HowlSage

by Brock D. Eastman

  I nodded, relieved I wouldn’t be alone.

  Together we headed downstairs for breakfast and feasted with Ike and the Rileys. It seemed Mrs. Riley had tripled her breakfast effort. There were seven types of pancakes and four syrups, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, hash browns, and yogurt parfaits.

  After the early feast, I knew Ike and I would still be off to school.

  I tried convincing McGarrett to let me stay home, due to the ankle, but he wouldn’t have it. Said something about education coming first, and hunting second.

  Ike and I wanted Jesse to drive us, but his parents said they’d be leaving shortly and wanted to clarify some things with him first. That meant lay down some ground rules and consequences.

  School crept by, literally second by second. I couldn’t concentrate knowing Jesse was at the inn and I was stuck at school. Boring. But then I headed to history, and there she was. The girl from my first night of hunting, the one I’d seen from the rooftop.

  I slipped behind her and followed, not in the stalking sort of way, but just made sure I took the same route she did. I never quite got in front of her to get a clear look, but I was sure it was her. Of course I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure; it was the middle of the night from a roof high above and through grainy green goggles that I first saw her.

  I lost her as the warning bell rang. I did a one-eighty and quickly hobbled down two more halls to get to class.

  Maybe following her hadn’t been on my way.

  A few more classes and school was out. I loitered near where I’d seen her, but she never came.

  Ike and I went outside to find Jesse awaiting us. He’d left the top down, even though the temperature was hardly over 50 degrees, but I didn’t care. Ike complained a couple of times, but eventually ducked into his shirt much like a turtle does into its shell.

  Mrs. Riley was in the workshop and she’d brought in a tray piled with sandwiches. She quickly looked over my ankle and told Jesse and I to eat. McGarrett had some substantial intelligence on the HowlSage; we’d be off before it got dark. She’d brought down my hunting clothes and set them in the changing room.

  Usually I’d be suspicious of an adult sifting through my stuff, but not Mrs. Riley.

  Besides, I had nothing to hide.

  I stepped out of the changing room in my black attire. Ike helped me strap on the J-Pak, and we restocked my utility belt with needed supplies, including new blood balloons.

  Ike gave me two thumbs up, signaling I was ready.

  McGarrett still hadn’t shown up. Apparently, he’d driven out to the location to verify the intelligence. He called to let us know what he’d found and that we’d be headed to the mines tonight.

  The workshop door opened, but it wasn’t McGarrett.

  “You look like a Halfling version of Batman,” Jesse teased as he entered. I took one look at him and smiled.

  “And you look like a giant Hershey’s kiss in that tin foil getup of yours.”

  Jesse laughed. He pressed something on his wrist, and dissipated from the bottom up.

  I felt a tug on my arm, and then a shove from the opposite direction.

  “Thanks to the latest military advancements, I can now appear invisible,” Jesse’s voice said from behind me.

  Wham! I felt a solid punch to my chest armor.

  “Quite the abs you have, Tay,” Jesse mocked, knowing I was wearing body armor.

  Suddenly his silver form appeared again, this time sitting in a chair several feet away.

  “Nice,” I said.

  “The quick moves are mine; the suit is my mom’s invention. It’s even made of real silver, so if that beastie decides to bite into me, it’ll be its last.”

  “Yours too,” I reminded him.

  “Maybe,” he argued.

  “Probably,” Ike added.

  I’d forgotten he was in the room; it was easy to do with Jesse here. Jesse and I had history; we were cousins. His personality dominated when he was around.

  Jesse laughed. “So McGarrett’s still not here?”

  “Here I am,” came the older man’s voice as he entered. “Are you both ready? We need to head out now. It’s quite the drive, and we need to be in place before it gets dark.”

  Ike started to follow, but McGarrett waved him off. “We need you to stay here and monitor. See if there are any anomalies in the tracking system.”

  Ike frowned, started to speak, then stopped. Staring at his shoes, he turned and stalked toward the large display of glowing screens.

