by Jamie Davis
Jaz stopped her rumination on the situation as a beat up white pickup truck passed in front of her SUV and pulled into a parking spot down the line. She checked her watch. It was six-fifteen. It was about the time she expected the paramedic to show up, based on travel time from his station. She was correct, as she saw Dean Flynn climb out of his vehicle and walk up to the diner’s doors. She watched through the diner’s front windows as he greeted one of the waitresses and pointed to a booth at the back. The waitress nodded and Dean walked back to the booth and sat down.
She did another sweep of the lot then looked at her passenger seat. Attached to the back of the seat, facing the front, was a pocket organizer that held her selection of weapons and other assorted odds and ends. She considered her choices. She never went anywhere unarmed, and as a private security agent and bodyguard, she had a license to carry a firearm. She was also considered a licensed deputy with the U.S. Marshal’s office. That was a special arrangement the Marshals had with the Erringtons dating back to the 1860s.
Jaz looked over the weapons before her. Her katana was too unwieldy and long to be hidden, so that must be left behind. She settled first for a brace of throwing knives, which she attached to a Velcro panel inside the left side of her leather jacket. Once those were in place, she took the Glock from the holster mounted on the cargo carrier and leaned forward to slide it into the hidden holster clipped to her belt at the small of her back.
Finally, she took the small Bowie, in its sheath, and clipped it to the slot in her shoulder holster. It held the blade under her right armpit, with the hilt hanging downward towards her belt. She snapped the keeper flap from the knife sheath to her belt to keep the hunting knife in place and settled her black leather jacket back over it. Feeling less naked now that she was suitably armed, Jaz exited her SUV, clicking the key fob to lock the doors. The heavily tinted windows hid the contents of the front seat weapons caddy from passersby. Making another scan of the area, Jaz looked to see that her target was still in his location inside the restaurant, and then headed for the front door. Time to get this mess started. The sooner she found this missing Eldara, the sooner she could return to the work she really wanted to do.
10
Dean looked up from his phone’s email app to see Jaswinder Errington crossing the diner to his booth. He pushed down his discomfort with this whole situation and decided to stick to his guns. He had to find out what she was doing here and what danger she represented to his patients and his friends.
She walked up to him and extended a hand. “Mr. Flynn,” she said. “Thank you for getting in touch with me. I am glad we have the chance to follow up on our unfortunate encounter in class this morning.”
“Please, call me Dean,” he replied, rising to take her hand and shaking it. “May I call you Jaswinder? It really is a very interesting name.” He sat back down as she slid into the booth across from him.
“I prefer Jaz, actually,” the woman said. “Jaswinder is a family name that dates back to antiquity. Only my father and mother call me by it, usually only when they are annoyed with me.”
Dean felt himself smile, despite the reason for the meeting. Even Hunters had families that functioned much like most families out there.
“Well, Jaz,” Dean began. “I was surprised you responded to my email so quickly. I had expected it to take several days to hear back from you, if I heard back from you at all.”
“Errington Security is a respected business with fully integrated technology resources,” Jaz said. “Your contact request was forwarded to me as soon as it was received. It seems that we have a lot to talk about, starting with the words we exchanged this morning. I want to assure you that nothing personal was intended. I teach a lot of military teams and I have found that establishing alpha status as quickly as possible is a useful tool, especially for a female. I’m sure you understand.”
Dean did understand, and it surprised him to find himself agreeing with this woman. He had expected to disagree with her about nearly everything. It caused him to rethink his approach to this conversation and he took a leap of faith that his instincts on how to deal with this situation were right.
“I can accept that. Until very recently my paramedic mentor was a woman,” Dean said. “What I really wanted to ask you, if I may, was what you were doing behind my ambulance three nights ago out in the suburbs?” Dean watched her face as he asked the question to see if he could discern any clues, should she decide to deny she was there.
“I wondered if you saw me,” she chuckled. “I got a little sloppy charging after that Oni demon. It was determined to have your heart for dinner. I decided that I couldn’t allow that to happen.” She met his eyes with an even stare. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Dean stared back at her. He knew he had been right about seeing her, even though it had just been a glimpse. There was a glint in those blue eyes, challenging him in a way. It was disconcerting to think about what she had done if that demon was really there and had almost killed him. He met her eyes, the eyes that held his as if challenging him to deny that he owed her something. He declined to offer to fight, instead opting to defuse the situation.
“Thank you, I guess,” Dean said. “We knew the Oni must still be around. I’m glad you were around to help stop it. I doubt I would have been able to avoid being attacked otherwise.”
He saw what he thought was surprise in her expression when he didn’t take the bait to argue with her. He was pleased with himself. Score one victory for him. He picked up the menu and slid hers over to her.
“I can recommend just about everything they serve here, Jaz,” Dean said. “I haven’t had a bad meal yet. They serve breakfast all day, too, if that is up your alley.”
She nodded, took the offered menu and started to look it over. Dean didn’t need to look at his. He knew what he was getting. He looked up and caught Daisy’s eye. She was the waitress who seemed to always take care of him when he was in. She came right over.
