Fearless (3 page)

Abby said nothing. Her gut told her he was being honest. He
also proved he would risk a lot by riding in a car. It was clearly weakening
him and making him sick. She sped up to get them to her place a little faster.
What was she going to do with him? Perhaps another person to fight with her
against the increase of monsters would be a good thing.

Chapter 3

Abby sliced through the thick hide
of the monster with the party hat. Copious amounts of black blood splattered
her, but that wasn’t what made her curse. The beast laughed as its wound
stitched itself together within a matter of seconds.

It swung its meaty arm at her with the force and speed of a
wrecking ball. Abby jumped to the side, trying to focus on an alternative
method of killing this beastly primate. Hacking it to bits would take too
long.  Her line of thought was interrupted.

Demetrius roared and made another attack.

“Stay back!” Abby shouted and leapt into the fray with her
blades whirling.

“You get out of the way. Let me crush the beast.” Demetrius
brought his huge club down upon the monster. It squealed as it was struck, but
it wasn’t hurt that badly.

What is it with men and thinking they can solve all their
problems with a big chunk of wood
? Tawa said with her usual bitter bite.

“Let’s not even go there. I need to find a way to kill it.”
Abby whispered just as the monster smacked her across the face. Pain flashed
brightly before she forced it down. Warm blood trickled from her nose. She
wiped it away with the back of her hand.

“Then leave it to me.” Demetrius was like an animal when he
fought. All brute force, instinctual, and deadly grace.

Are you ever going to let him pay his blood debt to you
?
Tawa sighed.
Let him kill it
.
He’ll eventually find a way
.

“No. This is my job.” Abby would not retreat from her duty.
Every monster she faced represented a child’s life. This had to end as soon as
possible. She dodged another flurry of blows.

Demetrius was noisy as he fought. Snarls and battle cries.
Three days ago she had brought him home, and after resting the first night at
her loft, he had gone to a nearby park and returned with his club. He claimed
that it had to come from a tree spirit who willingly gave its limb for the
purpose of being used against evil. It made one hell of a weapon, but it wasn’t
going to work quickly with this monster.

“Think like a child.” Abby tore her gaze from the fae’s
impressive display and zipped out of the way of the beast. She scanned the
child’s room. Books, lots of books, and airplane models. A row of hats neatly
hung from a coat rack. Some other toys and a teddy bear with its eyes plucked
out thrown into a corner. Monsters were always so cruel to the children’s
favorite toys.

Yes, what weakness would a child attribute to this beast
?
Bananas
? Tawa sounded as frustrated as Abby felt.

Thrown into her, Demetrius and Abby crashed into the wall.
Chunks of plaster fell around them. He bounced to his feet and stood in front
of her, bare chest heaving. He never lost hold of his club.

“Is it laughing at us?” He swung at the beast again.

Abby could hear a strange coughing noise, and the monster
was holding its shaking belly. She stood and moved beside Demetrius. “It’s
giggling.”

“I will not be laughed at by an overgrown monkey!” He roared
and launched himself at the thing. The monster promptly hurtled Demetrius
against the other wall.

“It’s a gorilla.” The nightmares that came to life from
children’s minds never ceased to amaze her. Why the boy who lived there was
afraid of a giggling gorilla, she didn’t know, but it was sharper than the
typical beast. It also had to have a weakness.

Head-on attacks weren’t working. It was too clever to let
her get behind it. It did a little dance as it and Demetrius exchanged blows.
The polka dots on the hat sparkled in the dim light coming from outside.

The hat.

Abby darted forward. She did so without fear of the horrific
beast or for her own life. Her only fear was that she so easily fell into
working with Demetrius and liked it. Not that she’d ever tell him.

She swung with her left blade to distract the monster. When
it dodged it, she brought the right sword down to slice through its hat. It
howled. Its giggles turned into sobs. Abby rammed both her swords through its
chest. This time, its wounds didn’t heal. It sank to the floor with a pitiful
sob and shuddered once before it died.

“The hat was its weak spot?” He rolled his shoulders, brushing
off blood and plaster. “That makes no bloody sense at all.”