  Jesse stood and punched my arm. “Come on. Tay, we’ve got a HowlSage to dispatch.”

  A few minutes later, we slid into the back seat of McGarrett’s Rolls and were off.

  The twinge I’d felt in my stomach for Ike was gone the moment Jesse flipped on his iPod and streamed it through the car’s stereo. It may have been an older car, but it too had many modifications.

  It was getting dark. Our destination was still in the distance; freshly fallen snow created layer of powder on the road. It seemed the higher altitudes of the mountains always saw the icy gifts from winter first. The narrow road had been chipped from the side of a cliff. Barely more than two lanes wide most of the time, each curve made it impossible to see oncoming traffic and passing was unadvisable.

  We were still jamming out to our tunes when something crashed into the left side of the Rolls, pushing us across lanes and toward the guardrail. McGarrett swung the wheel to the right, pulling us away from the steep cliff.

  A large boulder rolled in front of the car, a mist of snow trailing behind it. Another crashed into the side of the Rolls with a resounding crunch. McGarrett swerved to keep the car from spinning off the cliff and then hooked the wheel hard to miss the debris ahead.

  “I guess the HowlSage woke up from his nap!” Jesse shouted. He opened the skylight and stood up, his head poking out.

  “Up there!” he shouted, but his voice was muffled by the wind. “Stop the car!”

  The Rolls still screeching to a halt, Jesse was out through the roof and scrambling up the side of the cliff like a spider. I’d never seen anyone so skilled at free climbing.

  “Taylor, what are you doing!” McGarrett spun in his seat to look at me. “Get going, Jesse didn’t come all this way to do your job for you.”

  He was right, but part of me knew that Jesse wouldn’t mind being one on one with the beast. His ego seemed to underestimate challenges at times.

  I climbed from the car and pulled my gear tight.

  Here goes nothing.

  I released the wings and activated the J-Pak.

  A microsecond later I was zooming up the side of the cliff past Jesse. I smiled sarcastically and gave him a thumbs up.

  The beast had disappeared, but he couldn’t be far from us. Landing atop the cliff, the wings snapped into a lowered position. Split branches revealed where something had darted into the foliage and large, clawed footprints led the way through loose dirt and pine needles.

  Jesse, still visible, was thirty feet below and still climbing.

  He wouldn’t wait for me, I thought, so I bolted into the woods which were surprisingly dark for how much moon still remained in the sky.

  My light assisted in my search, and it wasn’t hard to spot all the destruction the beast had carelessly done by thrashing through the woods. These beasts certainly weren’t covert.

  A pile of large boulders came into view and I slowed down.

  Snap!

  I turned—the sound had come from behind me. The twilight glow of the woods made it hard to see. I put on my night goggles and scanned the area. I looked back toward the rocks and heard the softest of growls coming from the pile. I crept forward.

  I heard it again. Slightly louder.

  A few more steps. I slid my blade from its sheath. I was ready, a quick slash and stab maneuver played out in my mind.

  Something rustled the branches behind me again. I quickly looked, but there was still nothing.

  The growl h
ad turned to a consistent hum ahead of me. Like the buzz of a thousand angry bees.

  Crack!

  Beside me; I turned to face it. Still nothing was before me. I scanned the branches of the trees, there was nothing above.

  Almost there.

  “Watch out!” someone screamed from beside me.

  The words had barely registered in my brain when my body was catapulted through the air. I thudded to the ground, but kept hold of my sword. The branches above me shifted as something leapt toward where I’d been.

  And there in my place, standing upright on two thick, muscular legs, was the HowlSage. It’d grown bigger in the two days since I’d seen it. And from what McGarrett had taught me, it would continue to grow every day, its venom potent if we didn’t kill it before the full moon.

