Dead of Night (Hunters of the Dark #4)

by Dave Ferraro

Chapter Seventeen

  “What are we doing here?” Shanna asked, looking down at her watch. 1:45 AM. Sure, she was used to hunting monsters well into the night, but they were hardly hunting. They were crouching down in a wheat field in the middle of nowhere, ten miles outside the city limits. And while she felt silly, it was still kind of spooky. Crickets chirped loudly; frogs sang a chorus that was nearly deafening. Who knew what else was out there?

  “Waiting,” Natalia said simply.

  Amelia raised her eyebrows at Shanna, an act that Shanna could barely see in the dark. Natalia had insisted that they remain without light. “Nothing’s happening.”

  “It will,” Eric whispered, looking around, frightened. “That kid, Geoff, had this place in mind, and it will be soon. The ceremony’s in the forest at two.”

  “Then why aren’t we in the forest?”

  “You’ll see,” Natalia said. “Now please, refrain from speaking.”

  Amelia let out a rebellious sigh, then obeyed, sending Shanna an exasperated look.

  Shanna stared out into the darkness around them, watching for…something. She wasn’t sure what, but she figured that when she saw it, she would know.

  A voice could suddenly be heard across the field, followed by the sound of someone crashing through the wheat.

  Natalia crouched forward, eyes alert as she stared toward the noise. Shanna imagined that she looked rather like a lioness waiting to pounce on a gazelle, calmly remaining still until her victim drew closer.

  Amelia exchanged looks with Shanna as the voice came to them again, much nearer this time, along with a flashlight that washed over the wheat.

  “Just trust me, okay?” A boy’s voice.

  “This is some weird shit you’re getting me into.” Another boy. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Some farmer’s gonna come out with a shotgun any minute now and shoot our asses.”

  “Stop being a pussy.”

  Natalia suddenly leapt from the shadows and swiftly dispatched both of them before either could cry out. The second boy made a gurgling noise as Natalia cut off his air from behind, but Shanna barely heard it over the din the frogs were making.

  Shanna helped her drag the boys to their hiding spot and quickly disrobed them. Literally, they were wearing robes. Dark red and made of velvet, like something you’d find at a renaissance festival. Along with those, they had masks that covered the upper portion of their faces, also red.

  “They’re nude under these,” Amelia noted with a frown.

  “And there are daggers strapped to the inside,” Natalia added, then cocked her head. “Eric and I will wear the robes. Amelia will be able to follow us with the wind guiding her.”

  “Me?” Eric squeaked.

  “You,” Natalia said.

  “Do I have to get naked?”

  Shanna smirked. “It’s only fair after you read my exposed thoughts, don’t you think?”

  He blinked, then looked glumly down at the robe.

  “I’m kidding,” Shanna muttered. “I won’t look.”

  Amelia turned along with her as they changed. “Are you sure he should be involved at all?”

  “His mind-reading ability will be useful,” Natalia replied matter-of-factly. “If something is about to happen to Quinn or Steven and we need to respond immediately or suffer casualties, I need him with me.”

  “It’s okay,” Eric said. “I mean, I have the gift, so I might as well use it for something useful, right?”

  More voices carried over the field to them.

  “Show time,” Amelia murmured. She pulled Shanna down into the shadows as Natalia led Eric toward the lights that were spilling over the ground.

  “I hope he’ll be okay,” Shanna said quietly.

  “If they suspect anything, he’ll be the first to know,” Amelia said with a shrug. “He’s like an early warning system.” She suddenly held up a hand to stop Shanna from speaking. Shanna sent her a questioning glance and frowned as Amelia held a hand to her ear.

  Shanna tilted her head and realized what she was referring to. The crickets and the frogs had stopped making noises all at once, as if they were afraid of something. As if their lives depended on their being quiet.

  Shanna followed their lead, holding her breath as she watched the red-robed figures convening at the edge of the field, where the forest began. They didn’t speak, but stood there, staring into the trees, as if waiting for something.

