Something Wicked

by Brian Harmon

  “What is that thing?” shrieked Shondra, her voice shrill with fear. She was watching the headless body as it slashed pointlessly at the wall with its claws and then tumbled over and flopped on the tile floor as if throwing a temper tantrum.

  “Something that travels in packs,” said Eric as he helped Holly to her feet. “We need to get to the van.”

  The older nurse had been cowering against the wall, watching the headless super imp. Now she jumped to her feet and fled through the nearest doorway, probably going to fetch security.

  Vaguely, Eric wondered if the disturbance in the emergency room that she’d mentioned had anything to do with someone claiming to have seen a monster.

  “That one was different,” Holly observed, eying the thrashing monstrosity. “Some kind of goblin or something?”

  “An imp,” he informed her. “We killed one when we were downstairs. We saw it transform.”

  “I’ve never heard of them transforming,” said Alicia. “Grandpa never said anything about that.”

  “Grandpa also thought it was almost impossible to summon one,” Eric reminded her, but we’ve lost count of them now.”

  “This is crazy,” said Shondra.

  “We’ll explain everything,” Charlotte promised. “But we have to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

  Eric slipped his arm around Holly and let her lean on him. “Stick together,” he said. “We’re parked right outside.

  But they had only just begun to move toward the exit when they heard another shout.

  All of them looked back nervously.

  For a moment, there was nothing. Then two different sets of doors flew open and a swarm of imps poured out of each.

  “The van!” shouted Eric.

  Alicia bolted through the door ahead of them, running straight for the side door of the minivan.

  Eric had enough optimism to notice that these imps were all un-mutated, meaning that each one of them would be a handful, but at least reasonably easy to kill on its own. Unfortunately, there appeared to be about a hundred of the little sharp-toothed bastards. And each one of them apparently had the potential to morph into a six-foot-tall killing machine with razor-sharp claws, six-inch teeth and an unfairly high pain tolerance.

  He had to remind himself that he was in the company of ladies and should probably not speak the very bad word he was thinking aloud.

  Behind them, the automatic doors began to slide shut between them and the monsters. Maybe they’d be too short to trigger the sensor.

  And maybe they’d all just get sleepy and take a nap. (That optimism was fading fast, it seemed.)

  Alicia slid open the side door and shouted at them to hurry, as if they really needed the extra encouragement.

  Eric didn’t think they were going to make it. Even though he’d parked as near to the entrance as possible, it was still a fair distance between the vehicle and the building. If Holly had expended any more energy casting that last spell, he was sure they wouldn’t have made it. Though she was still shaky, the fear of the pursuing mob had given her enough of a second wind to allow her to carry her own weight.

  He glanced over his shoulder and saw the hospital doors slide promptly open for the little horde.

  In his pocket, his cell phone began ringing.

  I’m sorry, he thought. I’m not able to come to the phone right now. I’m about to be eaten by monsters. Please leave a message after the screams.

  Holly reached the van and climbed inside.

  Eric paused and ushered Charlotte, Shondra and Siena ahead of him.

  There wasn’t enough time. They were right there.

  “Get inside!” he shouted at Alicia. “Close the door! I’ll hold them back!”

  Somewhere deep inside, he wondered why the hell that was his first instinct. Was there something wrong with the part of his brain that was supposed to tell him to save his own ass? Was that why Delphinium’s spell chose him? Because he was the only one in a thousand mile radius stupid enough to say, “I’ll hold them back?”

  But he didn’t have time to consider it. Alicia didn’t jump into the van, as he’d instructed. Instead, she rushed to a nearby tree and laid her hand on the trunk. A loud crack split the air and something like a lightning bolt shot from that tree to the next and then ricocheted to a third and fourth, creating an electric spider-web-like thing that caught the front of the imp swarm and missed Eric by mere inches. He even felt the static crackling in the air around him, making the hair on his arms and legs stand up.

  Several dozen imps dropped to the ground and began smoking. The ones behind them tripped and fell over the carcasses, causing a chain reaction that forced the mob into a bottleneck, buying them a few more seconds.

