Dark Light of Mine

by Corwin, John

  Her eyes flared wide with fear. "Why? Who would—"

  "I'll answer your questions later. Let's go."

  Elyssa's eyes burned with murderous intent when I turned to face her. It quickly vanished behind a neutral gaze. "Can't you just toss her over someone's fence? I think the neighbors have a pool she might land in if you want me to do it."

  "I'm not willing to take the chance the Slades won't harm her."

  "The Slades?" Katie asked.

  "My dad's family," I said.

  "Hurry up!" Dad shouted as he vaulted the tall wooden fence between our yard and the neighbors' to the back.

  Katie gaped. "Did he just jump over a six-foot fence?"

  "Get on my back," I said, handing my duffel bag to Elyssa.

  Thankfully, Katie was too shocked to pelt me with more questions and hopped on my back just as a tremendous crash sounded from inside the house. I turned to look at the shower of splinters from the front door frame spraying into the foyer.

  Katie wasn't exactly light as a feather on my back, but my newly acquired supernatural strength hardly noticed her except for the frantic grip she had on my neck. I ran for the fence and leapt over it. Katie shrieked as we landed with a jolt, nearly bursting my eardrums.

  "Hold on tight and don't bite your tongue," I said.

  Her grip went from tight to absolutely manic.

  Elyssa and Dad cleared another backyard fence, and I followed, using the roof of the house to avoid whacking Katie on the head with a low-hanging tree branch. I streaked after Dad and Elyssa as they crossed a residential street and made for a three-story colonial house on the other side. Dodging around a blue sedan parked on the side of the road, I cast a quick glance around to make sure there weren't any noms witnessing our supernatural displays of athleticism. The last thing I needed was to whip the neighbors into hysteria.

  I'd just made it into a thicket of woods across the road when I heard it—a low rumbling growl. I looked back expecting to see a dog. Instead, I saw the limo driver. He hadn't leapt the fence. He'd run through it, leaving a splintered mess behind. And the noise he emitted wasn't human in the slightest. I expected him to leap the car. Instead, he plowed into it, knocking it to the side like a toy. Katie turned her head and saw the car tumbling, sparking, and screeching down the road on its roof. Her body tightened even more as a ragged scream escaped her throat.

  Right then I thanked Coach Burgundy and Coach Wise for blackmailing me into playing football. When I'd first grown into my abilities I couldn't run two feet at super speed without tripping and busting my butt. I was going to need every trick in the book to get away from this guy—thing—oh, whatever the hell he was.

  "Can you go any faster?" Katie asked, her ragged breathing quickening with fear.

  Something silver flashed past me. I whipped my head back and saw one of Elyssa's knives strike my pursuer point-first full in the chest. It bounced off.

  Panic thudded in my heart. "Oh, crap. Oh, crap!"

  Elyssa cursed and threw another knife. This one went straight for the limo driver's eye. He swatted it from the air before it hit.

  "Aren't those things silver?" I gasped as I caught up with her and Dad.

  "Of course they are."

  "Maybe you should upgrade to uranium."

  We cleared the woods and trampled through an ornate rose garden some retirees had obviously spent their golden years cultivating. Thorns tore at my clothes. Katie gasped. An elderly man sitting on the front porch raised his fist and shook it. "You rotten kids!"

  The limo driver ripped through the garden a few seconds later. The rose thorns must have caught in his black suit, because some of them came up by the roots. The old man's apoplectic shouts faded into the distance as we cut right and made for the busy road intersecting this one, our feet blurring with speed.

  "I don't think he's as fast as we are," Elyssa said, her words coming between pants.

  I spared a look back and saw we were indeed gaining distance as we sped down the straightaway. "Yeah, but how much longer can we keep this up?"

  "Oh, I'm fine. Then again, I'm not carrying a bimbo on my back."

  "Who are you calling a bimbo?" Katie said, apparently forgetting all about the mortal peril we were in, her voice jolting with every step I took.

  I looked ahead at the busy intersection and groaned. Cars jammed the road. "What are we going to do about that?"

  Elyssa cast a glance back at our pursuer. "If he punches through those cars, he might kill someone."

