by K. C. Hunter
“Pitiful,” Kana said.
The creature raised its head, its mangled outline twitching in the blackness. Says you. I see your soul. Yes, I can see you fully! Its six-fingered hand froze at the back of its skull. Wait, what is this? Remarkable!
She had heard enough of the demon’s cackles and condescension, daring to step closer to the monster. “Let the girl go. It’s over.”
Oh, it’s just beginning Kana! You have no power here to stop me. I will have my prize.
“You have to obey.”
No, I don’t. I thought you were an expert in the paranormal. Your knowledge is lacking.
“It was at the time. I had the painting checked out. It was from a trader in exotic items rumored to be possessed. This particular one came from Japan.” The demon hummed a sickly song as she talked. “I know what you are. A Shinigami. Tell me your name.”
Again, with the tricks. Humans are so predictable. Do you think I don’t know what happens if I tell you my name? You figured out the painting on your own. Its creator knew how to call us and what we needed, something sweet, something succulent, someone just like Melody.
Kana stepped closer to the monster, hovering over its shoulder. “You don’t need her. Let her go, demon.”
The monster paused to stick its forked tongue between its teeth, flicking at the void. You have come a long way for nothing, girl. The only shame here is that I didn’t meet you at a younger age. Others have tried, I know that now. I’m not the first Shinigami you’ve seen, am I? My brothers have visited you before and… the closer you get the more I see… I see what paths you will travel. What a prize you would have been.
Her thoughts went back to the physical world, the vision of Melody being broken into pieces while her parents and AJ lay at her feet. She didn’t have an eternity to trade words with this demon.
“You’re right.” Kana looked to the endless black stream and then closed her eyes. “What if you could have me instead?”
The demon took a moment to answer. Is that what you want?
“No. I want you gone. If this is the only way to get you away from that little girl, then so be it.”
You don't understand what you’re asking. I admit, it’s a delicious offer. I would have you anytime I wanted. Every pleasure you indulge in, every bit of pain you feel, every heartbreak you experience, I would be there to taste. And when your days are at an end, you would be mine for eternity.
“I know what I’m offering. Do we have a deal or not?”
While Kana knew she was inviting this demon to linger around her like a cancer for the rest of her days, it was a problem she could deal with, Melody couldn’t. She would find a way to rid herself of this Shinigami later. For now, this was the best she could do.
The demon remained still for a time. Kana saw it scratch at its temple before it gave a gargled sigh.
Accepted!
***
Kana loaded her car up with the team’s equipment the next morning. It was the first time since college she was up before nine am. Inside the house, the McNeils celebrated the end of their year-long nightmare. Melody needed a few days to recover, but she was far healthier than she had been in months. No more broken bones or bruises. No more night terrors.
Mark entered the house after helping Kana move one of the larger crates. He saw AJ in the kitchen reading his tablet.
“If I have to work overtime for the next month, I’ll do it to make sure we cover your bill,” Mark told AJ. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“We did our best,” AJ said as they watched Kana enter the house, grab another crate, and drag it outside to her car. “What she did—”
“I know.” Mark put his arm around Alice who joined them in the kitchen.
“Is that thing going to be with her forever?” Alice asked.
AJ tapped his index finger against his lower lip. “Maybe. But she did what she had to. The important part is that Melody won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
AJ shook Mark’s hand and then Alice’s. Having said his goodbyes, he joined Kana in moving their equipment out of the house. There was only one crate left, so he snatched it up. “When we get back to the office, I’m going to run a few tests.”
She shook her head. “No tests.”
“Come on. You don’t want that demon following you around forever. If there’s a way to get rid of it…”
“I know what I did, AJ. I’ll deal with it. No tests, no fussing, I don’t want you to do anything. This is something I chose to do, and it’s something I’ll figure out.” Kana slammed the car door shut. For a moment she wobbled and put her hand to her forehead.
AJ touched her shoulder. “You’re not alone in this. We’re partners, remember?”
Whether she wanted his help didn’t matter, AJ wouldn’t let this go. As much as she wanted to go solo, his help was immeasurable. She knew the spiritual side, but he knew the science. They would beat the Shinigami together.
