“A…”
“An ogre.”
“Ah. So his girlfriend, maybe? Why isn’t he going off to find her?”
“Because he can’t leave his job for long enough to get to New York.”
“Ah.”
“Do fairies become hunters and all of that jazz?” I ask.
“No. Not typically. We prefer to stick to our own.”
I glance around the bar that is teeming with all kinds of non-fairies.
She laughs. “Not so much my family. We aren’t exactly ‘normal.’”
“Hey, neither am I.”
A good night's sleep, a huge meal for energy, and armed heavily, I'm all ready to use the travel dust. The same pulling sensation overwhelms me, and I open my eyes to find myself near Kaaterskill Falls. There's plenty of places for hikers, but I watch the water. The waterfall is two-tiered, and right now, so early in the morning that no one else is around, it's so utterly peaceful.
And so utterly not at all like my life.
I shove the thought aside and scrutinize the place. There are signs of a ton of people coming this way, which means the bogeyman wouldn’t. Maybe he’s at the midway point of the waterfall.
Quickly, I do some climbing. Along the way, I spy a lot of mud, and through the trees, I might be able to see a mud house. False alarm. It’s just a muddy boulder.
Undeterred, I head back. Inside the waterfall is a cave, and I make my way inside.
“Ruka?” I whisper.
All the way to the back I go, and I finally see an ogre. She's entirely bound from head to foot, so much so that I can't see any bit of clothing. She's not pink, though, more of a gray color, and there are tiny specks of color beneath her eyes.
Ah. That’s how the bogeyman overwhelmed her. He out-magicked her.
A flash of my dagger has her freed, and she almost falls on top of me. She's been wasting away. The bogeyman hasn't been feeding her much at all, if anything.
I hand her a potion, and she just looks at me.
“Azir sent me,” I mouth. I don’t see the bogeyman anywhere, but he’s bound to be lurking about if he’s not hibernating.
Her eyes widen, and she drinks the potion. Once every drop is consumed, she crushes the vial.
“Where is he?” she asks.
I shrug. “Don’t look at me.”
Her jaw drops, and she begins to shudder.
I turn around, and I see a monstrous shadow. The bogeyman. He takes a few steps forward, and I can see his sharp teeth, talons and claws, his horns. His skin is orange, his eyes huge and bulging, and he is entirely hideous.
But then, right before my eyes, he changes, his features melting and shifting and reforming until he looks just like my brother did when I found him dead.
A wild scream bursts out of me, and I race toward the bogeyman. I slash and slice, but he’s swift, evading each blow. His arm is long, super long, and he snatches my throat and lifts me off the ground.
With two hands, I grab my hilt and shove it as deep into his arm as I can.
He doesn’t care and just squeezes my throat that much tighter.
Ruka comes flying over. She snatches a dagger from my boot and stabs the bogeyman straight in the eye.
Again, he’s unfazed.
The ogre growls and stabs the bogeyman everywhere and anywhere. Without warning, she tosses me the dagger. I catch it and use both to make “X” slashes against the bogeyman’s throat.
That’s what it takes for him to release me. I land on my feet, and I go to strike him.
He now looks like my dad.
No. It’s not real. Dad isn’t trying to kill me.
It’s such a twisted thing to do, but the bogeyman keeps changing his appearance every time I strike him. My brother. My sister-in-law. My dad. My mom. Vinca. Aeden. Even Azir and Darius. Everyone I’ve met practically, including the alpha of the Blood Moon pack and other enemies.
Ruka is attacking him just as hard and vicious as I am, using a morning star and a mace. She must've found the weapons the bogeyman confiscated from her.
But no matter what we do, nothing seems to affect it. I don’t have any magic on me, nothing to attack at least. Do ogres have magic?
“This isn’t working,” I mutter.
“What are you seeing?” Ruka asks out of the corner of her mouth.
“Friends, family members, enemies… You?”
“He’s just a lump of human flesh.”
I risk glancing at her. “Um, I couldn’t have heard you right.”