  I imagined a trail of crushed and smoking cars as the Incredible Hulk's white brother plowed through them like the Kool-Aid man.

  "Look." Dad pointed toward some high-voltage power lines to our left. A swath of green clearing ran underneath them, vanishing over a hill in the distance. It wasn't a road, but we could avoid automobile carnage and earn the gratitude of insurance claims adjustors everywhere.

  I sucked in a breath and veered in that direction. "Let's go."

  We made it up the long hill and dashed left into some woods, hoping to lose our follower while we were out of his line of sight. After what seemed an eternity of backyards, playgrounds, and even a nature trail, we emerged from the woods near a park and a familiar overpass. I tried to get my bearings, panting and looking behind us to make sure we'd really lost the guy.

  Katie groaned and almost fell off my back. Dad helped her down. She staggered. I caught her and held her up until she stood on her own feet. "I can't take this anymore," she said. "I feel like I just got off a bull. My legs are killing me."

  "You should be safe now. Call someone to pick you up and take you home."

  "I'm going to look for a bus stop," Dad said, and jogged toward the four-lane road nearby.

  "Where are we?" Katie asked, casting her gaze at our surroundings.

  I glanced at the nearby Atlanta skyline. "Somewhere near Freedom Parkway."

  "Maybe big tough Brad can pick you up on his Harley," Elyssa said.

  Katie narrowed her eyes. "Justin is my boyfriend now, thank you very much."

  Fire glinted in Elyssa's eyes. "Since when?"

  Katie took my arm. "Since the football game he won for us, right, sweetie?"

  The look in Elyssa's eyes could have melted steel. I felt myself withering under her gaze as I separated myself from Katie. "No. We're not."

  "What? But, Justin, we slept together. How could you do this to me?"

  "You what?" Elyssa shouted, striding towards us, death and destruction carving a scowl on her face.

  "We didn't!" I said, backing away from both of them and holding out my hands. "I swear to you, Elyssa, we didn't."

  "I may have been drunk," Katie said, "but you were going for my panties and I had my hand on your—"

  "Shut up!" I said, heart pounding from fear as much as exertion. "We didn't sleep together. We just made out."

  "How convenient," Elyssa said in a snarl. "What happened to losing our virginity together? True love? The Princess Bride?" Tears glistened in her eyes.

  "I love that movie," Katie said.

  A lump lodged in my throat at the hurt in Elyssa's eyes. "Elyssa, I swear to you on all that is holy in this world I did not sleep with Katie. Besides, you weren't even talking to me then. You hated me."

  "That doesn't excuse anything."

  My inner nerd chose that moment to remind me just how crazy women were, and also the fact Elyssa probably knew a hundred different ways to cause me immense pain, being a trained fighter for the Templars and all. Unfortunately, he didn't have any brilliant suggestions for handling this situation.

  "Justin didn't sleep with her," Dad said from behind me. I almost jumped ten feet straight up.

  "How do you know?" Elyssa said.

  "Because I jerked him off her and slammed him into the wall while they were both fully clothed. Didn't you see the dent in the drywall?"

  A smile lit her face. It grew even bigger when she saw embarrassment turning Katie's face a brilliant hue of red. "Good."
>
  My own face felt like it was burning by that point. "Can we lay off talking about my sex life and figure out what to do next?"

  Katie crossed her arms and sniffed. "I'm not going another step until you tell me what you are. I've never seen anyone move so fast or jump fences like that. It's not normal!"

  I looked at Dad. He looked at me. I looked at Elyssa. She rolled her eyes.

  "What's the protocol here?" I asked, not wanting to break the Overworld secrecy code, or any other pact for that matter. I was the supernatural newb of the group and still had a lot to learn about, well, everything.

  "Katie, we've involved you in something very dangerous you shouldn't know anything about," Dad said. "Believe me when I tell you it's for the best if you go home right now."

  "Oh, no you don't." She pursed her lips. "I'm sticking with Justin."

  "Elyssa is my girlfriend," I said. "I'm sorry to be harsh, but I love her, and you sticking around isn't going to change anything."

  Tears pooled in her eyes. "I really screwed up, didn't I?" She slumped against a tree as sobs shook her body. "I was such a total bitch to you."

