A Hunter By Any Name (7 page)

A hand shot out and grabbed my arm and pulled me around to look at him. His eyes were filled with anger and hate and the lethal killer was in control. But I wasn’t afraid as I stared in his hard cold eyes. I saw that the anger and hate was directed at what I had said because it was true. I also saw a lethal killer that lacked the courage to act. I saw the man that was a waste of training and talent standing before me. I stared at him. Then raised an eyebrow waiting for him to see it to.

I must admit, my heart cracked when he realized what I saw and recognized it as the truth. The hardness left his eyes and only a cold sadness remained. He body visibly wilted as I stared at him. But I was resolved in my determination so my heart only cracked a little. I hated to break him but I had a job to do. It wasn’t one I wanted and I really wished I didn’t have to do it. But now more than ever before I knew it was one that needed to be done. I knew that no one else was going to step up and take over or even help me.

He sighed a broken sigh before saying, “There is an underground tunnel they don’t know about. It will lead out into the cemetery down the road. Come.” He said in barely a whisper.

I followed him quietly as he shuffled along. He led him down into the basement of the funeral home which was surprisingly well lit. I had expected a dark dungeon because he had grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen. He led me to the end of the hall where an old retort that had been used to cremate people stood. It was clean and obviously out of commission. I watched as he opened the old cast iron door open. The hinges protested with a loud squeal. Then he pulled out the iron table on iron wheels that squeaked in protest. Next he pushed down on a hidden latch and the iron floor raised slightly. He grabbed hold of the edge of the floor and heaved it up revealing a set of stairs going down. Even though the retort looked clean a fine dust fell from the floor as it lifted up.

At least I made the decision it was dust because ashes would have been too creepy.

“The tunnel is good. I check it every week.” He handed me a flashlight which now seemed logical. “Good luck.” He said before he remembered the last time he had spoken those words to me. As he remembered his left eyebrow twitched in apprehensiveness of my response.

“Thank you.” I said sincerely. What can I say? Winning makes me polite.

I switched on the light and went down the stairs. Not once did I look back or doubt the tunnel. Duncan was a broken man that would never kill or harm anyone. Even me. The person that had shown him his true self which had broken him.

I reflected on the evening as I walked down the long dark damp tunnel. All in all the evening explained a lot. No wonder wizards had not already killed out the human race or enslaved them.

I really need to stop thinking of myself separate from the human race. I told myself before continuing my reflection.

The wizards had only recently come into power. The true sight spell allowed me to see the future of the world that would be if the Wizards were not stopped. I knew the only thing that currently stood in their way was me. I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and it was not a weight I wanted or welcomed.

I came to the door at the end of the tunnel all too quickly. I paused for a moment to chant a concealment spell over my sword and knife. I lifted the latch on the door and stepped cautiously out into the night. The only sound that greeted me was the comforting chirp of crickets. I turned off the flashlight and left it at the end of the tunnel where Duncan would find it.

I studied my surroundings and noticed a glow of the street lights in the night sky off to one end of the cemetery. I turned and walked in the opposite direction of the glow, knowing the glow came from the street lights of the town. I walked through the cemetery listening to the night sounds waiting for a change in them ready to run if needed. But as my eyes searched in and around the head stones for someone lying in wait for me I saw the cemetery as the peaceful resting place it was and knew I was safe at least for now.

I saw the headstones grouped together by families. Fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. I wondered not for the first time if my parents had grave stones in a cemetery somewhere. Or had my Aunts and Uncles simply had them cremated. I reflected how during the first few years after they had died I was haunted by this question. It had nagged at me again and again but over time the question had faded. I tried to remember the last time I had wondered about my parent’s graves and couldn’t remember.

It was like wanting a boyfriend. When I was a teen and on the run I wanted nothing more than to have a boyfriend. But eventually I realized boyfriends led to love. Love led to marriage. Marriage led to children, female children. Virgin teen girls called to wizards. If I had a family no one would be fighting the wizards. My daughters would be in danger. No it was best that I just keep hunting and keep the girls that were already in the world safe.

But walking along in the peaceful cemetery with the True Sight spell pushing its way into all the thoughts that popped into my head my normally solidly strong self-discipline failed me. I saw all the possible paths my life could have taken. Grief and despair washed over me as I mourned their loss. I saw a soft patch of grass next to a headstone and all I wanted to do was lie down and curl up on that patch of grass and let sleep overtake me.

But the image of the teen girl that was the intended victim of my current prey flashed in my head. I felt the weight of being responsible for her life added to the weight of the world that was already resting on my shoulders. The added weight of her life felt twice as heavy as the weight of the world I already felt. My eyes traveled to the soft patch of grass as it called to me and I gazed on it longingly. But my legs betrayed me as they kept walking down the path leading me away from its comforting softness.

Was it wrong that the weight of one teen girl felt heavier than the combined weight of the rest of the world? I pondered this as I kept trudging along. I examined what I knew about the girl that was my prey’s intended victim. Her name was Stephanie. I had followed her for a day. I had snooped through her school records. I had broken into her house and looked at the family’s photo albums, their bills and even the items hidden away in their underwear drawers.

