The Hunt

Chapter Eleven

A Big Gamble

           The leg was flying at me face fast. I just barely ducked in time. I was getting better, but not good enough. Michael brought his knee up and hit me in the forehead. I fell over and grabbed my head. “ FUDGE!” I yelled. It was the seventh time Michael had gotten the better of me in a fight. John stood by the apple tree. Though he didn’t say anything, but the disappointment was in his face. I gritted my teeth. I prepared for another spare with Michael. He too got ready, his face was grim. The first few time he won he had laughed and even mocked me, but it was becoming obvious I wasn’t winning any of these matches. “ Okay,” Michael said. “ I’m a demon and I am about to attack you. What is your first move?”

“Um…run?” Michael closed his eyes and shook his head, “ Holy water genius. Followed by a devil’s trap if possible. Then exorcism, If no devil’s trap be ready to fight or go straight to exorcism.” I nodded, “ okay.”

            “ Okay so next surprise attacked then,” Michael said , “ What do you do?”  I was about to answer when someone plowed in to me from behind.  I landed hard on my face and the breath was knocked out of me. There was a huge weight crushing me. I heard Michael breath in and say, “ Well please don’t kill him.” John sighed and climbed off my back.  I gasped and coughed. I looked at John, and thought he was a lot heavier than he looked. I got up and looked at my feet. I was completely useless in a fight.

            We were resting under the apple tree when Michael looked at me and said, “ Is it genetic?” I narrowed my eyes at him, “ Huh?” “ Well you look like you got some muscle. Yet you can’t fight or defend yourself to save your life. So are your muscles genetic?” I chuckled, “ No baseball. Mostly pitching.” “ Ah.”

            We got back up to try again. I actually go some good hits in to is sides and head. I kicked him in the shin and tripped him. He stood up and put his hand out,” Not bad. Not great, but better.” I took his hand. He then grabbed my upper arm and wrist, turned away from me, threw my arm over his shoulder, and flipped me. I landed on my  back and he put his foot on my chest. It hurt, but not bad. I looked up at a laughing Michael. He put his handout and helped me up.

            We went in to the house and John said, “Well?”  Michael started laughing again and said , “ Gooder.”  John scrunched his brows, “ Gooder?” Michael shrugged. Sam – who was in the room – “remember the song, mom taught us?” “ No Sammy please. Enlighten me.” Michael said. Sam rolled her eyes and whispered as if embarrassed, “ Good, better, best. Never let it rest till your good gets better and your better gets best.” Michel raised his eyebrows and left the room talking to himself. I was staring at Sam like she was crazy. “What?” She snapped. I pit my hands up in surrender, “ Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“ Ya that’s what I thought.”

            Later that afternoon Claire and Michael were setting outside. I was with in earshot so I sat there listening. It wasn’t that I was being nosey, but I didn’t want to disturb them by moving. So I sat uncomfortably behind the Camaro bored out of my mind. “So Maybe we could go out and  see a movie or something. I’m sure Sam could find someone to go with.” Michael said. I heard Claire sigh, “ Michael I get Sam is your sister and all, but you don’t have to take her everywhere you go.” ‘I can’t just leave her,” “Well  then you take her and I’ll stay here.” “ Well what about us? We never go out!” Michael complained. Claire sat up and practically hissed, “ Us? There is no us, Michael. It always you, me , and  Sam. As long as Sam is surgically attached at your hip there will NEVER be an us.” She got up and walked away without another word.  I sat there unmoving and unsure of what to do. “ Joey! How long have you been there?” Darn it, I thought. “Um… not long?”  “ So you heard the whole thing then?” I nodded. “So can you do me a favor. After all you owe me one.”  Michael said. “ How do I ‘owe’ you one?” I asked. “ I saved your behind from that demon. You could be dead if it weren’t for me.” He bragged. “: You a little full of yourself today. Aren’t you?” I said. He looked down and shook his head. “ You ungrateful little…” John came walking up and he looked beyond mad. Michael and I stood very still. When John was happy he was scary, imagine him angry. Imagine a rattlesnake before it sees you, scary right? Now imagine that same snake as it prepares to strike. “MICHAEL! Where is it?”  “ Where’s what?” Michael asked. “Where’s what.” John mocked angrily. “ My keys!”  He yelled when Michael didn’t say anything. I walked away not wanting to be there anymore.

            It was getting dark out so I went back to the house. I decided to go take a shower. As I walked down the hall I heard Michael and John laughing so I figured they worked it out. I grabbed so sweatpants and a tee shirt. I walked into the bathroom and got in the shower. I was sore from training. I thought I head someone open the door. “ Hello?” No answer. Maybe not.. I got out and dried off. Then I grabbed my… where was my clothes. “ MICHAEL!” I heard laughing outside the door. But it wasn’t Michael. I wrapped a towel around myself and went to my room. I put on my clothes and went in to the kitchen.  Claire was sitting there eating a sandwich left over from dinner. I knew she didn’t like me but I said, “Hi.” She looked at me swallowed and said , “ hi.”   I looked out the window and seen the Camaro was gone. “ Where is every one?” “ Out.”

