House of Slide Hybrid

by Juliann Whicker

  “Yes, so let’s do that then.”

  “It’s not one hundred percent foolproof,” Ash said reluctantly. “It’s where Hybrids gather to be trained as Hunters because Wilds aren’t allowed to kill Hunters. It’s a horrible system because Wilds shut down the camps, put trackers on Hybrids, check them to make sure there aren’t any Hollow touched among them. Camps aren’t illegal but Wilds hate them. Most Hybrids just want to survive as a Hunter, but a few are anti-Wild. Can’t say I blame them.” He shook his head at the injustice of it. “The camps are secret to protect the Hybrids while they’re training to kill demons.”

  I shuddered when I thought of demons, of trying to kill demons then put my arms protectively over Lewis, like I could keep him from being in danger from demons again. For me it was training or death, for most Hybrids, Hunting or death. Were all Wilds so extreme?

  “You think there will be people who can help Lewis though, even if there’s a threat from Wild’s coming?”

  Ash nodded slowly.

  “Let’s go.” I moved fast so I couldn’t rethink leaving Lewis. I felt like I’d been stripped and wrapped in cold emptiness the moment I lost contact with his skin. I blinked, stunned while I waited to adjust to the feeling. It was crazy how the way I normally felt seemed so cold and awful in contrast to being in his arms.

  Ash jerked, dropping the shoe he’d been putting on his foot while he stared through me. “Do you hear that?” he whispered. “Hear is the wrong word. Close your eyes.”

  I obeyed and wondered what I was supposed to see besides the back of my eyelids.

  “In a moment you’ll feel the tracers. Try to see them. There’s not much to see except for the energy wake behind them. I can block what people see but I can’t block actual energy waves. Some Wilds could block with runes. It’s one of the Wild gifts, the ability to send out energy that traces, responds to the energy of others. If they’ve brought someone who can trace then we’ve got to go now.”

  Ash’s voice was mesmerizing, soothing me and pulling on me at the same time. With my eyes closed I caught a glimpse of Ash’s silvery blue soul, then became absorbed by Lewis’s, red and dark, a soul that called to me so forcefully that I took two steps towards him before I could stop myself. Past him in the silvery dark nothing there was an almost something that looked a little bit like a current in water, a ripple that created a slight a distortion without changing the rest of what I could see with soul sight. When it passed through our little room, I could see the reaction, the way the energy wave bounced back where it had come from on each point that it touched one of us, Lewis, myself, and Ash. I recoiled in shock as the tracer made contact with me even if I couldn’t really feel or see it. I blinked out of the soul sight, realizing that was the first time I hadn’t touched Lewis when it had happened.

  “Let’s go,” Ash said after he had on his old tennis shoes.

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, but my voice wasn’t quite level. I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this guy who could see energy disruptions in the fabric of space and time. “Let’s go to Hybrid camp and hope that they can help us.”

  Ash nodded and then spent a long time leaning against the door with his eyes closed, watching people with his soul sight so they wouldn’t see us sneak out in daylight. Sneaking in daylight may not have been ideal but it was better than waiting until dark when there would be more demons.

  It was nerve-wracking and back-breaking to haul Lewis out to the car then duck down with my head on his lap while he lay reclined on the seat. We edged out of the parking lot, down the street, and back on the small highway. My neck was bent at an odd angle, but when I turned my head and accidentally had contact with the skin of his stomach I had another flash of his soul, the burning pull of it bringing my head back, against the dashboard with a crack.

  “You might want to get that under control,” Ash said, helpfully.

  “It’s on my list,” I muttered, unsure where to put my head. At least his soul was still there, still burning.

  He shook his head and looked confused. “You have your father staying with you, don’t you? He’s legendary. He can do things with his Cool skills that I can’t even imagine. Why isn’t he teaching you the basics?”

  I shook my head. “I know how to block leaning other people. My dad didn’t teach me that, though. I don’t know. It’s like he doesn’t want to change me, I guess?” I rubbed my forehead. “I have a Trainer, Carve. He’s Wild and Cool. He’s shown me a few things, like soul flight and…”

  “Soul flight?” Ash slammed on the brake sending me against the dashboard again.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “Sorry. Soul flight isn’t a good idea, Dari. That’s what Hollows do.”

