by N. P. Martin
"I don’t know you at all."
He nodded. "Sure, right. I’m just saying, it’s probably best that you come with me."
I shook my head at him. "Why now? Why have you just decided to show up here now?"
"Because now you need me."
"And we didn’t need you before?" Bitter tears stung at my eyes.
"Trust me," he said. "You didn’t need me before."
"What the hell does that mean?"
Frank shook his head and sighed somewhat frustratedly. "Can we have this conversation later? If demons really did take your brother, that probably means they’re looking for you right now as well. Hell, they might even be here already, so let’s just go."
I stared at him for another moment, trying to decide if I could trust him. In the end, I realized trust had nothing to do with it. He was probably the only person in the world who could really help me right now, which meant I had no choice. "You better not screw me," I said.
He looked shocked for a second, his face almost comical if the current circumstances weren’t so horrific. "What? I’m not going to try and screw you, you’re my niece for Christ’s sake."
I might’ve smiled in other circumstances.
"Let’s just go."
Walking down the hall, I had to stop outside the bathroom and stare in at Diane, still unable to believe she was dead.
Dead because of me.
It was a horrible realization that made me shutter and cry.
"There’s nothing you can do for her now," Frank said. "You have to leave her."
I’m so sorry, Diane. Please forgive me.
I hated myself as I walked away, but I didn’t get the chance to dwell on it. In front of me, Frank suddenly stopped by the top of the stairs, reached inside his jacket and pulled his gun out, firing two shots almost immediately. With my ears ringing from the blasts, Frank turned to me and shouted.
"DEMONS!"
9
For a few seconds, I stood frozen to the spot, staring at Frank as he fired off two more rounds, each shot making me flinch. Then Frank turned and yelled, "Get to the bedroom and stay there! GO NOW!"
My mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water, opening and closing without any words coming out. Then I heard a sound that was halfway between a screech and a snarl, sounding like it came from the mouth of some foul creature. What the hell kind of demon made a sound like that?
Whatever it was, Frank started advancing down the stairs toward it, rapidly firing shot after shot as he did so, filling the landing with clouds of smoke. My heart was hammering so hard in my chest, I thought it was going to burst. There was so much fear-fueled adrenaline bursting at the seams of my system, that I hadn't even the first clue as to how to handle it.
My mind obviously did, though, as I found myself backing away into the closest bedroom, which happened to be Diane’s.
Downstairs, I heard a roar coming from Frank that chilled me almost as much as the sound of the demon he seemed to still be fighting with.
In the bedroom, I stood by the dressing table, catching sight of myself in the mirror. My face was covered in sweat, and I was white as a sheet. I couldn’t look any more terrified if I’d tried. At least in the alley that night with Kasey, it looked like a man standing in front of me, despite the demon inside, which made the situation easier to deal with. Now, though, I was trapped in the house with demons who sounded like real monsters, and probably fucking looked like monsters as well.
Downstairs, the sounds of struggle between Frank and the demon increased. As Frank had stopped shooting, I assumed he was now going hand to hand with whatever demon was attacking him.
You have to help him.
I don’t know where the thought came from. It was like someone put it there. I looked at my face in the mirror again, and said to myself, "You can do this. You were born to do this."
Somehow, just saying those words helped me cut through my fear, allowing my power—my grace—to spread throughout my body, until it felt like my every nerve ending contained a tiny electric current that combined to create one hell of a jolt.
A calmness washed over me, followed by a Zen-like state that made my fears seem like a distant memory. Suddenly, the whole room came into focus, and I became intensely aware of every detail, every micro movement, every sound. This awareness fanned out as far as downstairs, where Frank was still fighting the demon. Frank’s breath was heavy, and I could almost sense his movements just by the way he was breathing. Same for the demon trying to kill him. I could sense it’s total malevolence.
