A Shot in the Dark jjd-2

by K. A. Stewart

  The geek pursed his lips thoughtfully. “I have not talked to Father Gregory in some months. I do not know. I will try to find out if you think it is important?”

  “Yeah. Just… call it morbid curiosity.” The Order of St. Silvius-holy knights operating in the name of a Catholic saint who did not exist-wasn’t what you’d call friendly with us, the more secular champions. Still, if prodded, they’d usually share information. I wondered if they were having the same dry spell as the rest of us.

  “Have a good trip, Jesse.”

  “Thanks.” The Grapevine window shut down, redirecting me to some site with nauseatingly cute kittens and poorly spelled captions. I sat in the semidarkness for a few more moments, scratching at the beard stubble on my chin.

  Esteban’s sheets rustled as he rolled over to look in my direction. “What does it mean, that no one has been asked for a contract?”

  I shrugged my shoulders at the little faker. “Dunno. Maybe nothing. Maybe we scared them all off.” Fat chance.

  Esteban knew that as well as I did. The kid’s family had been fighting demons for more generations than I could even imagine. Between his mom and Ivan, we had at our fingertips an amazing catalogue of demon knowledge, and at no point in history had they all just… vanished. I’d asked.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t go. Maybe you should stay here.”

  “Why, you scared?” I had to grin at the instant frown I got from him. He was so easy to mess with.

  “Someone should be here to take care of Miss Mira, and Annabelle.”

  “That’s what you’re for, isn’t it?” I stood up, crossing the few steps to roughly mess up his hair. “You take care of them for me, Esteban. Like the big bad champion I know you’re gonna be someday.” Someday would be never, if I got my way, but the grave duty seemed to appease him. “And since you’re awake, roll out. We’re gonna go do forms.”

  He grumbled and retreated under his pillow again, but while I gathered up the weapons, he clambered out of bed and met me out in the front yard. Something else we’d worked on over the summer, the idea that he could expect lessons at any time of the day or night, rain or shine, sleepy or not.

  Sometimes, I wondered what my neighbors must think of us. There we were at oh-dark-thirty, out in the front yard waving blades around like a couple of lunatics, the kid in just his pajama pants and bare feet despite the early-morning chill.

  Esteban’s weapon of choice was a machete, passed down through his family for… Well, I had no idea how long. Suffice to say that he had at least two brothers and a father who had used it before him. He had two younger brothers waiting to take it up when the inevitable happened.

  The metal of his blade was dark with age and use, only the edge gleaming brightly where he kept it honed to a razor-sharp finish. The grip had been wrapped in leather so long that the original layers had rotted away and just been covered over with more, sweat and grime melting it into a hard finish. It was a blade with personality, with life in it. Not unlike mine in its own way.

  She wasn’t anything spectacular. She’d been one of Marty’s earlier works, when he first started his whole weapon-crafting experiment. Just a plain blade of polished steel, with blemishes where we’d had to grind out hard-won nicks. The guard was an octagon of solid brass. The pommel was brass too, and heavy enough to crack a skull if need be. The hilt was wrapped in cord of my favorite blue. This sword and I, we’d been through a lot, and I trusted her with my life.

  Together, Esteban and I moved through various katas, both of us slender to the point of scrawny, but him a taller, darker shadow to myself. The kid had picked up the forms easily, I’ll give him that. His technique wasn’t quite as polished as mine, but I’d been doing it for years compared to his six months. I’d give him a couple more before I started hounding him about it.

  We’d had to adapt a few things for his shorter blade, but if his arms kept growing the way they were, he’d make up for the difference in reach in no time. I watched him from the corner of my eye as we blocked, parried, struck, all in slow motion. His dark brows were drawn in concentration, eyes fixed on his feet. Without breaking stride, I spun and swatted him across the ass with the flat of my sword. “Eyes up! Unless you’re fighting some foot fungus demon I don’t know about.”

  He growled, jerking his head up, but corrected his posture instantly.

