The Hunting of Malin

by Sean Thomas Fisher

  Giving him a disinterested shrug, Jade began pacing the circle, her face changing in the jittery flashlight glow. “I left that up to your precious Malin. The slightest thing to fan her flames was enough to put those girls in their graves – and the smaller the offense, the better the feed. Motive is so overrated.” Her lips pulled down at the corners. “You should’ve felt the hate rise inside when those bitches crossed her path.”

  “You are sadly mistaken, parasite, as you are of a great many things.” Luna turned with Jade, palms out. “That hate was yours and yours alone!”

  “If Malin could remember slitting Holly Banner’s throat, she’d squeal with joy after the things she shouted at her that night on the road.”

  “You wicked bitch,” Luna whispered coldly, throwing black salt that made the snakes recoil and hiss. But not Jade.

  Jade stopped walking and a light breeze stirred the trees. “The most amusing part was watching Malin think she was psychic like her pitiful mother. Do know how much she despised the thought of that? How much she despises you?”

  Luna tipped her chin down and tightened her jaw. “I know enough not to believe a word you say.”

  “Poor Malin just wanted to be normal but you traded picnics at the park for banishing spells at poorly heated strip malls.” Jade sneered at Luna. “You traded her father for you!”

  Trembling from top to bottom, Luna pressed her lips so tightly together they turned white, sealing the words off from the inside.

  Seeing she hit her mark, Jade smiled and continued ambling around the circle with a mischievous glimmer planted in one eye. “It was easy to change her. The hate was already there.”

  “How?” Luna panted, keeping Holden and Roscoe behind her as she turned with Jade. “How did you get inside?”

  Jade stopped and stared blankly back, disappointed by Luna’s apparent obliviousness. “Why, through Tor and his impressive cock, which Malin could never get enough of.” Her eyes tapered into malicious slits. “I honestly thought she would’ve been more of a fighter, but deep down I think she wanted to be someone else.”

  “You’re about to find out just how strong she is.” Luna thrust her hands into the air and raised the wind. The branches shook and the dirt spun in a tornado of chaos, yanking at her long black hair. “Malin! You need to puuush!”

  Twirling a finger in the air, Jade calmed the gust before strolling around them once again. “Sure, Malin had her fleeting moments of clarity, like when she noticed the cuts on Roscoe’s knuckles, which I convinced her were born from punching the slut at the lake. This is my power and this is my gift. When I planted his lighter for Malin to find, her best friend became her biggest betrayal. And when it was time to devastate her completely, I hid the bloody boxcutter in Holden’s truck and if you can’t figure out the rest…” Jade stopped and turned to the black salt. Spreading her arms, which now seemed longer and thinner, she stoked the wind. “Then you haven’t been paying attention!” Lunging, she shoved both hands into the circle, producing a greasy sizzle. Throwing her head back, she cried out in pain. Smoke billowed from her mouth and hands, face morphing into something so hideous, one risked their last breath to gaze upon it. Her eyes fell into her skull, leaving pools of oil in their wake as she latched onto Roscoe’s shirt and yanked him to her teeth.

  Luna pulled a small bottle from her dress and sprayed a silver stream, striking Jade in the face. “This family is trained to fight off evil, not host it!”

  Screaming, Jade staggered from the circle and rubbed at her eyes like they were on fire. And they were. Flames jumped from her sunken sockets, licking at her hair in golden streaks. A guttural cry shot from her throat, ripping the night in two. The flashlights sputtered and Holden nearly dropped his gun to cover his ears. Roscoe stumbled with the outburst, dragging a shoe through the line of salt and clapping hands over his ears. A snake bit him in the meat of his calf muscle and the wind moaned so loudly, no one could hear him scream.

  A shaft of moonlight landed on Luna’s hardened features, the spray bottle extended in her hand like a revolver. “Spirit who threatens me in this place, fight water by water and fire and fire! Banish their soul into nothingness!”

  Jade screeched even louder, curtains of nauseating smoke wafting from her face and hands, skin charring around the edges like grilled meat. “You cocksucking whore!”

  Raising her voice against Jade’s throaty cries, Luna thrust her palms out. “Remove their powers until the last trace and let this evil being flee!”

