Demon Hunters (5 page)

“Too late for what?” She then walked closer
to me, leaned over and pushed her lips against mine. She pulled
away slightly and looked down upon me. “I’ll make time for that.”
Suddenly, the nurse’s mouth opened up and two rows of razor sharp
teeth popped out. Her jaw grew about a foot and she was about ready
to stuff my head into her mouth. I pushed her back, but she flipped
over and leapt onto the bed. Her eyes began to glow and her fingers
were turning into long claws. I reached for the call button, but
her arm shot out like a whip and stabbed me. Her hair started to
fall off in clumps on the floor. Whatever was human about her had
disappeared and I could only see a monster staring at me with
hungry eyes. “It’s you.” My old panic returned.

“You were my prison for too long! I will
have my power back!” Her voice had changed. It had turned raspy and
terrible. She leapt forward, but as she did, I rolled off the
mattress and scrambled away, pushing through the curtain. I felt
ice-cold hands on my leg. I turned and I saw the twisted creature
below me clawing at me. I jumped forward and landed head first into
a supply cart. Syringes and other hospital sundries spilled all
over the floor. The demon was pulling at me. I flailed blindly and
found a fist full of scalpels. Just as the monster had me, I shoved
them all into its face. It shrieked in agony and let me loose. I
bolted forward, but I could hear it coming up behind me fast.
Screams and shouts were coming from all around as the beast began
to show its true form. I saw a bottle of some fluid and, in panic;
I grabbed it and threw it at the monster. It turned out to be a
good choice, as whatever was in the bottle caused the creature to
fall back in pain, clutching its face. I hurried to the hall and
found the stairs.

I ran all the way down I could hear the
monster close behind. I slammed through the last door at the bottom
of the stairs and I saw Ivar standing in the middle of the lobby. I
ran for him and as I approached he turned. His expression became
odd. Suddenly his arms came up and I could see two large guns in
his hands. I stopped in my tracks and then two explosions ripped
through my ears. I heard a loud, unnatural scream. I turned and saw
the now deformed nurse lying on the floor in a pool of blood and
slime. I looked down upon it as it twitched and bubbled before my
eyes.

“We need to get out of here.” Ivar placed
his hand on my shoulder.

“You killed it.”

“No, I didn’t. It’s going to reconstitute
itself very quickly. We need to go now.” I wasn’t sure what to do
exactly, but I decided whatever I was going to do, it would be
better if I did it far from a creature that wanted to kill me.

Safe House

Ivar was driving me to someplace safe. I
could feel the nagging headache behind my eyes begin to grow more
intense.

“You okay?”

“Fine.”

“You believe me now?” Ivar’s tone of
self-righteousness was not lost on me, but I did not feel compelled
to respond. I wasn’t sure if I was in a state of shock because I
was nearly sliced to ribbons by a demon, or just pissed that Ivar
was right.

“I believe you, happy? That thing was my
demon. But it didn’t look like that at the warehouse.”

“Most demons have no definite form. Many of
them can make themselves appear any way they wish. A helpful tool
when luring mortals; or killing them.”

“Then it still is draining me.”

“Slowly but surely. The stronger it gets,
the weaker you become.”

“How weak are we talking? I mean, when I was
possessed, I had a little extra power. I’m just going to go back to
normal, right?”

“If the demon gets too much stronger, you
could die.”

“How long will that take?”

“Naturally, it would take years.
Decades.”

“You’re warning me about something I don’t
even have to worry about yet? If ever?”

“However, if the demon wants its full power
restored at once, it would only have to kill you.”

“How do I fix this? It was bad having that
bastard inside of me, but I can’t live my life running like this.”
I stared at Ivar waiting for him to open his mouth and give me an
answer. He sat stiff and distant for almost a minute.

“You must rejoin with the demon in order
preserve your life.”

“I just cut the thing loose! I have to suck
it back in just to live?” I felt a rush of frustration come over
me. I felt Ivar’s eyes on me.

“Maybe not.” I jerked up from my seat.

