I kicked the half-decapitated skull off my boot and watched it go bouncing down the roof and off into the night, then looked up to nod my thanks to my brother. His eyes went wide, and his mouth opened, but he didn’t have time to call the warning.
There was that split second when I knew that bad shit was coming and I couldn’t stop it, and then the thing hit me from the far side of the roof. Somehow, it had gotten behind us, or past Cole, or maybe it had been there all along. But it was on me in two inhuman bounds, and the only reason I knew I was fucked was the brief sensation of flying as we were launched off the roof.
I landed in a pile of reeking muck (what was left of one of the creatures, I realized later), and it was probably all that saved me from broken bones. All the same, the air was crushed from my lungs, and I could only gasp like a fish staring up at my brother’s face so far above me. He was shouting at me, my name by the shape of his lips, but he was pointing past me, toward the trees.
Dazed, I managed to flip over to find myself staring into the minion’s eyes. It was on all fours, shaking its head like the fall had knocked it loopy too, but it was definitely recovering faster than I. It realized that at the same time I did. I was barely able to get to my knees when the thing sprang.
I couldn’t bring my katana up fast enough, and the sword got pinned between us. Blunt, rotten teeth fastened on my shoulder, bruising like hell through my shirt, but not enough to break skin or tear muscle. Twiggy arms scrabbled to entangle me, fingers raking at my arms, my shoulders. I ducked my head to protect my eyes and shoved as best I could with my arms all bound up. My sword got tangled in the chaos, and I hoped like I hell I wasn’t about to cut my own fingers off with it.
And just as suddenly, the thing released me, an inhuman scream rising from the gaunt throat. In comparison, the Scrap demons’ screeching sounded like a five-part harmony. I could feel something in my ears vibrating on a frequency not meant for humans, and it was all I could do to clap both hands over my ears, curling up to protect my sensitive hearing against the unholy sound. Something warm and sticky trickled against my cold palms, and I realized my ears were bleeding.
The Yeti’s minion was no longer interested in me at all. It thrashed and flailed in the grass, clawing its own filthy skin off in long, jagged strips. Its body performed contortions with enough force to crack its own bones, like it was trying to turn itself inside out to escape whatever was plaguing it. It slammed itself repeatedly into the side of the cabin, fleeing blindly in panic and too disoriented to realize it was running the wrong way. The screaming seemed to go on forever, no small feat considering they weren’t supposed to even have voices.
The strident sound eventually died down to a pathetic moan as the thing’s throes subsided, and eventually, there was silence. The thing smoldered a bit, the dirty skin blackened and curling around the torn edges. The reek of putrid meat roasting assaulted my nose, and I swallowed the bile at the back of my throat with grim determination.
Only then did I realize that there were no more creatures poised to rip my throat out. I stood cautiously, sword at ready, but there was nothing there. They’d retreated.
When I realized that I could see the trees around me distinctly, I knew the sun was rising. The dawn had driven them off. Is that what happened to this one? I toed at the steaming remains. Didn’t seem like a barely risen sun should cause this kind of reaction.
Once I got my bearings, I realized that somewhere in our mad tumble off the roof, we’d crossed what little was left of Cam’s holy ground barrier. The consecration had literally eaten the creature alive. As I watched it, it dissolved into a puddle of black goo, the thicker parts taking longer to disintegrate. At least I wouldn’t have to bash its head in. The last thing to go was the skeleton, and whatever they looked like on the outside, the bones were distinctly human. The skull’s dark eye sockets watched me, grinning, until it oozed into the grass.
Movement at the corner of my vision made me flinch, and I barely pulled my strike in time to avoid taking off my brother’s head. He raised his hand defensively until he realized I wasn’t going to remove important body parts, then mouthed something at me. It took me a moment to realize that he was shouting. All I could make out was a faint hum.
My lipreading skills were rusty, but I think he said, “Are you all right?”
Was I all right? I couldn’t hear jack shit, and my hands were gummy with whatever that gunk was. My left shoulder ached like a mother. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to move by morning. Yeah, on average, I was all right. I nodded, and pointed at my ears. “All broke.” I could hear my own voice rattling around inside my skull, but it was like listening through a bale of wet cotton.
Cole popped the clip out of his gun and frowned at the remaining bullets. “We can’t last here much longer.” At least, that’s what I thought he said, through the ringing in my ears.
I knew he was right. This was the last sunrise we’d see at this cabin, one way or another.
14
W ill tried to look me over as I came back inside, but I brushed him off with a grumpy snarl. Wasn’t anything he could do about damaged eardrums anyway. I could only hope that it was temporary. I didn’t relish the idea of trying to fight demons without all of my senses up and functional.
Marty took my katana away from me, cleaning the blade with loving care while I washed the goop off my hands at the kitchen sink. There was no way I could salvage my blue jeans, however. The thick black gunk had soaked through to the skin and dried to a thick black crust, and we weren’t even going to talk about the smell. Even Duke pawed at his nose when I passed by. “Hey, you tangled with a skunk once and you didn’t smell like a daisy either.” My voice sounded like the teacher out of Charlie Brown, all “wah wah wah.”
I had to dig through the backpacks to find mine, and stripped down as quickly as I could to shuck into clean jeans. The adrenaline rush was fading, and I was quickly getting cold.
“Somehow, I figured you for a briefs kinda guy.”
I was unarmed, half naked, and I had already ducked to one side before I remembered that I shouldn’t have been able to hear that statement. Standing in the shadows under the eaves, Axel smirked at me. “You’re getting jumpy in your old age.”
“I don’t think immortal supernatural creatures get to make age jokes.” I kept my voice down (at least, I thought I did), not wanting to draw anyone else upstairs. It was hard to judge, with my own skull acting as an echo chamber. I finished pulling my jeans on, buttoning them quickly. I didn’t really want to stand around talking to a demon in my underwear.
The demon walked over to poke through my extra clothes, wrinkling his nose at my collection of snarky T-shirts. “MY INDIAN NAME IS RUNS-WITH-BEER? Really?”
“It was a gift.” Axel’s voice-my voice-was coming through loud and clear to me, but the sounds from downstairs were still little better than a low thrum in the back of my senses. “Why can I hear you when my ears are all messed up?”
“Can you hear yourself when you speak?”
“A little, yeah.”
He shrugged and stood. “There you go. It’s your voice, Jesse. I’m just… borrowing it.”
That sent a small chill down my spine, which seemed a bit unfair considering how cold I already was. I’d always rather hoped that Axel’s voice was coincidence, or even my imagination. It was creepier, knowing that he’d deliberately chosen to mimic me. “Why?”
“I like your voice. It has a rather mellow timbre to it. Makes me all warm and fuzzy.” He grinned and his eyes flared red for the space of a breath. Man, I hate it when he does that.