Melody ran from the house as fast as her little legs would allow. Out of breath, she gave AJ a hug and handed him one of her Pony Girl toys which he accepted with a second hug. Now, she turned to Kana.
“Thank you, Ms. Kana,” Melody said, rocking back and forth on her heels. “I’m not going to hug you because you’re tough and you don’t like that. But I want to tell you something.”
Kana knelt to be eye to eye with Melody. “I told you I wasn’t afraid,” the girl said, her cheeks rosy with pride. “I wasn’t. You’re not afraid either. But you’ll beat him because nobody can beat you.”
When Melody reached out and touched Kana’s hand, something in Kana changed instantly. It went beyond pure emotion, there was something else at work here. A tingle ran from the child’s fingertips into Kana’s skin and up her arm, a sensation she could only describe as joyous warmth. The child knew her power too, beaming as the sensation flowed from her fingers.
Kana strained to hold back her smile and tears. There was no fighting it. Both came in abundance as she hugged the child and kissed her on the forehead. Melody giggled and ran back to the house where her parents waited.
“So, that’s why that demon wanted her. She does have a gift.” Kana stared at her hand, a small crystal left behind from Melody’s, radiating its own euphoria. “At least she’s free of it now.”
AJ tried to hide his grin under his hand. “I knew you would warm up to her. Hey, you can start your own Pony Girl collection too. I think they make bumper sticker you can put on your car, rainbow colored, so we can celebrate the end of your resting bitch face.”
“Shut up, AJ.”
The Price of Publishing
Tomas closed his notepad. “What an extraordinary story. I think we have something here we can use.”
Alice swallowed a piece of toast, pushing the plate away from her. “They came through. I had my doubts. But, they did a good job.”
Mark took a final sip of his coffee, emptying the mug and setting it between him and Tomas. “You can see from how it ended that she wouldn’t want her name out there. We haven’t talked to them in some time. For all we know that thing is still haunting her.”
Tomas folded his hands together. “As we agreed, no real names. If the investigators want to come out about their experience, then they will. Kana Cold and AJ Guiscard are new to this scene, and if this is any example of what they are capable of in the paranormal space, I’m sure it isn’t the last time their names will turn up.”
He filled out a check and handed it to Alice. As the McNeils read the amount, they couldn’t suppress their grins. Mark shook Tomas’s hand and thanked him for listening to their story. The money would more than pay their debt and allow the family to start fresh.
“Then that’s it.” Tomas stuffed the pen into his coat pocket. “I’ll let you know a day in advance before the story comes out. If you have questions, you can call or email me.”
***
Two weeks later Mark found the article online after receiving a cryptic email. The sender�
��s address was missing, and the subject line read: Story. He went against his internal voice to never open strange emails from unknown sources and read a short paragraph from the editor of the website www.RaUa.info.
“It looks like it’s online.” He pulled his wife away from her own web browsing on the other side of the bed.
Alice looked at the clock at the bottom of Mark’s computer screen. “I wonder why it took so long. It’s almost midnight. That’s an odd time to send out something like this.”
“It’s the Dark Web, Alice. I’m guessing that time zones aren’t all that important.”
Alice leaned closer to the screen. “Well, what does it say?”
Mark scrolled through the email with his wife reading next to him. The editor thanked them for sharing their story to millions of unknown faces and added his appreciation for the increase in web traffic because of it. Attached at the bottom was a link to the article which Mark clicked on before finishing the rest of the email.
For the next few minutes the couple read through the article. The reporter kept his word. There was no mention of Melody's name. A possibility of exposure existed in the article’s description of Kana as a scruffy Asian teenager who hangs out at biker bars. Anyone who cared to look could find her if they had the means and patience. Other than that, it was a fair representation.
“Wait.” Alice pointed at the top of the web page. “Scroll up.”
Mark tapped the screen with two fingers and scrolled to the top of the webpage. “Who is that?”
The picture of the reporter who wrote the article wasn't the man they spoke to at the diner, but a woman named Sara Ashford. Her smiling picture stared back at the confused McNeils. Mark scrolled through the article again, scanning back and forth over the words until he reached the bottom of the page where he found a disclaimer written in small italics.
Alice read from the screen. “It says she received the story from an anonymous source and, after researching the family, it checked out. That doesn’t make me feel safe, Mark. We never spoke to this woman, and I’m not all that wild about her investigating us.”
