by Jen Pretty
“We were there for fifteen minutes.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Someone from the east coast contacted Alric. He said they were driving and saw a gargoyle that didn’t belong fly over and land somewhere in a small town.”
I nodded. “Sounds legit.”
“Mmm,” Julian replied.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. Something seems off.”
“With Alric?” That guy was weird. I stuffed a couple tiny bottles from the bar fridge in my pockets.
“You know those aren’t free,” he said when he glanced up and caught me.
I dumped my pockets contents back out into the fridge and closed the door.
“I’m not sure yet, but something’s off with the whole thing. As far as I know, nobody can summon demons.”
He had a point. If I could call them, I wouldn’t have so many injuries related to climbing trees in the middle of the night. “Sometimes I think gargoyles are trying to communicate. Or at least cursing me. Can you guys talk to gargoyles?”
“Half-demons?”
I nodded.
“No, if demons possess someone, we can speak to the demon, but demons don’t like us.”
“Probably because you eat too many vegetables,” I said. Demons would be down with fast food and pizza. Oh man, it had been way too long since I ate pizza.
All packed up, we left the hotel behind and climbed back on the motorcycle. It was only mid-morning, but when we passed the pizza place, my stomach growled. Egg whites and vegetables were not enough to sustain me. Julian drove back out onto the highway, and I spent the next several hours imagining gooey cheese and zesty sauce.
As the midday sun poured down on us, and the sweat ran down my back. Julian pulled into a rest stop. To my utter joy, there was a pizza sign in the window. I would kill for a slice right now. Sliding off the bike and on to the asphalt parking lot, I didn’t let a little thing like numb legs stop me. I righted myself and staggered like a zombie to the diner with the flashing lights. The second time I went down, Julian hiked me up and slung my arm over his shoulder.
“If you would wait a minute, you could walk. Normal people have more patience than you.”
“I’m not a normal person,” I said. Understatement of the year? Besides, I could walk by the time we were halfway to the diner.
A strange flapping sound I recognized all too well made me stop and look up. There in the sky were three gargoyles, their wings broad and nearly translucent in the midday sun. It shocked me to silence.
“They should be stone,” I said, stupidly stating the obvious.
“Yes.”
“This is bad.” They flew out of sight, definitely heading east. I might have lost my appetite for a moment, but the smell of melting cheese brought it back again. I pushed through the doors of the diner towards my goal. This one was all round tables were red-checkered like a farmer’s plaid shirt and then covered in clear plastic. The air conditioning was fabulous, and it made me feel cold after being in the bright sun.
“Sit where you like,” the woman hustling by with a large tray of food said, so I led the way to a table and plopped down in the hard-wooden chair.
“So, this is getting to be a bigger problem,” I whispered across the table to Julian. “Don’t you think you should get someone with more experience than me to help with this?”
The waitress showed up at that moment. I gave her my order: pepperoni pizza, extra cheese. I waited for her to leave again before turning my eyes back to Julian and raising my brows. “Someone who knows what they’re doing?”
“You have no idea, do you?” He staring at me with that crooked grin.
“No idea about what?”
He wiggled his damn eyebrows.
“That is not an answer.”
He leaned in close, his eyes twinkling in the fluorescent lights. “You are demon touched. The best hunter in history is demon touched. I suspect that’s why-” he broke off as the waitress returned with our drinks.
I smiled and thanked her, and she walked away.
“That is why what? And you mean because a demon possessed me?”
He nodded. Then he took a long sip of his drink. I grabbed the glass away from him, leaving the straw dangling uselessly from his mouth.
“That is why what?”
“What?” he said stupidly.
“You said I suspect that is why…”
“Oh, yes. That’s why Lincoln chose you. He wanted the best, and he got it.”
