The Monster Hunters

  “Why is he stuck in my head? How can he communicate with me?” I pressed for any information that I could, hoping that he would slip.

  “You can’t be serious? Really? Damn. My first impression was right, you are stupid. Earl must be hiring strictly by the benchpress now. If you haven’t figured out how that Old Man is trying to help you, then you really are up a creek. Even if I told you where to meet the Cursed One, you wouldn’t know what to do when you caught him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “No mystery here, kid. I’m not Hannibal Lecter. I’m not trying to play mind games with you. I’m just surprised is all. You don’t even know who you are, do you?”

  “I know exactly who I am.”

  “If you did, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He laughed at me again. “Oh shit. The world is screwed. Good night, kid. Shut the lights on your way out. Talk to me when you have a clue.”

  I was heading to bed when I heard the raised voices. I hurried toward the noise, thinking that it might be some sort of emergency, but slowed down when I realized it was Grant arguing with Julie in her room. She sounded rather calm, but he sounded upset.

  Probably should have kept walking, but showing a real lack of character, I decided to eavesdrop through the door.

  “—could have at least tried.”

  “Darné and his wights were right there. I swear, there was nothing I could have done except die along with him,” Grant pleaded. “I don’t like him, but you know I would never abandon another Hunter if there was a chance to save them, but there was no chance!”

  “Well, he made it, so apparently you were wrong.”

  I suddenly felt very smug.

  There was an awkward pause on the other side of the door.

  “I know . . .” Grant sounded tired. It was the first time I had heard genuine emotion in his voice. “I’ve been dwelling on it every minute since it happened. I misjudged, and that mistake left a man to die. I left a fellow Hunter to die alone . . .”

  Was he crying?

  “Grant, it’s okay, everyone makes mistakes.”

  “I don’t . . . Sorry. I’ve got to go. See you in the morning,” Grant said. I moved away from the door as fast as I could remain silent, and made it about ten feet before the door opened. I spun around, as if I had been coming from the other direction.

  Grant was in fact wiping his eyes as he closed Julie’s door behind him.

  “Evening, Grant.”

  “Pitt.” He nodded, then walked quickly in the other direction, his pride not able to show weakness to a rival. Especially a rival whom he had accidentally condemned to a horrible death, but I could tell by looking at him that it wasn’t an act. He really was torn up by his failure. Torn up, and hurting.

  I didn’t feel so smug anymore.

  Grant stayed the night. I still didn’t like the man one iota, but it was rather nice to have one more person to pull guard duty. While it was dark, it did not do us much good to have somebody on patrol outside, so instead, we all clustered in one suite of rooms centered around Ray Shackleford’s little prison. One person was awake at all times to walk the hall. The sensors had been rigged to alert us if anything bigger than a rabbit came within twenty feet of the house. We could have moved that perimeter back, but the number of deer in the woods would have been setting off alarms all night long.

  Julie had taken extra precautions with Ray’s room. She had put motion detectors all around his bed. If he even thought about making an escape we would all know.

  Personally, I didn’t think we had anything to really worry about. Nobody outside of Julie’s immediate circle of friends and family knew about the home. The Heart of Dixie Historical Preservation Society was an effective front, so even if the Feds did have somebody leaking information to Lord Machado, they didn’t know about this place.

  I turned in for the evening. I put my armor on the ground next to the bed, weapons sitting on top. If I needed to find them quickly in the dark, it would not be a problem. I even left my pants on in case I needed to move in a hurry. My watch wasn’t until 2:00 a.m. I heard Holly’s boots echo in the hall. All of us were close enough that if anything bad happened, we would all know. The only people who slept far apart in a situation like this were the suckers in the horror movies.

  Before I drifted off to sleep, I comforted myself that at least Grant was sleeping in a different room than Julie. I had no idea if that meant they weren’t as close as I feared, or if their relationship was currently on the rocks, like I hoped, or—worst-case scenario—Julie was just trying to be polite to the rest of us. I did not really know why or how I had fallen so hard for Julie Shackleford, but I had. She was by far the most interesting, smart and attractive woman I had ever known. I cringed when I remembered seeing her kissing Grant through the rifle scope. Now that was an unpleasant thought to fall asleep on.

