Hunters in the Night (2 page)

She
was scared, but she wasn’t terrified. I could tell this lady had some
experience with stressful situations. As her emotions gave way to cold logic, I
could almost see the internal battle play out on her face. Her wide eyes
narrowed. Her gaping mouth closed. When she spoke again, I could tell she was
ready.

“What
should we do?” she said.

“Run,”
I said.

“In
this snow?”

“I’ll
handle that,” I said. “Just hold my hand and run. Whatever you do, don’t let
go.”

I’d
never cast a featherweight on two people at once before. But I figured it
couldn’t be much different in principle. I kept my mind focused on making
myself light as a feather, and I imagined that the spell’s effect ran along my
arm, across my hand, and over to the woman that I was trying to save from
becoming dinner. Her expression changed. I could tell she felt something, but
she didn’t say anything. We slipped out of the car as quietly as we could, and
our footsteps left no marks on the deep snow.

“How
are you doing this?” she whispered to me as we scurried away.

“Magic.”

“Is
that . . . real?”

“Yes,”
I said. “Surprise.”

It
was so dark I couldn’t see much as I led her away. We heard a sharp howl behind
us. I felt my companion tighten her grip on my hand. “What is it?” she
whispered.

“A
nachtjäger,” I said. “A hunter in the night. Very nasty creature that will
start chasing us very soon.”

“Can’t
you get rid of it?”

“Kind
of,” I said. “I can get it to stop following
me
. But not
you
. I can’t hide you from it.
Nachtjägers are smart hunters, and they go for the easiest prey.”

“So
just kill it then.”

“I
can’t,” I said. “At least not without some help. I never finished my training.
Killing that kind of creature with just magic is way out of my league.”

“So
what are we supposed to do?” she asked.

“We
improvise,” I said.

I
had walked around this neighborhood many times since I started my night
watchman gig. I always liked to have detour options to avoid trouble or
annoying construction. I used to joke with Bob, my co-worker, that I could
navigate this area with my eyes closed. Tonight I was going to test that
theory. Of course, nightcrafters have other senses besides sight at their
disposal. The craft provides a sort of sixth sense that I imagine must be a lot
like how bats “see” the world through echolocation.

I
recalled the small professional photography shop about a block ahead. It was
owned by an old guy named Oscar — a nice man who had given me some discounts on
stuff when I was broke. I hoped he wouldn’t mind what I was about to do to his place.

I
ran to Oscar’s photo shop, dragging my new ward behind me. Her palm was so
sweaty and slick I had to squeeze extra hard to make sure she stayed with me. I
could feel the nachtjäger’s presence — still far behind, but getting closer.

The
store was locked up tight with one of those pull-down metal gates and a huge
padlock. I took a moment to compose myself before casting a simple spell that
solidified the darkness inside the lock and depressed the locking pins. Through
the Rift I could feel the tiny pins rise. I twisted, and the lock popped open.

The
woman next to me started lifting the gate before I even got the lock off. I
still felt no real terror from her, but she definitely had a sense of urgency.
I couldn’t blame her for that. I could hear the nachtjäger’s heavy footfalls
approaching.

I
slammed the gate behind us, hoping that it would delay our pursuer for a little
while. The shop’s door required another quick unlocking spell. It swung open,
we scrambled inside the shop, and took deep, relieved breaths. We’d avoided
death so far, but I knew that the thin metal gate was too flimsy to stand for
long against a nachtjäger.

Sure
enough, seconds later, the gate started to rattle. Then it started to crumple.

I
flicked a light switch on the wall. As I feared, nothing happened. The power
outage had affected this block too. My female companion tried to feel her way
in the dark, and she headed away from the creature as quickly as she could
manage. “Where’s the back door?” she asked.

“Don’t
worry about it,” I said. “We’re not leaving.” I started rifling through the
shelves of photography equipment in search of what I needed.

“Didn’t
we just come in here to lose that thing?” she asked.

“No,”
I said. “Trying to lose it would just slow it down a little. It would keep
chasing. Even if we could somehow throw it off our trail, it would just find
someone else to munch on.”

