Unbound (34 page)

“This looks like something you’d see on Frankenstein,” I told him as I carefully wiped away dried blood. I globbed on ointment and wrapped another bandage around his arm. Laney came back upstairs just as I put the first aid supplies away.

“Hunter didn’t want to come in,” she told me as she pulled out my computer chair and sat.

“I’ll bring him in later,” I said. “You guys hungry?” Realizing that I hadn’t eaten since lunch, my stomach growled. Too impatient for anything else, we decided to go with frozen pizzas. When I was done eating, I put my plate in the dishwasher, grabbed my dagger and went to bring Hunter in. A flash of panic came over me when I didn’t see him right away. I ran to the back of the dark yard and found him sitting behind the shed, just staring into the thin woods. I grabbed his collar and led him towards the garage. I let go since he was cooperating but he only made it a few more steps before he took off in the opposite direction, growling.

Dagger in hand, I spun around. Lurking in the shadows was a hooded figure. Realizing what real danger I was in, Hunter ran back and started circling around me, making it impossible for anything to get to me without first having to go through him. The thing silently slid closer and closer. Hunter’s growls turned into ferocious barks. Then he lunged for it, his strong jaws locking around its thigh. The thing hissed and I knew what it was before the dim deck lights illuminated its empty eyes.

That weird sense of excitement pumped through my body. I made a fist and punched the bird-demon as hard as I could in the face. It stumbled back and frantically clawed at the air. Hunter viciously shook his head, tearing open the thing’s leg. It swung its talons at him. There was no way I’d let it hurt my dog, I thought and I kicked it in the ribs. Its arms flew up and I seized the opportunity to dig the dagger deep into its chest. Hunter released and backed off. Smoke poured out of its mouth and eyes. It let out a final high pitched shriek and burst into flames. Thinking it was safe to go back in, I turned around but was face to face with someone else.

Chapter 9 Dream Evil

“Harry!” I said to my twin. He was standing in the doorway. His mouth was wide open and the gym bag he had been holding was on the ground. There was movement to my left. Ethan, with his gun drawn, and Laney, stood on the deck. Laney looked almost as stunned as Harrison. I picked up his bag and guided him inside. “I think I have some explaining to do.” I motioned to a kitchen chair and Harrison willingly sat down. Laney joined us.

“Where’s Ethan?” I asked.

“He said he was gonna make sure nothing else is out there,” Laney said flatly, as if she removed her emotions to cancel out her fear. She too sank down on at the table. I looked back at Harry. Confusion muddled his face and I could tell he was thinking. He looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words to voice his thoughts. In a way it was going to be easier to explain this to him than it was to Laney because I had no doubt that he would believe me. He just witnessed me vanquishing a demon, after all. I took a seat across from him and began to explain. I spoke slowly and chose each word carefully. Harrison’s blue eyes were full of a fear that he wasn’t admitting to. He nodded every once in a while to let me know he was listening, but I think this was overloading his brain. I ended my spiel and waited. Harrison was staring unblinking at the floor. Finally he looked up at me.

“What?”

“Weren’t you listening?” I was a little frustrated.

“Yea, but …what?”

“Harry, listen. You know I’m a witch, remember?” He nodded. “Ok, good. Remember how I told you that ghosts like people with magical powers?” Another nod. “Well, demons like us even more. Except by ‘like’ I mean hate and want to kill.”

“Ok. What were you saying about the dagger?”

“It was made from magic. It’s the Chuck Norris of magical weapons; it can kill anything.” I decided simple was best right now. Three gun shots rang in the distance making all of us jump and Hunter bark. “Ethan,” I whispered and rushed to the window. Of course I couldn’t see anything, and if I took a minute to think logically I would have realized that since the shots were far away, so was Ethan. I ran to the edge of the yard, closed my eyes and listened. The longest ten minutes of my life went by before I heard twigs snapping several feet in front of me. I smiled and breathed a breath of relief. I could sense Ethan’s presence before I could see him.

“Annie?” he called. Moonlight reflected off the shiny metal of his gun.

“Yea,” I answered.

“Ok, just making sure.”

He easily climbed the fence and landed next to me. Happy to see each other unharmed, we hugged. I had just put my arms around him when I felt warm wetness on his left sleeve. I pulled my hand away to find it covered in blood.

“You popped your stitches open,” I stated, though I’m more than sure he was aware.

“Guess so,” he said like he didn’t care, but the way he was holding his arm let me know that the pain must be more than what he was letting on. We went into the house. Once the doors were locked behind us, I asked, “What happened out there?”

“Pricolici.” Ethan set the gun down on the kitchen counter. The word made my heart skip a beat in fear. Laney and Harrison had moved closer together. Laney turned away quickly when she saw the blood oozing through Ethan’s sleeve.

“Shit!” Harrison jumped up. “What happened?”

Ethan looked at me to take the lead as to what to say. “Demon,” I said, as gently as possible. “This happened earlier. It actually was one of those creeper bird-slash-human things that you just saw. We got attacked this afternoon. And someone,” I pushed up Ethan’s sleeve, “doesn’t know how to take it easy.” I unwrapped the bandage. “Can I please take you to the hospital? You really need real stitches.”Again, I knew what he would say.

“No. There might be more out there and I’m not leaving you. And it’ll be fine by tomorrow.” Ethan was so freaking stubborn. We all went up to my room so I could once again take care of the gash on Ethan’s arm. I still had some butterfly band-aids left over from when I hit my head on the rock and those helped a great deal in stopping the blood.