  But the effort left Alicia helpless. She dropped to the ground, almost completely exhausted, her eyes fluttering.

  Keenly aware that the imp horde was almost upon them, Eric rushed to her side and scooped her up into his arms.

  “Oh!” she sighed in a very small voice, looking up at him in a daze. “Hi…”

  He would’ve liked to have said later that he’d been gentle when he put her in the van, like any self-respecting hero carrying the distressed damsel to safety, but if he were to tell the truth, he’d practically tossed the poor girl in on her skinny butt. Not that anyone would have blamed him. Even as he scrambled in after her and began sliding the door closed, several taloned hands reached in after him, slashing at his legs and arms. He crushed them in the door, effectively keeping them from climbing in, but now it wouldn’t close. Too many imp claws were wedged between it and the frame. They squealed in pain, but still refused to withdraw. The few that did snatch their mangled hands back were immediately replaced by others.

  Outside, more imps crowded the door, prying at it, trying to force it open.

  Charlotte and Holly both joined him, trying to help him hold it closed.

  Everyone was screaming.

  “What’s happening out there?” shouted Shondra.

  Eric managed to lift his head and look out at the swarming mob outside. They were surrounded. They clawed at every door and climbed up onto the hood and the roof. But this wasn’t what Shondra was talking about. Amid the crowd of creepy creatures, several had collapsed to the ground and begun writhing. Smoke poured off their bodies as their arms and legs stretched and swelled, growing longer and stronger. The other imps were moving away from them, giving them room, as if afraid.

  He caught Charlotte’s eye and saw his own dread mirrored there. “We have to get out of here!” she said.

  “I can’t let go!” he cried. “Someone needs to get behind the wheel!”

  But Alicia and Shondra were both still weak. (Shondra looked too terrified to move even if she wasn’t still drained from her ordeal in the hospital.) Seeing no other option, Siena took it upon herself to climb into the driver’s seat.

  “God, I hate these things!” Eric grunted.

  The engine roared to life and the van lurched forward, jumping up over the curb and bouncing over the other side. Imps squealed and shrieked as the tires rolled over them, crushing their fragile bodies against the asphalt.

  Eric, Holly and Charlotte held on with all their strength. Once they were out of the parking lot, well away from the rest of the swarm and picking up speed, they’d be able to deal with these stowaways, but if they let the door open now, they would be overrun in seconds.

  Then large, dagger-like claws appeared in the opening, wriggling past the smaller hands of the imps.

  “Eric!” shrieked Holly.

  “I see it!”

  “Hold on!” cried Charlotte.

  But even with all three of them pushing against it, the door was jerked open a few inches. Most of the smaller imps vanished as they tumbled to the ground, some of them perishing beneath the rear wheel as the van pushed forward through the swarm.

  Eric set his feet against the base of the seat and leaned into the door with all his strength. “I got this! Get the dagger! It’s
under the driver’s seat!”

  Holly let go of the door and dropped to the floor to look for it.

  A second set of claws appeared in the crack and the door slid open a little more. The smaller hands wriggled in farther, reaching for him, clutching at his shirt, tearing it.

  “Hurry!”

  Charlotte wedged herself against the front of the seat, straddling Eric’s legs, and added her strength to his, buying Holly more time.

  Another super imp leapt onto the hood of the van, knocking the smaller monsters out of its way, and threw itself into the windshield. Its vicious claws clattered against the glass.

  Siena screamed and jerked the wheel. The van swerved, mowing down imps and glancing off a parked Lexus, but the mutant beast dug its claws into the hood and held fast.

  Holly struggled to pull the knife out from under the seat. There was less room to reach in from behind than from the front and it didn’t quite want to fit. She had to wriggle it out very carefully. (Plus, she knew better than to risk cutting herself.)

  “I can’t hold it much longer!” Eric warned.

  “Me either!” added Charlotte.

  “I’m trying!” cried Holly.

