Demon Hunters (3 page)

Hours bled into each other. I began to think
about my situation and I was starting to think I wasn’t in such a
bad place. I had a roof over my head and they had to feed us. I was
sure it wasn’t four-star cuisine, but it was better than nothing.
Finally, the cop who processed me returned.

“Corba?”

“Yes?”

“It’s your lucky day. The mom’s decided to
drop the charges.”

“What?”

“She figures she owes you a good turn for
saving her kid. I’ll get the papers moving right away.”

“Wait!”

“What?”

“I just, I was hoping that I’d be here long
enough to get fed at least.” I said, feeling stupid for even
uttering the thought. The cop looked at me thoughtfully.

“Well, we feed you guys at eight, usually. I
guess it’ll take me until at least eight thirty to get the papers
through.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure.” I took my seat back but was startled
to find the longhaired freak right next to me. I didn’t even hear
him move.

“Corba?” His voice was raspy and weird. His
eyes were wide and crazed. I felt my skin growing cold just sitting
next to him.

“Yes.”

“What an interesting name.”

“What’s yours?” His eyes were wild as they
looked upon me. It felt like he was appraising me, or
something.

“Sam Abaddon.”

Nice to meet you, Sam.”

“Likewise. Your name carries quite a
history.” The cold in my blood intensified.

“You know about my family?”

“Of course! I am what some would call a
student of the black arts. I have spent the better part of my life
studying magic and mysticism and anyone in that world knows of the
Corba family. Demon hunters. But I sense something more in you.
You’ve got a power that’s literally bubbling to the top. You are
special.”

“Thanks. I’m going to sit over there for a
while, okay?” I flung myself from my seat and found a quiet spot at
the other end of the cell. Sam was close behind.

“Don’t misunderstand my interest, please.
It’s just that when I find someone who could be such a powerful
force, I feel it’s my duty to help nurture that talent.”

“I’m not looking for a teacher or anything,
okay?” I said. Sam’s hand grabbed my arm. A heat rose up through me
and as quickly as that, Sam fell back. He looked up at me with
amazement in his eyes. He smiled quickly and leapt back up to
me.

“A demon! You host a demon in your
soul!”

“Yes. I do. I’ve learned to control it, so
just shut up about it.”

“You don’t understand. You have within you a
power you can’t begin to imagine.”

“Trust me. I can.”

“This is wonderful.” Sam began ogling me
like some sort of prize. I got up and walked to the middle of the
cell.

“Look, man, I don’t really care about the
demon in me. I don’t care about magic or whatever. I’m just trying
to live my life. If it’s all the same to you, I just want to wait
for my dinner and get out of here.”

“Has anyone talked to you about this?”

“Some guy. Freak like you. Ivar.”

“Ivar.”

“Of course you know him. Crazy knows
crazy.”

“Ivar and I have traveled in the same
spheres, yes, but he and I are vastly different. He languishes in
the past. I can show you a way to use the demon inside of you to
make your life better now. You want food? Shelter? You can have it
all! More in fact! The key is within you, Jake. Like a genie in a
bottle. You just need to release it.”

“If I could do that, I would have done it
years ago.”

“You can’t do it, but I could,” He had my
attention. “I can release the demon from you. I can also help you
use the demon’s powers to make your life better. No more struggling
to survive day to day. I can feel the pain coming through you even
now. You have been down so long, you can’t even imagine a better
world, but I can help you.” I still had my doubts.

“Prove it.”

“What?”

“You say you study this stuff and you can do
this for me. Prove it.” Sam stood up and paced around the cell, his
crazy eyes glued to me. His look was almost accusing, as though I
had pulled the curtain away only to expose the trembling weak fool
hiding behind his powerful boasts. He suddenly sprang forward and
grabbed my arm. He dragged me to the floor and held my arm down
upon it.

