"BITCH!" Kristen shouted as she blasted through the door ten minutes later. Jenny was hot on her heels. There was a chill in the air, but Kristen's rage more than made up for it. "Who the fuck was she, anyway?"
"No idea," Jenny replied, struggling to keep up. "Doesn't matter, it's Derek's loss. He's not even that cute, anyway!" Kristen threw a look her way. "Okay, he is that cute. Still, doesn't mean he has to stick his prick in any ol' thing that comes along."
Kristen stopped. Jenny nearly hit her. "You think that's where they went? You think they went somewhere to...do it?"
"Where else would they be going?"
The thought that Derek might go so far with someone he just met had never crossed Kristen's mind. Her stomach turned. If that was the type of guy Derek was, then the trashy blonde bitch did her a favor by exposing him. That was, or course, if they actually did go somewhere to fuck.
The waxing moon loomed high overhead, partially shrouded by a bank of cumulus clouds as Kristen and Jenny walked along a sidewalk next to the school's parking lot. As they neared Jenny's car, however, Kristen showed no sign of slowing down, heading instead for the football team's practice field.
"I never should've let you talk me into this," she grumbled. "Not only did I get outmaneuvered and embarrassed by some older chick, but now I have to find a way to sneak back in the house without my dad knowing."
"What, is it so wrong for me to want my best friend to get out every now and then?" Jenny asked, catching up. "The only time I ever see you is at school or when we're studying at your place. You said it yourself; you asked, your dad said no. How are you ever supposed to have a social life if you can't get out of the house to live?"
"I know, but it's easier for you," Kristen said. She added a smirk. "You lie to your folks all the time."
"Well, it's not like our parents never lied to us. Santa, the tooth fairy...religion." Kristen shot Jenny a look. Jenny laughed, locked her arm in Kristen's.
Their pace slowed from an angry march to a leisurely stroll. They soon passed the practice field and were headed toward the woods behind the school.
"Where are we going?" Jenny asked, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. "Parking lot's back there."
"I know. I'm heading to the river."
Jenny frowned. She and Kristen had gone down to the banks of the Chippenywa River many times, and it was one of their favorite places to hang out and blow off steam, but they had always made the trek during daylight.
Kristen sensed her friend's apprehension, but she didn't care. Sure it was dark now, when certain critters came out to play she knew Jenny had no interest in interacting with, but if she was friend, she'd tag along anyway. Kristen needed a "river session," and that's exactly where she was going--bobcats, coyotes, and raccoons be damned.
The girls were halfway to their destination when something rustled in the trees.
Jenny flung an arm across Kristen. "What was that?"
Kristen pushed Jenny's arm aside and stepped forward. "Hello? Anyone there?"
"I doubt they'd just answer you, Kris."
Kristen shushed her friend. She took another step. Peered into the woods. "Hello?"
"Kristen?"
The voice, distinctively male, called out from somewhere in the darkness. Jenny's eyes bugged.
Kristen recognized it immediately. "Derek?" She waited for an answer. None came. Kristen charged into the woods.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Jenny hissed, her feet firmly rooted.
Kristen spun. "You didn't hear that? It was Derek. Sounded like he was in trouble."
"So?" Jenny countered. "He's a big guy. He can take care of himself." Kristen scowled. "Oh, come on, after what just happened in the gym, don't tell me you're..."
Kristen turned for the woods.
Jenny stood there in disbelief.
Kristen moved through the trees as fast as her aching feet would allow. Her shoes were a chore to walk in, much less run, but she knew what she had heard. "Derek! Where are you?"
Coming to a clearing, Kristen stopped to catch her breath. She leaned over and panted, palms gripping her knees. She sucked air into her lungs and stood to continue when something caught her eye at clearing's edge. Kristen seized; Jenny emerged from the woods behind her and immediately caught sight of the same thing.
The creepy Goth at the base of a tree, crouched atop a prone, bloodied Derek. The woman turned to look at the girls, a predatory gleam in her eyes.
Kristen curled her fists. "Get off of him now, you crazy bitch!"
