by Jen Pretty
When I had stuffed myself on the burger and fries, I pulled the book Crow had helpfully brother to me out of my pocket and began to flip through the pages again. Every hand-drawn image reminded me of the information about that particular creature, but nothing reminded me of the monster we were currently chasing.
I flipped to a page with a drawing of a huge bat. It was about the same size as a man, and it drank blood and sometimes ate flesh, but there was no mention of the star. It was grotesque looking. Its face squished, with squinty eyes, but its mouth was full of sharp, dagger-like teeth, and its lips were pulled back in a silent hiss.
I flipped the book around and showed the image to the guys.
"God, that's not dinner table appropriate," Falcor muttered, setting the last of his French fries down on his plate.
"I'm sorry, but this is the closest. It drinks blood and eats the flesh of humans, but there is no talk of the star mark. What if that is something different? What if this is the monster and the star mark is a coincidence or something?"
"You don't think the star is a coincidence," Nick stated doubtfully.
"No, but unless the coven somehow made this monster appear, and it's branding the victims with its maker's mark, I don't have any idea how the things are related."
"It's not impossible," Falcor said.
"I was hoping you would say it was impossible," I muttered, turning the book back around.
"So, what? The coven just made a monster and then ran off?" Zander asked, slurping from his milkshake. It was strawberry, and I thought maybe from now on I would think of Nick's not-tomato juice as a strawberry milkshake. It was more palatable than tomato juice. I mean, who drank tomato juice anyway? Grandmas.
I knew I was definitely getting a bit overtired when a giggle bubbled out of me.
Zander and Nick gave me a side-eye, but Falcor seemed to take my outburst in stride.
"There are old spells that older covens keep lying around that could summon a beast like that," Falcor said, his face considering.
Since our trip to the empty coven house, he had been slightly less sarcastic and slightly more helpful.
"So," I said considering the picture. "In theory, a witch or warlock could bring one of these back pretty easily?"
"If they were powerful enough, yes. I've never heard of one doing that, but if a really powerful, really stupid witch or warlock had his heart set on unleashing a demon on the world, he probably could."
"Great," I said. Reading the text that accompanied the drawing. "These gross bat things possess people and hang out in caves, according to this. I didn't think there were that many caves here in Phoenix."
Nick chuckled. "Oh, there are caves," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Several of them, in fact, that my family owns and operates as tourist attractions."
The idea of crawling through caves to find a monster was low on my list of exciting tourist attractions, but if there was a possibility that this particular beast was in there, I knew that was where we would end up. I shuttered at the thought of the actual bats that might be lingering in the caves. They were creepy enough. I didn't need a giant ugly bat human added in there.
Nick's arm slid around the back of my chair and pulled me in closer to him. It was the first even remotely intimate thing he had done in the last 24 hours, or however many it had been, and I felt a shiver race down my spine at his closeness.
I wanted to lean my head over and close my eyes, but I knew if I did, I would be snoring in seconds.
"We need to get some sleep first," Falcor said. "Selena hasn't slept in two days."
Nick jerked. "Shit, You're right. I'll get the bill. We can go rest and hit the caves at dusk."
"Wouldn't the bat thing be out flying around or whatever by then?" I asked, stupidly.
Nick and Falcor exchanged a look. Falcor shook his head, then waved to the waitress.
"Can we get more coffee?" he asked, pointing to my mug.
I guess that answered that question. I wouldn't be sleeping today either.
We pulled up to the caves after a short twenty-minute drive that seemed to fly by as Nick rattled on about the depth of the caves and how many unopened caves weren't marked on the maps. It seemed like a waste of time to search the caves aimlessly, but when I stepped out to the gravel parking lot, Crow appeared, landing on a railing that edged the entrance to the caves.
"That is a station wagon," I said pointing the only other vehicle in the lot. The monster had pushed Annie into a station wagon when she was taken from one of the earlier crime scenes. At least that was what her friend had said, though I had doubted it since there couldn't be that many station wagons still on the road.
Falcor trotted over and peered int he windows, then shrugged and returned to us.
"Nothing in it," he said.
Large signs had photos of people climbing rocks inside caves with helmets and headlamps on, smiling like it was a great adventure. I knew the truth though. Gross things lurked in the dark wet holes in the ground and deadly things too, if our monster was here.
Nick led the way, explaining that the main path went several miles underground, but there were a few exits that the beast could be using.
"Or he could be in some other cave," I said, shivering at the idea of being in a cramped space with a monster.
Crow hopped off his perch and followed us in. I knew that if he was here, there was more than just a slight chance of running into the bat thing. Crow always seemed to turn up when someone interesting was going to happen. The jerk.
The caves were closed, a set of large steel grate doors blocking the entrance, but nick wrenched open the Lock and swung the squealing steel hinges open, gaining our entrance.
"How would the thing get in here if they keep these doors locked?" I asked, stepping into the darkness and flicking on my flashlight.
"There are other entrances in the mountains. This is just the easiest for us to get to on foot."
Once we got past the entrance, the cave was pretty. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and grew up from the rock floor like glittering icicles, though it was cooler underground, it wasn't cold by any means but felt good after the long hot ride to the cave.
