by K. B. Draper
As I thought, I could hear the slow pace of a wolf pack already moving closer. I could deter them but I felt confident they would not approach the scene until after Ashlyn and her team vacated the area. I started to walk again, listening and filtering the other sounds and smells the breeze carried through the forest. And there it was: earth, lavender, and evil.
I let Norm surface without any resistance. As he did, I felt my skin tighten with the added strength, my eyesight sharpened, and my heart hit the walls of my chest. I was jogging again with a new power and purpose.
Norm and I didn’t speak per se nor did he literally take over my body. I always had control but could simply sense things, know things, and of course was even more super-juiced when he was at the surface. I had tried to explain the feeling to Danny several times but the best description I could come up with was a poor reference to when Underdog swallows the secret pill out of his ring or Popeye pounds a can of spinach. I get this burst of power, strength, my senses go supernova, and I have this wisdom and boost to my instincts. Plus, I simply knew things that a girl from Missouri wouldn’t or shouldn’t know without years of survival training or decades of fighting experience.
With my senses heightened, I caught the fading scent of demon. Like a hound dog hunting a fugitive with a rump roast in his back pocket, I took out after what had caused the unnecessary deaths of so many animals. I leapt over a dead tree as if it was a mere twig in the path. I launched myself from one bank of the river to the next without even breaking stride, cutting and maneuvering around the natural obstacles of the forest, and within minutes I was far beyond the clearing where Ashlyn and her team were performing their forensic duties.
I skidded to a stop. The scent had simply vanished. I walked a few feet in each direction, wondering if I had somehow lost the odor, something that had never happened before. I was so not going to like it if this was another fun new option in the demon Hide-and-Seek game. I have never known a demon’s trail to simply vanish, unless I was standing in front of a hellgate. Which would be impossible to know unless a demon had just hit the up/down button and the doors actually opened up on this floor.
I spent another five minutes walking the immediate area, double-checking that I wasn’t missing another option besides the What the Holy Fuck explanation I had to go on now. I wasn’t.
As much as I didn’t want to give up, I had probably been gone too long already. Ashlyn and the others were likely starting to wrap up. I was about five miles away from the clearing and six plus from the campsite, so their scents and sounds were just out of range. I took one more look around, lifting my nose in the air like a canine hunter trying to catch a whiff of the next prey. I smelled the usual bouquet of woodsy scents, the death of our earlier discovery still thick in the air, and the fading scent of demon carrying on the wind blowing in from … fuck me!
My heart jolted in my chest as another option came to mind. I started to sprint. What if the demon had doubled back? I didn’t think it was possible. I would’ve noticed two paths, one coming and going unless the demon had been able to duplicate the trail perfectly. Wouldn’t I? My mind flashed to Ashlyn. I didn’t know what this chick demon was capable of besides murder, using dead people parts as creepy, tree decor, escaping hell, and seriously pissing me off.
I ran faster, pushing my body to its limit as my mind decided to take me down the scenic route of Worst Possible Scenario Drive, which had me running up on Ashlyn and the rest of her co-workers dismembered and torn into unrecognizable bits. A few miles in, my ears told me everything was okay, but my eyes needed proof. From behind a tall tree just outside the clearing I looked down into the scene. Ashlyn was at the edge, squatting alongside another ranger.
“I have no idea. Looks like the same substance we found at the other crime scene,” the male ranger said, using a swab to collect the black tar-like substance that was once the blood of a demon. “I’ll collect some and send it to the lab.”
“Thanks, Ronnie,” Ashlyn said as she patted him on the shoulder and stood.
I watched her as I perched high above, feeling like a horny vulture scoping out her prey. She examined the scene, her attention moving from person to person, area to area. I guessed she was making sure they had examined every inch.
Then she scanned the trees that surrounded the clearing until she got to mine. It may have been my ego or wishful thinking, but she looked directly at me. Though I knew she wasn’t able to see me, I liked thinking she could sense my presence, feel a connection between us. I shook that line of heartbreak off and climbed down, then slunk back into the woods where I waited until I heard the team gathering their gear. I stayed ahead of them until I lost the cover of the trees and then booked it back to the campsite.