“Proof? You need proof of my power?” His
voice was trembling. He held up one of his fingers to me and I
could see he had grown his nail out and filed it to a sharp point.
With a sick grin on his mouth, he stabbed into his own hand.
“Here’s your proof.” I looked down and saw his wound was deep and
blood was seeping out. His fingernail was covered in it and he
dripped a few drops on the floor. He forced my hand over the blood
and guided it around in a circular motion. He began to mumble
something under his breath. Suddenly, fire burst up from the blood.
I looked down at the small flame while I felt Sam’s eyes on me. He
began laughing. He held his hand out over the flame and he began
slowly waving his hand over the fire and with every pass, it grew
larger and brighter. I sat back and watched as he teased the flame
higher until finally he balled his fist up and as he did, the fire
died. He looked over to me waiting for a reaction.

I had dreamt so long of abandoning the
demon, but after so many years, I had given up. I had been waiting
for so long to find someone who could save me once and for all. It
didn’t fill me with too much confidence that I finally found that
person in a jail cell, but I wasn’t going to be picky.

Sam’s Story

When dinner came, I sat down with Sam and he
told me about his life. It seemed we had a lot more in common than
I thought. We were both orphaned at a young age. Just like me, he
was tossed from foster home to foster home. He never had many
friends and retreated to his books. He discovered his talent for
magic and learned all he could. Over the years, he had ample time
to practice and perfect them. The more he spoke the more I felt I
had finally found a kindred spirit.

“Okay, so when do we do this?”

“Not here. I know a place.”

“Yeah, but are you getting out soon?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll be in touch
with you when I am released.”

“But, when will that be?”

“When I am ready.” I heard footsteps and
then the cell door opened. I looked to see my cop friend standing
before me.

“You fed?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. Check out time. We have some
papers for you to sign.” I looked over to Sam.

“Go. Remember what I told you.” I nodded and
walked out of the cell.

“Were you talking to Sam?” The cop asked as
he led me down the hall.

“Yeah. Is that a crime?”

“No, it’s just I’ve never seen him talk to
anyone before.”

“Has he been here long?”

“Not this time. He’s kind of a regular.
Personally, I think we should throw the book at him, but all the
powers that be seem to think all he needs is face time with some
court appointed shrinks and some taxpayer funded medications.”

“What’s he in for this time?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t the arresting
officer and I haven’t bothered reading his file. The last time he
was here, though, he was caught just as he was about to cut open a
little girl to open up a portal to another dimension or Hell or
something.”

After I was done with all the paperwork, I
went to my apartment and collapsed on my mattress. The meager
dinner the jail had provided me was still sitting in my stomach and
its flavor lived on my tongue. I tried not to think about it too
much, as the thought of food only encouraged my appetite. I tried
to think about what Sam had told me. I also thought on what the cop
said about Sam. I was already weary enough of him, but the added
information was beginning to paint a picture I wasn’t sure I wanted
to be a part of. Although, the thought of being free of the demon
made any price seem worthy. Even if he were a deranged psychopath,
if he could release me from the monster I held in my skin, he’d be
my hero. After a few hours of imagining a demon free life, I began
to drift off to sleep.

I woke up the next morning and not much had
changed. The walls were still dirty and the stench of the garbage
in the living room wafted in. I was still in my clothes from the
previous night. I got up and changed into some clean pants.

I walked out to the living room and still,
nothing new. I wasn’t sure why I was expecting a change. I headed
out and started my day as I had so many mornings before that one.
As I pushed the door open, I noticed a piece of paper taped on the
frame of my door. I unfolded it and saw a large message scrawled in
red. ‘Soon’. I looked upon the paper for a few moments. I sensed
Sam’s presence with it, but I was at a loss to figure out how he
got it to me.

As I carried on through my day, I created
many possible theories as to how the message came to my door. Maybe
someone posted bail for Sam and he just found my address in some
database, or he spied it on a file back at the police station.
Maybe I had told him my address and just forgot about it. After
that trick he did with the fire, I figured anything was possible. I
was pretty impressed with it. I could have told him and totally
forgotten.