  Something big and ugly slammed into the side window on the other side of the car and bounced off, wrenching a terrified scream from Shondra.

  Alicia managed to rise to her knees and peer out the window. “There’s so many!”

  Finally, Holly pulled the dagger free and rose to her knees. She slid the blade carefully into the top of the crack between the door and the frame and then began hacking downward with it, chopping at the stubborn imps’ hands and claws.

  The super imp tried to resist the dagger’s bite, but eventually it let go. When it did, the door slammed against the blade and Eric and Charlotte nearly fell.

  The van jumped another curb as it cut across the parking lot toward the drive and the door bounced open. Holly withdrew the blade and Eric slammed it shut again.

  But as Siena stomped on the brakes and veered toward the drive, the front passenger’s window exploded and another super imp began clawing its way into the vehicle.

  Siena screamed and swerved, this time throwing off the one that had been clinging to the hood.

  Eric took the dagger from Holly and threw himself between the seats, thrusting it at the monster. His aim was surprisingly true and the blade sank into the creature’s eye. It shrieked with pain and fell back, vanishing from the broken window.

  Siena cut the wheels hard, knocking Eric off balance, and accelerated onto the highway, the tires screaming in protest as they made the sharp turn.

  Eric rose again and looked back out the rear window. Hundreds of imps were swarming onto the highway in the darkness, pursuing them. Fortunately, they weren’t fast enough to keep up with a speeding Dodge minivan.

  “Is everyone okay?” he asked. “Alicia?”

  Alicia nodded. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “Thanks to you.” She was staring at him in that funny way that made him uncomfortable again.

  He turned and looked forward. The road was clear in front of them. No imps remained on the hood. They seemed to have again escaped with their lives.

  He looked down at Siena in the driver’s seat. “You don’t look old enough to drive,” he told her.

  She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “I’m not.”

  “I didn’t think so…”

  Chapter Thirty

  Siena pulled over ten minutes later, plenty far enough from the hospital to not worry about the swarm of monsters overrunning them, and gave up the driver’s seat to Eric. As soon as he was moving again, he withdrew his cell phone and dropped it into the cup holder where he could see it.

  BEING INSIDE YOUR HEAD IS TERRIFYING SOMETIMES

  “Tell me about it.”

  I MEAN IT. THE ALTRUSK HOUSE WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO YOU

  “Thanks.”

  IF I HAD A PULSE, I SWEAR YOU’D GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK

  “Okay. I get it. Do you have anything useful for me?”

  NOT REALLY. THOSE UBER IMPS ARE JUST AS INVISIBLE TO ME AS THE REGULAR ONES

  “But you could sense that thing in the basement even when I couldn’t.”

  THAT THING WAS DEFINITELY DIFFERENT. MAYBE IT’S LIKE CHARLOTTE SAID. MAYBE IT’S BECAUSE BOTH ME AND IT WERE PSYCHIC

  Eric considered this. “What about all the things we’ve encountered before. The golems. The projections. How well could you sense those things?”

  MOST OF THEM ARE LIKE THESE IMPS AND OGRES. I CAN’T REALLY SENSE THEM. I ONLY KNOW THEY’RE THERE BECAUSE YOU SEE THEM. I COULD SENSE THOSE AGENTS, THOUGH

  The agents of the nameless organization.

  AND I CAN SENSE THE MAGIC MAN, ALTHOUGH THEY DON’T FEEL QUITE THE SAME

  “I’m sure there’s some sort of connection.”

  PROBABLY

  Siena leaned over his shoulder. “Who are you talking to?”

  HI SIENA

  She gave the phone a puzzled look and lifted her hand in a distracted wave. “Hi…”

  “Sit down, Cee,” said her mother. “Buckle up. It’s not safe.”

  Siena sat down obediently, the puzzled expression still on her face.

  “What’s going on?” Shondra asked. “You said you’d tell me.”

  Charlotte was sitting in the back row with Holly and Alicia. She leaned forward and squeezed her shoulder. “We will. But… Well, it’s all probably going to sound a little crazy.”