The woman scoffed at Kristen's posture. "Well, aren't you persistent?" She stood and faced the girls. "That or just stupid. Really doesn't matter which anymore." She stepped toward the girls; her hips rolled with an exaggerated sway. The woman was confident. Measured. And under the pale, diffused moonlight blanketing the earth she was undeniably...lethal.
Kristen struggled to remain calm, wary her breathing and quickened pulse would give away the tsunami of dread that crashed against her. "Who are you? What did you do to him?"
The woman glanced over her shoulder. Derek's eyes fixed on hers. "Me and...Derek...were just having a little kinky fun." She turned back to Kristen with a mischievous smirk. "You two wanna join?"
Summoning the last of his strength, Derek sprang to his feet and charged. "Psycho bit--"
The woman backslapped the shit out of Derek. His limp body snapped branches as it tore between the trees--
Burst from the woods and sailed over a cliff.
"Derek!"Kristen shrieked. Jenny stood behind her, mouth agape. The woman glared at them.
Through them. "Look what he made me do," she said with a sneer.
"It's okay, love..."
Kristen and Jenny spun to a tree behind them. Leaning against the trunk, hidden in shadow--a male. He straightened himself and moved into the moonlight, allowing the girls a clean look at his flawless, yet sinister, face. "There's more than enough for the two of us."
The man approached, stale green eyes appraising Kristen and Jenny with the same hungry look as Derek's murderer. The girls huddled together, sandwiched between the two.
"Look, I don't know what you want from us," Kristen said, "But you better back up before something pretty bad happens to you."
The man sniffed. "As if you could."
The girls planted their backs together as the man and woman began circling them.
"I don't know, Nelson. They look pretty tough," the woman snarked. "They might even be tougher than that big, bad jock. What are we gonna do?"
Nelson looked into the sky as the moon broke through the clouds, soaking them in unfiltered light. "I don't know about you, Carly," he said, his mustache and goatee growing fuller with the same dirty blonde hair that topped his head. His green eyes shimmered before blazing into an unearthly gold. "But I'm gonna eat."
Kristen and Jenny recoiled in horror.
Nelson raised a hand; it snapped into a jagged, gnarled shape. His fingernails bent outward, warping until they split apart as thick, black claws tore their way to freedom. His neck muscles thickened and wrenched his head back; perfect teeth shifted as canines lengthened. Blood and saliva oozed from Nelson's maw as his face ruptured, bones grinding as the lower half pushed into a muzzle.
The girls shifted their attention to Carly. Deep, primal growls rumbled from her throat as the straps of her dress shifted and warped over writhing, bunching back and shoulder muscles. Her spine pressed outward, each vertebrae in stark relief as they jutted against her straining flesh. A low, splitting sound drew the girls' attention to Carly's feet, where her sleek black heels blew apart over burgeoning, stretching feet.
"This can't be real!" Jenny cried, digging her fingers into Kristen's biceps.
"I'm not sticking around to find out!" Kristen screamed. "Run!" The girls bolted for the school.
Tearing through the woods, Kristen glanced over her right shoulder. She didn't see Jenny, and for a split second, she feared that one of those things had gotten h
er best friend. She was relieved when a crackle on her left revealed that not only had Jenny kept pace, she had overtaken her, heels in hand. It made obvious sense so Kristen followed suit, slowing and staggering to snatch off each shoe before resuming at full speed. Sticks and rocks stabbed at her soles, but she could worry about foot vanity later.
Jenny and Kristen broke from the woods from a different point than they had entered. The back of the school lay ahead.
"Ohmigod!" Jenny rasped. "Were those--?"
"I don't know!" Kristen barked, words barely registering over her pounding heart and ragged breaths. "Just keep moving!"
They ran as fast as their legs and sub-par cardio would take them. From somewhere deep in the trees, a howl shredded the frigid night. Jenny yelped. She ran faster.
Heavy bass swelled as the girls neared the school...
