Dancing With Monsters (7 page)

“
What’s that?” Malachi
asked.

“
The name of someone that
is going to help us—my uncle gave it to me before we left along
with their phone number.” I folded it back up and stuck it safely
into my pocket.

“
Well, who is it, or are
you going to be secretive.” Nessa grabbed hold of my collar and
gazed up at me.

“
Her name is Ayil Archer,
and she used to work with my uncle before escaping Iethia.” Just
then, a large semi-truck flashed by piercing the darkness with its
headlights. “There’s a road over there.” I started to walk towards
it. “We need to get to the nearest town and contact
Ayil.”

We walked along the ditch littered
with garbage to avoid being seen. Uncle Hes told me to make as few
encounters with humans as possible. The mission I was completing
for him was the most important one he had—I couldn’t let him
down.

“
That mark isn’t helping
you, is it?” Nessa asked suddenly as she walked beside
me.

Another car was coming and we laid
down on the icy ground until it passed.

“
It isn’t working, is it?”
She repeated.

I took in a deep breath. “No,” I
couldn’t lie. “It isn’t working.”

“
She’s weakening though. I
could feel it when we were caught in the portal.” Nessa ran to
catch up with me.

“
Look,” I said in a stern
voice. “We need to concentrate on finding our contact
first.”

“
Don’t you think your
girlfriend haunting you is sort of jeopardizing our mission?” Nessa
was like a fly that kept humming around my head.

“
I have it under control,
and look,” I said, stopping in front of a large green sign that sat
imbedded in the ground by two metal poles and illuminated by a tall
light overhead. “We are entering Tuscany with a population of
eleven hundred.”

It’s almost disturbing how much this
human town of Tuscany resembled the many small towns and villages
of Iethia. Though is shouldn’t surprise me, monsters and humans are
bound by blood—even if it is a distant relation.

It was a quiet town with one main road
running through it. Most of the businesses huddled together along
each side of the street marked Main Street. Houses lined the side
streets, and were illuminated by yellow lights. The clock that hung
in one of the store windows showed it was one in the morning. It
would be midmorning in Duneloc. I wondered if it was Tuesday
morning here or Monday morning.

“
Why are we stopping in
the middle of the street right under a light?” Malachi asked
pulling me to the shadowed sidewalk. “We can’t be seen
remember?”

“
It’s Ezra isn’t it?”
Nessa pounced in my face. “Look, you’re going to have to ignore her
because I’m not going to get caught in this world by some angel or
demon from the hold she has on you.” She pinched me on the
arm.

“
It wasn’t her!” I jerked
my arm away and hovered over Nessa as she scowled at me. “I was
wondering what day it was here. Are we a day behind or ahead from
Duneloc?”

“
The day isn’t important,
and I think Nessa is right.” Malachi looked steadily into my eyes.
“Ezra has a hold on you even though she isn’t with you. You are
still haunted by her until she passes from the
Shadowlands.”

I didn’t want to believe him, but knew
he was right. And more importantly, I didn’t want to let down Uncle
Hes or get my friends hurt. I already endangered them when we went
through the portal. Ezra was suffering in the Shadowlands waiting
for me to join her, but it wasn’t my time to pass.

I took in a deep breath and saw lights
from a lonely building flooding the corner of the street. “There’s
a business up ahead with its lights on. Let’s go see if they have a
phone.”

We went inside the brightly lit
establishment that resembled the market place in Duneloc. It had
all kinds of caned beverages in tall coolers, packaged goods, and
other incidentals one might need. I walked in first followed by
Nessa and Malachi.

“
Excuse me, we are in need
of a phone,” I said to the clerk behind the counter.

She was an older lady with short hair
that had a defined line from brown to the grey strands close to her
scalp. Her wrinkled skin around her eyes deepened with more
wrinkles as her blue eyes glared at me with suspicion.

“
We don’t let the public
use our phone,” said the clerk. “Don’t one of you kids have a cell
phone you can use?” She placed both hands on the counter, squared
her shoulders, and began to tap her fingers on the counter. “Are
you buying anything or what?”

Despite her small stature and age, she
looked like a human that would fight if provoked. I also knew she
wasn’t going to let us use her phone. I had to do something instead
of wasting time, and by the looks of Malachi and Nessa browsing the
store, they weren’t helping me much.

I quickly grabbed her wrist and stared
into her shocked eyes. She tried to pull away and get the wooden
bat under the counter.

Why didn’t I just pull it
out when I seen them kids come up to the door looking like they
were up to no good…and at this hour
. I
could read her thoughts easily, and tried to calm the
woman.

This job isn’t worth eight
dollars an hour!
She was mad over the
position she was in rather than the danger of a stranger grabbing
hold of her. This perplexed me, but I needed to use the phone
without causing too much of a disturbance.

“
Agatha,” I said her name
softly and her angered eyes met mine. “I’m not going to hurt you. I
just want to use the phone to call a friend.”

“
How do you know my name?”
She asked calmly.

We stood facing on another with my
hand wrapped around her wrist. Her hand was relaxed and she stopped
trying to pull away. My ability to compel, had worked on a
human.

Being a monster meant you had gifts.
Mine was the power of compelling, but I was taking a chance of it
working on a human, and by the look on the woman’s face, it was
working well.

“
We need to use your
phone,” I repeated staring into her eyes.

“
That will be five
dollars.” Her eyes didn’t blink and her words slowed, but she still
retained her ability to fight back. “It costs five dollars to use
my phone—local or long distance.”

