t quite remember. Arranged below the platform, a huge array of strangers stood in their Sunday best. Princess Delcina stood behind and to one side of her father’s throne. Royal Guardsmen, most dressed in fancier versions of the uniform Bachan and his two guards wore, stood at attention at various points in the room.

  Two of the guards flanked Rumela. Jack was pleased to see she looked like she’d washed and had been outfitted with new clothing. She beamed at him.

  Jack and his companions walked forward, with Bachan taking the lead. Bachan subtly moved his hand to stop Jack as they neared the platform and bowed. Jack followed suit although he really didn’t feel like bowing to the man who had put him in such an awful situation. Still, the sight of Rumela standing in the throne room and smiling left him with some feeling of forgiveness.

  “Rise, my friends,” the king said. They stood. The king stood and approached them, standing on the lowest step of the dais. “Am I to understand you bring me news of Korak Lash, the scourge of the southern territories, the enemy of the kingdom for three generations?”

  Bachan nodded. “Indeed, my king. Korak Lash is no more. This young man, Jack, at your request and in service to the kingdom, single-handedly slew the giant who has caused our people so much death and woe for decades. He managed to succeed where even the bravest soldiers of the kingdom have failed and often died.”

  The king looked down at Jack. “Is this so, young man?”

  Jack shrugged. “I reckon so. I mean, uh, I don’t know about the soldiers. And it was a little complicated, and...”

  The king cast him a warning glance. Jack said, “Well, um, yes, sir. Your Highness, I mean. Korak is dead, and it’s my fault.”

  Still speaking loud enough for the entire chamber to hear, the king said, “I can see I was right in sending you. Jack, I officially declare you a Hero of the Kingdom. It is not an honor frequently given outside of wartime, the military, or to citizens.”

  “Um, thank you, sir. Your Highness.”

  The king nodded in an absent, dismissive manner. He made a circling motion with his hand and said more quietly, “Turn and face the court. Let them see their Hero.”

  Jack nodded and turned. Bachan and the other two guards did the same. The court cheered and applauded. Jack blinked as he took it all in. It was a fairy-tale ending to a grisly business, and the fulfillment of his dreams of what an adventure might be. In a movie, it would be the moment before the credits rolled. As he half-grinned in bewildered appreciation, he spotted Zainus in the crowd, applauding and cheering more fervently than anyone else. Jack wasn’t sure if he imagined the malevolent gleam in the short man’s eyes.

  “Not that I don’t appreciate it and everything,” Jack said two hours later as tailors measured and fitted him for clothing appropriate for the feast in his honor, under Rumela’s fascinated eye, “but why are you here again, Bachan?”

  The dark-skinned man’s thin mustache twitched. “I’m here because whenever I step outside this wing, I am bombarded by questions and requests having nothing to do with my job. I’m trying to think.” He looked at the tailors. “Have you prodded our newest Hero enough yet?”

  The three men nodded, and in a few minutes had swept away their cloth scraps, tape measures, and pins. Jack, Bachan, and Rumela were alone in Jack’s chambers. Rumela had to stoop to stand up, so she sat on the sturdiest stool the castle staff could find. She hadn’t left Jack’s side since he had returned. She even took personal supervision of his bathing, which had made Jack more than a little embarrassed even though she had averted her eyes at Jack’s request for modesty’s sake. She had little concept of modesty, and of course, was a giant. The maids of the castle made a heroic effort to make Rumela appear human, but after a point her human-like clothing, hairstyle, and even makeup only drew attention to her monstrous features. Giants were not simply big people. They had the biology of an apex predator, and it showed.

  Jack looked down at himself. Except for his John Deere hat, now hanging on the bedpost, he wore none of the clothes he had arrived in. His jeans were being washed and mended by the servants. They were torn, stained, and smelled like rotting stew. The maid had assured Jack that they’d come back “almost as good as new,” but they’d provided him with casual clothing to replace everything else. They had decent denim pants, which they referred to as “dungarees,” which used clasps instead of buttons and a zipper. The dungarees included built-in suspenders, like overalls. The white cotton shirt they’d found to replace his old one had buttons, at least, but no collar, and it
felt about two sizes too big. He felt a little like a hick wearing the outfit, but he didn’t want to disappoint them when they’d worked so hard to scrounge clothing for him.

