Nichole Harris-Shilo
The baying shocked Nichole awake. She and Merril rolled from the bed at the same time. Fully dressed. She slid her feet into her shoes, pulled the strings tight, and knotted them.
Merril opened their door and buckled on his gun belt in the dark. “Let’s go.”
Nichole rose and took his hand. There was enough light from the room below to navigate the stairs. As she followed Merril down and out into the night, flames blossomed in the fire pit. She paused at the edge of the porch.
Outlined by the blaze, Alyse stood before the fire, hands raised to the night sky.
From near the door, Jason called to Amy, “Go ahead and take your place. I’ll be there in a moment.”
Then Amy was beside Nichole. Together, they stepped over the salt circle and took their place in the pentagram.
Jason carried weapons out the door, handed Merril several rifles, then went back inside for more.
Merril stacked them near the center, then helped Cat step over the ward.
Cat moved to the center of the circle and arranged the guns, ammunition, and precious salt containers to be within easy reach.
Jason stepped over the ward with several boxes of ammunition in his arms. He set them where Cat pointed, and backed toward Amy, checking his rifle.
Bernard came last with the basket of food. He closed the door of the house, then stepped into the circle. He placed the food between Nichole and Amy and stepped forward to take his place beside his brother.
“Check the ward.” Bayard pointed to the circle they had all just crossed. He spoke over his shoulder to Alyse. “Lower the flame—conserve your fuel.”
Cat walked the circle and returned to her place. She crouched beside the food and extra rifles, her head turned in nervous twitches from side to side.
The couples grouped together. Sam stood beside Cat in the middle. He leaned down to whisper to her, and she nodded. The brothers took their stand alone in front and stared into the night.
“Where are the wolves?” Jim searched the shadows to his left.
“They’re here.” Alyse looked up and scanned the night sky. “Somewhere.”
A sound alerted Nichole, and she cocked her head. “Do you hear that?” To the west, beyond the bunkhouse, a buzzing approached. “What is it?” A black cloud flowed over the building and took aim at the circle in the yard. The bunkhouse disappeared behind the cloud.
“Get down,” Merril said to Nichole and stepped in front of her.
“Insects,” the brothers spoke in unison. “Alyse.”
“Yes.” Alyse thrust her hands forward and pushed a wall of air at the swarm. The insects divided around the air burst. Most diverted away from the group, but their sheer number overwhelmed the wall of air and dozens of bugs flooded into the circle.
Alyse sent a burst of flame overhead, but the flame did little good. Cinders and bits of wings fell all around.
Cat jumped to her feet and screamed as she pulled locusts from her hair and threw them into the fire.
The brothers ignored the pests to stare into the darkness. “A distraction.”
Except for a few lingering flies, the insects disappeared as quickly as they came.
“They’re out there.” Nichole pointed across the corral. At the edge of the fire’s light, countless silvery eyes reflected. More joined as she watched, then crept forward.
Merril turned and searched in all directions. “Jim—the road.”
Nichole looked where Merril pointed. Dozens of shining eyes circled in the dark.
Jim cocked the lever action on his rifle and moved forward. “Step back,” he said to Alyse. He touched her arm and put himself between her and the growing threat. He dropped to his knee, steadied his arm against his leg and looked down the barrel of his rifle.
“Trade me places,” Merril said close to Nichole’s ear.
She looked from Jim to Merril, nodded and moved toward the center.
What now?
Merril knelt in a stance similar to Jim, the barrel of his rifle pointed down the other side of the house.
Jason and Amy traded places, and Sam stepped between the brothers and knelt in front of Cat.
“They’ll rush us,” Bay and Bern said. “Drop them before they reach the circle.” As though their words released them, the animals rushed in from all sides.
Horror engulfed Nichole’s senses as she turned in every direction. Everyone around her fought against the onslaught except her. She observed.
Terrified animals of all types—deer, skunks, and coyotes—raced away from a threat, rather than attacking the group with rage. At the edge of her vision, shadows moved. A dozen of them wormed among the frightened beasts.
More than one demon?
Gunfire erupted, and the scent of gunpowder filled the ring. Alyse threw missiles of fire at the largest animals while Amy released dozens of ice darts. Bay and Bern used fire as well, and their attack filled the corral with flaming light.
Coyotes, badgers, and whitetail deer were among the animals that raced at the group. Some changed course at the last moment, and some fell as they charged toward the circle.
Catherine passed forward loaded rifles to Merril and Jim, then reloaded their empty weapons.