  This was the first time I’d truly looked at the beast. It was more than eight feet in height, bulging lumps of muscle on its arms and legs. A thick coat of brown, matted fur covered all of it, but thinned on its chest, replaced with leathery skin and a solid six pack set of abs. Its muzzle came to a point, housing two sets of razor sharp fangs. Its ears came to sharp points, looking more like cat ears than dog. Eyes glowed of their own accord, like two yellow bulbs. The HowlSage’s brown, moist nostrils flared as it caught my scent and smelled for fear, something I hoped it wouldn’t find. Two-inch claws on its feet and hands were its primary weapons; its fangs were reserved for conversion through the injection of venom. A small tail, not worthy of the name, wiggled on its rump.

  I knew only by driving my silver sword directly through its heart could it be dispatched. HowlSages were different from the horror film werewolves—they couldn’t be killed by a so-called silver bullet. Werewolves were fake, their creation based on peasant sightings dating back to medieval times. But the society had done a great job of ensuring their reality remained as a myth wrapped behind the mask of the werewolf. If just anyone knew that these demonic sages existed, they might try and control them, use them for their own sinful plans. The greatest example of this happening was during World War II with Hitler’s S.S. They were deep into this demonic stuff, and they had thousands of Sages in their service.

  I looked at the beast and pushed myself to my feet. I squeezed the hilt of my sword and held it before me. Staring at its silver blade, it looked like something King Arthur might have used. I’d need to be quick and accurate.

  Grrrrr. The HowlSage growled and lowered its head.

  For this to be over, I was going to have to get a lot closer than any sane person would like. I took a deep breath. My muscles tensed as I prepared to charge forward.

  Its oversized hairy shoulder jerked backward and a bloody gash appeared along its forearm. The beast swiped its long hairy arm through the air, then growled.

  “Uhhh,” someone grunted. I watched an area of snow compact as if a body landed there.

  Jesse, I knew immediately.

  The beast let out a vicious howl and took off into a mad retreat, but stopped as something plunged into its matted fur. A long wire stretched from the HowlSage to where I assumed Jesse landed.

  The HowlSage screamed in anger and yanked the cord toward it. What I assume was Jesse crashed upward into the branches of a tall pine, likely holding onto the other end of the wire, his body’s weight of no consequence to the HowlSage.

  A twinge of fear struck through my mind like lightning, and in that moment the HowlSage growled fiercely and darted into the woods. The sound of tree limbs being ripped apart would be easy enough to follow. But my feet wouldn’t move and my mind wouldn’t make them.

  I heard someone groan overhead.

  The cracking, snapping noise slowly trailed off—I was losing the demon.

  “Hey, get me down,” I heard Jesse say. “I can’t get my arms free.”

  My cousin was now visible, hanging upside down from a tree branch. The cable pinned his arms to his body and then wrapped around his right leg and up around a tree branch.

  “I’ll come back for you,” I started.

  “No, get me down, dude,” he called. “This hurts.”

  I wanted to laugh at Jesse’s precarious position, but I couldn’t. I’d felt something I’d not expected and I was ashamed of that. What was worse, I knew the HowlSage could outrun me, and even if I flew overhead using my night goggles I’d not likely be able to see it through the dark trees.

  We’d failed again tonight, and the best thing I could do was get Jesse down and check on McGarrett.

  Chapter Four

  October 5th—Thursday

  I awoke to sore muscles and a shiver. It was earlier than I’d like, but nonetheless I ached too much to sleep. I stalked down the hall toward where Jesse was staying. The door was cracked and I could hear him snoring.

  If not for the disappointment of last night and my aching muscles, I might have burst into the room to startle him awake.

  The morning sun sent a warm glow in through a window at the end of the hall. It provided a pretty good view of Ashley Meadows. The small town was still in slumber. Only a few trucks and cars drove the streets, milk delivery, newspaper, etc.

  The setting was surreal; you’d never know that demons lurked in the shadows and that a powerful one was growing, biding its time to lead an army against the town’s residents. It was such a different dimension to the picturesque town.

  A hand on my shoulder startled me and I spun around.

  Ike.

  “Don’t do that!”

  He stepped back, his expression hurt. “Sorry.”

