And Then There Was Hope

by Greg Dragon

  She raised a silver gauntlet up to touch her lip. “So, then you are some sort of demon bounty hunter, which makes no sense since Chaos controls all who he has contact with. So, you were once a sister of the Bloody Garot then, that odd name that I never got the meaning of. What is a Garot, sister?” she asked, smiling at her as she did.

  She continued. “On Yalem it means hive, Alysia Knight, like a hive of bees. Bl’dee is our word for Chaos, the usurper king to be. We are Bl’dee G’rowt, you see, and do not call me sister – traitor. You have been tainted, and I must find a way to rub you out.”

  Alysia shifted her stance to her rear leg and let her sword hang in anticipation of the woman’s next move.

  “You can relax; there will be plenty of time for us to fight. Chaos lied to you about Dibolosa, by the way. She was a glorified babysitter to his brood of hatchlings that you thought represented the G’rowt. Chaos has many groups just like them, led by one of the chosen—one like you and me. Future generals that will lead his little bees into battle with him once the lost are in full retreat back to Yalem. You took over for Dibolosa; I took over for the spear-wielding, Darisa.” She smiled, and shifted her stance to show the pistol resting on her right hip.

  “This is all so confusing,” Alysia said. “Chaos sent you for me, but you are one of the six that I’m meant to kill to rid the world of the V’Kosha. I guess it makes sense being that Chaos is behind all of this, but why are you so forthcoming? It’s like you want me to win.”

  “Words mean nothing to a dead woman,” the soldier said and nodded towards the pistol with a smile. “Silver bullets,” she whispered with a wink, and then eyed Alysia’s sword as if she wasn’t impressed.

  “I bet you expected me to have some sort of old, edged weapon like Dibolosa, didn’t you?” she said. “We would lock swords like ancient swashbucklers, and you would best me with your gifted speed and sword mastery. Not today, traitor girl. Whenever you are ready, we can begin your punishment and eventual death to honor lord Chaos.”

  “Wait,” Alysia said.

  “Well, this is a surprise. Is the slayer of the lost, Alysia Knight, about to beg for her life?” she said, a mocking look of shock on her face.

  “I’d sooner fall on my own sword than bow to any of you,” Alysia replied. “I had a question about Chaos. Answer it for me and we can begin the duel.”

  “Hmm, I can’t guarantee that I will answer it, whatever it is, but you can ask me, dead girl.”

  “You said that Chaos had many sects, but he sent me to kill six major demons of the lost. Did he give you the same mission … to kill the six? And if so, how many have you killed, and how many other women like you and I are out there hunting them?” she asked, hoping that the sarcastic woman would answer her honestly.

  “Only Chaos knows that so I can only speak for myself. My mission to crossover is to eliminate you, not six demons, not saving this pathetic world. It is to kill you—that is it. Now, the other women; I have no idea about their missions, but as you can see, I need you dead. So, how do you say? No hard feelings.”

  And she drew her pistol with blinding speed and shot at Alysia’s chest. The Chinese soldier had telegraphed her intent, and Alysia had thrown her arms up to guard as soon as she saw the sudden movement. The bullet wedged itself into one of her gauntlets and the silver material simply absorbed it and kept Alysia safe.

  The soldier began to run backwards, firing erratically when she saw that her shot had missed its mark, but Alysia’s hands were like machine-operated shields, deflecting the bullets that managed to get anywhere near her body.

  “Chaos warned that with every lost you felled, your power would grow!” she yelled back at her, and then with a frustrated grunt she threw the gun, snatched up a spear she had kept hidden on the wall, and then whipped her top off and spun to face Alysia.

  The movement was so acrobatic and splendid that Alysia immediately knew she was going to be a problem. She charged in and slashed, but the soldier was quick, dancing out of the way of the blade and running back along the wall. She left the spear out so that Alysia would impale herself on pursuit, but the trick was one that Alysia recalled herself trying on Dibolosa. Seeing the intent, she ran and jumped, then cut the exposed spear in half.

