When her parents arrived the next day, they were able to take her home. The trip had been long, and Katie was exhausted. She couldn't wait to get home though. She had been gone too long. It would be great to sleep in her own bed again, even if there was a chance that she would be grounded for a year. That was the last thing on her mind at the moment though; she just wanted to get home. Cincinnati was a long way from Durant, and she wanted to get back. She wanted to get back to the small town life, to the peace and quiet. She didn't want to think about the past few months. She didn't want to think about the things she had seen. She knew that they were out there, and that she couldn't ignore it forever, but she was only concerned about the next few months.
Her mother was silent on the trip home. Her father didn't say a word either. What was there to say? Their child had run off, and when they found her she was barely alive. They didn't know what to think. Was it drugs? Had she taken up with a gang? Was this some sort of strange initiation? That didn't even address the issue of school. She had always been a good student, but all the signs pointed to a runaway. They would be lucky if the school took her back this year.
Yes, they wanted to talk to their daughter, but if they talked to her then, it wouldn't be pretty. Rather than fight in the car, they just kept quiet. They really didn't know what to say anyway.
Katie had always been a perfect child. She was intelligent, and athletic. She had always done well in school. Suddenly though, not half way through the first semester, she had just up and left. At first they thought she had been kidnapped, except that her motor cycle and backpack were gone. She had traveled light though. She had taken clothes, some cash, and... Well, they would worry about that later. Whatever their child had been up too, she had left school and a job that she loved, and she had gone armed.
This is what was going through her mother's mind in a thousand different forms as her husband drove in silence.
Her father's thoughts were much the same. When had it started? When had she started to change? Had she changed? Thinking back, he could not see any point where she was truly any different. She had taken it hard when her Aunt Rose had died. They all had. Hell, he had almost broken down. Rose was his sister. She had practically raised him after their father died. Something was eating at him though, and the fact that she had taken the knife with her just fed into that.
Katie reminded him so much of Rose. Even as a child, she was always so strong. She had always taken care of the children around her, and had always kept them out of trouble. She had her aunt's spirit in so many ways. It had always brought him joy. After his sister's passing, it was a mixed blessing. At times, it was like she had not gone. Other times though, it drove a knife into his heart.
Katie's grandmother had died when he was a small child. He didn't really remember her. His sister had been the only woman in his life until he met Sandra, Katie’s mother. This wasn't what was worrying him though. He knew what was worrying him, and driving in silence was leaving too much time for him to think. He could dance around the subject for hours on end, but this was going to be a long trip. He had to face reality. This was his daughter they were picking up from a hospital half the world away.
No. He would think about it later. For now he had to drive. He knew the dreams were coming, they always had. Now he was worried that she was having the dreams as well.
When they did get home, it was well past dawn. While his wife and daughter got some sleep, he kept himself busy. He hoped to exhaust himself, so that he would not have to think any more about what was going on. When the night came, and so did the dreams, he was too tired to hold them at bay.
Was it a dream, or a memory? It was impossible to tell. It felt so real, but how could it be. This dream had come to him before. It always felt so real, so painful. It hurt too much to be a dream, but there was no way it could be real.
His back ached with a burning fire. His shoulder blades shifted uncomfortably. His body ached with loss, but his heart burned with a purpose, a passion. The blood flowed down his arms, and dripped past his fingertips, falling to the ground.
He had lost his wings. They had been ripped from his body. He didn't see it as a punishment though. It was a punishment of course. He had dared to stand against his leader. It meant however that he would stay. He would not be pulled away from this world. He would be left here.
When Aleck awoke, the moon was still high. He could not remember what the dream was about, but the images lingered in his mind.
She had expected the worst. She had run away from home, and that was all that her parents likely new. She had expected that there would be a lot of yelling. She expected that she would be locked in her room, and not let out except to go to school, perhaps until she was twenty.
What actually happened though was worse in its own way. Neither of her parents said a word to her that day. When they got home, her father headed out to the field to gather wood and tend the cows while she got some rest. The next day was equally quiet. She was starting to worry.
After a few days, her mother was back to normal, but her father seemed to be on edge, like something was eating at him. Reality reached its strangest point however the following Monday when her father took off from work.
He had been loading some things in the back of the truck. It looked like he was getting ready for a hunting trip. He had loaded a couple of rifles, some pistols, and a few cases of ammo for each. When he told her to get in the truck, she figured they were heading to the store to pick up supplies. He would want help carrying things to the truck afterwards. She hadn't heard him making any plans with his friends though.