  Amelia threw her a look that said she didn’t like this one bit, and Shanna nodded her agreement.

  Just when Shanna thought that perhaps whatever had planned to come wasn’t going to show, they heard the sound of thunder. Only it wasn’t quite thunder. Shanna pursed her lips as she tried to place the crashing sound, then realized that it was getting closer to the field. She watched anxiously as trees shifted in the forest, groaning in protest, some of them making cracking noises as branches splintered and snapped, as if something were pushing through them. Something too big to really fit through the openings in the trees.

  Shanna watched silently as a crashing noise signaled a tree toppling over, the thunderous noise she’d heard in the distance, only much closer.

  She grabbed Amelia’s hand as the trees closest to the field began to shift and quiver, leaves shaking as if frightened themselves.

  And then it appeared. A large white demon covered in shaggy hair, a single horn growing from the middle of its forehead and curving upward, yellow like an infected toenail. Nearly as tall as the tallest tree, its eyes were black and set deep in its furry face. It had no nose or ears that Shanna could see, but had a wide mouth, as if it would hold rows upon rows of horrible teeth. Wide shoulders topped its bulky frame, with arms that reached the ground much like an ape’s. It paused at the edge of the field, as if to regard its audience, then sniffed twice loudly.

  The figures in robes, which numbered thirteen total, all kneeled.

  “Verdelet,” Amelia said softly.

  Shanna glanced over at her. “What?”

  “A demon that brings witches to the Sabbath.”

  “Oh, fantastic.”

  As they watched, the demon bent over and opened its wide mouth. As expected, there were many sharp teeth within, and its mouth seemed to grow as its jaw touched the ground. Taking this as some sort of sign, the robed figures stepped into its mouth. The jaw seemed to keep growing to accommodate them all, until every last one of them was standing in its mouth. One gulp and they would all have been dead.

  “That’s brave,” Amelia whispered.

  Shanna nodded, feeling anxious for Eric and Natalia as the creature turned back toward the forest, its head now larger than the rest of its body due to its new size, and began to push through the trees again, with little care as to what damage it caused along the way. Its head looked bloated like a football on top its thin neck, but it hardly seemed to notice the difference in its body’s dimensions, as it moved away from them.

  “Come on,” Amelia urged, pulling Shanna to her feet. “Now, we follow.”

  Shanna began to race after Amelia, praying that she wouldn’t twist an ankle in her haste, as it was still dark, even if the moonlight provided a little light to see by.

  “This is not what I was expecting,” Shanna murmured as they sprinted along, following a trail that the blind could follow, littered with broken tree branches as well as full-grown trees fallen over with their roots exposed to the air. Tree branches lashed at her face, stinging her exposed skin, but she paid little mind. Many people, friends she cared for, had their lives riding on this.

  They ran for nearly fifteen minutes before they saw light up ahead and Amelia slowed, putting up a hand to warn Shanna to do the same. Even from a good distance away, they could see the shadow of Verdelet, and crept closer to the light, making as little noise as possible.

  They arrived at a circle of fire just as the huge white demon was leaving, sinking into the ground like it was quicksand, until he
had completely vanished.

  Six small fires circled the red-robed figures, who stood around an alter quietly, their faces bathed in shadows, making a circle themselves. The fire threw menacing shadows across the ground, leading up to a large stone slab where two boys lay, head to foot beside each other, tied to the stone, their mouths stuffed with white cloth. Quinn and Steven.

  Shanna tensed and had to force herself to stay where she was, crouched in the brush beside Amelia. Every fiber in her being told her to run up there and free her friend, and break the bones of every one of these horrible people who stood in her way. But she knew that that would be foolhardy, and stood beside her friend doing nothing but watching.

  Quinn and Steven were naked, Steven crying and struggling against his restraints, while Quinn just glared around him defiantly.

  There were skulls on the altar, of various animals that Shanna couldn’t really identify, with runes similar to the ones the others had described in the basement of the mansion, traced in blood down the side of the stone. She had little doubt that the two were related in some way.

