by Derek Adam
It wouldn’t be difficult to get back to the cabins. A few miles were nothing compared to how far I’d tracked through the Canadian wilderness the last week.
Over a week. I was long overdue for checking in, at least in my mind. They didn’t give me requirements, or a curfew. I proved to the council decades ago that I was to be left to the task as I saw fit, and things were always handled.
I’d just never had a hunt like this turn into an extended trip.
The scent of filth grew as the wind picked up. It reminded me of Egypt, and the volume of trash that collected along the ground and the fences around the pyramids.
Why would Luca leave me in such a place?
No matter. It’s done, and I can continue on without the distraction.
Bella squatted in the grass with intense concentration in her face. Her head turned as light slid across us, and I followed her movement, spotting Luca’s truck as it bounced slowly over the broken pavement of the motel’s parking lot toward us.
*****
“You’re up early!” His face looked tired as he approached, but he was smiling still. I was happy to see him. Happy that I had been wrong about being left behind. He strolled toward me with two large cups in his hands. “I wasn’t sure how you took your coffee… or… if you even drank it. I just ordered two of what I like, in case you’re one of those froofy tea drinkers.”
“Oh no, give me that right now.” I reached for it at the same time he held it up, plucking the disposable travel cup from his grasp. I could feel the heat of the coffee penetrating into my palms and I wrapped my hands tighter around it, bringing it to my face to inhale the scent deeply.
My eyes closed and I sighed at the aroma.
I may not have to consume a thing, but I was nothing short of addicted to coffee and I’d been without it for too long already. I kept my eyes closed and I sipped from it.
Oh, he didn’t.
“You drink mocha latte also.” I sagged my shoulders and sighed. It was the best thing I’d tasted in days.
“Yup. Mocha latte, with just a wee touch extra cream and sugar. Always have to get it when I get this far north. It’s Canadian, so you don’t find too many here in the U.S. once you get away from the border.” He grinned as I took a longer pull from the cup, practically chugging it. “It’s good shit, right?”
“Oh my God, it is. Thank you so much.”
“How’d you sleep?”
“Uh…” I scoffed and lifted my brow, ticking my head to side. “Terribly, actually.” I took another sip from the coffee, wanting to cherish the flavor and make it last a bit longer.
“Yeah, Oliver’s place isn’t the most comfortable… or clean. I’m sorry about that.”
“No, it was just a bad dream.” I smiled at him as Bella walked up next to me. Luca took a sip from his cup, only to be interrupted by her standing up on her hind legs and putting her front paws to his chest. His coffee slopped and splashed, and he staggered. I jumped a bit and sucked my breath in, the dream suddenly coming back to me.
But Luca laughed, holding his cup out of her reach. His other hand rubbed at her head, her tail wagging as her nose worked toward his cup.
He was grinning at her until he looked at me and his brow furrowed. “Are you alright?”
“She just startled me.”
“Really?!” He gave her a furious rub between her ears and she plopped back down to the ground, sitting between us. “Must have been some dream, with how chill you were yesterday, for that to startle you.”
“You could say that.”
“Do you want to get something to eat and talk about it?”
“No. No, thank you. I mean, I’m not hungry. I would rather get moving soon, if we could.” I felt like I was babbling but I couldn’t seem to control my tongue. My mouth just kept going, despite being acutely aware of my rambling. “You can eat, if you want to. I can go with you and you can eat, is what I mean. You don’t have to… rush off for me.”
“Uh huh… Well, no worries. I figured you would wanna run right back into hell, so I came prepared with donuts.” He thumbed over his shoulder as he turned, heading back to the truck. “C’mon, I’ll get my things ready.”
I watched him walk toward the truck and glanced down at Bella. Without hesitation, she was trotting after him, falling in just a few paces behind, with her ears high, tail wagging slowly, and her nails clicking on the pavement.
Never, in all our years together, have I seen her behave that way with anyone.
Luca looked down at her and grinned before he glanced back to me, knocking his head to the side with a quirked brow.
“You comin’?”
*****
Sutter and Virgil were sitting cross-legged, facing one another, up on the bunk, intently focused on each other’s hands as Sutter counted.
They were playing ‘rock paper scissor’. Luca set his cup on the desk and glanced at me as he crossed over to the cabinets and drawers. He noticed me watching them as he pulled a deep drawer open.
“They’ll be at that for hours, if I let them. Can you hand me that pack?” He pointed past me, to a red and black backpack slung on a hook. I passed it back to him as I took another sip of the coffee.
“Horsepiss! You’re a cheating cunnie!” Sutter spit at Virgil and slid from the bunk, hopping down to us. “Lil’ scammin’ penis wrink- oh.”
I watched him pause as he saw me, and his eyes darted around to look anywhere but at my face. He tipped his hat toward me and bowed a little.
“Good morning, Sutter.”
“Ma’am.” He kept his head bowed as he walked past and plopped down with a quiet huff on the edge of the truck, letting his feet dangle out the open back door.
Luca glanced at him with an arched brow, then to me with a wink. “Sutter loses a lot.”