  With the tailors out of the room, Bachan commented, “You have no comprehension of the honor Ferik bestowed upon you, do you?”

  “Ferik? Is that’s the King’s name?”

  Bachan laughed softly. “You really are a stranger here.”

  “I keep telling you that.”

  Bachan sighed. “In effect, you’ve been raised to nobility. Not that this means much in this day and age, except for some obscure laws remaining on the books, unless you chose to join the military. But it does mean that some nobles will treat you differently. It also means you are granted certain rights as a citizen.”

  “So it’s like being knighted or something?”

  “Something like that, yes.”

  “All that for talking a giant into killing his fool self?”

  “Indeed, Jack.” Bachan paused for a moment, and then said, “While I agree it was truly an impressive deed, this is quite an exceptional action on the king’s part. Not that I mean to diminish your honor.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “As I said, am trying to think. Perhaps because you have proven to be a man of honor and so completely unfamiliar with our politics, you might be the best person for me to ask for assistance.”

  “What do you need? I’ll do my best.”

  Bachan looked over at Rumela. Rumela grinned with snaggly, sharp teeth, and said, “I will do best, also!”

  The captain of the Royal Guard nodded to Rumela respectfully. “As the latest celebrity, you are going to be introduced to a lot of people, and they’ll all want to have their chance to impress you. You may hear some strange things, maybe hints of their future importance. I understand most of what you hear may seem strange, but if anything strikes you as confusing or perhaps even menacing, talk to me about it. I’ll make myself available to you.”

  “You think there’s a plot or something going on?”

  “Something, perhaps. I mean you no offense, but escorting you to Korak Lash was not the job of a Royal Guard—let alone three of us.”

  “No offense taken. I ain’t a member of the royal family.”

  Bachan nodded. “You understand. The king hasn’t explained his order to me, which is also somewhat unusual. If the king is being in any way threatened, I need to know of it. That is why I wish to enlist your aid.”

  Jack shrugged and sat down on his bed. “I don’t know how much help I’d be. I ain’t much of a spy.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t really need a spy. I need... well, someone I can trust. My job isn’t just wielding a sword in service to the crown. It’s more about obtaining information from every source I can as it relates to protecting the king and his family.”

  Jack shook his head. “Wouldn’t this be going behind his back?”

  Bachan grunted. “I go behind his back all the time. It’s why he assigned me to this position. I worry about things so he doesn’t have to. I ask the questions he won’t. And sometimes, it means I know more about his private life than he’d prefer.”

  “Sounds like a difficult friendship.”

  Bachan shrugged and stepped toward the door. “While we do have a friendship of sorts, my position is not to be his friend. I’m to protect the crown. It is my duty, even if the man possessing the crown finds it inconvenient. Good day, Jack. I will see you at the feast tomorrow, I imagine. In the meantime, good luck in your little meeting with the princess.”

  Jack snorted. “Huh? What meeting? I don’t know who you are talking to, but I ain’t meeting with her.”

  Bachan smiled. “Oops, you didn’t know about that one, did you?” He winked. “I let that one slip, I suppose. I shouldn’t do that, professional that I am.” He opened the door and left.

  Jack looked up at Rumela. “What was he talking about?”

  Rumela shrugged. “You ask Rumela? You are the clever one. But...” She grinned wider, showing her full mouth full of teeth that would have been terrifying if Jack didn’t know her.

  “But what?”

  “But Delcina, she asked Rumela about you while you gone. When she freed Rumela.”

  “What did she ask?”

  “Stuff. I don’t remember. Just stuff about you. She seemed sad. She and I, sad together.”

  “Because I was going to die?”

  “Yes. I knew you would be back, but she did not. I sad for her.”

  Jack grinned. “She was gonna miss me, huh?”

  Rumela shrugged. “She said you too stupid.”

  “What?”

  “That is what she says to Rumela. She says you be stupid, and you die. But you not dead. You beat Korak.”

  “I got lucky,” Jack said.

  A soft knock came at the door. Jack opened it. A servant stood outside. She wore the uniform of the castle staff, loose-fitting work clothes with the vest bearing a seal. She said, “Your presence is requested in the western courtyard after dinner, at sunset.”

  “Huh? Who requests?”

  The servant shook her head and walked away.

  They drove north, keeping to the smaller roads. Just as Jessabelle began to marvel at Leon’s ability to navigate the maze of tiny country roads, he got lost and had to turn around. What would have taken an hour on the freeway took the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon.