“So
what did we come in here for?”

“These,”
I answered. I held in my hands several boxes of modeling lamps.

My
new lady friend’s face twisted into a scowl as she said, “What the hell are you
going to do with those?”

“Just
trust me, and help me set them up.”

Oscar
had a white tarp set up for budding fashion photographers to test out their
equipment. It was in an open area in the back of the store. I walked to it as I
ripped open the boxes and shoved a pair of the lamps to my companion.

“So
what’s your name?” I asked her, realizing that we hadn’t had time to do basic
introductions.

“Dominique,”
she said.

“Well,
Dominique, I need you to screw the stands into the lamps, and then plug those
cables into this box here.”

“I
can’t see anything,” Dominique said.

“Just
feel it out. There’s not much to d—”

SCREEEEEEE

My
words were cut off by the terrible screeching of metal shearing as the nachtjäger
shredded its way through the security gate. We didn’t have much time.

“Work
fast, Dominique.”

We
worked feverishly. I could hear Dominique breathing hard. My heart was pounding
so fast I could practically feel it in my ears, and I was sweating despite the
frigid temperatures. I had to guide Dominique’s hands to finish the last of the
connections, but in twenty long, agonizing seconds we had the setup complete.

I
damn near pissed myself when the storefront window exploded as the shadowy
creature burst through. I could feel the floor shake when it landed.

“Stand
behind the lights,” I told Dominique. “It’ll come after you.”

“You’re
just going to shine some
lights
on it?” she said. Her calm composure was starting to crack, but she still did
as I told her.

“Yes,”
I said. “That’s all we need.” The nachtjäger bounded forward. I could feel its
hunger and excitement through the Rift as much as I could feel its thundering
footsteps through the floor.

“I
see a flaw in your plan,” Dominique said. “Don’t we need electricity for these
things?”

The
nachtjäger sprinted towards Dominique — right into the center of the four lights we had set up.

“They’re
battery powered,” I said. Then I hit the “on” switch.

Brilliant
white light streamed from the lamps and bathed the dark animal in radiance. For
just a fraction of a second, I could actually see our stalker with my eyes. It
was terrifying — muscular and massive. Its claws were like long, gleaming,
obsidian scythes. Its face was a mask of scales and teeth. The image of the
fearsome creature lasted only long enough to register in my brain before the
bright lights annihilated it. The nachtjäger dissolved into nothing more than
wisps of shadow, like cigarette smoke floating away on a lazy breeze. I heard a
loud “POP”, like the sound of a huge vacuum-sealed jar of pickles opening, and
I knew that the creature was gone forever.

Dominique
exhaled a breath she’d probably been holding for a few seconds. “Is that it? Is
it over?”

“For
now,” I said.

“Thank
you,” Dominique said.

“You’re
welcome.”

Dominique
leaned against the nearest wall and wiped sweat from her brow. “So . . . who
are you exactly?”

“No
one in particular,” I said. “My name is Kalani. You can call me Kal.”

“Okay,
Kal. What do we do now?”

“We
sit here,” I said, “wait in the light, and hope these batteries last until
sunrise.”

It
turns out we didn’t have to wait until sunrise. Instead, Dominique called the
cavalry.

She
and I sat in the center of those bright, hot lights for an hour. It took that
long for the boys in black to arrive. These were not the boys in blue — not
your typical NYC beat cops. These guys rolled up in a massive black truck with
huge floodlights on the top and a plow attachment that tossed the snow aside
like it was just confetti. The men wore black gear and masks, and they carried
sub-machine guns. The local police were just the junior varsity squad. These
guys were the all-star team.

When
they showed up, I figured my work was done and I’d disappear into the remaining
bits of early morning darkness. I’d never missed my tiny apartment, but in that
moment it was the only place I wanted to be. But Dominique had other plans. She
grabbed me by the arm and said, “You should come with me. I have to reward
you.”

“I
didn’t do it looking to get rewarded,” I said.

