“I don’t understand any of this. This agreement was ridiculous, why did you make it?” she hissed. She probably did actually hiss.
Colin had already explained this at least a thousand times, at least it felt like it was close to a thousand, and he didn’t think explaining it again would help. Besides, they weren’t alone. He didn’t want Jeremy to overhear. So he thought something instead.
“We can’t talk about this now. The others can’t know about us. Just please stop being so mad at me. This will end soon.”
“How do you know?”
“It has to or…”
But Colin couldn’t even finish his thought because Jeremy walked in and saw them sitting in silence just staring at each other. Which is weird.
“Damn, O’Conner. What the hell’s your problem?”
Colin ignored him. He wasn’t always such an asshole but this whole assignment in Baton Rouge had put him in a semi-permanent bad mood. Everyone he worked with thought he was a bit scary, actually. He had a reputation for being a badass hunter, and he was.
At first, the group in Baton Rouge had been excited and intimidated when he showed up, but then they found out he didn’t like being talked to, hit on, invited to anything, or in any way reminded he was supposed to be human. And the excitement the other hunters had originally felt had turned to apprehension and even fear.
Then a few weeks later, Anna came. He tried to keep the same distance, the same aloofness and coolness with her, but he knew it would be impossible. So everyone thought it was a little strange that Anna was the only person Colin ever seemed to get along with.
Anna tried to ease the tension. “We just had a disagreement. Hey, would you get me a Snickers?” She started reaching into her pocket for change, but Jeremy stopped her.
“No way, Sweetheart, I’ve got you.”
And Colin wanted to punch him in the throat for calling her Sweetheart, too.
Jeremy pulled her candy bar from the vending machine and handed it to her, making sure his fingers brushed against hers as she reached for it. Colin wondered where the most painful place he could punch him would be. Instead of leaving, Jeremy sat next to her on the ugly green sofa. He even put an arm on the back, angling his body so his knee was only inches away from her.
“You’ve been here over two months. When are you going to let me show you around? Maybe take you to New Orleans?” Jeremy asked.
Anna offered the most sincere smile she could manage. “I’ve been to New Orleans. But thanks.”
Colin seethed.
“But you’ve never been with me. I guarantee a better experience.”
Anna kept her fake smile in place. “It would be different, I’m sure.”
“That almost sounds like a yes.” Jeremy was incorrigible. And Colin had already imagined thirty-six different ways he’d like to hit him.
Anna stood up. “Thanks for the Snickers.”
As she walked out of the break room, she thought, “I’m partial to hitting him in the groin myself.”
Colin didn’t think it was such a good idea for her to leave him alone with Jeremy, but it was too late. He tried not to look in Jeremy’s direction as he left the break room in the hunters’ headquarters as well, because one of these days, he really was going to break down and hit the guy.
That night, a small group of them drove over to White Oaks together. It was one of those neighborhoods Anna loved because the houses were architecturally impressive, usually with some sort of Southern inspiration, the lawns were always well manicured, and there was very little traffic, so it was peaceful, quiet. The kind of life Anna wished she could have.
They walked around the block where the murdered woman lived and didn’t sense the demon’s presence so they decided to walk more of the neighborhood. Anna’s friend, Jas, had come along tonight so at least Anna was in a better mood.
She and Jas were chatting quietly, out of earshot of most of the group, but Colin knew what they were talking about. They were talking about him. Jas thought he was really cute but couldn’t figure out why he never seemed interested in anyone, and wanted Anna to talk to him for her. Anna was trying to change the subject. Yeah, Colin hated everything about this assignment.
They turned down another street, and Anna and Colin felt it before anyone else did. It was like that feeling some people get in the middle of the night when they wake up for no reason, terrified as if they’d had a nightmare but couldn’t remember dreaming about anything, and they look around their room feeling like something’s watching them and some may even turn a light on just to make sure. The really brave may look under the bed. Or in the closet. But that feeling that something is wrong, out of place, out of belonging in this space – that was what Anna and Colin always felt first. That’s when they always knew one was near. Something was out of place. Out of belonging in this world.
