~ ONE ~

TOBIAS DANIELS STOOD BENEATH an overhang near the top of a cliff, studying a growing mass of on the forest floor several hundred feet below. He hadn’t encountered anything like it for centuries. While he’d long ago decided to stop engaging in conflicts and battles, he couldn’t turn a blind eye to the resurrection of the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction he’d encountered in his existence.

Over the past few hundred years, he had learned to love solitude. He thoroughly enjoyed his sanctuary smack dab in the middle of nowhere. After spending eight thousand years fighting one battle after the next, its stillness suited him perfectly until its absolute silence turned deafening. It just so happened the quietness had reached its peak when he stumbled across the trap no more than a mile from his property. While he would never admit it to another soul, he was ready and eager to rejoin the timeless battle between good and evil.

The idea of a vampire daring to cast such a treacherous spell shocked him. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t believe he was witnessing it again. Over the period of thousands of years, the original spell had evolved into an unpredictable and entirely uncontrollable deathtrap. Tragically, before vampires stopped using it for fear of it backfiring, many innocent humans, along with many young, inexperienced supernatural beings of various species suffered horrific deaths after stumbling across it.

While waiting for Otaktay, a saber-toothed tiger shifter, to make his way through the darkening forest toward it, a sense of uneasiness started to weigh heavily upon him. He couldn’t stop considering the many flaws and hazards of their plan to trigger and dismantle the trap. The main problem was that Otaktay wasn’t a demon. Since demons were naturally more powerful than any other immortal being, Tobias had never tried to go up against the spell with any other being. In an instant, many things could go terribly, irreversibly wrong. Way too many. The worst, Otaktay could suffer a long and drawn out brutal death.

Rogue wolves have been in the area. It appears to be a rather large pack. Otaktay explained, by using the private telepathic link they’d forged and strengthened over several decades.

 How many?

Twenty to thirty. It’s hard to say for sure since they all give off the same damn wet musty dog odor.

They were likely drawn to it. Are you sure your just inhaling wet dog? From up here, I’m smelling a tainted vampire. And it wasn’t pleasant. With each passing second, the hot and humid air grew heavier with the ever-increasing stench of death. He was tempted to create a breeze to push the odor away from him. But, since he hoped to locate and kill the vampire before Otaktay reached the trap, he knew better than to do anything to giveaway his presence. A tainted vampire, especially one up to no good, would never stick around to face an eight-thousand-year-old demon. He didn’t want to give the idiot bloodsucker a chance to run away and reproduce it.

 I suppose it does have a trace of decayed flesh mixed in it. It’s hard to smell anything over the wolves. You’re wrong if you believe they were victims. They sniffed around for quite a while before scattering off in different directions. They’re hunting.

They must be working with the vampire.

Not with. For. I’ve recently heard rumors about corrupt vampires killing off alphas to lead rogue packs. It makes sense. Most canines will follow around and sniff the asses of anything willing to scratch their bellies.

That’s the kittycat in you talking. You don’t know if the rumor is true. Just then, Tobias caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of his eye, he shifted his gaze. He watched Otaktay make a quick beeline toward the vapor. What the hell are you doing? Slow your ass down. You’re getting too damn close, too damn fast.

Don’t you dare start trying to change our plan. It’s too late for that. Besides, you fucking know I need to get close since our goal is to set it off and disarm it.

You don’t need to rush. Don’t get any closer just yet.

Why wait?

Something is wrong.

I hope to hell you’re just fucking with me. Since that’s why we’re out here, I’m more than a little worried if you’re just now figuring out that something is not quite right.

I haven’t located the vampire. And, the more I think about it, I’m sure you won’t need to get within striking distance of the spell if I kill the little bastard casting it. Otaktay had managed to survive for over twelve thousand years. He was a powerful immortal. He’d endured many horrific injuries in battles. But lately, he had a bad habit of pushing the limits of his abilities.

Sure thing, mommy dearest.

I’m serious. It’s already reacting to your approach. It’s growing and gathering strength. The saying, curiosity killed the cat would never describe Otaktay’s death. Reckless abandon would be the most likely cause of his demise. I don’t want to bury your prehistoric furry ass.

What the hell is wrong with you? It’s supposed to react. We anticipated it. And don’t bother digging a hole for me. I prefer cremation.