  The woman looked back at her with a look of shock and horror, then put up her hands as if she wished to fight her without a weapon.

  “Give it up, girl, you’re beaten,” Alysia said, with the sword held out in front of her.

  “You’re good, but I am not so quick to call you my conqueror!” the woman screamed as she rolled forward, picking up the half of the spear that had the blade and stabbing at Alysia’s abdomen. Alysia jumped back when she did this and whipped the sword down in the same motion. The edge caught the woman’s hand and cut her deep between her right thumb and forefinger. She seemed to ignore the pain as she came at her thrusting, trying her best to stab her with the spear.

  Alysia was forced to retreat due to her advances and after a while she found that she was back at the area where the wall had been demolished. She was at risk of being forced back into the rubble, where she would fall to her demise. The woman was strong, her offense impressive, and there was little that Alysia could do but block in hopes that she would reveal a weakness.

  When the pattern of the spear jabs had become repetitious, Alysia stepped into a particularly deadly thrust, and bashed the pommel of her sword against the woman’s head. The sudden advance stunned the soldier she sank to her knees, holding the bloody gash that was now on her forehead. Alysia kicked her spear hand so hard that she was forced to let it go. As the soldier scrambled to recollect her weapon, Alysia kicked her in the face and then stood over her with the tip of Euphoria on her neck.

  “You’re human like me, aren’t you?” Alysia asked.

  “Yes, once … human, but now … much more,” the soldier said. She winced from the pain but dared not move for fear of the sword being driven into her neck.

  “Why do you fight for Chaos? Tell me the truth!” Alysia shouted.

  “Hu-husband. He has my husband,” she replied, relaxing in her defeat.

  “Do you know where he is? Your husband, I mean? When you passed his test, where did he tell you your husband would be?”

  The soldier shook her head. She had no clue, and Alysia understood her dilemma.

  “Get up,” Alysia said, and she kept her sword close to the soldier as she stood up gingerly. “I want to try something.”

  Before the woman could react, she slipped behind her and drove the blade into her back, letting it stay there despite her screams as she held her steady to let Euphoria do its work. The energy from the sword made Alysia smile as it robbed the soldier’s blood of all its demonic essence and transferred it into Alysia as renewed life. It felt so good that she didn’t want it to stop but unlike the demons in New York, Brazil, and Haiti, the woman stayed alive and after a few minutes she slumped forward, tired and wounded, but still alive.

  “That’s what I thought,” Alysia said. “Euphoria takes only what is borne of Yalem. Your humanity remains, even though I killed the thing that gave you your power. If I come across your husband, I will let him know that his wife loves him and that she waits for him,” she said.

  She wiped the blood from her sword, sheathed it, and then knelt next to the woman to bind her wounds. When she was finished she laid her down, and then looked around to see if she could still sense the demon she had originally been sent to kill.

  There was a tugging sensation leading her into the woods and she knew that her answer would be amongst the trees. After the fight that she just had, she would expect to be both winded and jittery—like she’d been when she defeated Dibolosa—but the sword Euphoria had made her strong, so she leaped from the wall to the trees below, and landed amidst a crowd of freshly turned Chinese demons.

  She cut a path through them towards the energy that she felt, and they came at her from all angles. But the
y were nothing compared to her speed and skill as she took heads and impaled bodies while Euphoria, the Soul Eater, drank deep of their blood, making her stronger with every kill.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  It was noon at the barracks and James Knight’s company was still there. Maria had spent the rest of the night with them talking and reminiscing, and by the time it was morning they were all too tired to head out. Jaime took his turn at sleeping and lay next to Koko, but the rest of the group sat at the table telling Maria about Alysia’s change.

  “So, she’s some sort of chosen one? That’s what you’re telling me?” Maria asked them once they had finished, and Isobel nodded while maintaining an uncharacteristic frown on her face. “Thirty years. They robbed me—us—of thirty years before giving us something, someone that can fight back against this. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry about it. Being able to keep my mother alive would have been nice,” she said.