“Anna, it’s behind you!” Colin suddenly realized.
Anna spun around in time to see the mustard yellow form leap down from a roof toward her. They could move so damn quickly. It fell on her and Colin knew she had her knife drawn and pressed against the side of her forearm. She shoved it as hard as she could against the creature’s chest but it was still trying to claw at her. Colin reached her and dug his knife into the beast’s back; it sat up and leered at him with golden yellow eyes of fire.
It smelled as repugnant as any other demon, always reeking of rot and death and some cross between manure and sour mulch. Jas still gagged. Colin and Anna had gotten used to it, as much as a person can. But Jas was trying to help, having drawn her own knife and was slicing at the thing’s leg. Colin and Jas distracted it long enough for Anna to slide out from underneath it and with Anna free, Colin finally felt like he could breathe again.
Jeremy and the other hunter, Max, an older man approaching forty who was slightly out of shape but good with handheld weapons, finally reached them. They could all sense the presence of demons, too, but not as strongly as Anna and Colin, so sometimes, it took them awhile to catch on that something had happened.
The jaundiced yellow demon noticed the others approaching and started growing. When it had jumped on Anna, it had been the size of a small ape; as the hunters backed away from it, forming a circle around it to try to keep it from running, it kept swelling like a wet sponge. Jeremy glanced uncertainly toward Colin.
“Should we try to kill it now?”
Colin didn’t take his eyes off of it. It was expending a lot of energy to make itself look more threatening, hoping to scare them off. Colin shook his head. “No, it’s a lesser demon. He has a limited supply of energy. Let him use some up.”
It was almost as tall as the house it had been hiding on now. And Anna was getting nervous. “Colin, do you feel that? It’s not really weaker.”
Colin felt it, but it didn’t make any sense. They had fought these kinds of demons before. They were like cobras that expanded folds of skin to make themselves look bigger but unlike animals, it had always used up some of their power and made them easier to kill in the end. How was this demon doing this?
“It’s something else,” Anna said. And now she was scared.
This wasn’t a lesser demon they had stumbled onto, some easily replaceable minion of Hell. This was a greater demon that had somehow been able to disguise itself from them – even from Colin and Anna, which should have been impossible.
“Holy shit,” Colin mumbled. But it was too late. They were here, and this demon was pissed.
“Everybody, back up!” Colin shouted, but the beast’s shiny yellow eyes, like giant cat’s eye marbles, were fixed on Colin. “Anna, DON’T!”
But Anna ran toward the demon and as it swept its arm out to knock her away – which probably would have knocked her all the way to the Amite River – she slid underneath its arm and landed by its ankle, or where its ankle would have been.
Anna dug her knife in with both hands and pulled it toward her. Colin had known what she was about to do and tried to distract it but Anna
had moved first, so it didn’t notice Colin until his knife pierced into its… knee?… and like Anna, he dragged his knife through as much of the demon’s body as he could. Leaving long, gaping wounds like that was the only way to kill a demon. It allowed the energy within to leak out and vaporize.
While the demon in the forest had been unbelievably hot, like battling a moving furnace – a really ugly, smelly furnace – this one was cold. As Colin dug his knife in again, dodging another blow from the demon’s fist, he could feel it rushing out: like cold air from a freezer or standing in the swirling wind of a blizzard.
The others were all stabbing, slicing, dragging their knives through its body and with a slithery hissing sound, the demon’s energy was slowly escaping. But it was so damn strong.
It grabbed Jas and was about to throw her against the side of the house, but Anna leaped onto its arm and dug into it, slicing, hissing, leaking. Anna was shaken to the ground with a nauseating thud. Colin felt like his heart had burst through his chest. She was in pain, but she was ok. Colin gored the demon again to keep it away from Anna while she got back on her feet.
