Part 10 (1/2)

”Okay. What you saw tonight was a kind of...” He seemed to be searching for a word he could work with, I waited. ”Demon.” He finally said. I looked at him blandly. What was I supposed to say? To think? I was expecting some kind of tale about some rare mountain animal that had accidentally found its way down into the woods around our little town. I was not expecting the word demon to be thrown out there like it was an everyday occurrence. Hey, no big deal, right? WRONG!

”A demon?” I asked; not that I thought he'd lie to me...but maybe he was the one off his rocker. ”Like, from h.e.l.l?”

”No. Demon isn't actually the right word for it either, but it's a simple one, so we use it. It's a sort of an evil ent.i.ty...though it's not really a spirit either. It's been around since man, but it's not a heaven or h.e.l.l, or a G.o.d or a Devil thing. It's just something that's been here since time, and man has been fighting it since time. There are groups of us called hunters, we seek them out and destroy them. We were alerted to a concentrated number of them here in Webber last year, and that's why we're here.”

I looked around the room at everyone, they seemed to be watching me intently.

”Mmmhmm.” I said, my eyes found their way back to Jake. Of course, I finally get a boyfriend, and a really hot one at that, and he turns out to be completely loony-toons. ”And, everyone in this room is a hunter?” When he nodded, I went on. ”And what exactly is it that these demons do? I mean, why do you need to be hunting them?”

”Well, they kill. Innocent people.”

”Really? So why have I never heard of a single news report of demons attacking and killing people?”

”You have, you just don't know you have. Over half the deaths you hear about are caused by demons. Car accidents where only one car is involved. Drownings, people falling down stairs or getting lost in the woods, things of that nature. Even some deaths deemed to be caused by natural causes, like heart attacks, strokes, brain aneurisms; etcetera.”

”Wow.” I needed to find a way to escape, these people were nuts. ”Well, if they're such powerful demons that need hunters to track them and kill them, why do they resort to sneaky tricks, like disguised car accidents, to kill people?” Yeah, answer that one fruit loop.

”Because most people can't see them.”

I laughed then. Oh lord. I couldn't help it. This was insane, and I didn't want to partic.i.p.ate anymore. I took a step away from Jake.

”Remi?” He asked and took a step towards me. I held up my hand to hold him off.

”Please, just stay there. I don't even know what I am supposed to say right now.” I took several more steps back, and Jake didn't follow. I knew it was because I asked him not too, it made me almost sad. He was so gorgeous, and he'd taken Bob out for me. He kissed like it was the end of the world and it was the one thing he wanted to go out doing. Why did he have to end up being certifiably insane? Because that was just my freaking luck, wasn't it? I was destined to always be either disappointed or underwhelmed. I turned and ran. I ripped open the front door and had only taken one step out when I heard Jake call out my name.

And I screamed.

I was not a screamer by nature, even when Bob was playing bongos on my ribs I always managed to use my inside voice. But if a girl was going to scream, then seeing a long line of big, horned, red eyed demons standing at the end of your boyfriend's driveway was a pretty good reason to start using your outside voice.

”Remi!” Jake grabbed me around the waist and swung me behind him, he scanned the area quick and shoved me back inside. ”Get inside!” He ordered to everyone else. He slammed the door shut and gathered me up in his arms. I buried my face in his chest and cried ”oh my G.o.d” over and over again.

”Well, I think she believes us now.” Mr. Wagner said and patted my back. ”I'll go call Mick's team, he can make a patrol through here when he's done in town.”

”We'll be in the kitchen.” I felt Jakes voice rumble through his chest and felt intensely bad for thinking him crazy. Or if he was crazy, then I was too. ”Come on.” He said gently to me and led me down the hall. He set me on a bar stool at the island and poured me a gla.s.s of water, I drank a little while I tried to wrap my brain around what I saw. A thought occurred to me and I nearly jumped from my chair.

”Can they get in here?”

”No.” Jake took the seat next to me, while everyone else either occupied the other seats around the island or stood around it. ”We have protections we use on our boarders. So far they haven't been able to cross them.”

”So far?” I asked and took another sip of water. It was cold and felt good on my throat.

”Well, over the years they've been developing a tolerance, if you will, to our protections, so we're constantly changing them. So far this one is holding up. Unfortunately though, it does mess with our resources, so we can't protect everyone. Just homes, borders. If someone leaves their house at night or their neighborhood in some cases...there's not much we can do for them. Our teams are small, so we can't go out and keep an eye on each and every individual person.”

”Your teams?”

”Yes, there are groups of us scattered around every city in the country that has an infestation. It helps to have more than one team for each city, that way while one group is hunting, the other can rest, or mend if their fight has been particularly bad.”

I took that in. The bandage on his wrist? I bet that wasn't a football injury. But I asked instead; ”You're protections...is there one around my neighborhood?” Jake nodded. ”My house?” I knew I shouldn't worry about Bob...but I couldn't help it.

”Yes.” Jake said, seeing where my mind was, even though I'm sure he didn't think I should worry about Bob either. ”Your house had its own protection, I put it there myself. We try to restrict the beings to woods as much as possible. It keeps them away from the human population and it's safer to hunt and to fight if we know we don't have to go through buildings or around people.”

”Kendra?” I whispered. Jake nodded.

I ran my hands through my hair. I had roughly two million more questions, but I was already having a hard time wrapping my head around what I'd already been told. I just couldn't seem to process it; but I still had to know more.

”You said, not everyone can see them. Why can I? Why can you?”

Jake shook his head. ”I don't know. We haven't really been able to figure out why some of us can see them but so many others can't.”

”So, since I can, does that mean I have to become a hunter?”

”That's entirely up to you.”

Mr. Wagner stepped into the kitchen.

”They're gone, back into the woods. But Mick's going to do a scout out this way a bit later.” Jake frowned and looked at his father.

”Any idea why they'd line up at the border like that?” He asked.

Mr. Wagner shook his head then looked to me.

”You alright?”

”No.” I answered simply and honestly. Jake smiled and took my hand, I held his tightly. I still had more questions.

”So, if my home had extra protections, how were they able to get into my dreams? I mean, do the protections not guard against that?”

Every single pair of eyes in the room rocketed in on me, Jake's grip on my hand tightened until I almost winced.

”What? What is it?” I was already bracing myself for another shock. Those looks couldn't mean good things.

”What kind of dreams?” He asked me.

”I don't know, it was of them. I mean, at the time I didn't know it was them, I had never actually seen one, just shadows and eyes in between trees; but the things I saw out there tonight, that was what I saw in my dream. How could I have known what they looked like before I'd ever actually seen one?”

There were swear words murmured all around.

”Oh, G.o.d. What? You're freaking me out, and I'm already freaked out to the max here people!”

”She's the one?” Ana muttered.

”They were lined at our border for her.” Quinn said.

That did not sound good.

”Why for me? Jake?” Jake shook his head, he brought my hand to his lips, kissed it and then held it there, like he didn't want to be the one to tell me this part.