  “CeeCee lost her mother, too,” James said, his massive forearms on the table, his chin resting on top of them.

  “What about you, little girl? Who did you lose?” Maria asked, jabbing her finger at Isobel.

  “I lost my world, and everyone that was once dear to me. My parents are tiny sprinkles of memory on a mind too old to hold unto them. CeeCee is my family now. CeeCee, Jasmine, and of course, Koko,” she replied.

  “Too old? I knew there was something funny about the three of you and your pretty sword cases or whatever. Are you demons, too? Something like these damn things we keep having to kill?” Maria asked.

  “Something like that,” Isobel replied, staring at her with a smirk as if she dared her to try something.

  “You know, you two could be related, you look so much alike,” James Knight cut in. “If I didn’t know either of you, and came upon our camp here, I would assume that Isobel was your daughter.”

  Isobel turned to face him and lowered her eyelids, and then pouted her lips to let him know that she didn’t agree.

  “I’m being serious,” James said. “It’s freaking me out. When I first met Izzy I almost asked Alysia if it was you, Maria, turned into something like she was.”

  Maria forced a smile upon her hard, scarred up face, and then stood up suddenly.

  “I kept you all up for too long with the drama and the ‘blast from the past’ chat. It’s good to see you, Mr. Knight, alive and young. If it’s any consolation, I know that I come off as bitter but I want to thank you for everything that you did for me and my mom. I took your words seriously about running when there was danger, and it saved my life until I was strong enough to fight back,” she said.

  “I’m betting that it wasn’t demons that hurt you up though was it, baby girl?” James asked, adding a touch of tenderness to his voice when he called her ‘baby girl.’ He saw that it affected her, softened her enough to reveal some emotion, and she stopped and inhaled to stop the tears that tried to work themselves through hard, unused ducts.

  “The race of man deserves everything that is happening to this world. You better believe it,” she said, her chin held high and a look of bravado crossing her features. “We hurt our weak,” she said finally, and then grabbed her gun—James’s old magnum—and holstered it on her leg. “We’ll be back in the woods, looking out for you, watching your back at all times. If you need me, just shout my name.”

  James stood up and hugged her, but he could feel that she didn’t want to allow herself the sentiment. She had shown too much tenderness already.

  “Oh,” she said. “I’m no longer Maria. The Hidden Heroes call me Hope.” She couldn’t help but smile when she said it, and James noticed that her eyeteeth were like Isobel’s, long and sharp.

  She’s been in survival mode for a long time; maybe she filed them into that, he thought. And she stared at him and put on her shades, noticing that he had seen something.

  “My teeth scare you?” she asked suddenly, and he looked around to make sure she was addressing him.

  “They’re a little crazy, yeah,” he replied.

  “When you’re tiny, and vulnerable, and you’ve been taken advantage of a few times … sometimes you have to do things in order to protect yourself,” she said. “Teeth are a little ugly, that they are, yeah, but if a man ever grabs me, he will feel it.” She smiled wide this time, showing fangs and a pierced tongue.

  “I’m sorry Mar—I mean Hope. If I could rewind time and take you and your mom—”

  “Meh, everybody wants a wishing dragon. It’s nothing, Mr. Knight, just a little ugliness is all. Scream Hope if you need me, or better yet, send one of your demon pixies to come collect. I won’t leave you all if they start swarming. I got a small army of killers in the woods, and we’d be happy for the action.”

  She punched his chest playfully and made a mock salute at Isobel, then walked out and jogged towards the trees until she had disappeared.

  A large knot of guilt and disappointment took to his stomach, and as he thought back to the cute little girl that he’d called his “little soldier,” he realized that he had not thought about her when they left. Why had they not taken Angelica with them? The trip was dangerous, yes, they had acknowledged that, but both he and Tracy had enough weapons to arm a small tribe when they’d left. Couldn’t they have protected the little family as they travelled out to help Alysia?

  Little Maria had gone through the worst of atrocities when she was left alone once her mother turned. He couldn’t avoid the blame in that. He sat with his head inside his hands, feeling sick with guilt, anger, and worst of all helplessness.

