by Terry Spear
Jared pulled up behind him and hurried to the truck. “Hey, man, you parked your truck half on the curb. I’ll repark it for you. Can you make it inside the house?”
When Jared pulled the door open, Hunter nearly fell out of the truck. Jared grabbed his uninjured arm and steadied him. “Jeez, this isn’t good. Despite what you say, we’ve got to tell your parents.”
“Dad’s still at work.”
“Well, your mom then.”
Hunter couldn’t even feel his feet taking the long journey to the front door, but no matter what, he didn’t want to worry his mother over nothing, or do a lot of explaining. “What took us so long?”
“On the drive home?” Jared helped Hunter up the front step. “First, you drove over the curb at the library. Probably knocked your wheels out of alignment. Then you were weaving all over the place. You went through three red signals and two stop signs without pausing at any of them. We were lucky there wasn’t much traffic and no cops.” Jared twisted the doorknob and hollered into the house. “Mrs. Ross?”
Dara came running to the door, her pigtails flopping. “Did you get my… jeez, what’s wrong with you, John?”
“Hunter,” he croaked out, sweat pouring off his brow.
“Get your mother, will you? Hunter got scratched by a wild cat.” Jared handed Dara the bag of library books, while he held onto Hunter’s good arm.
“Mom! Mom! John’s hurt!” Dara screeched, not moving an inch from where Hunter leaned precariously against the wall.
***
A strong antiseptic filled Hunter’s lungs with every ragged breath he took. Recognizing the smell, he assumed he was in the hospital as many times as he’d come here with his dad, hopeful he’d want to be a doctor, too. He wished sleep would take away the shooting pains in his arm and the ache from his head.
His mother’s voice penetrated the fog. “John, I’m taking Dara home to bed. Dad is examining a patient that just died, but once he’s through, he’ll see you.”
Opening his eyes, Hunter stared at his mother’s worried expression. She touched his cheek and flinched. “The nurse said the antibiotic should soon kick in. Animal control’s been contacted. They need to know what the wild cat looked like, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
Wild cat?
“Get your sleep, honey. I’ll be back first thing in the morning.”
His mother left and he closed his eyes. Wild cat? He couldn’t understand what she was talking about. Then the room swirled like a whirlpool, around and around until everything turned gray. The last vestige of light disappeared and a black hole sucked him in.
Hunter found the motel without any trouble and saw a flickering light on in Room 203. The demon was watching television? Probably enjoying all of the world’s troubles, natural and manmade. But as soon as Hunter summoned the portal, the Matusa opened the door and smiled at him. A merciless smile. He tilted his head to the side when he saw the gateway. The demon couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Did he think Hunter had been summoned? A demon couldn’t open a portal. At least not a full demon. Thankfully, other demons could see only his demon half and not his human existence. It gave him the advantage when they thought he was one of them.
But the demon probably couldn’t understand where the summoner was that brought Hunter here. No dead bodies, nothing.
Then the girl appeared like a breath of fresh air, quiet, innocent, one of the weaker demons, but not by much. As far as he could recall, the Kubiteron were only one notch down in strength from the Matusa. But they did not kill like the Matusa. Thankfully, Hunter’s human side sought to control that dark part of himself.
Her eyes widened when he caught her attention, then she vanished, like a puff of mist blown away on a windy Texas day.
Somehow, he had to find her and send her back to her world. Someone had to have summoned her and was keeping her hostage.
Had she come to him, seeking his help? He chided himself. All other demons were afraid of the Matusa. She would never have approached him willingly.
His mind hazy, Hunter chanted the words: “Stirrus, Demononus, Seplichus, Protinalium, Horrita.”
The portal opened, a blue-green light filled the room, and a wind tugged at his stiff, white bed sheets.
The girl with the golden hair and jade eyes appeared again. He stared at her while she observed the portal. Turning her attention to him, her lips parted. He’d summoned her? He had to be hallucinating.
He looked back at the gateway. Was she drawn to the portal? Did she want to go home? He had to find out where she was being held prisoner, but his mouth felt like cotton, and he couldn’t form the words.
Her gaze focused on his injured arm, but shifted to his face, still beaded in sweat.
“You’re sick.” Her words sounded surreal, airy and sweet, almost as if no words had been spoken at all. “Where’s the other one?” she whispered, and he could hear the tremble in her voice.
Hoping to convince her he meant to help her return to her world, he opened his mouth to speak again, but the words failed him.
She tilted her head to the side. “Did he hurt you?”
Again, Hunter tried to speak, but he cursed his vocal chords for not working.
She stood taller and raised her chin. “You will join the other, Matusa.” Her words were posed as a threat.
He would have smiled, if he’d had the strength. Wondering why the portal was open, he quickly closed it. The girl vanished.
***
Alana paced across her guest bedroom, wishing the opening of a portal wouldn’t draw her astral form. The injured Matusa had wanted to speak to her, but he didn’t realize he was in a dreamlike state. He didn’t seem to wish her any animosity, but then again, that’s the way the Dark Ones often played the game. Quiet, calm, and deadly. They had no need for horror-style theatrics.