Without a phone number to call, Mark resorted to sending several emails to the website, Sara Ashford, and the original contact address he had for Tomas. It didn't take long for him to get a response.
The first reply was from Sara Ashford who explained in detail how she came across the story. Not only did she have typed notes—not handwritten—but she also had a video recording of Mark and Alice detailing the story at the diner from a hidden camera. The message was matter-of-fact and didn’t offer an apology or any other information.
The editor from the website emailed them next. His words were apologetic, stating that it was the company’s policy to never reveal sources. He confirmed that Sara Ashford was the woman in the picture and worked for RaUa.info, but they didn’t employ, nor ever heard of, a man named Tomas. On the last line of the message was an offer to delete the story if the McNeils felt uncomfortable.
The third and final email came from [email protected] with a blank subject line. The message contained only a few sentences:
You Helped Us Find Her.
Do Not Contact Her.
Leave It Alone.
We Are Watching.
- T
Mark grabbed his cell phone from the nightstand and dialed 911. Alice snatched it from his hand and canceled the call.
“What the hell are you doing, Alice? They threatened us! We need to call the police.”
She clutched the phone against her chest. “We’ve been through enough. It wasn’t a mistake in selling the story, we need the money. Getting caught up in this–whatever it is–that would be a mistake.”
A moment later the email disappeared, deleting itself. Mark tapped on the keys of the laptop and searched in every folder from Inbox to junk mail with no luck. He wrote an email to [email protected] and it bounced back to him as an unknown account. He needed to call someone. Mark snatched the phone from Alice, raising it above her head so she couldn’t retrieve it.
She stopped trying to grab the phone and instead put her hands to Mark’s chest. “Don’t call the police. You read that email. I don’t think Tomas, or whatever his name is, was bluffing.”
“I’m not calling the police.” Mark scrolled through the list of contacts. “Kana should know. AJ should know.”
“We have to keep our family safe. We must keep our daughter safe. Do you understand me?” She wrapped her hand around his, not pulling at the phone, but suggesting he let this go.
Mark tightened his lips before he handed the phone over to Alice. She scrolled to Kana’s contact number and deleted it from the device.
“Get some sleep.” She kissed his forehead. “I appreciate what they did for us, for our daughter. This is something we can’t get involved with. They’re professionals, right? They can take care of themselves.” Alice curled into a ball against her husband's side, nestling her head on his chest.
Mark agreed with his wife. They needed to protect their daughter. Melody would live a normal life from here on and he’d make sure of it. His family experienced enough of the paranormal to last them a lifetime. Still, a piece of him, beating beneath his wife’s ear, felt a tingle of shame. He let out a long breath, the tightness of his muscles softening as he exhaled and wrapped his arm around his wife. “You’re right. I—”
Alice turned her head up to look at her. “What is it?”
He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I hope they’re ready for what’s coming for them.”
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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
KANA COLD
The Reaping of the Black Grimoires
“An adventurous mix of Indiana Jones and Jessica Jones.”
The revival of a secret society. Three dark books of magic. And one bad-ass woman to save the world from Hell...
Kana Cold gained a measure of notoriety when she solved the first recorded case of a Shinigami in North America. Now, the Vatican has commissioned her help to track down three books of dark magic—known as The Black Grimoires—hidden around the world.
With ancient spirits wanting her dead, a secret group known as The Thule Society hot on her trail, and the distraction of an Italian archeologist/playboy, Kana must find a way to keep the unholy power of the Black Grimoires from unleashing hell on Earth.
Kana Cold: The Reaping of the Black Grimoires is the first book in a paranormal thriller series. Part action adventure, part globe-trotting treasure hunt, part supernatural mystery, Kana’s first adventure into the underworld is a high-octane thrill ride!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KC Hunter is the author of the young adult urban fantasy novel THE BROTHERS LOCKE and the upcoming paranormal thriller series KANA COLD.
Since the age of thirteen, KC has lived a creative life as an author, an oil painter, a landscaper, a programmer, and a variety of other activities. He now aims to bring many of these visions, characters, and stories to the world at large as a professional author with nearly 45 books planned for the next few years.
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