A sense of dread, of imminent doom knotted Tobias’ gut. Nothing seemed right. He felt the threatening presence of something more powerful than the average tainted vampire lurking just around the corner. Something is wrong. Get your ass away from it until I figure it out.

We’ve spent hours going over our options. He didn’t set this damn thing up so close to your property completely ignorant of your presence. He knows he’s goading you. We need to stick to our plan. Stop overthinking it. You know damn well the vampire isn’t going to come out from wherever it’s hiding to play with you.

Back off, Otaktay. Tobias pushed the command at him. I’ll come down there and trigger it.

Otaktay blocked the compulsion. Damn it, Tobias. Don’t try that shit on me. We already decided that’s a terrible idea. I can’t make it below the surface in time to drag your ass out if something goes wrong. You can. I need to set it off. You need to put an end to it and, if things go to hell, fetch me.

Not yet. Tobias knew Otaktay was right, but he didn’t like it. Move away from the damn thing.

Stop fussing. I want to get this over with. I’m not going to…oh, shit. All at once, the ground shook violently, exploded, and swallowed Otaktay.

“Damn it!” Tobias took three running steps and launched himself from the cliff.

Rather than dive, he shot straight up into the sky like a rocket, creating a sonic boom as he shifted into his dragon form. Stay open to me so I can find you. Otaktay didn’t respond. I know you can hear me. Stay open to me. He fought the urge to turn and head toward the ground knowing every second Otaktay spent below it could be his last.

The instant Otaktay reached out to respond horrible pain ripped through Tobias’ body. He knew Otaktay was being torn to bits. This is bad. You shouldn’t try it. You won’t make it.

I’ve done it before. You’d better focus on staying merged with me and alive. Let it take you. Don’t fight it or it’ll tear you apart. Tobias kept climbing higher and higher.

Let me try to get myself out.

You can’t. Don’t fight it. I’ll be mad as hell if I come after you just to recover your mangy corpse. If he had any hope of getting to Otaktay, he needed as much speed as possible to drive his body through the earth and through the spell.

Oh, gee. You’ll be mad as hell at my dead fucking body. Now I’m shaking in my boots and pissing my pants.

He continued to fly higher and higher, eating up the miles as fast as possible. His heart pumped liquid fire through his massive body, illuminating his scales with red and blue flames that transformed the clouds below into a swirling sea of lava. The second he turned around to head for the ground, he pulled every ounce of power and energy from the atmosphere to him and tucked his wings close to his body. He sped toward the ground, falling like a meteor, surrounded by flames. At the last second, knowing his massive size would slow him down upon impact, he shifted into his human form.

As he followed the path Otaktay had been pulled, reality hit him hard. The power fueling the spell was far too intense to be generated by a vampire. A fellow demon had created the trap. It was an alarming discovery. Otaktay wouldn’t last long. He needed to get to Otaktay and get out. He pushed his way toward the heart of the trap. Razor sharp claws and teeth with no bodies, no consciousness ripped and sliced his flesh. Unwilling to risk wasting any energy, he locked the pain away in a corner of his mind rather than shield himself with a protective barrier.

Turn back, Tobias. If you don’t we’ll both die in here.

Not a chance. I’m close now. Get ready to get the hell out of here. Suddenly, surrounded by terrible, ear-piercing screams of agony, he almost stopped to concentrate on turning the volume down. He knew it was a trick, a compulsion meant to distract and disorient him. He would get turned around and lost if he didn’t keep moving. He would never get to Otaktay. He would never escape the trap if he stopped.

He continued, refusing to give up. Within seconds, blind and unable to move his arms or legs, he felt the sensation of freefalling. It lasted for a minute. Maybe two. He couldn’t be sure. Then, a jolt of electrical currents shooting through his body, he opened his eyes and found himself lying flat on his back. He stood up and realized he was in the center of a dark, cold, silent void. He started to walk, allowing his connection with Otaktay to lead him.

Knee deep in thick tar, Tobias’ legs grew heavier with each step. Turn back. Turn back before it’s too late. Turn back. A male’s hypnotic voice whispered in his mind. Resisting it caused his head to throb. Turn back before it’s too late. Turn back. The pain in his head increased, stabbing his skull. It was indeed an extremely strong compulsion generated by a powerful demon, but nothing could ever defeat his resolve to reach Otaktay. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he spotted him.