  Roscoe struggled for balance, snakes nipping at his ankles, fangs finding flesh.

  In a smoke-laden flash, Jade shot a hand into the circle and grabbed Luna’s wrist, snapping her to her twisted face. “You first, witch!”

  Luna shrieked as an imprint of Jade’s fingers burned into her wrist. Jade screamed with her, mocking her pain while Luna dug into her dress and shoved the evil eye necklace into her daughter’s gaping mouth. Holden stuffed the gun into its holster and took Jade to the ground, stirring up a cloud of smoke and landing in a writhing web of snakes.

  “Hold her mouth shut,” Luna ordered, stepping from the circle and spraying the serpents, making them twist and hiss.

  Clamping a hand over Jade’s mouth, Holden locked the smoldering necklace inside. The chain trickled out the corner of her lips like golden drool. Eyes bulged. Smoke trailed from her nose. Nails clawed. Luna dashed over and sprinkled a handful of wet rosemary over Jade, making her entire body twitch with an unseen voltage electrifying her skeletal frame. With an unexpected surge of power, she sent Holden tumbling with a quick push. Rolling to a stop, he got to one knee and stared at Jade’s convulsing body, the pain in his legs and head a distant memory. Falling back to the ground, a bone-chilling silence swept across her, charging the air with something that made the hair spike on Holden’s arms and legs. The wind ceased its relentless wrath, as did the snakes, who, without explanation, slithered backwards into the brush from whence they came.

  Then, in a moment Holden would never forget, Jade stopped twitching and slowly sat up, staring straight ahead while he chased his breath with terror scratching at his eyes. Staring off into space, she looked the same one moment, yet different the next. The smell was unbearable, bringing tears to his eyes that only magnified the, already, greatly distorted.

  “Push, Malin,” Luna whispered against the cross pressed to her lips. “Push, baby-girl.”

  Turning to face them, Jade opened her mouth so wide Holden was certain her lower jaw would snap off. When she started choking, Luna stepped forward and punched her fists into the sky, summoning every ounce of energy to lift her voice above a whisper.

  “Puuuush!”

  With a vociferous grunt, the evil eye popped from Jade’s throat like a cork, carried off by a swarm of flies somewhere into Mortimer Woods. Planted to the ground, Holden watched inky tendrils rise from Malin’s mouth, nose, eyes and ears, like smoke through the broken windows of a burning house. Pushing off the dirt with everything he had left in the tank, Holden gasped for breath as the impossible unfolded before him. The willowy streams were thin and long and as dark as the sky itself. Pieces dripped off like warm globs of oil, struggling toward each other once on the ground. Snaking through the air in curling wisps, the streams merged into a single river of despair, a sinuous thing moved by spite and famine. The tail left Malin’s mouth and she fell back to the ground, hitting her head. The gangly darkness hovered above the group for a harrowing moment, looking down upon them through hidden eyes. Watching. Studying. Judging. The temperature dropped and Holden’s breath began rushing out in cottony plumes. Drawing his sidearm, it felt as if the gun was made of black ice, freezing his fingers on contact. Gritting his teeth against the cold burn, he fired three rounds into the black. The head of the shadow ignored him, giving Luna a slight bow before curling through the air and darting forward, rattling branches and leaves with its alarming speed.

  Spellbound, Roscoe watched with his jaw dangling, unable to measure the
unfathomable. At first, his eyes barely widened with the intrusion.

  Chapter29

  Arching his back, Roscoe stiffened as the oily stream slipped into his mouth, eyes, and ear canals. His neck widened with the collective invasion, like a python swallowing a midnight pig. His body shuddered with each inch of darkness consumed. Moving on rubber stilts, Holden stumbled over to Malin with blood pouring down his shirt. His limbs gave out next to her lifeless body and, outside of cradling her head in his shaky arms, he didn’t know what to do. Out the corner of his eye, he watched the snakes cautiously retreat into the woods, wary to give up their slippery backs and disappearing into the shadows. Blood dripped from his shoulder onto Malin’s burnt cheek. His vision doubled and the smoke coming from her hands and face smelled like raw sewage.

