Nephilim Rising: The Complete Series, page 22
part #0 of Nephilim Rising Series
As the road in front of me began to straighten out, taking me past a huge lake whose surface gleamed in the moonlight, I began to consider if it was even possible to save Josh at all. He was much more powerful than me, or any other Nephilim I’d met (admittedly, that wasn’t many), so there would be no chance of overpowering him, I wouldn’t think anyway.
Then a horrible thought occurred to me, one that made me sick to my stomach.
What if I have to kill him? What if he kills me?
A fight to the death with my own brother didn’t bear thinking about. Yet after tonight, it didn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility, especially given how far gone he was.
How far gone I am as well.
Yes, let’s not forget that. I was as deep down the rabbit hole as Josh was, just in the opposite warren. As Josh veered recklessly toward the darkness, I stumbled further toward the light. Although, it didn’t feel anywhere near as virtuous as it sounded. I may have been a conduit for light and so-called 'good', but I was carrying enough of my own darkness with me, not to mention creating more as I went it seemed.
As I was driving along at a steady 60mph, something behind me on the road drew my attention. At first, it was just a feeling that made me look into the rearview mirror, a feeling that manifested as a tingling sensation in my belly, and on the heckles of my neck. This feeling was soon followed by a sudden burst of adrenaline, and a corresponding release of grace into my system that made me sit bolt upright in my seat. I knew instantly what all those sensations meant.
There was a demon in my midst.
Sure enough, after staring into the mirror for a few seconds, I gradually made out a dark shape a few car lengths behind. Whatever the shape was, it was flying through the air at speed, and gaining on my still current 60mph.
"What the fuck is this now…can’t a girl catch a break for once?" I said as I pressed harder on the accelerator, hoping to outrun whatever thing was flying behind me. But after accelerating to nearly 80mph, the dark shape maintained its distance.
Jesus, how fast can it go?
Very fast, it seemed. Fast enough to gain on me, coming right up behind the car. For the first time, I was able to make out a face; a face that was partially human, but with large sunken eyes, in which two baleful red orbs glowed. I also saw thin lips peeled back over uneven, pointed teeth. That was all I saw before the demon—which I now knew without any doubt that it was—suddenly vanished from sight.
This has to be a member of Josh’s new gang, I thought. Josh did say they would be coming for me after all.
"Where are you, you bastard?" I said as I looked out both sides of the car, and then at the rearview mirror again. For a moment, I thought it’d had gone. But then there was a loud thudding sound on the roof of the car, as if something heavy had landed there.
"Shit!"
I didn’t know what else to do except keep driving, figuring if I stopped, then the demon would have a better chance of getting me. My confidence as a Watcher had grown of late, but I still wasn’t confident enough to take a demon on by myself. Especially not a flying one.
The demon’s claws scraped across the roof, making screeching sounds as its claws dug into the metal. In something of a panic, I quickly grabbed the Glock from the front seat and held it in my left hand.
Maybe I should shoot through the roof.
I shook my head. It would be just my luck that a bullet would ricochet and hit me. I didn’t fancy deafening myself with the noise inside in the car either.
Coming up to a bend in the road, the demon decided to show itself by crawling forward and looking through the windshield at me, its grotesque face hanging upside down as its red eyes glared at me. Instinctively, I raised the gun and pointed it at the demon as if I was going to shoot it in the face. "Fuck you!" I shouted, refusing to give the demon the look of fear it no doubt expected from me.
The road began to straighten out again, and I pressed harder on the accelerator as the demon continued to hang from the roof, its face pressed against the glass in front of me, partially obscuring my view.
Son of a bitch, I thought. Does it want me to crash?
Evidently, it did, for it brought its bat-like, leathery black wings forward to cover most of the windshield, blacking out the inside of the car. My foot automatically went to the brake, but something stopped me from pressing on the pedal. I don’t know if it was my grace now controlling my actions or what, but in a counter-intuitive move, I gave the car more gas and increased my speed, even though I couldn’t see where I was going. The only thing I knew was that the road seemed to continue on straight for quite a distance. As long as I kept the wheel steady, the car should stay on the road.
