by David Belau
Epilogue
A couple of months later, word came that Sederah was sending me an apprentice. His name was Bachur and he pulled up to my camp in a little Honda. I looked at him skeptically as he got out. He was far too skinny and his face too soft looking.
“I’m gonna have to talk to Sederah about the material he’s sending me,” I muttered under my breath. “You must be Bachur,” I said shaking his hand.
“Tsayad. You are legendary. Sederah has told me much about you.”
“Don’t try to flatter me, by the look of things we’ve got a lot of work to do.” Bachur looked worried. I circled his car. “What is this?”
“It’s a Civic, very reliable.”
I spit on the ground. “It has no presence. This will not do.” I walked to the trunk of my car and opened it. I grabbed a few cans of flat-black spray paint and tossed him one. We spent the afternoon painting the car and adding the demon hunter stencil to the hood. By the end of the week, we’d tweaked the engine so that it popped and shot flames out of the exhaust, finally commanding respect.
We worked on Bachur’s sword skills and I taught him how to tan hides. His skills were growing. I’d taken him on a few hunts to show him the ropes. Then we got a call for a legion of demons. It was time to see what he was made of.
His Civic came to life with a pop and a crackle. Its sound echoed all the way into town. We pulled up to a house where there was a party going on. We slipped around the side of the house and peered in the window. Sure enough, there was a legion of demons dancing, hovering, influencing their prey.
“I think we should go in the back,” Bachur said.
I surveyed the room again. “I agree.” We snuck around to the back door and made our entrance into a hallway. At the end of the corridor was a door to the side. Music came thumping through the door. We positioned ourselves on either side of the door. I surveyed the room quickly and saw about ten demons inhabiting. I held up my fingers to show Bachur how many there were. He signaled he was ready and we rolled into the room, blades swinging, demons screaming. He moved to the right and vanquished two while I turned left and laid waste to three that were huddled together. A demon came at me from the right, and I put a boot square in its gut, sending him reeling to Bachur. He saw the demon tumbling toward him and swung, splitting it in two. I gave him a nod of appreciation and turned to finish clearing the room. Maybe this kid was going to be alright.