“ Where to…”
“On a hunt.” She said.

“Hey this may sound crazy but did you steal my clothes?” I asked.

“Yep, you caught me, “ she said sarcastically. “ I have quite a liking of your style. In fact I was planning a raid on your dresser just now.”

“ Never mind.” I mumbled as I rolled my eyes.

 “So I got a lead on the Shtriga.” She said. Walking over to stand beside me at the sink.

 I shifted my position to look at her. “What’s that?”

“The thing that hurt your sister. Black hood. Monster…”
“ NO I mean what’s the lead.” I snapped.

“ Oh. In Fairlea 3 kids have fallen in to comas. All have been an only child and their windows mysteriously opened during the night.”

“Here’s a question: how do you kill it?”

She frowned, “ I don’t know.”

“Excuse me? How do you expect to kill it if you find it?”

 She shrugged.   “ Any way. Why didn’t you go with the others?”

“ We only ever send three people on small hunts, and Sam needs practice.”

“ Liar. Your avoiding Michael.” I said. Why did I just say that?!  I thought.

 Her eyes got wide in shock, “ What could you possibly know about that?”

“Um.. nothing never mind. It’s not my place to say anything.”
She turned toward me and put her finger in my face, “ that’s right. You don’t know a darn thing about me and Michael. And further more even IF you did it’s still none of your business!”

I walked across the room and sat down on an old, dirty, red recliner.

I remembered the time my grandma caught me playing with matches one Christmas. “ Joey! Put those down,” She had scolded, “ Don’t you know that if you play with fire your get burned!”

That’s what Claire was; fire.  Only she burned with more ferocity. You could put fire out, contain it, or run from it. You couldn’t run from Claire. She could follow you. One other difference between fire and Claire; I wasn’t afraid of fire. I like fire, always have. I like the heat it gives off and the destruction it can cause in the wrong hands. The way the red, yellow and, blue flame flickers back and forth. It can bring light to darkness. Claire wasn’t anything like that. She was cold and sullen. I sat there for a while thinking of fire.

 I heard thunder rumble ominously is the distance. Thunder storms great. It’s not that I didn’t like thunder storms but –. I heard sobbing coming from the kitchen. I got up and walked that way. It couldn’t be.  It was. Claire was crying. Mean, cold, hard quiet Claire was crying.

“You okay?” I asked.

“ Ya,” she said brushing tears away with her hand. “ I’m fine.”

I stood there unsure of what to do. I couldn’t just leave her hear sobbing at the table. “Wanna talk about it?”

“ Not really.” She said.

“ You sure?” I asked, sitting down.  

She sighed and looked at her hands, “ Joey you ever feel second best no matter what you do? Like it doesn’t matter how hard you try your never going to win the grand prize?”

I laughed a little trying to lighten the suddenly depressing mood. “ You who doesn’t.”

She didn’t take it that way thought, “ Ya go ahead laugh. Claire, mean ol’ Claire broken down.” She said dryly.

“ I didn’t mean it like that. Ya I guess I do feel like that. Especially after my parents died.” I pushed away the feeling about them like I always did. I didn’t want to cry about it. Crying wouldn’t bring them back.

“It’s I try I really do. But  they even say ‘good job Claire’ ‘you’re a life saver Claire’ They just  take the paper on the thing then run off. But when Sam hits and apple out of the flippen tree it’s like she won a Nobel prize.” She laughed harshly, “ I guess that’s the way the universe repays you huh? One mistake and your life is shot to heck.” She wiped away the freshly formed tears and sniffled. “ Well screw it I’m done with it.”

            I sat there silently trying to think of something to say. She stood up and went over to the window. “Do you think I’m a bad person? I mean ya I can be harsh. But do I really deserve…” She trailed off. I stood up. Fifteen years of being a big brother came in handy after all. Despite everything I felt about Claire I went over and wrapped my arms around her in an awkward hug. After a tense second she put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder. I felt her sob a few times. At least her tear stains wouldn’t show on my black shirt.

            After a few minutes she pulled back. “ Sorry to break down on you like this. Now I not only look cold hearted but also useless and whiny” She said with a wry smile.  “ Claire you don’t look pathetic. You just look defeated.”

“ Great even better.”

“ That didn’t exactly come out right…. Never mind. Thou if anyone here is useless it’s me. I can’t fight a person let alone a Shtriga. Or God forbid… a demon.” I said with a halfhearted grin, knowing those words weren’t just to comfort her. They were true.

“ True very true.” She smiled. I looked at her. She had blinding radiant white teeth. I realized I was staring and looked away almost unable to hide my blushing face.

“Thanks for listening.” She said. She walked over and put her arms around my shoulders and kissed my cheek dangerously close to my lips.  Now I was really blushing. “No problem.”

“ Oh, ya, By the way if you ever tell ANYONE about what happened with me tonight you won’t have to worry about that demon. Got it?”

I grinned, “ What happened?”

She smirked and said,” good. Glad we understand each other.” And with that she walked away to her room. I looked out the window at a bright white full moon.

