by Dora Blume
Jolene returned with Penelope and a bottle of white wine. She took her place at the table and poured herself a glass before handing the bottle over to Penelope. “Would anyone else like a glass of Bella Sera Pinot Grigio? It’s one of my favorites; it has a rich body with a hint of citrus and peach.”
“I’d love some.” Erik answered, “Sloane, I bet, would too. She’s a big wine connoisseur.”
“I would love a glass, thank you,” she side-eyed her brother.
Penelope moved to pour them both a glass and served all of them. The angel hair pasta was covered in fresh bruschetta and a light vodka sauce. The garlic, tomato, and onions smelled delicious. Sloane had to stop herself from shoveling it into her mouth like a ravenous beast.
“So, what do you two do for fun in Minnesota? I hear it gets so cold there. I couldn’t imagine going out in such cold weather all the time.” Jolene looked between the two.
“Oh, it’s not so bad. You get used to it. I hear you get more snow here than us, right?” Erik responded then scooped another forkful of pasta into his mouth wiping away the dripping sauce with his napkin.
“Oh, yes, I believe we do, but it usually melts right away,” Jolene said
“Thank God for that, sometimes I don’t even have to shovel,” Magnus said quickly.
“Oh please, like you do any shoveling.” Jolene shook her head at him.
“Oh, I do plenty of shoveling all right,” Magnus said but looked down at his food when his wife gave him a stern look.
Sloane downed the last of the wine in her glass. She hated small talk. She wasn’t sure if she trusted these two. They should be discussing what they knew about the girl who’d been kidnapped or anything suspicious going on.
“So, you two had quite the scuffle in Minnesota I hear,” Jolene said.
“Yeah, we sure did. Didn’t Bryant tell you all about it before we came here?” Erik asked.
“He told us a little about why you were coming. We only heard about the battle through the grapevine. Bryant didn’t say too much about it. That man has trust issues when it comes to telephones, I swear.” Jolene shook her head.
Sloane stared at Erik, narrowing her eye slightly. She tried to clear her mind of thoughts again before she thought about the implications of what Jolene said. There would be a reason Bryant hadn’t filled these two in, and Sloane thought they should know what it was before telling them anything.
“Yeah, it was quite the battle. The demons have been possessing college students. We took care of the ones in Minneapolis, but they have a bigger plan, we just don’t know what it is yet. The demons lead us here.” Erik explained.
“Oh, a battle, it’s been years since we’ve been involved in any real battle. Can you tell us what it was like? It’s been so long.” She smiled at Magnus. “We must be getting too old, dear.”
“The battle was hell.” Sloane responded, “But we made it.” She sighed heavily.
“I bet,” Magnus said, watching her as she spoke.
Sloane finished eating and wanted to excuse herself, but knew it was rude to leave the table before everyone was finished. She tapped her foot on the floor and tried to think of something to say to change the subject.
“So, how long have you lived in this house?” Erik asked.
“Oh, what has it been now?” Jolene looked to Magnus.
“A very long time,” he responded.
Penelope came into the room with more wine. “Would anyone care for more wine?”
“Oh, none for me thanks,” Sloane responded.
Erik shook his head.
“I’d love another glass, please. These two have serious business to attend to. I have no such business, so I believe I will indulge.” She smiled wide as Penelope poured her another glass. “Why don’t you just leave the bottle here by me, dear? I don’t believe anyone else will need anymore.” She lifted her glass to her lips and took a small sip, “So, I presume you two will be off to your work tonight then.”
“Yes, we need to get ready. We’re heading to Lodo tonight to see what we can find out about what’s going on here.” Erik moved his chair back.
“Yeah, it seemed like a good place to start. Well, if you two don’t mind, we will be getting to it.” Sloane stood “Thank you for dinner; it was lovely.”
“It was our pleasure, dear,” Jolene said. “Let us know if you need our assistance with anything.” She smiled wide then, rose her glass to her lips to take another drink of her wine.
“Will do,” Erik said and walked out the door. Sloane followed.
“So, do I get to see where your room is?” Sloane asked.
“Oh yeah, sure, follow me.” He walked toward the basement.
They passed through the kitchen and Penelope was busy at the sink filling it with water.
“Thank you for dinner tonight, it was delicious,” Sloane said.
“Thank you, dear,” she responded and returned to the sink.
Erik continued through the kitchen into another hallway that leads down to the basement.
“This is such a big place,” Sloane said. “I wish I could afford something this extravagant. The two-bedroom apartment that I was living in is lacking compared to this place.”
“I wouldn’t know, I stayed living at home.” Erik ran his hand through his hair.
“Yeah well,” Sloane wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to dredge up the past, but his comment bothered her. “Some of us couldn’t stay in the same place after what happened,” she sneered.
“Seriously, it wasn’t the house.” Erik shot back.
“It was all of the memories associated with it. I just needed to get away.” She took a deep breath.
“Maybe I wanted to get away too, but someone had to stay behind and pick up what was left.” Erik couldn’t believe they were talking about this now. “Can we just get on with what we’re here to do.”