“Welcome to Hell.” Otaktay struggled to get to his feet.

Tobias waded across the sticky black pool towards him. “It’s a demon.” 

“You think?” Otaktay stumbled, blood gushing from several wounds. “On the way down, I sort of figured the ride was a bit too extravagant to be the creation of a vampire.”

Tobias bent his knees just enough to get his shoulder under Otaktay’s arm to support him. “How bad are your injuries?”

“I’ll survive. I hope I don’t look as shitty as you.”

Tobias didn’t want to risk sparing any power or energy healing Otaktay since his injuries weren’t critical. “I can’t heal you until we’re out of here. We’ll make it out faster if I take my dragon form.”

“You don’t need to heal me or haul my ass out of here.”

“You’ll have to play martyr another day.” He knelt. “Get on.”

As Otaktay climbed onto his back, Tobias shifted into his dragon form. His growing size forced the earth to crumble as he pushed his way up toward the surface. Thankfully, since his wounds were severe enough to make it nearly impossible to maintain the enormous size of his dragon for any length of time, it only took a few seconds to break through and reach the surface.

Tobias didn’t even have a chance to catch his breath before he heard howling. “It sounds like your rogues are returning for a belly rub.”

Flat on his back, Otaktay lifted his head. “At this point, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll just stay sprawled out right here and let them sniff my ass.”

Tobias rolled over from his back to his belly and got to his knees and eventually, after taking time to focus on each move, he managed to stand up. “I have a better idea than to let them sniff our asses.”

“What are you going to do?” Otaktay, hunched over in pain, stood at his side. As always, proving that he was willing and ready to fight.

“Make enough noise to let them know I’m here so they’ll tuck their tails between their legs and run away.” He raised his hands to the heavens and, after creating a small protective barrier around them, he called upon the most powerful forces of nature. Almost instantly, the wind picked up, branches swayed, and bushes rustled as dark storm clouds gathered overhead.

“I hate to sound critical, but I think it’ll take more than a few angry looking clouds and scary sounding gusts of wind to frighten them off.” 

Tobias glanced at him. “You’re a sad little Negative Nancy with no faith.” He returned his focus to the sky. Of course, in his weakened state, he couldn’t generate enough energy to create a gentle breeze. He simply tapped into nature’s unlimited power. At once, baseball sized hail began to fall from the billowing clouds, pelting the ground and, considering the chorus of yelping, the wolves.

“Not bad.” Otaktay, unable to remain on his feet, dropped to his knees. “But I’ll bet they seek shelter beneath the trees to wait it out.”

“That just happens to be right where I want them.” The wind increased, howling and gusting through the trees, snapping and breaking limbs. Then, rain started to fall. Buckets of it. Saturating the ground. “It’s never a good idea to seek shelter beneath trees during a thunderstorm.”

“That’s true. But doesn’t a thunderstorm require lightning?”

“Golly jeepers. It’s a good thing I have a clever feline here with me. I knew I was forgetting something.” Almost instantly, violent cloud to ground lightning erupted all around and, the thunder accompanying it, rocked the earth.

A few hours later, after the storm subsided and their wounds had nearly healed, they set out to find the demon by hunting down all the rogues, questioning them, and killing them.

* * *

In a hospital in Willow Springs, Missouri, Jessie Kraai woke up slowly feeling disoriented, groggy, and sore. She struggled to keep her heavy eye lids open to watch the television as the local news station issued severe weather watches and warnings for the area.

“Hot and humid air is about to clash with a surge of cool fall-like air diving southward out of Canada, creating perfect conditions for severe thunderstorms with strong winds, large hail, ground to cloud lightning, flooding downpours, and tornados,” the meteorologist explained. “Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the dangerous weather conditions closely to keep you informed.”

After catching a terrible stomach bug, Jessie stayed in town for nearly a week before finally going to the emergency room for help. It was too long. For the past three years, she’d been careful, never remaining in one place for more than a few days, traveling thousands of miles, crisscrossing the country from coast to coast. Fearing she would end up dead if she stuck around any longer, she planned to get back on the road as soon as possible.