  I sighed. “He taught me so that I wouldn’t do it.”

  He shook his head, squinting at the road like he saw more than the pavement. “Don’t tell people that you can do that, all right? Hollow blood is not a small thing.”

  “Are you going to turn me in, Ash?”

  He looked at me, stunned by my question. He didn’t almost drive off the road. “I owe you my life.”

  I rubbed my face. “I was joking. I trust you. And me saving your life should not mean exposing you to the demon man.”

  He laughed and patted my shoulder lightly sending a sensation of light and peace through me.

  Ash was right, though. What Ash had done with the cows, cloaking us from people, sensing the tracer, it was useful stuff that didn’t require painful training or tattoos. I needed to learn that. I needed to learn everything.

  “I don’t even know what I don’t know,” I muttered.

  “You’ve come a long way from soulless,” he said encouragingly.

  I shivered and tightened my hand on Lewis’s knee. “Do you know what my brother planned for me?”

  Ash looked surprised. “Your brother never communicated with me about you.”

  “Why did he take my soul? How did he fragment it so that I would stay alive?”

  He sighed. “Don’t tell anyone about having a fragmented soul, either. All right?

  “Is that a Hollow thing, too?”

  He made a choking laugh sound. “No. That’s a demonic thing. Do you know much about history? I mean, the kind you don’t learn in school?”

  I stared at him blankly.

  “Nether people like Cools, Wilds, Hotbloods and Hollows are here on this plane to fight for the Nether who can’t survive here for long periods of time. If they tried they would end up destroying innocence, and that’s against their nature. That, is a good thing,” he said pointedly. “Where was I?”

  “We’re here as the Nether mercenary armies?”

  He shook his head. “We’re left to our own devices, but we’re supposed to be united in destroying the demons. They come to this plane to grow in power, so they can leave and attack the Nether, at least that’s what someone explained to me that almost makes sense. No one really knows the motives of demons, or Nether either very well. They’re all mysterious and misty. Not a very pleasant group from what I understand, but completely irresistible to humans.”

  “But not as bad as demons.”

  “Definitely not as bad as demons.” He shuddered. “I’ve never seen a demon man before. Most people don’t see one and live. The way that Lewis burned it from a distance like that?” He shook his head in amazement. “I had no idea a Hotblood could do that much less a Hybrid.”

  I smiled and caressed Lewis’s face, smoothing my fingers over his jaw and cheekbones.

  “He’s able to survive most things that would kill an ordinary person.” Like me. I shivered and moved closer to Lewis, shifting so that his head fell on my shoulder.

  “Right. What was I saying? Oh. The Nether have gifts that we know about. Soul flight and other soul manipulation for Hollows, and sundry other stuff we won’t get into today, Cools lean, Hotbloods burn, Wilds manipulate elements. The demons have their own gifts, their own abilities that they pass on to those that serve t
hem.”

  “Like what?”

  He shrugged. “Like enhanced physical ability and gifts, like runes only more. Like manipulation of plants and animals, tainting them until they’re warped versions of themselves, more deadly, more powerful, more cunning. Like fragmenting souls and raising corpses to life and controlling those around them.”

  He shook his head while I held very still.

  “Devlin used demons to take my soul?”

  He exhaled. “I have no idea. He didn’t look like he’d been tainted. He stayed the same my whole life. When he took your soul, his soul didn’t look so good, but nothing like that monster we saw back there.”

  “That’s good,” I said after a moment of trying not to laugh hysterically. “So you think that somehow I have these Hollow and demon abilities or associations in spite of me having a Cool father and a Wild mother?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in your family tree tampered with the forbidden or mingled with Hollows. It’s not unheard of.”

  “Don’t you think they’d tell me about it?”

  He shrugged. “You’d think they would, just to keep you from acting out, but maybe they don’t know. Sometimes skill sets skip generations. Maybe you had a great-great-great-grandmother who became a demon mistress and raised a horde of scavengers and feasted on the blood of innocents and Nether.”