I sat back in my seat. Had he thought I would be the best gargoyle hunter? I giggled. Then bit my lip to hold it in, but it was no use. My laughter burst out, startling an old lady at the table beside ours. Poor Lincoln thought he would have a winner on his hands. My laughter carried on for a few more minutes before I finally got it under control. I wiped the tears from my eyes and took soothing breaths to control myself. “Oh man, that was great.” I took a sip of my drink. “All that time, Lincoln thought I would be some super hunter.” One last guffaw creeped out, but I tied it back down. The old lady looked like she wanted to change seats with someone far away from me.
“Harlow. You realize you shouldn’t be able to catch them, right? They’re faster than a human.” His eyes were serious, but he didn’t get it.
“No, they’re fast, but not that fast.”
“They can run as fast as a cheetah on the Serengeti.”
Our food arrived at that moment, not that I could have replied to him. I’d been hunting these things for three years; I would know if I was superhuman. Wouldn’t I? I mean, I wasn’t able to jump. I’d proved that with my parkour attempts. Although, sometimes it seemed too windy when I chased one. Like the wind would pick up suddenly. I stared at Julian, but not looking at him until he smiled and nodded his head.
“So, normal hunters aren’t fast?” I asked, looking down at my pizza. “They aren’t usually possessed?”
“No, it’s handed down from generation to generation. Hunters have to creep up on the gargoyles to catch them.”
I let that sink in. Linc had lied. But he saved me from the demon who had possessed me. My pizza was sitting there piping hot and delicious looking, but my stomach roiled at the thought of eating it. “I need to call Linc.”
Julian presented me with a cell phone, and I stood to go outside. This wasn’t an indoor-type phone call. “Don’t let them steal my food,” I said transferring my eyes from Julian to the old lady at the next table. She looked away. Uh-huh. Eyes on your own food, lady.
Outside, I stood in the shade of the building. It wasn’t much, but it was better than full sun. I dialed the house and waited while it rang. When it skipped to voice mail, I dialed again. The third time was the charm. Lincoln's voice came over the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, I have to ask you a question.”
“Har, what's up? How’s it going?”
“Fine. Uhm, why did you tell me people possessed by demons had to be hunters?”
The line was silent for a moment. I was about to check and make sure I hadn’t hit the end button with my face when he spoke again. “I didn’t think you would take it seriously if I told you there was another option.”
“What other option?”
Lincoln sighed. “There was a man in town who hunted. He had a son but didn’t want to make him a hunter when the time came. I told him I would find a way to keep his son out.”
My heart rang in my chest like a pair of symbols banging together toward a crescendo. I knew. Of course, I knew. One man in town always looked at me with pity instead of the usual contempt or male interest. That man had a son.
“Say it. Say his name,” I demanded.
“Har, does it mat-”
“Say it!”
“Derrek.”
And there it was. I was a goddamn gargoyle hunter because Derrek’s daddy wanted to save his kid the danger and trouble of getting up at four a.m. to chase down demons. I hung up the phone and crouched down against the wall.
The brick facade dug into my spine. How was it even possible? It was a small town, but really. It was like a soap opera. My whole life was a paranormal soap opera. Was that even a thing?
CHAPTER EIGHT
“You okay?” Julian’s voice floated down like it was on the breeze.
I laughed without humour. “No, I’m never okay. You should have figured that out by now.” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. This is the life I have. I’ll deal with it. Maybe I can do some good for someone else since I seem to be pretty shit at doing good for myself.” I pushed to my feet and looked up at Julian. The sun was behind him, making him look like an angel. It was a stupid thought considering he was half-demon. Maybe we were in the same boat.
No, he had his life together. He ate fiber and vegetables.
“Let’s go get the gargoyles,” I said.
Julian stared at me for a moment longer, then nodded and led the way to his motorcycle.
The cool air rushed up the sleeves of my shirt, making it flap like a flag as we cruised down the highway heading east. I clung to Julian, but not as desperately as when we started this crazy adventure. My legs didn’t go numb. I just hung there like a wet leaf on a branch. My mind zoned out after a while, and I traced back through old memories with Len and my mother.