“What?”

“I happen to know of someone who may be able
to help you. It’s a long shot, at best.”

“That’s fine! I’ll try anything! I just
can’t go back to that thing. You have no idea what it’s been like.
The voices. The visions.”

“Trust me, Jake. I appreciate how difficult
it has been for you. I will help you.” Ivar said. I took some
comfort in his words. I wasn’t sure if he was even telling the
truth, but something inside me urged me to trust. After a few more
miles, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, the car was parked in front
of a crappy looking little house. Ivar was missing but I saw a
light on in the dump in front of me. I slipped out of the car and
walked up the porch to the front door, which was hanging open. I
leaned in slightly but I heard nothing.

“Hello?” Still quiet. I then heard the faint
sound of someone writing. I walked in.

The living room was sparse. There was a
couch and a television but that was about it. I followed the
scribbling sound to the kitchen in back. I saw Ivar leaning over
the kitchen counter.

“Hey.” He did nothing to indicate to me that
he was aware of my presence. I took a step forward and a loud creak
shot out from below. Ivar’s head tilted slightly toward me.

“You’re up.” He went back to his
project.

“What are you doing? Where are we?”

“We’re all right here. A friend of mine
allows me to use this as a sort of safe house. I haven’t been here
in a long time, but everything seems intact.”

“Okay, doesn’t really answer any of my
questions.”

“It answers enough of them. I need to
concentrate.”

“What are you doing?” I looked down and saw
an old, worn out map on the counter with a lot of wild marks all
over it. “What is this?”

“I’m trying to find The One.”

“What?”

“The person I said could help you is known
only as The One. He is very wise and if there is any way to free
you of this demon, he will know.”

“Okay, so why don’t we just go there?”

“I don’t know where he is right now.”

“Call information! Check the phone
book!”

“It’s not that easy. The One is an ancient,
holy being. He never appears in the same place. That map is
designed to help me track him when I am in need of his counsel.
What I am doing now is a form of divining. I’m using my mind to
track his psychic aura. Or I was.”

“Just when I thought you weren’t
insane.”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Fine. I’m sorry. Divine away. Just hurry.”
II adjourned back to the living room.

I sat down on the couch and was intent on
turning the television on, when I noticed the set wasn’t set up for
a remote and only had a rotary dial. I slumped back in the sofa and
waited.

The silence was broken by a sudden noise
outside the house. I looked over and saw Ivar still intent on his
magic map. I got up and peeked outside. It was so dark; I could
barely see the front lawn. I heard the noise again. It was like a
dull, wet slap coming from everywhere. I walked out onto the porch.
I couldn’t sense any movement. I stepped off the porch and I could
feel the wet grass with every step. It was deep. I walked out to
the middle of the lawn and looked around but saw nothing.

The night was calm and quiet. Not even a
slight breeze. As soon as I was satisfied, I turned back to the
house, but I quickly noticed my foot felt stuck in the grass. I
pulled harder thinking I had just stepped in a mud puddle or
something. I yanked, but whatever was holding me got tighter. I
looked down and I could barely notice the thousands of blades of
grass moving. They were growing and swarming around like little
tendrils. I gave my leg another good yank, and I broke free. I
hurried for the house but just then a thousand or more tiny blades
of grass shot up out of the ground and twisted together into a long
whip. It lashed around and wrapped tightly around my leg. Another
grass whip launched up and grappled my other leg. Then two more
caught my arms and soon I felt an immense pull reaching around my
body. I struggled against the force but the harder I pushed, the
harder they pulled. I managed to free my arms and started clawing
against the ground to get closer to safety. The other grass blades
became stiff and sharp like jagged spikes poking at me. I let out a
scream that could have easily woken up the neighbors, had there
been any. I felt something wrap tightly around my neck and squeeze.
My head began to grow light and my vision was beginning to blur. I
then saw a large black blob coming toward me and flail around
wildly just before I passed out.