A red fox raced past Jason as he exchanged rifles with Cat. The small animal hunched down near the ammunition supply, panting with fear—confused and frightened.
“Salt!” Bay and Bern yelled.
Cat picked up the salt boat and stepped over the fox. She knelt beside Jason and repaired the circle. The animal had barely smudged it, but she filled the impression of its footprint, mounding the salt to match the line on either side. When she returned to her place in the center, the fox had fled.
“Cat.” Jim motioned to her. “He ran this way.”
Cat inspected the circle and shook her head. “It must have jumped over the line.” She returned to the center and reloading weapons.
“Southwest, between the bunk and the corral.” Nichole pointed. Shadows moved from mound to mound. “Do you see them?” Then, the ground began to shake.
“Damn,” Jim swore. He stood and looked in the direction of the rumble.
Dawn approached. The fire pit’s brightness dimmed as the gray half-light filled the yard.
Funneled between the bunkhouse and the corral came the horned animals.
“I can see them. The demons,” Nichole screamed. Spaced throughout the cattle, hunched shadows urged the animals forward.
“Stampede,” Merril shouted and shoved Nichole behind him as he came to his feet and took aim between the brothers.
The animals were panicked, their eyes wide and rolling with terror. They brayed in fright and ran toward Bay and Bernard.
Fire rolled from Bay, Bern and Alyse toward the front of the stampede, but it only served to terrorize the animals more. They were packed too tightly between the bunkhouse and the corral to swerve and were pushed forward by the scared animals behind.
“Get down!” Sam shouted as he continued to fire into the herd, dropping several beasts that disappeared beneath the hooves of the oncoming horde.
The front of the stampede passed the corner of the bunkhouse as a sheet of water blocked the view of the animals in front of Bay and Bern. The water formed into an angle outside the circle, the liquid pointed forward with water extending to either side of the circle. In an instant the fluid hardened to ice.
Amy fell to knees, eyes closed, her arms extended. Her hoarse cry filled the pentacle as power flowed from her to strengthen the ice. The hand pump exploded from the top of the well, pushed upward by water pressure, and the ice wall thickened.
Bay and Bern paired their ability with hers to harden the barrier and repair the cracks as cattle, unable to turn, were driven into the ice structure.
Divided, the stampede channeled along the side of the group.
Alyse stretched out her palms to the air and created a shield of flame where the ice wall ended. The large beasts pounded their hooves into the ground as they turned away in fright.
Amy fell forward onto her hands. Her hair, escaped from her braid, fell in waves around her face and hung in the dust.
Jason wrapped his arms around her as Nichole reached down and touched Amy’s shoulder.
“She’s exhausted,” Nichole said to Alyse. “She pushed too hard.”
Alyse held out her hand.
As Nichole grasped Alyse's hand and Amy raised her head. “That's better,” Amy said softly as Alyse echoed the same words.
Jason pulled the hair from her face, brushing at the tears and dust on her cheeks. “Are you injured?” He looked from his wife to Alyse, helped Amy to her feet, and exchanged a look with Nichole. Assured by all his wife was well, he stepped away from the women to check his ammunition.
Nichole released Amy’s shoulder and took her hand.
The ice and fire were gone. The rumble of cattle faded in the distance.
Cat finished reloading another round of rifles and pushed her hair out of her eyes. She glanced up at the three women linked behind her and smiled.
Movement in the swirling, gray dust caught Nichole’s attention. A dark figure approached between the bunkhouse and corral. She pointed. “Someone’s there. Straight ahead of us.”
A woman’s voice called across the yard. “No need to fret, dear hearts. My beloved twins. My dear, sweet granddaughters. We’ll be together soon. Very soon.” Chantal's voice echoed in the silence.
“Bay, it's not her!” Bernard yelled at his brother.
Bay nodded. “I know.” Tears streamed from his eyes. “But it means she’s gone.”
“That we stand with Amy means her plan succeeded,” Alyse shouted at her uncles, tears scored lines in the dust on her face as she gripped Nichole's hand. “It's not her we hear. It’s the demon.”
“It mimics her voice,” Nichole said. She stared at the figure as it walked toward them through the cloud of dust. In a whisper she added, “But she’s there. I can feel her.”
The man continued forward. He walked around dead animals and stopped near the end of the bunkhouse. Broad shouldered, he wore a dark suit coated gray with dust. As he took another step, light touched his face.
“Son-of-a-bitch,” Sam swore as the man moved from the dust cloud into the light.
