Demon Hunters (20 page)

“Leave the dagger.”

“Just leave it with her.” I looked at the
small, shriveled woman as she struggled up onto her stool. My years
in this world have afforded me a certain intuition about people. I
got good feelings and bad feelings and I’m generally on the money
most of the time. I set the dagger down in front of Demonica.

“I’ll be back in three days.”

As we left Devil Town and walked back to the
car, I sensed Gwen was a bit distracted. Her gaze was fixed toward
the nearby ocean and then I realized that while the beach scene was
rather common to me, for her it was rather new.

“Nice day, huh?”

“It’s gorgeous!”

“You’ve never been here before?”

“It was a long time ago. I came out here to
visit Tyler.”

“What’s our hurry?” I looked over to Gwen
and her eyes grew larger. “I really have no work at the office
right now, since crazy lady has the dagger. How about we take a
little break? Get something to eat?” Gwen smiled brightly and we
turned back toward the beach.

We were making our way along the walking
path just by the beach. I had my shirt open in order to get some
ventilation but Gwen seemed unaffected by the heat. We stopped
along the way at a food stand next to a bike rental shop. The menu
was hanging on the side and mostly all they offered were burgers
and hot dogs, which was fine by me.

“I can’t believe you trusted her with the
dagger.” Gwen said as she took a bite of her hamburger. I froze
just as I was about to take a bite from my sandwich and my jaw
dropped suddenly.

“Excuse me? You told me to leave it with
her!”

“I know, but I’m new to all this. What do I
know?”

“Well, I really didn’t have any choice and
despite everything, she does know her stuff, or at least that’s
what all the testimonials on her website said.”

“I just hope she’s for real.”

“Well, if she isn’t, I don’t know what we’re
going to do. As far as all the research Ivar and I have done is
concerned, there’s no way to destroy that dagger.”

“That isn’t very encouraging.”

“I’m trying to be realistic.”

“Okay. Then if we can’t destroy it, what are
we going to do with it?” I hadn’t thought of that. The only
feasible solution that my brain could contribute was shooting it
out into space.

And Then It Hit Her

Life with Gwen was a series of adjustments
for me. I wasn’t used to having guests in my home but I did
everything I could to make it easy for her. The first day I went
out and got some new sheets for the bed. I found some for next to
nothing at a thrift shop nearby. Mine weren’t dirty, but I figured
she’d appreciate some new stuff. I cleaned house like never before.
Scrubbing every surface in the bathroom and kitchen until they
gleamed. Gwen kept saying it was okay, but I knew better. By the
end of the day, I barely recognized my apartment.

I walked into my bedroom with a pile of
newly purchased towels I found at the thrift shop and saw Gwen
neatly fitting the new sheets onto my mattress.

“Comfortable?”

“Yes, thank you. You really didn’t have to
go to all this trouble. It’s only going to be for a few days.”

“I know, but I realize this whole ordeal has
been stressing you. I just want to...”

“Jake. Thank you, but I’m okay,” She took
the towels from me. “What do we do until we hear from
Demonica?”

“I don’t know. Not much we can do but
wait.”

“What about The Reborn?”

“They won’t bother with us for now. They
want the dagger and right now, we don’t have it.”

“How do they know that?”

“If The Reborn is like any other magic using
cult, I’d say they’re watching the energy vibrations the dagger
gives off. Like a scent, and right now, we don’t smell like the
dagger.”

“But Demonica does.”

“Don’t worry about her. Devil Town’s sealed
and blocked. Right now, their trail has gone cold and will remain
so until we get the dagger back.”

“They’re still out there.” I smiled, but
Gwen was right. They were out there and since they were working
with Jackal, it was possible we could be targeted. Jackal never
needed much reason to kill, but since we knew where the dagger was
and they didn’t, I didn’t fear for our lives.

I was sitting on the couch and staring up at
the ceiling. I let my eyes close and I just listened for whatever I
could hear. I could only hear the demon. I had been hearing the
voice for as long as I could remember. Most of the time I would
ignore it, but in desperate times of contemplation, I’d listen.

