by L R Deney
“On it!” exclaimed Melanie as she stood and hurried out to the living room to retrieve her purse.
“Oh, right, Google….”
Theo laughed.
Several moments later, Melanie found a bus route that led to the nearest car rental. The first leg of the journey involved some walking to the bus stop which was several blocks away, which increased the chance of missing it. In any case, it was the only viable route that they had; there weren’t many buses out this way. Just one, the 1.
They put back on their clothes, then freshened their makeup before bidding Theo farewell for the day. Then they headed out the door. The muggy, slightly rainy air welcomed them with the sound of chirping birds as the sun attempted to shine through the thick clouds. It was a typical day in Washington to be sure. The weather kind of grew on you.
They made it halfway down the gravel track when strands of dark hair came out of the trees and assaulted them. Melanie found herself helplessly wrapped up, but Staci was able to burn her way free with a spell. Then, with a slicing motion of her hand, the hair that was still holding her girlfriend was cut away. A dark scream came out from the trees and the hair retreated toward them.
“Holy shit, what the fuck was that?” Melanie said, looking back at the trees with Staci.
“No idea, but it’s clearly one of the bounty hunters.”
“Oh damn, they tracked us here?”
Before Staci could answer, the familiar flicker of the ninja stars appeared, and once again she tackled Melanie to the ground. The stars whizzed overhead before and a sound of frustration came from the forest. It seemed that they were dealing with the mysterious fourth bounty hunter. A part of Staci was thankful that it wasn’t the werewolves.
Once again the hair came out to attack, and Staci rolled herself and Melanie out of the way. A loud, feminine screech came from the trees again and finally the woman emerged, using her hair as a spidery means of motion. She lowered herself to the ground and her hair pulled back behind her head where she pinned it. She wore a black kimono, and had a sheathed katana and a pair of tiger claws hanging from her sash. The tiger claws were the weapons she immediately claimed and fitted on her hands as she assumed a combat pose.
“The other bounty hunter, I presume,” Staci said dryly as she stood up and helped Melanie to her feet.
“Hai!” replied the other witch.
“You have me at a disadvantage, can I get a name?”
“I am Aku no Shi.”
Staci frowned at that name, thinking it over. “Something… death. How gauche.”
“It means evil death, you fool.”
“Damn and I thought I was Goth.”
Aku no Shi didn’t look amused, stalking a bit closer with her tiger claws, apparently sizing Staci up.
“So, I gather you want a duel with me?” Staci asked, sounding a little bored.
“I came to see you dead and the price on your heads in my possession,” the other witch replied before suddenly charging.
She spun through the air at Staci and she barely had the time to summon up her usual shield of darkness to block the deadly blows. From behind the shield, Staci sent out a few dark bolts of energy, the spell landing several impacts on the woman’s midsection, knocking her back several feet.
“If you want my life, you’re going to have to try harder,” Staci taunted, readying the full repertoire of her power as her eyes began glowing with an eerie green.
“I will derive great satisfaction from gutting you like a fish,” Aku no Shi shot back, slowly climbing back to her sandaled feet.
“Riiiight… I’d love to seeee that.”
“Wait… those eyes. What is wrong with your eyes? What is this power?”
“Why don’t you fight me and find out, bitch?”
Aku no Shi growled at Staci and retrieving a single throwing star, she threw it with a swing of her arm, turning it into many. Staci’s eyes widened and she laughed after seeing how the trick was done. In response, the Hellfire whip swung out and lashed across the stars, immediately incinerating them. Then another crack of the whip went forward after Aku no Shi. The Japanese witch dodged out of the way just in time to avoid the dangerous weapon and landed in a crouch.
“So you do cavort with demons,” Aku no Shi said with some pause.
“Yeah, demonic power’s kind of top tier, don’t you think?” Staci said with a smirk despite her actual disgust at calling the power forth. Each use tied her ever closer to Kadmon.
“We will see about that,” Aku no Shi said, tossing her tiger claws to the side and drawing out her katana.
She charged once more at Staci, poising her blade for a strike. Ready for the move, Staci swung her whip and wrapped it around the sword’s blade. She expected it to melt and incinerate in the woman’s hands like so many other things touched by the whip did, but instead the blade surprisingly endured. Aku no Shi stopped in her tracks.
“Surprised, gaijin?” the Japanese witch said with a mocking grin. “This is no ordinary blade, Hellfire cannot harm it. It was forged with the essence of one-thousand souls and passed down through generations. It cannot be broken.”
Aku no Shi pulled at her blade with the whip, tugging Staci forward, attempting to cause her to trip. But Staci knew what was up and her shadowy wings sprung from her back and she flew over the other witch, her whip still tethered. Aku no Shi looked momentarily astonished, but then pulled downward and Staci wound up stumbling in her flight.
Growling, Staci pulled up with the whip and flew higher. Aku no Shi found herself being lifted off the ground, at Staci’s mercy. The witch began flying around in a circle to get the momentum going, causing Aku no Shi to be swung around in a dizzying circle. Then the whip abruptly vanished and the Japanese woman was tossed into the trees with her katana. She caught herself with her hair, keeping herself from impacting against the ground.