Danny and I were casually eating some vegetable soup when the team, led by Ashlyn, came into our camp.
They huddled together and spoke for a moment. After the “will do’s, handshakes and nods, they loaded their equipment into their vehicles and headed out. Josh stayed behind. I assumed it was to take Ashlyn back to her vehicle. He loaded his camera gear as Ashlyn came to where Danny and I sat. She stood close to the campfire holding her hands over the flames for warmth. She didn’t speak. I assumed the horrific scene she had just engrossed herself in was taking its sweet-ass time to fade from her thoughts.
Danny stood and leaned down close to my ear. “I’ll go keep Josh company.”
I held up my bowl to him, mouthed thanks, and moved to Ashlyn’s side.
She swiped at the corner of her eye. “Josh is going to take me back to my truck.”
“I’d be happy to take you. I mean, I was kind of the one that kidnapped ya, so it’s the least I could do.”
Several beats later she finally spoke. “That was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen,” she admitted. “I don’t know how something could kill so many animals for the fun of it. Food, I can understand. But to kill just for killing’s sake?”
“We don’t know why it did it—rage, pain, or maybe food.”
“You think she’s back? The thing that killed my father?”
“I don’t know, but yeah, it’s a possibility.” I wasn’t going to lie.
I stood quietly as she worked through the unthinkable. Giving up or not liking her conclusion, she turned to me. “AJ, I have to be a part of this. My father, he was a good man who didn’t deserve what happened to him.”
“No one does,” I said. I didn’t want to risk Ashlyn’s safety. I wanted her far away from this thing, this forest, but unfortunately I also understood commitment to a cause. If I was right, her being there that night and seeing her father’s murder had probably influenced her choice of career and her choice to protect this particular forest. She likely blamed herself for her actions that night, which drove her today. I could relate.
“Will you let me in?” she asked. “Will you tell me more about this world and what happened to my father and about you, all of you?” She grasped my hand.
I answered the raw, desperate need in her eyes before I realized exactly what she was asking of me. “Yes.”
She lifted up on her toes slightly, kissed my cheek and lingered for a beat, before dropping back onto her heels. Her hand gripped mine tighter. “Thank you.”
I could only nod.
“I live just down the road, at the edge of the park, this side of the lake about a half mile. Will you come tonight? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I want you there. I want to see you, want to know-”
“Yeah, I’ll be there,” I said, cutting her off. My heart moaned at the relief that washed over her face at my simple words, words that should have caused her trepidation and fear. Maybe Danny was right about Ashlyn. Maybe she could accept who and what I am, and maybe there was a chance for this damaged hero.
Ashlyn gave me a soft grin. “Hour? Hour and a half?”
I nodded.
“Thank you,” she said, not letting go of my hand as she started toward Josh and Danny. She paused mid-trip. “Wait, Danny. H
e can’t be out here by himself. He needs to come with you. I didn’t mean to leave him out, I-”
“We’ll figure it out. I’ll make sure he’s safe. I’ll make sure everyone is safe.” Not sure if I was reassuring her or myself.
Danny’s eyes danced with satisfied amusement as he took in our adjoined hands.
Josh too, gave our hands a glance, a smile curving the edge of his lips. “Ready?”
“Yes.” Ashlyn gave my hand another squeeze then released it.
Danny and I stood next to each other, watching them leave. “Sooo,” Danny started, “when are we going to Bed Bath & Beyond to start picking out china patterns?”
Still watching the taillights though they had disappeared around a curve, I muttered one single word to Danny in response. “Run.”
A minute later, Danny was whimpering and fighting to grab purchase on either his jeans or my grip that was holding his jeans about six inches higher than their normal resting place. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Come on, AJ, let me down,” he begged. I pranced him back to the camp, while he danced on his tiptoes in a bad imitation of a drunk ballet dancer. “I’d like to have kids someday,” he declared, trying to dislodge his jeans from his man jewels.
