Demonspawn (24 page)

“She ain't gonna do shit, as long as you
don't pull out that arrow. Once their heart is pierced, there ain't
nothing they can do except die.”

“What about the guy? He had a normal
heartbeat, right? That means he's human?”

Silence.

“I feel bad, but he was in the wrong place at
the wrong time. Just don't tell Bachner. He hates it when people
get in the crossfire. Hell, the guy was probably working for the
bitch anyway.”

“She
is
hot though, isn't she?”

“They're
all
hot. Doesn't make them
any less dangerous.”

“Put some music on, man.”

“Sure.”

Sounds of heavy metal mixed in with their
voices. I couldn't hear what they were saying.

I stared at the darkness where Victoria was.
I knew nothing about her. The first time I met her she threatened
me. Now I knew she had fangs and drank blood. She tried to choke
me.

I could easily vanish and leave the trunk,
but I felt we were going fast. That didn't sound like a safe
plan.

So, Victoria and I were partners.

I simply had to get the arrow out of her.

I took a deep breath and felt around for it.
I grabbed it with both hands and pulled up. Instead of moving the
arrow, her whole body came up instead. I felt sick to my stomach. I
had to pin her down with an arm under her breasts and yank the
arrow with my other hand. It moved a few inches. It made a sick,
sloppy sound. I pulled a few more times and finally felt the arrow
loosen from her skin.

She moaned in pain. I was shocked as hell,
but had enough awareness to feel for her mouth with my hand. I felt
her bloodstained fangs.

“Shhh,” I said.

She took a few deep breaths. She winced and I
felt her cover the hole in her chest with her hand. I pulled my
hand away.

“Thank you,” she said. “What's going on?”

“We're in a trunk. Hell, that's all I
know.”

“Alex.” I somehow wasn't surprised she
remembered my name. “When they get to whatever remote place they
have in mind and open this trunk, they're gonna try to kill us.
Now, I know you're not human. And you probably have a good guess
that I'm not either. We can take them. Question is can you mentally
handle that?”

“Do...you mean kill?”

“I hope not. I try so hard not to kill. I
only kill when my life is in danger, when there isn't any other
option. But now might be one of those times.”

“I don't think I can.”

“Okay, fine. You stay out of the way
then.”

The ride got rougher. We definitely weren't
in the city anymore.

“I'm bleeding bad. Getting weaker. I need
blood.”

I didn't say anything, just scooted further
away from her. I could feel something warm and sticky all over my
hands. I knew it was Victoria's blood.

The car slowed to a stop. A series of car
doors opened and slammed shut. The ride was over.

“McGee, help me carry the bitch. Jones, drag
the guy in the woods. Heins is on his way now with a shovel.”

“Why do I gotta dig a fuckin' hole?”

“Cause you're the new guy.”

Victoria tensed up. “Heins.”

Obviously she knew the guy.

“Alright guys, let's get this party
started.”

A key hit the trunk lock and turned. The
light from the moon and a few flashlights rushed in to replace the
darkness.

I didn't even see Victoria move. There were
three guys peering in at us. Then she had her fangs buried in
someone's neck.

There were a few startled screams as Victoria
took her victim to the ground. I was still climbing out of the
trunk when she jumped to her feet and swiped at the chest of
another guy. Her hand was no longer a hand, but a long talon with
dangerous looking claws on the end. Blood sprayed from the man's
chest onto Victoria.

I climbed to my feet in time to see a truck
pulling up not too far away. Three more guys jumped out, armed with
crossbows. One guy had what looked like a damn flamethrower.

“Victoria!” I screamed.

She looked up. Two crossbow bolts whizzed
through the air. Victoria was already moving at a speed that I
could barely see. She moved a few feet to the right. The bolts
struck a tree next to me.

The distraction was enough for the last guy
from the first car to stab her in the shoulder with a wooden stake.
Victoria yelled in pain and fell to one knee. She slugged the guy
in the stomach so hard he flew back and landed right next to me.
His head bounced on the bumper of the car.