Hang on, Frank…
I went to rush out of the room so I could help Frank, and hopefully not die in the process (which strangely wasn’t a primary concern at that moment), when a loud crashing sound from behind me caused me to spin around.
Something had just jumped through the bedroom window, landing near the bed, surrounded by broken glass. At first glance, I thought the creature looked human, as it remained crouched, its head down. But then I noticed the pitch black skin that seemed as thick as leather, and the long pointed ears jutting out of its bullet-shaped head.
When the creature slowly stood to its full height, I got a proper measure of it. There was no doubt it was a demon, but it was unlike any I’d ever seen before. So far, all I had seen were faces, as monstrous as some of them were. The demon in front of me, though, was the full package. It stood over six feet tall, and was densely muscled. It’s basic anatomy appeared to be human, except for the lack of genitals, and the strange spikes that covered most of its body. The demon’s face was also vaguely human, although its eyes were huge and black, and its mouth was filled with shiny, pointed teeth that were as obsidian black as the rest of it.
The demon suddenly dropped down to all fours and roared at me, making a sound so awful it hurt my ears and chilled my blood. The rest of the world seemed to disappear at that point, until it felt like there was just me and the demon, facing each other in some kind of void that only one of us could walk away from. I knew there would be no use in running. The second I turned my back, that fucking thing would be on me. The only choice I had was to stand and fight. The grace flowing through me was the only thing keeping me from turning tail…or falling to pieces in the face of such a terrible threat.
I had no idea what I was doing as the demon suddenly leaped toward me like a wild animal, and yet I was still able to instinctively jump aside to avoid the attack. I then lashed out unthinkingly, swinging my fist at the demon’s head just as it landed. When my knuckles made contact with the demon’s thick skull, I heard a cracking sound, and then a burst of pain shot up my arm. If it wasn’t for the massive amount of adrenaline pumping through me, I might’ve been incapacitated by the pain. As it was, I just shouted, "Fuck!"
The demon turned to face me, its ugly mouth seeming to smile at me.
This fucker is going to kill me.
Under other circumstances, such a thought might’ve been enough to render me incapacitated with fear.
But not now.
Now I had genetics on my side. Now I had the certain knowledge that I was meant to be a soldier, someone who kept the monsters of the world at bay.
I had all the confidence at that point, but unfortunately none of the skill.
Perhaps prematurely, I went on the attack, and tried to strike the demon again, this time doing my best to load the strike with grace. I did manage to hit the demon on the jaw with my undamaged hand, but I didn’t manage to channel much power into the punch. Worse, I lost my balance after landing the punch, and practically fell into the demon’s waiting arms.
The demon lifted me and slammed me down hard onto the floor. Then it straddled my waist, it’s weight making sure I couldn’t move. After slapping me twice in the face with barbed-skinned hands, the demon grabbed my wrists, causing the pain in my injured hand to flare terribly again. It then leaned over me as it kept me pinned to the floor, its snarling face only inches from my own. Thick saliva dripped from the demon’s
sharp teeth, causing me to squirm uncontrollably as it landed on my face.
Its black eyes portrayed nothing but cold malevolence.
As strong as I was with my grace flowing through me (to some extent anyhow), the demon was stronger, and easily resisted my attempts to get out from under it. Panic wasn’t far behind as I realized I was trapped, and probably about to die.
The demon opened its mouth wider, until it seemed like a gaping chasm getting ever closer to my face, about to engulf me. Turning my face to one side, I couldn’t help but close my eyes.
This is it, it’s all over…
But a second later, I felt the creature tense on top of me. I opened my eyes, and was faced with what appeared to be the tip of a knife no more than an inch from my face. The knife was sticking out of the demon’s mouth, a silent scream frozen continuously upon its face. Its eyes were wide open, registering its shock. Then I noticed the hand that was gripping the demon’s head, pushing it sideways as the knife was retracted, causing the demon to fall off me at last.
"Frank?" I said in equal parts shock and relief.