“I can hear you pacing. Go to sleep,” her uncle ordered telepathically.
“Did you put the extra protective spells on the house?”
Silence.
“I can’t sleep if they’re not there.”
Uncle Stephen grunted. A few minutes later, his bedroom door opened, then the floorboards creaked as he stalked past her bedroom.
Half an hour later, he returned to his bedroom and slammed the door. “Go to sleep!”
“Thank you.”
But an hour later, her astral form stood in the Matusa’s hospital room again, the portal glowing brightly.
His face was contorted with pain and his cheeks flushed with fever. She touched his forehead, and he opened his eyes. They grew round.
“You have to close the portal, Matusa.”
Uncomprehending, he stared at her.
She motioned to the portal. “You have to close it. It keeps bringing me here.” She hadn’t meant to say that. She guessed she was so tired, her thoughts were too jumbled to think straight. But then a queer thought crossed her mind. Demons weren’t able to open portals. How did he manage to do so?
If they could now open it at will, the human population was doomed.
Chapter 5
“Today, so you don’t wake me again in the middle of the night to add protective spells to the house, we’ll work on some. Besides, I can’t afford for you to break any more of my dishes, so we’ll forgo the levitation practice.” Uncle Stephen showed no emotion as he stood before Alana in the living room.
Was he truly upset with her? Her mom would have been.
“You were the one who insisted on using breakable objects. We could have levitated pillows.” Alana raised her chin.
Ignoring her comment, her uncle started the new lesson. “First, you weave the spell with your hands thus and so, and say the chant at the same time. This will fortify a brick house into a walled castle. Though anyone will see the house as a brick two-story home, unless he attempted to break-in, then he will see an impenetrable stone castle.”
“How will I know if I cast the spell right?”
He gave her a small smile as if she were a kindergartner. She couldn’t help it that her mom wasn’t big into protective spells. “You will see whatever spell you cast.”
She practiced several times, the first time only getting half a stone wall, the rest in shambles as if a cannon had blown it to smithereens. The next time the wall went up in the form of bricks, not stone. Exasperated, she tried a few more times and finally got the spell right.
“Next, we’ll try growing briars to cover the walls. The thorn tips are poisonous, causing severe itching, swelling, and burning. No man or beast can get through that stuff.”
“But it’s not real.”
“Ye of little faith, Alana. If we cast the spell and someone gets into it, they’ll feel it.”
Without any trouble, Alana grew brambles all over the castle walls, making an impenetrable barrier. She smiled at her uncle.
“Good, it appears you have an aptitude for plants. You may make an outstanding healer.”
Great. What she needed were fighting skills if she was to protect herself from the Matusa.
“The other is a water barrier. We will surround the castle with shark-infested waters. Again,” he quickly added when she opened her mouth to speak, “to the intruder, he will suddenly be immersed in the briny sea and believe me, the shark is very real to him and a great deterrent.”
It wasn’t exactly what she had in mind as far as an attack spell, but for protection it might come in handy. After several attempts, she finally managed a small, reed-filled pond. No sharks though. Not even a tiny water moccasin for show. This was totally hopeless.
Her uncle shook his head. “You’re definitely not a water mage.”
Weren’t teachers supposed to be supportive? What kind of encouragement was that?
After practicing the protective spells, they took a break to have lunch. Cutting up the pepperoni pizza, her uncle slid a spatula under one and dropped it on Alana’s plate. “How do you feel about your training? Learning anything worthwhile?” He sat across from her at the long oak table.
“The protective spells will help. But I want you to keep on guard. I’m afraid a Matusa or even a couple of the Dark Ones will be after me before long.”
“While you’re living with me, I don’t want to hear about this.”
He was going to hear about it, whether he believed her or not. She wanted her uncle to know what they were up against. “One Matusa demon hurt another, although I didn’t think they ever fought one another.” Alana lifted her pizza off her plate. “He’s in the hospital.”
Her uncle shook his head and poured parmesan cheese on his slice of pizza.
“Why don’t we run over there and check it out?” she asked cheerfully, hoping her uncle would at least humor her.
“How do you know a demon is at the hospital?” he suddenly asked, his blue eyes spearing her.
She shrugged. “Somehow my mind transports me there. I don’t know how, but I think I know why. Every time someone summons a portal to the demon world, I find myself standing near it, but only if the portal is close by. Anyway, the demon was burning up with fever and kept opening the gateway by accident, I think.”
Uncle Stephen stroked his red beard. “If you’re done with your lunch, we’ll practice personal protection spells.”
“What about the demon?”
“What about him?”
“Shouldn’t we go see him? So you know I’m telling the truth?”
“Several hospitals are located in the Dallas area. Do you know which one he’s at? Do you know his name?”
She grabbed her plate and her uncle’s and shoved them in the dishwasher. “No. All I know is what he and his room look like.”
“Then we’ll return to our lessons.”
“You don’t believe me, do you?” She couldn’t help the way her voice elevated, her temper rising. She missed being able to talk to her mother about this. Even though her mother didn’t have any good advice as to what to do. But at least she didn’t act as though Alana was crazy.