“He’s a cheater!” Sutter barked loudly, sitting with his back to us.
“You can’t cheat at this game, Sutter. It is quite simply a game of strategy and reading your opponent.”
“Shut up, nerd!”
“I have been studying you for decades. I know exactly how you play, and the combinations you use, and in what order you use them.”
“Exactly! You’re a filthy cheater!”
“Leave him alone, Virgil,” Luca interjected, forcing an eye roll from Virgil, as he quietly settled onto the desk chair, making a motion like a key locking his mouth.
Luca sorted through multiple open drawers and was plucking out some equipment, placing it into the backpack. A few items were clipped to his belt.
I watched him move to a locker, opening it and withdrawing what looked like a bullet proof vest, with additional pockets and pouches.
He followed that up with removing an old leather gun belt, that he strapped on. It was identical to the one Sutter was wearing, with a revolver tucked into the holster that hung low on his right hip.
“You planning to go to war today?”
Luca chuckled as he put the belt on, then fussed with the straps of the vest. “It’s just easier to carry some things. I should have taken my stuff in with me yesterday.”
“And the gun?” I sipped at the coffee again, then took a longer drink. It was cooling quickly, and I wasn’t a fan of lukewarm java.
“What… you’re the only one that gets a gun?”
“Just seems a bit out of style.”
“Oh, it’s got some age to it.” Luca slapped the revolver on his hip before moving back to the bag. “It was my grandfather’s. Well, first it was Sutter’s. Then it was my grandfather’s.”
“That’s why they’re here.” I looked between Sutter and Luca. “He’s haunting his belongings.”
“Yup. Willingly, though. I’ve tried many times to get him to cross over. I gave up eventually. He likes it here.”
“We made a promise,” Virgil said matter-of-factly, one leg crossed over the other as he sat with his arms folded. “To his grandfather.”
“He was like you, then. Your grandfather. He could
see them?”
“Not until he was much older, or so he said. After he came back from the war, he said things were different. He didn’t go into detail, but he told me enough.”
“When did you see them?”
“Sutter was the first. He went walking through the living room during my fourteenth birthday. I watched Grandpa and him make eye contact, and then Grandpa saw me watching ’em. Sat me down that night and told me all about these two.”
I finished the coffee and looked around for a place to put the empty cup. Luca held a hand out and took it from me, opening a low cupboard to throw it into a small garbage can. He stood and opened a drawer, removing an antiquated pocket watch and holding it up to show me.
“This is Virgil’s.” He smiled and tucked it into one of the zippered pockets of the vest.
“So you can travel with them.”
“Right on.” Luca smiled and opened a few more bins, rifling around as he continued to tell me his story. Sutter was still sitting quietly on the back end of the truck, but his mood had improved, I was assuming.
Bella was sitting right next to him and looking at him. He was whispering quietly to her with a smile on his face, making her head cock to one side. He would pause when he said something, then excitedly whisper to her again, and her head would jump to the side in curiosity.
It was endearing, and it warmed me to see that. Bella didn’t spend time around other people, living or dead. At least not in close enough proximity to socialize like that.
Most of what we dealt with was either supposed to be dead, or not of this world. When we did get back to the council, it was only long enough to discuss the next hunt on the list.
That was even less frequent in recent years, with all this technology. Telephones reduced some of the travel back to Europe, and the expansion of the council into the States during the 80’s, along with recent broadband technology and video chat… it had been something like seventy years since I’d been to Berlin.
Just after the war.
It had been something like ten years since we had been to see the council in Michigan. I imagine I’d be back to them soon after all of this. The dryad alone was enough to warrant a longer meeting in person.
Luca told me about his grandfather’s work with Sutter and Virgil, basically doing what he does now. Though my attention was split between him and watching Sutter with Bella, the last bit caught my attention.
“What is it exactly that you do now? You mentioned ghost investigation, but you seem a bit more… tactical.”
“Yup!” Luca pulled a few small glass vials from a drawer and shook them, the clear water swirling inside, before tucking them into a pocket on his vest. “Grandpa was more of a researcher, I guess. I study when needed, but a lot of what I do is… cleansing and hunting.”
“You’re a ghostbuster.” I smirked at him and he nodded with a big grin, his cheeks reddening with slight embarrassment. I had caught some of his cinema references when we met the previous day, and had a feeling he would respond to movie chatter. I hadn’t intended for him to be ashamed though, or feel like I was making light of it.
“Yeah, I suppose you could say that. Same for you then, tree killer?” He returned the backpack to the hook on the wall and grabbed his coffee as he moved past me, toward the door of the truck.
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“But you work for someone, right? Everyone works for someone. We’re not out here doing this because it’s fun.”
I followed him out of the truck, thinking on my response. Bella jumped down with me and Luca snatched the strap of the door, dragging it closed with him as he jumped down.
He shut the door on Sutter, leaving a pair of booted legs dangling through to the outside. Sutter muffled a quiet curse and dragged them back inside the truck.
It was never a topic of discussion with anyone. Ever. Not with anyone outside the council. I’d had some limited discussions with the men who had come into my life, to one degree or another, but not much.