"I suggest you move," he said, just as the floor beneath started to get hot. I quickly got to my feet and looked down to see something like searing hot energy forming around the demon on the floor. Within seconds, the demon’s body had fallen from sight into the now gaping hole in the floor, a hole which seemed close up as quickly as it had formed, leaving nothing but a large black scorch mark behind.
"What the fuck?" I said, wondering how much more craziness my mind could take in one day. "What just happened?"
Frank looked at me like he’d seen it all a thousand times. "A portal to Hell just opened up, and the demon fell into it. Can we go now, please, before more of these bastards show up, if they haven’t already?"
I nodded. "I’m fine, Frank, thanks for asking."
Frank wiped the blade of his large knife on his jeans, then slid the knife into a sheath inside his jacket. 'Let’s go."
Shaking my head, I followed behind him as he led us down the stairs. "Were they demons?" I asked as I stepped around a large scorch mark in the hallway, the remnants of the demon Frank had been fighting with.
"Lower demons, yeah," Frank said as we went through the front door. "Like attack dogs. They’re called Pit Demons."
Attack dogs. Seemed like a good comparison to me. "Who controls them, though?"
Frank stopped suddenly as he neared his car, and whipped his gun out, aiming it down the street. "I’d say that guy there."
When I looked, I saw the rotund figure of a man about thirty yards away, standing in the middle of the street. At first glance, the man seemed normal enough, dressed as he was in a dark suit. But then that weird flickering thing happened, and the man suddenly became something much more demonic. He resembled a huge toad that stood on two legs, with the biggest mouth I’d ever seen. "Jesus Christ," I breathed.
"Go!" Frank shouted as he started firing shots at the advancing demon, none of which appeared to effect it much. "Take the Mustang and meet me on Clear Mountain Road."
"What? What about you?"
"It’s you they want." Frank fired another burst of bullets. "Go now!"
I glanced once more at the demon in the street. It’s blubbery body was oozing dark blood from Frank’s bullet wounds, but it still kept advancing at an unhurried pace, as if it knew Frank couldn’t hurt it.
I hope you know what you’re doing, Frank.
As if to prove that he did, Frank shot down a Pit Demon that had been hiding in the bushes of Diane’s house along with a number of others, their eyes glaring through the brush as they awaited unspoken instructions from the bigger demon. After shooting the first one, Frank pumped several bullets into the next Pit Demon to show itself. The rest stayed in hiding after that.
Turning, I ran to the Mustang and got in. As Frank continued to shoot at the demon, I frantically searched my jacket for the keys. When I finally found them, I started the ignition, then looked in the rearview mirror to see Frank reloading his gun, and the demon much closer to him than I would’ve liked. Once again, I hoped he knew what he was doing, though I was nonetheless in awe as I watched his fighting form in the Mustang's rearview mirror whilst still pulling away from the curb. He pivoted and turned, shot left and right, high and low, his body seeming to follow his head with the slightest of gaps, time enough to shoot and eventually reload; his ready mag clicking in at astonishing pace, his free hand whilst still free, stabbing and slicing with commensurate speed as he took on the demon. It was hard not to be impressed by such a show of fearless skill.
I drove off up the street, gunning the Mustang much too fast through the narrow city streets, on my way to the location Frank had given me. I was jacked up on so much adrenaline, I couldn’t even hold a thought. The only thing I was focused on was getting to Clear Mountain Road, just outside the city.
By the time I got there, I realized I couldn’t remember barely any of the journey. The first rest stop I saw, I pulled in and cut the engine. Silence then enveloped me in its claustrophobic grip. For long moments, I just sat there, staring out the window into the dark, completely numbed by everything that had happened.
Then I thought of Josh and Diane, and I started to shake uncontrollably. As soon as I said Josh’s name out loud, I broke down completely and slumped against the steering wheel, where I stayed crying for a very long time.
