A Hunter By Any Name

by Sheila Wireman

  The brown hair man’s shoulders tensed and he looked at me. There was a hard look in his eyes as he studied the situation. His hand twitched with an urge to reach for a weapon, confirming my suspicion that he had one. My body twitched wanting to raise my sword and take a battle ready stance but I remained still and waited for him to make the first move. I saw his eyes flicker and a gray shadow seemed to pass over them. However, he continued to evaluate the situation.

  In an instant his tenseness in his shoulders left as he relaxed them. The gray shadow passed out of his eyes and the hard look left them and a thoughtfulness replaced it. Even though Stephanie had asked the question Mr. Brown addressed me when he spoke. “We are Arihants. You have been keeping company with the wrong sort of people for far too long. Now you don’t even recognize the allies of The Goddess?” The last part came out as a question.

  I must admit that it made me pause to have him admit that they were Arihants and. Here were two men standing before me that should have been doing the job I had been doing all alone for years. Rage at this fact tried to fill me but I stomped it down and kept tight control over my emotions. In the end I decided to keep things civil and not confront them about that fact.

  I was tired and my shoulder was reminding me it was hurt with sharp pains. Also, I felt the blood that had been warm when it had ran down my arm had turned cold and was making me chilled. Not to mention the fact that it was getting thick and sticky, soon it was going to start itching. However, I suppose this was preferable to warm blood that kept leaking out of my wound, running down my arm and dripping to the ground.

  So instead I asked, “What makes you an ally to The Goddess?”

  Both men were visibly taken back by the question as their eyes snapped to meet mine. They squared their shoulders and stood up even straighter, although I would have thought that to be impossible before they had done so. It seemed as though my question offended them. To be honest I did not see the offense in the question.

  The blond man chose to answer my question. “We do not practice the dark arts like the Wizard you just killed.” He said seeming to think this answered my question.

  I had to admit that I did not see the logic in the fact that simply because you did not do evil it made you an ally to The Goddess but I did not argue. Instead I chose to bring up a different topic instead. “What is in the bag around your neck?” I asked the brown haired man.

  The blond haired man once again choose to answer me. He was really beginning to annoy the shit out of me. “It contains the essence Wizard that you murdered. Things that symbolize what he believed in and strove to become in his life. He was an Air Wizard and they believe the contents must be scattered to the winds to help carry his soul to his next life. I will take it back to his people so that they can complete the ritual that you deprived him of when you murdered him.” He barked out in contempt.

  The blond haired man spoke with a fierceness that surprised me because I thought I was being quite civilized and lenient in letting them live. With this thought I realized the night had briefly come back to life only because it stopped once again. For some reason The Goddess did not like it when I contemplated killing them. This time I sighed loudly and out loud in frustration. Then I resigned myself to the fact that I would not be killing them tonight because The Goddess didn’t want me to.

  But that didn’t mean I was going to put up with blondie being rude. He was in for a verbal assault at the very least. “For starters, I did not murder him. I killed him in self-defense after he became aggressive to me.” I stressed the “I, he and me” in a loud sarcastic voice. However, by the time the sentence was finished I had less conviction that it was true then when I had started it. Maybe I had misinterpreted his movements and acted rationally which led to his death.

  The doubt that he caused made me grumpy and I got personal as I lashed back at them with my next question. “And I would like to know, how does not doing anything evil make you an ally to The Goddess? Does that mean that if I ignore Her and all the bad things in life that I automatically become and ally?”

  The brown haired man chuckled in amusement at my irritation. But his tone was defensive when he replied, “We worship The Goddess as the mother of earth and try to honor her in everything we do.” He stressed the “We” like I had previously done with my pronouns.

  I realized I wished I knew their names so that I could at least curse at them in my head. I guess they would just have to have nicknames. “Well forgive me, Mr. Brown if I don’t think that is enough. Forgive me if I think that in order to truly honor The Goddess you have to also be willing to stand up and fight the evil in the world.” I stressed “Mr. Brown” and “truly”. Yea, so we were having a little thing going on with to each other.

  I had all that I could take and forcefully pushed my hip into Stephanie signaling that we were leaving. This time she didn’t resist and started moving around the truck. I let her lead me so I could continue to face them. But my mouth just couldn’t help but get one more jab in, “Well I am glad the cleanup crew is here to clean up my mess. Should I get your number so the next time I have to fight evil all by myself, while you are honoring The Goddess and ignoring evil, you can clean up my mess and save your precious reputation?” I glared at both of them powerfully and with disdain.

  I must admit that I had mastered my tones as well as my glares over the years. I had not yet met anyone that I could not make cower before me when I got going. Blondie was no exception and he shrank back in a submissive posture and looked guilty which acknowledge the truth in my words.

  Mr. Brown did not shrink back and surprised me when he chose to argue with me further. “Well just so you know we were waiting for the Wizard to break his truce with us before acting. We were going to stop him tonight. But you beat us to it and seemed to have everything under control so we let you take care of it.”

