I popped the ratchet strap free from the bottom of the trap door and climbed up the ladder, shotgun swinging at my side. I drew my 1911 and pushed the trapdoor open, revealing an empty shack. I climbed the rest of the way up and switched back to my shotgun. The girl from the Fae or wherever followed. She was not wearing shoes but didn’t flinch when she walked over the splintered and torn wood floor. We walked out into the rising sun to find my Jeep tires torn to shreds. The windows were busted with rocks and the steering wheel was laying on the ground ten feet from the Jeep. I looked in the back. My duffle with my AR was missing along with my bug-out bag. I popped the glove box, which hadn’t been opened, although the rest of the interior had been ripped apart. I grabbed three extra 1911 mags and a small first aid kit.
With no other option, we walked through the forest. It was beautiful; the morning light was filtering through the trees. I led, following the tire tracks that the armored SUV had left. Less than a mile into walking, the tire tracks left the route they were on, veering right. There was a second set of tracks as if massive eagles had been running across the soft forest floor. I followed the SUV’s tracks a short distance through some dense foliage to the side of a steep ravine. The armored car lay crumpled at the bottom. These creatures were smart. They had not only torn my Jeep to bits but had likely herded the armored car off a cliff. I walked a little closer and could feel the cold release of the recent dead.
We continued towards the main road, mostly in silence, only stopping to drink from a spring running down the side of the mountain. The young woman trudged on wearily. She clearly hadn’t been subjected to much activity. A little after noon, I could hear the sound of a highway ahead. When we were about fifty yards from the highway, I looked down at the shotgun in my hand.
“Wait a moment; I have to stash this.” I held up the shotgun. She walked over to a tree, leaning against it. I found a hollow trunk that would work. I pulled out the drum mag and cleared the chamber, then shoved the shotgun in, stacking the mags on top. I piled brush and leaves over the opening. I pinged the location with my phone.
“Aren’t you going to need those?” she asked.
“Yep, but would you pick someone up off the side of the road that had a shotgun slung over their shoulder?”
She shrugged.
As we walked toward the road, a black SUV crept down the shoulder, heading for us. The girl rubbed the back of her neck subconsciously, “I should have just stayed and waited for him.”
I didn’t know who the “he” she was referring to was, but if he was the man rubbing shoulders with Hobbs, then he was most likely dangerous and had resources.
“Just leave me here. They are likely to kill you!” She mumbled.
The SUV pulled over, and two men dressed in suits got out and walked into the woods towards us. They probably wouldn’t want to get into a fight so close to the road. I should let them take her. She was probably more trouble than she was worth. This whole situation was getting over my head. I hunt monsters not men. I let out a low groan. “Sit here; I will go talk to them.” She went to argue, but I stared her down. She slowly sunk to the forest floor. I approached the two men. We stopped ten feet from each other. “You must be associated with the man who hired me to deal with the monsters,” I smiled warily.
The larger man looked at me. “You deal with them then?”
“No, actually, I have not had the opportunity. You seemed to leave out that they are demon bound to that young woman.” The men glanced behind me. I was making this all up, of course.
“What are you talking about?”
“To kill them I will need to break their bonds with her. Your employer should have informed me of the situation. It is impossible to kill them without breaking her free first.”
The two looked at me skeptically. “Well, we are here to pick her up and take her somewhere safe.”
I shook my head as if annoyed. “She just about died last night. You can’t keep her safe. I will need to break their connection. I need to talk directly to whomever is in charge. Do you have a number I can call so I can fill them in on the details?”
The shorter man, who was a few inches taller than me, smiled. “I’m listening. What are you going to do to free my asset from these terrifying beasts?” He said with a bit of sarcasm.
I looked at this man more closely. He seemed very comfortable. Was he the leader of this group or just a higher up? “Are you the girl’s keeper, then?”
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“She is mine, if that is what you are asking,” he said with a sly expression.
“Good. I’ll show you what we’re dealing with,” I turned, leading the way back towards the young woman. She looked up at me, eyes void of emotion, making me uncomfortable. I knelt down, resting my hand on her back. “Do you have any affinity for the psychic arts?” I asked the man.
He smiled, “I don’t believe I do.”
“That’s fine. Rest your hand under mine. I will guide you.”
“What are you, some soothsayer?”
“Something like that.”
“What are you going to be showing me?” He seemed unwilling to commit but seemed interested.
“I’m not going to show you anything. You are going to feel the bond they have placed on her.” It was a stupid trick, but I was out of ideas.
“Alright,” he smiled, glanced at the other man, squatted down, and placed his hand on her back. She flinched at the touch.