But she was hurt. She pulled the stake from
her arm and dropped it to the ground. There were three men out of
the fight, but three more standing fifteen feet in front of her.
Two were trying to reload their crossbows, but one pointed a
flamethrower right at her.

I finally made my legs move. I ran toward
Victoria. I don't know what I thought I was doing. Being the hero?
Being the brave guy trying to save the woman? Just being stupid? I
could do amazing things. Talk to ghosts and demons. Move into their
worlds, which let me turn invisible and move through solid objects.
But I wasn't fireproof.

So I thought.

I pushed Victoria out of the way as hard as I
could. As she tumbled to the ground, I heard a jet of flame heading
right at me. I didn't have time to vanish.

I felt the fire engulf me. I screamed,
because that's what you were supposed to do when fire hit you. I
felt it dancing up and down my skin. It made me itch, it even
tickled in certain spots. I felt the cool night air blow through
the holes in my clothes the flames were leaving behind. But there
was one odd thing.

I didn't feel any pain.

I looked at my hands. The flames were
beautiful, a wild mix of orange and blue that flowed across me.
Then the fire vanished into my skin, like it was moisturizer.

I looked at the three men still in front of
me. They had forgotten all about Victoria. Their eyes were locked
on me.

I glanced down at my clothes. My shirt was
almost completely burned away, except for some scraps. My bluejeans
were now black.

He squeezed the trigger on his flamethrower
once again. The fire embraced me. It felt like a hot shower. I
screamed, not in pain, but rage. It didn't sound like a normal
scream. It was demonic. It's hard to believe that sound was coming
out of me.

They were trying to kill me. They dragged me
away from the city, with the intention of burying me in the woods.
The cold harshness of that fact settled in, and it infuriated
me.

These were not good men.

And they would pay.

I laughed as the flames tickled me. They were
terrified, and I sucked in their fear like a baby does milk. I felt
myself growing stronger.

I looked through the flames to see two
crossbows aimed at me.

I vanished. The bolts passed through me
harmlessly.

“What the fuck-”

They didn't have the chance to finish. I
reappeared right as my foot was headed into Flamethrower Guy's
balls. His eyes bugged out of his head and he fell uselessly to the
ground. The guy on the right tried to swing his crossbow at me. I
vanished and felt it pass through me. Then I grabbed it out of his
hands and vanished again. I couldn't make it vanish with me, but it
fell to the ground. I timed a hard headbutt to his nose. He didn't
have a chance to stop it, as I reappeared just inches from his
face.

Victoria was up again. She was at my side in
a second. She grabbed the guy on the left by the neck, lifted him
from the ground, and reared back her fangs. She froze, though. I
followed her gaze to what she was looking at.

There were two more trucks driving down the
dirt road toward us. It was my first chance to get a good look at
where we were, and I didn't recognize it at all. We were definitely
in the middle of nowhere. It was a large grassy field, with a
thicket of trees right behind us.

“That's Heins,” she said in that slurred
speech.

Three minutes ago I wanted nothing to do with
any of this. Now, I was confident. “They don't have a chance.”

She dropped the last guy to the ground. He
started crawling away. Victoria looked at the damage we'd done.
Blood everywhere. People moaning and bleeding on the grass.

“You're probably right. But let's go,” she
said.

She ran into the woods behind us, with me
right behind. It became dark as the moon could no longer reach us.
Victoria slowly outran me. She didn't have any trouble seeing in
the dark at all. She weaved her way in and out of the trees and
bushes without missing a beat.

Then suddenly, I didn't have a problem seeing
either.

The darkness faded away. It was replaced be a
dull gray, like it was dusk instead of the middle of the night. I
could see everything too.

My first experience with night vision.

That still didn't stop Victoria from creating
distance between us.

“Hey! Slow down!”

“I already
am
running slow.”

I heard a whoosh right by my ear. A crossbow
bolt lodged into a tree as I passed it. It missed me only by a few
inches.

I risked a look behind us. We were being
chased. At least five people. All were carrying a crossbow or a
damn bow and arrow.