“Yes, we absolutely can.” Sloane huffed out a breath. She wasn’t sure if he would ever get over her leaving. She had hurt both Erik and Mike when she left, but she couldn’t stay at the time. It was too hard, too many things reminded her of her mother. She cried all the time back then. If she had stayed in the house, it would’ve been worse. Leaving seemed like the right thing to do. She blamed Bryant for everything. She couldn’t live there when she thought he was responsible. She knew she had been a coward for running, but she couldn’t change it now. She tried to clear her mind. She needed to be clear-headed for tonight.
Erik opened the door to his room and moved to the side so that Sloane could step in. There was a large bed with four mahogany posts in the middle of the room. Sloane could see that Jolene had spent time meticulously designing the entire house. This room was meant for a male guest. On top, the bed was dark blue comforter with matching shams. To the right was a mahogany desk with a brown leather chair. On the opposite side was a brown leather chair with matching ottoman. Every detail was meticulous, down to the carvings on the headboard and the dark Reconstructive era painting that hung above it.
“So,” Sloane plopped in the brown leather chair. “What now?”
“We still have a few hours, let’s check social media to see if anything suspicious is happening.” Erik sat at the desk and opened his computer.
Sloane took her phone out of her pocket. She sighed looking at the screen — no new messages. She would have to see what the deal was with Mike when he got here. She typed a message to Jess instead.
“I’m running up to get my computer.” She got up quickly and left the room.
Chapter 3
Erik was on his computer researching when he realized Sloane was taking a long time. He glanced at the clock. She’d been gone for over an hour. She said she’d be right back. In fifteen minutes, he’d find her. He hadn’t had much luck finding out anything on any social media. He thought he’d find something. Everything is always documented on social media, even things that you never wanted to know.
Fifteen minutes had passed, time to find
Sloane. He headed up the stairs. He ran into Magnus as soon as he reached the landing.
“Have you seen Sloane?” he asked.
“Not lately, she went upstairs a while ago.” He shrugged. He looked like this conversation was keeping him. His mouth seemed to be muttering things, but no words came out.
“Oh, before I forget. Do you have a car we can use to get to town tonight?”
“Oh yes, of course, ask Penelope where the keys are. She will show you to the car, as well. I’m afraid I have business to attend to.” He launched down the stairs with more speed than someone his age should have.
Erik wanted to ask about what business he had to get to but knew by the way Magnus took off down the stairs; it wasn’t something he was willing to share. They were strangers, after all. Just because they were both Shikari, didn’t mean they automatically trusted each other. Trust had to be earned.
He headed up the stairs to find Sloane, maybe she knew about what was going on with their host. He reached the door to her room and knocked. He waited outside the door, but after a few moments of tapping his foot on the floor, he knocked again. The door flew open, nearly nailing him in the face.
“What?” she demanded.
“What, nothing. You were supposed to be coming right back with your computer.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot.” She waved a hand dismissively and walked over to sit on the bed.
“So, why do you look so distracted?” Erik asked.
“Um, nothing really. So, are you ready to go?” Sloane asked.
“I guess since you’re not going to talk about what’s going on.” Erik studied her for a moment.
She stared back at him in defiance. “Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Fine, I asked Magnus about a car. He said Penelope would give us the keys and show us to the car. He had important business to attend. He didn’t feel like sharing. The way he bolted down the steps made me think it was important, though.” Erik ran his hand through his hair.
“Great, let’s get to it.” She grabbed her purse off the desk. Erik studied her as she turned.
“Come on already.” She strode out the door. Erik followed behind her closing the door.
“So, where is Penelope?” Sloane asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Kitchen,” Erik responded.
They reached the kitchen and Penelope was sitting at the table reading, a glass of wine in her hand. Sloane noticed her feet didn’t reach the ground. She swung them under the table as she read. She was so engrossed she hadn’t noticed them enter the room.
“Hello Penelope,” Erik interrupted. “Magnus mentioned you’d have a car that we can use.”
Penelope looked up from her reading. “Oh yes, of course.” She moved to the key rack and removed one of the square black keys. “Here, I’ll show you out to the garage.” She motioned her hand for them to follow her out of the kitchen and into the back entranceway. She slid on a pair of shoes and walked out the door. She hit a button on the key chain, and the garage door opened to reveal a black Dodge Challenger. She looked back to Erik, “Here’s the key.” She pointed to the small button on the connected key chain. “This opens the garage door; I think you can figure out the rest.” She smiled and headed back into the house.
“Not too bad for a borrowed car.” Sloane went around to get into the passenger seat.
“I’m surprised you’re letting me drive.” Erik got into the driver's seat.
“Yeah well, sometimes I like to be driven around.” She smiled as she clicked her seatbelt.
Erik headed toward lower downtown Denver. He planned to park and walk around, listening.
“So, what’s our first stop?” she asked.
“I figured we’d head to Howl at the Moon first. Seemed like a fitting name for our purposes.” He smiled and winked at Sloane. She shook her head at him.