  I sighed, “Sorry, Ike, I’m just on edge. What are you doing up so early?”

  “I was just upstairs praying. I’ve been worried about Dad. Today will be his first day on site. If the Etherpit opened the day after the full moon, it’s likely a HowlSage that they’re facing.”

  I understood, but didn’t offer any condolences.

  “Plus Mom won’t be back for at least another week or so. I tried calling her last night, but the whole time zone thing makes it hard to get a hold of each other…”

  “Have you sent her an email?” I asked.

  “Yeah, and she responded, but I’d like to hear her voice,” he said.

  I felt that ache in my stomach, the one that would come in weak moments. I hadn’t heard my mom’s voice for several years now, and I would never hear my dad’s again. Ike didn’t realize how blessed he was to have both his parents. I had neither.

  I stopped myself from saying what was on my tongue. Sometimes it’s better to listen.

  We stared out the window at the town. The sun’s rays were growing stronger, highlighting the town in a pink hue.

  Something latched onto Ike and jerked him away. My breath hitched.

  Jesse held Ike in a bear hug. “A bit on edge, are we?” he asked in a teasing tone. “That’s two days in a row that I’ve given a good scare to someone.”

  I barked a laugh, regretting that I’d decided not to attack him this morning.

  Jesse released Ike, who scowled and stalked off down the hallway.

  “Someone can’t take a joke,” Jesse said purposely loud enough for Ike to hear.

  I shook my head and left my cousin in the hall as I headed back to my room to dress and head for breakfast.

  After eating, Ike and I headed off to school. Jesse decided not to take us, and McGarrett had headed out to the scene of last night’s attack. He needed to take some pictures and see if he could find any fur samples. So Ike and I were stuck with the bus.

  My ankle felt a lot better and hoofing it down the driveway to the bus stop wasn’t all that bad. Ike explained to me that he’d tried calling us last night. The hillside along the road we were on started to glow red, but when he tried to call and warn us he couldn’t. He even tried using the backup HAM radio. But nothing seemed to work. He couldn’t explain what had happened, but he checked and the communication systems all seemed normal this morning.

  The bus arrived a few minutes later and we took seats across from each other.


  Several more stops and we arrived at school.

  The day was uneventful; I barely passed a math test, but aced my history paper.

  And what was worse, there was no sign of the girl. I realized how few friends I had when I asked all three of them if they’d seen a new girl and all said, “No.” I knew I needed to be a bit more social, but to some I was still the new kid. I’d only been in Ashley Meadows for two years. I tried to remember the saying my dad had often quoted, something about friends and outside.

  Ike and I loaded onto the bus and waited for our departure home. Kids of all ages piled on. There was just one school in Ashley Meadows and it handled K through 12.

  My heart skipped a beat—there she was. Just as the old yellow bus grunted and jerked forward, she stepped out of the school. I stood as if I might leap from the bus, but obviously that wouldn’t work. For one, the bus driver would order me back to my seat, and second, what did I expect to say? I’d never been introduced to the girl.

  “Hey, my name is Taylor and I was watching you from a rooftop at midnight a few evenings ago.”

  Right. That probably wouldn’t come across very well.

  As the bus pulled away, I saw her walk over to a small electric pink scooter and put on a helmet. The bus turned down another street and she was out of view.

  I apparently had acted funny, because Ike was staring at me, an eyebrow cocked. I filled him in, knowing he wouldn’t judge me and he’d keep my secret. After all, at only eleven, he hadn’t really become interested in girls yet.

  He sat and listened, but didn’t have much of a reaction. Just shrugged and said he hoped that she’d be my friend someday.

  Back at The Pink Hippo, Ike and I checked the workshop but neither Jesse nor McGarrett were around. The Rolls was gone and so was Jesse’s car. We crossed the short distance from the workshop to the inn.

  The driveway to the inn looped around a large rotunda, where cars could circle and drop off passengers and luggage before parking. Ike started for the center of the rotunda where a large fountain sat spraying water. I followed.