Demon Hunters (23 page)

“How did you…?” He smiled at me.

“You forget what I am. I can read your
thoughts like the Sunday paper. I see everything that’s happened to
you running through your brain. I know what happened at the
airport. I know Jackal spoke with you and I know why you did what
you did. You were desperate. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision
for you to make.” I unfolded my legs and stood up.

“It wasn’t.” I turned my back to
Dontavius.

“But, as with all choices, there were
consequences.”

“I’ve never let anyone die before. I swore a
long time ago I would never sacrifice one life for another.”

“Tragic as it was, your motives were
understandable. I’m sure, knowing Tyler as I did, he does not blame
you.”

“I doubt that. For now, the most I can do is
to finish what Tyler began and stop Jackal, and right now, I can’t
even do that.” I felt the weight of my words settling upon my
shoulders. I sat back down on the couch as Dontavius paced across
the room and I could tell he was deep in thought. He stopped
suddenly and turned to me with a look of revelation.

“I just had a thought.”

“What?”

“If Jackal is working with the Reborn as you
say, it’s more than likely they have taken the dagger to their
nest.”

“Nest?”

“Yes. You don’t think they walk around all
day and night do you? They usually find a place to hide out. It
varies greatly, though. They are a nomadic group.”

“Do you know where they are now?”

“I know a place they might be. I cannot say
with any certainty, but it would be worth checking on, wouldn’t
it?”

“I guess it would.” Dontavius pulled out a
slip of paper, scribbled something on it quickly with a pen from
his lapel and handed it to me.

“In the morning. For now, you must rest.” I
looked down at the paper and saw an address written on it. I looked
back to Dontavius, but he was already gone.

Stakeout

I had called for Ivar and Gwen as soon as I
woke up the next morning. I instructed Ivar where to go and just as
the sun was beginning to rise, we were driving down Wilshire
Boulevard.

“I really find this hard to believe.” Ivar
said as he weaved his way through the emerging traffic.

“That’s real good, coming from you,” I kept
my eyes glued on the street, checking the street signs as we
passed. “There!” Ivar hung a quick right onto a small street named
Cedar Lane. It was as though we had passed through some invisible
wall. We had just been driving over a street that was riddled with
potholes and through neighborhoods that made the streets of Iran
seem tame, but as we turned the corner, we entered some utopian
suburbia. The street was freshly paved and the homes on either side
of us were beautiful. The term mansion seemed to fail in the
description of these palaces. They were works of art.

Dontavius had pointed us in the direction of
that neighborhood claiming The Reborn were held up in a compound
nearby. I had heard rumors that many cults were setting up shop
there due to the fact that the residences were so large and
opulent. They were able to dazzle their weak-minded followers more
easily and at the same time house more of them. It made sense to
me.

“What was the address Dontavius gave
you?”

“Seven Eighty Three Cedar Lane, but he said
he wasn’t sure if they’d really be here. This is something of a
long shot.”

“Where else would they go?”

“I’m not sure, but I bet we would have heard
about a group of zombies walking around these parts. Right now,
it’s the only lead we’ve got.”

We came up on seven eighty-three and parked
half a block away from it. It didn’t look any different from the
other properties. There was a large concrete wall surrounding the
front of the domicile. It was painted a faint blue color to match
the main house and there were wrought iron spikes running along the
top of the barricade. I could see the top of a large oak door and
in a small window over said door; I could see a massive chandelier.
More than likely it was crystal.

“You really think these Reborn guys are in
there?”

“I don’t know. We know Jackal is in bed with
the Reborn, and if we can find them, maybe we’ll find Jackal. We
just have to get in there and prove that little theory
correct.”

“Well?” Ivar asked. “How do we do that?” I
had been hoping I would have had an answer for him by then, but I
was at a loss. We couldn’t charge in with guns blazing, because we
didn’t have any guns and if we did, and we were wrong, we’d be in
even more trouble. It was one of those moments where I knew what we
did had to be played out very carefully and with great
subtlety.