Max had been knocked against a tree and still seemed dazed; he probably had a concussion. The colossal ochre beast had turned its attention back toward Jas, obviously singling out the weakest in the group first, and this time, Anna wasn’t fast enough to stop it. It reached out with one of its long arms and grabbed Jas then hurled her through the air. Colin couldn’t see where she landed. He could, however, feel the agony and anger welling up within Anna.
Jas had been her only real friend here. She had made her lonely existence in Baton Rouge bearable by having someone to talk to, someone to get drinks with and go shopping with, and have some kind of life outside of hunting semi-immortal creatures of Hell. And this semi-immortal creature of Hell had just taken Jas, the only friend in this city she hated, away from her.
Again, he knew what she was going to do as soon as she decided to do it, and he tried to stop her, but he couldn’t.
“NO!” It was the only thought he had time for.
Anna threw herself at the demon, not at its ankle or leg this time, but at its abdomen where she could reach more of its body to allow greater tears for more energy to release. Colin was right behind her, trying to pull her away with one arm while hacking at the demon that refused to wear down. There were only three of them now. And this thing didn’t seem that tired.
Anna pushed Colin away. She had no intention of backing off. But the demon’s citrine eyes were fixed on her; its hands were useless with three hunters hacking at them, but its mouth was free. Colin saw it bending toward her and knew what it was about to do. He threw himself at Anna and they toppled out of the demon’s reach, rolling away from the seeping cold wounds, still hissing like a tire with a slow leak.
“Stay. HERE.” Colin ordered her then rushed back to Jeremy to help him. Jeremy was about to get thrown against the asphalt of the street when Colin reached the beast’s arm and cut through it, letting a rapid rush of arctic wind blow past him. Jeremy fell to the ground.
Colin had finally gotten a good injury on this bastard; he was going to start getting weaker now. Jeremy got back on his feet, shaky but not willing to leave Colin alone, and attacked the other leg, trying different angles with his blade, different areas on the demon’s body, different lengths of openings. He finally found a combination that worked.
It must have seemed that the whole thing had taken hours, but only a few minutes had passed since the small ape-like demon had jumped on top of Anna to the time Colin and Jeremy finished killing it. And when Colin was sure the thing was finally dead, he turned around to look at Anna. She had listened: she hadn’t moved, but he had never seen so much anger in her eyes.
Chapter 3
It took them over two hours to find Jas’s body. Anna had only known her for two months, but she had still been the only friend she’d had here. Jas had given her a sense of normalcy, a feeling of belonging in a city she otherwise felt unwelcomed in. And Jas had one of the most generous and forgiving spirits of anyone she’d ever known.
How the hell had this happened? How could the hunters, especially Colin and her, have not known what they had walked into? Jas shouldn’t be dead. She couldn’t be dead. Anna wouldn’t even believe it until she finally saw her body in a drainage canal.
They had called the cops, waited until her body had been retrieved from the shallow water and brought away, before anyone was even willing to speak about what had happened. Anna still wouldn’t meet Colin’s eyes even though he kept silently begging her to. She ignored him. Who was this man that had ordered her to stay out of the fight with this demon? This wasn’t Colin. Sometimes, she thought she hardly recognized him anymore.
“Colin,” Jeremy’s voice was low, weary. Jas’s death had taken an enormous toll on everyone. This group of hunters here had never lost anyone before. “You can get Anna home? I’d better get Max checked out.”
Before Colin could answer, Anna cut him off. “I can get myself home. And I’m taking tomorrow off. Don’t call me unless it’s an emergency.”
Anna started walking away from them but she knew Colin was right behind her. Even if she hadn’t heard him, she would have known; even without the telepathy, she would have known he’d follow her.
“Anna, come on, you can’t walk home, that’s over ten miles from here.”
“Oh? Is there anything else you’d like to tell me I can’t do tonight?” Anna knew Colin had been trying to protect her, but he was always trying to protect her lately, always trying to take on the world himself, and being treated like she was a Faberge egg all the time got a little tiring.
