Hybrids

by Geri Glenn

  Walking up the stairs to my room, I pull out my phone and bring up Father Martin’s number. My heart pounds nervously. I love Father Martin. He’s been an incredible parent to both Joey and I, and one day I hope to be as wise as him. He’s taught us so much, and I hate that we’ve only been here just a few days and already we’re calling him for help. The thought of disappointing him crushes me, but we’re in over our heads. Demons we can deal with ourselves, but this Old Fuck, or whatever it’s name is, is going to take some teamwork.

  The phone rings three times before Father Martin answers, sounding out of breath. “Cyrus...hello.”

  “Hello, Father. Bad time?”

  “No. I was just doing some physical training. Even without you and Joey here to spar with, I’m determined to stay in shape.” I bite my lip, trying to decide how to explain things. “What’s wrong, Cyrus? You’re not acting like yourself.”

  I take a deep breath and lay it all out. “Well, we have a bit of a problem here, and we really need your help.”

  “Anything. What’s going on?”

  Sparing no details, I tell Father Martin everything. I tell him about Merrick and Emersyn, about Trent and the drugs, though I do leave out the part where I was a dick to Joey. I tell him about the demon trying to drain Emersyn of her essence, and Joey almost dying to save her. Then I tell him about what Joey found out from her books, and about the possibility of the Old One.

  He listens in silence, interjecting only a couple of times with direct questions, which I answer the best I can. When I finish, I hear him moving something around in the background. “This isn’t good, Cyrus, not good at all.”

  “No, sir. I don’t believe it is.”

  “Let me just gather a few things and I will be there in a few hours.”

  “What should we do in the meantime?”

  “We need to learn more about this Trent character. Find out everything you can about him first. If what you’re saying is correct, he’s not human at all. We need to know if this is his true form, or if he’s possessed an innocent human.”

  “Done. We’ll work on that until you get here.”

  “Also, have Joey start researching the town. Find out if there are any particular areas there where violent crimes have happened in the past more than others. This being is extremely evil, Cyrus. Wherever it lies, it’s evil will permeate the ground, surrounding the place it’s imprisoned. That evil will then influence any humans in the vicinity and cause them to do evil, especially the type you two are there to investigate.

  “Got it.”

  “And one last thing.”

  “Sir?”

  “Keep an eye on this Emersyn girl. She may be far more involved in this than simply being drained of her essence. If that’s the case, then she’s in greater danger than any of us know.”

  I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “See you soon.” The call disconnects, and I take a moment to stand there, frozen, while I try to pick apart exactly what he meant. How could Emersyn be involved in this? How can I protect her from an evil being even more powerful than God himself? Even more powerful than the Devil? Can Joey and I handle this, or are we about to witness the end of the world as we know it?

  Spinning around, I jam my phone back into my pocket and head back to the living room to tell Joey what we need to do next.

  “I’ll go grab the file, and then I’ll head over to the library,” Joey says, throwing her book bag over her shoulder.

  I’m about to agree when Emersyn cuts me off. “We’ll get the file.” I stare at her, surprised. Why would we get the file? Emersyn looks to me, her eyes pleading. “Please, Cyrus? I can’t just sit here, waiting for Joey to do everything. I’m going crazy. I need to do something. Besides, Ms. Hanwell loves me. It’ll be easy.”

  Joey looks at me and smirks. “Okay then. Looks like you two are getting the file. I’m out of here.”

  Minutes after Joey leaves for the library to research some possible locations for the Old Fart, Em and I pull up to the administration office at the school. She bounces in her seat. “This is so exciting! I’ve never done anything this cool before. I feel like Nancy Drew.”

  Chuckling, I shake my head. “Babe, this is serious. I get you think it’s exciting, but we need to be very careful here. We need to come up with a plan.”

  I watch with affection as she struggles to wipe the smile off her face and look serious. “Right, got it. What do we need to do?”

  “Well, we need to get inside that office and get our hands on Trent’s file. It’ll be the easiest way to check into his past.”

  She reaches for the door. “Then let’s go get it.”

  I place my hand on her arm. “It’s not that easy. They aren’t just going to hand the file over to us.”

  She bites her lip. “What do we do then?”

  I sigh and lay my head back on the seat. “I have no fucking idea.”

  Silence fills the truck as I try to think of a way to get that file during office hours. I need it now, because tonight will be too late. Maybe sending Joey off to do research was the wrong move. She’s the best at going through all those old books, that’s true, but she can also get into people’s minds, make them do want we want. That’s how we got Emersyn’s information on that first day. Fuck! What was I thinking?

  Suddenly, Emersyn bolts straight up in her seat and faces me, her eyes sparkling. “I know what we can do!” I arch my eyebrow at her and watch as her cheeks flame. “But first, you have to...um...” she swallows. “Roll up your sleeves.”

  My heart races as she stares at me, and I oblige her by slowly rolling each sleeve up so that it cuts across my biceps, showing off my muscles. Her eyes stay glued to my movements the entire time. My voice is husky when I speak. “Like this?”

  She keeps staring at my arms and nods, taking a deep breath. “Um, yeah. That’s good. And maybe you should...um...undo a few of those buttons.” She motions to the front of my shirt.