  I stared at Ash who seemed to view the possibility with interest but nothing like horror.

  “That would explain it,” I said then shook my head hard enough that blue strands slapped my cheeks. “How far are we from the Hybrid camp? Can you tell?”

  “Yeah. I think that we’ll be there soon,” he said with a relaxed smile.

  I didn’t see how he could know where to go if he’d only had a few brief flashes of direction. With Aiden I’d gotten a detailed route, every step of the way to Lewis’s garage planted in my head. If Aiden hadn’t sent me to Lewis, would Lewis be safe somewhere without me? I closed my eyes and pressed my cheek against his chest, reassured that his heart was still beating, but worried about his lungs, the harsh sound that every breath made. His body and forehead were warm while the rest of him grew steadily colder, like all his heat built up around his head and heart letting the rest go.

  I tried to take deep breaths, but by the time Ash began jolting along a bumpy country road I was almost hyperventilating. Lewis had to be okay. There wasn’t any other option.

  With a lurch Ash pulled off the road and into some bushes that weren’t meant for parking. I watched him get out of the car, bouncing nervously while he looked around. He was tall, thin, like he’d been stretched out on a rack. What happened to the short stocky guy I’d met in Sewing class?

  “Come on,” he said, giving me his hand, pulling me off of Lewis with more strength than I remembered. I hated leaving Lewis but it felt good to stretch my legs while I looked around the dark woods, noticing that it was warmer here than Sanders, but so bleak, gray and brown with mud everywhere. The sucking of the mud followed my footsteps.

  “Look at that,” a voice said out of the woods, a voice that was terrifyingly familiar.

  I crouched while I searched the dark woods for the voice. I knew the voice, and I knew that it didn’t belong to a friend.

  “Little Miss Slide, what a surprise,” Aiden, the psycho Hybrid said shoving through the underbrush and stepping out into the partial shade where I could make out his bright, burning blue eyes that pierced me as much here as they had back at my uncle’s house. How could they burn that bright without him burning out like Lewis had?

  I held my breath as I kept myself where I was, trying to keep my trembling under control. I’d saved his life, maybe I could use that if he was stable long enough to have a conversation. I licked my lips glancing at Ash. He gave me a small encouraging nod like I should know what to say.

  “We’re looking for the Hybrid camp.”

  Aiden threw back his head and laughed, a laugh that wasn’t as loud as it felt, but it slid through my bones like a snake through water, leaving me even shakier.

  “You’re here to join the Hunters to fight demons? Do you expect us to believe that?” Aiden asked coming closer, so young and cocky that I had to fight off the urge to roll my eyes. He reminded me of Snowy’s little brother, only insane.

  “I have a burned out Hotblood in the car,” Ash said calmly. “We’ve only narrowly escaped a demon man, and there are more behind us. If you leave us at their mercy, it will be on your conscience.”

  “I’m a Hybrid; I can’t afford to have a conscience. Go back to your trees and…” he got a strange look on his face like he was struggling with something. “Don’t tell me that Axel burned out.” He swung around, ripped a small tree out of the earth and threw it very far through the trees leaving a trail of crashing as it hit others in the way. He stood away from us, breathing hard while I eased back towards the car, thinking that we’d have a better chance finding a city and some normal Hotbloods.

  “We’re being followed by demon men and Wilds,” Ash said quietly. “We need help or he’ll die.”

  Aiden shoved a hand through his brown hair then turned to look past me at Lewis where he lay limp on the passenger seat.

  “Can’t take Axel to the camp like that. Can’t let them see him burnt out. And you,” he said swinging his burning gaze to me. “With your undone runes.” He studied me with those bright blue eyes of his and in spite of the fact that he didn’t look older than 15 with bad posture and acne, I felt like he was older than time and tired.

  For some reason I reached a hand towards him, touching his shoulder. “Please help us. You know how to not burn out. I can’t lose him.” The words hurt so much to say, admitting the possibility that he wouldn’t make it.

