Night Cries (Hunters of the Dark #2)

by Dave Ferraro

  “Ready?” Jade asked, tensing visibly, jaw set.

  “Ready? For what?” Shanna demanded. “We haven’t discussed…” She let her words die on the air as the other hunter stepped out into the room carelessly, eyes sweeping over the area ahead as she proceeded.

  A low sigh escaped Shanna as she moved to follow, also casting her eyes about for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed too easy. Shouldn’t they have some sort of guard watching the eggs? A little shiver crept up her spine as she tried to convince herself that no one was supposed to be able to find this room in the first place. It was hidden by a glamour in an obscure area.

  Then why is it in Lime Bay, the same city where The Agency is based? A voice hissed in her head.

  Shanna tried to shake off her unease, but found herself almost convinced that this was a trap.

  “What’s with the torches?” Jade hissed over her shoulder. “Shouldn’t they be more careful being beneath a paper mill and all?”

  “Ah, and here we have the curious hunters at last,” a voice proclaimed loudly from behind them.

  “I knew it,” Shanna murmured to Jade as they both turned and looked up over the doorway from which they had just entered the room, where a loft overlooked the altar. A woman stood there in a blue cloak, gazing down at them with satisfaction. She was bald with prominent cheekbones and long unpainted nails on both hands. Small tattoos oozed out from behind her ears to spill onto her cheeks, dancing eerily in time to the flicker of the room’s flames.

  “Where are the eggs?” Jade demanded. “Give up their location and we let you live.”

  “But that’s not your assignment, now is it, Dear?” the woman asked. “Your assignment specifies to destroy the person responsible for the eggs’ presence here.” She wore a maniacal grin as she said this, a grin that broadened as she saw the confusion in their anxious looks.

  Jade glanced at Shanna uncertainly. “Is this a…test?”

  The woman in the cloak suddenly roared, her eyes becoming black. “These are not the same girls, Lupe. I wanted revenge for the theft of my identity.”

  “You’ll get your revenge soon enough, Rocquele,” a voice answered sweetly from behind the hunters.

  Shanna turned, startled to see a very pretty blonde girl had stepped in front of the altar. She looked as if she belonged in a beauty pageant. Her eyes were highlighted with soft blue eye shadow, her lips were painted a delicious pink, and she wore a yellow top that left her tanned shoulders exposed. She leaned casually back against the altar as she looked them over.

  “Lupe,” Shanna echoed, the name familiar to her ears. Then she looked up sharply and pronounced the name with clarity. “Lupe.”

  Jade looked at her sideways, but Shanna was staring fixedly on the figure before her. The woman had been at The Crimson Rope’s ball the previous month. She was the one who’d beaten fellow hunter Brett up so badly that his face had just started looking normal again.

  “My reputation precedes me,” Lupe purred, stepping up to the hunters as if they were old friends who’d bumped into each other at the mall. She paused and the smile left her lips when she got a good look at Shanna. “You. I wasn’t really expecting you.”

  “I was expecting that bitch Natalia,” Rocquele screamed.

  “Hush,” Lupe snapped. “You’ll get your revenge. On her and the others. For now, we have two little mice to play with. And a message for them to deliver to the others.”

  “We’re not errand boys,” Jade stated boldly, holding her head high and tensing her arms.

  Lupe laughed. “Well, you see Hon, it really only takes one of you to deliver a message, so only one of you has to fill those shoes.” And in the blink of an eye, Lupe pulled a handful of powder out of her pocket and blew it in Shanna’s face.

  Shanna coughed and turned away, able only to listen as the sounds of a fight resounded behind her. She felt nauseous. The powder tasted chalky and filled her nose and mouth, pressed into her head like thick putrid oil. She coughed and gagged and doubled over as she nearly vomited. And then the feeling left her. Just like that, the air had cleared and she was fine again.

  Turning toward the fight, Shanna saw Jade slam her billy club into Lupe’s jaw, sending the woman’s head back with a loud thunk.

  “Enough!” Rocquele shouted. “It is my turn now. I will yet spill blood this night.” With that, a ball of green light appeared in her right hand and she tossed it casually at Jade.

