by Rue Volley
“You see, I am here to do you no harm. I just ask that you not hurt her in anyway.”
“Me?” it said as it grinned and sharpened teeth became exposed covered in blood. I did not allow her to think it bothered me although it did to see such a beautiful child defiled with this madness.
“Yes, I need you to understand that she could never be as powerful as you want her to be and you could die easily, so inhabiting her body is not a smart proposition.”
It started to pace, pulling bit of hair from Emma’s head and eating it as she coughed. I cringed as she swallowed and then stopped to stare at me again.
“So if not her, then who?” it asked in yet another voice completely different than the one prior. I rose up without my guns and held my arms out wide.
“Take me,” I said as I closed my eyes and it started to laugh as it watched me surrender to its will. Emma’s small body bent backwards and quickly twisted and she fell to the floor crying out as the demon tore from her taking no time to be gentle in anyway. I then felt a terrible hot wind race down the hallway as the screaming began and my eyes, ears and nose began to bleed from the volume of it and then it hit me like a freight train, knocking me back towards the stairs and I hit the wall, cracking the wooden boards with my body as the demon possession tried to dig into my skin and take me whole. I screamed as my eyes went from black to blue and back again, I twisted and pulled at my hair and felt my body lifting into the air as demons busted into the hotel, crashing every window and stopping to watch me as their queen or perhaps king started to devour me and make my body it’s plaything as it had to Emma, then I tried to raise my head slowly as Emma stood before me with a glowing orb in her hand that rose form her skin and formed itself into a tight ball. She took a breath and then threw it as hard as her small hand could and it slammed into me and started to coat me in a warm glow of hope and redemption and I felt the burning and tearing as the demon was forced from me as it could not survive in such a light of innocence and purity. Then Emma produced another orb as I dropped and saw my guns, turning quickly to see Devon standing there, twitching and trying to form words but his words could not come as Emma’s goodness had rendered him useless, as would anything so beautiful. I then looked to her and she slammed the orb into the ground and everything around us slowed and I shot Devon in the head and heart as well as every demon around us as they twisted and slammed against floor and ceiling, fighting to their last stinking breath to hang onto what they thought belonged to them.
As Devon started to fall the blackness left his eyes and his skin recovered itself to its former color, that of a paleness that made him look amazing to me. I could feel my heart ache as his body hit the floor and Emma cried out and ran to him, falling on him and sobbing as the misery of loss enveloped her and also me.
****
I touched Emma’s face as she lay asleep on my lap. The coach had been moving for 2 days and I knew that what we had seen was not the last of what I would be battling. She moved a bit and I sighed as I looked out across the dusty plain and wondered what life I could ever offer her and knowing that someday she would wake up and become a hunter such as me but for now I just wanted to make sure she was safe. I looked across from me and Hilary leaned on the wall of the coach and slept, cuts and bruises to her face and deeply saddened by the loss of her brother. When Hilary awoke I told her that we had been attacked by outlaws, and that her brother had fought valiantly for her life and that of others. I could not tell her the truth and when Emma came out of her deep sleep 3 days later she also had no memory of what had truly happened in the hotel so I packed us up and we headed out, me knowing the truth and them not knowing anything at all.
We finally stopped as I watched Emma rise and Hilary blinked her eyes and I opened the door of the coach and looked up at the large black train before us. Trains were new but their ability to take you far from wherever you wanted to be was a blessing. I stepped out and held my hand out to Hilary who took it and smiled at me and then Emma jumped out and I smiled at her and kissed her forehead. She suddenly looked around and asked the same question as always. Where are we? Where is Devon? You see Emma has no memory of anything except for me and Hilary each time she wakes and I have to think it is a triggered mechanism in her brain. I would think someday she will know everything, but for now…let her be a child and know of nothing so ugly as to what we just endured.
We stepped up to the platform and I stopped as Hilary boarded and I hugged Emma who looked confused. Hilary stepped back out with a concerned look on her face and I tried to not cry. The truth is I am not to be with them. I cannot be. I am certain the demons can smell me, and they will come again, especially for Emma. Hilary pulled out her small pad of paper and pencil and started to write in a panic as I touched her hand and shook my head know. She watched my lips as I spoke and became teary eyed.
“You need to protect her, she is special.” I said and Hilary nodded and looked down to Emma and touched her hair.
“I know she is not your child Hilary, I also know she has probably been around much longer than we know.”
Hilary swallowed as if I had uncovered a deep truth and she started to cry and cover her mouth, as my suspicions were right. Hilary knew it all, she knew her brother was tainted, that Emma was infected with something she could not understand and that her own child had perished with her husband which I had a vision of as Emma was possessed in that hallway that night. I saw it all as the demon tried to devour me and I also finally understood who I was and what Emma was. I am a tracker, a demon hunter, I will find others like me and will do our best to rid this world of all of them but Emma is also a tracker and she will grow into her own as had I and cannot be with me. We are too important.
I hugged Hilary and then held her face as I spoke to her once more.