  I felt horrible all of a sudden. What was it about women and crying that made me feel like crap? They must have guilt pheromones in their tears. I knelt next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. You'll find a really great guy one day." This was one speech I never in a million years would have pictured me giving to Katie Johnson. I'd crushed on her so hard at one point I'd actually thought she was the one for me. And then I'd met Elyssa and found out what real love was.

  "We've got to get going," Dad said. "The tracker will lead them to us at any moment."

  "Who or what is this guy chasing us?" I said. "The way he just knocked a car around like it was a toy is impossible, even for spawn."

  "And my knives didn't even faze him," Elyssa added, her gaze meeting Dad's.

  "Is he spawn like you?"

  Dad shook his head. "No." He ran a hand through his tangled brown hair and glanced at the snarled traffic on the highway leading downtown. "I'm not sure, not a hundred percent, anyway, but I think they're hellhounds."

  My jaw went slack. "What? Why are they so hell-bent on catching you anyway? Are you really such a disappointment to the family?"

  "I have a lot to answer for in their eyes," Dad said, his lips going tight. "Marrying your mother, a human, was just the first slap in their faces. There's a lot you don't know about our kind, Justin. They're obsessed with social order and ranking. I broke all those rules and they despise me for it."

  A cold lump formed in my chest. "Are they going to kill you for it?"

  He sighed. "I honestly don't know."

  Katie lifted her tear-streaked face. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

  I glanced at the darkening sky. Night would settle in soon, and I couldn't just leave Katie in this part of town to fend for herself. "Hop on my back if you want answers." Did I really just say that?

  Apparently I had because she climbed wearily onto my back.

  "This is a mistake," Elyssa said. "You're going to get her hurt, killed, or worse."

  "What could be worse than dying?" I asked.

  "After all you've seen, do you really have to ask?"

  I thought back to the vamplings, those half-zombie, half-vampire creatures and shuddered. "I guess not." I blew out a breath. "Let's just find her a cab."

  Car tires shrieked behind us. I spun and saw the limo bounce to a halt against the curb. The front two doors sprang open as the massive driver and his slightly shorter twin leapt out. Company had arrived.

  And they looked pissed.

  Chapter 3

  I think someone shouted, "Run!" at the top of their lungs. It might have been me, but I was way past rational thought when I saw we had two of those crazy mofos after us. I streaked toward downtown, using the tallest skyscraper as a beacon. Dad and Elyssa pulled up alongside me, faces strained with exertion.

  "Just how bad," I said, taking a deep breath, "are hellhounds?" I panted.

  "Worse than you can imagine," Dad said. "They won't stop hunting us." He glanced back. "Even if we cut off the tracking spell with a circle, they could sniff us out anywhere so long as we leave a trail. We need a car, something to keep our scent off the road. Otherwise we'll drop from exhaustion long before they give up.”

  If only I had a bottle of Axe Body Spray to dump on the ground. If such a concentration of manly odor didn't confuse their canine noses, nothing would. The men behind us obviously didn't look like dogs, but I was too out of breath to ask more questions. We reached a huge apartment complex. Leapt the razor-wire atop the chain-link fence. We'd already gained some distance on the hellhound dudes, but I didn't expect our lead to last long, if what Dad said about their tracking abilities was true. The apartments were five-story, flat-roofed affairs with a courtyard in the center and two parking decks flanking each side of the complex.

  Elyssa motioned us to follow her inside the nearest parking deck. "You said we needed a car?"

  "You know how to hotwire one?" I said, impressed.

  She shook her head. "No, but with any luck we can carjack someone."

  Before I could offer a morally outraged response, she raced around the garage and up the ramps, her gaze sweeping the area for a target. But we reached the roof without finding a victim.

  Elyssa looked across the apartments to the other parking deck. "We'll have to take our chances in the next one."

  "How are we supposed to get there?" I said. "Jump?"

  She offered a brief smile before racing across the deck and launching herself across the wide gap between the deck and the roof of the next apartment building over. Dad followed. My guts knotted tight. It was one thing vaulting backyard fences with Katie on my back and quite another to risk a five-story plunge which would hurt me like hell and probably kill Katie.