Crow took flight when the ceiling opened up. He dove between the rocks and flapped through the narrow passages into the open areas, like a jet careening to war. Perhaps he was leading us to battle. For all I knew, the monster could be lurking right around the corner, ready to launch himself at us.
Zander had decided not to join us on our mission. He said he wasn't much of a fighter and I believed him. He seemed to be more of a paper pusher than anything, though he was great under pressure. It felt more natural to be down here with just Nick and Falcor though. I wished for half a second that Peran and Kai were with me. I knew it was ridiculous, but it was easier to lean on Peran and know that he would be there to help me.
Despite our new apparent truce, Falcor was still an unknown and Nick had been distracted. I was exhausted enough I was ready to cry when we came to a set of stairs carved into the rock that climbed at least three stories. So far, we had been walking downhill which helped in my current state of exhaustion.
"I got you," Falcor said, grabbing my arm and shifting us to the top.
All right, maybe I shouldn't be so hasty about Falcor. We stood and waited while Nick raced up the stairs at vampire speed. My yawns were epic, and my eyes were bleary, but I trudged on.
"How far does this cave go again?"
"We're going to check out the first unopened one it's just up ahead," Nick said. "But this main cave goes several more miles."
I shook my head, trying to get the sleepy fog out of my mind.
Crow landed on the path in front of us, bobbing his head up and down at a steel grate that blocked off a cave.
"This is it," Nick said, breaking another lock.
“Have you spent much time down here?" I asked, trying to break the eerie silence that had fallen as soon as we turned into the smaller, damper cave.<
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"When I was a very young child. My mother would bring us at night to practice our abilities. We were safe from prying eyes in here and could run around safely. That is until I became a burden to my father."
The hurt and anger in Nick's voice weren't helping my rising tension.
I could almost feel the presence of evil in the cave as Crow hopped along in front of us, exploring the cave floor like he expected to find some snacks around here somewhere. His beady eyes took in every nook and cranny.
Nick and Falcor seemed to feel the tension too, because their steps grew silent, like a hunter stalking their prey.
My flashlight swept back and forth, lighting the way as I slowed to quiet my footfalls.
A horrifying face suddenly appeared in front of me. One I had seen before in the morgue when I had expected to see a young woman. Instead, it was this man. His face was torn and rotting. His scalp was peeling off and his hair hung in clumps, his eyes were just holes and worms wriggled and writhed around the empty sockets.
Bile rose again.
My magic spilled out, lighting the entire cave with bright blue sparks. The rush of it leaving me was almost too much. The terrifying face was burned into my brain from the last time, and now I was sure I wouldn't sleep even if I ever got the chance to.
This time though, Crow stomped over and flapped his wings, calling out in the darkness. I stepped back until I hit a solid chest that I hoped was either Nick or Falcor and not some monster, but I couldn't bring myself to look. Steel arms wrapped around me, holding me tight as the terrifying face slowly morphed into a calm young man's face. His hair was slicked back, and he had various piercings in his ears, nose and around his mouth.
He floated there, as calm as any other wraith I had raised as I took long deep breaths, slowing my heart rate.
"You okay?" Falcor's voice whispered in my ear. I was embarrassed to find it was his arms that wrapped around me, holding me tight while I freaked out at the wraith. Apparently, it would never get easier to look at them, but if they were all gross and full of worms, I didn't expect to get used to it ever.
I stepped out of Falcor's arms with a quiet thank you and stepped forward. I didn't have a knife on me, but reliable Nick did. His eyes burned holes in me as he placed the folded blade in my hand. It was an accident that I backed into Falcor, besides which I didn't have time to placate Nick. We were literally in the den of a monster and I had to talk to one of his victims.
I looked back at the young man and stepped forward. His body wasn't anywhere I could see and there wasn't even blood everywhere like in the basement of the house, but I slit my arm and let my blood fall to the dirt. The moment I did, the man started speaking so fast I could hardly understand him.
"You have to run, get out of here. He's coming, please!"
"Whoa! Hold on," I said, my hands out like I was trying to calm a nervous animal. "Who's coming?"
"The batman," he whispered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"Where is he?" Nick asked, stepping up beside me. I couldn't remember him ever speaking directly to a wraith. I watched as the wraith turned his head and inspected Nick like he was a bug, but he didn't reply.
"Where is it?" I asked.
The wraith looked over his shoulder. "Down there. But you should run. He will hurt you." That was the same thing the girl had said. That he would hurt me. Not kill me. Though I still doubted I could be killed. I healed pretty fast. If all he could do was hurt me, I wasn't going to back down.
"Thank you," I said to the wraith. "What is your name?"
"Jimmy Blackwell."
"Thanks, Jimmy. You can rest now." I slit my arm and let a few drops of my blood fall and Jimmy slipped away to wherever the spirits go.
My magic dissipated, the blue sparks sputtering out to leave us in the darkness. My flashlight scanned across the cave, but no other creepy faces popped out of the shadows, so we continued further.
"How long is this cave?" I asked when it seemed like the silence stretched on long enough.
"I've never been to the end of it," Nick said. "It's a bit narrow for fun."
