by C. A. Saari
“Come on. We need to talk.” He pulled me through the barn and into the clinic, where he slammed the door on us and spun me to face him. “Alright, let’s get this done so you can stop torturing me with it.” He demanded hatefully.
Me? I was torturing him? What did he mean? I asked him that.
“What do I mean? Don’t play dumb Remi, it doesn’t suit you. If you’re through here just say so. I’m not going to sleep next to someone who clearly doesn’t want me.”
My brows winged up. Didn’t want him? I voiced that as well, it only made him angrier.
“Stop repeating everything I say!” He barked. I saw his jaw work. “Tell me. Get it done with.”
“Get what done with Jake?” I knew he was going to hate me asking that…he’d just asked me to stop repeating him. But I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me. He was the one breaking up with me, he should say the words.
“You don’t want me anymore. You’ve made that clear. But I can’t walk away from you, so you’re going to have to be the one to end it.” He said. My heart did a swan dive then soared again. He couldn’t walk away from me? Yes, he’d said it, I was certain I’d heard him correctly!
“I do want you.” My words came out on a hurried breath. He stared at me for a time, his frown was fierce. I stepped closer to him. “I do want you Jake, I want you more than air, but…I thought you…”
His frown was fading, he waited for me to finish, but I wasn’t sure how.
“I’m sorry.” I finally said. “I though backing off was what you wanted.”
“When the hell did I ever make you think I wanted that?”
Did I rat Ana out?
“You didn’t…I mean…I just figured you didn’t want a clingy girlfriend.”
Now he touched me, his fingertips brushed my face. Finally! After days of going without I eagerly stepped into his touch.
“Normally I don’t. But I do want a clingy Remi.” He said, now he brought both hands to my face, tipped it up so I had to look at him. “I see you every day, spend every moment I can with you and it still seems like it’s not enough. I have never wanted anyone to cling as much as I want you to.”
Tears came to my eyes. Oh what had I been thinking listening to Ana?
“You need to talk to me about this stuff before you just go assuming. The past four days have been some of the worst of my life. You scared the shit outta me. I thought for sure you were through. I tried to give you the space, I tried to make myself okay with it. But I wasn’t. I probably would have stalked you till the end of time if you’d broken up with me.”
My laugh came out on another breath.
“I’m sorry. I’ve hated the past few days too.” I covered his hands with mine. He leaned in to kiss me before I could offer up any more apologies. And the kiss turned into the hurricane that it was supposed to be. I wasn’t even upset when someone knocked on the door and interrupted us…because, well, that meant things were back to the way they were supposed to be.
It was Jake’s father. “Come on you two. We need a meeting before we leave.”
“Yeah.” Jake called to his father, but his eyes never left my face. “Come to me from now on.” He told me.
“I will, I promise.”
That seemed to satisfy him. He took my hand and led me out. Ryan stepped up to us with an exaggerated sigh.
“’Bout time.” He muttered. “I was so sick of the mooning looks you two’ve been giving each other’s backs.” Then he turned to Jake and pointed a finger in his face. “And your sucky attitude.”
Jake batted his hand away and muttered something that sounded like “Yeah, yeah, pluck you.” But he was smiling. I didn’t bother looking at Ana, I knew she’d be scowling. I’m sure the past few days had been heaven for her.
“Listen up. We’re hunting near home today.” Mr. Wagner announced. The room went silent, and everyone looked to him in surprise. It was rare we hunted in the country. Demons usually kept to more populate areas where the chance to feed was greater. Coming to the rural areas was nearly pointless.
“It appears the demons are migrating this particular way. I know things have been quiet the past few weeks and I think that’s because they’ve been concentrating out here. The ones we have encountered were by accident, or bad luck on their part. We believe they were simply on their way here. Not out to feed.”
“What the hell they doing all the way out here?” Ryan asked.
Mr. Wagner’s gaze went around the room. It settled on me. Awesome. Dread filled my belly, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“I believe they may be tracking Remi.”
God I hate being right.
