Too close.
Too slow.
Too late, she started off the bike path. The car clipped her left hip, sending her plummeting, end over end, down the ravine. When she came to a stop, there were sticks and leaves in her hair and her hip throbbed.
“Jesus,” she said, feeling her tender hip as she lay face down in the dirt. As she pushed herself up, she heard someone crashing through the ravine toward her.
“Shit.”
She’d left Fouet and Épée at home.
Denny just managed to turn to the on-comer when a fist connected with her left cheekbone. He was on her before she could rebound from the punch.
Blurred vision prevented her from seeing him at first, but once her eyes focused, she recognized him as the second demon from the cemetery. She wasn’t the least bit surprised he’d come after her...she just hadn’t expected him to try to run her over.
He grabbed her neck and squeezed hard, trying to crush her windpipe and choke the life out of her. His thumbs dug into her larynx. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, bitch.”
Denny remembered Ames’s warnings not to focus on the attacker’s hands and arms, but to go for his softer inner elbows or eyes instead. She chose the latter and used her thumbs to gouge at his red eyes.
“God. Damn. It.” He growled as she ripped at his face with her thumbs.
When he took one hand from her throat to protect his eyes, she circled under his arm and punched his Adam’s apple. It sounded like a walnut cracking. Then she shoved him with all her might and the demon flew into the air and landed ten feet away, smashing into a tree trunk with an
oof
.
As Denny stood up, she felt it. Heat washed over her, her muscles felt bigger, and everything was clearer.
Her Hanta Raya had appeared and it was pissed as hell.
She took six long strides and was on the demon before he could get to his knees.
“You tried to run me over, you fucking fuck!” The voice, while still hers, had traces of the deep, scratchy demonic voice.
“You’re gonna die, bitch, and your Hanta with you.”
Denny spotted the reason why he was still on his knees. He had pulled his boot knife and lashed at her with it. The knife sliced through her sweats and cut a seven-inch long wound on her thigh. It wasn’t deep, but it still burned like hell and angered the demon inside even more.
“Son of a bitch.” Denny kicked him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him, but not hard enough to make him drop the knife.
When he lashed out again, she was ready—or the Hanta was ready. She wasn’t sure which. Denny jumped back.
“Come on, you little pecker head. Let’s see what you got.” The voice was no longer Denny’s, but pure, unadulterated Hanta. The power, too, was not Denny’s. The lack of fear was
certainly
not Denny’s.
And for all of that, she was grateful.
The demon got to his feet and held the knife out in front of him. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, Golden Silver. You are in way over your stupid human head.”
Denny crouched lower. She vowed to herself she would never leave the house without her weapons again.
“Yeah? Well why don’t you
bring it
and we’ll see who walks away from this fight?”
The demon slashed the air with his knife as he came at her. The first pass missed her by a couple of inches. Before he could bring it back for a second try, she grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm straight to lock his elbow. She drove her knee into the back of his elbow, snapping it like a twig. The sound reverberated through the air, followed by his scream.
A human scream. He dropped the knife into the dead leaves on the ground. Holding his now useless arm with his good hand, he roared, “You motherfucker! You broke my arm. You broke my fucking arm.”
“No. I broke your fucking
elbow
. If I wanted to break your arm, I would have done this.” Denny grabbed his good wrist, pulled his arm out and brought her forearm down on it so hard it broke both bones.
He screamed again, staring at his flaccid arms.
“You think me weak because I just learned who and what I am? Think again,
asshole
.”
Denny assumed a stance, much like one a boxer would take. She used a side thrusting kick and buried her heel in the inner part of his knee. The impact blew his kneecap out of place and sent him writhing to the ground. Three of four appendages taken out of commission.
“Jesus Christ,” the demon groaned, lying on his side.
“He can’t help you, butt-munch.” Denny leaped into the air and brought her heel down on the shinbone of his good leg.
The snap was drowned out by yet another scream as she hit his shin bone so hard, it snapped and cut through the skin like ivory.
“Just kill me, for god’s sake!”
