Demon Hunters (14 page)

“How could I have missed that?”

“Easy, big guy. I told Tyler I’d assist him
in receiving Morgan’s body when it arrives tomorrow. I’ll handle
that and I’ll give the reins of the Jackal case over to you. Just
so you know his old hideouts were a bust. I suggest you talk to the
doctors at Kennison again. Push a little harder. I’m sure no one
there wants to advertise the fact they let a total psychopath dance
out their doors. Again.”

“Right.”

“Now, why don’t you go on home, or wherever
it is you go at night? Nothing much we can do now.” Ivar then
nodded and promptly left.

I sat down at my desk and turned to face the
window. The sky was beginning to fade into dusk. It was quiet and
still. A rare moment in my day when I could just sit and absorb the
stillness of the world. The demon inside me was even silent, which
didn’t happen often.

I was just about to be on my way home when
there was a knock at the door. I checked my watch to make sure the
time was right. Business hours were long over.

“We’re closed!” I called out. I could see a
faint shape in the smoked glass on the door. It was still. “I said
we’re closed! Come back tomorrow!” No movement. I bolted up and
went to the door, pulled it open and felt my heart skip. I didn’t
know what was standing in front of me. It was dressed in a large,
ornate robe. The hood was pulled over its face but what little skin
I could see appeared green. I looked down at the hands and they
were green too with long tapered claws. Cracked and frayed.

“Jake Corba?” Its voice was low and
raspy.

“Yes. We’re closed.” It raised its eyes to
me. Piercing red. It brought its hands up and pulled the hood back
a little. I could make its face out more clearly. If it had been
human, there was little evidence of it. Its eyes were burning and
its mouth was stretched into a demented smile, showing off two rows
of impossibly sharp teeth.

“I have come to hire your services. I need
you to bring something to me.”

“What?” It coughed weakly and locked its
eyes on to me again.

“I want you to retrieve a body for me. I
understand it will be arriving tomorrow.”

“Morgan Sanguine?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“I’ve already been hired for that job.”

“By who?”

“I’m not at liberty to release that
information. I’m sorry. These offices are closed. Thanks for
thinking of me. Good night.” I slammed the door shut. I turned away
and let out a breath, and then I felt the door hit me square in the
back. I fell forward and slid across the floor. I turned over and
saw the figure walking in. I heard the rattling of chains.

“The Black Flame will not have her
highness!” It hissed as it bared its claws. It tightened its fists
and brought them down hard. The impact sent a surge toward me,
splintering and cracking the floor as it approached. I rolled away
as the hole in my floor ripped open. I looked up at the figure and
it tore its robe off. It looked to be the same shade of green all
over. The body was big and worked out. Large thick arms and legs.
Chains clung to its body as if attached to his skin. I saw small
flames flickering in the locks that held the chains on. Its eyes
blazed brighter. It was like there was nothing inside of him other
than some unholy fire. Red light filled the room and the creature
lunged at me. We tumbled across the room, hitting the wall hard.
Its body pressed against mine. I suddenly felt the sensation of
hundreds of sharp stickers stabbing me in the shoulder all at once.
I looked over and its mouth was locked onto me. I could see the
blood spreading under my shirt. Fire was shooting up into my brain.
I was losing feeling in the bitten arm and my other one was
useless. I closed my eyes and with every last bit of strength,
flung myself back. I pushed the creature down and landed on it. Its
teeth released me. The feeling in my arm quickly returned and I
dove for my desk and found my guns. I jumped up and blasted away at
the monster. I hit it four times right in its chest but it didn’t
so much as flinch.

“The Reborn will see Morgan risen!” It
hissed at me. “If you do not aid us, you will perish!” It tossed my
desk aside. I unloaded the last bit of ammo in my gun on it but
with no effect. It lunged forward and pinned me against the wall
again with its claws. I could smell the death on its breath.