Every pair of eyes now went from Mr. Wagner to me. We had all nearly dismissed the fact that I could have been the one. There’d been no more dreams –true, I drank a protection every night- and there’d been no more demons lining up along perimeters staring at the house either. There’d been no heightened demon activity, quite the opposite actually, and when we did encounter the few demons we did on our nightly hunts, they didn’t appear to signal me out any more than anyone else.
“How close?” Jake asked, his voice was rough. I knew he was both mad at his father for not sharing the info with him and worried for me.
“Right in our back yard.” He nodded to the woods that sat less than fifty yards behind the house. Jake swore low and slow.
“How many?” Ryan asked second.
“Can’t say for sure. But our scouting has turned up a dozen or so nests. So, could be a few dozen, could be a few hundred.”
“You want us to take on a few hundred demons?” Ana asked, incredulously.
“I honestly don’t know how many there are.”
“So, you just want us to possibly take on a few hundred demons?” Now she was just downright sarcastic. I was pretty sure she wasn’t happy about me being the possible “one” again.
“Shut up, Ana.” Jake said without looking at her.
“I have the other team on call, in case we need backup.”
“They live on the other side of town.” Ryan said. That would be half an hour to our rescue at best.
“No, they’re close by for the next couple days. Mick’s got a cabin about five miles further out from here. They can be here in a matter of minutes.”
“If they’re after Remi, maybe she should sit this one out tonight.” Jake suggested.
“No!” I cried. Again? Really? He was doing this to me again? But Mr. Wagner was already shaking his head.
“No, I need every hand out tonight. Like I said, we don’t know the numbers. We can’t afford to be shorthanded. But,” He continued quickly when he saw his son begin to argue. “We will protect Remi, our focus will be making sure she stays safe. If it looks like we’re losing ground, we’ll get the hell out of there.”
“You want us to retreat?” Ana spat, she sounded as if he had insulted her personally.
“I want us to survive. We survive, we fight another day. Now finish suiting up.”
“That’s just super.” Jake muttered. “And I let you talk me into not washing your clothes in protections.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and turned with a scoff to pick my gun up off the floor. I swallowed a little bout of panic when I saw Quinn load a duffle bag with extra guns, ammo and knives. Yeah, great timing, maybe we all should be dousing ourselves in protections right now.
I finished loading my guns and slid them into my holsters. I filled my pockets with extra clips, slid my knives into my belt and my boots. Jake watched me, his jaw working like it always did when he was feeling a strong emotion.
I knew it was fear. Not fear for himself, but for me. As we walked to the woods, everyone was silent except for Ryan who was humming Another One Bites the Dust, I had to admit; it was rather calming. I took Jake’s hand and he immediately brought it to his lips and kissed it several times, then held it to his chest.
“I want you to stay with me tonight. I mean it Remi, right next to
me.”
I nodded.
“Seriously, if you even think about leaving my side, I will haul your butt out of there and lock you in a room until we’re finished.”
“I got it Jake.” I said, my voice slightly high, but not with annoyance, with acceptance. I wasn’t going to lie, I was feeling some fear tonight, and if Jake wanted to protect me, I was going to let him…while I protected him of course.
“Remi, I uh…I…” I looked up to him, waited for him to work out his words. “I need to tell you, I-“
“They’re here.” Mr. Wagner said, every gun came to the ready. I had only a split second to think damn it, what was Jake about to say? when my lungs filled with air and came back out through my mouth long and slow as I looked to the woods before us, suddenly filled with twinkling red dots. Demons. Lots of them. Woohoo, lucky us. That night –that now seemed so long ago- that we’d fought nearly thirty of them…well, I’d love for that night again. There were definitely more than thirty here, and they fell on us like a wave. Suddenly the night was filled with the popping of silenced guns and the howling of demons only we could hear as they went down one by one. They had spread out and as a result our resources had to spread out as well, leaving holes that we were scrambling to fill.
Jake should have moved off further to the left of us, should have covered the area that had opened up when Ryan had turned his attention further down, but he wouldn’t leave me, and technically those had been his orders, his father had said to protect me, but it turned out that he was pretty good at covering two areas at once. That killer aim of his was sexy as hell. I’d have to remember to tell him that later.