Relief knifed through Kristen. It did nothing to soothe her scarred feet or burning lungs, but at least they were safe from...whatever that was back there that had attacked Derek. Kristen's eyes widened. Holy shit! Derek! They just ran and left him there! What if he--no. Wait. He's dead. He must be. No one could've survived the hit he took--could they? That Carly bitch knocked him through the trees and... Kristen started to choke up. Her steps slowed, retarded under the stress and gravity of what she and Jenny had just witnessed. Another person, brutally murdered--by something she thought only existed in legends and bad horror films.
Cutting through the courtyard, Kristen could almost make out the song that was playing when Jenny broke in a different direction. "Hey! Where are you going?" Kristen stopped and pointed. "The gym is this way!"
Jenny spun to her, threw a thumb over her shoulder. "Yeah! But the parking lot is this way!"
Kristen looked back at Jenny, stunned. "What about everybody else? We can't just leave them in there! We have to tell them!"
"Them? We're the ones they're trying to kill!"
"Jenny!" Kristen shrieked.
Jenny turned. Her eyes widened in horror.
Nelson leapt from a building and slammed to the ground a foot away from Jenny. He rose to his full, monstrous height, the transformation gifting him an extra foot of stature. Nelson raised an augmented hand; moonlight glinted off his cruel, curled claws. The air spliced as he ripped them from the heavens.
Jenny barely made a sound as her chest was torn open. She collapsed in a bloody heap on the soft, manicured grass.
"JENNY!" Kristen screamed, her ducts bursting with tears. She trembled uncontrollably as the moisture etched its way down her cheeks, her overworked lungs spasming. She was beside herself; grief tore at her wall of awareness, bringing it down and leaving Kristen unguarded and exposed. Which was perfect for Carly, whose mutated form--shorter and lither than Nelson's--loomed murderously behind her.
A cold shiver lanced Kristen's spine. She turned, barely getting an arm up before Carly slashed her. Kristen howled, dropping her shoes and clutch as she stumbled back. She fell to a knee, clutching her bloody, gashed forearm as her body convulsed from her sobs.
The monsters converged.
Kristen looked at Carly through glassy eyes. Every instinct commanded her to run, but her confidence had been shattered. What difference would it make? Where would she go? She could run as fast as humanly possible, and it still wouldn't be enough. Even if she made it to the gym, the creatures would surely follow, and then everyone there would be slaughtered. At least if she gave in now, accepted the inevitability of her demise, her killers would leave and she would have performed one final, noble act that would save untold lives before she joined Jenny in the hereafter.
Jenny. Fresh tears stained Kristen's dress along with the blood from her wounded arm. Her lips moved, a barely-audible apology. "I'm sorry, daddy."
Nelson moved for the kill, but something zipped from the stars and sank into the soil just shy of his foot--
A silver-tipped bolt. Nelson, Carly, and Kristen turned to the adjacent building.
Alex stood on the edge of the roof, crossbow to her face. "Heel."
There werewolves exchanged glances. Alex stepped over the edge, dropped to the ground two stories below, landing in a perfect three-point stance. She stood tall and eyed the beasts.
Carly made the first move. Alex fired another bolt as Carly charged, but the nimble creature slipped the projectile with astonishing speed, barreling into Alex and knocking the crossbow free. Alex used Carly's momentum against her and rolled onto her back, flipping Carly over her head and sending her crashing into the brick of the building.
Alex sprang to her feet as Carly recovered and threw back the right half of her duster to reveal her Bowie knife, sheathed on her thigh. She drew the blade and readied for the next attack.
Nelson saw his opportunity and went after Kristen, still on the ground. She shrieked and backed away, hands fumbling to find something--anything--she could use as a weapon.
"Please! Don't!" she begged, not sure if the monster could even understand her. Her pleas had no effect. Nelson drew closer. Closer still. He growled, low and deep, the rumbling sound penetrating Kristen's flesh and vibrating her bones. He gnashed his fangs.
Kristen's fingertips alighted on something hard.
Nelson pounced. Kristen swung up, smashing Nelson under his extended jaw with a fallen tree limb. He yelped, then slashed for Kristen's face. She screamed and dodged, dropping the branch in the process, but she seized it once more and thrust it between her and Nelson.
He slapped the branch away and snarled. Nelson came with a stabbing blow, but Kristen rolled to her side as his claws gouged the earth. She shimmied between his legs and scrambled on her hands and knees for the bolt Alex fired into the ground. It had saved her life once...
