Waking from that dream was always a jolt, but this time I managed to stop myself from screaming. Instead, my eyes snapped open, and I kept my ragged gasp to a nicely controlled inhale. No one around me would be the wiser. My hand found the rigid line of scars that went down my left side from armpit to hip, and I rubbed the thick tissue, easing away aches that weren’t really there.
The black lanes of the highway rushed by the window, the glass just inches from the tip of my nose. The hum of the tires was a blessedly mundane background noise, normal and totally based in the real world. I clung to that for a few moments, forcing my mind to embrace reality and reject the craziness in my own head. Even knowing it was only a dream, I couldn’t suppress a shudder, and part of me still felt the warm, thick trickle of my own blood down my neck.
No… wait… Something warm and thick was trickling down my neck. “Ew, augh! Get off, you nasty beast!” With a canine grumble, Duke turned his drooling self around and squeezed between the piles of luggage in the back to lay down.
“Duke! Sit!” Marty snapped, a bit belatedly, from the driver’s seat. The dog just sighed as if to say, “I am sitting.”
“Have a nice nap, did we?” Beside me, Cole smirked in my direction.
I rubbed my face, trying to get the grit out of my eyes. “How long was I out?”
“Half an hour, maybe? Not long.”
Damn. This was going to be a long friggin’ trip.
A samurai, a blacksmith, a cop, a paramedic, and a priest all cram into a beat-up old Suburban and head for the Colorado Rockies. It sounded like a bad joke, but it was my life. And I was stuck in it for a twelve-hour road trip.
Other than my brief exchange with Cole, silence reigned in the cramped vehicle, not our usual modus operandi at all. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time Will went this long without babbling about anything and everything that popped into his head. I blamed Cameron, sitting on the end of the seat farthest from me. He kept his nose buried in a book-a book for Pete’s sake! Who takes a book on a paintball/camping trip??-oblivious to the guilt I’d assigned him.
Cole caught the look and elbowed me in the side with a scowl. I shrugged. This was not my fault, dammit. It was Mira’s, or Dr. Bridget’s or… not my idea.
It didn’t help that the crisp morning had given way to a hot and muggy day-not unusual for the first week of September on the great wide Kansas plains, but still unpleasant. Once we got to the mountains, I knew it would cool down, but being wedged into the Suburban with no air conditioning was miserable at the moment. We all smelled like sweaty dog. I tilted my head to glance at Cole’s watch. Only eight hours left to go. Great. I got up before the butt crack of dawn for this?
My head ached already, and my stomach did a slow roll, expressing its displeasure. Long car trips had never agreed with me, at least when I wasn’t driving. The heat, the constant motion, terrifying nightmares… Yeah, it was no wonder I wasn’t feeling top-notch. And of course, my general discomfort with Cameron’s presence didn’t help either.
Y’know, I could have just asked the guy. “Hey, you happen to cast any magic spells lately?” Definitely would have been an icebreaker. But you don’t just go saying that kind of stuff to people. And while trying to figure out a way to tactfully drop that question into conversation, I’d fallen asleep.
Cole elbowed me again. “They’ll be fine. Would you relax? This is supposed to be a fun trip.”
I was puzzled for a moment, before realizing that he assumed my antisocial demeanor was from worrying about Mira and Annabelle. True, it had been my chief argument for skipping this trip altogether. And I was worried about them a little.
Esteban was there, to be sure, but despite what training he’d had with me over the summer, he was just a kid. Sometime in the last few months, he’d remembered he was only seventeen. He’d discovered girls, and music, and cars (after I taught him to drive). He was athletic enough, and devoted to our lessons, but he really lacked discipline. Despite my promise to teach him as best I could, any lack of focus on his part was actually fine with me. If I could keep him away from the demon-slaying profession, so much the better.
Even though I’d given him the responsibility of watching over my family, it made me nervous that he was their only means of physical protection. What could he really do, hormone something to death?