She hadn’t just run off. She disappeared—poof—when she found out I was crazy. It was strange to go back to our old apartment after Linc saved me from the demon. All my mother’s books and clothes still lay about in the apartment. Her books and clothes were still in her room. The apartment keys sat on the table and the door unlocked. She had just dropped everything and run like the farmer left the gate open.
The motorcycle slowed, and we pulled off the highway. Julian stopped at another hotel and got another card key. He left me with instructions to stay out of the minibar. Ha. Yeah right. This time I didn’t bother with the bathtub. The punctures on my ankle were still open, and I didn’t want to get them infected, so I lay on the bed and drank in silence.
Pity party, table for one.
Thankfully, I passed out.
When I woke up, it was the smell of coffee and bacon that greeted me. Hallelujah.
“You ready to go hunt today?” Julian asked before I even opened my eyes.
I had a bit of a pounder in my head. It was dark in the room, I could tell through my closed eyelids, so I peeked out one to see how bad it was. I was trying to decide if it was worth getting up to get coffee, when Julian appeared in front of me, holding the tray of bacon and coffee. He set it beside my face on the bed, and I almost fell in love with that damn half-demon. He was my knight in shining armour, riding a white-
“We have to exorcise a demon,” he said.
I reached up to my neck and found my amulets all twisted up, but I fingered each one to make sure they were there. “That's a sculptor’s job.” I had never messed with a demon. Not since one burned me for a solid week.
“I have a sculptor stone.”
That was it. Lincoln had one he wore with his amulets. When confronted with a possessed human, he said a spell and the demon got sucked into his tiny rock. Then he transferred it to the gargoyle when it was ready. There weren’t many sculptor stones, I knew that much, but I tried to stay out of that end of the job.
“You don’t need me,” I said, closing my eyes.
“I do. There are also gargoyles. Apparently, this is what’s happening. Demons are loose, and they are summoning gargoyles somehow.”
“Oh, for fuck's sake. What a shit show. Fine.” I threw the blanket back and sat up, grabbing the mug of coffee in one hand and making sure my brains didn't slide out with the other. The coffee was still steaming, but it wasn’t too hot, so I chugged it all.
Julian’s eyes tracked me as I crossed the room. I rooted through the duffel bag and pulled out clean underwear and leather pants. I had a tank top and a hoodie. “Is it cold enough for a sweater?”
“I’m sorry.” I jumped and spun around to find Julian looking over my shoulder.
“Don’t sneak up on a person. Holy crap. Clear your throat or speak if you’re going to do that.”
His lips curled, the smile reaching his eyes to make the corners crinkle.
“I’m sorry to drag you into this.” His face returned to the passive look he usually wore.
“Len always said you can stuff your sorries in a sack. I don’t know what that means, but there it is.”
He chuckled and held my eyes for longer than was comfortable.
“It’s cool enough,” he whispered.
“What?” I asked, lost in his dark eyes.
“For a sweater, it’s cool enough.”
I licked my lips. Forcing my eyes away from the man who I reminded myself was a half-demon. I took my clothes and slid past Julian into the bathroom. My heart was beating way too fast for the wrong reason. I gave my head a metaphorical shake because it was still banging with regret and got changed. We were going to meet up with a demon today. I needed to keep focused, or I would end up a marionette for a monster. I checked my face in the mirror. Blood-shot eyes and bedhead stared back. I needed a shower, but there was no time for that, so I adjusted my ponytail and brushed my teeth—good enough.
Back in the room, I grabbed three slices of bacon off the plate, and we were out the door. As we cruised the streets of the lazy town, a second motorcycle came up and joined us. Then another joined too. We travelled along the roads until we got to a cul-de-sac. All the motorcycles stopped, and we swung off.
“Harlow, I’d like you to meet Gregor and Lila.”
They nodded at me.
“Are you guys half-demons too?” I asked. They didn’t look as much like Julian, but still had the tall frames and dark features.
“Yes, Ma’am. Thought we would tag along and help out,” Gregor said. He reminded me of a gargoyle. His features were coarse and oversized. He was still handsome, but not like Julian or Alric.