“It does, but I don’t expect a caveman like you to
understand.” Abby’s glowing swords disappeared into her palms.

“Caveman? You’re the one who snores.” He shot back.

“You’re the one carrying the club.” Abby adjusted Tawa on
her back and headed to the window.

“Perhaps I’m the one with the club, babycakes,” Demetrius
said as he hefted it over one broad shoulder. “But at least I resisted the urge
to knock you out with it and carry you back to my cave while watching you towel
off after your shower this morning.”

Abby’s mouth fell open and her cheeks flushed a brilliant
crimson. There was little privacy in her loft, and she had thought he’d been
sleeping. He chuckled as she hopped out the window. She slammed it shut and
walked off without waiting for him.

Chapter 4

“You will stay at this table, read
the books or whatever, but you will not bother me while I’m working.” Abby
glared at Demetrius who only infuriated her further with his lazy smile. She
gritted her teeth and repeated, “Stay right here.”

Abby turned and marched over to another table in the library
where twin twelve-year-old girls sat. They whispered and giggled, stealing
glances at Demetrius. They leaned on the table in unison as Abby sat down and
took her texts out of her satchel.

“Is that your boyfriend, Miss White?” Amber asked.

Her twin Violet added, “He’s really cute.”

This set them giggling again.

“No. He’s not my boyfriend. He’s...” Abby searched for a
proper cover story. “My cousin. Visiting from out of town.” Her neck ached as
she willed herself not to look in the fae’s direction. She knew he heard that,
knew he was grinning. Abby tapped the book in front of her. “Down to work,
girls. Algebra today.”

Abby spent the hour tutoring the girls, but her mind kept
drifting. It was a good thing math came easily to her and that the twins weren’t
paying that much attention. She would’ve canceled all her appointments, but she
still needed to pay rent and, more importantly, tutoring let her communicate
with the children. She would hear stories about kids having problems with
nightmares, or a few of them already knew she could help them with monster
problems and would pass notes to her through their friends. Other adults never
believed them, but she did. Were there a few false calls? Yes. Lately, though,
every one was real.

As they were collecting their things after the session,
Demetrius sauntered over to the table. He grinned at the girls. “Hello, girls.
Did you enjoy your lesson with my lovely cousin?”

“It was good.” Violet flushed and giggled.

“Though I bet you’d rather be reading those books of yours.”
Demetrius motioned to the books they currently held in their arms and sat on
the edge of the table. Their math books were already stuffed in their
knapsacks. “What are those about?”

“Oh, this is the new one by M.T. Burrows. Her stories are
awesome scary.” Amber gazed at Demetrius with big dreamy eyes.

“I like a good horror story. Maybe I’ll pick them up. Thanks
for the recommendation.” Demetrius made a small noise as he pushed off the
table and straightened. He still smirked.

“Go on, girls. Your mom is likely waiting for you out front.”
Abby shooed them off. The twins walked away, giggling and peeking over their
shoulders at Demetrius. Abby frowned at him. “I told you not to talk to the
kids.”

“No harm done.” He shrugged. Abby couldn’t help but notice
the t-shirt he was wearing stretched across his chest as if barely containing
him. At least it wasn’t as distracting as his tattoo.

“It’s creepy. Did you actually do any research while you
were sitting over there? I didn’t see you open more than one book.” Abby sighed
and hooked her satchel over her shoulder.

“Not all knowledge of value can be found in books. Though it
is books that I’m interested in. Especially those the girls were reading. The
Burrows books.”

“They’re just some silly stories. Fiction. Why? Do you like
to read children’s books?” Abby shook her head. She hoped he would be some help
with her research, but she shouldn’t have expected it from one of the wild fae.
He likely never read a book in his life.

“No, but look.” Demetrius put an arm over her shoulder and
turned her in a slow circle. He spoke in a quiet voice near her ear. “I’ve been
watching the children. Almost all of them have a copy of the book.”

Abby scanned the library. There were a lot of kids since it
was after school and just before dinner. What he said was true. It was a
popular series.