  Smirking, I watch her stare as I undo two buttons. “How’s that?”

  She swallows. “It’s...” Clearing her throat, she gives her head a slight shake and looks at me, her pink cheeks starting to go red. “Good. It’s great. That’ll do just fine, I’m sure.”

  I grin and lean forward. “Is there a reason for the strip show? ‘Cause I can take off more if you need me to.”

  She laughs nervously. “The strip show wasn’t for me. It’s for Ms. Hanwell.” With a quick wink, she hops out of the truck and starts towards the building.

  I can’t fucking believe I let her talk me into this! I feel like a piece of meat, and I suddenly feel bad for making Joey wear that revealing outfit the other night. This just might work though. Em explained her very simple plan as we approached the building. I distract Ms. Hanwell with my manly muscles and sinfully good looks, and Emersyn takes that time to sneak into the file room.

  For ten minutes, I’ve been charming and witty, using up all my best work on poor Ms. Hanwell. The woman is pushing forty, and she’s obviously enjoying the attention. I almost feel bad for her, but I’m starting to get anxious. Emersyn’s been out of sight, and I’m starting to worry. Remembering what Father Martin had said, I start to say my goodbyes to Ms. Hanwell, just as I see Emersyn through the window behind her, waving like a lunatic with a thick file folder in her hand.

  A wicked grin spreads across my face. That’s my girl. Saying a quick goodbye to a confused Ms. Hanwell, I hurry out to meet her. “You got it?” I ask, my voice hinting at my amazement that her silly plan had actually worked.

  She scoffs. “Of course I got it. Don’t ever doubt me.” With a wink, she loops her arm through mine and steers me towards the truck. Time to go home and learn everything we can about Trent.

  -

  Joey

  -

  I’ve been at the school library for over an hour with absolutely no luck. I don’t know what I expected to find here though. It’s not like normal
college students would need to research any of this crap, but it was worth a try.

  Heading out towards the bike, I think of the few libraries I’ve seen around town. There might be more information at the public libraries, but if not, I have more books at home in my secret stash. I didn’t even scratch the surface of my resources last night. Why didn’t I just work through those in the first place?

  I’m so lost in thought that I almost make it to the bike before noticing the hot half-demon, half-human standing beside the bike. “Thought I’d find you here.”

  “Merrick, what are you doing here?” I ask a little breathlessly. I can’t help it. Just the sight of him has me feeling lightheaded, but when he talks to me with that gravelly voice, I’m a goner.

  A slow grin starts to take over his chiseled face. Fuck, this man is beautiful.

  She doesn’t even know. I hear in my head. Shit, I tapped into his thoughts without even trying. I think my powers are getting stronger, or maybe they always were, and I just assumed I was doing it right all along. I really need to practice more with my powers in case I have others I don’t know about. It’s worth a shot.

  “What don’t I know?” I ask with a grin of my own.

  He looks at me with confusion and I have to smile. Oh yes, Merrick. I can hear what you’re thinking.

  “Oh, well...wait a minute. What?” Seeing a guy like Merrick stumble on his words has me laughing. From the looks of him, you wouldn’t guess that he’s different in a sense of having the powers and strengths of a demon, but you’d definitely see a guy that looked like he’s no stranger to the darker side of life. With his dark, intense eyes, and the hard angles of his face, he’s ruggedly handsome. So, even if I didn’t know what he was capable of, and that I’ve robbed him of speech, it’s pretty funny. You’d think nothing could faze him.

  After taking a much needed breath, I can finally speak. “You said, ‘She doesn’t even know.’ Well, more like you thought it, but same difference. So again, I ask, what is it that I don’t know?”

  He stares at me long and hard, with a look of intense concentration. It’s like he’s trying to figure me out, look deep inside of me, but for what? I don’t know. I just told him that I can hear his thoughts. What more is there to figure out?

  He must find what it is he’s looking for, but he doesn’t say anything. I can’t hear what he’s thinking now, try as I may. He must be blocking me. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him about what I could do. It could have proven to be useful in the future.

  “I stopped by your house and you were gone. I figured with what you told me this morning, you were probably trying to research this Old One more. But you haven’t found anything, have you.” It’s not a question.

  All humor gone, I get down to business. “No, I didn’t find anything. Everything in that library is nothing but old folktales or urban legends. I thought about trying the public libraries, but I’ll probably be better off going back home and looking at the books I have there. Chances are I’ll have more luck with those. I know everything in my books are based on fact, and not stories people tell children to scare them into doing what they want them to do.” It sometimes sickens me the lengths people will go to to keep a tight leash on their children or the people in their lives. They tell them not to stay out late because some scary monster will get them, or not to wear black because the devil will take that as an invitation. It’s all bullshit. But, if they’d open their eyes sometimes, they’d see that even though they’re spilling lies about shit they don’t understand, there are things that really do go bump in the night.

  “Actually, I don’t think you need to do either.”