  “You might want to pick up the pace then,” Shanna suggested, pulling Jade out of the line of fire before the ball could reach her.

  The ball was more impressive than Shanna gave it credit for, because the moment the green light touched the altar behind them, the entire altar vanished.

  Shanna looked at the place where the altar had stood stupidly before shaking her head. “Jade, there’s just a blank wall behind the altar. No cooler. No eggs. We’ve been had.”

  “But at least we got a good tussle out of it,” Jade said through a wide grin. She sped away from Shanna and launched herself up over the wall ahead and into the loft. In seconds, she had Rocquele on the ground, where the woman screamed at the top of her lungs.

  “Baal, mighty king, grant your child the power to incinerate her enemy!” Rocquele demanded. “Reinforce my arms with iron, bless my fists with fire, and let her flesh peel back from her bone with but a kiss from my lips!”

  “Jade, let’s just get out of here!” Shanna cried. She watched in horror as Rocquele forced her head closer to Jade’s and pursed her lips, but Jade didn’t seem to be as worried about the witch’s lips as her distracting clawed hands. “No! Don’t let her lips touch yours!”

  “Wh-what?” Jade fought the witch back fervently. “I may like women, but you…you are so not my type.”

  “Damien has taste, I’ll give him that,” Lupe said calmly from behind Shanna.

  Shanna turned around quickly and looked Lupe in the face, suddenly frightened by the cat-like slits that had replaced her pupils. She felt the tranquilizer gun in her hands, solid and primed to shoot, wondering if she would be able to lift it in time to fire a round before Lupe ripped out her throat.

  “Or it could just be the power,” Lupe said with a mocking smile, pacing before her slowly. “But you’re not even aware, are you? Very interesting, when it’s ringing in your ears, resounding in your throat, burrowing in your eyes.” She looked up at the loft, drawing Shanna’s eyes up with her.

  Jade had Rocquele pinned to a wall as the witch sent little sparks of red flame from her fingers that barely missed Jade with each flick of her wrist.

  “You fed the scholars false information,” Shanna said as she turned back to Lupe. “How did you…” She let her voice trail off as she realized that the girl had vanished. Unsettled as she was, Shanna sprang into action and climbed the wall to the loft to pry Rocquele off of Jade, as she’d gotten free from the hunter’s grip. She shoved the witch into a wall awkwardly and bent over Jade to help the other hunter up. That was all the time Rocquele needed to disappear, however, and she did so with a blinding flash, leaving the two hunters alone and gasping with exertion.

  “That sucked,” Jade breathed. “Didn’t even get a kill to show for it.”

  Shanna shrugged. “We’re both alive. That’s a positive in my book.”

  “Yeah, but it seemed like they barely put up a fight. I mean, what did Lupe do? Besides look hot, I mean.”

  Shanna rolled her eyes, helping herself down from the loft and through the door to the passageway and the open night air. “I don’t know. It wasn’t productive, but what else are we going to do on a Friday night, right?”

  Jade laughed. “We’re such losers.”

  They smiled at each other for a moment before Jade sobered. “They must be on to the taps and bugs. We have to let the scholars know ASAP, before the other hunters are ambushed.”

  “Kind of a lame ambush though,” Shanna admitted.


  “Yeah, it was…more like they just goaded us,” Jade said. “Or maybe they were only prepared to deal with someone else. They were expecting Natalia, at the very least.”

  “At the very least,” Shanna echoed, looking back at the loading dock and the uncloaked door, left open like a wound in their wake.

  They retraced their steps back to the van in silence, each lost in her own thoughts. Shanna had let Lupe’s words distract her and force an image deep into her mind’s eye, that of Damien Farr, the beautiful vampire she’d met in New York City last month. She could imagine his deliciously dark eyes like she’d just fallen into them yesterday, though she hadn’t seen him for a month. A long month. A month where she’d had to look at the scars he’d left behind every day as they’d slowly healed on her neck, where she’d let him drink of her. Scars that were now barely visible, but still there, still tender beneath a longing brush of her fingertips, still aching for those lips that had left their mark on her innocence.