“We wait,” Gwen seemed fine by my suggestion
but Ivar looked at me as though I were wearing a feather boa around
my neck. I caught his stare. “You heard me. We wait.”

Three hours had passed. Gwen was asleep in
the back seat while Ivar and I kept our vigil in the front.

“If we’re wrong, we’re wasting a lot of time
here.”

“I know.”

“You must be pretty sure then.”

“Reasonably.”

Hours passed into each other but we kept to
our stakeout. Ivar had gone to a supermarket a few blocks away and
brought back a cooler with some food so we wouldn’t have to worry
about eating. Nothing fancy, but it was enough to get us
through.

A few times a police cruiser would come by
and I ducked down as low as I could to keep from being spotted. I
was beginning to think just sitting there in that car was arousing
more suspicion than was needed.

The sun had begun to set and the sky was
growing dark and I noticed that there was less traffic surrounding
the area, as all the businesses were closing down and everyone was
heading home for the evening. I looked down at my watch and saw
that it was well past seven and I began to realize I was getting
pretty hungry. I reached into the cooler with the food but looked
away in disappointment.

“Damn.”

“Cupboard bare?”

“Yeah. I really didn’t think we’d be out
here this long.”

“You want go get out of here?”

“Not yet. Would you mind making a run to the
market for some dinner?” I asked. “I’d go myself, but, you
know.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s fine. What do you want?”
I dug into my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I handed her the
last of my cash.

“Anything. Doesn’t matter.”

“Okay. I’ll be back as fast as I can.” I
watched as she turned the corner at the end of the block. Ivar
suddenly began to stir awake.

“You awake, bud?” Ivar rolled over onto his
back and looked up at me.

“I believe so. How long was I asleep?”

“A few hours.”

“Did anything happen?”

“Nothing yet. You sure you’re up? Alert and
everything?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Where’s Gwen?” He asked as
he sat up.

“She went on a food run.”

“Why? We have enough food. The cooler’s not
empty is it?”

“No, but I told her it was. I had to get her
out of here for a bit. I didn’t want a fight.”

“A fight about what?”

“About me breaking in there and ending this
at last. Don’t you say anything either.”

“What about waiting?”

“We have waited. We’ve waited all god damn
day! I have to get in there and find out what’s really going on.
When she gets back, keep her quiet, and here. This won’t take
long.”

“Here,” Ivar said and produced a small gun.
“Just in case.” I took the gun and slipped it in the waist of my
pants. I jumped out of the car and skulked quickly to the
compound.

I looked around. It was dark, there were no
cars coming down the street and the major traffic on Wilshire was
close but too busy to notice anything. I ran across the street to
the gate. I took a deep breath and leapt up the wall guarding the
compound. I grabbed onto one of the iron spikes and pulled myself
up. I could feel the metal cutting through my hand. It stung like
Hell, but I held on. I managed to balance myself on the wall, but I
quickly toppled over and fell to the ground on the other side. My
hand was dripping with blood but it healed up quickly. I got up and
made my way to the front door. It was Oak. I pressed my ear to it
but I heard nothing. I was beginning to doubt if Dontavius’
information was on the money. I took a breath and figuring if I was
in police custody, I’d be looking at a hefty sentence regardless, I
committed another crime. I kicked at the large oak door with all my
strength. It flew open, almost as if it had been waiting for
someone to come and try. I walked in.

It was quiet. To my right was a long, curved
staircase and to my left, I could see a large family room. There
was no furniture. There was no light. I could see that there were
large marks on the walls. I couldn’t tell what it was. Some parts
looked dark red like blood; other parts seemed to take on a green
hue. I walked in further and I could see large scars in the
walls.