  “And where do you expect me to get the information on where this thing is buried? We need to know these things, Merrick. Otherwise, we have no hope in stopping it from rising.” Was he not listening this morning when I told him that shit is about to go down? That this could possibly be the end of everything? This situation is serious, and if he isn’t going to pitch in and do his part, then he needs to get the hell out of my way.

  I start walking closer with the intention of ignoring his presence and be on my way, but just as I step up to the bike, I feel an arm snake around my waist.

  “Let me show you something,” he breathes into my ear. He doesn’t release his hold, and I’m too frozen to move away from him. Fuck, he feels so good against me.

  He spins me around to look at him. He’s still touching me, but holding me at arm’s length.

  “Do you trust me, Joey?” Unable to speak, I nod.

  Taking my hand, he leads me away from the bike. “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “Not far.”

  We begin walking towards the far side of the school. I haven’t been this way because the office is on the other side of the campus, and all my classes are either in the same building as the office, or in the middle of campus.

  After we walk for a few minutes, I break the silence. “Where did you go this morning?”

  I understood why he left. Shit, I would have too after that bomb, but I’d still like to know where he went off to. Did he just walk around, trying to make sense of it all? Or did he go home, wherever that is.

  “I went to talk to Zearron, to tell him what you found.”

  I guess that makes sense. I mean, Cy and I did the same thing by calling Father Martin.

  “What did he say?” I ask, wondering if he had any insight.

  “He knew nothing about what you found. He said he’d never even heard stories about it, but he’s going to conduct his own research and get back to me.”

  I don’t know if it’s the way he says it, or if I’m being irrational, but it sounds to me like Zearron doesn’t believe me or what I found.

  “Well, my sources are solid. If this is what we’re dealing with, which I believe we are, then he’ll find exactly what I told you, or nothing at all. Those stories aren’t in just any book, and not a lot of people know about them. But if he doesn’t believe me or want to help, then that’s on him. Cyrus and I will figure this out with or without either of you.”

  Merrick stops dead in his tracks and grabs my arm. The look of hurt on his face almost has me regretting my words, but then again, this isn’t the time to second guess anything. We’re dealing with something bigger than all of us, something that may end up getting us all killed. We don’t have time to pussyfoot around the facts. It’s time for action.

  “I’m with you on this. I’m all in, Joey. Zearron just wants to see if he can find anything that we haven’t yet. He trusts what you found. This is just his way of helping us, that’s all.” His words instantly deflate my anger. I nod in understanding and continue walking the way we were going moments ago. I don’t turn around to see if he follows because I know he will. I meant what I said earlier, I do trust him, and I believe him when he says he’s all in.

  Seconds later, he’s beside me again and taking my hand. There’s really no reason why he would need to, but I don’t pull away because I like the way his hand feels in mine.

  “Anyway, Zearron did give me an idea of how to find this thing. He said that if this thing is as evil and bad as we think, there will be signs to show us where he’s located.”

  Not really following, I ask, “What do mean by signs?”

  “I mean, even though he isn’t free, his evil will rise up through the earth and infect anyone close by. All we need to do is find where there’s been a high number of crimes taking place, but I already know. It’s right here,” he says, pointing to an alley that separates the back of the campus and a woodsy area. It looks like an alley, but without buildings on both sides. There’s an unused building...maybe an old classroom? And a tall wall of trees.

  Looking to Merrick, I still don’t understand because there’s nothing here. But within seconds, I understand what he means.

  There’s shouting coming from farther down the ‘alley.’ Squinting my eyes, I see two men fighting and yelling. I take one step to go after them before they kill each oth
er, but when my foot lands on the ground, I feel a surge of pure evil. It seeps through every pore in my body and tries to corrupt me. Not waiting for it to take complete hold of me, I jump back and into Merrick’s arms.

  “What happened? Are you okay?” he asks, turning me around and cupping my face. He searches my eyes, which I know are showing pure horror.

  “What is it, Joey? Talk to me!”

  Swallowing, I say, “You’re right, Merrick. This is where he’s buried.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I felt it—felt him.”

  Chapter Nine

  Cyrus

  -

  Well, if Trent’s school records are anything to go by, this guy is one boring son of a bitch. No detentions, no misconduct...nothing. He even has good enough grades that I’m surprised he didn’t go to Stanford or some other Ivy League college, but looking further, I see that his father and Grandfather are alumni here. That must be the reason he came here instead. He’s not in any sports, and doesn’t seem like the partying type. How can this guy be the same Trent that I met? I can think of only one thing that makes sense—possession.

  “So you think this demon possessed some poor, innocent man?” Emersyn asks. I simply nod and watch as a look of sadness takes hold of her beautiful green eyes.

  “I think you’ll find that a whole lot of demons have possessed lots of innocent people on this campus, Angel. More than we probably even know about.” I hear that douchebag Merrick say as he and Joey walk in the door. “The problem with Trent is he’s being possessed by a powerful demon, one that commands others. The real Trent is as good as dead. No human can survive that kind of possession.”

  The news that we can’t save Trent sinks in as I glare at him, not only because the sound of his voice grates on my nerves, but also for calling my Emersyn Angel. I’m about to rip him a shiny new asshole, but taking a closer look at Joey has me stopping in my tracks.