  Get a grip, she ordered herself, forcing Damien’s face from her mind. He doesn’t want you. He treated you like a child, said you weren’t ready. You’re better off without him. You’re better off with someone like Cameron.

  The thought of Cameron seemed to work like a charm. His smiling face suddenly took hold of her passion and she walked with a little more urgency, knowing that he would be waiting for her, anxious to see her safely home.

  And then the van was before them, dark and stationary beneath the glow of the streetlamps.

  Jade tensed. “Isn’t he supposed to keep the van running?”

  “I thought…” Shanna frowned and squinted up the road ahead. She thought she spied movement just beyond the corner of a building. “I’ll be right back. You check out the van.” Then she was off, sprinting over asphalt, closing the distance between herself and the disturbance in less than a minute.

  As she turned the corner, she let out a deep breath and thanked her lucky stars that she still held the tranquilizer gun in hand. Two devoura goblins were growling deep in their throats, circling their prey with yellow glowing eyes and toothless sneers. She’d dealt with devoura goblins before and felt a chill at the patches of what looked like rotted flesh over their slick gray dog-like bodies. Her encounter with them hadn’t been pleasant. The large creatures swallowed their prey whole, either for consumption or storage in sacks in their backs that expanded. But the real kicker was that they pinned down their victims, and regurgitated a slimy substance that paralyzed them, to make them go down easier. While Shanna hadn’t been swallowed, she had felt the effects of the paralysis and wouldn’t get over the experience any time soon. And seeing them threatening her boyfriend wasn’t winning her over either.

  Without hesitation, Shanna lifted the tranquilizer gun to her eye and shot two tranquilizers into the closest goblin without missing a beat. It went down without protest.

  The remaining creature wasn’t about to go down in such a fashion, however, and charged Shanna before she could pull any more rounds out of her pocket, let alone reload. It swatted her into a trashcan with its massive head and rounded on her threateningly.

  Fortunately, before it could lash out at her, Cameron sprang into action, swinging the sword in his hand expertly and piercing the monster with a masterful stroke. The creature quickly fell lifeless and seemed to break down into ooze, retreating within itself rapidly.

  “Whoo. Nice save,” Cameron smiled dashingly, wiping his forehead and offering her a hand to help her to her feet.

  “Looks like I got here in the nick of time,” Shanna replied, reloading her gun and slinging it over her shoulder. “Where was that pesky incessant horn-blasting you promised?”

  “Didn’t have time. I was completely taken by surprise. Four of them.”

  “Four?”

  “I made short work of the other two.”

  “My hero. I barely noticed a scuffle down here, though. You should have stayed put.”

  “I…think they may have been driving me away,” Cameron said hesitantly. “Like they knew you’d be back soon and they didn’t want me there when that happened.”

  Shanna looked over at him, at the silhouette of his face in the dark, the knitted brow. How could she have been thinking of Damien so longingly just moments ago? She felt quite ashamed of herself.

  “The harpy eggs?” he suddenly turned to her. “Did you get to them?”

  “They were non-existent harpy eggs,” Shanna related. “We were ambushed. They must know about the bugs.”

  “Had to happen sooner or later.”

  “We had a good month.”

  “It only gets better,” Cameron said smoothly, working his hand into hers.

  Shanna laughed as they approached the van. “You think you’re such a-” She broke off as Jade maneuvered out from the shadow of the van and gawked at them.

  “Cameron?” she demanded. “But who-”

  She was cut off as a figure rammed into her from behind, sending her sprawling over the ground painfully.

  Shanna could hardly believe her eyes as she stared into the face of her boyfriend. Another Cameron. They looked alike, feature for feature.

  “What? Not happy to see me?” he asked with a lopsided grin. He kicked Jade in the stomach, forcing her into a fetal position. He laughed. “Man, you had to spoil it, didn’t you?” He took in Cameron’s surprised look and mocked it. “You know, two of us in bed together, could be hot. What do you think, Shannon?”

  “Shanna.”

  “Whatever. How do you like it, Shanna? Quick and easy, or long and painful? Me, I’m a fan of the latter.” He looked at Cameron. “I think that’s how I’ll do her.”