The day pushed on and my thoughts left Sam
and returned to reality. I began my new campaign to save up enough
money for a decent meal and was intent on finding a new method to
carry my money. The people seemed to be a bit more generous than
normal, and I began to think I could probably save enough to buy a
wallet. It was getting late and I had accumulated a good sum, so I
began counting my take when a large shadow passed over me. I looked
up and saw Ivar towering over me.

“What do you want?” I asked as I returned my
attention to my money.

“Have you spoken with Sam Abaddon?”

“Are you stalking me or something?”

“I know you were arrested yesterday and I
also know Sam had been arrested. I just want to know if you spoke
with him.”

“What makes you think I did?” Ivar then held
out a copy of the front page of the daily newspaper. The big story
of the day was about a bloody prison break the previous night. It
described the successful escape of Sam Abaddon. Three guards were
eviscerated, a couple of cops coming off duty lost their heads and
a cleaning guy had his heart torn out.

“Sam was clearly very intent on leaving his
cell last night and I can only imagine how excited he would be to
get his hands on someone like you. He must have smelled blood in
the water. Did you speak with him?”

“Yeah. He offered to help me.”

“What kind of help did he offer?”

“He said he could get rid of the demon.”

“What did you say to him?”

“I don’t know. I guess I left it kind of
open.”

“Whatever it was clearly triggered
something.”

“Are you saying those murders are my fault?”
I leapt to my feet.

“That’s the least of my concern at this
point. Sam is out and it’s a good bet he’s going to be coming for
you.”

“He doesn’t know where I live.” Just then
the note came back into my head, but I wasn’t going to share that
with Ivar.

“He’ll find you.”

“So what if he does find me? At least he
wants to help me. He wasn’t following me around and hoping to learn
some great cosmic secret from me. He understands that I didn’t ask
for this and I don’t want it! If he can help me get rid of this
thing, I’m all for it!”

“I want to help you too, Jake, but this
isn’t the way! You can’t discard who you are and what you are meant
to be because it’s an inconvenience for you!”

“The Hell I can’t! I know it’s easy for you
to talk about destiny and duty and all that shit, but from my end
of things, I’d rather just be free and happy. Sam can do that for
me.”

“For a price.”

“A price I will gladly pay! This thing has
taken everything from me! Do you understand that? Everything! I
think maybe the time has come for me to get a little something
back.”

“It isn’t that simple.”

“For me, it is. Thanks for the concern. I’m
going home now.” I turned on my heel and stormed away from
Ivar.

As I was walking home, I pulled out the note
I had found on my door. I looked at the writing. The red was bold
and eye catching and the strokes were jagged and rough. It didn’t
look like ink exactly. Some parts were beginning to grow brown. I
scratched at it gently and it began to flake off the page.
Blood.

I folded the paper away and dismissed it.
Sam could free me and that was all that I cared about. It was dark
when I arrived home and everything appeared as normal as ever. When
I came to my door, I could sense something nearby. I pushed the
door open and I saw Sam standing before me. His hair was wet and
streaked down straight along the side of his face.

“I took a shower while I waited. I hope you
don’t mind.” I stood frozen on my spot. For some reason I was as
relieved to see him as I was shocked. The note was enough of a
warning that he was intending to visit me, but I just wasn’t
expecting it so soon.

“No. Did anyone follow you?”

“It’s all right. No one knows I’m here.”

“I read about your break out.”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I just knew how badly you
needed my help and I couldn’t bear the thought of you waiting too
long.”

“You really killed all those people?”

“Do you want to stand here and dredge up old
stories about people who don’t really matter, or do you want to
take the first step to living your life for the first time?”

“You murdered six people! Five of which were
cops. The whole city is going to be looking for you.”

“Don’t you think I know that? Trust me; it’s
nothing I haven’t dealt with before.” He placed his hand on my
shoulder and I saw his eyes again. Still crazy, but with what I had
learned, there was something else I saw. Something worse.