I vanished. Instead of running around trees
and bushes, I started running through them. I didn't get tired.

I could see the trees clearing up ahead. What
I didn't see was Victoria standing still where the ground stopped
on the edge of a drop that was about five hundred feet to the
raging river below.

I saw her at the last second. I panicked and
reappeared, hoping she could slow me down. She turned in time to
see me on top of her. We collided, and over the edge we went.

I felt a quick, sharp pain in my back.

I was disoriented as hell, but saw her hand
flash by my face, and I reached out and grabbed it. I kept her from
falling. My arm felt like it pulled from the socket. Somehow, I was
still up on the ledge. Victoria grabbed my arm tightly and looked
up.

The river slowly started to get larger.

“Do those work?” she asked.

“What?”

She pointed at something to my left and
right. I followed her finger, and my jaw dropped.

We weren't on the ledge. We were both falling
toward the river. Or rather,
floating
.

Sticking out of the middle of my back, and
acting like a parachute to slow our fall, was a set of huge
wings.

I could feel them, somehow attached to the
muscles in my body. I could
sense
them, just like you can
close your eyes and know your arms are there. They shook a little
as they glided along the night sky. I was so stunned looking at
them I didn't catch what Victoria was saying.

“Alex! Are you listening?”

“Huh? What?”

“Can you move those things? Control
them?”

“I...don't know.”

She sighed and looked down. She gripped my
arm tighter. “Well, I hope you can swim then.”

I could hear the water rushing over the rocks
as we drew closer. Victoria hit the water first. I was right behind
her and was surprised at how cold it was. Luckily we didn't have to
swim. The river was only about four feet deep. She made it to the
river bank easily, but I was having a tough time. The newly
discovered wings sticking out of my back made everything harder
than it should.

“Uh, a little help?” I called as I got
closer.

Victoria reached out and easily yanked me out
of the water with one pull. We both collapsed on the ground. I had
no idea what my wings were doing, but I could feel them moving
behind me.

“Hey, you want to keep those things to
herself?” Victoria said. Apparently I was bothering her.

“Are we safe here?” I stood up and leaned
against a tree.

“Unless those fuckers can fly, yeah, we're
alright. It'll take a while for them to get down here.”

She started checking herself for other
injuries. I figured I should do the same. Besides my ruined
clothes, I was fine. Victoria had blood all over her, including her
arrow wound. But it didn't look like it was bleeding.

“Aw, dammit,” she said.

“What? What's wrong?”

She held up something for me to see. My night
vision was gone. I had to squint to see what it was.

“The iPhone,” she said. “Cost me six hundred
bucks. It plays music, email, Internet, phone. I love this little
thing. Now it's broke.”

She threw it to the ground. I shook my head.
We were almost killed, and she was worried about an iPhone.

“I'm, uh, very sorry about your iPhone.”

“You should be. This is all your fault.”

“
My
fault?”

“Yeah. Why'd you follow me in that alley,
anyway? Or you want me to believe you have a damn pair of bat
wings, and don't know how to use them?”

I looked at my wings. Very strange thing to
say.
My
wings. She was right. There weren't any feathers,
like a bird's. They look a lot like a bat's.

“Hey, would you get off my ass? You got shot
with an arrow, and I pulled it out of you.”

She was quiet, then nodded. “Yeah, you're
right. Sorry about that. I'm just a little pissed. Look, let's get
moving. We at least gotta get out of here.”

“Where exactly are we going? Where the hell
are we?”

“Don't really know. Depends on how long we
were out, we could be anywhere. But I smell a road, this way.”

She started walking into the woods. I
followed her.

“You can smell roads?”

“Yup. Got a good nose. It really kicks in
when the blood is nearby, which I need really bad right about
now.”

I didn't ask any questions, at least not yet.
I was afraid of the answers.

I kept getting my wings hung up on trees and
bushes. It annoyed the hell out of me. I kept having to walk
sideways. I couldn't control the huge things at all, and they were
sticking straight out, making me at least ten feet wide.