10
About an hour later, Frank’s car pulled up alongside me in the rest area. I leaned across and wound the window down so I could talk to him. I didn’t notice any fresh wounds on him, so I assumed he got away from the demon unscathed. "Hey," I said in a flat voice. "You got away okay then."
Frank nodded, a sort of pissed off look on his face, which I was starting to think was the face he wore most of the time. Resting bitch face, as they say. "Yeah, I did." He stared across at me for a second, slightly awkward, as if he didn’t know what to say next. "So, I have a place a few miles from here, up the mountain a bit. You’ll be safe there."
"Safe?" I couldn’t help but snort at the notion. "I don’t think I’ll ever be safe again."
Pressing his lips together, Frank looked away for a moment as he leaned on the steering wheel. "The way I see it, you don’t have a choice."
I stared hard out the window for a long moment, before transferring my stare to him. "Why are you doing this?"
He shrugged and shook his head slightly. "I’m not sure what you want me to say to that. I already told you, I can help you. I’m the only one who can."
"You couldn’t help Josh, or Diane."
"I didn’t know they were in trouble until it was too late."
"Because you were too busy following me."
"That’s right. Again, what do you want me to say?"
I covered my face with my hands then, holding them there for a few seconds before letting them slowly drop. "I…don’t know what to do." It came out in a whisper almost, an admission of helplessness, and I didn't like it one bit. I shouldn't have been surprised by it, for slowly and inexorably it had been creeping up, wrapping me in cloying self-doubt and now new shades of guilt at what had happened. Maybe had I spent time differently in the past six months, different from wiping myself out until I couldn't think, then perhaps Josh and Diane might still be here. She had done right by us, she didn't deserve the ending that had been done to her, and I now had to live knowing how much I'd disappointed her, now never having the chance to show her that her faith hadn’t been misspent, and that her efforts weren't in vain.
"You’ve been through a lot recently, I get it," Frank said. "Why don’t you follow me to my cabin, you can stay the night, get some rest. In the morning, you can decide whether you want my help or not in finding your brother. Although I gotta tell you, this whole thing is bigger than just you and him, so for that reason, I’m staying involved. If you want to go it alone, that’s up to you, but I would strongly advise against it."
My mother’s words echoed in my head then
: You can’t do this alone, Leia…
"All right," I said, unable and not wanting to think of any other options. "Lead the way."
Frank’s cabin was a good distance away. A steep winding road cut through the forest covering the mountainside, which eventually leveled out and lead into a large clearing between the trees. In the center of the clearing stood Frank’s small cabin. The place was about as isolated as you could get without moving to the Arctic Circle. It seemed to me that a person would only live alone in such a place if they disliked people and society in general, or if they were hiding from something. I didn’t know which one applied to Frank yet. Probably both, I thought.
When I got out of the car, I walked behind him across the leveled ground toward the front door of the cabin, the gravel crunching under my boots seeming especially loud in the silence of the wilderness. Every sound seemed to carry for miles. In the dim light of the half moon, I caught sight of what looked like symbols of some kind, painted onto the front of the cabin in various places. Upon closer inspection, I decided the symbols looked similar to the ones I had seen in my mothers journal, and in the books back in the storage locker. The front door had its own set of symbols as well, painted on with white paint, some of which were very intricate. "What’s with the symbols?" I asked him as he opened the front door.
"Protection," he said, just as a loud bark came from inside the cabin. A second later, a black Labrador came running to the door to greet Frank, resting his front paws on Frank’s stomach so Frank could ruffle his ears.
"Is he protection too?" The dog was now staring suspiciously at me, and I didn’t take another step in case it decided to pounce on me.
"Bane has protected me more times than I can count at this point." Frank looked down at the dog. "It’s okay, Bane. She’s family."
I couldn’t help but glare at him, wondering why he would say that. Frank and I would have to have a talk about what constituted family. Still, if it weren’t for him, I would probably be dead by now. So despite everything else, I knew I had to cut the guy some slack, for now at least.
