Relics and Runes Anthology

by Heather Marie Adkins

  This can't be the end…

  Nicky's chest tightened around her heart. Breath didn't make it into her lungs. Beads of sweat rolled down her spine and pooled in the small of her back. It was the absolute helplessness that made her panic. She couldn't fight; couldn't even move.

  Was this what Lauren had felt, before she’d died?

  The demon leaned in closer and for a moment, she was afraid it was going to kiss her. As if that was the worst possible thing it could do. Nicky's chest spasmed. She managed a quick gasp. The demon made a sound as though it was inhaling.

  Nicky could only watch in horror as a pale, shimmering thread was pulled from her mouth and into the demons as it sucked the very life out of her.

  3

  Nicky tried to scream but no sound came out; only the thin rush of what little air was left in her lungs. Her vision faded around the edges in a way that had nothing to do with the flickering street lights.

  This couldn't be it, could it?

  Thirteen years of fighting vampires, only to get taken down by her first demon. How long would it be before anybody came looking for her? Before anybody found her? How many people would die before another hunter came along and dealt with the demon?

  If Nicky had to go out, she could at least comfort herself with the knowledge that she'd put up a good fight.

  Despite her determination not to cry, tears rolled down her temples and into her hair.

  This was such bullshit. Everything she'd faced, and this was going to be what killed her? Absolutely not!

  Nicky managed to clench her teeth shut, though it didn't stop the steady stream of light from escaping her. She struggled against the invisible hold, screaming at the back of her mind, if not out loud.

  The demon seemed to sense her renewed strength. It pressed down against her, its second hand grabbing her neck and jaw. It lowered its head closer to hers and somehow managed to open its mouth even wider.

  Fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you!

  If she couldn't say those words at loud, she could at least have the satisfaction of thinking them.

  The adrenaline spike was fading fast. Energy like that never lasted long.

  Nicky’s eyes began to slip shut. Even thinking of what she could possibly do to save herself was becoming difficult; let alone putting such plans into action.

  It took Nicky longer than it should have to realize that the sudden disappearance of the weight above her wasn’t because she'd died. It was a moment before she could crack an eye open. When she did, the wispy strand the demon had been pulling from her returned like a slingshot. She gasped and sat upright. The pain in her shoulder was a dull throb beneath the ache in her chest as she struggled to regain her breath.

  Trembling, Nicky grabbed the forgotten dagger with her left hand and pushed herself to shaky feet like a newborn calf. When her eyes adjusted, she could see why the demon had backed off.

  Nicky wasn't alone with it in the alley anymore. There was now a vampire, and she moved fast; faster than any human. She pushed the demon back, swiping at it with claws not quite as sharp as the demon’s, though Nicky knew from experience that vampire claws would still be more than sharp enough to cut her open. Still, the demon was outnumbered now, even if Nicky could barely see straight. It let out a fierce shriek that had her collapsing against the wall before it rose up and took off over the buildings.

  “Don't let it get away!” Nicky gasped.

  Too late. It was gone.

  The vampire turned to look at her, and Nicky caught the scent of something earthy, but also floral. Like a garden after rain. “Christ, how are you even standing?” the girl muttered.

  Nicky clenched her muscles and brandished her dagger. Two or three blurry forms approached her. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head to clear her vision, which only seemed to make things worse.

  “Stay the fuck away from me, or I’ll cut your face off.”

  The vampire paused. Nicky blinked again, and this time the girl finally came into focus. Her light grey eyes were fixed on Nicky in concern.

  “Is that a silver knife? Holy shit, you're a hunter!”

  “Yeah, I'm a hunter. So stay back.”

  Nicky hoped she sounded more intimidating than she felt. Sweat stuck her hair to her face and made her ripped dress cling to her skin. From the look on the vampire’s face, she wasn’t feeling particularly threatened. The dagger trembled in Nicky's hand as the vampire stepped closer.

  “I said, stay back!”

  “I heard you. Would you relax? I just saved you, I'm not going to turn around and hurt you.”

