StrangeDays (11 page)

Mindy might have argued, he could see from the set of her
jawline. The girl itched for some more action after spraying BoBo with the fire
extinguisher but his girl had brains and she grabbed her friend by the arm
before pulling her toward the bar.

Christian turned his attention to the dogs. “Really, Jonah?”
He called out to his friend but really for the Hell hounds’ benefit. “You could
handle these mangy, pathetic creatures all by your lonesome?”

Jonah pulled a small black glasses holder out of his pocket.
They’d all gotten really good at disguising their weapons so they could bring
them out in public. Jonah tapped the side and the case expanded until it became
a very long, skinny sword.

Christian grinned at the sight. He hadn’t seen that one
before. The
toys
were half the fun of doing the job.

“Well now, Christian,” Jonah responded. “I figured this was
your town and all. Maybe you might like to help me behead these doggies.”

“Sure thing.” He moved forward, pulling his own disguised
weapon out of his pocket. The whip felt right in his hands. He practiced with
it so much. Other weapons could be more lethal but the leather whip always got
the job done.

He struck out, smacking the Hell hound hard in the neck. The
creature surged forward, saliva dripping out of its mouth onto the ground. It
growled, teeth bared, and its eyes told Christian it meant for his death. A
second smack with the leather made the Hell hound hit the ground. Normally, he
would show the dog mercy. It hadn’t been given a choice as to its master. But
with five of them in the vicinity and Jonah swiping at two at the same time, he
knew the people behind him still had three dogs to contend with.

Screams, curses and growling filled the area of the stage.

Christian’s dog wouldn’t get the option of going back to Hell.
It had to die. He wrapped the leather whip around the dog’s neck and he tugged
until it snapped. The Hell beast hit the ground with a thud. When someone came
to clean up this mess later they’d call it a rabid. Everything could be
justified as in the realm of normal. Nice and tidy.

A shout at the bar made his heart stop. He whirled around. Mindy
had jumped up on top of the bar and seemed to be trying to strangle one of the
dogs with the beer tap. It growled and Christian could see she didn’t possess
the strength to keep the action up. Any second, it would lunge…

He rushed forward just as the dog did what he thought it
would do. It went right for her face. She screamed, falling backward on the bar
and then slipping even farther to the back of the bar.

Christian leapt upward and snapped the dog’s neck as soon as
he landed. Mindy groaned, now in Dodie’s arms. Blood flowed freely from the
bite. It gushed down Mindy’s face and all over Dodie who tried to stem the
flow.

He pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to Dodie. “Push
this down on the wound. We need to get her to the hospital.”

Hell hound bites bled profusely. Their teeth, sharper than a
regular dog’s, tore the skin from the body in large chunks. They’d be lucky if
she didn’t bleed out. Suddenly, Jonah was there and before Christian could even
move had Mindy in his arms.

“I’m taking your car.”

Christian handed him his keys and Jonah rushed out the door
with Mindy. He glanced around the room. The dogs were all dead. Several people
cowered near the stage, including one of his fellow dancers who called himself
Ace.

Ace raised his head. “Are they gone?” He stuttered the last
word.

Christian nodded. “They’re gone, man. You can come out.”

Dodie launched herself at him and he caught her mid-jump. “Is
she going to die?” She whispered the words, her head pressed against his neck.

“I don’t know.” He’d never lie to her. “If anyone can save
her, it’s Jonah.”

She nodded. “You and Mindy are all I have in the world.”

There was simply nothing to say to that. Platitudes would
not bring Mindy back to Dodie fully healed. She knew it and whispering nonsense
about everything being fine would only make her upset.

“Let’s go back to my apartment. I want to show you how to
use a sword.”

“I’m the coward.” She sniffed. “Mindy keeps fighting them
and I keep freezing. She watched her boyfriend die and can find the wherewithal
to keep going. What is the matter with me?”

“Dodie, my love.” He kissed her nose. “Not everyone should
be fighting them. Very brave, strong, talented people cannot fight demons. I
don’t want this for you but I am sure with enough time you could do it too
because I see in your eyes that there is nothing you can’t manage. You’re not a
coward. Let’s go home.”

