Damon looked at the doctor and said, “Your turn.”
“I think not,” the doctor retorted as he charged at Damon.
Damon braced himself and held his sword ready to strike. He smiled; he couldn’t believe how easy this was going to be, thrusting his sword forward into the doctor’s heart. The doctor didn’t stop until he hit the swords hilt. He just smiled back at Damon as a knife appeared in the doctor’s hand.
The doctor thrust the knife into Damon’s ribs. Damon coughed blood onto the doctor’s face. “Ugh, disgusting waste of good genetic material,” the doctor said as he lifted Damon into the air.
Damon held on tightly to his blade as the doctor effortlessly lifted him, slowly withdrawing the blade from where his heart should have been. The blue aura flickered as the doctor threw him like a rag doll into the yard. He was just turning to head back inside when he heard, “You ain’t won yet.”
Spinning around, the doctor was hit by three throwing knives, one landing right between the eyes and the other two hitting him in the chest. He ripped the throwing star out of his face. “You are starting to piss me off!” the doctor screamed.
Damon whipped out his pistol and unloaded .45 caliber rounds into the doctor as he charged forward. They barely slowed him down, shrugging off every round as he picked up speed. He was moving so fast that Damon couldn’t even defend himself as he ran out of bullets. The doctor threw a hard right cross into Damon’s chest, cracking his sternum and sending him crashing through the bush fence. He could barely move as he tried to sit up. His left hand was still glued to his blade when he felt a hand grab his ankle and rip him back through the hole in the fence.
The doctor stood over him, taunting, “I am going to choke the life out of you and turn your body into my slave.”
He grabbed Damon’s throat and lifted him into the air. Damon struggled to breathe as the doctor began to squeeze. He tried to raise his sword but the doctor grabbed his arm, squeezing until the blade fell from his hand. The blue aura of the blade faded out as it hit the ground. Damon tried in vain to fight, but he felt his last remaining breath dwindling, and everything was fading fast.
A blur flashed by and Damon felt his airway open back up as he fell to the ground. He was coughing hard as he tried to find his breath. As his vision returned, he saw Jason had come to his rescue and was now fighting the doctor.
Damon felt helpless as he watched the oversized Jason being outmatched by the stronger faster doctor. The doctor hit Jason hard. He flew backward, bouncing off the ground before finally coming to a stop near Damon. “Run if you want to live,” he croaked out.
“What about you?” Damon protested.
“I’ll be fine. I’m his son.”
Damon grabbed his sword, hesitating to leave his savior behind, but Jason stood up and taunted his father, “Let’s go dad! Is that all you got?”
Damon took this as his cue to exit. Grabbing his side, he struggled to crawl through the hole in the fence. He could feel the blood flowing from his wound as he rose to his feet and begun to limp towards his car.
Arriving at his car, he fumbled with his keys. As soon as he got the key into the door Damon fell into the front seat. He could feel the warm sticky blood pouring down his side onto his car seat. “This is going to suck to clean later,” he laughed as he started his hemi engine. Dropping his car into gear, he stepped on the gas and took off like a rocket.
Speeding down the road, the lights and colors all blurred together as Damon drifted in and out of consciousness. He slapped himself across the face as he put the pedal to the floor, shifting into second as he sped down the country road. He knew if he didn’t get to the hotel, he was a dead man.
Shifting into third gear, Damon felt the car jerk as he continued accelerating. He could see a blur of light in the distance; figuring it was town, he prayed there weren’t any cops as he ran the first street light he came across. He weaved in and out of traffic and he narrowly avoided hitting a car that pulled out in front of him. He could just barely make out the neon sign of his hotel in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time, he knew he was going to make it as he continued flying along the slow arterial road. He pulled into the hotel parking lot and yanked the emergency brake as he slid sideways into the three parking spots in front of his hotel room.
Falling out of his car onto his hands and knees, Damon tried to climb to his feet as his blood dripped onto the concrete. Limping along, he reached the door and clumsily felt for the card key, but it wasn’t in his pocket. He grabbed the handle, hoping for a miracle, but no luck there. Standing back, he looked at the door, the only thing standing between him and staying alive. Feeling very weak, he mustered all of his strength as he charged forward. He threw his shoulder into the door. The door loudly cracked as he cried out in pain. He fell against the door and wondered if he should just give up. But the doctor’s voiced filled his mind— “The girl must die before the week ends.”
Damon realized that if he died here then the girl would die too. He had to stop the doctor or he would never stop killing. He rose to his feet, took one step back, and kicked the door as hard as he could. The door flew open.
Damon limped into his hotel room. “Now where did I put that bag,” he said to himself.
He scanned the room for his bag but it was nowhere in sight. Falling against the wall, he dragged himself into the bathroom. When he got into the bathroom he fell to his knees. The room spun as he searched the bathroom for his bag. When he didn’t see the bag in the bathroom, he grabbed the door to the cabinet. In his distress, he ripped the door clean off, revealing the black bag he was looking for. He pulled the bag out and set it on the counter. Ripping off his shirt, he rifled through the bag until he found what he was looking for—a black vial of blood. Demons’ blood, while dangerous in large quantities, had been found to regenerate even the most fatal of wounds in hours when taken in small doses.