  “You might,” Nicky said.

  She couldn't quite tell, but she suspected the vampire rolled her eyes. When the vampire was close enough, she pried the dagger from Nicky's loose grip and held her right shoulder.

  “Okay, technically, this is going to hurt.”

  Before Nicky could ask — no, demand — to know what she was doing, the vampire shoved her arm back into the socket. Nicky barely managed to keep from screaming, though she let out a high-pitched whine from through her teeth. Her vision blurred again and bile rose in the back of her throat.

  “How's that? Better? I used to be a nurse. Normally I'd have numbed the area but I don't exactly carry anything like that on me. Plus, you're a hunter. I figure you can handle a little pinch.” A little pinch?! “I'm Corrine, by the way.”

  Nicky's head wouldn't stop spinning. She hung her head a little to get blood flow back to her brain, but she wouldn't let herself sit down. That was way too much vulnerability to show in front of a vampire, even one so bubbly. Who ever heard of a bubbly vampire, anyway? It was even more outlandish than a vampire-hunting politician.

  Carefully, Nicky rolled her shoulder. It still ached like hell, but she had to admit, at least to herself, it did feel much better. And now her right arm wasn't completely useless anymore.

  “Hey, you know what I'm thinking? We should—”

  “Give me my knife back,” Nicky interrupted.

  Corrine stopped talking and stared at Nicky. Nicky was starting to worry she'd have to fight her for it when Corrine handed her the dagger, hilt first. Not wanting to give Corrine a chance to change her mind, Nicky snatched it back, wincing at the pull in her shoulder.

  “Come on, you aren't actually going to try to kill me, are you? Isn't there some kind of code that says you can't kill the vampire who just saved your life?”

  “Not that I'm aware of.”

  It was hard pretending to be tough when Nicky could barely keep upright. Corrine didn't seem to buy the act.

  “Well, listen,” she continued. “I'm thinking we should team up to take that thing down. I don't think either of us can manage on our own but toge—”

  Corrine's words caught up to Nicky. She ground her teeth together.

  “No. No fucking way. I don't work with vampires.”

  From what Nicky could see in the shadowed alley, Corrine actually looked hurt by the words. Did vampires even have feelings? God, Nicky must have had a hell of a concussion to even be thinking about it. Even if Corrine had a point, even if Corrine was some benevolent vampire, she was still a vampire. She still killed people. There was no way in hell Nicky was ever going to work with one.

  Ever.

  “Fine, then. I'll deal with it myself.”

  Before Nicky could ask why she even cared, Corrine was gone.

  Nicky cursed under her breath. She had to get back to the party. It was the last place she wanted to be, especially after getting beat up like that, but disappearing immediately after seeing Lauren dead would look suspicious.

  It still didn't feel real to her, that Lauren was dead. She was one of the first people to really try to befriend Nicky when she’d first moved to town. Not that the residents of Abundance Falls weren't plenty friendly on their own. She was just a stranger in a small town who hadn't really gone out of her way to make friends. But Lauren had, for some reason, taken an instant liking to her.

  And
now she's dead.

  Lauren was dead, and the thing that had killed her was still out there.

  4

  By the time Nicky got back to the hotel, the ambulance was only just pulling away. Had she only been gone that long? It felt like it had been so much longer. She had no hope that Lauren was still alive inside the mostly-white van. A single police car sat parked against the curb, blue and red lights flashing for attention. Nicky stared at them for a long few seconds.

  How could she have let this happen? This little town was hers to protect, and she'd failed it. She'd failed her best, and pretty much only, friend.

  Nobody noticed her at first. There was too much going on for anybody to care. But before long, somebody did notice her-- a girl who worked at City Hall whom Nicky only knew as Bright Jacket for her habit of only wearing jackets in obnoxiously bright colors. Even now, her jacket was an almost fluorescent teal that was impossible to miss.

  “Oh my God!” Nicky saw more than heard Bright Jacket say, and that finally drew some attention Nicky’s way.