“You let him die and for what? I don’t see
Jackal helping you get rid of me.”

“I know.”

“I mean, what did you think would happen?
You thought he’d just stop by here one day and wave his finger
around and banish me away?”

“No.”

“Or, he’d give you some kind of potion that
would drown me out? I mean, you’ve been in this game for a long
time. You should have known better!”

“Yes! I know! I should have.”

“But you didn’t. You let Jackal have his way
and your friend died for that. An innocent man trusted you and the
second you saw a way for you to profit you sold him out.”

“Stop it!”

“You’ve kept me locked away in here for
years. You think I’m just going to sit around when there’s a chance
for me to bite back a bit? You have trapped me away inside of you,
Jake Corba, but I will never cease to torture you. To chisel away
at you until I finally destroy you!” I forced my eyes open and I
felt a heat surge up my neck. In the back of my ears, I could hear
a low, rumbling laughter.

We ordered in a pizza for dinner. Gwen was
still feeling paranoid about The Reborn and didn’t want to go out
after dark. Having a bunch of undead monsters crash through your
living room walls can really affect some people.

We ate the pizza and watched TV. A few mind
numbing sitcoms, some local news. Before long Gwen bid me good
night and retreated into the bedroom. I stayed up a bit longer but
it wasn’t too long before I shut down the TV and settled into my
own slumber.

Hours passed and I was awoken by the sound
of the fridge door opening. I turned over and saw the light from
the kitchen. I got up, made sure I was covered up, and peered in to
see Gwen standing before the refrigerator and quickly pulling out
the pizza leftovers.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“I had some trouble.”

“Well, then bring that bad boy over here.” I
motioned toward the dining room table. Gwen joined me at the table
and we sat down across from each other. Gwen took the first slice
and bit in. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of ecstasy.

“Nothing like cold pizza.”

“Tell me about it. I usually save it for
breakfast though.”

“Well, it sort of is breakfast. It is the
morning.”

“Yeah, two hours into it.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just everything that’s been
going on. I can’t stop thinking about Tyler.”

“Of course you can’t. He was your brother
and it’s not like you really had a lot of time to mourn. I’m sorry
for that.”

“It’s not your fault. Things just kept
happening. I know I haven’t really been given a chance to deal with
Tyler’s death, but it’s always in the back of my mind. I was
dreaming a while ago. I was seeing the day we had Tyler’s tenth
birthday party. That was the first year our parents did parties. We
invited all the kids from Tyler’s class and only about half came. I
remember they had me carry in the cake. It was big, at least, for
me it was. I balanced that cake perfectly through the house, into
the backyard and I was walking up to Tyler with it. The candles
were lit. I heard someone tell Tyler to make a wish and he smiled
at me, and then pushed the cake into my face. That’s when I woke
up.”

“He really did that?”

“No. In reality, I had tripped and landed
face first in the cake. I was so embarrassed, I couldn’t face
anyone and I was sulking up in my room for the rest of the day.
Tyler came up later and brought me a piece of cake to make me feel
better. I was the one who ruined his party, and he was trying to
make me feel better. He never even made fun of me for it after.
That was the kind of guy he was.” I heard her voice skip
slightly.

I could see Gwen’s eyes shimmering in the
darkness. A tear was tracing down along her cheek. She brushed her
hand across her face quickly to wipe it off.

“He was the greatest,” Her voice broke
suddenly and she began to cry. I moved toward her and she turned to
me. “He’s gone! My big brother’s gone,” Her crying became more
intense. Suddenly, she pushed away and I saw rage had replaced
sadness in her eyes. “Because of you,” It was as though she had
transformed before my eyes. Her gentle eyes were hard and angry. I
had nothing to say to her accusation. She was right. I just sat
quietly. “He trusted you and you lied to him and because of that,
he’s dead!”

“Gwen, you don’t understand.”

“Shut up! My brother’s dead and he wouldn’t
be if not for you! You don’t get to talk! You don’t get to defend
yourself!”

“Jackal killed your brother!”