“Okay, so what’s stopping the demon from taking one of you guys?” I asked.
“Nothing, but we’ll be careful,” Lila said with a cocky grin. Yeah, all right, she was fun. The other half-demons looked Mediterranean, but Lila looked more Latina and had this fire in her eye you could see with a glance. She was pretty and looked tough in her motorcycle clothes and boots. I shot her a smile, and we walked around the tiny circular road with little bungalows all lined up. A single streetlight in the centre of the road lit the front yards of the cookie cutter houses.
Bikes lay on the lawns and basketball nets hung over garage doors of this family neighbourhood. I’d never lived in one, but they seemed nice—the kind of place you could let your kids play outside and not worry.
A scream — sharp, painful, and familiar — tore through the early morning silence.
I grabbed my net and hustled to catch up to Julian and the other half-demons as they slipped onto the porch and kicked open the door.
Inside, shag carpet framed out a living room with a sixties-style square couch and big TV. We hurried up the stairs to find a woman lying on the bed. A man stood over her. She was the source of the scream. Her face contorted in pain as her back arched off the bed, and sweat beaded on her skin.
“What are you doing in my house?” the man turned and asked when he noticed us in the doorway. We had broken in. I was about to tell him that we were going to do an exorcism on his wife when Julian pulled out the sculptor stone. It was just a hunk of granite, like Lincoln’s, but when he touched it to the demon, the woman screamed again. I covered my ears and tried to bear it, but a tear slipped down my cheek. It was all so raw — the pain and torture. Her screams were mine as the memories flooded back in.
Julian’s unreadable eyes met mine for a long moment before he shifted his eyes to Gregor.
“Go search the house. The gargoyles have to be here somewhere.”
Gregor nodded and pushed me out of the room. I ran down the stairs and then opened and closed doors as I tried to get my mind off the woman upstairs. Finally, I
found one with a set of stairs leading down. I couldn’t handle a demon, but gargoyles were a piece of cake.
I crept down the creaky wooden stairs, net at the ready, and came face-to-face with a dozen lumbering gargoyles. They were hanging around like a bunch of stoners at a party, unsure if they had legs or if the world was a donut. I stopped and watched. Had they eaten some bad gravel? This was weird.
“Why are they like that?” Lila asked.
“I don’t know. They should fly around trying to bite me.” I felt like I had entered the twilight zone. And not the fun kind with sparkly boys.
“This is freaky,” Gregor said from halfway up the stairs.
The screaming coming from the second floor stopped suddenly, and the gargoyles snapped to life. They all jumped at once, but Gregor had the sense to close the basement door and barricade it with his body.
“Don’t break them!” I yelled. I wasn’t sure how much gargoyle hunting they had done, but I didn’t want them breaking demons free of their prisons right now.
I netted the first gargoyle that flew past me then fished him out by one leg and netted another. The gargoyle in my hand kept beating his wings and clipped me in the ear.
“Ow, you shit!” That would leave a mark.
The sound of crushing rocks was loud enough, I was sure my ears were bleeding. There were too many of them. I needed somewhere to stash them until sunrise. I scanned the room as gargoyle wings flapped past my head with their teeth snapping at me.
A small door stood nearly invisible in the shadows on the far wall. It looked like it led to a cold storage. The door was steel and would probably hold the stone monsters. I crossed the room, using the netted gargoyle as a bat to fend off the other flying rock heads. After a few good tugs, the door scraped open with a squeal of rusty hinges. I rolled the gargoyles in like bowling balls—one by one—and slamming the door again. I netted a few more and had to block the doorway with my body as I quickly shoved more in.
A gargoyle snuck up behind me while I was stuffing a particularly ugly one through the small door and latched on to my calf. I screamed and beat at him with my net as the thing shook my leg like a terrier with a rope tug toy. I dropped my net and grabbed the stupid demon's wings, yanking when he reared back to get a larger mouthful of my flesh. He fought hard, but gave up and joined his buddies in cold storage. I ignored the throbbing in my calf and scanned for more.