  He muttered something under his breath while I took my hand back, shocked that I’d dared to touch someone who’d just ripped up a tree, but what could he do to Lewis that I hadn’t already done?

  “Fine. I’ll take you to a little place away from camp but still protected. If the camp finds you then you’re Hybrids from the central city, half-starved because you’ve been chased by demon men across the country and here to learn how to hold your own.” He gave me a skeptical up and down glance before he shook his head sadly. “As unlikely as that is.”

  When Aiden opened the passenger car door, I forced myself to take a deep breath, checking Ash to see if he really thought this was a good idea. Ash gave me a reassuring smile and when I turned back Aiden had hefted out Lewis like he was a baby before he slung him roughly over his shoulder so Lewis’s his head dangled down Aiden’s back.

  Ash put a hand on my shoulder, calming me with his reassurance. I didn’t like seeing Lewis like that, hated that I had to trust an unstable Hybrid with someone so vulnerable, someone I wanted so badly to be safe.

  Aiden said, “Keep up. And don’t talk about your psychotic uncles here, not if you don’t want to fight everyone who hates Wilds. That would keep you busy for a month.” Then to Ash, “You’re a Cool who most people won’t look twice at except to think you’re useless.”

  I said, “He can lean and cloak and…” Ash squeezed my shoulder and I closed my mouth, wondering why I felt like I had to defend him from someone who shared his blood, at least half of it. Aiden laughed, a penetrating sound that was like my dad only off, wrong.

  Aiden stopped talking, and I tried to keep up as he led the way through the mud and trees, leading uphill and down ravines, sliding recklessly with Lewis in a way that made me cringe. I didn’t say anything though, not when there was no way that I could carry him. Aiden didn’t look like he could carry him, too skinny by far to be hauling around Lewis like he weighed nothing.

  I bit my lip as I wished that I could do something, but however psycho and annoying Aiden was, there were worse things. I shuddered as the memory of the demon man, the black eyes and dark veins, the ravaging hunger and soullessness, and the scent of the burning black that was all that was left of him. The sooner we were somewhere
safe the better.

  We came to a stone aqueduct cut into the earth, the stones joined together in a complicated pattern.

  “Blocks tracers,” Ash said nodding at it.

  There was something strangely familiar about the way the stones were laid out. I stared at it while Aiden tightened his hold on Lewis before jumping the ditch, sending a bit of mud into the water where it sizzled and disappeared. I blinked at where the mud had been in the water, realizing that there was no way that a ditch would be clear enough to see the bottom of each stone however fanatical you were about keeping it clean. Ash followed with a look of slight panic then it was my turn. The ditch buzzed faintly, and between blinks I almost saw something, the way that the stones wove patterns in startling purple. It was like the runes bound to the walls of the tattoo parlor, some kind of purple magic that protected this place.

  I jumped it, feeling the pull of it and barely made it to the other side without falling in. Ash caught my sleeve, pulling me after Aiden. We trudged through trees that thinned as the ground grew rockier, the slopes steeper. I tried not to look at Aiden because the longer he had his hands on Lewis the more I wanted to snatch Lewis away and run.

  Aiden climbed down a gorge, following a narrow path that was invisible until we were on it and even then it was so difficult to follow that I wondered if this was his elaborate way to kill us all. We descended until the light was diffuse while walls of sheer stone rose up around us. Aiden moved through a crack in the rock that didn’t look big enough for him, much less him carrying Lewis, but somehow he fit. I followed, wondering if I’d be able to find my way out of the maze that kept descending.

  “Is it much farther,” I asked.

  Aiden only laughed, a crazy sound that made me want to cover my ears and scream. Finally, he stopped going down and instead we crossed a rocky scrabble, then came upon a house, tucked in between the sides of two nearly touching cliffs like it had been blown by the wind and gotten stuck there.

  I wasn’t sure how we were going to get up to it, but Aiden didn’t hesitate as he climbed, one handed, with Lewis, up the steep slope, grabbing thin saplings to drag himself up, saplings that probably couldn’t bear his weight not to mention the combination of him and Lewis.