“I’ll explain later.”
“Okay.” I draw out the word.
"Ogres used to have a fierce appetite for human flesh. We've evolved to the point that we don't anymore, but I've always been afraid that I'll be some kind of mutant freak and one day wake up craving it."
Her worst fear.
Whereas mine is all of my family and friends dead and all of my worst enemies alive again.
“Maybe we have to…” I whisper in her ear.
She nods.
The bogeyman isn’t entirely physical. Well, it is, but there’s a serious mental aspect to the creature.
To beat it, we have to face our fears.
I hold out my arm and pull back my sleeve.
Ruka grimaces, but when I nod reassuringly, she bites my arm. Immediately, she jerks back.
“Ew, you’re all sweaty,” she says. She sticks out her tongue.
“Well, excuse me, but I wasn’t planning on being eaten today.”
Her eyes widen. “It’s working,” she murmurs.
My turn.
I have to accept that my parents are dead, my brother, his wife… As for my enemies, all of the ones he’s showing me I killed already. Am I supposed to feel guilty? I guess, maybe, for some of them, I do. I don’t always look into who I’m killing. Only for some of them do I know why I’m asked to kill them in the first place. I’ve also turned over some even though I suspected the client might kill them.
I’m not just a bounty hunter.
I’m an assassin, a paid one.
My parents would not be proud of me.
The realization causes my chest to tighten, and I stare at the bogeyman. At the moment, he looks like both of my parents. Through tear-laden lashes, I watch as the bogeyman reassumes his real form.
Ruka nods to me, and we attack again. This time, each scrape with the dagger, each blow from her morning star all wound him. He tries to block our blows with his arms, to yank our weapons out of hands, but he's not quick enough. We dart in, strike, and then move out on an angle, constantly circling, always looking for signs of weaknesses. Blood flows from his wounds, making his clothes stick to him. At least, I think it's clothes. He's hard to see. It's almost as if he creates shadows, but that's not possible.
It’s Ruka who gets the final blow. Her mace smashes against the side of his head, and even the bogeyman can’t come back from that.
She yanks her mace free, and the bogeyman collapses to the ground. “What do you say we get out of here?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Chapter 19
Fortunately, I have enough travel dust to get us both back to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, that’s the last of it. Oh, well. I’ve gotten this far without it. I’ll manage without it again, although I think I’m going to start including the cost of transportation in all future out-of-state cases. Then again, Pennsylvania is a wide state. Maybe all future cases then.
Once we arrive, we’re standing in front of Ye Ole Chestplate. Time must work differently in the bogeyman’s cave because I swear we had only fought him for a few hours, but it’s nighttime already.
“Are you up for some food and drink?” I ask.
“Definitely, but first, thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.”
“It doesn’t matter if you were paid to come get me. Thank you. You laid your life on the line for me, and that’s not something I’m going to forget.”
“Ruka, seriously. Don’t worry about
it.”
“I’m buying tonight, Rebel.”
I grin. “Word really is spreading about me, huh?”
“Yes.”
"Everyone thinks I'm crazy."
“Yes.”
Amused, I shrug. “I guess that’s a compliment.”
We laugh and enter the bar. Vinca isn’t working tonight, and—surprise, surprise—I don’t see Aeden here either. Maybe they’re off doing some wedding planning. They seem genuinely happy together, and I wish them the very best.
There’s a small booth available toward the back, and we quickly claim it. A waiter who’s an orc comes over immediately to take our order. We order a bunch of appetizers, and then I ask for us to be given whatever drinks Hudol wants to whip up.
“He’s never disappointed me,” I inform Ruka. “Oh, I don’t even know if you’ve ever been here before.”
“Never,” she says, “but it seems like a hopping place. I’m just glad they let you in here.”
“Me too.”
To our surprise, our drinks aren’t brought over by the orc but by Azir and Darius.