Denny stood over him breathing deeply. She felt eight feet tall and lacked any remorse as she glared at the broken body before her. No guilt. No empathy. No compunction.
None.
“Kill you?” Denny laughed a laugh that came from some deep, dark well. “Killing you would be too easy, you bottom-feeding piece of shit. No, I’m gonna let your sorry ass live so you can crawl back to your buddies and let them know that coming at me or my family will be a very painful endeavor. Attacking the Silvers is only going to result in loss of life and limb. You tell them that, asshole, and the next time I see you, my face will be the last thing you see before you combust.”
“You’re not going to kill me? What kind of bullshit is that?”
Denny shook her head. “Are you deaf? If you manage to get your broken body back up to the road, you can be my little bitch messenger.” Denny glared down at him with two eyes she knew were glowing red.
The demon writhed on the ground. “You fucking bitch. You have no idea what you’re––”
Without so much as an inkling of a thought, Denny’s leg shot out and hit his collar bone with such force it snapped with the sound a baseball bat makes when it hits a fast ball.
The broken demon passed out from the pain.
Standing over it, Denny calmed herself and slowed her breathing. She felt the Hanta’s energy cool as well.
“Yeah, I should have killed you when I had the chance, but you ran away like a little girl, you pussy. I suppose watching your buddy implode would be a little scary.” Denny brushed herself off and started back up to the road, her hip none the worse for wear, but her cut thigh was bleeding and needed a bandage.
She glanced over her shoulder and wondered if leaving him alive was a smart thing to do. Three steps later, she no longer cared.
She was a fucking rock star.
***
B
rianna looked up as she took her apron off, puzzlement on her face.
“You seem surprised to see me,” Denny said, as she walked in, trying not to limp.
A smile slid across Brianna’s face. “I am. You’re a hard one to read, Golden Silver. I never know what to expect from you. After the séance––”
“I hope you have someplace good in mind because I am starving.”
Brianna cocked her head to one side. “Are you...limping?”
“Yeah, pulled a muscle jogging. No biggie.”
Brianna opened her mouth and then closed it without comment. “Well, how does The Steakhouse sound?”
Fifteen minutes later, they were seated there talking about their day. Denny omitted her encounter with the demon and her experience with her Hanta and just sort of filled in the blanks.
It was the first time in a long time that she’d sat across from a living person and talked about everything from politics to the environment. Two hours rolled into three as Denny told Brianna how great it was to work with Ames and how nice it was to talk to someone about all she was going through.
“Ames is an odd guy, to be sure, but I’m glad he’s been a help.” Brianna laid her hand on top of Denny’s. “And I know you need help, Denny. I know this is bigger than what you’ve shared with me, and while I understand why you haven’t shared all of it, I want you to know, you can. I would never betray your trust in me. Ever.”
Denny looked at their hands before locking eyes with Brianna. “I appreciate that more than you know. You’re right. There’s a lot going on in my life right now and most of it isn’t great. Yeah, I’m a demon hunter with a whole lot to learn about my new responsibilities. I’ve been attacked twice, my––”
“The limp?”
Denny bowed her head. “Yeah. Sorry. I should have told you the truth.”
“No, no. I understand. I’m glad you didn’t blurt it out in the coffee shop. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m a fast healer.”
“I saw that with your eyebrow. Unnaturally fast. I imagine there’s more to it, you know, because of the Hanta Raya.”
Denny jerked back as if struck and stared at Brianna while their waitress set their meals on the table.
“What?” Brianna smiled. “You don’t think I ran home to research what a Hanta is? Of course I did. I heard what Cassandra said. It sounded like Santa, but I knew better so I looked it up. The fact that you can converse with and have a relationship with a ghost told me that you probably possess the Hanta in question. It was simple deduction. I was wondering if you were going to come talk to me. I wouldn’t have pressed the issue.”
“My life is incredibly difficult right now. I don’t just have balls in the air. I have flaming balls. I’ll understand if you want to walk right out that door and never see me again.”
Brianna leaned forward. “That’s not going to happen. I’m a Wiccan, not some starry eyed little girl. I know precisely what I am in for and I’m not afraid. But would you mind terribly if we had some girl talk?”
