Monster Exchange Program

by Mark Albany

  There was a new arrival—a tall, lean man in a tweed coat who stood near the rear entrance of the house. He turned to face me, a drink in his hand.

  “Professor Wyllis,” I said, smiling sardonically. I didn’t want him ruining my good mood. I tried to get away, but he glided smoothly in front of me.

  “Nate Ellison, right?” the professor asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Nice to see you around here instead of interrupting classes.”

  “I only interrupt the ones that need it,” I replied, looking down at his hand until he removed it.

  Wyllis chuckled. “You have a tongue on you, kid, which surprises me.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Trolls are known for their strong backs, not their wit. Even more true of war-trolls.”

  “Half-troll,” I reminded him, not bothering to include the ‘war’ part of the title.

  “Well, you must be thanking your lucky stars that another student went missing so you can skip some classes,” Wyllis said.

  “Maybe they won’t be missing for that long,” I shot back, holding his look.

  “Are you planning to find them?”

  “Maybe.”

  Professor Wyllis swirled his nearly finished drink. “You know what the problem with asking questions is, Mister Ellison? Sometimes, you get answers. And nosy kids have a way of disappearing around here.”

  I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to him. Annoyingly, he didn’t look like he was intimidated. “Is that a threat, Professor?”

  “Not at all,” he whispered. “I’m simply concerned for my students. Some more than others. I’ll leave now, though. I’m finicky about having company while drinking.”

  “Is that why you only drink with kids half your age, professor?” I scowled as I watched him leave. He chuckled but shook his head and declined to answer. Damn, he’d soured my mood and ruined a perfectly good night.

  9

  Although the night was still young, I was no longer in the mood to party. The moon was out and people were drunk, which meant it was the perfect time for whatever was lurking to strike. Wyllis’s words haunted me. Sure, people weren’t too keen on having a half-troll on campus but joking like that about the missing girls, some of whom were presumed dead, was either incredibly callous or evidence that perhaps the professor was somehow involved.

  The guy was certainly a supreme asshole, but that didn’t mean he was in league with dark forces. Moreover, I couldn’t raise the issue with Ryko until I had some evidence—which meant that it was time to head out and collect some.

  I moved back toward the front of the house and the common area, where a much smaller party was in progress. Kelly, Jen, and Pearl were all sitting on the couch we’d used earlier and puffing on that same bong. They had drinks in their hands and appeared to be having a good time. Hopefully, a good enough time that I could slip away without too many questions being asked.

  As I approached them, though, a young jock-type with a nice jawline and an expensive haircut stepped in front of Pearl, trying to look tough and intimidating as he stood over her.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked, sounding angry. “Our relationship is barely in the ground, and you’re already traipsing around with some troll?”

  “Half-troll,” Pearl corrected him.

  “Difference without a fucking distinction,” the jock bellowed.

  “Not to me,” I said. The jock turned and glared daggers at me. “How about showing the lady a little respect?”

  “How ‘bout you get the fuck out of here, monster?”

  “Hey, brother, don’t get mad at me just because you can’t satisfy your lady.”

  Something flashed in his eyes. Fear. Anger. Usually, when that happens, good sense goes out the door. The idiot yelled and rushed at me. Like a matador evading a charging bull, I slipped to the left, stuck out my right foot and smacked the idiot in the back as he barreled past me. The force of my blow catapulted him over a sofa, where he smacked the ground hard and rolled sideways like a hockey puck. He tried to push himself up and collapsed, unconscious.

  “Jesus, is he okay?” Pearl asked.

  “He’s fine,” I said, smacking my hands together. “Just taking a little nap.

  Pearl nodded.

  “Your boyfriend?”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” she replied.

  I turned the others. “Look, guys, it’s been real, but I have to get an early start on things tomorrow morning, so I’m heading back to the dorm. I was going to say that I might need your help getting Kelly back there, too, since I didn’t want to leave her here alone but… Well, she’s not alone. Do you mind keeping an eye on her, let her get some sleep?”

  “Will do,” Pearl said, and pulled me down for a soft kiss. “She’s definitely not alone. I look forward to seeing you again, Nate.”

  “Right back at you,” I replied, and headed toward the door.

  Kelly woke up, partially anyway, and saw me leaving. “See you later, big guy!” she called, a little too loudly, I realized. I couldn’t help a smile as I turned back and reached down to tenderly stroke her cheek. She smiled up at me, as did Jen, before I headed out through the front door.

  I didn’t think there would be any classes tomorrow, but there was no need for them to worry about that right now. They were enjoying themselves, and I needed to work while everyone else was busy rushing their preferred frats and sororities to pay attention to what I was doing.

  Hopefully.

  I felt a little frustrated. There was a reason why I kept insisting that I was a half-troll. Full-bloods had better, more attuned senses than mine. Better hearing, better smell, better sight, to the point of being able to see almost perfectly in the darkest of nights. My senses were better than humans possessed, but that was a low bar, and a pale imitation of what the rest of my kind was capable of.