“Why that place, other than the name?” she asked hoping that he had another reason other than the namesake for going there. She didn’t want to waste time when they needed to figure out what was going on here. She wanted answers, especially since they had no problem possessing another Shikari member. She was young, but still. The idea bothered Sloane. If they could possess Shikari members, they’d all be in trouble. Imagine if they possessed a member with a unique power. It was the one thing hunters had against the demons. Their powers allowed them to fight. Without that advantage, they’d be ripe for the picking. Sloane shook her head at those thoughts. There was no way they could possess grown Shikari members. They were too strong and would fight against demons. Besides, Sloane had always been taught that their angel blood protected them against demons. What if it didn’t? Was everything she’d been taught wrong? What else could be wrong? Her string of thoughts had her worried.
“The names not enough?” He looked to Sloane, and she scowled at him. “It’s popular among college students. They have two pianos at the front and take requests. It’s a hit on campus.”
“Okay good. Do you know where you’re going?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do.” He looked over to her, and a look of doubt was planted on her face. “What? I do.”
“Have you been to Denver before?” She wasn’t sure how he would know his way around.
“I have,” he said and hoped she would leave it at that.
“Oh really? When did you have time to travel to Denver?” Her eyebrow shot up in peaked interest.
“After I graduated, I came here to check out the schools.” He looked to his lap then back at the road. He brushed his hair back from his face and chanced a glance over at Sloane. She was staring at him; her mouth parted slightly.
“What? You wanted to go to school here why?”
“I don’t know, at the time I wanted to get away from home. I wanted to at least consider a college for myself rather than what I’ve been told I have to do. I wanted to make some choice for myself.” He clenched the wheel with his hands. He looked from the side mirror to the back. He stole a glance at Sloane, and she was studying him.
“So, why didn’t you go?”
“I was needed to fight demons. I didn’t get much of a chance to do anything else. There aren’t enough of us in Minneapolis, and I needed to do my duty as a Shikari.” Erik looked down.
“Oh, I see, Bryant guilted you into staying.” She sighed. “You’ve always followed what he wanted you to do, no matter what you wanted, huh? You should have said fuck it; if you wanted to go to college, you should have gone to college.” She placed her hand over Erik’s on the wheel.
Erik looked to her hand then back to her. “Bryant didn’t guilt me into staying; I’m the one who decided what was more important. What we do, killing demons, saving people, it’s important. I realize how important it is. Do you?” He was annoyed with her. He still hated how easy it was for her to walk away from her family, her duty to save people as Shikari. Part of him envied her, but he was angry he didn’t have the same opportunity.
“What? Of course, I know what we do is important. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” She turned her head to look out the window, crossing her arms over her chest. Erik focused back on the road.
“The only reason you’re here is because we came and found you. If it weren’t for me, you would still be in your two-bedroom apartment with Amy, discussing the upcoming party. Let’s be real. You couldn’t care less about the Shikari or helping us.” Erik studied Sloane for a minute before focusing back on driving.
“That’s not true. I could’ve told you to go to hell when you found me. Don’t fool yourself; I’m here because I want to be here.”
“You can tell me to go to hell if you like. I could never do that; I’m in this till death. I doubt you have the same loyalty. I believe in the Shikari, and all that we stand for, even though, right now, it’s corrupt. It’s my mission, and my life to bring us back to the values we’ve held for millennia. Can you say the same?” He glanced over to her again.
“No, I can’t. They killed our mother. Where is y
our loyalty to her? Where is your compassion for her? I can’t pledge my loyalty as long as they’re the murderers of our mother. They can burn in hell for all I care.” Erik watched her clench her hands into fists. She continued to stare out of the window. She didn’t want to admit how much Erik’s words bothered her. She couldn’t believe he was so trusting, even now.
“You know that was because of a few corrupt members. The entire order isn’t to blame.” Erik shook his head.
“Well, as we’re finding out, there are more than just a few corrupt Shikari. I believe we should question them first. I don’t trust any of them right now.”
They had made it to downtown Denver, and Erik was pulling into a ramp. He parked and looked to Sloane. “I know that Mom’s death hurt you. It hurt me too, but we need to put that behind us if we’re going to succeed. We need to keep our head in the game. I agree we need to question them. You’re right about the corruption being deeper than we first thought. We also shouldn’t judge them all for the actions of the few. That’s not right either. Do you blame, Jessie, Mike, Bryant, and myself for mom’s death? Because we are part of the Shikari. I just want you to place your blame where it belongs, and I promise we will find the people responsible. We need to end the corruption even to have a chance of continuing the order and all the good that we have done. Don’t forget that, the Shikari have done some great things, too. Right now, we need to focus, can you do that?” Erik had turned to study Sloane’s reactions as he spoke. She could feel the weight of his gaze on her. She knew he was right. He usually was, but she’d never tell him that. His ego was big enough. A tear rolled down Sloane’s cheek.
“I don’t blame any of you for mom’s death. I know it’s the few who have corrupted the entire Shikari. It’s hard not to blame them all. They didn’t stop the corruption. They let it happen when it could have been stopped. I know I need to be focused on stopping what’s happening here. I’m here to help end the corruption.”
“You never believe those closest to you could ever betray you. That’s why no one saw a betrayal from the inside coming. Now, we need to end it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He looked to Sloane; her hands were still clenched at her sides.
