Gargoyle Huntress

by Jen Pretty

  “Are you still mad about prom?” he asked.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t care about high school,” I said. “I don’t even remember what happened at prom.”

  Award for the actress of the year goes to me.

  “Okay, Har. If you say so.”

  Maybe I wasn’t convincing enough, but just then, Len slid Derrek’s two slices onto the counter.

  Derrek picked it up and gave me a half smile then turned, walking out to the ringing of the bell over the door.

  “You ever gonna forgive that boy?” Len asked.

  Yes, Len knew all about it. He was the one who found me writhing in agony on the front step and screaming like I was burning in hell. Which technically I was. Being possessed isn’t a walk in the park.

  “Nope, probably not,” I said, returning to the oven to start up another pepperoni pizza. The lunch rush was almost over. If all we had left at the end of shift was that damn vegan pizza, I would have to take it home tonight and be damned if Rhonda’s leftovers would be my dinner.

  Len went out onto the front patio to chill in his rocking chair until the dinner rush. I went to work cleaning the kitchen. Lunch rush always made a mess, with toppings and shredded cheese flying around.

  I heard the bell over the door and assumed it was Len.

  “Hey, you’ll need to chop more peppers for dinner,” I said without looking.

  “Actually, I came to talk to you. I’m no good in a kitchen.” The stranger’s voice made me spin around before he even finished speaking.

  The man was tall and muscular. He wore a white t-shirt that contrasted with his olive skin tone and dark hair. His jeans were snug and left little to the imagination. Delicious.

  “Hi there,” I said, my voice squeaking.

  He spoke again, but I was too busy checking him out and didn’t catch what he said. There was a beat of silence before I realized he was waiting for me to reply.

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  I glanced past the man and saw Len still sitting in his rocking chair that was in the shade outside.

  “I said, have you been missing any gargoyles?”

  My eyes shot back to the man. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  One corner of his mouth ticked up. “I know you’re a hunter.”

  I took a second look at the man. He could be a sculptor. He had the same broad shoulders and bulging biceps Lincoln had from carving rocks all day.

  The bell above the door rang, and Len walked back in.

  “I’ll catch up with you later,” the stranger said before he turned and strode out the door, passing Len on his way.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “Who was that?” Len asked, squinting his eyes and looking suspicious. “Never seen him in town before.”

  “Yeah, he must be lost,” I said with a fake laugh.

  Len let it go.

  The rest of the day flew by. I made pizzas and people bought them, but thoughts of the stranger distracted me. By the time seven o’clock rolled around, I was dead on my feet.

  “Go home, Harlow. And don’t forget that pizza you made for yourself at lunch. I put it in the fridge for you.” He laughed and went back to scraping the oven with a wire brush on a long pole. Sweat beaded his brow, but his old man muscles flexed like they had something to prove.

  “See ya tomorrow,” I said. My pizza was right where Len said it was. My stomach grumbled and demanded I eat it on the way home. Who was I to tell my stomach it had to wait? I pulled out a slice and slapped it on top of the box then carried the box, waitress-style, past Len and out the front door.

  Turning for home, box in one hand, slice in the other, I brought the cold, greasy food to my lips just as I heard my name called from behind me.

  I swung around to find Lincoln standing in the street beside Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Mysterious. I almost tripped over my feet but righted myself and set the slice down on the top of the pizza box.

  “Hi, Linc. Who’s this?” My eyes stayed on the newcomer.

  “This is Julian. He’s from New York.” We were half the country away from New York.

  “The city or the state?” I asked. Like it mattered.

  I had never left Humber Falls. “The city,” Julian replied.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, a suspicious tone in my voice.

  The corner of Julian’s lip ticked up. “We are having problems, but I’d like to talk to you about it in private.”

  “I’m sure I can’t help you.” I dragged my eyes away, plucking my slice of pizza off the top of the pizza box and taking an extra-large bite. Oh damn, I loved pizza. I hummed my joy, and the tall stranger's eyes danced with humour.