“Hunter?” Cat whispered, then jumped to her feet and tried to rush past her brother. “Hunter!”
Sam caught her around the waist and lifted her from her feet before she came close to the edge of the circle.
“It's not Hunter,” he said with regret into her hair. “Not anymore.”
Catherine didn't fight her brother. Instead, she crumpled to the ground at his feet. Her hands covered her face. A scream tore from her chest and echoed from the buildings across the yard.
Sam wrapped his arms around her and nodded toward at Hunter. “How the hell did this happen?”
Hunter’s legs trudged forward with a slow, faltering step. His eyes reflected the fire’s red glow as they peered up through his long, tangled hair. Parched lips cracked and bled when he smiled. His knees dripped blood through holes torn in his trouser legs. He staggered to a stop and laughed. “My darling Cat. So sweet. So innocent, and oh, so curious.” Morago unbuckled Hunter’s belt and gave a hoarse, rasping laugh. “Would you have me now, sweet Catherine?” He lurched forward another step and grabbed his crotch as he thrust his hips toward her.
Jimmy Leigh cocked the lever action on his rifle and stepped forward, taking aim at the man in the yard.
“Jim, wait,” Merril said
Jim looked at Merril in confusion.
“We can't kill him,” Nichole murmured.
Save him. Don’t let him pass into the light. A voice whispered into Nichole’s mind.
Nichole shook her head. Who are you?
No answer.
“He's not alive anymore. He's the demon,” Jason replied sharply “Shoot the bastard.”
A fireball flew at the circle and extinguished several feet from the ring.
Amy stood, one hand clutched her sister’s, and the other stretched toward the demon.
“We have to kill him.” Amy looked at Nichole. “We can't let him live.”
“What happens if he dies?” Merril gripped Nichole’s shoulders and spun her to face him. “What happens to you?”
“I don't know,” Nichole replied. “I don't know what the future looks like without him. For me, there won’t be one.” Her gaze locked with Amy’s. “He’s my ancestor—Courtney’s ancestor. My line of descent will disappear when he dies. He’s not dead now because I’m still here.” She looked across the yard. “He’s being controlled by the monster.”
Another fireball flew at them, but Alyse countered easily. She pushed the fire toward the hillside beside the bunkhouse. The field exploded in flames.
Bay and Bern sent fire at the demon.
Morago caught the flares, one in each hand and laughed. “You boys were never as good at playing with fire as your mother was.” He combined the two balls above his head and launched it back at them.
Amy met it with a jet of water just feet in front of Bernard. The explosion knocked him backward into Sam and Catherine.
“Merril?” Jim said. His rifle still sighted between the demon's eyes. “I need to know.”
“When he goes down, I’ll go down.” Nichole looked from Merril to Jim. “But you have no choice.”
Snarling growls turned Merril’s head. “Wolves. Behind us.” He released Nichole, dropped to his knee and lifted his rifle in one movement. Then he took aim.
A golden flash of light swooped down from above and sped past Merril. From the flicker of light leapt a large black wolf. It landed near the side of the house, between the warded circle and the wolves, and charged into the threatening pack of grays. With its hackles raised, the black wolf was twice the size of the other wolves. It seized the first gray by the head and tossed it aside, and then snarled and jumped at another.
“Your wolves are here,” Jim said to Alyse.
Nichole turned at Jim’s words. A second black wolf chased a pack of grays along the other side of the house toward the road. The grays’ shadowed riders sprang from their backs and arched toward Hunter’s body. Nichole followed the shadows flight, then faced the man in the yard.
Laughter erupted from the demon, and a low rumbling began beneath their feet.
“Our pets are playing. How nice.” Hunter laughed and raised his bloody palms toward the circle. Fist-sized rocks burst from the ground and flew toward them.
Amy raised one hand and half the rocks burst into dust.
The other rocks were blown to the side by Bayard and Alyse.
Bernard launched flaming arcs toward the demon from his kneeling position, but he laughed and stepped closer, juggling flames back faster than Bernard could counter.
Amy blocked the fireball coursing toward her uncle and sank to her knees.
Nichole backed up until she bumped against Merril’s chest. “Take him out,” Nichole ordered Jim.
“Not in the head,” Amy yelled and glanced up at Jim. “In the chest.”
Jim nodded, dropped his line of sight, and fired.
A small hole appeared in Hunter’s vest. The demon laughter ended in a cough of blood. He fell to his knees and collapsed onto his face in the dirt.