The clown was going to die. Painfully.

Dodie froze as she came into her hallway. They’d avoided the
stairwell so she hadn’t needed to see where BoBo had almost killed her. But
standing outside her apartment nausea hit her hard.
The spiders
. She
still had to face the creepy-crawlies again.

Christian turned to face her. “You okay?”

“No.” She knew they were going into his home, not hers, but
being that close to the arachnids did nothing but remind her of the whole
experience, from start to finish.

His phone rang and he answered it. Her heart sped up. It had
to be Jonah calling about Mindy. The spiders could wait. She wanted to know how
her friend had fared.

“Right. Thanks.” Christian disconnected the line. “They took
her into surgery. A plastic surgeon is going to do the best he can since it’s
her face but it’s likely she’s going to live with a reminder pasted on her face
for the rest of her days.”

“I don’t care about that. She’s going to live?”

He grinned. “She is.”

Dodie let out a big breath. Her friend had been through so
much. Whatever happened next she could only hope Mindy got left out of it. Somehow
she had to see to it that happened.

“Thank goodness.” She nodded. “What are we going to do about
the spiders?”

Christian fell quiet. “I hate to tell you this.”

Not something else. “Just spit it out.”

She’d reached her saturation point on bad news. Whatever he
had to say would just swirl around with the rest of it taking residence in her
brain.

“There were probably not ever really any spiders.”

“That’s impossible.”
No
. She shook her head. “I saw
them and so did Mindy.”

“Of that I have no doubt.” He stepped forward toward her
door. “Don’t you think we’d see them out there? Do you think some of the
spiders wouldn’t have found cracks in the wood somewhere and traveled out here
by now?”

His words made sense. Still, she didn’t like the idea that
she might have imagined the whole thing. “Maybe my apartment is really sealed
up well.”

Christian nodded, his blond hair bobbing up and down on his
shoulders. “Maybe. Should we have a look?”

“No.” She shouted her response and then covered up her
mouth. There were elderly neighbors who might be sleeping. The thought startled
her. “Do you think BoBo got to anyone else in the building?”

“It’s a possibility but not one I’m willing to investigate
until the morning. I can’t wake everyone up to see if they’re okay. They’ll
think I’m nuts.”

“Okay.” She knew he was right. Just because she would never
sleep again didn’t mean everyone had to be driven insane by the night’s events.

Christian approached her door. “Go wait in my apartment.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t mean to be dramatic about
this but every time I separate from you for even a minute over, say, the last
thirty hours—even to sleep—that clown attacks me in some way. Until I have a
sword or something I’m not staying by myself.”

If he thought less of her because she vocalized that fear
there was nothing she could do about that. She certainly liked herself less for
feeling that way. Mindy had rushed a Hell hound and attacked the clown. Dodie
had become her least favorite type of woman. The kind who needed a guy to look
after her. Yet having been in two standoffs with the demon, she knew she would
not react well if he came at her again.

“Then stand back so you don’t have to see any spiders if
there happen to be any in there.”

Christian poked open her door, sticking his head through a
small crack to look around. He straightened back up to look at her. “Other than
the toppled-over furniture, there’s nothing in there.”

“I’m not crazy.” Why did it feel so important to state that?

“I know.” He took her in his arms. “The demon made you see
the whole thing. He’s a powerful son of a bitch and you’ve had no preparation.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes. “Can we stay at your place?”

“Yep.” He stepped away from her and opened the door. She
waited for him to flip on the light and then followed him inside.

“Funny.” She ran her hands through her hair. Her whole body
ached. “It doesn’t look like the home of a demon hunter.”

Christian cocked his head to the side. “Come with me.”

He held out his hand and she took it, following him into the
back of the apartment. As she watched, he undid his closet, revealing a bunch
of hidden panels that had inside them the biggest collection of weapons she’d
ever seen. Swords of all different kinds, guns, knives, a machete. Dodie stuck
her head in farther to take a better look. There were some devices she’d never
seen before and could not put a name to.