  Cameron launched himself at the imposter at once, sending him into the van with a crash that dented its side. He let loose a punch that knocked the double’s head back into the window painfully, cracking the glass into so many spider webs.

  Shanna seized the moment to help Jade to her feet.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Jade brushed her off, spitting loudly. “Damn, I’m going to so enjoy beating that bastard down.”

  One of the Camerons was suddenly on the ground at their feet, looking up at them dazed.

  “C-Cameron?” Shanna stammered.

  “You’re a bright one,” he spat, lunging at her and yanking her feet out from under her.

  She landed on her butt, hard, and gasped with pain. Trying to move beyond it, she got to her feet. She was definitely going to feel that one for awhile. Lifting her eyes, she watched as her boyfriend grappled with his doppelganger, Jade already out of play again, a nasty bruise emerging on the side of her forehead. Shanna felt tears welling up behind her eyes, but refused to let them come. She felt dirty, like she’d been violated. Not because of his words. They were nothing. But because of how this thing was using Cameron to get to her. It was vile. How could it do this? Play with them? But it’s what monsters did, she supposed. Shape-shifters impersonated people to get close to their prey.

  But it sure as hell picked the wrong prey this time.

  What would have happened had those devoura goblins captured him? Shanna wondered suddenly. It was a trap! The whole thing. But it was to replace the lookout with an imposter, get at us from the inside. No wonder Lupe and Rocquele hadn’t given their all. They’d only needed to distract us for so long. But it wasn’t long enough, Shanna thought darkly, shaking her head to regain her senses. She looked up in time to discover the two Camerons circling each other suspiciously, malice in their eyes.

  “Who is this, Shanna?” the one on the left asked.

  “You’re obviously a shape-shifter,” the right one replied.

  They were dressed the same. They sounded alike. She had no idea which one was which.

  “Shanna, what…what is going on here?” Jade stammered, materializing beside Shanna, a hand on her head. “How…?” She stopped, seeming to come to the same conclusion as Shanna had m
oments before. “Which is it?”

  “You’re okay?” Shanna asked her, not taking her eyes off of the Cameron twins for a second.

  “Yeah, I look bad, but…I thought I was fine until I started seeing double.”

  “He’s a shape shifter,” the right Cameron insisted.

  “Can you tell?” Shanna asked.

  “Tell?” Jade looked confused. “You mean who…no. No, I’m not at my best at the moment. I feel all fuzzy.”

  “Then I’m going to shoot them both,” Shanna said calmly, lifting her gun. “We’ll figure it out later.”

  The Cameron on the right lifted his fingers to point to his eyes and gestured to the left Cameron. Shanna didn’t see anything strange about the left Cameron, but she was going to shoot them both anyway, so she shot a tranquilizer into him.

  He gasped as he slumped to the ground, eyes wide.

  “Oh, thank God, Shanna,” the other Cameron breathed. “I knew you’d pick the right one.”

  Shanna lifted her gun to him and aimed it at his chest.

  “Wait! Wait!” Jade demanded. “What are you doing?”

  “I said we’d figure it out later,” Shanna insisted. “I don’t want to make a mistake.”

  “But we can use the magick detector,” Jade suggested. “If…that Cameron had been a shape-shifter, it would have reverted back to its original state. It has to be a glamour. Just...keep that pointed at him until I come back. Then we’ll know if you...you know, need to shoot the other one too.”

  Shanna nodded and watched Cameron as Jade hurried over to the van to retrieve the device she’d previously worn. Cameron looked at her, defeated, so sadly, that Shanna wanted more than ever to reach out and hug him, reassure him. She felt awful for having to hold him at gun-point. She felt like she was betraying him or like she’d thought he’d be capable of something like this, even though she didn’t… It was confusing, but she had to be sure - that was the bottom line.

  Jade ambled back in a minute with the device, holding the microphone extension over the fallen Cameron’s sprawled-out form. When she flipped the device on, it was deep into the red.

  “It’s a glamour, alright,” Jade announced, letting out a deep breath. “A really strong one too.” She flipped the device off. “See? I told you we could do this without shooting more people.”