I had learned that her biological father had run off on her and her mother when Stephanie was ten. He had ended up addicted to drugs and was currently in jail. Her mother had worked two part time jobs for a while to provide for her daughter. The mother had met a man and remarried. The girl had started doing drugs, like her “real” dad. However, the new husband had been patient with her. They had gone to counseling and become a family. The mother and new husband eventually had a baby and the teen girl felt every bit as important as the new baby. Stephanie was starting to make plans to go to college. She had big hopes and dreams. The kind that were dangerous for me to have.

No. I answered to myself. It wasn’t wrong that her fate weighed more heavily on me than the fate of the rest of the world. I knew her face. I knew her attacker’s face. I knew how to keep her safe. She was first and foremost my responsibility. I would put her before the rest of the world.

I had a job to do. No one else was going to do it. I straightened my shoulders as I willed resolve into conviction that I would save the girl and kill the wizard that hunted her. He needed killing. I knew how to kill him. I could kill him. I was going to kill him. I straightened up my back and picked up the pace of my walk and then broke out into an easy run at a pace that I could sustain for a few hours. I was on the hunt once again.

Once again the True Sight spell proved to be nasty. I had seen my true self and she was a mean nasty bitch.

I woke up and froze because everything around me seemed out of place. It took me a few minutes to remember the strange vehicle I was in, the events that had transpired the previous night, and how they had led me to where I was currently. The first thing I remembered was that my hatred of subdivisions had been fortified last night. The roads of subdivisions wind round and round and go nowhere.

I had wasted a good hour trying to get out of Chelsea by running along back roads that just wound around subdivisions. There only seemed to be a couple of major roads that led out of town and I had been trying to avoid them. Finally in the end I had stumbled upon a dirt road that led me out of town.

Crazy, huh? Last night as I ran down that dirt road in the dark not know if I was every getting out of the town I had thought that town was purposely trying to keep people out. But then I wondered if it was actually trying to keep people in. That had been a scary thought late at night and had reminded me of a horror movie I had watched as a teen about a lady that couldn’t leave a mansion in an English country side. It had motivated me to run even harder.

In the end I worked my way west of Chelsea until I came upon another upscale little town and had jacked the car I currently sat in. It was an Acura and was a cross between a car and an SUV that was so popular lately. I could see why. It was a nice car with good horse power and handled well.

Unfortunately the CR-V was a loss. For all I know it was still sitting in the parallel parking space I had worked so hard to park it in. I had left my purse with my ID and about two grand in the CR-V. Thankfully, I had left half of my money stashed with my extra weapons. Last night I had retrieved my extra weapon stash and money and they were in the vehicle with me.

The extra weapons and money had been in a rundown abandoned building in a poor part of Jackson. A different building than the abandoned steel manufacturing facility that I had been sleeping in. I wasn’t planning on going back there again either.

Getting out of Chelsea and retrieving my weapons had taken me all night to accomplish. Then I had drove west down 94 for 25 minutes until I came to a rest stop. There I had traded license plates on the stole Acura with a similar Acura when its owners had stopped to use the restroom. Finally I had gotten some sleep.

I sat up in the seat of the Acura and rolled my neck trying to work the kink out of it. I didn’t succeed and gave up. I needed to find a wizard and kill him. But first I needed to find a clean bathroom. I examined the building of the rest stop I was currently parked in and everything seemed normal. However, it looked like I had better be satisfied with finding a functioning bathroom that did not make me gag. Functional bathrooms that didn’t make you gag, what more could a girl as for?

Oh, yea, not dying. Not dying, functional bathrooms and not gagging that is what I hoped for out of life.

As I drove through Jackson to Stephanie’s house I studied the city of Jackson. I must admit Jackson Michigan was beginning to grow on me. At first I had appreciated it for all of the abandoned buildings. There had been plenty of abandoned buildings to choose from for my stash spot for my extra weapons and a separate place for me to sleep at night.

I had long ago realized the importance of dividing up my weapons and money in different caches. When one location was compromised then I had a backup cache to rely on. Because of this practice I had hopes of salvaging my current hunt. The supplies from my back up cache were now all the supplies I had. Well those and my sword and knife I kept on me at all times.

But all the abandoned buildings that provided good cache locations was not why Jackson was beginning to grow on me. It was the fact that the city was like the little poor third world child that was fighting overwhelming odds to survive and had won by surviving. The survival may not be ideal but by third world standards the child is a success because he or she had survived and he or she even grew up to have a family of his or her own. Granted they lived in a shack with no running water, used a ditch out back for a toilet and only 50% of their children survive but their continued existence is a success.

Jackson Michigan is that third world child. In a land of 15 billion dollar mansions and private jets Jackson struggles to exist. It has numerous reminders of a time when it was a grand city with wondrous old architecture around the down town area. Most grand old buildings are now repurposed, divided up, or just simply abandoned. The vast majority of the houses in the city are under $100k and families struggle to survive in a world where 1% of the people have the majority of the wealth. They just go to work each day and work hard to get their small share of the money. They support their families while making the 1% even richer. All the while convincing themselves that they are leading happy productive lives.