I grunted in response to Cole and stared out the window, watching the lines of I-70 go whipping past. My brother was most likely right. The summer had been quiet. No one tried to run me off the road; no one tried to hack my computer. No body-hopping demons had showed up in my backyard to taunt and heckle me (well, until a couple of days ago). I hadn’t had any phone calls from potential clients since the disaster back in March. No one had. To anyone on the outside, these were all good things!
Part of me felt like an idiot for being such an old worrywart. It wasn’t like I was the only guy who left family at home. Cole’s ailing son was valiantly starting kindergarten, like Anna, and Marty’s wife Melanie was six months along with their first. Neither of them were obsessing about it. Just me and the knot in my stomach. Of course, no one had tried to kill either of them in the last year or so. I’d had more close calls than I liked to think about.
You know how that one guy in the Western who always says the place is too quiet? Yeah, that’s how I felt. Something was brewing, it just hadn’t come to the surface yet. And the farther we got away from home, the more it tickled at the back of my mind, an insidious little whisper that said, “We always come back, Jesse.”
“Rest stop!” Will announced from the front, and even I could feel a twinge of relief. I just needed to get out of the truck and away from my thoughts.
We all piled out, everyone stretching and groaning including the dog. The five of us made an interesting troupe. You had me in all my wiry-scrawny glory with my shoulder-length blond ponytail and the beginnings of scruffy red beard stubble.
Shorter than me by a good foot, Marty’s head was shaved totally bald, and he’d cut the sleeves off his T-shirt to show off his ink. At least he wore cargo pants today instead of his usual kilt.
Will’s curly hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and he took a moment to wipe the smudges off his thick glasses. My height, probably, though a good seventy-five pounds heavier if not more. Wicked smart, though he did a bumbling idiot impression really well.
Cole… well, Cole looked like a cop, and there was no way out of it. Clean cut, clean shaven, perfect posture, good boy. That’s my little brother.
And of course, Cam-short-for-Cameron, who was trying to make lumberjack into the new fall chic.
Marty tossed me the end of Duke’s leash and vanished in the direction of the restrooms. How exactly did I get elected official dog walker? By the time I pondered that for a moment, the guys had vanished, leaving me and Duke alone.
The big goofball gave me his best pleading look and leaned against the leash just enough to get his message across. I gotta go, boss!
That was all well and good, but I suddenly realized this was a chance to do a little snooping. Cam’s backpack was on top of the pile. Maybe I could just peek inside, real quick like. “Hang on, boy, Uncle Jesse’s being a bad person.”
The backpack itself was brand-new, still stiff with creases in it from where it had been boxed at the store. Glancing around once, on the lookout for the guys coming back, I unzipped it and went poking.
Jeans, jeans, socks, more socks, two shirts, boxers-ew! I grimaced and kept pawing my way past someone else’s underwear down into the depths of the bag. And I came up with nothing. No esoteric trinkets, no mystery bottles or vials. Nothing sent any tingles along my skin, evidence of magic derring-do.
Duke, not nearly as fascinated with my detective work as I was, tugged harder on the leash, whining softly.
“Hang on, almost done.” Each garment was tidily folded; it was easy enough to get everything back in the pack like I’d never touched it. Easier that than explaining to Cam why I was rummaging
around in his drawers.
The spell hadn’t been his. Couldn’t have been. I’d never seen a magic user yet, my wife included, who didn’t carry something on their person, some shard of their own power. Sometimes it was a talisman, sometimes it was just tools of the trade. Hell, even with no magic to call my own, I carried charms and spells with me almost all the time, courtesy of Mira.
Mira’s was her pentacle necklace. Miguel’s had been a gold hoop earring in his left ear. Esteban’s was a silver ring on his pinkie finger. Ivan’s was the gold cross he wore religiously, pardon the pun.
A cross… Did Mr. Not-a-Priest wear a cross? I tried to picture Cam in my head, but couldn’t pull up that particular detail. It would be fitting, and magic passed for faith often enough… Okay, so it was looking like he wasn’t responsible, but I couldn’t rule him out completely. I’d have to get a better look.