  She stared back at her. “Crazy like that army of little monsters that just chased us out of the hospital?”

  She shrugged. “Okay… Maybe not quite as crazy as it would’ve sounded before that happened…”

  I HATE TO SAY IT, continued Isabelle, BUT I FEEL LIKE IT’S WEIRD THAT YOU KEEP GETTING OUT OF THESE SITUATIONS SO EASILY

  Eric raised an eyebrow. “You call that easy?”

  YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN

  He didn’t reply. He did know what she meant. Sure, it was no picnic running from all these monsters. He was bruised and bleeding. He was overwhelmed. But this guy was supposed to be a powerful wizard of some sort. He could conjure imps by the hundreds. He could conjure ogres by the pack. He could conjure a giant as tall as a tree. And he apparently spewed fire from his hands. From what he’d seen, this guy should be able to kill him any time he wanted. He’d had ample opportunity. He’d managed to get inside the Wordsley House. Why didn’t he torch the minivan? Why didn’t he just stroll into the room and burn them all alive? Why did he only send eleven imps into the house? Why not hundreds like the horde they just escaped? Why not ogres? Or super imps? Each encounter was more challenging than the last, but why? Why not just give them everything he had the first time and be done with it?

  It was like this guy was testing him. Almost like…

  IT’S LIKE HE WANTS YOU TO GET AWAY

  Eric frowned.

  Behind him, Charlotte was telling Shondra about Delphinium.

  The phone rang and displayed Paul’s number. Eric picked it up and answered.

  “Thank God!” exclaimed his brother. “I was worried when you didn’t answer before.”

  Eric had to think for a moment, but then he remembered. The phone rang as they were running from the monster-infested hospital. “It wasn’t a good time. Where are you?”

  “I don’t even know anymore. We got the tire changed. We even found the exit Isabelle gave us. Now we’re on the side of the road again. My truck’s overheating.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I wish I was. I don’t get it. It’s like I’m cursed or something.”

  Eric glanced up into the rearview at his passengers behind him. The thought had definitely crossed his mind. Even Isabelle had mentioned it once. “Magic man…” he breathed.

  “What?”

  Eric fixed his eyes forward again. “You may be right. I’m starting to think the magic man might be doing something to keep you out.”

  “What, like some kind of magic spell?”


  “Yeah. Something just like that.”

  “That’s…weird.”

  “I know.”

  “Like something out of The Blair Witch Project weird.”

  “Yep.”

  “But if that’s true, then it’s not my fault, right?”

  Eric smiled. “I guess it’s not.”

  “I was sabotaged.”

  “If that’s what’s really going on.”

  “So Karen can’t yell at me anymore, right?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  Paul sighed. “Yeah. Me either.”

  In the background, Eric heard Kevin shout, “You should just let me drive.”

  “Shut up!” Paul shouted back. Then, speaking to Eric again, he said, “How’s it going out there?”

  “I’m still alive.”

  “Well that’s good.”

  “I think so.”

  “Monsters still chasing you?”

  “Hordes of them.”

  “I’m trying to get there to help.”

  “I know. But I’m starting to think you’re not showing up this time.”

  “Yeah… Me too.”

  Eric glanced up at the rearview again. Five women sat in the seats behind him, depending on him, expecting him to save them. That was nine people in total, with one more left to find. With time running out, it looked more and more like he was going to be on his own this time.

  “But I’ll keep trying,” promised Paul.

  “I know you will.”

  Eric said goodbye and returned the phone to the cup holder.

  YOU’LL DO FINE, Isabelle promised him. I KNOW YOU’LL SAVE THEM

  He smiled wearily. “Thanks.”

  JUST LIKE YOU SAVED ME

  “You saved me,” he reminded her.

  BUT YOU SAVED ME BACK. AND I KNOW YOU’LL SAVE THEM, TOO

  He desperately hoped she was right.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Delphinium and Jude were both waiting on the porch when Eric pulled into the driveway.

  “Everything okay?” he asked as he stepped out and slammed the door shut behind him.