  At the head of the altar was a fourteenth figure in a robe, this robe black. He had a gold mask over his face that had characteristics of a demon, with curved horns slipping out the sides of the hood, and slits for eyes that regarded the circle with pride. This was obviously the person behind the ceremony, and the disappearances.

  Amelia sent Shanna a worried look as the man drew a dagger from his sleeve and picked up a gold goblet. He pushed back the sleeve of his arm, revealing dark brown skin, and ran the blade over his palm, allowing a river of crimson to dribble into the cup. He then stepped toward the altar and all of the robed figures quickly threw off their robes, one figure, probably Eric, doing so a split second later than the others. They still retained their masks, thankfully, as they began to dance clockwise around the altar, singing a song in what Shanna recognized as guttural and ancient, but her gift allowed her to understand:

  “Let the loa bless the tributes.

  They will bring us bounty and keep us young.

  Let the loa smile upon us,

  And strengthen the tributes for trade.”

  Help us, loa, for their blood

  Must run with your godly touch.”

  Shanna didn’t know much about the loa, but she knew that they were regarded as some sort of deities in voodoo culture, often possessing people. And much like gods and spirits, there were bad loas and good loas. Shanna knew without question which were being sought out here.

  There were six women and seven men dancing wildly, and while they continued to sing, the man in the black robe traced a rune onto the chests of Steven and Quinn, with the blood he’d gathered in the goblet. Then he stepped back and the men all stepped up to the altar while the women continued to dance. Shanna couldn’t see exactly what they were doing, but with the fervor in which their arms moved, reaching down the front of their bodies, she could guess.

  “Blood magick and sex magick,” Amelia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “This is big. We need to stop this now before it’s too late.”

  Shanna nodded, and stood as Amelia did.

  The figure in black saw them immediately and started, but could do very little before Amelia threw her hand toward the circle and loosed a gusting gale down the center of it, tearing it apart and sending men and women alike through the air.

  Shanna quickly unsheathed her cross dagger and made a beeline for Quinn and Steven, dodging a man who tried to bar her path, and kicking him in his exposed groin.

  “Stop them!” the man in black screamed. And Shanna flinched as she recognized his voice.

  Amelia seemed to recognize it also, for she tore the mask from his face with the wind at her disposal, revealing the angry lines in the brow of Mr. Crenshaw, the headmaster of the school.

  Shanna stopped and stared for a moment, stupefied. Of course he hadn’t been the one to call them for help in the first place. That had been Miss Lane. But he’d made her feel silly for her belief in superstition and magick, obviously covering up the fact that he was involved, and dispelling belief in those around him. And, of course, it made sense, given that the mansion they resided in, with its secrets literally buried in the basement, belonged to him. But he had put on a good show to throw off suspicion.

  “Your own students?” Amelia demanded into the wind that manifested her fury. “How could you?”

  “These insignificant brats?” Mr. Crenshaw retorted. “They are nothing to a man of my means. But they provide a pretty penny at the Goblin Market, especially when blessed by the loa.”

  Shanna heard a crash behind her and turned to see Natalia swing a naked teenager into a tree, reminding her of the danger they faced. She recalled herself and raced to Quinn’s side, quickly cutting through the rope that held him captive with her dagger.

  When she pulled the cloth from his mouth, he offered her a shaky smile. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  Shanna recalled how she’d first met him, naked and tied up, and couldn’t agree more with his statement. He’d been through enough.

  She set to work on freeing Steven as Eric came up to them, throwing a robe over Quinn’s shoulders.

  “This wasn’t so bad,” Eric admitted, looking around the clearing. Most of the teenagers had fled, only a few remaining to fight alongside Mr. Crenshaw, who had his hands full with Amelia, but seemed to be holding his own. Blue and green sparks flew from his fingers as he faced her, while Natalia was making short work of his remaining minions.

  Suddenly, Mr. Crenshaw threw back his head and screamed something old that ringed of power. Shanna recognized his words as “Come to me!”

