Demon Hunters (7 page)

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” She said
through a torrent of tears. Soon the whole crowd was closing in on
me, smiling and thanking me for their rescue. I caught a few of
their eyes and I started to feel some kind of warmth inside that I
hadn’t felt before, or at least not very often. A fire truck and a
couple police cars came roaring up. The fire truck parked at the
other end of the lot and the fire fighters got their gear ready.
The police stopped close and hurried over to the crowd.

“What the Hell is going on here?” He asked
with a hint of anger. I slinked through the crowd toward him, fully
prepared to describe the situation, but before I could, the parking
lot began to quake. Everyone ran for their cars and hurried away. I
heard the unsettling noise of asphalt tearing apart. I turned to
see all of Snootch’s wrapped up in a giant stalk of black tendrils.
It was pushed up high into the sky and towered over us like a
monument. The police pulled out their guns and fired at it and the
firemen were quickly gathering their axes and hatchets. I stepped
back and heard a car rev up and turned to see Ivar driving toward
me. The car came to a sharp stop in front of me and the passenger
door flew open.

“Get in!” Ivar barked. I did as he said and
Ivar peeled out and in the rearview mirror I saw the giant stalk
that the diner sat upon swing around wildly. Soon after, I saw the
police and fire vehicles racing away.

“Faster,” The entire stalk began to sway and
lean forward. The police car jetted past us with its sirens and
lights blazing. The car jumped a bit as the stalk started to hit
the ground. I saw the whole thing tumbling down on us fast and
quiet. “Faster!” Ivar pulled the wheel hard and we veered to the
left, missing the stalk from crushing us by mere inches. Snootch’s,
which was still clasped by the giant tendrils, exploded in a giant
cloud of smoke and fire. The tendril broke through the ground and
looked as though it had left a rather deep gash in the highway.

Ivar kept driving on and past the smoldering
remains up ahead and beyond. I watched as the lights and excitement
shrunk away in the rearview mirror.

Cautionary Measures

I filled Ivar in about Sam’s message on the
way to the airfield. Ivar suddenly turned off the main road and
started down a rather rough dirt patch. We went for a few miles
toward a small forest of sorts stuck in the middle of nowhere. It
was like a small park with a field of grass and a few thick banks
of trees surrounding it. Ivar parked in an out of the way spot and
got out.

“Come on.”

“This doesn’t look like an airfield to
me.”

“We need to take a little precaution first.”
Ivar walked over to a small clearing nearby. It was a small patch
of rocks and dirt near a modest pond. He started searching around
the area picking up rocks, twigs and flowers.

“What are you doing?”

“Figuring out what we’ve got to work with.
Wait here.” Ivar then went back to the car. He popped the trunk and
pulled out a large brown case. He returned and sat himself down on
a nearby log. He set the case before him and opened it up. He
pulled out a bucket and some bottles and began sorting them
around.

“What is all that?”

“My tools.”

“Could you explain a bit more?”

“Do you realize every time you’ve been
attacked by some demonic thing, you were thinking about the demon
just moments before?”

“I guess. So? You said it knows where I
am.”

“It does, but it’s not strong enough to
close in on you that quickly. Or it shouldn’t be. Everytime you
even think about it, it finds us. We’re going to fix that.” He
started to arrange the small rocks he had found into a circle and
filled it with kindling.

“By camping?”

“No. I am going to hide you.” Ivar then set
the kindling on fire and the flames rose up into the air. Ivar
reached back into his case and started pouring things into his
bucket.

“Hide me?” I sat down next to Ivar.

“Yes. I know of an elixir that will block
you from the demon.”

“For how long?”

“Long enough, I hope.” Ivar emptied bottle
after bottle of nasty fluids into the bucket. A breeze blew by and
the scent shot up at me and caused me to fall back.

“How much of that shit is piss?”

“It only has a little toad urine.”

“Man! You are sick.”

“I learned this from an old witch doctor in
Spain two years ago.”

“This stuff is really important to you,
isn’t it?”