Other people wouldn’t understand.
But then again, I’d never met anyone like Luca, who shared my ability to see across the veil; who could communicate the way he did.
“I do work for someone.” It was a complicated subject that I had no clue how to explain. I’d never even considered having to explain it to someone.
I was expressly forbidden from discussing it anyhow, so I didn’t turn over any more than that.
Ask me.
I was expecting Luca to dig deeper and ask more questions.
I wanted him to.
“Well, alright then.” He winked as he walked to the cab of the truck. “Let’s get it done, so you can get your answers and I can get paid.”
Chapter 10 – Luca
It was still early. Early enough that the roads were clear of traffic.
This used to be my favorite time of day when I lived here. All the typical traffic that clogged the Canadian border was pretty tame right now. It would pick up fast. By 7:30 or so, you’d think there was some major event.
I had the open road to myself now, though, riding the gradual turns and curves north from town, as it carved a path through the hills and massive trees. At any given time, one side of the road or the other was practically a sheer rock face.
Summer in the hills and low mountains was damn beautiful, but there was nothing like driving these roads in the dead of winter. When a blanket of glittering snow rested on everything, with big fat flakes slowly falling in the middle of the night… that was bliss.
Other people flocked to the area for skiing, hunting, and countless outdoor activities.
I usually came back home just to see the snow. I was more interested in visiting these winding roads than the people, so I wasn’t used to being here during the warmer months.
It was… nice.
Bella was sitting between us on the bench seat, her eyes squinting in no particular direction, mouth open and panting loudly.
Each time I moved my donut toward my mouth to take a bite, she would immediately close her mouth and zero in on it with laser focus, watching the treat head for my face.
Her ears would pop up and her head went sideways as I took a bite. When I put it back in the bag on the dashboard, she would return to relaxed panting.
“At least she’s not trying to swipe it from me.” I noticed Emma had been watching. She smirked at the comment.
“She would in a heartbeat. She loves donuts. And everything else she can get in her mouth.”
There was a muffled “Bowchicawowow” from Sutter in the back of the truck.
“Can she have one?”
Emma had glanced over her shoulder at nothing in particular, as if she could see Sutter through the back wall of the cab. “Sure.”
Bella seemed to understand the discussion. Her ears went erect again and her panting increased in intensity, as she rolled her head toward Emma.
I plucked another of the glazed donuts from the nondescript white bag. The crinkling of the paper made her go rigid. Her eyes locked on me again.
My hand raised as if I was going to eat it, and her eyes followed it. This time, she leaned in a little, her head nudging toward it.
“She’s not gonna take my finger with it, is she?”
“You hold out on her, or tease, and she just might.”
I laughed and passed it to Bella, trying to keep my eyes focused on both the road and her while I drove. She snapped the donut up quickly, and I felt her teeth on my fingers, forcing me to jerk my hand back quickly.
“Whoa!” I checked my hand, wiggling my fingers. Bella devoured the treat in seconds. I don’t think she even bothered chewing. She sat up and looked at me again, her face perfectly still.
She was waiting for the next one.
I looked to Emma and she shrugged, so I pulled out the half-eaten donut I had left. Bella followed my hand and I tossed it up toward her. Her teeth snapped together as she caught it in the air.
I rubbed the top of Bella
’s head, my fingers scratching through the thick soft fur into her scalp. I smiled and saw that Emma was watching me again. She thumbed over her shoulder. “So, you bring them with you for protection?”
“Nope. I bring ’em because they’re delicious. I’m glad I bought a couple extra.”
“No… Luca, the spirits. Sutter and Virgil.”
“I know what you meant.” I smirked and looked at her, but she didn’t really respond to the joke. That meant I was gonna have to try a little harder. “But yeah, roundabouts. Sutter helps me in that department. Virgil is my brains.”
“What got you involved in all of this?”
I must have been asked that questions from every person who found out I was a paranormal investigator. At least the ones who didn’t laugh in my face or compare me to the hacks on television.
My response was memorized and practiced to precision; I’d recited countless times about how fascinating paranormal was. That I was driven by the desire to help people dealing with spirits, demons, or whatever they chose to call the things that would sometimes manifest and cross the veil.
Very few people knew the truth about my gift. Those who did know, like Hitch, had very little in the way of details.
No one knew what I was capable of. Not even Grandpa. I wanted to tell him before he passed, but I just couldn’t figure out how to take the conversation in that direction.
I just never wanted him to judge me for being ‘different’.
Imagine the sheer terror if people knew that I could ‘do magic’. Not street entertainment magic. Not card tricks. Not illusions.
I didn’t even know the full scope of it. Virgil has been working with me for years, helping me read and understand old books.
It was dark shit. There weren’t love spells, or hand waving that made plants grow and flowers bloom. I couldn’t wipe a thunderstorm from the sky to reveal the sun, or heal someone by laying my hands on them.
No, I was tapping into something else that never sat right with me, but it served a purpose. Because of that, I used it sparingly, and practiced to control it.