  Standing up, Shanna met Natalia’s gaze across the field. “We’re about to have company,” she said to Quinn, behind her.

  Quinn walked up beside her and looked up into the night sky, suddenly sucking in a breath as bright streaks appeared in the sky like shooting stars, only much closer. Trails of gold that were making their way right for them.

  “Damn,” Shanna muttered.

  “What is it?” Quinn asked quietly, regarding the lights with something of awe.

  “Loup-garous.”

  “Loup-garous?” Amelia glanced up sharply and cursed. “Get the others out of here.”

  “What about you?” Shanna frowned.

  “I’m almost done with him,” she smiled, grinning at Mr. Crenshaw. “I haven’t met a witch yet who didn’t succumb eventually.”

  “Of course he’s a witch,” Quinn nodded, as if that made sense.

  “And not his first body,” Natalia was suddenly among them, startling Shanna. “Every fifteen years, he would transfer his soul into a new one.”

  “The bodies in the basement,” Shanna breathed. He would kidnap people, and switch bodies with them for a younger one, then toss his old body, with the soul of his victim trapped inside, into the well, leaving them to die. He probably used people who could pass as relatives of the Crenshaws to keep the house and school in the family. When he was ready to switch bodies, and had his victim under his thumb, he would surely have documents in order, proclaiming his new body the owner of the estate.

  “Exactly.”

  Shanna glanced up at the golden streaks in the sky, nervous at how quickly they were coming in. “Okay. We’d better go, though. Like, now.”

  Eric didn’t need any excuse to hang around. He bolted out of the clearing and into the forest, and Shanna followed, Quinn at her heels.

  “What are loup-garous?” he called to her.

  “Werewolves,” Shanna replied. “Think smart werewolves.”

  “Again?” Quinn groaned, and Shanna recalled how only a few weeks earlier they had had a horrible encounter with another breed of werewolves. It seemed that they kept finding themselves in similar situations.

  Frowning, Shanna realized that they weren’t going back the way they’d come, but Eric wouldn’t know that, having been in the mouth of
Verdelet. “Eric! Do you know where you’re going?”

  He didn’t respond, but kept running, much faster than Shanna would have thought.

  She looked back to see that only Quinn followed. “Where’s Natalia?”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “I think she went back to help Amelia finish off Mr. Crenshaw.”

  She slowed, wondering if she should do the same.

  “Incoming!” Quinn cried, and she looked up to see two golden comets crash into the ground just ahead of Eric, who skidded to a stop. The smell of sulfur was suddenly thick in the air, causing Shanna to put a hand to her nose, a sour look drawing over her face.

  When the smoke cleared after a few seconds, they could see two women down on one knee, both of their heads bowed, one blonde and one brunette. When they looked up, Shanna could see a green glint in their eyes as they snarled, their features covered in fur, mouths exaggerated and full of sharp teeth, but somehow still breathtakingly beautiful. Wild and feral, yet human at the same time. It was unnerving to behold, but fascinating as well.

  The brunette stood first, and with inhuman speed, grabbed Eric by the neck and held him up in the air before her with sharp nails that dug into his skin, letting loose streams of blood that poured down the front of his naked chest.

  With little effort, she shifted her hand and the loud crack of his neck breaking echoed through the forest.

  Shanna held her breath, watching in horror as she let go of him, his limp body falling to the forest floor with a loud definitive thump.

  “No,” Shanna whispered, staring at his body, eyes still wide in his face from when he realized that he was about to die. He’d been so innocent, so agreeable and willing to help them. He hadn’t deserved to die in such a way.

  And he won’t be helping you anymore either, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. You might never find out the truth behind your parents’ death now.

  A sense of loss filled her chest, and she was ashamed that it stemmed from information lost, as well as the death of this person she had known, who she had asked to aid them.

  “The mistress wants them alive,” The blonde loup-garous scowled, crossing her arms as she addressed the brunette one.

  The brunette laughed, a sound that was half-growl. “He wasn’t one of them. I don’t smell that awful moldy mansion on him. He was expendable.”