“Girl talk?”
“You need to get out more. You know...girl talk...where you tell me what it’s like having a ghost for a girlfriend?”
Denny cut into her meat before looking up. “You know, when it’s all you’ve known, you don’t really know how it compares.”
“Oh come on. You’ve had a real...wait, that’s not the word I want.” Brianna looked up at the sky. “I don’t want to minimize your virginity or anything, but––”
“It’s okay. I know what you mean, and no. Rush became my best friend in high school. On my eighteenth birthday, we got together and have been together ever since.”
“When you say
got together
, how, exactly does that happen, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Denny smiled. “Only two other people have ever had the balls to ask me that.”
“Was it rude of me?”
“Curiosity isn’t necessarily rude, no.” Denny waited for the waitress to refill their glasses before continuing. “Everything happens in my mind. It feels real, my physical body experiences the pleasure––” Denny’s voice trailed off.
“But?” Brianna asked.
The waitress arrived to take their dessert orders and Denny took advantage of her presence to not answer Brianna’s question. “We’ll take one chocolate cake and two forks, please.”
“Denny, I know this must be hard to talk about, but I’m asking because I want to get to know you better. I don’t mean to pry.”
“You’re not prying,” she said. “It’s amazing sex and I love our intimate time, but there are times when I long for a warm body, when I wish she had arms I could feel to hold me when I need comfort.”
“Like now?”
Denny looked away, feeling slightly vulnerable. “Yeah. Like now. All of this is just so over my head. My family might be in danger and I’m just a rookie trying to work it all out. The word inadequate springs to mind.”
Dessert came and Denny handed Brianna a fork. Picking at the chocolate cake, Denny sighed. “I know life is supposed to throw us curves, but this one is a doozy.
“I imagine you’re also scared.” Brianna dug into the cake.
“More than I care to admit. I feel like I’ve just entered a race that’s been going for quite some time and I’m not even warmed up.”
“I know it might feel like it, but you’re not alone, Denny. You have friends and family. How’s your mother doing, by the way?”
“Same. There’s so much I miss about her. She used to caress our hair every night before bed. I cherished that time with her. All four of us still play with our hair if we’re feeling scared or vulnerable or little.”
“You must really miss her.”
“Every single day. I’m not sure her being catatonic is better or worse than death. To have her there but not there...” Denny shook her head. “It’s rough.”
“But that’s just it.”
“What?”
“You want my pseudo-psychobabble analysis?”
Denny chuckled. “Sure. Go for it.”
“Your mom, like Rush, is there but not there. You were what, fifteen when your parents got in that accident?”
“Good memory.”
Brianna grinned. “I listen. Anyway, your relationship with Rush is patterned after your relationship with your mother. It’s what you know. It’s comfortable and familiar. She’s there but not really.”
Denny stared at her.
“I’m sorry if I misspoke––”
“No, no, not at all. I just...I never looked at it that way, but it makes perfect sense. Kinda creepy, but it does make sense.” Denny pointed to a spot on Brianna’s face where errant chocolate frosting sat.
Brianna wiped her upper lip. “So how’s the demon hunting gig going? It seems like an awful lot of danger.”
“I have a lot to learn. A lot. Mountains. The more questions I have, the—”
“You couldn’t have a better teacher than Ames Walker, though. It’ll get easier, don’t you think?”
“No doubt. His Tae Kwon Do moves probably saved my life today.”
“Thank the Goddess. So why are they after you all of a sudden? Why now?”
“Let’s just say I pose a pretty big threat to them once I know what I’m doing. Me and my Hanta have a lot of work to do before we can act as a team.”
“So, you’ve decided to do it? To don the cape of Golden Silver, Demon Hunter?”
Denny thought for a moment before smiling. “You know, that doesn’t sound half bad.”
***
D
enny was flipping through the Black Book when her phone rang. Looking at her watch, she realized she’d been studying for over two hours.
“I’m just calling to check up on you. Haven’t heard much from either of you. Are you okay?” Sterling asked.