  I slid back into the proper place in the kata without really thinking about it. “Tell me the way of the warrior.” This too was part of the kid’s education. If he was going to learn to fight, he’d learn to fight my way. He’d follow the bushido. And this was how I’d been trained back in the day, working my mind and my body at the same time. I often quizzed him while we sparred or ran katas.

  “The way of the warrior is the brave acceptance of death.” His movements faltered for just a moment as he wracked his brain for the correct information. “That’s in The Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi.”

  “Right. It’s also found in the Hagakure.” The next move put his back to me, and I eyed his stance critically. Not too bad. So far. “How many times should you be ro?nin, according to the Hagakure?”

  “Seven.” That answer came immediately. “Fall seven times, get up eight.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “It means… it means if you don’t learn to deal with the bad times, you won’t learn how to get back up from them. If you fall, you always get back up.”

  Very good. His brain was working pretty good, considering that I’d rousted him out of bed. Now, how were his reflexes? With a small grin, I slipped up behind him and thrust my scabbard between his feet.

  Instead of tripping, he picked up his right foot and spun on his left, landing in a crouch with his machete pinning the scabbard to the damp grass. He smirked at me. “Gotcha.”

  I smiled, nodding my approval. “This time.” We both stood, bowing from the waist to each other. “Go get a little more sleep-you’ve got school in a couple hours.”

  Esteban hesitated a moment, but finally nodded. “Have a good trip.”

  “Thanks.” He disappeared back inside, leaving me alone on the lawn. With nothing else to do but wait, I went through a few more katas on my own. It felt good, the balanced weight in my hands, the smooth glide across the grass. It centered me. I needed centering.

  Marty was supposed to pick me up around four thirty, but it was nearly five when the ancient Suburban pulled into my driveway. I gave my buddy a questioning look as I went to toss my gear in the back.

  “Two friggin’ tires were flat this morning, man.”

  “You drive through a construction zone or something?”

  “Nah, there was nothing in them. More like someone let the air out. I had to air them back up.” He half hung out the window to talk to me as I walked past. “Then dumbass over here, his alarm didn’t go off.” Will, sitting in the front passenger seat, winced as Marty punched him in the shoulder (I’m guessing not for the first time).

  “Well, maybe we’re getting all the bad luck out of the way at the beginning, hmm?” I swung the back doors open wide and was greeted by a giant muzzle full of slobbering wet tongue. “Gah!”

  Duke, Marty’s behemoth of an English mastiff, slurped up my cheek and wiggled in happiness so hard that the entire truck shook. “Marty! What’s the monster doing here?” It was almost impossible to defend myself with my hands full, so I got drenched again as I was tossing my backpack in with the rest of the gear. “Ugh, off! Sit, Duke!”

  Obediently, the brindle mastiff sat, and the springs on the truck jounced a little.

  Marty turned around to holler over the seats. “Mel was trying to walk him last night, and he accidentally knocked her down. I didn’t think it was safe to leave her alone with him, in her condition.”

  Now, that may sound like Duke is some slavering machine of destruction, but in reality he was the biggest teddy bear I’d ever seen. He let Annabelle ride him, for Pete’s sake. But I could totally see how the big lummox cou
ld barrel over someone in his affectionate enthusiasm. He’d be totally devastated if he realized he’d hurt someone. He was just that kinda dog.

  “Why’d he knock her down?” It took some doing, but I got a very enthusiastic Duke shoehorned back inside and managed to shut the doors.

  Marty fired up the old diesel engine and backed out of my drive. “She said he was after a squirrel.”

  Duke’s breath was hot on the back of my neck as I tried to get settled in the middle seat. “Your dog’s afraid of squirrels, man.” And birds, and mice, and thunder, and his own shadow…

  “Maybe he’s growing up on me.”

  “Dude, if he gets any bigger, I’m planting a flag on him and claiming him in the name of Spain.”

  We managed to pick up Cole without incident, and he brought with him a thermos of police-station sludge, otherwise known as his self-brewed coffee. We all politely declined and tried to ignore the distinctive aroma of scorched coffee beans that filled the truck. (I swear, I caught Duke pawing at his nose and whining.)