I heard others in the team yelling as they quickly ran out of ammo, our rate of shots was alarmingly high and it seemed like we had barely made a dent in the oncoming horde. Quinn was tossing out ammo to the team about as much as he was shooting. I knew pretty soon that bag would be spent and we’d have to go hand to hand. I had had the opportunity to do so several nights ago, but it’d only been two at the same time. Tonight was a whole different ball game, and while Jake had taught me well, I honestly didn’t know if I could take on this many.
Know or not, I guess I had to. There really was no choice. So time to buck up and stop being such a wuss.
“Remi!” Jake hollered. “Your four o’clock.” I glanced over my shoulder. A demon had broken through the line and was advancing on me from the back, I turned one of my guns and shot him in the head then immediately turned back to the line. I gasped when I saw that in the split second it had taken me to shoot behind me, two had come within reach of me. Jake was on it, he took out one, I got the other. But then he’d left his line unattended for that split second and several more were able to advance on him. His ammo spent he dropped his guns and went for knives, calling out and waiting for another clip would have put the demons right on top of him. He went low, slicing at legs, bringing demons down, cutting the two down behind them before finishing those two off.
Panic was coursing through my veins, I knew my ammo would be out any second now, and I’d have to go hand to hand as well.
Click, click; click. My guns were spent. Really?
I couldn’t be wrong just once?
I dropped my guns as well and went low as Jake did, pulling my blades from my boots as I went. I spun as I sliced at the legs of the demons to my left and right, went high as the next that stepped up to take their places, low again at the next, I realized quickly if I could hobble enough without killing them I could almost create a blockade in front of me. I did so, several of the fallen reached for my legs and I sliced off clawed fingers. I realized the flaw in my logic in the next moment; this particular technique was losing me too many precious moments. I had to stab heads and let them melt. I kept going, swinging my arms in graceful arcs, one of my blades caught in the neck of one demon, he began to yank away from me, like tug of war, so I let the blade go and grabbed another from my belt. I should have remembered my note to myself from weeks earlier; don’t let a demon get a hold of your weapon, they’ll use it against you.
During one particular successful spin I saw Ryan go down, the line was now broken. Several demons turned their attention towards what they considered was an easy meal. Oh, how wrong they were. Ryan pulled a broad sword he liked to carry in a scabbard –I always thought of pirates when I said that word- at his back, he gave a mighty swing, taking out at least four in one swoop. I could not locate Ana or Quinn, but Mr. Wagner was to my far right, and he was becoming overwhelmed as well. And yet, more demons came.
Wasn’t this the part where we were supposed to retreat? Live to fight another day and all that? I sliced at two more demons in front of me, nearly severing the head of one before he melted to black ooze in front of me. Then I suffered my first injury since my very first demon sighting over a month ago. I hadn’t quite gotten the second demon while severing the first one’s head and he swiped out at me with his long claws, leaving a gash over my bicep. I felt a burning sensation shoot through my arm, and some of the strength left it. I forced back a scream and willed my strength to come back with everything I had. I could not distract Jake right now. He was still next to me, but had been forced a good few yards away. Come on Jake, you said if I didn’t stay right next to you, you were going to haul my butt out of here. Well, haul my butt out of here already!
But I kept at it. My right arm burned something fierce and it wanted to stop, but I wouldn’t let it. I kept slicing, going low and then high just as Jake was.
Then it hit us. Almost like it had been planned. But the demons didn’t plan. They didn’t work together, right? That’s what I’d been told. That’s what all hunters had believed for years and years. Yet here it was, like a beautifully planned ambush. A second wave of even more demons, as if they’d waited back in the shadows and watched until our ammunition had run low and our bodies became tired, wounded. Weakened.
And they crashed into us with force.