  That was how I ended up strolling around campus. What alcohol I’d consumed was making me wallow a little in my self-pity instead of enjoying the high that had rushed through my body not ten minutes before.

  I paused and closed my eyes. Even with less-than-fully-attuned senses, something pinging caught my attention in a way that few things could, even though the sound was faint. And then the PDA in my pocket—the one synched to the sound detection devices—began buzzing.

  I fished it out and tapped the screen to see “echoes,” spots on campus where certain, high-decibel notes had been detected.

  The very sounds made by demons.

  I opened my backpack and removed two items: my service weapon and a tracking device. Then I set out in a dead run across a nearby walkway. I picked up speed, navigating by the PDA. Screams reverberated in the distance.

  I rushed across the campus, putting the entirety of my body into motion. Most humans had long ago left behind their more powerful, speedy natures. Trolls and half-trolls were a little behind on the times. If I put my mind to it, I could give a few human Olympians a run for their money. I cleared bushes and hurdled benches as I made my way through the landscaped grounds while the screams grew louder.

  I could see what was happening before I reached the scene. The lampposts were still on, with no manipulation of shadows, which allowed me to clearly see a group of five male students struggling to overpower a female one. They were using a rope to tie her up with her hands behind her back and trying to gag her.

  The roar that came from deep in my belly sounded like a herd of pissed-off elephants. The assailants pulled back, eyes wide. I lowered my shoulder and hammered hard into the group, bowling them over in one violent motion. The impact sent the students in one direction and me in the other. I lost my grip on my service weapon but still had the tracker.

  The students hit the ground and then immediately shot back up to their feet, faster than any human had a right to be. They were disoriented and pissed.

  They weren’t armed, but there were five of them. I might have been a little rash to charge in like that, I thought while searching for my we
apon.

  Before I could grab it, one of the guys rushed me and threw a punch that landed on my jaw, knocking me back a few paces. That was way too strong to be human. Not as strong as me, but again, there were five of them charging in to attack me.

  Two of them had circled back around to finish tying up their quarry up, trying to get their hands on the kneeling, whimpering girl. I placed myself between her and the guys. If they wanted her, they’d have to get through me.

  I wanted to help her, but I had problems of my own. Two of the guys bull-rushed me, throwing wild haymakers and karate kicks which pushed me back as the others closed their circle.

  Another one shouted and lurched at me, unleashing an uppercut that missed its mark. His momentum carried him sideways, and I punted the idiot in the chest. It doubled him over. I punched his lights out and then adopted a defensive posture, blocking another punch, and smacking away a kick aimed at my kidney. While I was doing this, another of the kidnappers rose and wrapped his arms around my neck.

  He met a hard elbow to the nose. I felt the cartilage and bone crack, and then spun around to complete the blow with a hard punch to his jaw that knocked him flat on his ass.

  The other two kidnappers backed away, trying to get a better grasp of who they were dealing with. I looked for the girl, but she was gone. Whether she’d been taken away or escaped, I didn’t know. My only hope was to plant a tracker on one of these fuckers and follow it back to its lair.

  The last student, a tall drink of water with long fingers, pointed at me.

  “You want a piece of me?” I asked.

  He nodded, grinning.

  I made the first move, and he ghosted into the shadows, vanishing from sight. I skidded to a stop and searched for him. Something bashed me in the back of the head. Spinning, I saw the guy laughing.

  I growled while shrugging off the pain knifing through my body from their too-powerful strikes. I’d be damned if I let all of them escape without getting a few answers first. I cursed myself in my mother’s tongue for neglecting to bring weapons with me. Sure, it was supposed to have been an evening of socializing and partying, but there were kidnappers on the loose.

  I jumped forward. The wannabe kidnapper did the same and we collided. My bulk allowed me to continue forward. I drove my feet hard and tackled the guy to the ground.

  We rolled through the grass, coming to a halt by smashing into a nearby tree. I used my superior size and power to regain the upper hand in the engagement, although the guy continued to drive punches into my ribs. Definitely too hard for a human. I looked into his eyes, saw bright yellow in them, and realized…these weren’t students, after all.

  They were demons wearing student clothes!

  I growled. My rage and pain pushed me to hit harder as I hammered it with another punch and then slammed an elbow into it before pinning it to the ground.

  “Demons,” I snarled down at him, holding him in place as he squirmed. “At least that explains how you’re so strong, tiny.”

  “This campus is ours, mongrel,” the demon replied, spitting out blood and pointed teeth. “Soon, the world will be, too. And then the bloodlines will be cleansed once more.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that at all. “Can you be any more melodramatic, asshole?”

  The demon spat at me. I wrapped my arms around it and squeezed as though trying to further subdue it and slipped the tracking device into the creature’s pocket. Then I drove a fist into its gut.

  With the device planted, I looked around as though searching for something to tie it up, which loosened my hold enough for it to break free. It went against everything in me, but Ryko had been very clear. The lives of the missing girls had to come first. To do that, I needed to give the creature an opening to stage its escape.

  The thing backed up, hissed, and then lurched sideways and ran into the shadows.