My legs were so tired, I was stumbling over rocks and roots that seemed to be appearing out of nowhere. The cave stretched on until I realized my eyes were closed, but I couldn't force them open.
Strong arms wrapped around me, but I couldn't see who it was that was holding on to me.
"Get her home. I'll meet you back at the house," Nick said, his voice low and waffling in and out, like I was hearing him over an old radio with bad reception.
A second set of arms wrapped around me. "Why don't I just take you too?" Falcor said.
I wanted to say that Nick should come with us, but he was speaking again.
"... the car back..." His voice trailed off again. I couldn't stay with the conversation. Finally, I gave in and fell asleep, standing in Falcor's arms.
I woke up in the bed in the vampire mansion still wearing the clothes I had gone into the caves with, but someone had pulled my boots off and lay beside the bed, dirty and scuffed.
I rolled off the bed and staggered to the bathroom, stopping long enough to brush my teeth and wash the dirt off my face, then wandered out to find Nick and Falcor. The sleep had done wonders, but I wasn't sure if it was morning the next day or evening the same day. It was weird.
"Hey," I said when I found Falcor sitting at the small table, furiously texting on his phone. "Where is Nick?"
Falcor didn't look up as I slid into the seat across from him. "What's wrong?" I asked, his face a scowl.
"Nick didn't come back," he said so long I thought I heard him wrong.
"What?"
"He didn't come back, all right?"
"From the caves?" Bits and pieces of the conversation I had heard came back to me. He was going to bring the car back. I raced back to my room and grabbed my cell phone off the bedside table, turning it on and flicking through my messages.
there were two from Colvin and one from Niri asking me to call him, but nothing from Nick.
I clicked on the phone tab and called him. His phone went straight to voice mail.
"Nick, if you get this, call back," I said, shaking my head at my stupidity. If he could call, Falcor would have heard from him already.
I raced back into the room. "Where is Crow?" When I thought Falcor had kidnapped Nick, I had found them both with Crow's help.
"I haven't seen your bird. We have bigger problems." Falcor finally looked up from his phone. "Nick's car is still parked at the caves. Zander just went to check."
"Well, let's go then!" I said, racing back to my room and tugging on my boots.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea. Without Nick, we are short one vampire."
"Is Zander there?"
Falcor scoffed. "Zander is a paper pusher, he can't fight."
"Argh!" I stopped and thought for a minute. "We can do this, Falcor. I know how to kill the beast and if Nick is still alive, we have to try." I might have been overestimating my ability and I definitely had no idea if I could just stab the beast in the heart and kill it like the book suggested since it was actually made by magic, but Falcor didn't need to know that. We had to find Nick.
"You think Nick is still alive?" Falcor asked.
I reeled back as if Falcor had slapped me. "Of course, he's still alive!"
"Is that some kind of black crow voodoo or you just don't want to believe that the fucking thing ate him?"
"Black Crow voodoo," I said without hesitation. It was more likely that I didn't want to believe the thing had killed Nick, but denial was always best until the evidence proved otherwise.
"All right, I can take us to the start of the cave, but I don't trust my abilities to shift us underground and to the right place. Are you ready for another hike?"
"Yes, let's go," I said, standing and launching myself at Falcor.
He grabbed me and the sensation of the room tipping struck me for a moment before we were suddenly back in front of th
e caves. thankfully off to the side, so we weren't in plain view because they were open now.
I pulled out my credit card and paid for two tickets.
The lady in the booth was going through the safety procedures and handed us each helmet with headlamps. That would make the search easier, but I hoped we could still get down the tunnel we had been down the day before or earlier in the day. I still had no idea what time it was or day for that matter.
My legs were stiff from the day before, err. "What day is it?" I asked as we followed the same path we had the day before.
"Thursday," Falcor said without looking back.
I had only slept for about 5 hours, not that much sleep. As we walked the tightness in my legs loosened. Falcor and I fell into an easy silence as we navigated the caverns and passed tourists gawking and taking photos.
We rounded a corner and Falcor turned on me quickly, grabbing my arm.
Suddenly we were at the far end of the open empty cavern, saving us about three hundred feet of hiking.
"Thanks," I muttered as we continued.
"Don't thank me. My legs are probably as tired as yours are. We need to save as much energy as we can in case we come face to face with the creepy bat guy."
When we finally reached the tunnel, we had broken into that morning, it was locked with a chain and deadbolt. At least there wouldn't be a bunch of tourists lurking around in the bat cave.
I couldn't find the humour in calling it a bat cave. I was too worried about Nick.
Falcor and I had to wait several minutes for other cave explorers to move out of view before he could shift us to the other side of the gate.
Then we both took off at a dead run. The anxiety had been building the longer it took to get there, and I was glad it wasn't just me. The tunnel was long and much narrower than the main cave, but it was wide enough to be comfortable.
We rounded turns and jumped over loose rocks until finally, Falcor stopped.
"This was where we turned back."
I looked around, there wasn't any sign of Nick until I glanced down at the ground. Scuffing boot tracks made a trail heading further into the cave. When I glanced around, I saw three sets of boot prints and only one went that way. The other two I could assume were mine and Falcor's.