Suddenly, I heard a crash of glass and the
entire right side of my office caved in on the creature. I heard a
roar from under all the other noises. When the dust finally
settled, I looked up and saw a large, towering figure of a wolf
beast standing over me with the creature in its claws. Its paws
were large and heavy with claws that were sharp and glistening. The
muzzle of the beast pinched back into a nasty snarl and its yellow
eyes blazed with a primal rage. It coughed out a rapturous roar and
swung the creature around, letting it fly across the room, hitting
against the wall with an audible crunch. It fell into a lifeless
heap on the floor and I dug myself out from under the rubble. The
eyes of the wolf caught mine and suddenly it lurched back and
forth. The fur was shedding in clumps and its proportions were
shrinking. Before my very eyes, I saw the beast transform into its
human form. Tyler Thorne.

The Mission

Tyler stood before me, furless and wearing
the tattered remains of his clothes. The Reborn creature was still
lying dead on my floor.

“Thought so.” I looked Tyler up and
down.

“What?”

“I could smell werewolf on you from the
moment I saw you.”

“How?”

“Bud, I’ve been in this business a long
time. Don’t think you’re the first werewolf I’ve ever met. You may
want to think about a haircut though. That wild mane of yours was
the first clue,” I said. “How did you manage to change? It’s not a
full moon.”

“I’ve found ways to transform at will. I
don’t do it a lot. Just when it’s an emergency.”

“Cool. Were you following me?”

“No. I was following him,” Tyler said as he
pointed over towards the dead Hell creature on my floor. “The
Reborn paid us a visit shortly after you left. We fought them off
and they retreated. I managed to follow this one all over town. I
was hoping he’d lead me to their hideout. It would seem they know
what we’re up to already.”

“The supernatural community is a small one.
It’s hard to keep a secret around here.” I turned back around to
our visitor, but there was nothing in the spot where he had once
been lying but a puddle of blood and burn marks. I looked out the
giant hole that was acting as my window and I saw several dark
figures racing down the street.

“They never travel alone,” Tyler’s eyes were
intent on the fleeing figures. “I’m surprised they didn’t all come
up here to tear you apart.”

“What can I say? I’m a lucky guy.”

Tyler assured me a member of the Black Flame
would be nearby at all times when I demanded that he let me go
home. I couldn’t sleep in my office, as there were now only three
walls to it.

I got in my car and after a few tries, it
finally burst to life. I chugged through the meanest streets
Hollywood had to offer to the rundown apartment building I had
settled in. The outside wasn’t much to look at. Cracked paint. Dead
front lawn. Bars on all the windows. My car struggled to a small
space right in front and died as I lifted my foot off the brake
pedal.

I got out and trudged up the walk towards
the front door. I could hear the televisions blaring from behind my
neighbors’ doors. The ever present aroma of Indian food and expired
kitty litter hung in the air. I walked up the stairs and soon found
myself staring at my door. I pushed the key in and swung the door
open. It was dark inside, which was a good start, as I really
wasn’t looking forward to any company.

I flipped on a light and flopped down on my
sofa and let the stress of the day leave me. For as many times as
I’ve dealt with supernatural forces it still managed to rattle me
up. Feeling claws digging into your body can really put you off
your game.

I tried to sort through the vast amount of
information I had been exposed to. As I did, I absentmindedly
followed a small spider as it crawled up the wall and disappeared
into a dark shadow in the corner of my ceiling. I got up and walked
over to the only clean window and looked out onto the street. No
sign of life. Human or otherwise. I turned to the kitchen and
flipped the light on. Nothing on the counters. Appliances looked
clean and untouched except for the slight dust build-up. I pulled
the fridge open and all I could see was half a six-pack of beer, a
bag of brown salad, half a loaf of bread and some lunchmeat that
looked to be mere days from becoming a living organism. I grabbed a
beer and shut the door. My first sip was interrupted by a knock at
my door. I said a quiet thank you that it was a knock. I opened the
door and saw Ivar standing before me.

“Hey, man.”

“I just saw the office. What happened?” I
stepped aside and motioned for him to enter.