“These are the practices and beliefs that we
were all born from. Our sense of progression has caused many to
lose their way, but I have always seen it as my personal
responsibility to reconnect with that ancient part of life that we
owe so much to. They all think the answers lie in the future, but
it’s the past that holds the promise of the next world.”

“So for all this witchery, you wouldn’t be
able to just cure me?”

“Yours is a special case. I just hope this
works.”

“You hope? You just said it’ll block me from
the demon.”

“Yes, but only from the demon that possessed
you.”

“There are others?” Ivar turned away from me
and set the bucket, which was then brimming with a greenish red
fluid, onto the fire.

“Your curse leaves you vulnerable.”

“I’m not cursed right now. The demon’s
gone.”

“The demon that was inside you wasn’t the
curse. It was a symptom of the curse.”

“Excuse me?”

“As a Corba, you are marked. Certain primal
forces are naturally drawn to you. Primarily dark primal forces.
Evil.”

“In other words, I’ve got a cosmic ‘kick me’
sign taped to my back forever.”

“Even if The One can free you of the demon,
you may still remain cursed. I’m sorry,” I got up from my seat and
paced around. I could hear the crackle of the fire and the brushing
of leaves along the dirt. “It’s not fair, I realize that, but you
must have faith in the universe. It deals in balance. It balances
the good with the bad.”

“Would you just shut up for a god damn
minute?” My shoulders began to grow heavy. I turned back around and
saw Ivar stooped before his bucket. Black smoke was puffing up into
the air. He looked down inside of it and looked back to me.

“It’s ready.”

Ivar drew out a small triangle and
instructed me to stand in the middle of it. He held the bucket
before me.

“One more ingredient.”

“What’s that?” Ivar then pulled out a small
knife and looked down at my hands. “Blood? Again?”

“It is the fluid of life. Blood holds the
most essential part of us and what we are made of and this potion
needs to have your essence.”

“Just make it quick,” I held my hand out.
Ivar gave my thumb a quick poke and squeezed a drop out into the
bucket. It suddenly bubbled and coughed up a puff of steam. Ivar
turned away and poured some into a small paper cup he had and then
handed it to me. “What do I do? Soak in it?”

“Drink.”

“Excuse me? You want me to drink this shit?
It smells like puked up piss.”

“You have to drink it. It’s the only way to
mix it with your blood.” I looked at the cup. It was warm in my
hand. I took a deep breath and chugged it down as quickly as I
could. It burned my mouth and throat as I guzzled it. It was like
pounding a shot of battery acid. I felt my legs weaken, but Ivar
quickly grabbed me and kept me up. When I finally felt the last bit
splash down my throat, I threw the cup down into the fire.

“How do we know it worked?” Ivar looked to
me as though I had figured out the one question he had no answer
for. He looked down like a confused child.

“Faith, Jake. We’ll just have to have
faith.”

We were back on the road as soon as Ivar
packed his stuff back up. We were surrounded by barren desert. The
highway wore down to a soft dirt road and we turned off and headed
toward a small wooden shed miles off.

As we got closer, I could see the planes
nearby and realized that was our destination. We drove up and I saw
a large, cracked asphalt lot next to a broken runway behind the
wooden shack. I only saw one small plane in the lot. It looked
sturdy, but old. Ivar parked the car in front of the shack and a
wily looking guy came running out. He had frizzed red hair and wild
eyes.

“Ivar!” He called out as we approached.

“Good to see you, Jesse.” Ivar said as he
shook the guy’s hand.

“Who’s this?”

“This is Jake Corba. My friend.”

“Oh. Any friend of Ivar is a friend of
mine.” Jesse then took my hand. His grip was tight and sweaty.

“Thanks. Is that the plane?”

“Betsy, yeah. Good girl too. I cut my teeth
on her.”

“Really? How old is ‘she’?”

“Twenty. Twenty-five years. Don’t be fooled
though. She runs like they put her together yesterday. Good old
American engineering lasts a lifetime. Or two. Right, Ivar?”

“Right. How soon before we can take
off?”

“Not long. I just need to file the flight
plan and do a last minute inspection. Just sit a moment and relax.”
Jesse hurried over to Betsy.