“Did you kill it?” I asked as I rewrapped gauze around his bicep.

“Shot it three times in the head,” Ethan said steadily, as if he was commenting about the weather.

“What?!” Harrison and Laney exclaimed at the same time.

Ethan and I exchanged glances. “Pricolici,” Ethan explained. “They are another type of demon-”

“You mean there is more than one
type
?” Harrison interrupted.

“Yes,” Ethan said, leaving it at that.

“Anyway, Pricolici look like wolves,” I continued the explanation. “But of course, they’re not. They’re much, much more violent and, well, evil.” A pregnant silence fell over the room. I gently pulled the blood soaked sleeve back down Ethan’s arm. He was going to have to change before Mom and Dad get home, I realized.

“Are we in danger?” Harrison asked, looking genuinely concerned.

“You two aren’t,” Ethan said, looking from Harrison to Laney. “It’s Annie they want.”

“Because she has power,” Laney said weakly.

“Right.” Ethan got up and looked out the window. “And they know she can use that power to kill them.” Seeing nothing he turned back towards us. “Plus demons hate feeling inferior. With power comes control, and they don’t like being told what to do. Annie’s a threat and they want to eliminate her.”

The headlights of Dad’s Lexus illuminated the driveway. In high alert, I jumped up and grabbed the dagger. “Change out of that blood-stained shirt,” I said to Ethan. “Hunter and I are going to demon patrol until Dad gets in the house. Act natural.” The last part was directed to Harry and Laney. I pulled on my soft blue bathrobe as I ran down the stairs and tied it around my waist, completely concealing the dagger that hung from my belt around my waist. I quietly slipped out onto the deck and waited until Dad was in the safety of the kitchen to come back in.

“Hi Daddy,” I said and locked the sliding door.

“Hey kiddo. Do you have friends over?”

“Yep. Ethan and Laney. We’re playing video games upstairs. Harry too.” I smiled sweetly.

“Have fun and don’t stay up too late.”

“We won’t. Night Daddy!”

“Goodnight Anora.”

I felt guilty for lying but I knew it was for the greater good. Luck or magic created perfect timing as Mom pulled into the driveway just as I turned to leave. I rushed back into my room.
 
“All clear,” I said once I shut the door. Everyone looked relieved.

“So what do we do now?” Laney asked quietly.

“You guys don’t have to do anything.” I ran my hands over my face. Today was the longest Monday in the history of my life. I wanted to just go to bed and get today over with. “I have to find out what those bird-demons are and try to figure out what they want from me, other than my untimely demise of course.”

“And figure out who’s sending the Pricolici and kill them,” Ethan added.

I sank down onto my bed. I was feeling very overwhelmed, but for Laney and Harrison’s sake, I tried to show nothing but calmness. Ethan, who was to my left, put his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I rested my head on his shoulder.

“How are you going to do that?” Harrison sounded curious.

“Research.” I made a face. “Boring, old research and a lot of looking through boring, old books.” I looked at Ethan. “But I don’t know how to trace back to who’s sending the Pricolici.”

“We have to track them. They come from a source, I guess you could call it. Simply put, they’re being supplied. Then we go from there.”

“You sound like you’ve done this before,” Harrison said.

“I have. But I’ve never personally dealt with the Pricolici, I’ve just heard about them from people who have.”

Harrison nodded, looked away and then rather suddenly said, “Aren’t the Bears playing tonight?”

“Uh, yea,” Ethan answered.

“Want to watch the game?” Harrison stood. Ethan looked at me; I shrugged.

“Sure,” he said and got up too.

“Harry is so random,” I said mostly to myself. With the boys gone, the room was silent again. I looked over at Laney. For the first time in my life, I felt a little awkward around my best friend. “I’m sorry, Laney.”

“For what?”

“For having to tell you this. I wish you didn’t have to know.”

“Annie, this stuff would still exist even if I didn’t know, and I’d rather know than not know, if you get what I’m trying to say.”

“I do. It’s scary, though, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “You know,
I
should be the one saying sorry.”

I looked at her quizzically. “Why?”

“For ever doubting you. I mean, I’ve always believed you about the ghosts, but I thought you over reacted or exaggerated sometimes. But after what I saw tonight…” She looked out the window. “If stuff like that exists then I know that everything you’ve ever said about the ghosts does too.”

“Laney,” I said, feeling lucky to have such a wonderful best friend. “Don’t feel bad. Trust me, even I know how crazy I sound.”

“Yea but you had to go through all this scary stuff all alone.” Laney’s voice faltered. “I feel like a terrible best friend.” The tears she was trying to hold back spilled out and rolled down her cheeks.

“Don’t cry,” I told her and felt my own eyes well up with tears. Seeing other people cry had that effect on me.

“Can you forgive me?”

“Of course.” I hugged her and decided a change of topics was a must. “So, what drama have I missed?”

“Not much. But Marie did hang out with Natalie and Jill a few times.”

“Really?”

“Yea, I haven’t even hung out with her in a while.”

“Oh.” I had assumed Laney had been hanging out with Marie the whole time I was too preoccupied to be her friend. “So you must be spending a lot of time with Josh then.”

“I guess. He works on the weekends now.”

“Oh.”

Laney shifted her weight nervously. “You know what I just don’t get?” she spoke, not meeting my eyes. I looked at her, almost afraid of what she might say. “I don’t get how we didn’t know before, and how other people don’t know. I’m talking about the demons and stuff, of course. I mean, this stuff is obviously real, but how come no one knows?”