To her surprise, they headed towards the edge of town. As they headed out of town, she started to get an idea of where they were going. She hadn't been to the gun range since she was six. Her father took her brother shooting all the time. For some reason though, he had never really pushed her to learn. As they turned onto the dirt road that would take them to the range, he spoke. His voice had a strangely neutral tone to it, but she could feel the emotion behind the words.
"I've had a lot of time to think the last few days. You're too strong willed for me to just tell you to stop. Gods, I wish your aunt was here." He couldn't say any more. He kept quiet until they pulled into the parking lot in front of the range. It stood out in the middle of the countryside. Dirt roads, trees and cows as far as the eyes could see. In the middle of that was a single island of concrete and tin. As the car stopped, he spoke once more, "It's time you learned to defend yourself. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. I'm glad you came back to us alive. Your mother... She's never going to understand. I'm not completely sure I do either. You know, your grandfather..." His words trailed off. He couldn't say any more, and didn't bother trying.
Katie wished that she could say the next few months went by in a blur, but they didn't. When the evidence came back indicating that she had run away, the school rejected her request for readmission. She would have to wait until the next year. Her parents could have fought it on grounds of her scholastic record, but her father chose not to. Instead, he had her signed up for every self defense course, and gun training course he could find in the area. In Durant, that covered most of the extracurricular activities available even in the best of times.
She wasn't allowed time to think about what she had been through, but the few times she did stop to think about it she realized how lucky she had been. She had been driven by something. She had gone after that creature and not looked back. She knew somehow that it was responsible for the murders, and that it was going to keep going. She felt somehow that it was up to her to stop it, and she had. She had survived. The creature had almost killed her, but she had survived.
She knew that he had to be concerned, but her father was acting strange. It was as if he wasn't telling her something. Whatever it was, he was keeping her busy. To be honest, the exercise felt great. She was really enjoying the martial arts training. It was wonderful to get her pulse up, and to spar against other people.
She was learning quickly. It had only been a few weeks, but they had already moved her out of the beginner's class. She was learning Karate. She never knew that there were so many things to remember. For one, American Karate is actually a hybrid of Okinawan Karate that also incorporates other martial arts styles. Katie was training with the yellow belts. Her skill was not totally up to par with theirs yet, but she was too strong for the other white belts.
The night was cool and crisp as Katie walked down the tree lined street. The smell of cedar was strong in the air, and the maple and oak were starting to take on a pleasant gold and red.
Most days she would drive to get to the little gym that she used down town, but she had felt like walking for some reason. She was starting to regret the decision. It was getting cold out and she was less than half way home.
What was worse though was that she had a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that something was just not right, and she was unarmed. She didn't like the feeling. She was not violent by nature but she had learned to trust her instincts, and at that moment her instincts were screaming for a baseball bat.
She was starting to calm down as the sun began to set. She had just about decided that she was imagining things, when it happened.
A wave of revulsion washed over her, tinting her vision with a red and yellow haze.
Then she heard the screams. They were coming from the park nearby.
Before her mind had time to catch up with her feet, she was running. As she pushed through the gate of the park her eyes were taking in the scene. That was when she heard a voice shouting "Run!"
Her head swiveled to see a scene right out of a horror movie.
A massive beast, part spider part wolf, had a mother and her small child cornered, but its attention was split. A small Asian girl that Katie recognized from school was there kicking at the beast and yelling at the woman to run.
The creature was trying to decide between prey, and the new comer was getting annoying. He would probably eat her first.
"Run!" she screamed again as the young mother finally gathered enough courage to gather up her child and run.
As Katie took this all in, she was moving forward. She could feel the sense of other overtake her as she picked up a broken tree branch and charged the thing with a guttural, animalistic howl.
The creature turned instantly away from the smaller girl. Things had changed. Dinner would have to wait. A fellow predator had arrived and it was time to fight or flee. It had traveled too far and too long to find such beautiful and fertile hunting grounds. It did not intend to run now.
The spiderlike beast leapt at Katie, fangs bared. Acidic saliva etched channels into the wood of the tree branch as she brought it up to defend herself.
She turned the makeshift staff sharply, causing the beast to jerk back in pain and surprise. It let out a scream and lunged forward biting deeply into her shoulder.