  “Hello again, Boy,” called the Old Man. He was still sitting on the stone steps of the crumbled and partially burned church. “Watch this as it goes now.” He spun his little carved toy on the steps. This time it stayed upright for nearly two whole seconds before it fell over. “See, is much better this time,” he said with obvious pride.

  “Bravo,” I said as I walked through the snow toward him. Once again I was barefoot, but the cold was not uncomfortable beneath my soles. “And I always thought ghosts floated around in white sheets and rattled chains.”

  “Ha. Boy thinks he is funny man now.”

  “You are, or were, Mordechai Byreika. Born in Lodz, Poland. Monster Hunter.” He did not betray any noticeable reaction when I said that.

  “Is good name. I not hear whole name in long time.”

  “I guess. If you were alive you would be almost a hundred and thirty.”

  “Is all? Time pass so slow when is stuck.”

  “So you’re not alive, but you’re stuck. Just what are you?”

  “I say before. Is no important. I just friend.” The Old Man scooped up his little makeshift dreidel and placed it in my hand. “Here, you take. Give to your childrens some day. Maybe they play with, and say, oy, is fun.”

  I held the little toy in my palm. It really did look awful, but I did not have the heart to tell him since he seemed so proud. In his defense, he had been dead for sixty years. I imagined that would make a man’s carving skills a little rusty. “Thanks.” I tucked it into my pocket.

  “Welcome. Now for me, you not worry. You stop Cursed One, you help me just fine. Maybe I get not stuck.” He shrugged his narrow shoulders. “Who knows?”

  “That was your mission in life. Stopping the Cursed One.”

  “Is hard to remember.” He tapped one bony finger against his cranium. “Few things I know. Some I only think I know. But I know for sure one thing that is true. Time is short.”

  “Ray Shackleford says three days. I suppose two now.”

  “Yes. Sounds right. You must learn much very fast. Is up to you, no one else, Boy.”

  “I know,” I answered. At this point, arguing about my purpose in life seemed rather silly, especially against the ghost in my head. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you die? Last anybody heard, the Nazis had taken you.”

  He hawked and spat a wad of phlegm into the snow. “Bastards. Some monsters are just men. Sometimes, worst kind of all is men. How I die? Is hard to say, is not important now.”

  “Did it hurt?” It seemed a stupid question.

  “Is stupid question. Of course hurt. Hurt when you died, yes?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Even in my dream state, the scar tissue that coated so much of my body was still thick and coarse. I thought that I had understood what pain was, until that day in my office showed me that I still had a lot to learn.

  “You no guess. You know. Hurts to get cut open . . . Fine, I tell story, but is hard to remember. Nazis thought they could use Cursed One. Helped him . . . tried to do then, what he trying to do again now. Cursed One was weaker then, his body was not solid yet. He was like you
, want to hurry, not want to learn. He could not get artifact himself, made deal with Nazi bastards. They stole artifact, hurt the Guardian, thought they kill, but not realize he not can die. Took to Place of Power. Here, this place, in my time.” He gestured around the church.

  “What happened?”

  “Cursed One was fool. Time was wrong. Artifact not work. Tattooed Man came, fought here in the snow, destroyed them, took back artifact.” That explained the strange dream that I had had in the hospital while I was waiting for Myers’ phone call.

  “He hid the artifact again. This time vampires help Cursed One. They steal artifact. Bury Guardian under mountain, but even that not kill him.”

  I shook my head. I had dreamed that. “No, I mean you. What happened to you?”

  He shrugged. “I not important, Boy. Important thing is beat them now.”

  “We will,” I promised.

  “Only before, they wrong. They fail, and they die. Guardian kill them. Now Cursed One is smarter and stronger. He not mess up again this time. . . . Enough. I must show you more of his memories.”