“Stay with her as long as you can and then be sure she is safe. I have no idea when she will grow, if ever. She was bitten far too young for me to understand how or when she will become like me but you take care of her and change your names, be safe and keep moving.”
I leaned down and hugged Emma as tightly as I could and she was crying when I pulled back from her.
“Mind Hilary, she loves you, I will see you again okay?” I asked her and she nodded as Hilary took her hand and pulled her onto the train.
I watched as it pulled out and felt my heart ache as the first sign of not being alone this world left me but for some reason I knew, I knew this as right and that she would survive it. I turned to walk away as Hilary adjusted in her seat and touched Emma’s hair as she stared out the window. The ticket taker stepped up to her and she handed the tickets to him and he smiled at the child.
“Well hello little one,” he said and Emma looked back to him and she smiled.
“What is your name?”
Hilary scribbled onto her paper and held it up to him and he smiled.
“Well AVA, mind your mother, I will send someone around to feed you,” he said as Emma crawled onto her lap and hugged her, accepting her new name and what lied ahead if memory would serve her and not be an enemy.
Book Six
“SAIGON”
There are moments in time you try to hold on to forever, a kiss, a look…a first love. I am not exempt from this because I am a man, men like to pretend like they have no “feelings” so to speak, but this is a fucking lie. We do love, deeply and although it may appear as if our dicks lead the way, our brains actually make the calls and sometimes it is just easier to act stupid than to face a truth you do not want to live in.
My name is Saigon, I do a job no one would ever fucking want to do, a job I never dreamt in a million years I would be doing. I hunt demons, full on crusty black winged fucks who feed on humans, but their real tasty treat is a hunter and unfortunately I have lost a few…
“Could you shut up maybe?”
I looked down at the girl sucking my dick and she looked bored to shit as I realized I was speaking out loud as I wrote this shit down. I should no
t be, but I lied and said I was an author anyway, so fuck it.
“I’m on a deadline,” I said as I grinned. She sighed and placed her lips back onto the tip of my cock and started to suck again as I settled back and let her help me concentrate. I won’t come she is basically just giving me a massage of sorts. Don’t get me fucking wrong, I do come, but this whore is….
“All right you fuck, that is enough,” she said as she stood up and grabbed her shit. I sat up and watched her as she paused and held her hand out, blowing a fucking bubble and letting it snap. I blinked and reached over to the cheap hotel nightstand and opened the drawer up, I scooted the Bible aside and grabbed my worn black leather wallet and opened it up, holding a $50.00 out and she snatched it and rolled her eyes as she placed it into her bra. I held my hands up as she walked to the door. She stopped as I watched her nice round ass and she turned back and looked at me.
“Just so you know, I have had much better than your sorry ass.” And with that she slammed the door and was gone. I sighed and pulled a cigarette, placing it to my lips and tasting the sweetness of the mild poison I dipped them in. It calms my fucking nerves, and trust me…I need it. Now where the fuck did I leave off before that bitch interrupted my thoughts?
“You know what? I am fucking out of here too,” the other whore said who I totally forgot was in the damn room. Evidently she was in the corner chair having a go at her own pussy and I paid her no attention whatsoever.
“Oh fuck…I forgot you were here,” I said as I laughed and she stepped up to the side of the bed and smeared her wet fingers on my lips and I crinkled my nose, as the smell of her pussy was a tad strong.
“You may need a douche or some shit.” I muttered and she smacked me on the head and took money from my wallet. She tossed it at me as she headed to the door and stopped to turn back and grin at me.
“Fucking loser,” she said and then out she went too. I scanned the room to make sure all the bitches were gone and then shook my head.
“Hello?” I said and no one answered so I am going to assume two was fucking it. I mean I have had upwards of five before, when I drink too much. But this was just an “I am bored” kinda thing that I had going on this time. I was lured into a bar with the promise of maybe seeing “her”. Her being my replacement, I guess I could say. You see, as I said before, I am a hunter, a hunter of demons and I shit you not, I mean the real deal and I also happen to be a tracker, which is a special kind of hunter. I find all the hunters in the world and collect them together so we sort of have a family army going on and shit. I have done this for a few decades since…I mean, I was not the first tracker, that would have been a woman who I found irresistible in every fucking way and I still remember the day I saw her…the day my life changed forever.
****
“Could you not do that?” she said and I watched her with a slight grin on my face. The woman who had been arguing with the cab driver for 10 minutes about how to pack her luggage in the trunk seriously had control issues but holy shit, her body was amazing, but more than that, her face was like an angel and her lips full and soft even as she continued to yell. I dropped my cigarette and stepped up. I took the worn leather suitcase from the driver and placed it in the trunk as she was trying to explain it to him and then I picked up her second one as she jerked it from me. Then she stopped to stare at my face as if she knew me. It was the strangest shit but I have had weirdness my whole life, as in paranormal shit…but I would not dare mention it to anyone other than clients who hire me to flesh out the crap in their homes. It is 1946 and people have so many fucking phobias I could seriously make a shit ton more if I expanded my specialty, but my gift is ghosts. So I am a ghost hunter I guess you could call me, and to anyone who has never heard a disembodied moan or, it is a joke job. I do okay though, it pays the rent and shit…I mean most of the time. When I come up short I do a bit of rubbing on Mrs. Taylor who is my landlord and she appreciates the cock. Her husband is always out working on the war bunker and ignores her needs completely so the opportunity is always there just in case business is slow.