  Last on the list to fetch was Cam-short-for-Cameron, and while the guys decided to rearrange the packs in the back to make room for one more, I was elected to go up and fetch the ex-priest. Ex-almost-priest? Whatever.

  The apartment building was one of a dozen similar buildings within view, one of those identical little enclaves where I was certain people walked into the wrong apartment all the time by mistake. It was a place for college students, recent newlyweds (I should know, I’d been one once), and itinerate drug dealers. Cheap, easy to get in, easy to abandon.

  Of course, Cameron’s apartment was on the fourth floor, and there was no elevator. I hiked up the four flights of stairs, grumbling under my breath and watching the chipped concrete under my boots warily. If one of those steps gave way, the rusted-out railing wasn’t going to save me. When was the last time this place had even seen a maintenance man?

  There was no door marked 4D, but I took a chance and knocked on the blank door across from 4C. I was ready for anything when the door opened, but thankfully, it was just Cameron.

  His smile looked almost relieved. “I was starting to worry about you guys.”

  “Yeah, Marty had some car trouble.” Cam stepped back and I took that as an invitation to come on inside.

  I crossed the threshold and almost tripped over my own two feet in surprise. Tiny prickles rose up on my skin as I passed through the doorway, the hairs on my arms standing at attention. I waved my hand back and forth through the open space once or twice, feeling a distinct barrier glide up and down my arm. I recognized that sensation; I felt it every day when I went in and out of my own house. It was the feeling of magical wards, a protective spell set up to keep the bad things out and the good things safe.

  Trying to be casual, I bent down to tie my boot and rubbed a finger across the floor. It felt faintly gritty. Salt, maybe? Mira used salt sometimes. Or it could have been just plain old street dirt. Only one way to be sure, and in this neighborhood, there was no way I was gonna taste it. It could just as easily be meth or rat poison, too.

  If Cameron noticed my sudden distraction, he didn’t say, only gathering up his stuff with quiet efficiency. “How long a drive is it going to be?”

  “Um… normally, about ten hours. But Marty had to bring his dog, so I imagine we’ll be stopping more often.”

  There was no way to tell who set those wards. They could have been left by the previous owner, for all I knew. Once you knew what to look for, it’s actually amazing how many people manifest some basic magical ability without truly realizing it. And Mira had said that thresholds were the easiest things in the world to ward. Granted, without someone to keep them up, they’d fade away eventually, but if the previous owner hadn’t been gone very long… maybe…

  Still, maybe I needed to pay more attention to my new “friend.” I stood up and turned a critical eye on the man, and his apartment.

  Cameron himself looked obsessively neat. His dark hair was gelled into very fashionable (I’m sure) spikes. He had on jeans that were obviously brand-new, and a pair of hiking boots that probably just came straight out of the box. That was going to cost him some blisters on this hike. His shirt was still a button-up, but in plaid this time. Next to my I LIKE YOU, I’LL KILL YOU LAST T-shirt, he looked positively refined.

  Aside from him, there wasn’t much to see. The apartment was largely empty, even for a bachelor’s pad. The carpet was typical renter brown, worn and matted from years of foot traffic. The linoleum at the front door was some generic shade of hide-the-dirt.

  There was a lawn chair in what passed for the living room, and one of those do-it-yourself coffee tables. That small piece of furniture was covered in neat piles of books, but the only one I could see well was the enormous Bible on the top of the stack.

  There was no TV, and I couldn’t see into the tiny kitchen to see if there were any dishes in the sink. Through what I assumed was the bedroom door, I could see an inflatable air mattress, bare of any sheets. No posters. No pictures. No half-broken beer light on the wall. No smell. Every lived-in place has its own smell, the scent of the person who lives there, of their food and their cologne and the mustiness of their books. This place was sterile, untouched except for the faint aroma of whatever cleaner they’d scrubbed the place down with between tenants.

  This wasn’t a bachelor’s apartment. This was the apartment of someone who expected to bail on short notice.

  “Pretty pathetic, isn’t it?” Cam shouldered his backpack, and apparently noticed my critique of his home. “Right before I moved, there was a fire. Lost everything.”