She lowered herself gently as Staci landed several yards away. Briefly, they stared each other down. Around them, rainy weather began to slowly materialize with soft sprinkles gradually growing heavier. The katana was suddenly sheathed and Aku no Shi quickly threw out another multiplying wave of ninja stars.
Staci was nearly caught off guard and instinctively used her shadowy wings as a shield. Surprisingly, the stars rebounded off the wings, flying off in different directions. After the last embedded itself in a tree trunk, Staci smiled at Aku no Shi, her wings slowly unfurled, just in time as their demonic appearance shifted into their angelic, allowing for a majestic image.
“You don’t belong here, bounty hunter,” Staci said with a dark sneer, the demonic nature of the power she used beginning to radiate through her being. “Be gone, or I’ll make you gone.”
“You will have to make me gone!” shouted Aku no Shi.
She lashed out with her hair while Staci defended with her wings. They were locked within this strange combat, moving around the field as they each struck and countered with their unusual appendages. Staci’s dark wings, Aku no Shi’s black hair, it was like a dance of darkness, moving in volatile rhythms and directions. Melanie was absolutely entranced by the display, watching it from a safe distance.
Then to gain an advantage, Aku no Shi leapt into the air, her katana swinging out from its sheathe. She struck downward with multiple blows of her hair, each lock a tendril that was as solid as a fist. Not to be overtaken, Staci countered most of the blows with her wings of darkness and shadow while summoning forth her Hellfire whip once more. The whip lashed at Aku no Shi’s hair as she was coming down via gravity with her sword and the Hell flame spread, incinerating hair as it moved.
Aku no Shi screamed, as if she could actually feel what was happening to her hair. Desperately, her blade shifted to cut off the burning tendril of hair, consigning it to its fate. As she landed, distracted, Staci clocked her with a right hook. The Japanese witch stumbled, then back flipped away. Her face was stricken by surprise, disbelief, and anger.
“You are a formidable one, Staci Drenva
uder,” she said, wiping the blood from her lip. “I see I was unwise to underestimate your ability. I will not fail next time, however.”
Not saying another word and moving before Staci could act again, Aku no Shi summoned a portal and hurried through it. Instinctively Staci had taken a few steps forward but noticed the woman was gone and stopped. She wiped her brow and the sensation of relief overcame her. That had been a difficult fight, more challenging than the one she had had with Chadwick.
She looked over to where Melanie was standing. “Are you okay?”
Melanie looked around for a moment, then down at herself. “Oh, uh, yes. But that witch, she was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“She was strong too. I have never come across anyone like her.”
“You look exhausted, so the question is, are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, but this means that our position is compromised. One of the bounty hunters knows where we are. And if she can find us, the others can too.”
Melanie gave Staci a hug and the witch kind of leaned on her while the wings and whip dispelled before returning the hug. It was a moment of peace, the villain repelled, the safety of everyone assured. But the plot continued. The Nazis were still out there and nothing was going to make Azramoas or the bounty hunters to suddenly and magically go away.
But one thing had to be done, Theo had to be warned. Because the sanctum was technically on a different plane of existence, they would have been completely unaware of the fight that had just taken place out here. Staci broke the hug and hurried back toward the trailer and unlocked the door.
“Theo?” Staci called into the sanctum.
“Yeah?” Theo answered, stepping back into view. “What’s up? I thought you two would be gone by now. You’re sure to miss the bus that you wanted to catch. How fortunate that the 1 runs pretty frequently, though.”
“Yeah, thing is, I just fought a bounty hunter out there.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yeah, one of them found us here. So, while you have your wards up, and the sanctum remains inaccessible to anyone without a key to it, I advise caution now. The one I just fought might return, or another might show up. Be careful, please.”
“Yeah, I will, no worries about me, Staci. You just go out and hunt yourself some Nazis.”
“Okay, stay safe, Theo.”
Both of them nodded briefly to each other, then Staci left to return to Melanie’s side. From the gravel path, heading into the road, the two women began the long walk to the bus stop. But this time, they were on their guard.
◆◆◆
The way to the car rental had gone smoothly, as had the trip up to Seattle, although I-5 by the Tacoma Dome was frustrating as always. Having never really ridden in a car before, Staci was baffled by how slowly the highway moved there. She was starting to wish she had brought something to read until finally they were moving again.
Eventually they made it to Capitol Hill in Seattle and found a place to park the car, which was in itself a Herculean task during the daytime. Paying the allotted time that they expected to be gone, they walked off to the Runestone, taking care to be on guard in case any of the other bounty hunters were waiting for them. Especially the two that they decided to dub the “Werewolf Twins.”
They soon arrived at the Runestone, finding it a mess after the attack the prior night. There was a cop car parked across the street and the bar’s broken windows, which were most of them, were boarded up. There was a sign posted in the front door that read: “Closed for repairs.” It was unlikely that anyone was going to have a meeting here.