  I groaned. No broken ribs, but it was still painful enough that I needed a moment to catch my breath as I pulled the PDA out of my pocket to confirm that the tracking device was active. Swiping my finger across the screen, I smiled wearily. There was a red dot moving across campus. The tracker was working perfectly.

  10

  The demon was smarter than I thought because an hour later, the signal went out. Either the tracker was defective or the fiend found it, but either way, I was able to record at least a portion of its path.

  I sent a report to Ryko, then spent the rest of the night triangulating its movements and fiddling with the PDA, trying to get the tracker to work, while checking the other sound recording devices for further evidence of demonic activity. No additional activity was recorded, which left me with only one bit of evidence: the partial track of the demon I’d let go.

  I wondered about the most recent missing girl, debating whether she would be missed so soon after the rush. Would anyone even listen if someone started spreading word that she was missing? Not likely.

  Morning came along, though, with the student body collectively trying to get back to their day-to-day lives, meaning that I couldn’t continue actively tracking without being noticed. There was also the minor detail of the scents and tracks being mixed up with those going about their business.

  The school sent a message via their app that said classes were in session today, and replacement classes for the day before would be scheduled at a later date—meaning I had places to be and lectures to listen to. I didn’t think I would be too productive since I needed at least some sleep, but I could survive on small catnaps whenever I could grab them throughout the day.

  I still felt, looked, and smelled like death, so I headed off to my dorm to shower and put clean clothes on. My current outfit had blood and mud all over it, which meant strange looks from wide-eyed students as I reached the dorms.

  It didn’t take me long to realize that Kelly hadn’t made it back to the room. It wasn’t surprising. Pearl did leave me a text message, saying that Kelly spent the night with her and Jen at the sorority house, and would head back to the room once she wasn’t hung the fuck over.

  Aside from the question of when I had given Pearl my number, that satisfied my worry about Kelly. I made my shower quick and to the point, then dressed in a clean set of clothes. I slipped my service weapon into my gear pack and made sure it was well hidden, grabbed my backpack with everything I needed for classes, and headed out.

  The morning classes were rather empty, considering the circumstances paired with the fact that most students had spent most of the evening drinking and getting high. The only ones who showed up were those who either didn’t much care for the drinking and the partying, were seemingly immune to it, or had to be here. I could tell which students were in the last group since they were the ones who looked like they were about to keel over.

  It was only when my classes stopped for lunch break that I finally noticed a message from Ryko, asking me to call him immediately. There wasn’t a way to convey urgency in his tone, but when the chief told you to call him immediately, you did.

  Or as soon as possible, in this case, since he’d left the message a couple of hours ago.

  “You took your damn time,” Ryko said. His image was confined to the phone’s screen rather than fully projected as I slipped into an empty classroom for privacy.

  “I’m supposed to keep my cover as a student here, remember?” I snapped back. “They’ve got a thing about phones in class.”

  Ryko ignored this. “I’ve looked over your evidence, as well as your report from last night. Demons inhabiting the bodies of others is not unheard of, but all this talk about wanting to take over everything and cleanse the bloodlines seems rather out of character. They’ve always been a rarity, not seen out in the open for a long time. I suppose they’re due for a comeback, but they’ve never been power-hungry. Always more about the personal gratification to the point of extreme and unsustainable decadence more than anything else.”

  “That we know of so far,” I replied. “If there’s so little that we know abou
t them, there might well be a couple that wants to take over the world, and all we know about is the few that have snuck onto our plane of existence.”

  Ryko nodded. “We don’t know what we’re facing here. It might well be something that we’ve never seen before.”

  “Agreed. I’ll report again when I know more.”

  “You do that. Nate… You know that I’ve never approved of your special abilities, but this one time, I’d like you to use them.”

  “I don’t think I could do that without fully falling into what I’m using,” I said as honestly as possible. My mother taught me some small things. Others, I’d learned on my own, always in secret. Always forbidden.

  “I understand, but do what you can,” Ryko replied. “Good luck, Nate.”

  “Thanks, Chief.” With that, I ended the connection.

  As I stepped out into the open again, my eyes scanned the students closely. I wondered if I was too obvious, but at this point, I had to suspect that pretty much anyone that I’d met and interacted with could have been a demon. They knew who I was, or at least what I was since I wore it on my skin, but they could be like the rest of humanity.

  Or hell, they could be pretty much anything else, too. The concept of a demon wearing a skin-changer suit was something that had me morbidly curious.

  I spotted Kelly. My sudden worry about her being a skin-changing a demon was quickly discarded as I watched her stagger toward our dorm room. She looked somewhat better rested than I did, though our time together had apparently affected her ability to walk. I was a little amused but hid it since I didn’t want her to think I enjoyed her misery.

  She saw me, and a hint of a smile touched her lip.

  “Hey, Nate,” she whispered softly, hugging me back as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

  “How do you feel?” I asked, kissing her cheek.

  “A little sore in all the right places,” she admitted, leaning into the touch with a soft sigh.