I saw every single hunter taken down. Mr. Wagner didn’t even get a chance to call for a retreat before several demons had him down. Still he fought. They all fought, like demons themselves. The attack on me next seemed very pin pointed, as if this were their goal, as if this was what they had come for tonight. Several hit me from all sides, knocking me to the ground, but I fought my way up. I lost one of my blades in the scuffle, but made a pretty good arc with the other on my way up, I didn’t take any out, but I hobbled two. Then suddenly, there was a stabbing pain in my shoulder blade and I pitched forward, fell to my knees. The pain was intense, it knocked the wind out of me and nearly caused me to pass out.
I had been stabbed in the back with my own blade.
I heard Jake shout my name.
There was more intense pain as the knife was pulled from my shoulder and slammed back into it, I fell onto my stomach. Now Jake screamed my name. My face turned towards him, he had several demons over him, and by several I mean five. He was so strong that’s how many it took just to hold him down. Yet he still fought, determined to get to me. I pushed myself back to my knees, I guess I was pretty determined too. I felt the knife slide out of my flesh again, it made my stomach roll, and I braced myself for another stab. It never came. But I couldn’t catch my breath, it came in short little gasps, and I suddenly felt very tired. Every demon around me stepped away and I watched as one, just one, knelt before me. Hmm, so you’re the lucky devil that gets to swallow my soul, huh? How’d you win that honor? Draw the long straw? Win paper rock scissors? Was your name picked out of the hat?
Jake shouted for me again, shouted my name, shouted for me to look at him, so I did, I looked to him one last time. He ordered me to keep my eyes on him, to keep looking at him. I knew I was about to die, and if I was going out it was going to be while looking at his beautiful face, not some ugly horned beast with red eyes. No. Way. In. Hell. I saw a demon yawning over him, Jake’s light began to shine, it warred between staying with him and being swallowed through the gaping hole that was now the demons mo
uth and I felt a surge of anger. That was Jake’s light, and it was mine. I wanted Jake, I wanted him to live. I wanted to hear him say he loved me one day. I wanted to tell him that I loved him. I wanted Jake. I wanted him, wanted him, wanted him, and go back to hell you demon prick, you couldn’t have him! HE WAS MINE!
I felt a power well up from low inside me. My hands fisted at my sides with the intensity of it. I screamed then, long and hard as a blue light burst from my entire body and flashed through the trees around us and beyond. Like the bottom of an atom bomb when it exploded and sent out a blast in a radius that took out everything in its path. Except my explosion only took out the demons. They did not melt into a piles of black ooze this time though, the actually disintegrated. Poof, gone. Ash floated to the ground around us, while every living thing around me continued to live, glowed blue for several seconds after the explosion. I was still on my knees and now fell forward onto my hands as well and coughed blood. Spat it all over the ground in front of me. I heard Jake call for me again, but his voice sounded as if it were coming to me through water. My short, quick, pained gasps for breath slowed. My vision blurred. I felt Jake’s hands on me, he pulled me into his lap. My vision darkened. Jake was talking to me, I couldn’t hear him, but I was so happy he was alive.
And oh lord was he beautiful.
Then everything went black.
12
My eyes fluttered open, but closed again, as if coming up from a deep sleep and I just wanted to sink back into it again. No, mom. It’s too early, can I be late for school today? Can I just stay home altogether, I’m tired?
“There you are. Come back to me, baby.” Jake. His voice reached me through a fog. No mom? That made me sad. No school? That kind of made me happy. Why couldn’t I open my eyes? I felt heavy. Not heavy like a weight was on me, but like I was heavy. Like my body was filled with lead and I couldn’t make myself work. “Come on, baby.” Jake said again. I forced my eyes to open, I wanted to see him. I liked looking at him. I finally got my eyes to crack open and stay that way for a few seconds before I had to blink around the light again. It took them a moment to focus and when I did I noticed the room was lit with low light, but it still stung at first. Okay, now that my eyes were –somewhat- open, I started to make my other sense wake. The first thing I noticed was a dull pain in my shoulder, it trailed down my arm before fading off into my fingertips. Curious. There was music. Not loud Dance Dance Revolution music, but some bluesy stuff playing really low in the background, and I was definitely in bed, when I turned my head towards the sound of Jake’s voice I could tell I was laying on a pillow.