“We had some visitors.”

“The office has been completely
destroyed.”

“The Reborn.” Ivar’s eyes found me and I was
surprised to see the shock in his eyes.

“You made contact with The Reborn?”

“They seem to be interested in Morgan’s body
as well.”

“This complicates things. The Reborn are a
vicious order.”

“We’ll pick up Morgan’s body and then
they’re the Black Flame’s problem.” I was a little surprised at how
natural it was beginning to sound even in my own head.

“Do you know what they intend to do with
Morgan’s body once they have it?”

“Sure. They plan to take the body and burn
her to a crisp. End of crisis.”

“Not really. Morgan is no mere witch.
Disposing of her as they hope to do will require much more than
mere flame.”

“We really haven’t hammered out all the
details. I’m just giving you the broad strokes here.”

“This is what I’ve been experiencing. There
is a great and terrible power lingering just beyond the
horizon.”

“Why do you always have to talk like that?
I’m feeling good, relaxing with a beer and you have to waltz in
here talking about great power and evil. We have a client. We pick
up the corpse-sicle and get paid. Can’t you be happy about that?” I
could tell he was still worried, and I didn’t blame him. On paper
everything seemed pretty basic, but groups like the Black Flame
rarely ever made things simple. With Jackal on the loose and the
body of a powerful sorceress floating around, I was beginning to
get an ominous feeling in my gut as well.

The Deal

I met up with Tyler at seven in the evening
just outside the airport. He was camped out in a white van a few
blocks away from the main entrance. He jumped out and handed me a
folder.

“This is all the information you need: Your
new name, your license number and all the paperwork that they’ll be
asking for. Memorize it.”

“In less than an hour?”

“We can’t afford a slip up here, Corba. I’ll
do most of the talking, but if I need you to back me up, you have
to know this stuff. The Washington police think a research company
is taking the corpse for examination. We need to talk the
talk.”

Tyler then went back into the van and pulled
out two sets of white uniforms. We both slipped them on and got
into the van. He revved it up and drove on toward the airport. He
turned off the main road down a more deserted lane that ran up
around the perimeter of the complex. It looked to be the route most
industrial vehicles took to make pickups. There were a few security
gates to pass through. They checked our paperwork and passed us
through. We finally came to a stop at a large entrance.

“Get out here and wait for me. I need to
park this thing.”

“Right.” I jumped out and Tyler sped off to
a nearby parking structure. There was no one nearby except for a
few security guards who were wandering around. Every once in a
while, they would look up at me and give me the ‘security eye’. I
looked around nervously and still saw no sign of Tyler. I turned
and saw a small path that led to some restrooms. I decided then was
as good a time as any to freshen up.

I walked in and discovered it to be as empty
as outside. I walked up to one of the sinks and turned on the
water.

“Hi, Jake.” I spun around and there was
Jackal standing in the corner. He looked different. His black hair
was slicked back tight. His face was calm. His eyes were fixed on
me thoughtfully and a small smile graced his slightly fuzzy lips.
He had his arms crossed behind his back and his clothes were more
stylish than normal.

“Jackal.”

“It’s so nice to see you again. I’m sure
you’ve been busy looking for me.”

“We’ve been sniffing around. Where’ve you
been?”

“You are here with the Black Flame, aren’t
you?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I know why you’re here. That’s all that
matters.”

“What is it to you?”

“I’m here to stop you. The Reborn are very
interested in taking Morgan’s body and they’ve asked me to help
them.”

“You’re working with The Reborn?”

“Who do you think wrote my ticket out of the
nut house? At first, I was a little resistant, but when I realized
the power they held I couldn’t say no.” He took a step forward.

“You’re here alone?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to stop me all by yourself?
You’ve never beaten me in your life.”

“I don’t intend on fighting you, Jake.”

“This is getting better and better. How are
you going to stop me then?”

“I’m not going to stop you, exactly. You
see, what’s going to happen is you will take Morgan’s body and
bring her to me.”

“That’s not going to happen.”