Damon looked at the vial, worried about what could happen. His brother was never the same after he drank the blood. He stared into the vial as his side ached. It was this or death. He threw his head back and drank the blood. “Blech!”
He cringed. The blood tasted like wet baking soda but he knew he had to hurry—demon blood could heat the body up to deadly levels. He dropped his pants as he ran naked into the living room. Ripping open the small ice chest, he grabbed out the four bags of ice he had put in the fridge. He felt his heart begin to burn and he was already sweating everywhere as he flew back into the bathroom. He cranked on the coldest water and filled the tub with ice. He climbed in as the blood from his wound turned the water red as he passed out.
Mona slept soundly as the sun crawled through her curtains and into her room. It slowly filled her room with light and crept up and across her body, almost as if it was tickling her. She wiggled and squirmed as the sunlight covered her body. By the time it reached her face, she was already opening her eyes. It blinded her as she sat up in her bed. She wiped her eyes and surveyed her room. Normally on a Saturday, she’d know exactly what to do, but today was different. She flopped back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.
Mona hadn’t realized how long it had been since she had done nothing. Her entire life had been planned out since middle school, and now she was detouring from that plan to go on a date. She couldn’t believe herself. She was changing for a boy right before her own eyes and she wasn’t sure if she liked it. She grabbed her phone. She was about to call and cancel when memories of yesterday began to fill her head. A smile lit up her face and her heart beat a little bit faster. She dropped her cell down and headed for the shower.
Mona reached into the shower and turned on the hot water. As it was heating, she glimpsed herself in the mirror. Something made her turn. There was something funny on her shoulder running up her neck. Pulling back her hair she looked closer. She had a long scratch that went almost to her ear. “Odd… must have been from those imps yesterday,” she said to herself.
Keeping cal
m, Mona reached under her sink to grab hydrogen peroxide and a cotton ball. As she dabbed a bit of peroxide on the cotton ball and began cleaning out the scratch. Her curiosity got the best of her as she cleaned the wound. She wanted to know more about these imps. She finished cleaning her scratch quickly, turned off the shower, threw a towel on, and headed back to her room to research on her computer.
Mona flipped her laptop open and tried running a search for “imp,” but the results only netted a wiki page and other sites about mythical creatures. Reading through the pages, she didn’t find much of anything that was useful, so she clicked back to the search page, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to try something a little ridiculous—“real occurrences of imps.” The results were less than useless, so she tried “real imp attacks.” Skimming through the results, which were mostly video game references, she came across a website that was called Magical Maddy’s House of the Weird and Unexplained. “Monsters are real!” boasted the link. “Click here to find out more.”
Mona scanned the page until she found something she liked—“real life monster sightings.” The page was full of newspaper clippings all detailing brutal killings, most of which were eventually linked to animal attacks or left unexplained. There were captions under the pictures of newspaper clippings. She read them as they were what the author thought, was really responsible and what proof they had. The horrible pictures were too much for her and she went back to the main page. Another link caught her eye—“Monsters we know exist and how to kill them.”
Mona followed the link to a page that was filled with pictures of monsters. She looked through them all. Some monsters she recognized, like vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Some she didn’t recognize or didn’t realize were considered monsters, like fairies, golems, and a demonic Scottish water horse. When she got to the bottom, there they were—imps.
Mona clicked and whispered as she read, “The imp’s history is long and mysterious. Originally thought to be the servants of demons, they have been found serving human monsters as early as the 1600s. They are blindly obedient to their master’s wishes.”
“I don’t need the history of these creatures, I need to know how to kill them,” Mona said to her computer.
She skimmed the page until she found a section titled, “How to kill or incapacitate.”
Mona stopped and read this section carefully. “While imps may look like they are solid creatures, they are in fact made of some sort of slime or goo. This makes them immortal and allows them to store things inside their bodies, but it also makes incapacitating them easy. If hit with a lot of blunt force they will go to pieces and will slowly try to reform as the goo is still alive. The only known weakness they have is silver. When pierced with something silver, their bodies harden and become immobile. When it comes to killing them, while they are technically immortal—they can be killed by destroying the one that summoned them.
A buzzing noise distracted Mona and she began to look around trying, to figure out what it was. Lifting her pillow, she found her cell phone. She had received a text message from Damon— “Hey I need your address so I can pick you up.”
Mona replied with her address and put the phone back down. A minute later it buzzed again. Another text from Damon. “Okay great see you in an hour.”