Staci silently cursed the bounty hunters for causing this to happen, the bar was their only lead and those four fucked it up for them. She wanted to scream at the sky, but she suppressed that emotion and simply shook her head in disappointment. She understood why this had to be for the bar, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t assign blame, because after all, the werewolves and the cowboy were responsible for the damage.
Club Sepulcher a little ways down the street looked like it was in a similar state, which also made sense. Further down the road, another business, the one the cop car crashed into, was also closed for repairs. Staci shook her head again, wondering what the news had even said about the chaos last night.
On that thought, she saw a newspaper dispenser, inserted the proper payment, then took out a copy. She looked through it to find the story and rolled her eyes when she saw it. “Drug Bust at Local Cap Hill Club Goes South When Dealer Pulls Gun.” It went on to describe the cowboy, of course, pegging him as the drug dealer. There was a rough sketch of what he looked like added. She had to smile at that.
“Well, I guess Hoss is going to be laying low for a while,” she said, showing Melanie the paper.
Both women had a very good laugh at that. One less bounty hunter after them was good news for them. Now if only something similar happened to the other bounty hunters….
The werewolves were still a threat and she had no idea how the cops covered that one up, but it was impressive nonetheless. Maybe the Azramoas City Watch had a hand in that, since she knew that they had mind wipe spells to cover their tracks. Whatever the case, Seattle was none the wiser of what had actually happened. That was good, because it also meant that no one would be asking her and Melanie any uncomfortable questions.
Staci folded up the paper and held it underneath her arm, looking around the area. Directly across the street there was a café, Mandy’s Café. She contemplated it for a while, considering it. She looked over to Melanie and pointed over to it.
“Want to have the stakeout in the café just in case the Black Sun doesn’t know about the chaos here?” she asked.
Melanie shrugged. “I see nothing wrong with the idea. There’s always a possibility that they don’t know.”
So it was agreed that they’d go in. Ordering two coffees, they chose a table by the window and waited for someone, anyone, to show up and discover the bar in ruin. As they waited, they went through a number of discussions ranging from television shows to politics, to music. Some of it even ventured into the realm of the arcane.
But regardless of how long they waited, no one, not a soul, showed up. The day went on, they had even ordered more coffee, but there was no one who really paid the bar across the street any mind. It was very likely that either it wasn’t a meeting day for the Black Sun or they had already gotten wind of the destruction that happened last night. Whichever, no one was showing up.
The sun was starting to set and Staci checked the time and frowned. “Well, it’s a bust. We better get back to the car before we get a ticket.”
Melanie nodded in agreement and both women stood up and headed out into the evening air. Back to square one….
Chapter 19
Darkness had become all she had known. That and the regular beatings and the slop that they called “food.” She had no idea how long it had been, she only felt the effects of her long term captivity. Every muscle and joint in her body ached, and she was sure she lost quite a few pounds. Any longer like this and she was sure to starve to death.
Her captors, the Nazis—for there was no other word for them—were plotting something dark and insidious. Often she’d hear the wail of someone else in another cell somewhere, likely receiving the same treatment she did. There were many new arrivals too, she could hear it.
It was always terrifying here. You never knew when they’d come in and take out their aggression on you, using every racially charged slur in the book. Even so, it was a relief when the food, if it could be called that, showed up. She’d long ago given up on trying to escape, so she just waited in a corner until the guards delivering it were gone.
The sheer evil that permeated this place was oppressive, overpowering. She didn’t know why she was here, but it was not anything good. She realized at some point that she was going to wind up dead. And it was more than likely going to be at the hands of one of the Nazis that held her captive.
Somewhere down the hall she heard a heavy door open which she realized was the entrance into this prison complex. Boot falls confirmed that there was something approaching as well as the sound of voices in conversation. At first the echo was too much for her to understand properly, but as they drew closer, the words began to come into much sharper focus.
“Yeah, didn’t think we’d wind up with a prize like this,” one voice was saying with a half-chuckle.
“I know, right?” said the other voice. “It’s like fucking Christmas here, our order’s really outdone itself this time.”
“Who would have thought?”
The two men stopped in the hall directly in front of her cell. There was the rattle of keys, but it wasn’t going into her door. Instead it seemed that it was going into the cell door directly opposite of hers. She had to breathe a sigh of relief at that one. The other cell door across from hers squeaked open.
“Wh-what are you doing?” another man’s voice said, distraught and disoriented.
“Ah, he’s awake,” jeered one of the Nazis.
“Can it, Councilor, no one’s going to find you here,” said the other.
“Oof!” cried out their captive. Then the door swung closed with a clang.
“Now two more councilors just need to die and the Fuehrer will have total control of the Council,” laughed one of the men.
“Hey!” exclaimed the other. “Guard that mouth.”
“Ehhh… who’re these animals gonna tell? They’ll all be dead after the sacrifice anyway.”
The two men continued their conversation as they walked away, leaving their captives once again to the silent darkness….
Chapter 20
The demons had taken them to their capital city and promptly incarcerated them in some kind of prison complex. The city was like anything else in Hell as she saw, very modern urban with a Gothic bent. The prison was similar. She had been expecting dungeons but instead she found herself in a contemporary prison. Nothing fit what she expected Hell to be like.