“Hi, Dean,” Daisy said. “What can I get you two to drink?”
He deferred to Jaz and she placed her order for ice water. Dean ordered a Sprite. They were both ready to order so they put in their orders for dinner. Jaz ordered steak and eggs, while Dean ordered a burger and fries. They both watched Daisy leave and then their attention turned back to the matter at hand.
“I guess we should get down to why I wanted to make sure we met up,” Dean offered as a start to the conversation he suspected they both were waiting for. “It’s because I know what you do and who you are, just as I know that you are aware of what I do for a living and the people I treat.”
Jaz opened her mouth to speak but Dean held up a hand. “Please. Wait until I am finished with what I have to say.”
She nodded and he continued. “I want you to know that I’m very protective of my patients and I won’t put them in a position to be injured or killed by someone on some vendetta based on an old, outdated code of honor. I also want to know why you are here, and what can be done to expedite your mission so that those of us living here in Elk City can all live together in peace again.”
He finished his prepared challenge and watched her for any sign of a response. The only thing he decided was that he never wanted to play poker against her. She sat there, stone faced and quiet for a full minute before she answered him.
“You know nothing of what it means to be a Hunter, or what my clan sees as our duty to mankind,” Jaz began. “Errington’s do not kill any being indiscriminately, unless it is a netherworlder here on earth, bent on destruction, as they all are.”
“And who do you consider netherworlders, if I may ask?” Dean leaned forward, ready to argue against her reply.
“Demons, daemons, and all their ilk, of course,” Jaz answered. “Creatures escaped to earth and spreading evil intent everywhere they go like the Oni demon I killed while it stalked you.”
“So you don’t see all Unusuals as creatures to be slain in your quest for a pure human world?”
Dean asked.
“I will not lie to you, Dean,” Jaz said leaning forward in a whisper. “There was a time when the Hunter clans were charged with killing any that weren’t human living among us. But we have, uh, evolved I guess you would say. My family and I are more lenient towards Unusuals now. As long as they bear no ill will to the people they live among, we will ignore them. If they are found to be causing harm and local authorities do not or cannot take action on their own, then we may act in the cause of justice. There are also those, human and Unusual, who collaborate with netherworlders in their plans to do evil on this earth. Those who do so forfeit their lives just as they have already forfeited their souls.”
She finished the last statement with what Dean would only call a bloodthirsty grin. She seemed to enjoy this stuff. Was she some sort of psychopath to look forward to killing that way? Dean wasn’t sure. He had gotten his answer, though, and it was different than what he had learned from Gibbie and the others about hunters. How could he be sure she was telling the truth? Dean decided that he couldn’t know in the near term without seeing what she was doing in Elk City.
“So you aren’t here to enact some slaughter of my friends and patients? That is good to know,” Dean said.
“I know some of what you all recently dealt with here in the city. That kind of carnage is harmful to all and is not what we are about,” Jaz said. “In the end, you were fighting against the vampire lord, Artur Torrence. He is an ancient adversary of ours as well. Had I been in town when these events were occurring, I and any other Errington would have been firmly on your side. In fact we are still attempting to track that particular creature. We owe him a very old debt that we would like to collect. Perhaps someday we will end his cruel machinations on earth.”
Dean thought on what she said. Could he have been more wrong in his estimation of her and her motives here? Was she even telling the truth?
“So if you are not here on some sort of a hunt, what is your reason for coming to town?” Dean asked. “I can’t believe it was just to teach a class to the paramedics in the city about staying safe on the street.”
“You are correct, at least in part,” Jaz said. “We do consulting and training work like I did with your class this morning. It is not usually me who does it, but we do that at Errington Security.”
She paused as Daisy came back with their drinks and set them down along with two sets of silverware, each wrapped up in a paper napkin. When the waitress walked away, Jaz continued.
“Dean, I am here because of an old debt, a debt we owe to someone as a clan. I understand you are a friend of the Eldara Sister Ashley Moore?”
“Yes, you could say that,” Dean said. He didn’t want to give away too much about his relationship with Ashley. Where was this going?
“We owe the Eldara a debt earned more than one hundred fifty years ago,” Jaz continued. “I am here to seek her out where she is held captive and bring her abductors to justice.”
Dean started to ask how she knew about Ashley’s abduction but the hunter woman kept going.
“There is more, Dean. I am charged to enlist you in that search, along with one other.” Jaz finished and sat back, as if to wait for Dean’s reaction.
“You’re one of the three, just like me,” Dean said. He could see his answer caught her by surprise.
“What do you mean, the three?” Jaz asked.
“Ashley’s sister, Ingrid, told me that I was charged to find two others to assist me in looking for Ashley. One was to be a person who was magical in nature; the other was to be one who shunned magical things. I’m guessing the latter is you.”
“I, too, have a directive from my clan to gather two others to seek out the Eldara and free her,” Jaz revealed. “Our oracle prophesied that we must have a hunter, a healer, and a hexen to make the rescue have a chance at success.”
“I get the first two,” Dean said. “But what’s a hexen? Is it some sort of magical creature?”