“Native?” she said to me in a slightly British accent and I smiled. Exotic women get me hard as hell.
“I move around as needed,” I said as she rolled her eyes and looked at the driver.
“5th and Meridan.”
I grinned so big it could have come off creeper if anyone paid attention to me. You see for some reason I am sort of a ghost myself. I move about every 3 years and then settle in to take advantage of the spooks and goblins and then once I rid the area of its bullshit I move again. I have been here for 2 years, 33 days and 15 hours. Shut up, it’s a weird tick I have…to know exactly what the time is. I have many but the time thing is the worst, just like re-locking my door 3 times, setting my alarm 3 times, always fucking three but anyway…
“I live there,” I said as I pushed my hat up a bit and smiled at her.
She looked to me and studied my entire face, looking almost peaceful as the light from the morning sun broke down the street and lit me up. She looked back to the cab and nodded to the driver.
“Would you, I mean, do you need a ride?” she asked me and I walked to the door and opened it up, she hesitated and then followed, slipping inside and looking up at me, her hair moved to the side and her entire face was shown to me. I felt my heartbeat speed up, which is the strangest shit, but my blood quickened and I heard a whisper on the wind like someone was perhaps trying to warn me and in hindsight, I should of fucking paid attention.
“Do you?” she said as I looked back to her and then I got into the car as if I had no will to say no. I mean I was out to get coffee as I always do and instead I am heading back to my apartment building for no other reason but an urge to come with her. Stranger or not, she intrigues me and that is new in my life.
We rode along as the sun crept into all of the cities crevices and showed it as it truly was. It has a bit of beauty but then there is the underbelly of filth and prostitution that plagues any place with a population. As I thought about this truth, a woman walked down the sidewalk with a fur on and little under it, her stocking fishnet a deep black and black heels to match. The woman in the car with me cleared her throat and I looked back to her and watched as she opened a silver case and tapped a cigarette on it before she placed it to her lips. I scrambled to grab my lighter and just as I raised the flame to her, she lit her own and I smiled as I pulled my lighter back and let the flame go out as I closed the silver lid on it. She took a drag and then looked out the window as smoke slowly left her lips, almost in slow motion for a second and then sped up. I blinked and she looked back to me with her dark eyes, almost too dark to be a color really, looking almost black.
“Do you escort?” she said and I raised an eyebrow.
“You mean sleep with women for money?” I said and she laughed at me.
“Do I look like someone who has to pay to get sex?”
I rubbed my neck, as I was not used to any woman being so forward and then laughed.
“Actually, no,” I said and she smiled and extended her hand to me.
“Izzy,” she said and I took her hand and shook it.
She held onto my hand as I felt my heart beat race yet again and this time she kept her dark eyes locked on mine as she and I said my name at the same time.
“Nicolas.”
I pulled my hand from her and she adjusted in her seat. I watched her as her knowing my name was just disturbing.
“Telepath?” I asked her and she looked to me.
“Nicolas, I need your services.”
“I told you I am not an escort.”
She grinned and took another drag of her cigarette.
“No, your ghost hunting skills,” she said and I sat back and tried to relax as I then knew she had not been in need of anything, she had lured me to her and I do not like being manipulated.
“I have a full schedule, I am sorry,” I said as I tapped on the seat and the driver glanced back at me.
/> “I need to get out right here.”
He sighed and pulled over as I opened the door and stepped out. Izzy slid over and looked up at me with that face, the face of an angel yet so deceptive.
“I will be in touch,” she said and then she closed her door and the car pulled off as I stood there and closed my coat. The weather was suddenly changing; a chill was creeping into the air and with it the summer was fading into fall.
****
I sat on the park bench and watched as couples walked by me arm and arm, whispering to each other. I closed my eyes and saw Izzy, immediately opening my eyes back up and there she was. She had changed her clothing and was now wearing straight black legged pants, high on the waist with a white blouse tucked in and a long black coat. If she had a hat on she would look like a small man with her hair up. There are women like her popping up more and more and do not get me wrong, I love it. I love the feminine movement that is happening. I do not think women should feel they have to wear skirts and heels and please a man. This is a state of mind that many have yet to shed completely but I always thought women were equal so I have no adjusting to do. She stepped up closer to me and I leaned back and laughed as I shook my head.
“Are you a detective?” I asked her and she smiled and joined me on the bench. I glanced at her as she crossed her legs and I saw her shoes that were flat and more man like. I looked forward and smiled.
“I told you I need assistance.”
“I can see that and you must be a woman who gets what she wants when she wants it.”
She turned to me and looked me over as she touched my leg and I adjusted on the bench a bit. Her touch sends a strange wave of feeling through me, almost turning me on which is oddly intriguing.