Hopefully.
It was nerve wracking as the car built up more speed. I kept expecting to crash into something any second, but somehow I managed to keep the car on the road.
The demon continued to stare in at me, a twisted smile on its face, as if it knew it had me.
I don’t think so motherfucker, I thought, a look of grim determination on my face as I suddenly slammed on the brakes. My whole body flew forward as the seatbelt tightened around me, and the tires screeched on the asphalt as the car went into a skid I fought hard to control. The demon was still clinging to the roof while the car continued to snake back and forth across the road, and I prayed that there wouldn’t be any other cars coming from the opposite direction, which would surely result in a head on collision.
The demon could only hold on for so long, though. After a few seconds, it lost its grip and went flying off the car, landing several feet in front before tumbling across the asphalt. A second later, I was finally able to bring the car to a complete stop. Just as well, because I had been heading for the barrier by the side of the road, and then a considerable drop at the other side.
I sat for a second to catch my breath, then I looked out the window at the demon lying in the middle of the road. One of its large wings appeared to be sticking up at an odd angle as it struggled to get its feet.
Without hesitation, I slammed the car into reverse, going back fifty yards or so before stopping and changing gears. The demon was almost to its feet as I went speeding toward it, my teeth gritted as I made a snarling sound in my throat.
The edge of the car caught the demon just as it tried to jump out of the way, spinning it around and sending it flying off to the left. I didn’t stop, but as I looked into the rearview mirror, I was in time to see the demon go tumbling over the crash barrier, and then over the side of the ledge into the darkness below.
"Yeah!" I said, slamming the steering wheel, and then looking over my shoulder. "Fuck you! Fuck you!"
Adrenaline was coursing through me as I continued to drive away at speed. For the next few minutes, I kept looking into the rearview mirror, and out both sides of the car, expecting to see the demon emerge from the darkness once more. But pretty soon, it became evident that the demon wasn’t coming back.
It took me another twenty minutes of driving before I was finally able to calm myself down. My hands still shook a little from the adrenaline, but otherwise, I felt okay. Hell, I felt better than okay. I felt fucking great, if I’m being honest. Jesus, I had just taken down a flying fucking demon. I ran the bastard off the road!
Despite everything, there was a smile on my face. "If you could only see me now, Mom," I said.
26
It turned out the road I was on circled around the great lake into the city. I drove slowly through the city streets, thinking about driving back to the cabin, but I didn’t feel like going back yet. What I really felt like was escaping from everything for a while, to try to forget about the fact that my life now seemed to be constantly in danger, and the myriad other worries I had incessantly bouncing around inside my head. I thought stopping off at a bar for an hour or two might be enough to satisfy my urge for escape. Before my life was turned upside down—for the second time, that is—and I was running around with Kasey, I simply would’ve scored some Oxy and washed the pills down with a bottle of vodka. That was usually enough to substantially bend my reality, so that it felt like I wasn’t in my normal life anymore—or my normal headspace. I would be fucking out of it, in other words. Although now I had to wonder if it would even be possible for me to reach those heights of intoxication anymore, giving all the changes that had taken place in my body of late. One thing was for sure, though, I intended to put it to the test when the current disaster was over…if I was still around to do so.
For now, I had to focus. The last thing I needed was to be attacked by demons when I was too wasted to defend myself. No, just a few drinks would have to do, and perhaps a joint or two when I got back to the cabin. Maybe I’d even split one with Frank, if he was home that is.
After turning a corner into, of all places, the beginning of the Sex Quarter, I took my phone out and checked it for any missed calls or messages from Frank. But there were none.