With any luck, it could do it again.
Nelson turned to give chase, and was on top of Kristen with just a few powerful strides. He clamped a hand on her shoulder, but Kristen spun--
Plunging the bolt into Nelson's neck. His saffron eyes shot wide and he stumbled back, unleashing an unearthly bellow.
Carly, dodging a slash from Alex's blade, glanced over. It was all the time Alex needed to slide two small knives from the bandoleer under her duster and hurl them at their target, piercing Carly below her breasts with a pair of faint slushes. Before Carly could cry out, Alex closed the ground between them and uncorked a spinning heel kick to Carly's jaw that knocked the beast back several feet. Carly staggered, then looked to the knives embedded in her torso. With a pained growl, she ripped them out and threw them aside.
"C'mon!" Alex yelled, brandishing the Bowie.
Carly shot her eyes to Nelson. He yanked the bolt from his neck and clutched the wound, stumbling away for the woods. Carly gave Alex one last look and followed suit.
Alex was about to go after them when--
"Jenny!"
Kristen was at her friend's body, on her knees, cradling Jenny's head. She sobbed uncontrollably.
Alex just stood there, watching Kristen. Something went back and forth in her head. Whatever the conflict was, it threatened to creep onto Alex's face before she banished it with a frustrated grunt and approached Kristen, removing a small, metal cannister from her duster and shaking it.
Kristen looked up at Alex with a million questions behind blood-shot eyes, but Alex didn't speak. She simply seized Kristen's arm, yanked it toward her, and sprayed her rent flesh with the cannister's contents.
"Ow! Hey! What are you doing?" Kristen cried. Her arm was on fire, but Alex's grip was unrelenting; she had no choice to wait until the woman was done. When Alex released her, Kristen pulled her arm to her face and examined her wounds. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but nothing was different. "What the hell was that stuff?"
"Salvation." Alex walked over and retrieved her crossbow. She strode to the discarded knives and picked them up. Looked them over.
The blood on the blades was viscous and black.
Kristen eyed Alex as she approached. She clutched Jenny tighter.
&nb
sp; The woman blew past them. "We'd better go. Won't be long before the cops arrive."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Kristen barked. "And I'm not leaving her!"
Alex stopped. Turned back. She glanced at Jenny's body, then to Kristen.
Chck-chck!
"You don't listen, do you?"
Alex sighed. Kristen's face fell.
Reverend Baines stood behind Alex, a double-barreled shotgun trained on her spine.
"Daddy," Kristen muttered. "I'm so sorry! I--"
"He's not talking to you," Alex said. "He's talking to me." Kristen's face twisted in confusion. Alex turned to Baines. "Hello, Richard."
FIVE
A gentle breeze caressed Alex's face as she leaned against a wall in the bell tower of Weeping Springs Baptist Church. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, enjoying the sensation, the stillness of the night. It had been so long since she allowed herself to do this, to relax, let her guard down, and let her thoughts and worries drift away while Mother nature did her thing. Alex wished she could do it more often, and she made certain to relish each fleeting, intermittent moment. She knew it wouldn't belong before her peace was torn to shreds.
"Look, I get it! I screwed up, and now my best friend's dead because out it! Don't you think I've been through enough?" Kristen's voice was as clear as if she were in the bell tower herself, but she wasn't. She wasn't even in the church below. She and her father were in the adjacent parsonage.
"Don't you dare take that tone with me, young lady! Go to your room!"
"Fine!"
Seconds later a door slammed, hard enough to startle a pair of birds out of the tree next to the home. Alex watched them flutter to safety. She turned her attention to the parsonage, where Baines, shotgun in hand, stormed out the front door and made a beeline for the church.
Alex looked into the night. Waited. Heavy steps plodded up the stairs below. Within moments, the trap door in the wooden, weathered floor flung open and Baines marched out onto the balcony. He joined Alex at the rail, heaved a sigh.
They looked out over the old mining town together.
"You were pretty hard on her, you know."
The Huntress (Lupus Moon Book One) Page 3