  “Malin,” he panted. “Can you hear me?” Brushing dirt and hair from her face, he shook her again. “Malin!” Her eyes remained shut, driving an icepick through his hope and torturing his overworked heart. Looking up, he saw Roscoe standing on his tip-toes, trembling with the active ink tunneling through him. Luna yelled something and a swirling stick hit Holden in the face. Movement in his arms pulled his watery gaze back to Malin and he couldn’t believe it. There was something beneath her lids, like tiny worms burrowing through her eyeballs. “Malin! Wake up!”

  Roscoe crumbled at Holden’s side and leaned against him for support, shining a flashlight in her face. “May! Are you alright?”

  Holden pushed him back for a better look, noting the sickly skin gathering shadows around his eyes. “Jesus Christ! Are you okay? What happened?”

  Panting, he shook his head. Blood ran from the snakebite in his cheek, mixing with something black trickling from the corner of his mouth. “I don’t know.”

  “Where am I?” a weak voice asked.

  Holden looked down to see Malin’s eyelids peel apart like they’d been glued shut. “Everything is okay,” he said, stroking her hair. “I’ve got you.”

  Fighting uneven breaths, she stared at him through recessed caves. “What happened?” She tried sitting up but he eased her back down.

  “Just sit still and relax,” he breathed, wiping foam from her mouth. “You’re okay now.”

  “Roscoe!” Luna cried out, drawing Holden’s eyes.

  His breath hitched when he saw Roscoe disappear with the serpents into the woods.

  “Holden,” Malin coughed, dragging a hand to her face and wincing when she found the spot where the saltwater left its mark in her cheek. “Tell me what happened.” Her breathing deepened and the color slowly rose up her neck and into her face, mystically healing the decay and burns in her skin, one graft at a time.

  He shook his head to clear his eyes, unsure if anything he was seeing was real or simply a side effect of the venom coursing through his veins. “We have to get to the car.” He helped her sit up. “Can you walk?”

  The trek back through the woods was a long one. Malin was heavy in Holden’s arms and Luna could barely walk. Whatever power she just wielded against Jade, took a toll, sending a shock of white through the hair swinging across her face. Unseen animals bravely slinked closer before darting off into the trees with high-pitched cries leaking from their throats. Holden saw Roscoe’s silhouette everywhere he looked. Each stick he stepped on was another viper waiting to strike. Helping Malin into the Miata’s passenger seat, Holden went around the back to find Luna leaning against the trunk. “Meet us at the hospital,” he panted, singling out the ignition key on a turquoise keyring.

  Luna shook her head no, chest racing beneath the red dress. “I must rest now.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you soon.” He glanced at the two-seater. “Are you okay to drive?”

  “Your truck,” she murmured, rubbing her head like she had one hell of a hangover.

  Looking over his shoulder, his lips compressed into a scowl. “He took it,” he grumbled, searching his pockets.

  “Roscoe? How?”

  Gaze snagging on the Miata’s trunk, he let Malin’s keys dangle from his fingers. “Slipped the keys from my pocket when I was tending to Malin. My leg is so numb I didn’t feel a thing.”

  Luna followed his eyes to the tiny trunk, hand gravitating to the cross around her neck. “Open it.”

  Pulse thudding in the hollow of his throat, he slipped a key into the lock and looked at Luna. Taking a deep breath and holding it, she nodded and the trunk popped open with a soft click. Holden and Luna staggered backwards, faces twisting in the moonlight. The bloodstained Carhartt jacket and gloves smelled like death, wringing the air from their lungs.

  Covering her mouth, Luna slowly backed away. “No,” she whispered, tears painting her doughy cheeks.

  “What is it?” Malin moaned, twisting in the seat.

  “Nothing.” Holden slammed the trunk shut and came around the car. He would have to get rid of everything before anyone saw it, including Malin. Probably out at the lake. “Be careful,” he told Luna who was already hobbling toward a black Taurus down the way. Holden climbed inside the convertible and turned the key, a light breeze cooling his sticky skin. He watched Malin lean against her door. She needed medical attention and pronto. Starting the car, he had no idea what he would tell the doctors and nurses, but first they had to make a quick stop and he almost knew exactly where to go. Shifting into drive, he peeled out of Mortimer Woods, praying they would get there before Roscoe did.