“There are three hidden places in the apartment. This one
for weapons. Two more for costumes and books. One of those hidden places is
behind the fireplace, which doesn’t work by the way, does yours?”

The sudden shift in his conversation threw her for a second.
“No. I think it’s illegal for them to really work. Something about insurance.”

“Right.” He nodded. “I guess that makes sense. And the other
one is in the linen closet in the bathroom.”

“Did you build that all yourself?”

He smiled. “I did. I guess you could say I’m handy.”

“Why do you carry the whip and not one of those things?”

Christian pulled out the weapon she’d watched him wield in
the club. He stroked it with one of his fingers before he put it back in his
pocket.

“Because it rolls up and doesn’t take much space. I can hide
it almost anywhere and if it does somehow get discovered I have a whole speech
I give about horses. Don’t ask. Anyway, it gets the job done.” He pulled one of
the swords out of the closet. “I think something like this will work better on
BoBo.”

He handed it to her. She took it and almost dropped it. The
sword, long and thin, had looked lighter than it actually turned out to be. “I
feel like a pirate holding this.”

Christian brushed the hair out of her eyes. “Do you really
want me to show you how to use it?”

“Does a sword work better than a gun at killing a demon?”

“Depends on the demon.” He shrugged. “My guess would be, and
it can only be a guess because I have yet to kill him, is that BoBo will die
better by the blade than the bullet. That’s just my opinion based on other
demons I’ve killed and the ones I’ve studied.”

She handed him back his sword and rubbed her wrist. “I want
you to teach me how to use it.”

“Okay.” He paused for a second. “Now? Or would you like to
take a nap first?”

“Now.” She’d likely never sleep again. “I’m not falling
asleep until I know how to kill it. Okay?”

“Deal.” He nodded, handing the weapon back to her. “Should
we start then?”

* * * * *

Hours later she knew how to hold it semi-properly—two-handed—how
to stand, and the right way to jerk her shoulder when she wanted to plunge the
Estoc
into the clown should it arrive.

“It’s a very old weapon.” He took it from her. She’d never
managed to make contact with Christian’s body, which was a good thing
considering she didn’t want to hurt him but it made her doubt whether or not
she actually could.

“Really? Where did you get it?”

“Master Foy gave it to me when I graduated. We all got
something. That was my gift. He said it would come in handy one day. Now I know
it will bring about the end of BoBo.”

The lights in the room flashed and Dodie yawned. Suddenly,
she was so tired she couldn’t see straight.

Christian took her hand. “It’s dropped about ten degrees in
here.”

“I hadn’t noticed, but now that you mention it, yes—it’s
much colder,” Dodie agreed. “We need to speak to the landlord about all of
these temperature shifts.”

“No. Dodie, I think it would be great to go see Mindy. What
do you say? Sound like a good idea?”

Her head swam and she felt as if she suddenly looked at him
from under water. “I’m not feeling very well. I think I’m going to go lie
down.”

He shook his head and yanked her against him. When he spoke,
it wasn’t to her but to the room in general. “You want to fuck around, asshole?
You take it out on me. Not her. Come in here and fight me. You leave her
alone.”

“But it’s so fun to play with you, Chaser. Hee hee.” BoBo’s
voice sounded through the room and Dodie’s knees buckled.

Oh god. How could she ever have believed she could fight
him? She couldn’t even stand properly when he was around.

“Here.” Christian hauled her into his arms and set her down
on the couch. Before turning around, he handed her the sword. “You hold on to
this. Okay, beautiful?”

How could his voice sound so soft and gentle when he had to
do battle with a demon?

“Christian.” Her voice squeaked. “Please be careful.”

BoBo appeared behind him and he turned around slowly.

“Well hello, Clown.”

Dodie gripped the sword more tightly in her hands. Her palms
sweat. Everything would be okay. If she said it enough perhaps she’d believe
it.

* * * * *

Christian forced his heartbeat to slow down. This would be a
fight like any other fight. He had taken out many demons before and this one
could be killed just as the others had.