“A hexen is our word for a witch,” Jaz explained. “What you would call a Wiccan, I believe. As for the other two, you have guessed correctly. You are the healer, and I am the hunter mentioned by our Oracle. There was no guidance on who to choose for the third role. I do not associate with witches so perhaps it was to fall to you to choose one you knew. What do you think?”
“I don’t have any close Wiccan friends,” Dean replied, making sure to use the correct term for the women who channeled magical powers. “I am acquainted with a local coven, but I already owe them a significant debt. I’m not sure they will let me undertake another debt to them.” Dean referred to his agreement during the recent troubles with the terrorists of The Cause, to offer his firstborn girl child someday to the coven, so she can be trained in the Wiccan ways. He didn’t think he should tell Jaz about that. He was sure her response would be less than positive.
“I think that is wise,” Jaz said. “I would not want to owe a debt to them either. I sympathize with your plight. Still, I was charged to find a witch, and find one I will so that the clan may discharge its debt to the Eldara.”
She stopped. The lights had gone out in the diner. The sudden darkness caught them both by surprise. Dean looked around, trying to peer through the darkness when screams started at the far end of the diner by the entrance. He couldn’t see anything, but heard rumbling snarls amid the screams, snarls that were coming closer.
“Shit,” he heard Jaz say from across the table. “That’s another Oni demon and someone has sent it here for the two of us, unless I miss my guess. We need to get out of here. I need my sword and I left it in the SUV outside.” He saw her reach behind her in the darkness, and then he saw the unmistakable silhouette of a semi-automatic in her left hand.
“Is that a gun?” Dean exclaimed.
“Yes, but it’s not going to do much good against an Oni,” the huntress said. “The best I can do is slow it down a little. We need to get out to the parking lot. Is that the only door at the far end of the restaurant?”
“I’m afraid so,” Dean said. He was still looking at the gun he hadn’t known she was carrying. It was a bit of a shock.
“Okay, get behind me, Dean,” Jaz said as she stood up and faced the sound of the snarls and screams coming from the other end of the restaurant. “Grab one of those chairs and bust out the window behind us next to the booth. We’ll have to go out that way. Hurry up! It is going to figure out where we are any minute.”
Dean picked up one of the diner chairs. It was heavy, made of tubular chrome steel with a red vinyl cushion. He looked at Jaz but she had taken a shooter’s stance with her pistol aimed downrange towards the far end of the diner. How was she going to use that thing without killing some innocent person? He could not see more than a few feet past his nose.
“Dean, what are you doing?” Jaz said, turning to look back at him. “Break that window out. Now!”
Dean turned and hefted the chair, holding it by its back and swinging it hard at the window, striking the glass with the chair legs. He was surprised when it bounced off. Then Dean heard two gunshots behind him and he picked up the chair and swung harder. The glass broke under the blow this time, shattering and falling around him on the floor and outside. He turned and saw Jaz squeeze off four more shots in rapid succession, the muzzle flashes illuminating her face in the darkness with each shot. He heard a howling roar of pain from the darkness beyond her.
“You go first,” Dean said.
“Don’t be an idiot, I have the gun,” Jaz shouted. “Get out the window. I’ll be right behind you.”
Dean used the chair to sweep some of the remaining glass from the window frame and swung his legs over to the outside, then jumped the four or five feet to the ground. The streetlights in the parking lot gave him better visibility than he’d had inside. He turned back to look in the open window to see four more muzzle flashes and then Jaz dove out the window, executing a perfect midair flip and landing on her feet next to him. There was a snarl of rage from inside the diner and
then Dean saw the Oni demon for the first time as it reached the open window.
The demon was roughly man-shaped but was covered in scales and patches of coarse fur. The head was elongated like a wolf’s and the teeth were the largest the paramedic had ever seen. He stood rooted to the spot while the creature looked in his direction and roared as if it recognized him. Jaz jumped in front of him as he saw her slap another magazine into her pistol and then emptied the fresh clip into the demon’s face. Dean saw the bullets impact it, and the force of the impacts drove it backward as it screamed in rage and pain.
Jaz grabbed his hand and yelled, “Come on!” as she pulled him away from the diner and across the parking lot. He turned and ran beside her. She held something up in front of her and he saw the lights of a black SUV blink about fifty yards away. It was an awfully long way off with that thing chasing them. He tried to run even faster and make it to the relative safety of Jaz’s car. When they reached the side of the SUV, Dean heard the roar of the demon behind them and turned to see it leap out the window, fall to all fours and run across the parking lot towards them. Jaz threw open the driver’s door, leaning inside to grab something. Dean couldn’t see what it was. He was focused on the demon chasing after them. No, it was looking straight into his eyes. It was chasing after him. Then his view was blocked as Jaz dashed in front of him. In her hands, held in a two-handed grip, was the sword he had seen her holding in the mirror at the Hakutakus’ house days before.
She swept the sword down at something and Dean ducked to avoid the impact from the demon as it charged into Jaz to get to him. He opened his eyes to a reddish mist surrounding both of them. The snarling and roars had stopped. He stood from where he was crouched behind the hunter and looked around.