She studied the storm radar map on the television screen to pick the best route to avoid the worst of the weather. It appeared she would get caught up in a mess no matter which way she traveled. The future radar showed storms popping up all around. After watching the screen for a few moments, she decided her best option was to head south on U.S. Route 63 toward Arkansas.

Startled, Jessie gasped when a nurse pushed the door open and walked into the room. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. My name is Sue. I’m your nurse. I’ll be taking care of you until tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, please, don’t apologize. It was my fault.” Three years earlier Jessie had made a terrible mistake, crossing Guss Eckhart, a self-proclaimed god, when she joined his spiritual awakening retreat to find her missing friend, Allana Meadows. Now, living her life on the run with no idea if her friend was dead or alive, she was trapped smackdab in the center of a hellish supernatural nightmare. “I was off in my own little world.”

“It looks like we’re about to get hammered by some really bad weather.” Sue placed a thermometer under Jessie’s tongue. “Normally, I don’t look forward to working a double shift, but I’m happy to stick around for another nine hours tonight. I don’t want to be out on the roads driving in the bad weather.” When the thermometer beeped, she pulled it from her mouth and smiled. “Your temperature is back to normal.”

“That’s great. I hope to avoid the storms. I’d like to discharge myself now.”

“What?” Sue shook her head. “No. You’re absolutely not leaving tonight. Tomorrow is the earliest the doctor will allow you to be discharged.”

“I can’t wait until tomorrow.” Sitting up, a sharp pain deep in the lower right side of her abdomen caused her to wince. “I need to leave now.”

“Don’t try to move around too much right now. You just had surgery.”

“Surgery?”

“Has the doctor had a chance to come in and talk to you?”

“I just woke up a few minutes ago. I’m not really sure if anyone has come in here.”

“What do you remember about coming in for medical aid?”

“I had an upset stomach, my side hurt, and I couldn’t shake a fever.”

“You were very sick. And very lucky you came in rather than wait any longer.” Sue frowned, shaking her head. “You’d already waited too long. You could’ve died. The doctor said your appendix was extremely inflamed and on the verge of bursting by the time he opened you up to remove it.”

“I didn’t realize it was anything so serious.  I thought I’d picked up a bad stomach bug.”

Sue’s frown deepened as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Jessie’s bicep. “You must’ve been experiencing terrible pain. You passed out in the emergency room only a few minutes after you signed in.” Pressing a stethoscope to the crook of Jessie’s arm, the nurse started to pump air into the cuff. “Your temperature was one hundred and five. The emergency room nurse said you were so dehydrated that it was a miracle she finally found a good vein to get intravenous fluid started.”  Seemingly taking her frustration out on the blood pressure cuff, Sue pumped air into it vigorously.

“It is starting to get a little too tight,” Jessie said.

Obviously failing to hear her, Sue continued to pump. “Getting up out of this bed and leaving is the last thing you need to worry about doing. You definitely don’t need to be out in the storm tonight. It’s safe here. This building has survived many of mother nature’s worst storms. You need to relax and give your body time to heal.”

Jessie reached for the cuff. “My arm is really starting to hurt.”

“Oh dear, I am so sorry.” The scratchy sound of Velcro being pulled apart had never sounded better. “I got distracted. It’s just that you have me worried. I don’t want you to end up coming back here in worse shape than you came in.”

“Don’t be sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.” Jessie managed to force herself to smile. “I didn’t realize I’d had surgery. To be honest, I’m actually starting to feel quite tired. I bet I’ll sleep right through the storms tonight.”

“That’s good.” Nodding, Sue smiled. “You need to stay put and rest.”

Jessie faked a yawn. “I agree.”

Sue’s smile widened as she handed her a clear plastic container with two pills in it and a cup of water. “These meds will alleviate your pain and help you sleep.”

Slipping off into a drug induced stupor sounded like a great plan. Now that she was aware of the incision, the lower right side of her belly hurt like hell. But she was not ready to quit fighting for her life. She didn’t have time to sit around and wait for her body to heal. She needed to leave.

A buzzer originating from out in the hall went off. “It sounds like one of your neighbors needs help. I will be back later to check on you. Until then, don’t hesitate to let me know if you need anything.”