  Leon and Min conversed pleasantly, even laughing at inside jokes and comments on mutual friends from Leon’s days in the Coven. Jessabelle could make out what they were saying if they weren’t going too fast and the open hatch didn’t make too much noise. Every once in a while, Leon would ask a probing question, like, “Who do you think is going on this ‘Plan B’ trip through that one-way gate you mentioned?” Min would offer a partial answer and ask him one of her own, like, “How long did you have the office bugged?” and “We don’t have to hold another funeral for you, do we?”

  That one caught Jessabelle’s attention. Leon looked at Jessabelle in the rearview mirror, and then glared at Min. “No, nobody who knew me before knows I’m still alive.” To Jessabelle he added, “The Coven faked my death. That’s something they are exceptionally good at. That’s how Thadeus hides his immortality.”

  Jessabelle scowled. “They ain’t that good at it. They used a fake dead body to capture me, and I could tell it wasn’t real. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”

  Min glanced back at Jessabelle. “But they got you anyway? Curiosity killed the cat?”

  “Shut up,” Jessabelle said. She spent the next few minutes fuming that she’d let Min get to her so easily. She still wasn’t used to having people know her secret.

  A half-hour later, Min commented, “You know, we’re getting really close to Morgantown. You could let me out here, and I could walk the rest of the way home.”

  “We’re not driving fast enough to let you out just yet,” Leon said.

  Min snorted. “You know, if you are planning on storming the complex while our staff is spread out across the state, do me a solid and tell them I talked you into it when they capture you. That way I’ll get the credit.”

  “Were you always this sarcastic and annoying when we were dating?”

  “Yes, but you thought it was endearing.”

  Leon rolled his eyes. “Now I remember why we broke up.”

  “Was that it? I thought you were trying to trade up.”

  “It wouldn’t have been hard.”

  They came around a hill, and a small town seemed to appear out of nowhere. From where the town started, Jessabelle could see where it ended. A bar, a motel, a Burger Shack, a gas station, a junkyard, and a church spread between two intersections. It was the largest town they’d seen in an hour, but it probably didn’t qualify as a town on any map.

  Leon pulled onto the barely graveled patch of dirt that acted as a parking lot for the tiny motel. The place looked like it hadn’t been remodeled in de
cades. By the peeling paint and overall condition of the L-shaped building, it didn’t look like they’d had many customers in decades, either. “You two stay here,” he said. To Jessabelle he said, “If she tries anything, you have my permission to eat her.”

  Jessabelle didn’t feel like laughing, and it didn’t look like Min did either. Leon walked into the door by the dingy sign that read, “Office.” As soon as he was out of sight, Min spun around and faced Jessabelle. Jessabelle’s hand flew to her jacket pocket, but Min made no other aggressive move.

  “We need to talk, fast,” Min said.

  “Ain’t got much to talk about.”

  “Look, we can make a deal.” Her words were breathless, and she cast an anxious look toward the front door. “The Coven is pressed for time and doesn’t need both of you. If you come in willingly with me, we can make sure they leave Leon alone. You’ll be treated well, I promise, and Leon gets to go free. It’s our best option.”

  Jessabelle stared at Min, trying to understand what sort of emotional vibes—or was it smells?—she was giving off. She couldn’t make sense of it and chalked it up to desperation. “One thing I’ve learned about the Coven is that y’all are a bunch of liars. We ain’t going back with you.”

  Min sighed. “Look, I know what you think you are doing. I admire you for it, but you have to understand that there’s no fighting Thadeus. Not in the long term. He’s much more dangerous than he looks.”

  Jessabelle took a deep breath. “A few weeks ago? I’d a said yes. I ain’t brave. But now, I know you’re wrong, lady. Some folks fought Thadeus a long time ago and beat him. They hurt him, and they tossed him into our world like a sack of garbage. They’ve had him beat for hundreds of years. A few weeks ago, we beat him again. That’s the whole reason y’all are running around trying to get a ‘Plan B’ together. I ain’t never been as scared as I’ve been the last few weeks. But you know what? I reckon if we can get the right folks together, we can beat him again for a few hundred years more. And the way I figure, y’all’s Coven may be powerful, but it ain’t like you can be everywhere at once. I think Leon’s got the right idea.”