I dropped him, not because I was concerned about his baby-making abilities, but because of the figure standing over the campfire, poking it with a stick.
“Jesus,” Danny said, shaking out one leg then the other. “I think you reached a new height record.” Then to his crotch, “I’m sorry big guy, she-”
I gave Danny a backhand across his chest. “We have company.”
Chapter 10
“Nolia? Or?” Danny asked, his boot knife already in his hand. He looked toward our camp, then to my eyes, using Norm as his demon alert system.
“Well, well, this is an interesting turn of events,” I stated as I started walking again.
Danny followed, making another quick adjustment to his man goodies. “Who or what is?”
“You won’t need that,” I offered.
“What the …?” Danny was out and ahead of me when he recognized who was warming his hands on our fire.
I was a bit slower to greet our guest as his presence made me more uneasy about our situation.
I watched as Danny embraced the man, his grandfather, the man who had carried Norm within him for so many years until he checked out and took residence in me.
Even though I had known this man for over a decade now, the sight of him still stirred the same emotions in me: admiration, love, fear—and most of all, guilt. I had taken so much from this man; his legacy, an honor, the gift of his people, and I had taken it all so carelessly, all in a moment of curiosity and clumsy ignorance. I had tried to give Norm back. I had been more than willing to go through whatever ritual or trials necessary to return what wasn’t mine—to do the right thing by him, the tribe, by the hunter’s spirit. Nothing could be done except try to hold down the fort until the next Hunter’s Moon, when I would be allowed to transfer Norm to Danny, the rightful heir.
I approached the man slowly. He looked the same as he always did, strong. Although his physical strength had started to leave him after Norm had vacated the premises, there was still no question of his powerful will. His long gray hair was parted into two braids, which hung in their normal resting place down each side of his chest. His tan, weathered skin showed his many years in the sun and in war. He released his grandson. A hand whose knuckles were starting to give into arthritis gave Danny’s cheek an affectionate pat before he turned to face me, his kind, intelligent eyes meeting mine.
“Hashi Ubi,” he said as his arms opened to me.
The name always made me smile. Danny told me it loosely translated to “radiant warrior” or “radiant killer.” Either way, I knew he meant it as a compliment as I could see the pure affection in his eyes.
“Grand Poobah,” I said warmly. It was not his official title, of course. More Flintstones than Choctaw, playful yet full of love and respect. “What’re you doing here?” I asked as I stepped into his embrace.
“Can’t an old man come see his two children without a reason?”
I leaned back, my arms still around him. “Yes, you can, but I’m not thinking you’re here just because you miss us.”
“I always miss you, my child.” He pulled me in again, squeezed, and stepped back. “But you are correct. I have other reasons I am here. Let’s sit.” He took my hand and walked with me to the log nearest the flames. As Danny added more wood to the fire, we sat silently watching him work. The flames grew and licked at the wind.
When Danny sat, Grand looked at him with great pride. “You are a good provider, my son.”
“Thank you, Grandfather.” Danny smiled. “It is rare that you leave the reservation. I’m assuming you are here because of my call?”
Grand nodded a slow confirmation. “The story you tell is a troubling one. The one the spirits tell is sadly even more so.”
When Grand paused, Danny and I both waited for him to tell the story in his time, in his way. He waved at Danny to hand him a limb from the pile next to him. Grand took what Danny offered, poking at the flames as he spoke. “I have taken a journey to speak to the fathers and mothers before us. We spoke of the things you have seen and what I have seen before.” He watched a freed ember take flight into the air only to flame out a few seconds later. “There is a story that we are told about two great powers combining to destroy the world as we know today. I fear this may be upon us.”
“Ummm, what?” I couldn’t help but ask. “How does what we have here equal the end of the world?”
“Two great powers combining,” Danny whispered, working his grandfather’s words through his own database of a brain. “Two combining to make … Oh, crap.”