  Nicky was really starting to think going home would have been the better option. Everyone turned to her. Megan, held between a pair of girls, alternated between worry and anger.

  “What— What happened?” She finally asked when Nicky was close enough. “Stacy says you left and— and now you look like this? What—?”

  Nicky swallowed. All that time walking back, and it hadn't occurred to her to come up with an excuse for why she'd left the party, or why she looked like she’d just lost a fight with a mountain lion.

  “I—” Nicky swallowed again. She would have killed for some Advil right about now. “I was getting claustrophobic so I went out for some air. And then I saw Lauren and I… sort of freaked out.”

  “You changed?” Someone — an officer, she saw when she turned — pointed out.

  “Do people usually act completely rationally after they find their best friend dead?” Nicky snapped.

  It was only partially out of annoyance and mostly out of the headache beating her brain around in her skull. The officer pinched his lips together, giving Nicky a suspicious scowl.

  “So how'd you end up looking like that?”

  Nicky widened her eyes in fake outrage.

  “What does it look like? I got attacked! No, I don't know by who. If I knew who it was, don't you think I'd say so? It's dark out!”

  Nicky motioned to the night sky as though it wasn't obvious. Some of the eyes on her turned sympathetic, others less so. Self-conscious nerves rippled through her. Did people think she was trying to steal the spotlight or something?

  That was ridiculous, on so many levels. The small-town gossips were getting to her. What she needed to be worrying about was her plan of attack. Now would have been a good idea to call Alison. They might have been a vampire-hunting family, but Alison knew more about demons than the rest of them. She saw more things, picked up more stories travelling from city to city for half the year. If Alison didn't know how to kill it, or even what it was, she might at least know someone who would. If nothing else, it would feel good to talk to her.

  “Officer Bell,” a soft voice said, equal parts raspy and congested. Nicky craned her neck and saw the woman who had been crying over Lauren's body before. “She wasn't out here when Lauren—”

  The woman didn't have to finish her sentence, even if she hadn't started sobbing too hard to. Nicky's heart twinged in sympathy. She wished she knew the woman well enough to hug her. She'd always kept her distance from people. It had never been easy for her to compartmentalize her life the way Alison and Jessica could, the way everyone else seemed to. When she did something, she went all-in. Even managing a day job was hard enough when her mind raced with thoughts of hunting. It made things like comforting distressed people very difficult for Nicky.

  The officer — Bell, the woman had called him — touched her arm. It took all of Nicky's self-control not to deck him for it. His expression was almost sympathetic, yet still held that slight hint of mistrust in his eyes.

  “Why don't we go over what happened at the station?” he said, almost gently.

  So much for getting home anytime soon.

  5

  Abundance Falls had one police precinct, and it was certainly the smallest Nicky had ever been in. There were two uniformed officers working when Nicky arrived with Officer Bell, and only one when she left. She repeated her story to Bell several times, toeing the line between too much information and not enough to be credible. The entire time she recounted her story, Nicky was hyper-aware of the dagger still strapped to her thigh. What would he do if he found it? He'd let slip that Lauren had apparently had a seizure, which Nicky couldn't have possibly caused. Even if she had somehow managed to, the dagger had nothing to do with that. But he still seemed to believe that she was hiding something — which she was — and she seriously doubted he would buy that the knife was for self-defense, no matter how partially-true it was. Officer Bell probably just couldn't imagine how anyone in this small, close-knit community could attack her or how she didn't recognize whoever it was.

  “It was probably one of those, like, trucker serial killers or something,” she finally said when the frustration that had nothing to do with her inability to recognize somebody who didn't exist finally depleted the last of her patience, and that seemed to satisfy him.

  He drove her back to her car, and Nicky was glad for the blade against her thigh. It wasn't that she thought Officer Bell would try to hurt her, but her nerves had her keyed up, and nobody knew she was driving back with him.