"Jeez, Frank," I said shaking my head as I tossed the phone on the front seat, where it clacked against the Glock still sitting there. "Is it any wonder my mom didn’t want you being a parent to her kids when you just disappear for hours…you don’t call…nothing." I laughed to myself. "What the hell do I sound like? It’s not like he’s under any obligation, is it?"
My surroundings suddenly consisted of neon signs and busy streets; naked men and women standing behind large windows, displaying their wears; and an endless stream of people out looking for something that would satisfy whatever desire had driven them to be out at this time of the night. "What the hell am I doing here?" I asked myself wearily, thinking there was plenty of other places in the city I could go to get a quiet drink besides the damn Sex Quarter.
But I knew what I was doing there, even if I wouldn’t admit it to myself. A few minutes later, and I was parked across the street from Demon Ecstasy. I sat in the car for a few minutes just looking across at the two burly bouncers blocking the entrance, only standing aside to let the occasional person in or out. It didn’t take me long to realize the two bouncers were also werewolves. I wasn’t sure why I was certain of that, because not only had I never met or seen a werewolf before, the two bouncers also looked completely normal, if a little…wolfish. It was just a feeling I had, no doubt originating from my grace.
I was beginning to pay more attention of late to my grace’s subtle mechanisms, or my demon radar as I had come to think of it. My grace was not just the brute force energy that I once thought it was. It was also nuanced, and as I say, subtle. It would send thoughts into my head unbidden, and feelings into my body, making me more aware of certain things, such as my surroundings and other people. Or in this case, other hybrid beings like myself. In the short time I had been experiencing these subtle hints, they had never been wrong. Which is why I was trusting my grace now, when it told me I was looking at two werewolves.
Not that the bouncers bothered me, or the fact that they were werewolves. My mind was more on the fact that I was on the verge of going into the club because there was a demon in there who I hardly knew, but yet felt some crazy connection to. But my mind had nothing to do with it at the end of the day, otherwise I simply wouldn’t have been sitting there. No, this was something deeper, something that went beyond mere thought or logic, into that ever ephemeral domain of feelings and soul connections. Such things that refuse point blank to be grabbed hold of in order to describe them.
If Kasey was beside me, and I was explaining it to her, I know what she would say. She would raise her eyebrows and state bluntly:
"So you wanna fuck him then."
I shook my head, partly aghast at the thought. I mean, Lucas was a demon. I should really hate him, despise him, loathe him for what he is, for what he represents.
Yet I didn’t.
"Which means you wanna fuck him." Kasey’s voice inside my head again.
I sighed. My feelings felt disconcerting, and I knew why. It was because they were entirely new to me. Beyond a few distant crushes, I had never had any deep feelings for guys. I’d never been 'in love’. Shit, I’d only ever slept with three people, and I’d been wasted on all three occasions. Too wasted to even remember half the details, which in hindsight, was probably just as well.
So now, there I was, with this almost unbearable aching feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I wanted something so bad, I could hardly stand it. As feelings went, it was both pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. It was also hard to ignore, because it had been there in some form or another from the minute I laid eyes on Lucas.
Maybe Lucas has used his power on me, I thought. Maybe he has me under some kind of spell; a spell that makes me want him, and draws me to him.
I tutted to myself as I shook my head. The idea of being under a spell seemed ridiculous, but given the world I lived in now, not so farfetched.
Kasey’s voice rose in my head again. "Jesus, just go in there and get yourself a fucking drink, and then see what happens."
See what happens? I wasn’t expecting anything to happen. Mostly, I just wanted to see Lucas again, in the flesh so to speak, just to see if the feelings I had were real, and not just something my mind had made up.
"Fuck it."
I reached across and put the Glock in the glovebox, knowing I probably wouldn’t get into the club with it anyway. Still, I needed some protection given the circumstances, so I kept the Watcher Knife on me, concealed under my trouser leg. Then I slid my phone into my jacket and exited the car, jogging across the busy road to the two bouncers outside the club, who didn’t move an inch when I approached. There was something in their eyes, though. Recognition maybe, of what I was, rather than of who I was.