“Oh, crap what?”
“Two great powers combining …” he made a sixth-grade hand gesture, “to make one big bad,” Danny continued with the elementary finger puppet show.
“Baby?” I was getting what he was throwing down but I wanted to deny it just a little longer. “Assholes have babies all the time, big flippin’ deal. That doesn’t mean-”
“To create something so powerful it could eliminate a world would take two serious powers. Say, oh, I don’t know, an angel and a …?”
“The Reyna Luna,” Grand supplied.
“The Reyna Luna.” Danny repeated as if Grand hadn’t just made his point.
“Whoa, wait, what? The REYNA LUNA!”
“Yes,” Grand confirmed.
“Like, as in the Spider Queen?”
Grand nodded once.
Danny wiped a hand down his face. “Oh, serious crap.”
I hadn’t learned everything about demons in the eleven years I’d been doing this. I was more of a “figure out what I need to know when I need to know it” kind of demon hunter. But I did know this much: The underworld, like most societies, has social classes. Where we have poor, middle class, and wealthy the demons have bad, worse, and totally fucked up.
Bad are your “bad on Earth, doomed to hell” folks. They are the tortured souls who serve out an eternity as slaves to the badder bad guys. Then there are the “worse.” They are your born-and-raised demons called Crixaluna or Crix, for short. Or “You small-dicked piece of shit spawn” when one is trying to eat my face. Most societies have names for them or reference them in some way or another as soul eaters. Crix are mostly what Danny and I have fought up until this point as they are the ones that either escape or are sent over here for the all-you-can-eat soul buffets.
Then there is the “totally fucked up.” Most religions recognize him, it, or her in some way or another as the ultimate evil; the one that sits on the “I’m the ultimate badass” throne. He goes by many names: Devil, Satan, Lucifer. But to the small group of humans that know about me, Norm, and the demon hunters before me, he is Mackunjai. I, of course, call him Mac. Big Mac Daddy when I’m feeling playful and Giant MacFlaming Asshole when I’m irritated. But what is an even le
ss known fact than Mac’s name is … drumroll … Mac has a mate. The Reyna Luna, also known as the Spider Queen. I had never given her any serious brain time so I’d never came up with a nickname for her but now I’m thinking that Reyna the Psychotic Bitch has a ring to it.
I shook my head. “Okay, wait. Are we seriously sitting here thinking that The Queen of Hell stepped out on her hubby, knocked boots with a fallen angel, a Nolia, got prego, and just birthed the bringer of the end of the world in a Mississippi forest?”
“I think so,” Danny answered.
“Okay, just checking.” I shrugged. “I wanted to make sure before I bought my ticket to the most fucked-up Jerry Springer episode ever.”
We both looked at Grand for confirmation. “I believe this is correct with the exception of one thing.” Danny and I both groaned. “He was likely not a Nolia in the beginning, but an angel. His actions, if what we believe is true, would likely have caused his fall from grace and his transition to a Nolia.”
“I would guess dipping one’s angel stick into the wife of hell’s-” Danny coughed loudly as Grand’s eyebrow spiked. “Fun Dip pack,” I continued with a smirk, “would have God questioning your moral fortitude.”
Grand smiled as he shook his head. “AJ, you are a true gift.”
I winked at him. “Anyway. Well, the guy I met in the woods was all blacked out. But, I don’t know, he seemed to have still been a somewhat solid guy. I could sense he had feelings, emotions anyway. So there was still something plugged in, in there.” I tapped my heart for emphasis.
Another fun fact about demons—their soul, their proverbial “heart” is completely disconnected. When you look into their eyes, there’s nothing; they’re dead to all feelings and emotions. It makes demon detection easy in most cases. On the flip side, it’s kind of trippy if you’re sitting on the sidelines at a Senate or HOR session and, weirdly, the penny slots section of any casino on a Tuesday morning. Been there, had that pseudo-acid trip.