  “I hate seeing through his eyes. It’s like I’m not myself. It’s like I’m actually in his head. I don’t like it at all.”

  “Is . . . how you say . . . necessary. I understand, Boy. Is shitty feeling to be stuck in some other body’s head. Now shush. You must learn.”

  At this point I knew the drill. I bowed down so he could place his hands on my head.

  “If any consolation, inside your head is much nicer than his.”

  “Thanks.”

  Lord Machado’s memories.

  A giant pyramid, deep in the jungle. The midnight moon fat and heavy over us. The climb to the top of the huge, ancient thing, covered in strange, faded carvings, leaving us sweat-soaked and exhausted beneath our armor. Far removed from the conquered city, nearly two weeks deep into the trackless wilderness, and this lone edifice was the only thing to be seen.

  This was the Place of Power.

  The sacrifice was prepared.

  Tonight was the night. Tonight the ceremony would be comp—

  The vision suddenly ended. I was sitting on the steps of the church. The Old Man jerked his hands back in surprise. His eyes widened behind his glasses.

  “What happened? Why did the memory stop?” I felt as if I had been on the verge of learning something. I did not know what, but something important about stopping the Cursed One.

  “Boy. You must go. Great danger comes!” He grabbed his cane, holding it in his frail hands like it was a weapon. The reaction seemed purely instinctual.

  “What?” I jumped to my feet, but the imaginary world of the battle-damaged village was still as unnaturally quiet as ever. “What comes?”

  “Go!” he shouted.

  I woke with a start and flung the sheets aside. It was dark inside the little guest room, but I knew right where I had left my weapons. I reached down and grabbed Abomination, my finger flipped the selector down to semiauto, and I waited. The room was quiet except for my breathing and the pounding of blood in my head. I listened. The house itself was eerily silent.

  “Owen.”

  I pointed the shotgun at the voice but froze before my finger moved to the trigger. Julie’s form was silhouetted in the faint light coming from the window. I gasped and moved the muzzle aside.

  “Julie? I almost shot you.” I was surprised. I had not sensed her until she had spoken. She glided across the room toward me. In the dark, I could barely make out that she was wearing nothing but a small nightgown that stirred slightly in the breeze.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. It was a stupid question.

  “Shh.” She climbed onto the bed. She brushed the shotgun aside as she crawled over my legs, hiking up the flimsy nightgown as she went. Julie’s lips sought mine, found them. She pushed me down, kissing me, running her face down my neck. Her hands pulled at my shirt, caressing the lines of scar tissue across my chest.

  I responded. Clumsily I rubbed my hands over her body, feeling the silky gown slide about over her skin. I forgot about my dream, I forgot about the warning. Ever since I had met her I had wanted to be with her, but I had doubted that it would ever happen. I doubted, but apparently I had been wrong.

  I was in love with Julie Shackleford, and she had come to me in the night. I did not care about anything other than that.

  The breeze stung the sweat on my arms.

  Breeze?

  Why was my window open?

  I froze. She did not stop moving against me. She licked my neck hungrily, excitedly. My throat was damp. I could not feel her breath.

  She was not breathing.

  Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. “NO!” I shouted as I twisted away.

  Seemingly surprised at the interruption, she fought me, pushing herself down against my throat. I took my hands from her body and grabbed her by the hair. I tried to pull her head away from my neck. She was stronger than I was, impossibly strong. Using my weight and a whole lot of desperation, I rolled off of the bed and took her with me. We crashed to the floor.

  Razor-white teeth flashed in the moonlight. She was still trying to bite me. I struggled, shouting for help, and she swatted me in the face. My cranium bounced off of the floorboards.

  In the last minute, I had been asleep, surprised, confused, then horny, followed by terrified, but now I was just pissed off.

  I hit her again and again. She jumped off of me with unnatural speed, landing on her feet. I kicked at her, but she caught my bare ankle, picked me up as if I was a child, and swung me violently into the wall. I impacted sideways, broke several boards and fell painfully to the floor.