  “Let’s head home,” Lincoln said, grabbing my pizza box and pulling out a slice. He offered it to the stranger, but he refused. Rude. It was my pizza. Also, who turned down pizza?

  Lincoln and the man discussed the weather, and I trailed along behind, eating my cold dinner. I glanced up as we passed the library and did a double take. One of my demons was missing. It was there this morning, I was sure.

  As I continued to walk, I stared at where the missing gargoyle should have been until I bumped into a solid chest and Julian's arms caught me before I fell on my ass.

  “That’s what I’m here to talk to you about,” Julian said.

  “It was there this morning,” I said, glancing up as Julian let me go. “I didn’t miss it.” Gargoyles could only fly off after dark. There was no way he had already left his perch.

  “I believe you. Like I believe the hunters in my city who have lost several already.”

  “I didn’t lose him. Someone has taken him.” The gargoyle in question was a dancing dragon shaped one with green moss growing on his back. I knew the gargoyles just as well as I knew the people of our town. He was a good one—always in his place. Not a troublemaker.

  “That's what we’re afraid of.”

  “Who is ‘we’?”

  A group of kids ran past followed more slowly by some chatting adults.

  Julian held out his arm, ushering me down the street. I hustled, needing answers and my amulets. I was not about to be possessed by some demon floating around somewhere.

  I left the guys in my dust as I hurried. When I got home, I slammed through the kitchen and right to my room, grabbed my amulets and swung them over my head. I took in a deep breath and relaxed the muscles that had tightened with fear. Possession was not something I wanted to try a second time.

  I walked back out into the kitchen as Linc and Julian walked in. Linc set the pizza box on the table, and I grabbed another slice. Linc took three beers out of the fridge and passed them out. Beer and pizza—perfect. Missing hell demons—not great.

  “All right, let’s hear this,” I said.

  Julian sat down at our small table, making it look even smaller compared to his broad frame. He wasn’t much bigger than Lincoln, but his presence seemed to proceed him. He had this mysterious air that made my basal ganglia sit up and listen, and the rest of my brain want to run away. Mysterious wasn’t a good thing. A mystery was synonymous with lies. Liars sucked.

  “We have lost about a dozen gargoyles so far and more disappear every night. I stopped at Franktown, which is between here and home, and they have no gargoyles left.”

  “That’s not good,” I said, before chugging more beer. “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, so far, no hunters want to assist me in a search.” He blinked at me, and I sat in silence for a minute. My eyes turned to Lincoln.

  “I have a job,” I said. That was weak. Lincoln raised an eyebrow. “I do!”

  “You and I both know Len could have another kid in there shoveling pizza tomorrow.”

  That was true. Kids were always handing in their resumes. Their resumes sucked, but Len could train a kid in an hour to do my job. It was a sad truth about the skills required.

  “So what? You want to wander around looking for lost gargoyles?” I asked.

&nbs
p; “No, we would have help,” he said.

  “From who?” I asked.

  “The half-demons,” Lincoln answered.

  I stood up and crossed the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and fished a bottle of vodka out. Beer then liquor, never sicker, but this was an occasion for hard alcohol. Lincoln had explained about half-demons shortly after he reversed my possession and ushered me into the world of the paranormal. Half-demons lived in the world, but they didn’t possess humans, just stole some of their aura or some weird crap. I had never met one, but I had a vision of an ugly gargoyle face on a human body in my mind. I shivered and took a deep pull of the vodka right from the bottle.

  “You could use a glass,” Lincoln muttered.

  “I could do a lot of things, Linc,” I replied before taking another sip. “Tell me again why this is my job? There must be hunters in New York. Hell, it seems like Mr. muscles here could do it all by himself.” I waved toward Julian. His lip curled up again. I wondered if he knew how to smile or if that was as far as he got.

  “Mostly because you are the closest hunter not in his sixties.” Ah, playing the youth card.

  “You told him I’m terrible at this, right?” I asked.