Duke butted his head against my hip, rocking me. “All right, all right. Let’s do this.” I tucked Cam’s pack back in with the rest-mine had a suspicious damp spot, and I gave the dog the evil eye-and we went in search of facilities.
I found a nice big patch of grass, suitable for the occasion, and a very relieved Duke did his business quickly. I cleaned it up like a good citizen, but there was nothing in the world that would compel me to get back into that truck before I absolutely had to. Every part of me was stiff.
Glancing around, I realized I had a fairly decent open area and I decided to stretch out. Sword katas were all well and good-those I do for love. But to get myself limbered up, there were a few others I could run through real quick, work the kinks out of my muscles and joints.
Duke cocked his head in puzzlement as I looped his lead around my wrist, and set about going through a few slow stretches. I could feel my muscles loosening immediately, and for a few moments, I closed my eyes and just flowed through the motions. It was so easy to lose myself in the movements.
“Am I interrupting?” Cam-short-for-Cameron’s voice made me open my eyes, and I very nearly came around swinging. Thankfully, the ex-priest didn’t notice, more intent on feeding half his ham sandwich to the dog. “I thought he might be hungry.”
Duke scarfed it down in one bite, then looked hopefully at his new best friend. Cam chuckled and rubbed the dog’s head. In my mind, I glared at the mutt for being a traitor. “Um, I heard Marty and Will talk about leaving you here for being grumpy. They are joking, right?”
This was my chance, I realized, to get a better look at our new buddy. I finished the kata with one last motion, a slow spin that ended in a low crouch, then stood up with a hop. Was Cameron wearing a necklace? Couldn’t tell. Stupid collared shirt. “Nope. We left Cole at a rest stop for two hours one time before we came back to get him.” I tugged Duke’s lead and got him moving. “But Marty won’t leave the mutt, so I’m not too worried.”
Cam blinked and followed me back to the Suburban. “I don’t think I got a chance to thank you for inviting me along. I still don’t have a lot of friends in the area.”
I gave a noncommittal shrug. He knew he was here only because my wife insisted. No point in rubbing his nose in it. “Hope you have a good time. It’s a long hike up there, but the cabin is nice and we always have a ton of fun running around like loonies in the woods.” “And by the way, do you have any supernatural powers at your disposal? Just one of those questions I ask everyone.” Somehow, I just couldn’t make that conversation sound sane, even in my own head.
“Still, I know this is kinda your time with your buddies. I do appreciate it.” Thankfully, he went back to eating his sandwich, and that was the end of the touchy-feely stuff. It was also the end of my chance to question him alone, and I mentally kicked myself as I got Duke loaded back into the truck.
It’s impossible to leave someone at the rest stop when they beat you back to the vehicle. Marty and Will were visibly disappointed to find Duke and me firmly ensconced in our seats when they got back, and Cole smirked at me as he slid in beside me. “Cam narced, didn’t he?”
“Yup.”
In the front seat, Will and Marty exchanged devilish looks. I had a feeling Cam-short-for-Cameron was getting left at the next rest stop. I think he felt it too,’cause he didn’t make any effort to leave the car for the rest of the trip. Dude wasn’t stupid, I’ll give him that.
Needless to say, I wasn’t going to get out of the car either, and that effectively trapped Cole between us. He wasn’t going to be the happiest of campers by the time we got to Colorado.
I have to say that Kansas is very flat. And very uniform. Mile five looked just like mile five hundred and five, and the only thing that changed was the fact that we lost the music radio stations about halfway across the state. That left us with only the news chatter one, and after more tales of woe-everything from floods to wildfires to revolutions-Marty reached over and snapped it off. All that remained was the sound of Duke snoring, and the engine growling.
Finally, the silence became unbearable, and Will broke. “So, how do you almost become a priest?”
Cam stuck his finger in his book so he could answer. “Well, I was about two weeks away from taking my vows, and I realized it just wasn’t for me. I still believe in God, but… I wasn’t meant for the priesthood. I told them so, and I walked away.”
“So what do you do now?”