“Is that was this is about?” His accent was thicker again, reminding her of the boy she had known so long ago. “Anna, you were already hurt, you’re still limping, I was just trying to…”
“I know! You were just trying to protect me. Well, you can stop.” Anna didn’t even know what she was saying anymore. Her grief over losing Jas, the agony of this entire assignment, it was all too much. She was sick of all of it. She wanted out. And there was no way out for her and Colin. Not for a very long time.
Anna started walking again, even though Colin was right. Her ankle did hurt.
“Anna, if you insist on walking, I’ll follow you. Or you can just let me drive you, which would be a hell of a lot easier for us both.”
Anna stopped and spun around, and Colin almost ran into her. “I don’t know what’s happened to you, Colin Aedan O’Conner, but you’ve changed. And I don’t like it.”
Anna could feel the effect her words had on him. She knew she should be sorry, but she was too hurt, too tired and sad and scared and lonesome to care tonight.
“All right, Anna,” he said softly. “Just let me take you home. I promise, no talking. Not even silently.”
There was so much love and concern and gentleness in his eyes, she couldn’t argue, and she knew Colin. If he promised her something, he would do it. He drove her home in silence, not even letting himself think about what she’d told him so his thoughts wouldn’t bother her. Anna tried not to cry around him anymore, but tonight she couldn’t help it. She cried the entire ride home.
That night, she had such a strange dream. It was one of those dreams that blended reality with fantasy and logic with nonsense. But maybe all dreams are like that. She and Colin were in Russia where a vicious war between the Bolshevik Red Army and the anti-Bolshevik White Army was only prolonging the Russians’ long years of suffering and privation from the war the imperial army had just fought with Germany. Disease and death were everywhere around them. But demons love human misery, and Europe had created a tsunami of suffering.
They chased a demon through the streets of Petrograd, and as Anna rounded a building, she lost sight of the jade silhouette she’d been following. But she almost ran into Jas. Anna froze in the street and stared at her friend, uncomprehending, knowing in some part of her mind that this girl should be dead, and yet, here s
he stood in front of her. In her apricot sweater and blue jeans, she was a living anachronism, completely out of place in this world. Her caramel skin and radiant brown eyes showed no signs of death; Jas was in Petrograd in 1920 and was alive.
Anna approached her and reached out to touch her, convinced she was only an apparition, a ghost that would dissolve with human contact.
Jas gave Anna a funny look. “Girl, what you are doing? Aren’t you supposed to be hunting that green dude that just ran down the street?”
Anna didn’t know how to talk to a ghost. She was afraid to speak, certain that no matter what she said, it would cause Jas to disappear and she desperately wanted her to stay.
“Anna,” Jas tried again, “snap out of it! Colin’s on his own. Get your butt in gear and get over there!”
Anna shook her head to try to snap out of it, but that apparently only works in cartoons, and since it wasn’t really 1920, Anna could know that. At least she didn’t think it was really 1920. She wasn’t even sure anymore.
“Aren’t you coming with me?” Anna finally asked, pleading with her friend so she wouldn’t lose her again.
“Can’t,” Jas replied nonchalantly, “I’m dead. Now hurry!”
And the way Jas said it made Anna realize why she needed to hurry. She cast one last regretful glance in her friend’s direction then ran.
Anna’s heart was beating so wildly when she woke up, and she felt confused and disoriented. She sat up in her bed and looked around her, gradually recognizing her antique mahogany dresser, the lilac bedspread around her. She placed herself. This was not Russia. She was in Baton Rouge. And Jas was dead.
All morning, she avoided the Internet and television because she didn’t want to see any stories about Jas’s body being found in a canal right outside the city. And she definitely didn’t want to hear if any more bodies had been found.
It wasn’t always bodies, of course; sometimes, people were coerced into doing some pretty horrible things, and that was sometimes a clue something demonic was responsible. More often than not, it was just people being people, because God knows, people can be evil enough on their own.
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