I woke up again on the sofa inside and I saw
Ivar standing over me, sweaty and stained with dirt and grass
clippings. He was holding a large sword in his hand.

“Thanks.”

“We really have to get going. The demon is
getting closer.” Ivar forced me up and ushered me back to the car.
He got in and brought the car to life. As he peeled out onto the
street, I looked back at the house and then back to Ivar.

“Where did you get the sword?”

“I keep a stash of weapons handy at all
times.”

We drove for another couple hours in
silence. After having nearly being murdered by a lawn, I didn’t
feel much like talking. The scenery blurred by me but I didn’t
care. I didn’t pay much mind to the oncoming traffic signs
either.

“You know where you’re going?”

“Yes.”

“How do you do it?”

“What?”

“You cut me out of a blood thirsty grass
field and it’s like it was nothing to you.”

“You were possessed by a demon and now it’s
hunting you down and you act like it’s nothing.”

“I am definitely acting like it’s something.
I admit I’ve had my share of weirdness over the years, but nothing
close to all this. Do you deal with this shit on a daily
basis?”

“Not daily, but it does have its regularity.
You get used to it.”

“I don’t think I could. I’ve just wanted a
normal life for so long. That demon cost me so much. It took my
parents. It got me bounced from more foster homes than I could
count.”

“Not every path is an easy one. It is
unfair, but your family’s destiny is...”

“Stop! Don’t talk to me about destiny! There
is no destiny. You just get a bunch of shit dumped on you from day
one and you deal with it. I’m done dealing with this weird shit. I
just want some regular shit to deal with.”

“It’s a shame. Many of the Corbas, over the
years, have done incredible things.”

“That was them. Not me.”

The vacuum of silence was profound and I
felt an awkward moment approaching. I just opened my mouth and let
the first thought that came to mind out.

“You think he’s helping?” Ivar looked back
up at me with interest.

“Who?”

“Sam. You think he’s helping the demon?”

“It’s possible. He could be offering the
demon more power in order to find you.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Sam is a twisted, evil man. His only goal
is to attain power. I’m sure it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume
he’s made some kind of deal with the demon. Perhaps if he helps
destroy you, he will be given some demonic favor.”

I then slipped back into silent mode for
another couple hours.

Road Trip

I looked out the window of the car and saw
the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. We were zooming along
some old back road it looked like. There were very few buildings
around and the ones that we could see were wrecks. Old businesses
that had failed years ago and were left to rot like corpses along
the lonely highways.

We turned into a large bank of tall trees
and something familiar came over me. We started around a long curve
and I felt my stomach begin to rise in anticipation. As we cleared
the bend, I saw the ruins of something that once was a large
structure to the left.

“Stop!” I shouted. Ivar pulled over and I
leapt out of the car as it came to a stop. I blindly ran across the
highway and headed to the burnt remains that sat in the middle of a
large, dead field. I stopped and looked at the mess. It looked like
piles of burnt wood and broken concrete strewn about randomly.
Pipes jutted out from the ground like dead veins. I entered the
ruins and explored like a holy man visiting a sacred temple.

“What’s this?” Ivar asked.

“This was the church.” The words didn’t even
feel as though they were coming from my lips. Every part of me felt
numb as I walked along what once was the main aisle of the church
leading to the altar. Even though I was a baby, so much of that
night stuck in my head. I could feel the warmth of the
congregation. The crisp air from outside. I could hear the organ
music playing softly behind us. I stopped as I came to an old pew
that had been spared destruction. The front one. It was where I sat
with my parents.

I could see my mother. She was so beautiful.
She had raven dark hair, like mine. She smiled down at me and it
lit something inside of me. Love exuded from her eyes like air and
it filled me everytime I saw her. Her grip around my body was firm
but gentle. Secure. I began to remember my father and how proud he
looked. He had a square jaw, again, like mine. He was a big man but
that betrayed his easy nature. When my mother handed me off to him,
his touch was as full of love as hers. I could somehow sense how
hard he was trying to hold me carefully, afraid he’d break me in
his grip.