Chapter Eighteen

Corralled

                I don’t know how to feel anymore. What the hell happened to my life? God, I thought it was bad before, but now I'm trapped in a broken down hearse with a bunch of insane people, one of them a murderer of at least one person. I don’t know what to believe, either. They say they’re demons, but how can that be? I've seen it, and yet I can bring myself to believe it. My voice is gone from screaming at Rippir, and my head pounds from the amount of death I've seen within the past few days. Yet I still don’t feel anything.

                We sit in silence in the hearse. Fabian steps back in, slamming the door behind him. He doesn’t say anything, but his hatred for our situation is clear enough. Sirens start wailing off in the distance, but nobody budges. This is my ticket home. All I have to do is wait until the cops arrive, and then I can escape. I can go back home.

                ‘Rippir, give us some cover please,’ Blaze says quietly, snapping me away from my thoughts. It’s already almost dark, but our hearse will be noticeable, especially with the added issue of witnesses to Rippir’s insanity. I look out the windows as fog slowly envelopes the view outside until even the streetlights are invisible. ‘Thank you Rippir,’ Blaze says. Fabian gets out and opens the doors, and everyone pours out of the hearse. Everyone glances at each other, nobody speaking, until off in the distance we hear the sirens stop.

                ‘What the hell?’ I whisper. They’re nowhere near the diner yet. Rippir starts jumping up like a puppy. I guess he did just get away with biting someone’s cheek off.

Fabian glares at him. ‘What the f**k’s your problem?’ I try to ignore them, and start walking away as another argument fires up behind me. I could walk away right now, escape under the cold, misty veil. I turn around to see the only other human, Mark, carefully watching me. We make brief eye contact, and I want to go save him. Maybe I could take him with me? I don’t know what to do anymore. I walk until I can’t see the hearse anymore, but I can still hear the shouts of the demons. The cold burrows into my skin, and the moisture clings to my sweater. I anxiously run my hands through my long blond hair, now thick with grease. I tie it in a low side tail, and keep walking. A figure approaches in the heavy fog, tall and slender, but I can’t quite make out any features through the fog. I sigh, and open my mouth to speak. I’m just happy to have found someone sane in this f*****g town. I feel a hand clasp over my mouth, and pull me backward. I try to scream, but my voice is dead from fear. I look up to see the face of my attacker was... Mark? He drags me out of the way as a sword swings past me. It catches my jeans, tearing a hole across my shin, and drawing blood. A sharp pain shoots up my leg, and I stumble to the ground. It’s vaguely humanoid face is shriveled up; a sickly pale grey, it’s eyes a dull white. The creature stares at us expressionlessly. It runs a slender finger down the bloodied blade, then lifting the sample to its nose, sniffing the blood in slow, calculated movements. We stand silently as the creature turns around, and vanishes into the mist.

‘Mark?’ I ask, still frozen in place.

‘Those are the fallen angels, they hunt down half demons,’ he says shaking, and starting to walk away, ‘we should go back to the others now.’ He’s as scared as I am. I take my sweater off, and press the sleeve into the cut. It’s not too deep for a sword slash, but it still stings like a b***h. I drag myself along behind mark, and soon I can hear the yelling of the half demons. Rippir jumps on Mark when he sees us, and hisses at me. He looks like he’s ready to kill.

‘The f**k happened to you?’ Blaze shouts when she sees my shin. The blood had soaked through the sleeve now. I sit on the pavement as Phoenix treats my wound, cleaning it up and giving me one of Rippir’s million shirts as a bandage. I pull my sweater back on, and start telling her what happened. She goes pale.

‘Everyone shut the f**k up!’ she yells. They do, and she helps me up.

‘Thanks,’ I mutter. She nods at me, and then turns her attention to everyone else.

‘Guys, listen up, I don’t know how they found us again, but they did. We’ve got to get out of here. Now.’

‘What about the car?’ Fabian snaps. The poor guy looks miserable as hell.

‘Unless you want to carry the hearse over your shoulder then it’s staying here. We’re going!’ she shouts. ‘Rippir, get ready to fight.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ he says sharply and mockingly, glaring daggers at Phoenix, ‘Marky, stay out of this, I don’t want your perfect skin sullied with cuts and bruises,’ he winks.

‘Where do we go then? If the police see us with that freak we’ll all be thrown in jail.’ Fabian lazily gestures towards Rippir.

                I watch Blaze’s confidence waver, and feel my stomach sink. He has a point.

                ‘Fabian, Coral, Rippir, you guys stay with the hearse,’ she says. ‘I’m taking Mark and we’ll go find some help.’

                ‘Don’t you touch my Marky!’ Rippir protests, ‘I’ll f*****g slice open your-’

                ‘Shut the f**k up Rippir, I’m not in the mood for you right now,’ she turns to Fabian and I, ‘I’m sorry to do this to you, look after him though.’ She then glances at Rippir, then turns and disappears into the night.