  Her grip tightened as I contemplated the edge. A whimper escaped her throat and I felt her face press against my back. I hoped to god she had a strong bladder.

  "Just get off and hide," I said. "You shouldn't be involved in this." Plus I really wanted the extra load off. I was pooped.

  "You'll make it. I trust you."

  I sighed. "Why are you doing this? I told you I love Elyssa."

  "I want you, Justin, but if I can't have you, I want to know what in the world is going on here. You're like superheroes or something. Just like the ones my little brother reads about in his comic books."

  I chuckled. "Hardly." If anything, I was the villain. Demon spawn weren't heroes in anyone's book.

  Elyssa and Dad waved me over, their faces tight with urgency. I took a deep breath. Ran at the ledge. Jumped. Katie shrieked as we cleared the gap. I couldn't help but look down at the hard concrete sidewalk far, far below. My feet hit the roof. I stumbled as Katie's weight shifted, but managed to stay upright. A mournful howl gripped the chilly air. Dad cursed. Elyssa gasped. I spun and saw our pursuers staring from across the parking deck roof at us. One of the men reared his head back and loosed a chilling inhuman howl which about made me wet my pants. It was a howl of despair and hopelessness. Resistance is futile, it seemed to say. No matter how hard or fast we ran, they would catch us. Besides, why run? We had nowhere to go.

  Dad grabbed my arm and wrenched me around. "Ignore the howls, Justin. Shut them out of your mind. Don't let them control you."

  Katie's grip loosened on my neck. Sobs shook her body. "We're going to die. It's useless. Life is pointless."

  Elyssa dropped to her knees as tears poured from her face. "He's dead," she said. "And it's all my fault." My duffel bag slid from her shoulder and thumped on the roof.

  "What the hell is going on?" I asked, shaking off the melancholy mood as both the men continued to howl while they slowly advanced across the parking deck roof for us.

  "Their howls kill hope," Dad said. "They bring back our worst memories and nightmares. Thankfully, we spawn are not as easily influenced." He dragged Elyssa to her
feet, tried to shake her out of her misery, but it didn't help.

  Katie dropped off my back like a sack of potatoes, bawling her eyes out.

  "Dad, they're coming. We have to carry the girls."

  He glared at our pursuers, his eyes glowing ice-white with fatigue. Mine probably matched his. I wanted to find a nice quiet spot, go to sleep, and dream about kittens. "Justin, if they corner us while we're this tired, we may spawn."

  "We'll manifest into our demon forms?"

  He gave me a sideways look. "If that happens, we won't be able to control ourselves. We might rampage. People could die."

  "What do we do?"

  He took a deep breath and picked up Katie, slung her over his shoulder. "We're almost downtown. No matter where we go for miles in any direction we'll run into densely populated areas."

  "So, our only chance is to outrun them."

  He nodded. "Yeah." The answer sounded dry in his throat.

  I looked back at the hounds. "Why aren't they running?"

  "I don't think they can howl and run at the same time. They probably think we're immobilized."

  "On three?" I scooped up Elyssa and slung her over a shoulder, grabbed my duffel with a spare hand.

  Dad gave me a lopsided smile. "One. Two. Three."

  We bolted. The howls ceased. Elyssa and Katie bounced against our backs with each long stride, and flopped with each leap. We cleared six rooftops and leapt to the parking deck roof. The hounds leapt each gap with high, graceful jumps belying their huge lumbering forms. I spotted an old tire leaning against the parking deck wall. Dropped my duffel. Gripped the inside of the tire with my free hand. Spun and launched it as the hounds leapt the next-to-last roof. It caught one square in the chest as he hit the apex of his jump. He yelped, sounding like a wounded dog, and vanished between the buildings. His comrade ignored him and came at us, face snarling, his unnaturally long tongue flapping and slavering.

  Dad paused at the top of the ramp when he realized I wasn't right behind him. I retrieved my duffel, sprinted to him, and we made our way down the ramp and into the parking deck. Shouting echoed from ahead. A man stood outside his white crew-cab pickup examining the side where a woman in a blue Toyota must have hit him. The woman cowered in fear as he screamed obscenities in her face. Fury rode a rising tide of hot anger in my chest.