  The blonde sniffed loudly, then nodded curtly. “Fair enough. I want the boy.”

  “You can have him. The girl looks like more fun.”

  Quinn licked his lips. “Any ideas here?”

  Shanna let out a breath as the loup-garous turned their way. “Yeah. Run.”

  They both turned back the way they’d come and began to run all-out, the sound of the laughing loup-garous following them tauntingly.

  “You can run, but you can’t hide!” one of them screeched gleefully.

  “I’m sorry,” Quinn said between breaths as he pushed aside a branch.

  “For what?”

  “Getting caught. I should’ve been more careful around the students.”

  “Let’s not worry about that now,” Shanna managed between drawing in lungfuls of air. She was tiring quickly. As soon as the light of the fires in the clearing appeared up ahead, she felt slightly relieved, knowing that Amelia and Natalia would be there, but they really needed a plan if they wanted to get out of this.

  Suddenly another loup-garous appeared in their path, smiling. “Come to mama!” she said, leaning forward menacingly.

  Shanna turned sharply to the right, pausing when she noted Quinn go in the opposite direction. But she had no time to catch up to him now. She kept running, listening to the crashing underbrush as she was pursued.

  By now, she was completely turned around and had no idea where she was. She spied cattails up ahead and plunged through shallow water that soaked her shoes. Then she slipped on a muddy embankment and landed on her butt.

  “Ow,” she muttered. She picked herself up carefully, noting yellow glowing eyes through the reeds as something slipped into a body of water nearby.

  Great, she thought as she pushed through more cattails. If it wasn’t enough that I had loup-garous on my tail, now I have to worry about crocodiles.

  “There you are,” the brunette loup-garous suddenly leapt at her from the tall reeds, slashing out with sharp claws. She may not have been aiming to kill, but she apparently had no qualms with maiming her.

  Shanna dodged the attack and swiped backward with her cross-dagger. She wasn’t expecting to hit anything, but the werewolf had been closer that she’d thought, and her blade slid through the stomach of the creature with a sizzling hiss as the silver met her flesh.

  The woman screamed, leaping back and holding her abdomen, which was bleeding profusely, but would surely heal shortly, given her nature. “You’re going to feel some pain for that, girl.”

  Pushing through the reeds, Shanna suddenly found herself trudging through water that went up to her chest. She felt a flutter of panic as she recollected the eyes of the crocodile that had slipped into the water, but she forced the thought away. She would not give in to fear and lose her head. She had to be smart if she was going to survive this.

  She reached an embankment and pulled herself up with a grunt of effort, rolling onto the muddy embankment before leaping to her feet. She pushed aside a curtain of Spanish moss hanging from a tree branch before running smack dab into the form of another loup-garous.

  “I love when they fight back,” the girl said, stepping out of the shadows of the tree to regard Shanna holding up her cross-dagger. Then her smile dropped. “Not you again.”

  Shanna blinked, then placed her face. “Lupe.”

  Lupe’s eyes narrowed. She watched Shanna for a moment, as if deciding something, then scowled and grabbed Shanna’s arm, swatting away her hand that held the dagger. “Oh, settle down. I’m going to help you.”

  Shanna struggled for another moment before her words sank in. “Wait. Help me? Why?”

  Lupe sent her a toothy grin. “Because Samantha Cummings is already pissed off at me for the last time I tried hurting you. She has you under her protection, lucky thing. If she got wind of me bringing you to the mistress, she would have my head.” She shrugged. “The way I figure it, if I help you here, this will redeem me in her eyes, make us even.”

  While she didn’t exactly trust her, Shanna didn’t see that she had any other options. The other loup-garous would track her soon enough, if Lupe didn’t take her down first. “Okay. What now?”

  Lupe grabbed her around the waist. “Hold on tight.”

  The smell of sulfur brought tears to her eyes, but Shanna held onto Lupe for dear life as they shot up into the sky, and away from the danger that stalked her below.