It was dark beyond the family room. It
seemed as though the windows further back in the house had been
blocked off. I crept further along. The carpet started to make a
sickening squish sound with every step as I progressed. It was one
of the parts of my job I encountered a lot, but for some reason I
couldn’t get over. It just grossed me out. I picked up the pace and
as I crossed over. I was unable to figure out which room I was in.
It was smaller, but still no furniture to serve as an indicator.
Suddenly, some large object on the floor caught my foot. I kicked
it a bit and it seemed like a large ball filled with cement. I
turned and went for the nearest wall, hoping cults still believed
in paying the power bill. My hand found the wall and it was covered
with a slick slime. I felt along until I found a light switch. I
flipped it up and a small lamp unit attached to the wall came to
life and illuminated what might have been a kitchen. I looked down
and saw I had tripped over a head. A rather mutated and oddly
shaped head and I could see the mutated and oddly shaped body it
had been attached to lying in a puddle of blood. There was another
similar situation not too far away. I soon found myself ankle deep
in dead, disfigured corpses. The Reborn, it seemed, could be
killed.

From what I could see, every last member of
the cult had been murdered. I was not washed over with surprise.
Just seeing the bodies lying before me, the picture of what
happened became clear as day. It was obvious that Jackal, being the
unstable psychopath I knew him to be, double-crossed The Reborn. I
thought for a bit and in hindsight, it did seem odd to me that
Jackal would work for anyone, no matter how powerful they may have
been. The only detail that did worry me was the fact that Jackal
was nowhere to be found. He found a way to kill The Reborn and did
so and then booked with the dagger, Morgan’s body, and
Demonica.

I started back for the front door when I
heard a weak thump come from above. I pulled out my gun and ran up
the stairs. I got to the top and turned the first corner only to be
faced with a long hallway. I heard a soft moan from a nearby room.
I looked in and saw Demonica sprawled on the floor. I rolled her
around so I could see her face. She was pale and there were bruises
along her cheeks and near her eyes. I checked her pulse. She had
one. It was weak but present. Her eyes slowly opened.

“Jake?”

“Are you all right? What happened?”

“Jackal. He...” She began but she was too
weak to continue.

“I’ve seen what he’s done. He killed them
all, didn’t he?” Demonica slowly nodded. “Where did he go?”
Demonica closed her eyes again.

“He found a way... He’s going to use her.
He’s...” She stopped. I set her down carefully and bolted for the
door downstairs. I didn’t know what to do to help her, but I was
sure Ivar would. Just as I made it to the door, a swarm of police
greeted me. I froze on the spot. I could see Gwen and Ivar being
brought forward by two other cops. They were already cuffed. I held
my gun tightly in my fist.

“I wouldn’t try it.” A calm voice called
from out of the crowd of guns pointed at my head. I looked to Gwen
and then to each of the gun barrels that were trained on me. I had
seen worse odds, but despite that, I set my gun down and gave
up.

“There’s a woman inside. Upstairs. She’s
hurt.” I said. The cops came up on me and slapped the cuffs on. I
heard one of them reading me my rights before he started pushing me
toward a squad car. I kept yelling at them about Demonica and only
assumed they were listening. Ivar and Gwen were carted away in one
car and I was taken in another.

All Caught Up

“And that’s what happened.” Samantha still
had her eyes on me. The echo of my story hung in the air and I
could understand her apprehension. If I didn’t know myself the way
I did, I’d think I was insane too. My cigarette had burned out in
my hand and time seemed to have stopped.

“Interesting,” She picked up the folder on
the table and opened it up. Her eyes scanned whatever was inside.
“We can strike kidnapping and attempted murder off the list.”

“What? Why?”

“The woman we found at the house has been
made stable and she claims you had nothing to do with it. That I
find hard to believe, but as she is the only witness, I have no
choice.”

“Thanks.”

“Sure. Now, two charges down, a dozen to
go.”

“Could I speak with Demonica?”

“She isn’t here. Ms. Shallows was taken to
First General and you won’t be going anywhere; other than a holding
cell.”

“I just told you! I didn’t kill Tyler!
Everything else was just a big mistake!”

“What you just told me sounded more like the
mad rantings of a very disturbed man. You claimed to be possessed
by a demon and engaged in the abduction of a corpse you believed to
be a witch, which was taken by a male witch who was employed by a
cult of zombies.”