I grabbed his hand, pulling him towards me as I drew my gun. I shoved it in his face and pulled the trigger. I turned on the man behind him, who was presenting a pistol my direction. I gave him three rounds to the chest and one to the face as well. He toppled over. I stood up, training my gun in the direction of the SUV. No one was getting out. “We need to get going.” I pulled the girl to her feet. She had blood splotches on her back, it was a stark contrast to the paleness of her skin. “You alright?” I asked. She looked at me wide eyed, face ashen. The blood appeared to be from the man I had shot. She did not appear hurt. Her eyes were looking at my arm; blood was seeping into my leather jacket. I must have been shot.
“You smell like honey and rotting roses,” She reached out touching my arm, coating the tips of her fingers in my blood. She brought them to her nose. With a deep inhale, her eyes rolled back. She licked her fingers, tasting my blood like she was savoring a piece of chocolate.
I glared at her, eyes dark, breaking her out of her hypnosis. Her deep blue eyes staring up at me, suddenly terrified. Mouth gaping slightly, I could see where her fangs had been filed down to resemble human canines. She quivered and shrank beneath my stare. She fell to the forest floor next to the dead bodies and huddled in a ball. I normally would have shot her, but, instead, I pulled a pair of zip ties from my jacket and roughly pulled her arms behind her back and tied them together. I dragged her quivering frame to a sapling and tied her to it. How had I been so stupid? She could have killed me!
I went through the two men’s pockets now that she was secured and found a set of keys. I broke the forest line and walked up to the SUV parked on the side of the road. I was wary of more men in the car, though I couldn’t see anyone through the windshield. I unlocked it and opened the rear passenger door. It was empty other than a few bags and a suitcase.
I closed the door and walked around, got in the driver’s seat and fired it up. I drove it through the thick brush back down to the bodies. I struggled hauling the big man to the back, but the other man was not nearly as heavy. I shut the trunk and walked over to the woman. I cut her free and yanked her up. She stumbled and fell. I took a long breath, then grabbed her shoulders, righting her, and propelled her into the back seat. I buckled her in tight, then zip tied her hands to the buckle so she couldn’t get up. We drove back to the road.
I reached into my pocket and pulled my phone out. I punched in a number and waited. On the last buzz, Old Ned picked up.
“Anthony, are you hurt?”
“Sure am.”
“How bad?”
“I was shot through the muscle of my left arm. Could I get in tomorrow night?”
“I can get you in tonight. How bad is the bleeding?”
“I have it stopped up with a cloth; it will be fine. I can’t get there until tomorrow night.”
“Alright, Anthony. Call me if you need me to walk you through any procedures. Got to go, in the middle of a neuter.” He hung up.
My second call was to Gregory. He picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”
“I need a new vehicle with a 2 ½ inch hitch dropped off at the hotel.”
“Alright, I’m taking it you got into some trouble.”
“I sure did. Whatever these things are, they are not very easy to kill. I also need an AR-15.”
“Do you need rounds with that?”
“No, I have plenty at the hotel.”
“It was a vampire, wasn’t it? The last time you lost a car--”
“No,” I interrupted, “but funny you asked. I did run into one along the way.”
“Bad luck.”
“Something like that. I’ve got to go.” I hung up and kept driving until I reached the next town where I could rent a U-Haul trailer. Then, it was back to the woods. I found a nice, secluded clearing off a dirt road and unhooked the trailer.
I opened the rear passenger door. The vampire looked at me in horror. I pulled her from the SUV after cutting her free of the zip ties. I forced her around back to the trailer. She was light, which made it easy to pick her up and deposit her in the trailer. I grabbed a moving blanket in the trailer and tossed it at her. She stared at me, seemingly horrified, as I locked her in. If I hadn’t seen and experienced the things her kind could do to a man, I would feel worse about what I was doing. This was the hard part of the job. Not all monsters were terrifying beasts that hunt you through the woods. Some appear defenseless, innocent even.
I pulled anything of use from the SUV and stashed it under the trailer, including a briefcase and laptop. I drove the armored car to a large pond I found on Google Maps not far from the hotel. It had been a quarry, so it was plenty deep. I parked and waited for night to fall then drove the SUV off the dock. I walked the three miles back to my hotel soaked. I was relieved to be free of the vehicle and its occupants. A new Jeep Liberty sat in front of my hotel room. I found the keys to it on the coffee table. I drove back to the trailer. The hair on my neck stood on end the entire time it took to hook up the trailer. I didn’t see anything, but I felt like I was being watched.
I spent the rest of the night driving the highways around the town. A couple times, I thought I saw glints of pink eyes looking at me from the brush on the side of the highway. This was my second night without sleep, so I cranked the AC and played heavy metal to stay awake. I found my way back to my hotel as the sun started breaking the horizon. I unlocked my door to find Hobbs sitting in a chair and smoking a cigar.