A surge of anticipation filled him. It would feel fantastic
to be rid of this nastiness once and for all.

Without letting the demon speak another word, he swung out
with his whip. It smacked into the side of BoBo with a loud snap. The beast
hissed and backed up two steps.

“You see that’s the deal, Dodie.” He spoke to her because he
knew she had to be freaking out. Hearing his voice would keep her calm. “They
take on these forms, these strange, grotesque, sometimes ridiculous forms and
then they have to keep them. I’ve never understood it, really. Why bother
forming a body if it can cause you so much pain?”

“Because this is how we get to play with you.”

BoBo’s hands turned to claws and he lunged for Christian.
Behind him, Dodie hissed in her breath while Christian darted out of the way. The
demon’s eyes had turned so red they looked neon in the way they glowed.

He lunged again and Christian dodged. The clown could
conduct this strange dance as long as he wanted, Christian could
play
just as well as the demon.

The temperature in the room fell another ten degrees and
goose bumps covered Christian’s skin. That couldn’t be good. Icicles appeared
on the ceiling and a large one flung down onto the floor. Christian jumped to
avoid being sliced by the newly formed weapon.

“Tricky.”

The clown turned around and Christian braced for another
attack, knowing he himself would soon take over the fight. Three more moves and
the clown wouldn’t see its beheading coming.

But the clown spun away from Christian. “Listen, I know how
to do this. I’ve been watching you, Chaser. Observing you for years. I’m not
going to
play
with you alone. I’ve brought some friends.”

“What?” Dodie’s voice squeaked and one second later he dove
for her. Damn it. He should have seen it coming.

With a loud bang the windows to his apartment shattered and
the room filled up with bats. They dove, spun and assaulted his room. Dodie
screamed below him as he attempted to shield her with his body. This wasn’t
going to be good. He knew he’d been made vulnerable and the clown knew it too.

“Dodie,” he shouted over the roar of wings. “Listen to me. Something
is going to happen now.” He didn’t want to terrify her but he needed her to be
ready. “I want you to run when it does. Don’t look, baby. I know you love me. Got
it?”

“What?” Her eyes were huge and he gave himself one moment to
stroke the side of her face.

“Run, fast and hard. Don’t ever look back.”

He really would have thought he’d be more terrified when it
came to his own death.

The clown yanked him off Dodie. He looked one more time at
her while the demon plunged his knife into Christian’s gut. “Dodie. I said
run.”

Then there was nothing but pain and the sound of BoBo
laughing hysterically. He supposed he should feel grateful for the blackness
but he would have preferred his last moments to have been him watching Dodie
flee the demon.

* * * * *

A white haze floated around his body. Christian stared down
at his hands, amazed at how fluid they seemed. He had no idea where he was or
how he had gotten there.

He could hear screaming but he couldn’t see from where and
right at that moment he felt…nothing.

“Walk with me, Christian.” Master Foy walked up to him,
placing his hand around his shoulder.

“Okay.” Where had Foy come from?

The white fog around him started to thin and he could make
out figures around him. Faceless people he couldn’t identify. They all seemed
to be strewn on the ground in different ways. One on his knees, another flat on
his back.

“What is going on here?” His pulse quickened. The earlier
peace he’d felt fled quickly the more he realized how completely confused he
had become.

“Give it a second, it will clear.”

Images passed in front of his face. He’d been in his
apartment. Dodie. The clown. Death. She hadn’t run and even if she had…

“Foy. I have to go. Dodie is in trouble. I’ve left her alone
with the demon. Wait.” His head throbbed. “Why would I do that? I would never
leave Dodie alone with a creature of evil.”

“Yes. You would not.” Foy nodded. The man had been the
closest thing to a father Christian had after his own had perished. Yet, as
Christian observed him standing quietly, not uttering a word, it occurred to
Christian just how young Foy himself had to be. Maybe forty? How had the man
accomplished so much at such a young age?

His Master didn’t like to talk about his own life and his
students had speculated often.