“That’s
exactly why you should be,” she answered. “Come on. It’s cold, and you must be
tired. I’ll get you a room at the nicest hotel in the city.”

“Really.
It’s not necessary.”

Dominique
frowned. “A generous woman with some well-armed friends just gave you a nice
gesture of gratitude for saving her life. It would be impolite to turn her
down.”

“Fine,” I said.

The
guys with guns swept Oscar’s place thoroughly before they retraced our path to
retrieve Dominique’s car and the corpse of her unfortunate bodyguard. Then they
made way for some new guys carrying an assortment of cases and gadgets;
equipment I’d never seen before. Dominique led me into the back of their now
empty truck and we sat down on the cold metal benches. One black-clad soldier
stood guard outside.

“So,”
I said, pointing my thumb at our guard, “are these friends of yours?”

“Employees,”
Dominique said. She reached into a metal compartment next to her, retrieved a
small laptop, and started typing.

“So
they work for you?” I said. “Where do you work?”

“The
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

I
gave her a blank stare.

“NATO,”
she said.

“Ohhh,”
I said. “Yeah. This all makes sense then.”

Dominique
gave me a wry smile. “You have no idea what NATO does, do you?”

“Sure
I do. It’s like the United Nations . . . but with guns, and no Russia.”

She
nodded. “Something like that. NATO doesn’t have much of an official presence
here in New York, but my department works as a special . . . unofficial . . .
liaison to the UN.”

“Unofficial,
eh?” I said. “Don’t I need security clearance just to talk to you?”

“You
would if we were talking about things that both of us didn’t already know
about.”

“Yeah,”
I said, wincing. “About tonight . . . obviously that’s some stuff I wouldn’t
suggest talking about in public. People might think you’re crazy. Let’s just
keep this between us.”

“The
proverbial cat is already out of the bag, Kal. We already know about your
kind.”

My
eyebrows shot up and my mouth dropped open. “You do?”

“Yes.
Although I believe I’m the first NATO staffer to actually meet one.”

“What
do you know?” I asked.

“We
know you have some very special abilities. That’s about it really.”

“Who
told you this?”

“No
one,” Dominique said. “We discovered people like you on our own. It might have
been easy for you people to hide a hundred years ago, but we have many more
information gathering techniques at our disposal now.”

“What
exactly would those techniques be?” I asked.

Dominique
shook one of her fingers at me. “
That
is one of those classified things
you don’t have clearance to know.”

“Interesting,”
I leaned back and crossed my arms. “I’m guessing your generosity isn’t just
about gratitude.”

“I
won’t deny that I don’t want to waste the opportunity to have someone with your
abilities join my team,” Dominique said.

“Join
your team? Whoa now, girlfriend. Back up the truck.”

“I’m
just putting all the cards on the table,” she said. Her laptop beeped and she
turned her attention back to it. “I see no point in trying to deceive you. You
said you never finished your training. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that
you didn’t leave on the best of terms.”

“That
doesn’t mean I’m eager to roll into a government job.”

“This
isn’t an ordinary government job, Mr. Kai,” Dominique said.

I
paused. “How . . . I don’t recall telling you my last name.”

“You
didn’t,” she said, pointing to her laptop. “But you did tell me your first
name, and there aren’t many men under forty named Kalani in the state’s ID
database — which I happen to have access to.”

“Great,”
I said. “That’s just . . . great.”

“Back
to the job offer,” Dominique said. “You’d be in a unique role, and the perks
would be considerable. I strongly suggest you accept.”

“NATO
doesn’t exactly have a flawless reputation,” I said. “I have plenty of reasons
to leave right now.”

“That’s
very true. So what wonderful things can I do to make you stay?”

“Are
you trying to seduce me?” I asked.

“In
a way, yes. But not with sex. I get the impression you wouldn’t be interested
anyway.”

“You’re
damn right about that,” I blurted out before thinking. Then my sense of decency
made me wince. “Sorry. No offense.”

“None
taken,” she said. “So what
will
it take for you to consider joining us?”