“Seriously? That guy?”

“Jesse is a marvelous pilot. He’s flown all
over the world and hasn’t had a single accident. He can get through
storms of any magnitude. I trust him with my life.”

“I guess you kind of have to, right?”

“He does have a streak of color to him.”

“I’m just a little nervous. Is it really
safe for us to fly with a demon gunning for us? It’s obviously
getting stronger.”

“It’s a risk, but if we drive it would take
longer, giving the demon more time to get even stronger, and this
all will have been for nothing in that case.”

“Good point. It’s not far, right?”

“By plane? No. A few hours. Maybe less the
way Jesse flies.”

“Don’t try to make me feel better.”

Burning Man

The plane ride was relatively smooth, save
for a few wind shears along the way. Jesse seemed to fly as though
he knew he had passengers, but still wanted to go ‘Top Gun’ despite
that fact.

The state of his plane wasn’t much better
either. It seemed good old American engineering could keep the
plane in the air, but was unable to keep the exhaust fumes from
seeping in. Ivar and I had to keep our hands cupped over our faces
for the entire flight. Jesse didn’t seem to mind, but by the way he
acted, I figured all the damage that could have been done to his
brain had already been done.

We landed at a small airport that was just
stuck out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by desert. It wasn’t
much of an airport. Just two terminals and from the condition they
appeared to be in, not many employees.

As we taxied across the tarmac, I saw only a
few other planes, no bigger than Jesse’s. When we finally came to a
stop, the door flew open and I dashed out. As I did, the air nearly
blasted me back. The sun was beating down and heat was radiating up
from the ground. I could sense the aroma of livestock nearby but I
couldn’t see where it was coming from.

“Where are we?”

“Just a few miles north of a small town
known as Diablo Luto.”

“Great. Couldn’t we have gone all the way to
Hell?”

“Did you think at all about the demon?”

“Yeah.”

“And we weren’t attacked. The potion must be
working then.”

“Woo hoo. Let’s just get out of here.” I
turned away and started towards the entrance to the nearest
terminal with the hope they had air conditioning or at least a
bar.

“I’d think you’d be somewhat happy about
that.”

“I am. Don’t get me wrong, but who cares?
It’s a band-aid. I got this demon off my back, fine, but like you
said, I could still be cursed for the rest of my life. I’m going to
have to keep looking over my shoulders until the day I die.”

“The One could still be able to cure
you.”

“Maybe we should just stop here. I should
just let the damn thing kill me. I’d be better off.” I walked into
the terminal. The air was barely cooler inside. I felt Ivar place
his hand on my shoulder. I looked over to see him actually smiling
at me.

“Sometimes our faith is rewarded.” He pushed
past me toward a small desk that had a sign over it that said ‘car
rentals’.

Ivar was able to rent out the last car that
was available. A beaten up, rusted out heap of junk shaped like a
jeep. It was covered in a thick layer of dirt and mud. The seats
were torn and blistered with only some loose rope serving as seat
belts.

We got in and Ivar started the jeep up. The
engine sounded like it had a cat stuck inside of it and smelled
like it too. Ivar drove the truck out into the desert. I noticed he
chose to bypass the main road, which looked to lead to a small
cluster of buildings a few miles away in favor of an arid landscape
that seemed to go on forever. We bounded over sand dunes as I
gripped the seat to just keep inside the car as it tumbled across
the burning sea of sand.

“You do know where you’re going, right?”

“I’ll know where we need to be when we get
there.”

“A simple ‘no’ would be fine.”

“I am trying to follow the energy.”

“Are you sure you’re not following the
sun?”

Suddenly, we came up over a large hill and I
felt a wave of relief when I saw what appeared to be a cluster of
buildings and tents with millions of people surrounding them far
off in the distance.

Ivar drove down the hill and it was so
steep, I was sure the jeep was going to flip over. We landed hard
on the flat rock surface and accelerated toward the encampment. As
we got closer, I could see it looked like a temporary set up and I
could hear music.

“Burning Man!”

“What?”

“This is Burning Man! That art commune thing
they do every year! You brought us to Burning Man?”