“I remember what Jackal said. You lied to
Tyler and that’s why he’s dead now! You’re just as guilty as he
is!” She pounded her hands on me quickly and with surprising force.
She kept hitting and hitting until her arms weakened and she fell
into my arms, exhausted.

Gwen continued to cry for nearly two hours.
She cried and shared stories about growing up with Tyler and in
between those, she would land a flurry of punches upon me.

The sun was just coming up as I was finally
putting her down. I laid her on the bed and she was gone before I
pulled the covers over her. I looked down at her. Her eyes were
still puffy from her crying but despite that, she seemed so
peaceful and calm. I, on the other hand, was feeling rather sore
from all her punching. I knelt down beside her and gently allowed
my fingers to dance lightly along the strands of her hair.

“I understand how you feel,” I whispered.
“About all this. You’re right. I accept full responsibility for
Tyler’s death because even though I didn’t deliver the blow myself,
it was my selfishness that put him in that position. There’s
nothing I can do that can bring him back, but I can make sure his
death was not for nothing. I promise you I will honor your
brother’s life by making his death count. I won’t fail him, or
you.” Gwen snorted softly and flopped over onto her side. I got up
and snuck out of the room, closing the door behind me.

I closed the blinds to keep the sun from
shining into the living room and settled on the couch for my sleep.
I wasn’t sure how to take what Gwen said. I laid there wondering if
she really meant it. I was also worried if she was going to wake up
as angry with me as she had been before she passed out. I wouldn’t
fault her if she were. Tyler was dead and I was responsible. That
was a fact and something I was going to have to live with for the
rest of my life. Even destroying the dagger was not going to be
enough to ease my conscience. The things I did and the monsters
I’ve faced in my life are one thing, but when innocent people get
pulled into the mess, when other people pay the price for my curse,
that is something I have always had trouble accepting. Nothing I
did could ever make up for the loss of someone’s life. One of the
first, and hardest, lessons I’ve had to learn in my life.

Escalation

Over the next couple of days, Gwen and I
managed to carry on somewhat normal lives. Her angry outburst hung
between us like an invisible wall, but she didn’t seem to want to
acknowledge it and I felt no need to either. I decided we both
needed a little down time to decompress our nerves, and since
Demonica had the dagger and there was nothing we could really do
until we got it back.

I showed Gwen around the town to the more
popular tourist traps. I showed her the Hollywood sign and we made
our way up and down the Walk of Fame. We went to Universal Studios
and checked out what they had to offer. We took the tour, which
Gwen enjoyed.

The days’ events were calm and uneventful
which was a breath of fresh air for me. Two days without monsters.
For the first time in a long time, I was feeling like a normal
human being. It was a good feeling, but it was like being in the
eye of the storm. I was just waiting for some kind of creature or
monster to jump out of the shadows or a cryptic shaman to find me
and deliver some bizarre message warning me of the impending end of
the world.

“This is amazing,” Gwen said as she dug into
the large slice of pizza that was sitting on her paper plate. We
were having lunch on a large terrace at the Hollywood and Highland
shopping center. She was staring over the edge to the street where
she could see Capt. Jack Sparrow dueling with Darth Vader. “I’ve
never seen anything like this. It’s like this whole city is just
one giant movie set!” It seemed like all the anger she felt toward
me about Tyler’s death had just disappeared, but I knew it was
still there, like a grenade missing its pin. I decided not to
question it and just went along with it.

“Yeah, sometimes it is.”

“It’s just so weird.”

“What?”

“Looking out there, the world seems so calm.
It’s hard to believe there are things like werewolves or
demons.”

“Not too hard. I mean, they’re natural
aspects of the world. They’ve been here for centuries. Hell, in
some cases millennia. It’s all this that’s new. When you think
about it, we’re the ones trespassing.”

“Wasn’t there a time when everyone just
lived in harmony?”

“Probably once. A long time ago. For about a
millisecond.” I looked over at her and saw her shove the wedge of
crust and cheese into her mouth. I laughed a little as the middle
of the slice kind of fell apart in her hand. She shot me a dirty
look as I handed her a napkin.