  “That sucks, man. A car wreck, then a fire? What universal power did you piss off?” It didn’t… feel right. I had no reason to think the man was lying to me, and yet…

  “I know, right? But hey, it saved me on moving costs.” He grinned and shrugged. It was charming, disarming… and something cold slithered across the back of my neck. Not quite my danger sense blaring, but it was at least perking up and taking notice. Hm.

  “Always look on the bright side, I guess.” I led the way back out the door, watching as Cam stopped to lock it behind us.

  There was no pause in his movement, no indication that he felt anything strange at all. Granted, most humans wouldn’t know the wards were there. They’d light up like neon for a magic user but most people would go about their merry way, none the wiser.

  For me, caught somewhere between magic and mule, it was like having my nose pressed against the glass of a five-star restaurant. I could see it, smell it, but actually having any? Not so much. The feast was there, tantalizingly just out of reach.

  Ivan and Mira both insisted that my magic ability was just buried, but I had my doubts. Just because the rest of the champions had mojo didn’t mean all of us had to. Right? So far, I’d done just fine without it.

  It did occur to me on the way down the stairs, that regardless of who had set the protective spells, Cameron passed in and out of them unharmed. I guess that had to count in his favor.

  And he had no tattoos. I remembered that from the barbecue. Now, most of my buddies had ink. Mine, the first two lines of the Tao Te Ching tattooed down each biceps. Marty’s, full sleeves of stylized Celtic animals. Will’s, a hookah-smoking caterpillar not visible without him taking off more clothes than anybody was comfortable with. Those things I didn’t care about. Those were safe tattoos. Normal tattoos.

  But there were some I always, always, took a second look at. Tribal markings especially, the black vines and barbed wire that were so popular a few years ago. I look, because sometimes, just sometimes, those tattoos would wriggle under my vision, like heat waves off asphalt. They’d twist until my brain ached from trying to follow the impossible knots and whorls. Those were demon brands, marking someone who had sold their soul.

  Oh yes, I checked for tattoos now. People passing me on the sidewalk, customers that came into the store, random drivers next to me at stoplights. I looked for that tellta
le smudge of black on the inner left arm. Because you just never know.

  But Cameron had been wearing shorts and short sleeves at the house, and there had been no incriminating black scrawls on his skin. His arms were perfectly clean, like every other aspect of his life.

  You’re getting paranoid. Yeah, well, that didn’t mean they weren’t out to get me.

  5

  My breath fogged the air in front of me, misting my eyes until I blinked them clear. My hand was numb on the hilt of my sword. I had to assume it was still there, because I could no longer feel the wrapping cord against my palm. “Quit stalling. I know you’re there.”

  The red eyes gleamed in the darkness, always out of the corner of my eye, never where I could get a good bead on it. I knew what it was. I knew it would come from a direction I never expected. The dream never changed.

  Even knowing I was dreaming, I was trapped there for the duration. I knew that too. Trapped in the darkness, in the silence, senses straining for the slightest hint, for the tiniest warning that would never come. “Come on! Come get me!” My voice echoed against… something. Unseen walls, penning me in place. Confining me with… that.

  There was the faintest sound to my left, the sound of something soft, sliding across a smooth surface. Fur on stone. Knowing it was a mistake, I turned anyway, my dream self compelled to walk suicidally into the attack like every other night. My eyes straining against the blackness, I braced for a charge from the front.

  And it came from behind. It always came from behind. No matter where I looked, what I heard, it was always behind me. Silver claws, gleaming in a light that had no source, sank through the links of my mail armor. Fangs sank into my neck and shoulder, ravaging flesh for the sheer joy of causing pain. It lifted me above its massive head like so much luggage, and it bellowed its triumph. Ribs cracked and broke under its viselike grip. Things in my chest burst under the immense pressure. I choked on my own blood, drowning in it.

  The white-furred muzzle invaded my vision, the black nose quivering as it sniffed me all over. There was a guttural chuckle from deep within the barrel chest. With a negligent heave, it tossed me away, my body flailing helplessly through the air. I fell forever.. .