  “Go get some rest, Izzy. You, too, Jasmine. We did a lot yesterday only to get no sleep. Go on in the back and lie down. I’ll stay up here for a few hours, just in case Maria ain’t telling us everything,” he said.

  “You don’t trust her either,” Isobel said, hopping up and leaning on her sword. She wore a large white t-shirt that they had scavenged, hanging over tight black leather pants, tiny black boots, and a red cloak that had seen better days. Her appearance made him think of little red riding hood, and it almost made him smile despite his dark mood.

  “Oh, I trust her. I have to trust her. But thirty years is a very long time. Maybe not to you, but it is to me. I don’t know who she works for, who may have her on some sort of leash, or even the motivation going on inside that head of hers. To her, I’m this old man she knew back when she was a baby. She don’t owe me anything despite all that ‘little soldier’ stuff she remembers.” He looked around and then touched his temples, trying to will away the headache that was starting to surface there. “Where are you, Alysia? I wish I had you here to tell me that I’m right.”

  Isobel took the hand of the always-quiet Jasmine and walked her back into one of the rooms. Tracy had moved their bed tarps into the room in order to shut out the now bright sun that shone through the hole in the roof. They found a corner where Koko slept and both lay with her to recharge themselves. Back in the main room, James grabbed his gun and went outside to patrol the grounds.

  ~ * ~ * ~

  Deep inside the woods, now littered with the ashes of the lost that had come in contact with Alysia’s blade, a woman in a beautiful, royal blue dress stood inside a clearing. Alysia watched as the shadows coalesced around her, swirling and growing as she went, and she recalled the first demon she had fought. This was a girl just like the one in the barracks, but seasoned, having turned so many people within the area that she pulsed with power as the shadows moved like misty snakes, restless and mischievous.

  Alysia examined her features and saw that her ears had points. She looked like a pretty wolf, or maybe it was a fox, complete with tiny, sharp rows of teeth that shone in contrast to the blackness that she wrapped herself in.

  “Runaway warrior of Chaos, Alysia Knight,” she said with what sounded like numerous voices, all coated in that same thick accent that the soldier had.

  “So you’re considered an elite,” Alysia said, “That’s a surprise. You
look just like the girl I killed so many years ago.”

  The demon seemed annoyed by her words and the smile dropped and her eyes grew wide. “Interesting outfit for an American girl. Is that a Japanese uniform?”

  “It is MY uniform. Japan is its origin, yes, but don’t you worry your evil little head about it,” Alysia replied, confused at the creature’s concern with her Hakama.

  “I hate your outfit,” the demon said, “And I hate your ugly Japanese sword.”

  “The sword isn’t Japanese,” Alysia said.

  “Looks Japanese; that’s all that matters to me. When we kill you and pull out your soul, we will be sure to burn your stupid Japanese outfit. That and the ones who love you, Alysia Knight.”

  “The Japanese thing really bothers you, doesn’t it?” Alysia asked, laughing at the absurdity of it all. “Wait, but if you’re a lost from Yalem; what does it matter the origins of my earth outfit or weapons? How are you prejudiced one way here, when it really should be … oh never mind.”

  “The vessel that houses us hates the Japanese. You offend us with your presence. Black skin, wild hair, and a Japanese costume. You are a pathetic combination that infuriates us,” the demon said with a cruel snarl.

  “You’re one to talk,” Alysia said. She pulled out Euphoria and whipped the air before bringing it up in front of her face. “I learned numerous styles as a girl, some originating here, and yes, some from other countries. The sword I learned was from Japan. Your disrespectful demon tongue will apologize for the insult by the time I’m through!”

  She dashed in on the demon, who reacted by sending the shadows into her at full blast. It was like a freezing tornado of blackness as it lifted her airborne, smashing her into the trees as it did. It took everything within her power to keep hold of the sword as she twisted with the mist, and below her the demon was laughing, building on the cycle as it went, until Alysia was feeling a full sense of vertigo.