Something – a blur – moved near the tree line. I backed away from the salt lined window.

I hate when I’m right. Amy and two others slunk out of the tree lines. I stood there frozen to the kitchen floor. I looked out the window at the three pairs of black eyes the searched my face through the window.

Behind Amy was Eric. His once friendly eyes were filled with hatred. He stood stiff and tense. As did the other demons a an African American boy I didn’t recognize. Both had there arms crossed ready to attack.

“Claire!”

She walked in, “ What?”

“Demons…” I gasped

“Ya. So?”

I turned around with a sinking feeling. Claire’s eyes looked like onyx stones. “Ahhhhh!” I sreamed. She walked up to me and threw me across the room, over the table, and into the fridge. I head hit the door painfully, and my breath had been knocked out of me. I gasped and touched my head. Blood. Not much but still. Ouch. I stood up and wobbled alittle. Claire walked over. “ Wow. I expected mor – ” She doubled over, “argh.” I backed away into the living room. “ Joey, Joey, Joey. You can’t run from me.” She flung me into the nearest wall and I stood there paralyzed. Whether or not that was her doing or my own feat I didn’t know. She was nearly face to face with me, “ You hunter think your sooooo smart.” She spat, “ looks like your friend her forgot to salt her windows to keep the big bad monsters away.” I just glared at her. “ Well th –” She doubled over again. Claire looed at me with her own eyes. “ Joey… in the… kitchen…the exercism.. posted… on fridge…hurry…” I found I could move again and ran for the  paper. I grabbed it and turned around to find demon Claire standing in front of me. “ Hahaha. Sorry hun, A for effort though.” I couldn’t move again but I could still see the paper. She had turned around to rant about demons being superior to humans.

Now or never. “Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus…” I read she spun around.

“What was that!” she shrieked.

I continued, “omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii…”
“Shut up!” She yelled so loud it hurt my ears.

“Omnis legio…”

“Wait! I can save Kay!” she bargained.

I faltered. No, I thought, demons lie. But maybe just maybe…

No, “omnis congregatio et secta diabolica!” I finished.

“Nooooooooo,”the demon hollered as it was expelled. The thick black smoke spilled out around Claire’s feet.

I ran over and caught Claire as she slumped to the floor.

We sat there for what seemed like hours. Finally she opened her eyes. “Joey?”

“Claire! Are you okay?”

She sat up and clutched her head, “ ya I’m okay. Well I will be. Thank you.”

“No problem.” I replied. We at there in silence, staring at one another.

Ten minutes later we heard car doors slam. Michael walked in the room followed by John and Sam. His eyes traveled over the flipped table, scattered papers, and finally Claire and I propped against the wooden cabinets. The edge of his lips twitched in to a slight smile as he asked, “What’d we miss?”

The Hunt: Character Descriptions

Character Descriptions

Josef Alexander Fox –Joey for short. 5’9 107lbs Raven black hair that has navy blue undertones medium length which causes it to fall into his eyes sometimes. He has deep emerald green eyes. He has a slight muscular build. Joey was born in Manhattan, New York and attended North Bridge High School. He played baseball for two years. Joey lives in Morgantown, West Virginia with john Vandal. He also has is Caucasian but has a natural tan. Joey was born September 13, 1995. He is also a beginner hunter seeking revenge on a Shtriga

Kayla Fray Fox – Kay for short. 5’3 light brown hair that goes past her shoulders. 99lbs. Born February 28, 1997. Kayla has been attacked by a Shtriga which has put her in a coma causing Joey – her older brother – to become hunter to save her. She also went three months without talking after her parents died which was only broken by Joeys seizer due to the shock of seeing the demon amy in his room.

John Vandal – John is the oldest of the hunters. He is 20 and owns the house they live in. He has brown hair gray eyes and is very strong due to hunting. John works under Rich Ballor who is retired hunter so he can work and hunt. Originally from Beckley John moved up north so his sister could attend WVU when he was ten. She was later killed by a vengeful spirit which caused him to start hunting. He’s 6’

Michael Lester  – Michael is very sarcastic and doesn’t get along well with Joey. Michael is 5’11 and pale with Golden blond hair with blue eyes. He often makes jabs and makes fun of Joey for being new. Michael started hunting because his parents were killed in the same plane crash as Joey’s parents. He  believed a demon caused the plane to crash. January 21, 1995. Michael is generally sarcastic and cocky.

Samantha Lester – Sam for short. She has hazel eyes decorated with brown flecks. She is 13 and was born December 15, 1998. She has an ivory skin tone that looks lighter due to her dark brown hair. She has a small crush on Joey. She’s also Michaels little sister. 5’4

Claire O’Brian – Claire has Bleached blond hair. She Isn’t very friendly especially to toward Joey. She is 5’7 and has a slender build. She is quiet. She met john in the wood while they were both unknowingly hunting the same creature. She does most of the research. She also once had a thing with Michael but feels Sam gets in the way because Michael wants to baby Sam. She is quiet generally but can cut with her sharp tongue.

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