  Linc, shook his head. “You’re the best hunter around. Most people misplace gargoyles every night. Ordinary folks aren’t very observant anymore and don’t notice them missing.”

  “Are you kidding me? You let me think losing one was paramount to misplacing a pet piranha in a public swimming pool.”

  Lincoln smiled, and I had the sudden urge to get my net and beat him with it. I had gone to heroic lengths to make sure those stone deviants were in their damn places every day. I would not forget this.

  “It’s all settled then. We can leave in the morning,” Julian said, obviously not feeling the mood of the room.

  “Nothing is all settled. I have zero interest in meeting these half-demon bastards and who is taking care of my gargoyles while I’m off gallivanting?”

  Julian did that stupid smile thing again. I told myself it was stupid, but it was hot.

  “I’ll take care of the gargoyles,” Linc said, reaching across the table and stealing the bottle of alcohol.

  “Why do we have to go anywhere? If someone is taking my gargoyles, they’re here in town. I can find them and stop them.”

  “They have been spotted flying east.” Julian said.

  That stopped me. Gargoyles never left town. They just chose random places to hide but I had never found one past the golf course on the edge of town. It was as if the town boundaries kept them contained, though Linc had told me it wasn’t some magic force field. I assumed they were just too lazy.

  “So, you want to just drive east?” I asked. “East is a pretty vague direction.” I tried to get my vodka back from Linc, but he held it away like a schoolyard bully.

  “Is she drunk?” Julian asked Lincoln.

  “She’s a lightweight,” Linc replied.

  “She is right here,” I said, holding out my arms.

  Julian shook his head. “Half-demons can help, as I said.”

  “Yeah, why aren’t half-demons keeping the gargoyles in line? Wouldn’t they be better at it than humans?” I flipped open the pizza box and grabbed the last piece. Who had eaten all my damn pizza? I eyed Lincoln, the most likely suspect.

  “Demons can possess half-demons, just like humans, but they can’t wear amulets,” Julian said, eying mine. I noticed he didn’t wear amulets. Linc always had his on.

  “God, this is the most complicated shit in the history of shit.” I stood up and opened the cupboard, reaching around until I found a nearly empty bottle of rum. Good enough.

  Lincoln sighed and rolled his eyes. Tough. He was the one who brought me into this weird world. He could have exorcized me and left me be, but no. He told me a bunch of stuff about demons and pushed me into a drinking problem.

  I waved at the guys and wandered down the hall to my room. Four a.m. came early, and I was too tired for any more of their crap.

  I kicked the door shut behind me and stripped off my pizza dough smelling clothes. I yanked on an oversized t-shirt and slid into bed with my bottle of rum. As I unscrewed the top, my door opened, and the light from the hall fell in.

  “Just so you know, Julian is a half-demon,” Lincoln said, and he closed the door.

  Well, that’s just great.

  I chugged the last of the rum and tried to remember what I’d said about half-demons.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Startled out of a nice dream by my alarm, I threw it across the room and rolled over, tucking the blanket back up to my chin. The silence of the apartment was creepy. It was never silent in the morning. I nestled down into the pillows and pulled the blanket up to my eyes. Okay, where was the noise? It was almost more unsettling than waking up to the angry sound of the grinder. Finally, I flung the blankets off and staggered out in my big t-shirt to figure out what the hell was going on.

  I tripped on something as I stumbled into the kitchen and splatted on the old linoleum floor. “Crap.” I groaned and looked behind me. It was a duffel bag. “Who left their stuff lying around?” I asked, finally scanning the kitchen to find both Lincoln and Julian stifling laughter.

  “What’s so funny? I could have broken my neck.”

  Lincoln burst out laughing as I scrambled up and righted my shirt, glad I was wearing underwear.

  “You’re a dick, Linc. Why aren’t you working?” I kicked the duffel bag and then grabbed a mug out of the top cupboard and poured the coffee. Linc was lucky he left me some, or there would have been hell to pay.

  Lincoln finally controlled his laughter and replied, “I was just entertaining your new partner while you were sleeping.”