  I must admit I had to admire Mr. Brown for not backing down. But still this conversation had gone on far too long. My shoulder was now sending one long sharp pain though my body. We had moved into the early morning hours and I still had to have the “lose your virginity talk” with Stephanie before taking her back to her family without getting caught. So despite my admiration and desire to know his real name. I said, “Good to know but we are leaving now. Goodnight.”

  By this time we had made are way around the truck and starting down the road. I took a chance and turned away from them. But I remained hyper vigilant of the night sounds as we made our way down the road to my car.

  Chapter 18

  I sighed with relief as my butt touched the bar stool at 1:55 am. I had made it to the bar in time I could get a shot of Jack with a beer chaser before last call at 2:00 am. The bartender nodded in my direction and I ordered.

  I looked around again as I waited for my drinks. It was a little dive bar in the middle of know-where’s-ville and being a Sunday it was quiet with only one other table filled with 2 couples sitting at it. I had dropped Stephanie off a couple of blocks from her house. She seemed to take the “lose your virginity talk” well. But I guess after realizing there were wizards the idea of a virgin sacrifice was not that shocking. The fearful intelligence in her eyes told me she would take my advice and survive. I was glad.

  I had driven south until I found a little town with an open bar. I washed up in the parking lot and hastily dressed my cut. I changed my shirt and had just made it into the bar in time to order a drink.

  When I heard the bartender sit my shot of Jack and beer in front of me I turned back around. The TV was on above the bar and the person on the screen caught my attention but the sound was down so I couldn’t hear it. The woman on the screen was eerily familiar and I instantly knew where I knew her from. A foreboding chill ran down my arms. “Who is that?” I asked the bartender as I nodded to the screen.

  He gave me a weird look that conveyed the fact that he thought I was stupid for not knowing. “That is the first female president of the United States. She was elected last No
vember.” His tone was polite and it was obvious he was practiced in dealing with a lot of people he considered stupid. He reached to turn up the sound on the T.V. as he spoke, “The news has been replaying this announcement all day. She is looking for someone that she used to know.”

  The women on the screen spoke. “I think that the first months of my presidency has proven to all the disenfranchised voters that rallied behind me to elected me that I am anything but the usual president. I have accomplished my first goal I gave you for my presidency. I overhauled the gun control laws making them simpler, easier to understand and in many cases more lenient. However, I made following them mandatory, increased the checks and balances to make sure they were being followed. I also made it a felony for anyone to not do a criminal background check before the sold a gun to an individual. This includes private individuals that sell guns.”

  She had to pause while the crowd applauded her. Then she continued. “I know that it is unlawful for the President of the United States to use their position of power for personal gain but this is a small request so I hope you will forgive me in doing so. AND to be clear I am not asking for anyone to help me in any way. I do not want you to do Google searches. I do not want you to contact this person if you know her. I only want to hear from her. You see she is an old childhood friend of mine that I have lost touch with and she is the one that inspired and made it possible for me to become the President of the United States. So Samatha Taylor if you are out there I would like you to contact your local CIA or FBI department they will know how to get you in contact with me. AND once again I am stressing that I do not want anyone’s help in locating her. I only want to hear from her. Thank you for your time.”

  I sat there stunned. That bitch had true named me. All my years of hard work and spells in assuming different identities so I couldn’t be traced and the first girl I had ever saved goes on TV and true names me erasing all my hard work.

  For the first time in many years I truly panicked and I knew it showed but I didn’t care. I hastily too money out of my pocket and tossed it on the counter. I fled for the door knowing I had a long journey ahead of me. I had to start the hiding process all over again. Plus, now I knew there were Arihants in the world that were hunting me and I had to hide from them too.

  Crap-o-la-on-a-stick!

  I burst through the door in the parking lot and looked around. My panic was blocking all rational thought and I couldn’t remember what car I had driven here in. Was it a Equinox? No, that had been numerous cars ago. I told myself. Then I spotted the Acura across the parking lot.

  Damn! Just when I didn’t think things could get any worse they did. There sat Mr. Brown leaning up against the front of my car looking down at his phone and pushing buttons on it. His hair was cut off strait below his jaw line and with his head tilted down looking at his phone it partially obscured his face. However, the strong profile of his nose and chin contrasted the soft straight hair and made him look sexy. The image of how his hair would swing back and forth around his face when he was naked thrusting inside me popped in my head and my panties moistened at the image.

  A car door slammed shut behind me jerking me out of my inappropriate thoughts. I swung around to see who was behind me but it was just the couples I had seen sitting in the bar leaving for the night. I turned back and Mr. Brown had stood up and was walking toward me.

  Shit! I really didn’t have time for him right now. I briefly remembered the image that had just ran though my head and regretted not having more time. He would have make a nice romp in that sack.

  I walked toward him irritated and said, “Whatever you want the answer is no. I don’t have time.”

  I started to storm by him to my car without stopping but he had the nerve to grab my left arm and stop me. That would have shocked the shit out of me but the pain he caused pulling on my hurt shoulder overrode any other emotions. I winced a little before I could stop myself.

  Mr. Brown noticed, “Shit. Sorry, I forgot about your shoulder. I can stitch it for you if you want.”