"What do you want?" one of the bouncer’s asked, a big guy with a bald head and tribal tattoos on both temples.
"Eh, I want to go inside," I said. "Obviously."
The two bouncers looked at each other, and then at me. "None of your kind are allowed in here," the other bouncer said, his voice gruff and his eyes menacing. "Fuck off."
My kind? It was a little weird hearing that, yet also empowering in a weird way.
I held my hands out. "Listen guys, I’m not here to cause trouble. I only want to get a drink. I mean, come on, do I look like a threat to you?"
The two bouncers glanced at one another again. "Like we said, fuck off, before we have to see if you really are a threat."
I sighed and shook my head. Are all werewolves like this? I wondered. Stubborn and brute ignorant?
"Come on guys, what do you think I’m going to do?"
The bald-headed one took a step toward me. "Move on, before—"
I couldn’t help it. The bouncers were pissing me off, and I just wanted into the club, now more than ever. So I kicked the guy in the balls as hard as I could, and then landed a grace-fueled punch to his jaw that knocked him to the floor. I think he was unconscious before he even landed.
Then I turned to see the other bouncer standing snarling at me with elongated teeth and yellow wolf eyes. "It would be easier if you just let me in," I said. "You might be able to take me, but just remember what I am, and what I just did to your friend there. I’m tired, and I just want a damn drink so I can relax for an hour. Is that too much to ask?"
Where was this coming from? I wondered as I stared unflinchingly at the bouncer. Not too long ago, I never would’ve done what I just did, nor said what I just said. It seemed like it was coming from a new form of confidence in me, and a new level of power. If so, I would take it.
The bouncer stopped snarling as he eventually stood aside to let me through the doors. Personally, I just think he didn’t want the hassle of having to fight me.
"Thanks," I said walking past him. "Tell your friend I’m sorry."
The bouncer grunted as the doors closed behind me, and I walked into the club
The place was livelier than it was the first time I was in it. It was pretty packed, in fact. The introvert in me saw all those people—men mostly—and wanted to walk straight back out of the place again, to retreat to the solitude of the mountains once more. But as my grace was still buzzing within me, and as my confidence was up from handling the bouncer so deftly, I held my head high as I walked through the crowd on my way to the bar.
On the way there, I glanced up at the dancers on stage, noticing one of them—the one on the main stage—had a huge snake hanging around her neck, and she was sticking her long tongue out to meet the snake’s constantly flickering fork. Not my idea of entertainment, but then I doubted I fell into the club’s target demographic, which seemed to be mostly young to middle-aged professional men, most of whom wore expensive suits and shirts with the sleeves rolled up. The music sounded darker than last time, some grinding industrial beat with weird samples laid over the top. I guess it suited the mood of the place, which was darkly sexual, or maybe just dark and seedy. Shit, I don’t know. I was no expert on strip joints, this being only my second time in one.
Despite the large crowd, the bar wasn’t that packed, and I was able to get a seat. A young black guy behind the bar took my order. "Vodka. Double. Neat."
As the barman smiled and walked off to get my drink, I realized the tingling of my grace had intensified a little, and I got the feeling the barman was something other than human, but I didn’t know what. Neither did I really care. I just wanted a drink.
"What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this?"
I turned to see some smug looking guy in a suit standing beside me, leaning one arm on the bar as he held a glass of something in the other. "Go away," I said.
The guy’s smug smile hardly faltered as he briefly looked around to a seating area where another bunch of guys in suits sat, all laughing and smiling over at him. "We knew you’d say that," he said. "You know why?"
"Nope, and nor do I care to know." I went to hand the barman a bill when he placed my drink in front of me, but he waved his hand and told me it was taken care of. I would’ve asked him how, but the dickwad beside me was still talking.