  “He’s not my partner. I have to go check on my demon children.” I spun to leave, mug in hand.

  “Already done, Har, get your stuff together and go find the lost gargoyles,” Linc called as I passed the stupid duffel bag on my way back to my room.

  “What about my job?” I called, walking into my room to find clothes.

  “I already called Len. He has a kid starting today.”

  “Damn it,” I muttered. My pants were all equally dirty. I rooted through the closet, but all that was clean was a pair of yoga pants tucked in my dresser. They were from the time I decided yoga would help me find my inner demon-hunting Goddess. Yoga was not my forte.

  I pulled on the stretchy pants and gathered up my dirty clothes, stopping in the hall to toss them in the washing machine. I had special soap for leather pants. It kept them supple. I remembered my coffee and ran back to my room to grab it before rejoining the guys.

  “I can’t go till I have clean clothes.” I plopped down on the chair across from Julian. That's when I remembered he was a half-demon spawn of Satan and I froze.

  “This is why I didn’t want to tell her,” Julian waved his hand in my direction. “That’s the look of a human who knows demons.”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to let her find out when you were driving down the highway. She’s liable to jump out of a moving vehicle,” Linc said.

  I pushed my chair back. Its wooden legs screeched on the old floor.

  “Harlow.” Linc’s harsh tone pulled my eyes away from the demon kin. “They don’t possess people. I explained this to you.”

  “Uh huh,” I replied, turning my head back to the monster in my kitchen.

  Julian waggled his eyebrows. Who the hell does that?

  I jumped up and ran back to my room where my amulets were hung on the back of my door. Flinging them over my head, I snatched my net out from my laundry pile. Wishing I had a little better weapon, I scanned my room. The only other thing I had that could hurt someone was the bowling trophy I won in seventh grade after a miraculous strike I never repeated. Giving up on the weapon idea, I dropped my net and tucked my amulets under my shirt. They would protect me.

  I strolled back into the kitchen like nothing happened. Linc and Julian were discussing pos
sible locations the gargoyles could have stopped. I poured a bowl of cereal, keeping one eye on the half-demon. I don’t care what anyone said; get possessed by a demon once, shame on you, possessed by a demon twice shame on me. Bowl of fruity O’s in hand, I leaned my hip against the counter and listened to the conversation.

  “If no one has freed the demons yet, you can just pack up the gargoyles,” Linc said.

  “I’m hoping they haven’t. If they have, we have a big problem. How many sculptors can you get on short notice?”

  Lincoln scratched his chin. “I could probably bring in six or seven.”

  “Forty-three gargoyles are missing.”

  I choked on my fruity O’s. I coughed and spit over the sink trying to dislodge the sugary breakfast cereal. Oh God. I was dying. Linc would put this on my tombstone. Killed by children’s breakfast cereal.

  I came close to passing out but finally pulled in a full breath, my eyes tearing and nose running. I fumbled around until I found the dish towel and wiped my face. Still breathing harshly, I turned back to the guys who were staring in morbid fascination.

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” I croaked sarcastically through my burning windpipe. “Did you say forty-three?” My voice went squeaky like a pubescent boy at the end.

  “Yes, most from New York. We’ve lost at least three every day.”

  I cleared my throat a few more times. “Did we lose more here?” My eyes slid to Lincoln who was frowning. “Is Shit Head one of them?” I had a history with that little ankle bitter. Link returned the demon who possessed me to a gargoyle. He then mounted the stone back on the rear corner of the library where he had been before I kicked him off and changed my life forever.

  Linc bit his lip and nodded.

  Oh, hell no. That demon was not allowed to fly off and be free, or whatever was happening. No one else would suffer the way I had. I finished my cereal in silence. Julian and Linc chatted about other things and eventually the washing machine finished spinning.

  I threw my clean clothes in the dryer and turned it on. This was war. Oops. Forgot a dryer sheet. I popped it back open and tossed one in. They really cut down on cling. Plus, they smelled like fresh rain. Whatever that was.