  He had changed his grip on my arm and was now almost cradling it tenderly but he had not let go of it. I glared down at his hand and then back up to meet his eyes. “I am perfectly capable of stitching up myself. I have years of practice. What I would like you to do is let go of me and allow me to get on my way.”

  Mr. Brown’s eyebrows drew together and the gray clouds passed back over his eyes. He must have been disturbed by my statement. I wasn’t sure if it was my comment about stitching myself up or wanting to leave. I started to contemplate the answer to the question before I caught myself and remembered that I didn’t care.

  “I have to go now. If you can find me anyone can. I am not safe right now. So spit out whatever it is you want so that I can tell you no and I can go.” I demanded.

  “I want to come with you. I want to learn to fight the wizards with you.” Mr. Brown told me bluntly.

  I must say that gave him a lot of brownie points. I do love a guy that can take orders and obey. But still he wasn’t coming with me. “No. It is too dangerous and you will probably get yourself killed. If The Goddess doesn’t like it when I think about killing you then She probably doesn’t want you dead.”

  My statement must have shocked Mr. Brown because he dropped my arm instantly. It made my arm jerk and a pain shoot through my shoulder. I was thankful for the pain because it grounded me and reminded me of the danger I was in. I started walking to the CR-V and got in.

  “Don’t you even want to know how I found you?” Mr. Brown asked.

  “I am assuming a tracking spell.” I said.

  “Yes and it worked.” He said.

  “Do you want a cookie?” I called back to him over my shoulder.

  “It is said that tracking spells don’t work on you but mine did.” Mr. Brown replied.

  By this time I had gotten to my car and was opening the door to get in. From the sound of his voice I knew he had started following me and was behind me. I was half way in the car but stopped and stood up between the seat and the door. I turned to look at him over the door of the car.

  “I’ll tell you what. If you can find me in two weeks then we will talk.” I said as I reached up and grabbed a couple of strands of my blond hair. I yanked them out and handed them to him. I grinned, challenging at him. I knew there was no way in hell he was going to be able to find me in two weeks.

  Mr. Brown didn’t say anything. He just smiled back at the challenge clearly accepting the challenge. He reached up and took the hairs I held out with two fingers in a manner that respected their value. He nodded his head and turned to walk away. As he walked he started whistling a happy tune clearly thinking he was going to be victorious.

  Mr. Brown had balls I will give him that. I thought instantly wondered what the mate to his balls looked like before I gave myself a mental kick. I didn’t have time for those thoughts. Still he was a lovely man and I felt sorry that I was about to knock him down a couple of pegs when he couldn’t find me.

  Preview of the next book

  My Newb

  Four weeks later I found myself in Newport, Oregon. My name is Hope Sanchez. I had auburn hair and I had even for the first time given myself a perm. I liked my curly hair. I was 32 years old. I had four sisters that all lived in New Mexico. They thought I was crazy for living in Oregon where it snowed. Our parents had unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago but my sisters and I were still close. I was the baby and had never been married. My sisters were constantly trying to set me up with men that lived next to them in the hopes I would settle down and move home.

  I was currently sitting on a bench outside the Oregon Undersea Gardens. I wasn’t yet sure if I was on the hunt or not. There had been four suspicious disappearances of young teen girls ranging from 13 to 15. No one, not even myself, had found their bodies. I tried tracking the girls but I was unsuccessful. There was something blocking my tracking spell. Which only proved that there was a wizard involved. I just had to
find him.

  I was currently trailing a wizard that had gone into the Oregon Undersea Gardens. He was the second wizard I had trailed in this town. The first one I decided was harmless and so I had moved on to this wizard. The jury was still out on this wizard I trailed.

  I was trying to enjoy the sun’s rays which were plentiful on this late July day. However, I wasn’t being very successful. The normal heat from the sun just seemed oppressive which was unusual for me.

  Also, everyone around me was getting on my nerves. It was the height of the tourist season in this ocean town and there were wall to wall people everywhere. Okay, not wall to wall because I was outside but curb to curb. This is also why I was waiting outside the Undersea Gardens and had not gone in. I could not imagine how crowded the little room down under the water was currently. Okay, I could imagine it and it was the thing my nightmares were made of, me being trapped in a room with a wizard. No thank you.

  Outside on the bench was bad enough. Currently there was a little kid liking an ice-cream cone sitting next to me. He had already dripped ice-cream on my leg two time! The mother was sitting on the other side of him talking on her smart phone ignoring the little kid. I was doing my best not to pass judgement on her but was not completely succeeding.

  All and all the stress of the situation was getting to me and making me tired. Also, I admit it, I was feeling a little lazy. I had just taken three weeks off before moving on to this hunt. I had done my usual resupply and changed I.D.’s and personas. That had taken about a week. I then took two weeks to wander around while I waited to make sure Mr. Brown could not find me. I had even finally gotten to go see the cliff with the presidents faces on it. I had not been impressed. In fact the whole thing made me a little sad. Here was this beautiful cliff and someone thought “Hey, let’s deface it and put a bunch of president’s faces on it.” I think I will stick with natural wonders from now on, as long as they don’t involve water.