As the creatures fangs sunk into her shoulder, Katie let out an anguished scream.
As the acid started to burn into her skin, and its poison started to seep into her veins, Katie fell to her knees. As the creature let out a triumphant howl Katie felt consciousness wavering. The other girl, Sarah she remembered now, yes Sarah from her fourth period history class, let out a frightened yell and she heard the blunt muffled sound of a tree branch hitting the creature.
And suddenly, as the poison sunk into her skin, realization sunk into her mind. If she died here, Sarah probably would as well. If an innocent died by this creature's claws she would have failed. Her blood began to boil, and her vision went red with rage. As she stood back to her feet, she could feel a drum beat in her soul. As the drums pounded, the sound came to her ears. She was not sure if the drums drove the rage, or if the rage created the drums. It didn't matter.
Her hand went to her belt, for the blade that was not there, then she looked to the creature and kicked it with all her might pushing it away. The beast was thrown back and disoriented for only a moment, but that was long enough for Katie to retrieve the tree branch that had been her weapon only moments before.
It was then, holding the broken branch in her hand that Katie leapt at the creature.
The creature was intrigued. This one had not fallen to its fangs. The poison that should have pushed her into slumber seemed to have enraged her. Yes, he had judged correctly. She was a fellow predator. He was not sure what nature of beast she was, but she was not like these sheep. This other small one, she was strange as well. After all, she stood to fight when she could have run. He knew less of her though. He hadn't tasted her yet. He was sure there would be time once he had slain the predator.
He normally preferred them to sleep, so that he could deal with them at his leisure. This one would provide him some exercise first though.
Now she was lunging at him, bringing the infernal branch towards him. He leapt out of the way, just barely making it clear of her swing. She was strong, and so was the tree. He could feel it. It was watching him. It was lending its strength to this beast that was fighting him. But why? She looked human. She tasted human. She fought like a beast. He could feel it though. The power surged through her cudgel. The power was green. She didn't taste like one of them. She didn't taste like an earth beast.
His vision went bright with stars. He had spent too much time thinking, too much time looking into the shadows while he should have been focusing on his opponent, and she had brought the club down solidly knocking him to the ground. With his eyes starting to clear, he pulled himself to his feet, preparing to lunge at her. She was already coming.
Katie was charging the creature. She wasn't sure why, but it had hesitated. It was as if it was smelling the air. It seemed to be nervous. Whatever it was thinking, she had been able to get in a good blow. She had knocked it down, but it was getting its footing again. She couldn't slow down now. She leapt at the creature, swinging the club once more. As the club came down on the creatures back, it let out a deafening howl of pain and anger as she heard bone cracking under its scaly skin.
She gave a satisfied grunt, but it twisted itself around quickly, and tried to sink dripping fangs into her wrist. She jerked in time to avoid contact with those horrifying teeth, but it gained purchase on the club itself. Its eyes went large and it shuddered as if it had bitten an electrical cable but it held firm on the wooden shaft and yanked it away with its supernatural strength sending it flying.
He was injured. He was in pain. The very earth in this place was standing against him, but he was not ready to give in just yet. It had itself wrapped part way around her, and it snapped up at her throat with those fangs, and paused. What it saw there, in her face, in her eyes brought dread to its heart. The weight of centuries was bearing down upon it and it paused. Those eyes, those ancient eyes in this child's form. He didn't know what he was fighting any more, but it was all starting to make sense. As the howl of rage range through the night, shaking the creature to its core, he tried to untangle himself from the ravenous beast that was about to devour him.
The fire in those eyes had him scared, and as he disentangled himself she grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him against the ground. He rolled to his feet, and pulled himself up as well as he could and ran. He ran as fast as what was left of his legs would let him. He still had most of his legs functioning. As he ran, another thought came to him. This creature was only a child and had done this much damage. He would leave this hunting ground. The bounty was not worth the danger. The rift was near. He would return home to heal, and then find safer hunting grounds.
Something changed. The creature was suddenly trying to escape. As it loosed itself from her, Katie let out a howl that frightened even the part of her that was still capable of rational thought. She grabbed hold of the creature and slammed it against the ground. It leapt up and ran.
It was escaping. This was unacceptable. She would not let it escape. As she started to give chase, as she felt the muscles of her legs start to ripple and shift, a wave of fatigue washed over her and she could see the ground coming up to meet her. Everything went dark.