“I haven’t seen your eyes turn red once.”
“I haven’t gotten angry enough.” But if her uncle kept it up, she was certain she could show him flaming red eyes enough to convince him.
When they moved to the living room, her uncle asked, “Do you know how to cast the repel spell?”
“Yes, basic witch spell to keep a bully from manhandling us.”
“Another is more aggressive.”
“An attack spell? All right!”
“We don’t learn attack spells. This is strictly for defense.”
In disbelief, Alana stared at her uncle. “What do you mean we don’t learn attack spells? What good are protection spells if a Matusa demon wants to kill me?”
“Witches and warlocks do not need attack spells. If they learned them, someone could anger them to the point they might kill the individual without even thinking. We use protective spells only. Or other spells that help us in our work or daily lives. But nothing of an aggressive nature.”
This was not going to work. If she couldn’t learn any attack skills, she didn’t figure she’d live more than a few minutes in the Baltimore demon’s presence. As far as she knew, they left no witnesses alive.
“This spell is a combination of repel and push. Not only is the threat repelled like two positive sides of magnets that can’t touch, it gives an extra shove, so the would-be assailant will be pushed back a few feet. Several, depending on how strong your aura is in that field. The spell can be quite effective. Believe me, if a mugger tries to grab your purse and you use that on him, he’ll think twice about trying it again.”
“I doubt the Matusa demon will find it that frightening,” she mumbled under her breath.
For the first time, her uncle had her cast the basic spell to see how strong she was. But when she attempted the advanced spell, she heard the whoosh of the portal to the demon world opening. Before she could block the astral displacement, she returned to the hospital room where the sickly Matusa was still confined to bed.
He grinned at her, his electric blue eyes sparkling like the devil, but his cheeks were still flushed with fever. “See?” He turned to another boy she hadn’t noticed until now.
His hair was long and dark and his eyes the same color as the shell of a Brazilian nut, but he wasn’t a Matusa. He stared at her in awe.
“I told you, Jared. All I have to do is open the portal, and she’s at my beck and call.”
She whipped around and glowered at the Matusa demon, certain her eyes glowed red now.
***
Jared looked the Kubiteron female up and down. “But she’s not here, physically.” He glanced down at his laptop. “That’s why I can’t see her signature. I’ve never heard of anyone doing something like this. But she looks as real as you or me.”
“She’s a Kubiteron demon, right?” Hunter asked, aggravated they couldn’t figure her out, though some of his anger resulted from the pain slicing through his body.
“Yeah, she is.”
“A Kubiteron?” Her green eyes widened.
Jared’s gaze shifted to Hunter. “Why wouldn’t she know what she is?” Before Hunter could comment, Jared shook his head and considered the girl again. “She’s talking. I mean, just like she was here.”
“Yeah, I told you she talked to me before.” He groaned when another ripple of torture coursed through his nerves.
“You’re an Elantus,” she said, staring at Jared.
“Yep.” He took a small bow.
“Where is your summoner?”
The smile faded from Jared’s face. “Kubiterons are supposed to have innate healing capabilities, Hunter. You’re a Matusa. Make her heal you.”
She folded her arms. “I won’t heal one who would kill or enslave me.”
“He’s not the enslaver type, and he’s only killed two Matusa demons in self-preservation,” Jared said defensively.
She turned her attention to Hunter. He clenched his teeth against another wa
ve of pain. Knowing the wickedness of full Matusa demons, he assumed the poison the other inflicted on him would make him live a lingering, painful death.
“How did it happen?” she asked.
“He was trying to send the demon back to his world,” Jared answered for Hunter.
“So that he had no competition in this world?”
Hunter grunted. “She will not help.”
“Force her to, Hunter. If I could, I would. You’re all this world has for protection if we’re going to fight against the Dark Ones.”
“Ha! He is one of the evil Dark Ones!”
“That’s why, Kubiteron, he is needed here.”
“You would defend him to the death, being that you’re his slave.”
Jared shook his head. “Make her do your will, before you’re too sick to compel her to do anything.”
Hunter took a deep settling breath. The only time he’d forced a lesser demon to do anything was to break the bond she’d had with her summoner so he could send her back to her world and freedom. Her screams and sobs still made him doubt himself to this day.
But this was different. The urge to live precluded any other reasoning. “You will use your abilities to heal me, Kubiteron.” He reached his mind out to coerce her to draw closer. His mind hit a barrier and in the next instant, he flew from the bed and landed on his backside on the cold linoleum floor nearly making him pass out.
Jared ran to help Hunter. “What happened?”
“She used some kind of protection spell,” he spit out. Hunter’s body burned like he’d been dumped into a pot of boiling five-alarm chili and renewed streaks of pain shot through his arm.
Once Jared helped him back to bed, he punched away at his keyboard. “No, no demon can cast a protection spell that powerful against a Matusa. That’s what it says.”
“Well, she did! You don’t think I fell out of bed on my own, do you?” Hunter growled.
Jared snorted. “You flew from the bed. You didn’t just fall.”
“What…” Hunter watched the girl move closer to Jared.