“
Nessa,” I yelled out
keeping my eyes locked with the clerk’s. “Malachi,” I said and
heard their footsteps come up behind me.

“
Having trouble?” Malachi
asked standing beside me.

“
I need some
currency.”

“
Currency?” Nessa
questioned with a snicker.

“
Yes, I have her compelled
and she will see whatever I give her as five dollars. Any piece of
paper will be fine.” I felt my grip weaken on the woman. My spell
wouldn’t last for long. “Hurry or she’ll be swinging a wooden stick
at us soon!”

Malachi and Nessa rummaged through
their belongings and bickered at one another as they did. Up until
now, I had complete confidence in my friends, but I was beginning
to have second thoughts.

“
Hurry up,” I warned
through gritted teeth.

“
Here,” Nessa said shoving
a dark brown, rectangular shaped piece of paper in front of my
face.

I looked at the bold
letters that said
Hersey’s.
I took it and handed it to the clerk who put it
in her pocket and pulled out a boxy looking device from under the
counter with a circular panel that had numbers on it. Phones
weren’t like this in Iethia. I had no idea how to use.

“
Dial this number,” I
commanded to the clerk as I handed her the piece of paper with
Ayil’s number on it.

She handed me what I assumed was the
earpiece that had a knob at each end and was making a buzzing
sound. I held it close so I could hear when the ringing
stopped.

“
Hello,” a female voice
said at the other end.

“
Ayil Archer?” I asked
pressing it to my ear with a pause at the other end.

“
Yes,” she finally
replied.

“
Hesediel Grayson
sent…”

“
I’ll be right there,” she
said as her voice was replaced with a continuous buzzing
sound.

“
Ayil,” I said her name
and then looked at the earpiece.

She had hung up and was coming, but
how did she know where we were at? I handed the earpiece back to
the compelled clerk who put it away and stood waiting for another
command. I would release her with no memory of us being here when
Ayil arrived.

“
You’re not going to
believe this,” Malachi said, coming up behind me with a canned
beverage in his palm. “I think we’re too late, they are packaging
up the serum and distributing it.”

I looked at the black can
with a burst of color behind the word
Monster
.

“
They’re not even
disguising the name.”

“
Where did you get it?” I
asked.

“
In the cooler.” He
motioned behind him. “They have about a half of dozen different
kinds back there just sitting on the racks and cases upon cases in
the cooler.”

I took the can from Malachi and shoved
it in the clerks face. “Who distributes this to you?”

She looked at the can and then at
me.

“
I said who is giving you
this to sell?” I raised my voice.

“
It comes in a truck and
Pete…he comes every Thursday,” she said with my eyes bearing down
on hers.

Not only could I compel, I also could
also sense lying when I had someone compelled. And she wasn’t
lying, at least not to her knowledge. She knew no more than that it
came off a truck every Thursday.

“
Tell me, do other
establishments carry the same beverage.”

She nodded her head. “We have only
five kinds though.”

I gave Malachi a grim look as the door
suddenly burst open. A petite woman with long grey hair that was
neatly pulled back came in and waved her hand over the clerk’s
face. The clerk’s eyes closed as the woman guided her to the
ground.

“
You shouldn’t have
compelled her. It doesn’t always work well on humans.” Her brown
eyes gazed at me steadily. “I’m Ayil, and you must be Hesediel’s
nephew.”

I nodded my head.

“
Good, then come with
me.”

She turned and I tugged on her
shoulder. “Wait, we found something.” I showed her the
can.

Ayil looked at it and then gave me a
crooked smile. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“
Nice?” I
questioned.

“
It isn’t what you’re
looking for. That is what humans call an energy drink. It won’t
turn them into anything but a bundle of energy. Now, come on, I’ve
been expecting you.”

April

“
The clothes you got me
fit,” I said running my hands over the denim jeans Ben had gotten
me. “It’s been a long time since I’ve worn jeans. I almost forgot
how they feel.” I stood at the end of the bar in the kitchen and
looked at Ben sitting in a chair in the living room. “Thanks,” I
said, after a few moments.

He was smothered in the morning sun
that streamed in through the windows and warmed the house by what
felt like ten degrees. Ben tipped the book he was reading so he
could see me.

He gazed at me for a few moments and
then smiled. “You’re welcome.”

I sat across from Ben who turned his
attention back to the book.

“
Yolanda said she’d be
back in a week to get us.” I leaned closer to him. “So where is she
taking us? You haven’t told me anything, and now I’ve been attacked
by I think more than one demon.” I shivered, still feeling the cold
air that surrounded me. “My encounters had never been like that
before.”

“
You’re right, there was
more than one demon, and I’ve put a protection spell around the
house to weaken them.” Ben appeared confident and acted as though
it was a normal thing to have demons invading your
house.

He gave me a quick smile, and then
started reading his book again. He wasn’t answering any of my
questions.

“
Hey,” I said taking my
finger and tipping the edge of the book down so our eyes met.
“Where is Yolanda taking us?”

Ben’s eyes twinkled. “Here,” he sat
the book he was reading on the floor and walked over to his
bookshelf, “better yet, how about I show you.”

He pulled from the top shelf a large
book about the size of a road atlas.

“
I got this from the night
market in Nethopania and it is a moving picture book of an angel
sanctuary. It’s kind of like a children’s book, but it was designed
so it could be understood by the literate and well as the
illiterate.” He sat next to me on the floor as I leaned over the
arm of the chair.

“
Netho-what…angel
sanctuary…” I raised my eyebrows. “I’m sort of a newbie to all of
this.”