  Chapter30

  Holden couldn’t feel the gas pedal beneath his foot but the way the cars and houses were zipping past in a moonlit blur, he knew he was pressing too hard. Glancing at Malin slumped over in the seat next to him, he wondered who was in worse shape. The road moved before him, snaking back and forth like the serpents he couldn’t stop seeing in his mind. Everything was moving, leaving brightly lit tracers behind that could be from the bullet hole in his shoulder, or the venom.

  “Roscoe tried to…kill me?” Malin muttered, trying to wrap her head around what he just told her.

  “Yes,” he lied, letting up on the accelerator and not sure if he was or not. She didn’t need to know the truth because the truth didn’t matter. Not now. It was too late for that shit. Just like it was too late for Roscoe. All she needed to know was they had to stop him before it was too late for anyone else. Holden exhaled a maudlin breath as headlights splashed across his face. They had a fifty-fifty chance at best, a coin toss with life and death hanging in the balance. He stiffened as the Miata grazed the side of a parked Escalade. Malin screamed and sparks exploded, the garish sound of twisting metal stinging the night. Straightening it out, he kept going. He could feel the steering wheel in his hands and that was enough.

  “My car,” Malin cried, body knotted with fear.

  Holden took a corner too fast and jumped the curb, clipping a blue mailbox and skipping back onto the roadway. His eyelids were heavy shades with darkness pulling on their cords. Violently, he screamed against the wind rushing into his face. If he passed out now, they had zero chance of stopping him. Streetlights whizzed by in orange brush marks, adding to his disorientation. Each mile traveled was a major victory. Using his left leg to hit the brakes, the car screeched to a stop.

  Malin jerked against the shoulder belt and slapped back into the seat. “What’re we doing here?”

  He stared at the tinted glass doors for a few seconds, blinking a plan into focus. “Stay in the car, and this time I mean it!” Pushing out of the low seat, Holden shuffled to the front entrance, faintness lulling him into an easy sway. The doors were locked and he had no idea which number on the intercom was correct so he drew his gun and pistol-whipped the middle of the glass. Jewel-like pieces rained down on his shoes. Squeezing inside, glass crunched beneath his feet and a jagged shard hanging in the doorframe sliced his forearm. But Holden could barely walk, let alone feel it. He stumbled down a staircase and used a wall at the bottom to stop his momentum. Turning, he stared at the first door on the right and hesitation settled in, making him question his sanity. Watchi
ng the hallway lights for a flicker, he pounded on the heavy wood. Blood dripped from his arm to the new carpeting around his feet, chest swelling beneath a gory t-shirt that now resembled some long-forgotten map. Nervous anxiety hummed in his ears and he had to lean against a wall to keep from falling. The door peeled open and Holden’s eyes snapped to the person peering through a dark crack. Colt’s face soured in a thin shaft of light. His sleepy-eyes fell to the gun hanging in Holden’s hand and widened with alarm. He slammed the door shut and Holden couldn’t feel it smash his foot against the jamb. Raising the 9mm, he pointed it through the crack in the door and growled through clenched teeth.

  “Where is she?”

  Chapter31

  Roscoe never felt better in his entire life. Only his name wasn’t Roscoe anymore, it was Jade and she needed to feed. The jump at Mortimer Woods drained what was left and it was feed or die. Knocking, Jade covered the peephole beneath a number three on the apartment door. The ghost of a grin played on Roscoe’s lips because this was about to get good. Setting his jaw, the hallway lights sputtered like a candle in the wind, reflecting off the serrated fishing knife turning in his hand. He smiled, thankful he’d stopped at his place to get it on the way here. Overcome with need, he nearly hadn’t. He could’ve just used his hands or a bathrobe belt. Perhaps a table leg, but the knife was sharper than the boxcutter and would make this much more rewarding. The longer it lasted, the greater the nutritive benefits. But caution must be advised, for this was its body now and it had to last.

  “Who is it?” A female voice pulled Roscoe’s eyes to the door.

  “It’s me.”

  There was a quiet moment of uncertainty and he could almost hear the wheels spinning on the other side. The deadbolt turned and the door stubbornly opened. Squinting against the blinking hallway lights, a pretty girl frowned beneath a mess of blond hair running over a faded night shirt. “What’re you doing here? Are you insane?”