  The trunk of Nicky's car was, blissfully, still unlocked. Her parents’ car would automatically lock if left alone long enough, which Nicky always forgot about until she returned to her own car after an unlocked absence. But whatever high-tech security feature her parents must have had was dated after Nicky’s 2002 sedan. She'd gotten the thing for dirt cheap, so she couldn't complain, especially when she opened the trunk and grabbed her clutch with her phone, wallet, and keys still inside.

  “You look a little shaky,” Officer Bell said through the open passenger window of the squad car. “Why don't I give you a ride all the way home?”

  Nicky shook her head, though she did notice her hands trembling now that he'd mentioned it.

  “I'm fine. I just need to rest a bit.”

  And maybe cry for a couple hours.

  A lump rose in Nicky's throat. Normally after a bad night, she would call Lauren with some excuse for why she was upset. She could always call her sisters, of course she could, or even her parents, but Lauren sometimes made her feel normal. It wasn't easy when Nicky was hyper aware of how not normal she was. It had stopped bothering her for a while, but sometimes she missed the normalcy she'd never really had.

  For as long as she could remember, Nicky's parents had trained her and her sisters to fight. At first, it had been under the guise of keeping them in shape, then for self-defense. Nicky was the middle child; only two years younger than Jessica and two years older than Alison. She'd been twelve — Jessica fourteen and Alison, ten — when their parents had explained to them what they were really training to fight. Nicky gave them credit for never forcing her or her sisters into a life of hunting monsters, but they'd wanted them to be prepared in case anything followed them home. Nothing ever did. Still, Nicky has always slept better knowing that even though there were monsters out there, she could take them down.

  Except for whatever the fuck that thing was.

  As Nicky let herself into her apartment, she struggled to get the image of the demon's face above her out of her head. She couldn't. It was going to be stuck there forever.

  Just as well. She would have an easier time describing it to Alison. Was it too late to call her now?

  Nicky's eyes swept over the microwave wedged on the counter next to the fridge. The green 2:17 turned to 2:18. Yeah. Definitely too late. She shrugged her jacket off and dropped it on the floor, her arm aching too much for even try lifting it onto the fl
imsy coat rack that barely supported its own weight, let alone the jackets. The previous tenant had left it and there hadn't seemed much point replacing it. Nicky barely ever used it anyway. She flopped onto the couch, not bothering to move the clothes strewn across it. A belt dug into the scratches on her side. Her entire body throbbed as one cohesive, agonized unit. What difference did it make which part of her hurt?

  This was one of the things she missed about living at home. Right about now, Jessica would be dragging her into an upright position to see what the damage was. Nothing felt broken or punctured. Even her arm didn't hurt as bad as she'd expected it to.

  That vampire could have killed me.

  The realization made Nicky feel cold all over. Of course the vampire — Corrine — could have killed her. She should have. Nicky couldn't understand why she hadn't. It couldn't have been out of some benevolent sense of protection for a lowly human, was it? No, she must have been planning on feeding on Nicky and had only stopped herself when she realized Nicky was a hunter.

  A hunter who was in no shape to put up much of a fight. And she'd asked Nicky to help her with that demon! The absurdity of it made Nicky snort.

  And yet… She has to wonder, was it really so absurd?

  Is the enemy of my enemy my friend or my enemy?

  The next few days were a blur of brushing off her injuries and helping prepare for the funeral. Megan and Lauren's mother were trying to get a flight back from Cameroon, which left Nicky helping Megan with the preparations. Really, it left Nicky to prepare. Megan was a shaken mess. Nobody could blame her, least of all Nicky.

  In the moments between work and planning Lauren’s funeral, Nicky dove into any demon lore she could find. She didn't give a single thought to vampires. They could have overrun Abundance Falls and she wouldn't have noticed. Hell, she didn't even bother trying to track down the one vampire she knew was in town: Corrine, the vampire who had saved her life. Either Nicky did, deep down somewhere, feel like she owed Corrine a slight debt for helping her out, or she really was that consumed by the demon. The memory of nearly having her soul sucked out of her body kept her up at night and made her shudder through the day.