  She grabbed me by the back of my neck and jerked me to my feet. I grasped her much smaller hands and tried to pry them away; it was a futile effort. I might as well have been bending steel bars. The voice was definitely not Julie’s.

  “Quit fighting. You belong to me now.”

  The lights came on. She twisted me around so that I faced the door.

  The real Julie Shackleford stood in the doorway, pistol in hand. I looked directly down the .45 caliber hole in the barrel as I heard the safety snick off. This Julie was dressed, armed, and she looked really mad.

  “Stinking vamps. You heard him. No means no.” She braced herself against the doorjamb, looking for a clear shot. The clamplike grip around my neck moved me into position as a human shield. I felt another hand grab onto my shoulder as the vampire peered around me. The pain was incredible, and the threat was unspoken. If Julie shot, then the undead would snap my neck.

  The grip on my neck intensified, cutting off some of the blood flow to my brain. The vampire spoke. The voice sounded almost like Julie with a more pronounced accent, but somehow dusty with age, as if not used to speaking often.

  “Hi, honey . . . I’m home.”

  Julie’s jaw dropped open in surprise. She blinked several times, and shook her head. It looked like she was about to pass out from shock. The muzzle of her 1911 dipped slightly as her shooting stance fell apart.

  “Mom?”

  Not good, I thought to myself.

  “Julie. You’re all grown up. Look at you.”

  “Mom?” Julie refocused, the gun moved back into position. “But, but you’re dead.”

  The vampire moved me slightly as she conversed with her daughter. “I’m not dead, honey. I’m right here. Everything is going to be just fine.”

  Holly appeared in the doorway, she raised her rifle and pointed it at my head as well. Now that made me real nervous. Though she was training hard and getting better, she was still a pretty lousy shot. If I had to choose between the emotionally stunned sharpshooter or the Newbie, I knew which one I wanted to take the shot. I managed to grunt out one request.

  “Hol . . . let . . . Julie . . . shoot . . . ugh.” The vampire shook me like a rag doll.

  “Shut it, blood bag,” the creature hissed. “I’m having a conversation here.”

  “Let him go, bitch,
” Holly commanded. She tucked her face down tight against the stock and peered through the sights. “Or I’ll blow your brains out.”

  “You can’t be here. You haven’t been invited,” Julie said. She sounded rather confused.

  “This is my home,” she replied. “I don’t need an invitation.”

  “Mom. Please. This can’t be happening. You disappeared. We thought you were dead.”

  “Come on, honey. You had to have suspected this. You knew what I was working on when I left. You never found my body.” I could hear the gentle smile creep into the creature’s voice, trying to once again be the loving parent. “I’m just here for your daddy,” the vampire said soothingly.

  “Julie, you have one fucked up family,” Holly stated.

  “Ack . . . Ugh . . .” I agreed.

  I heard rapid speaking in the hallway, a desperate call for help. Trip stepped quickly into the room behind Holly. He still had his cell phone in one hand. He moved off to the side as he raised his subgun. Now I had three weapons pointed at my head, and the triangulation of fire was giving the vampire less room to hide. She backed up, dragging my heavy bulk along easily. We were backed into a corner.

  “Mom. How could you become . . . become one of them?” Julie asked plaintively.

  “I didn’t have much choice, dear. But once you get used to it, it is wonderful. I can do things that you can’t even imagine. I can feel things that would stop your heart if you experienced them. I have eternal youth and beauty. Come with me. . . . We can take your daddy. The change will be good for him. It will fix his mind. We can be a family again.”

  “Never,” Julie said with determination. Her brown eyes narrowed as she concentrated on her front sight.

  “Suit yourself, dear. But it beats being a rotting piece of meat . . . like your boyfriend here is going to be if you don’t back the hell off of me.” She picked me up off of the ground. I cringed as my vertebrae popped. All pretenses of motherly love vanished. “I didn’t want to kill you, honey, but if you push me, then I don’t have a choice. I’m taking your daddy back no matter what.”