Azir is overjoyed, spills Ruka's drink on her, and crams in to sit beside her. I scoot over as close to the wall as possible. It's not as if I think Darius has cooties. I'm twenty-one, not twelve. I just don't know why he unsettles me so much.
“What happened?” Azir asks.
“The bogeyman is not easy to face,” Ruka says. “The closer I came to finding his lair, the more he infiltrated my dreams, turning them into nightmares. I thought I was beginning to go crazy. Then, I finally find him, and he…”
“You don’t have to tell me what he looked like,” Azir says.
“I’ll tell you later,” she murmurs, glancing at Darius.
I look between the two. “Do you all know each other?”
Azir grins, but his gaze never wavers from Ruka. “Yes. We all went to the academy together.”
“Of course.”
“How does one defeat a bogeyman?” Darius asks. “They’re so rare nowadays that they didn’t even teach us how to defeat one.”
“They should’ve,” Ruka mutters.
"We have to face our fears," I explain. "Before then, we were attacking him, shoving daggers into him, but he wasn't bleeding, wasn't hurt. Only after we accepted our fears did he start to bleed and then die."
“And your greatest fear?” Darius asks me.
I clasp my hands to my heart in the most melodramatic way possible. “That I’ll never see you again. Oh, dear, but if we part, I do not think I could bear the sweet sorrow!”
Darius just grins.
I roll my eyes. “Like I’m going to tell you.”
“Keep your secret.”
“Secrets,” I say, stressing the “s.”
“How utterly mysterious,” he teases.
Why does it feel as if he said charming instead of mysterious?
I shift my back, trying to get comfortable in the booth. Why couldn’t we have sat at a table with chairs? Why couldn’t the booth have been larger?
“I was so worried,” Azir is saying.
“I never meant to make you worried, but it was only for a day,” she says.
“A day?” Azir shakes his head. “A lot longer than that.”
Ruka frowns, and faint lines appear on her forehead. Her red hair tumbles over her shoulder as she asks, “What’s the date?”
Her face falls, and her shoulders slump when he tells her.
“That long? But it felt so short.”
“All that matters is that you’re here, and you’re safe, and—wow, did you two order a lot of food!” Azir’s jaw drops.
Ruka and I laugh, and we invite the guys to eat up. In between bites, we continue to talk. More accurately, they continue to talk, and I start to listen more.
“I’m surprised you’re out here,” Azir says to Darius.
Darius grimaces. “I was in the neighborhood.” He glances at me.
“He lives in Harrisburg.”
“You do? Since when?” Azir asks.
I lift my eyebrows.
“Most paranormal executioners don’t bother to buy homes,” Azir explains. “We’re on the move so much that it’s not really worthwhile. I mean, there are some who have families, so having a house is smart, but…”
“It’s a tough job.”
“Yes. Even more so when both of you are paranormal executioners.”
I glance between him and Ruka.
“We aren’t dating,” Ruka says.
“You aren’t? But…”
“It doesn’t matter to her how I feel,” Azir says, sounding as genuinely melodramatic as I faked earlier.
“It’s not that it doesn’t matter,” Ruka protests.
“I thought you were in contact with him for days while you were on this mission,” I interject.
“I was, but we all have to check in, especially if we’re out on assignment alone.”
“That’s another thing. Shouldn’t you work in pairs or teams?” I ask.
“Normally, we do, but, sometimes, it’s better to go alone. It’s not always possible for more than one to go undercover in all scenarios.”
“Do you have a partner or a team?” Azir asks.
“No, but it’s a little different for me,” I say.
“How so? We get paid to hunt, slay, and execute,” Ruka says. “You hunt and kill.”
“And gather and play matchmaker.”
“Matchmaker?”
I laugh and swallow the rest of my drink before sharing a few stories. When I mention the time I arm-wrestled a yeti and lost, Azir begins to laugh so loudly that others nearby look over.
“You and Mirella would be the best of friends,” he crows.
“That name sounds familiar.” I side-eye Darius. “She’s the one who messed you up, isn’t she?”