Mona closed her cell phone and couldn’t believe what time it was. Panic set in as she realized she had less than an hour to be ready. She showered quickly and ran back into her room while she brushed her teeth, still brushing as she sorted through her clothes, throwing them over her shoulder and onto the bed until she decided on an outfit. Once dressed, she grabbed her phone and checked the time. She had five minutes before he was going to be here. She looked in the mirror; her hair was a mess and she didn’t have time to do anything special. She grabbed her white headband and put it on. It would work for now, she had decided. She gave her herself one last look in the mirror. Her black shorts and white halter-top worked well. She smiled; she knew she looked cute. Her phone started buzzing. It was another text from Damon—he was outside. She grabbed her running shoes and headed downstairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, Mona sat down and put on her shoes. Once she had finished, she looked up and saw her mother’s teak china cabinet. At the top of the cabinet were six silver steak knives. Walking up to the cabinet she stared at the knives as they shimmered in the light. She gave a quick glance around before reaching up and grabbing one of them. She held up the steak knife; the handle was perfectly contoured for her hand. Touching the blade with her finger, she found that it was sharp, real sharp. After yesterday, she knew she was going to need protection if these imps attacked again. Now she just had to figure out where to keep the blade. Her pockets wouldn’t work and she didn’t want it anywhere it could be seen.
While Mona was busy placing the knife in different places, to see if it could be hidden on her body, her phone buzzed. She grabbed her phone and checked to see who it was. Damon was parked outside. Panicking a little bit, she hunted for a place to hide her knife. Her lower back became itchy. When she itched it, she realized she had found the perfect place to hide the knife. Reaching into a nearby drawer, she pulled out of a roll of duct tape. She lifted up her shirt and peeled off a few strips of tape. Holding the knife with one hand, she reached back and taped with the other hand. When the knife was firmly in place, she lowered her shirt and checked her reflection in the glass to see if the blade showed. It was a little uncomfortable but perfectly hidden as she took off running out the front door.
When Mona opened her front door, she could hear the distinct roar of a large engine rumbling. It belonged to the large muscle parked in front of her house. She assumed it was Damon so she walked up to the car. The passenger door swung open and sitting in the driver’s seat was Damon. “Hey beautiful,” he said.
Mona climbed in the car and said, “Hey.”
Unsure of what else to do or say, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She looked around his car before she said, “It’s a gorgeous car but gas must cost a fortune.”
“Eh, I really don’t mind, plus I built her from the ground up. She’s family,” he said as he smiled.
Damon shifted his car into first and pulled out onto the road. They were on their way. Once he got onto the main road he asked, “Did you do anything fun last night?”
Mona shifted in her seat, feeling the knife rubbing in her back. Uncomfortable thoughts flooded her mind as she lied, “No, I just went home, studied, and fell asleep. What about you?”
“Yeah pretty much the same, home and sleep,” he lied as he rubbed his freshly healed wound.
The tension in the car was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They both wanted to open up and tell each other the truth but they didn’t out of fear of being judged—or worse, simply not believed.
Damon tired of the tension in the air and started some small-talk; he asked her what her parents did, and where she wanted to go to college. It passed the time and soon they were turning onto the dirt road that led to the trail for the waterfall.
When they pulled into the parking lot, they both looked around and noticed it was completely empty. “Hmm, that’s strange,” Damon said. “You’d think it would be busier.”
Damon got out of the car and his eyes immediately went to the bushes. He scanned them for trouble didn’t really notice anything, which bothered him. Mona stepped out of the car. She was amazed at the wilderness and she lost herself in looking around.
When Mona came back to she looked at Damon. He had a funny look on his face, as if he had seen something. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I’m just checking out the scenery,” he replied. “Wanna start our hike?”
“Yep let’s get going!”
Damon popped his trunk open and grabbed a backpack. Slinging it over his shoulder, he reached out his hand. “Shall we?”
Mona grabbed his hand smiling. “Yes, let’s,” she said.
Walking hand in hand they foll
owed the trail, observing the beauty of Ellensburg in the spring. Damon spotted some wild flowers along the trail. “Close your eyes,” he said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Just trust me.”
Mona closed her eyes as Damon reached down, creating an impromptu bouquet. Holding the flowers in front of her, he said, “Okay open them.”
Mona’s eyes lit up as she saw the bouquet before her. She grabbed the flowers as they were handed to her. She closed her eyes as she took in the scent of the wildflowers. The scent was intoxicating as she smiled. “Thank you! You are so sweet,” she said as she kissed him on the cheek.
A couple of rabbits came scurrying out of the brush and rushed past the couple. They both smiled as they watched the rabbits dart around the bend and into the bushes. Mona grabbed Damon’s hand and pulled him along as they continued down the trail.
The trail was soon joined by a creek that flowed parallel to it. Everywhere they looked, life was blossoming all around. As they continued to walk, the woods thickened, and soon they could see wild animals roaming all around. Deer galloped across trail and into the woods. A snake soon followed the deer, causing Damon and Mona to stop as it crossed their path.
Damon’s eye darted around the woods. Something was wrong and he knew it. The animals shouldn’t all be headed one way. It was as if they were running away from something.
Soon the roar of rushing water filled their ears as they neared the waterfall. Damon saw the waterfall just off the path and slowly walked towards it. He inched closer, trying to look over the waterfall. Mona grabbed his hand and slowly followed. They both looked down at the fifty-foot drop and slowly stepped back.
Breaking Deluce Page 3