Cam actually hesitated a moment before answering. “I handle acquisitions for the library system.”
Will turned all the way around in his seat, almost getting choked by the seat belt to do so. “Wait, wait… You’re a librarian?”
“Well… sort of.”
We tried. I’ll swear on anything you like, we really did try. But Marty broke out in snickers first, which set Will off, and then… Yeesh. Just so you won’t think we’re all heartless bastards, Cam laughed right along with us.
“Yeah, it sounds a bit… lame. But I do like my job.” He shrugged and grinned a little.
“There’s things to be said about doing a job you love, no matter what anyone thinks.” Everyone agreed with me there, and the awkwardness seemed to ease in the truck. Will grilled Cam about things you should never ask a virtual stranger, and I went back to staring out the window at the mountains on the far distant horizon.
They looked murky, a deep purple pall settling over them despite the scorching sunshine. They were brooding, like I had been all summer.
I wondered what mountains had to brood about, and rubbed the lingering ache in my right leg. The hike up the mountain was going to be the first real test of my newly healed self. I wondered which of us was going to win.
“Dude, will you snap out of it?” I flinched, but it didn’t keep me from getting hit in the face with a piece of ice from Will’s cup. “Geez, you’d think somebody died.”
Goose bumps sprang up along my arms and my stomach gave a painful wrench. Something cold and slimy slithered down my spine, and it had nothing to do with Duke and his saliva problem. “Don’t say stuff like that, man. Not cool.”
Will seemed to realize he’d overstepped, and the smile in his eyes faded behind his round glasses. “Sorry, dude. My bad.” Great, now I felt like I’d kicked a puppy.
The others, at least the ones who knew me, took the conversation in a new direction and left me alone. The goose bumps refused to fade, and despite the sweltering heat, I found myself rubbing the chill out of my arms several times. Something had shifted, and not in my favor.
I stared at my own blue eyes in the window’s reflection, and I saw lines around them that were only recent additions to the topography of my face. A few white hairs in my reddish beard stubble caught the sunlight and gleamed like beacons. There was a tiny scar on my cheek, one that would fade with time but for now was pink and shiny. My blond hair, pulled back in a ponytail like always, seemed to be receding just slightly. That could have been my own vicious imagination, though.
It was my eyes that kept my attention. They were haunted eyes, hunted eyes. They said that something, somewhere, was out
to get me. I knew that just as surely as I knew the sun would set tonight. The only two questions that needed answering were when, and how many of the people I loved were going to get in the way?
Dammit, Jess, you’re doing it again. In my own constant state of worry and paranoia, I’d blown the guys off almost all summer. I knew this. I had been a crappy friend for months. (We’re not even going to talk about how frustrated Mira was with me.) I had been hoping that this camping trip would make up for some of it, but my innate sense of impending doom said otherwise. I should have stayed home. I just knew it.
I didn’t realize my hand was clenched into a fist until Cole touched me and I jumped. He gave me a look, but didn’t say anything. He understood, at least better than anyone else in the car. He was a cop; they dealt with life and death on a regular basis. And he knew demons. If anyone in the world was going to know how I felt, it was my baby brother. After a moment, I nodded slightly. I would try to relax. I’d promised.
I caught Cam-short-for-Cameron watching the silent exchange from the other side of the car. The rest of the way to Colorado, I felt him glance at me from time to time, trying to figure me out.
Good luck, buddy. Better people have tried and failed.
6
The last outpost of civilization before we headed up into the mountains was quite a ways west of Fort Collins, Colorado, and consisted of a small grocery store proudly named Ericson’s. Marty knew the owner, and that’s where we’d be parking the Suburban before heading out on foot.
As everyone ducked inside the store for last-minute supplies, I snuck around the corner to call home one last time before I lost my cell signal farther up the mountain.
Mira answered on the second ring. “Hello!” There was water running in the background. Doing dishes, maybe? Laundry? I couldn’t help but try to picture what she was wearing today, how she had her hair done. Okay, I’d been gone twelve hours, and I missed her already.
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