“I’m not messed up. She is,” he grumbles.
“You shut your trap, or I’ll shut it for you,” Azir says angrily.
“Whoa. Why are you so upset?” I ask, confused.
“He and Mirella and a troll named Malak used to spar all the time together back at Magical Hunters Academy,” Ruka says.
“Ah.”
She glares at Azir. “Do you remember that time when you and Malak were talking about me to Mirella?”
“Yes. You walked in, got upset, yelled at us, and left.” Azir gapes at her. “Is that why you won’t go out with me?”
"You two were fighting over me as if I were a steak at the market!"
“A filet mignon.”
I can’t help it. I snicker. At Ruka’s glare, I cover my mouth and do my best to compose myself.
“That was five years ago!” Azir pouts. “I’ve begged for forgiveness. I’ve stood by your side. We’re as close as friends can be with you not forgiving me for that. I never meant to hurt you. I was praising you and—”
“And trying to convince Malak to not go after me, fighting over me.”
“Some girls appreciate that,” I remark.
“I’m not some girl.”
“Which is why I care about you so much. I was young and immature, and I made a mistake.”
Ruka eyes him, looks away, and then leans over and kisses his cheek. “Maybe we can see about it.”
“Dating?”
“Maybe.” Ruka grins at me.
I laugh.
Azir’s overjoyed. He really does think the world of her. Once he finally stops suggesting a ton of different date possibilities, he focuses on Darius again. “You still haven’t said why you have a house. Do you have a girl now? Plan on starting a family soon?”
“Nothing like that,” Darius says coolly.
I lift my eyebrows. He’s never talked to me in that tone.
I open my mouth, shrug, and shut it. It’s not my place to tell the others that Darius got fired.
“Do you guys go back to the academy at all?” I ask.
“We’re so far removed that no one we know goes there anymore,” Ruka s
ays.
“It’s only a three-year school,” Azir says.
“But the teachers are still the same, right?” I ask. “There’s none you want to see?”
“Not really,” Darius mumbles.
“You got into some trouble, didn’t you?” Azir chuckles.
Darius rolls his eyes. “All because of Mirella.”
"No one can get you into trouble except you," I counter. "Maybe she convinced you to do something, but you still had to agree to it."
“Before I worked for HEX U, I was a teaching assistant at the academy. That didn’t pan out very well.”
“Why not?”
“There were so… issues with evil paranormal creatures making their way onto the campus,” Darius says. “Things got messy.”
“And Mirella played a role?” How?”
“She’s a magnet for trouble,” Darius says.
Azir nods several times. “Yeah, I can’t disagree with that.”
“Magnet for trouble. Mirella and I really would make quite a pair, huh?” I ask.
Ruka nods. “Definitely. I didn’t get to know her much until after she graduated. She was a year behind me. We worked on one case together, and she is ruthless when it comes to taking down evil paranormal creatures, but she has to be. It’s kill or be killed or let others be killed. The ones she goes up against are the worst of the worst.”
“It doesn’t sound like a fun job,” I mumble.
“No, but it’s an important one.”
“Hmm.”
The others begin to talk, but my mind wanders. The witch I plan on using for the spell to open my mind but keep my mental state intact… I don’t know. I never connected to her like I did Ruka, Vinca, even Azir. I almost don’t know if I want to use her, and that she wants a million dollars for it… The price is so steep, and I’m still not there yet. I’m ready to finally finish my quest, and I don’t want money to be the hindrance. If I could find someone else, maybe I could learn who or what killed Mason and Gracie sooner, very soon.
“Do you know of any trustworthy witches?” I ask, trying not to become too excited but eager just the same.
Darius coughs, and I glance over. He looks hurt.
“What am I to you?” he asks.
“Nothing at all.”
“Mirella,” Azir says. “She’s one of the strongest and most powerful witches there is. Anything you want, she can do it.”
Hunter's Quest: A Mayhem of Magic World Story (Rebel, Supernatural Bounty Hunter Book 1) Page 12