Yea, that is the United States with Wizards in charge. But by tomorrow I hoped there would be one less wizard in the world curtesy of yours truly. All I needed to do was find him and kill him. Easy peasy lemon squeezy....hopefully…maybe…okay probably not…but maybe I wouldn’t get hurt….okay I will settle for not dying. Not dying is good.

I finally made it to Stephanie’s house and as I suspected it was a flurry of activity. There numerous cars parked along the street. There was also two police cars with police officers that were casting stern looks at the few reporters mingling along the side walk waiting like vultures for the family to make an appearance.

The wizard had struck like I suspected. I resented the strange men that had prevented me from following my prey and making my job more difficult. I smiled contentedly when I remembered the napkin tucked in my bra. Folded inside the napkin was one of Stephanie’s hairs. I had tucked it safely inside my bra when I was searching her room three days ago. I know what you are thinking and yes, I had changed my bra once since then. But I had checked to make sure the hair still remained in the napkin and transferred it to my new bra.

Yes, I know. I only changed my bra once in three days. Fine I have been wearing the same bra and clothes for two days. But cut me a little slack here people. I am juggling running for my life and saving a 15 year old virgin. I am going to get a little ripe smelling from time to time.

Now back to my point. With the hair I could cast the tracking spell and find Stephanie. I kept basic spell ingredients with my back up weapons. I had better get busy because it was already pushing 6pm. The ritual would take a half an hour to complete before he actually killed Stephanie sacrificing her life to gain power. The wizard would want this sacrifice to take place at exactly midnight when the full moon was directly overhead. He would probably arrive an hour early to start preparations.

Plus, I need to scout the area to find a good hiding location for my car. It needed to be far enough away to not be visible but still easily accessible if I need a quick getaway. Next, I needed to be in my hiding spot at least an hours before midnight to give the earth time to acclimate to my presence and not give me away. I didn’t want something as simple as the lack of crickets chirping to be my demise.

I needed to accomplish all of this in the next six hours. Oh, and don’t forget the killing the wizard. Yep, can’t forget that. Oh, and one more thing staying alive. Yes, that was important as well.

I drove to the park where I had first saw Stephanie. I figured starting my search for her there had a sense of balance. Mother Earth liked balance and was constantly struggling to maintain balance. The Goddess was deeply connected to Mother Earth and what made Mother Earth happy made The Goddess happy.

That is why I always strived to maintain balance in my life and everything I did. I didn’t steal more than what I absolute needed to get my job done. I tried to give more than I took in my relationships with people. Plus, I tried to be as environmentally friendly as possible which if you didn’t count the gas I used and emissions I created by driving all over the United States I did a good job of being environmentally friendly. I just hoped killing evil wizards off set the use of gas.

I opened the car door and got out. The quietness of the surroundings seemed unnatural. Unlike my previous visit to the park when it was teeming with a flurry of people and activity, the park now stood barren. Everyone had forsaken it for the safety of their homes. I guess an abduction of a teen girl in the neighborhood had that effect on people.

The joy and energy of the people in the park had made the park a happy exciting place. Now that it stood empty I was able to see the park’s infrastructure for what it was. Old. But the park was still loved. The old metal finger pitching chains had been replaced with new plastic ones. A new toddler seat had been hung. The climbing structure that the little boy had been sliding down was new. The teeter totters were the old wooden kind but had a new coat of paint. This was an older park but provided people with many happy times.

This thought woke me up from my trance. The park did not like being empty. It had an unfulfilled purpose that was creating an unbalanced state. Yes, The Goddess would like me starting my journey here. A place where this wizard was creating imbalance. I was working to correct this balance and stop the terrible acts he was committing. Mother Earth and The Goddess would be on my side for this hunt. That would give me a bit more of an edge for this hunt and with this powerful of a wizard I needed all the extra help I could scrap together.

I opened a Chiquita Banana box labeled “Kitchen Supplies”. I took out a glass, bottle of water, toothpick box, and a small zip lock bag labeled “Spaghetti Spice”. I filled the glass half full with water and reached in my bra and pulled out a paper towel. I unrolled it and picked off a hair in the center of it. I dropped the hair into the water, then I emptied the bag of Spaghetti Spice into the glass. I held the glass up to the sun and chanted the spell over the glass.

Goddess grant me permission

Permission to harness the power of the North

While I honor the South, East, and West,

I pray to the North to point me in the direction of my target.

I pray to the Goddess to help me in this honorable quest.

Finally I opened the toothpick box and brought out a small magnet with a hand drawn arrow on the top face of it. I carefully floated the magnet in the water and watched it spin a few times before it settled on the direction.

I then cleaned up my supplies and stored them away in the back of the Acura. I took the glass of water to the front and got in. I put the water glass in the cup holder.

I was comforted by the ritual. I gave a sigh and it felt like Mother Earth sighed with me. She was contented that someone was trying to help her restore balance. I said a prayer to The Goddess begging her for her help as well.

Then I drove off in the direction the little arrow was pointing.