“So?” She was very aware of his arm on her and the nearness
of his mouth to her ear. It was difficult to think about books when she could
just turn her head and press her lips to his.

No, no. None of that. She took a step away from him.

“I saw that book in the room last night. The gorilla room.”
He dipped his head to her, seemingly awaiting something. When she didn’t reply
immediately, he continued, “A scary book. Awesome scary. All the children are
reading it. It’s breeding the monsters.”

Abby was about to protest, but then it clicked. She could
have kicked herself for not seeing it sooner. It didn’t take much to fuel a
child’s imagination. Her research into old folklore and history had been too
obscure. She never saw what was there all along. Abby hadn’t been thinking like
a child. There were always horror stories and films. What was different about
this one?

“Let’s go buy a copy.”

Chapter 5

Abby returned to her loft with pizza
in hand. She was about to toss down her satchel when she heard Demetrius. His
voice was quiet and intense, talking about something going on in the old house
at the end of the street. There were no houses on her street, only apartment
buildings.

After a half minute more, she realized he was reading.
Reading out loud.

Abby crept around the corner and peered into the loft.
Demetrius was sitting in her window seat with the window wide open. Tawa was
propped up across from him. He had the newest Burrows book in his hands. He
paused in his reading and started to ask Tawa a question.

“You!” Abby gasped. She stormed over to them, tossing the
pizza onto the coffee table. “You can hear her. You’ve been making fun of me
all this time for talking to myself and you can hear her!”

“Hey, darling. It’s no reason to be mean to the pizza.”
Demetrius gave her that grin that infuriated her and made her stomach do flips
at the same time.

If it’s any consolation, I didn’t know he could hear me
either until yesterday
. Tawa didn’t sound very sympathetic. In fact, Abby
was sure she sounded amused.

“Yesterday?” Abby growled and threw up her hands before
pulling at her hair. “Why didn’t you tell us? Do you realize how infuriating
you are?”

“I didn’t do it to annoy you, but it was an amusing game.”
Demetrius slipped from the window seat and bent over to open the box and snag a
piece of pizza. “You never let me finish telling you how much I knew about the
Fearless. Well, the old tales say something about a spiritual guide for each
warrior. In centuries past, the guide was wished into a sacred object—perhaps a
statue or a symbol of one’s faith.”

I remember those days
.
I was in a statue of the
Greek Goddess Artemis for a couple of generations
. Tawa sighed wistfully.

“Yet your sacred object was a stuffed hippo.” Demetrius
chuckled as he took a bite, cheese stretching out. He used his tongue to skillfully
rein it in.

“At least it’s something I can carry around easily and not
draw any attention. I think lugging around a statue would slow me down a bit.”
Abby stared at that tongue. She slammed her palms into her eyes and rubbed
them.

We didn’t go with our girls when they fought
.
That
has been something new I’ve experienced with you
, Tawa said.
After being
in the washer for the third time this week, I think I prefer being in an
unmovable statue
.

“Anyway,” Demetrius continued. “As for being able to hear Tawa,
I’m from a line that has some telepathic abilities. I don’t have any active
abilities, but my senses can pick up things on other wavelengths. I didn’t say
anything at first because I was trying to respect your relationship with your
guide. I didn’t want to intrude unless invited.”

“So why did you?” Abby folded her arms.

“I got tired of listening to her whining about being stuck
in the washer and took her out.” Demetrius shrugged as he took a second bite.

I wasn’t whining
. Tawa sniffed.

“That I can believe,” Abby said to Demetrius and picked up a
piece of pizza for herself. “Okay, now we can all talk together. Anything in
the book worthwhile?”

It’s full of bad prose and self-entitled teens
complaining their parents won’t let them stay out past ten
. Tawa snorted.

“As a guide for the Fearless, you have no insight into
literature.” Demetrius fetched the book from the window seat.

Yes, because I spend so much time with a book in my hands
.

He ignored Tawa and held out the book to Abby. “Monsters
preying on children. It’s written simply, but speaks to the basest of fears.
Great use of tension. Not graphic, but enough detail to be frightening. Leaves
a good amount to the imagination.”