The Manticore

We sat at the back table, across from the counter. All the other tables were empty. We were the only customers there, prohibiting the two workers from leaving. I picked at the chipping wood in front of me with my fingernail. The man in the back kept looking at us with an annoyed expression. Iris was not paying attention. She sat across from me eating her diner pancakes with an alarming sense of urgency. My leg was shaking and the entire booth was rattling in response.

"Would you please stop that?" Iris whispered.

"Sorry," I spat, "This is taking forever. We've been in this stupid town for over a week and I really am starting to hate the south."

"Relax. We'll be on the road by tomorrow morning." She replied with a grin.

"You know we should probably swing by the house and restock a bit." I looked up and watched as the waitress behind the counter waved her coworker good bye. She glanced in my direction and I turned and hid my face from her.

"We were just at the house like a month ago. I think we can survive a little longer." Iris started to brush her hair back and tied it up in a neat brown knot at the top of her head. "Are you ready for this?" She stared at me with wide eyes and rolled he shoulders back. I watched as she cracked her neck on both sides.

The man from behind the counter began to walk towards us. He was rather large and walked with his shoulders slumped over. His lower face and neck was hidden by a tangled mess of a red beard. His jeans were stained by an array of unidentifiable substances. The tee he wore was old and ripped along the bottom. I moved my hand to the inside of my jacket and fingered the cold metal hidden there. The man placed his hands on our table and leaned in. "Having a good time?" He asked. His eyes focused on Iris's chest as if we both were blind and couldn't notice.

Iris leaned in as well. "Actually, my brother was just telling me about all these missing person cases in town."

The man turned to me with a phony smile. "Is that so?" His body shrank away from us. He began to rub the nape of his neck violently.

I caught his eyes and held them. "Yeah, apparently a bunch of young girls have disappeared in town. Some of the guys even think there may be some kind of serial killer." The man took a step back. His mouth was straight and his chin poked out.

"Weird though," Iris cut in, " No bodies have been found. It's like they were all just gone. Like something opened up and swallowed them. Whole." She turned to the man with a wicked smile and stood up. Nonchalantly, she walked to the other side of the diner, locked the door and turned back around.

"Who the hell are you guys?" He looked scared now. I stood up and walked over to my sister.

"That isn't really what's important." I pulled my blade out of pocket and it expanded to a full sword. " The real question is can you survive us?" I chuckled at myself. Iris pulled out two daggers from her belt and held them up.

"John, I forgot my-" A girl walked in from the back room. I turned and gapped at her. She didn't even have time to look at us. Her eyes fixated on the man.

He was now hunched over on his knees. His spine concaved and individual vertebrae became visible through his skin. He ripped his shirt to shreds and his body began to expand. As he grew larger, patches of red fur appeared until every inch of him was covered. His sneakers were pierced and ripped apart by long two inch claws. He screamed and howled, giving the three of us a clear view of his three sets of fanged teeth. He no longer resembled a man but was a beast. Right when I thought he was finally done, out sprouted a tail. It was long, scaly and spiked. It curved up to a point. It was must have been six feet long and was dripping a mysterious liquid from each vertex.

"Oh yeah. " Iris breathed to my right and spun her dagger. I sighed and raised my sword. "Here we go."

Iris dived in and rushed the beast. She went in to cut its head but the tail whipped around and blocked her. The tiny spikes lining the tail began to dart out in every direction. She jumped back and flipped a nearby table onto its side. She crouched behind it and I jumped behind the counter where I found a frighten worker. She was curled up in a ball between some cardboard boxes. I sighed again. This never works out as plan. I thought. I peered over at the table top. Iris was busy running around the creature dodging flying arrows. I grasped the grip of my sword and sneaked around the other side of the diner while the beast was aiming at her. I crawled past the frightened girl and tried my best to give her a reassuring "It's all gonna be okay." She didn't seem to get the message.

I continued on and came around to the back side of the animal. The tail was arched over its head swinging back and forth. The spike at the tip repeated sprung out and trying to hit something. It growled and took a few steps back towards me, still focused on the girl in front of it. I place two hands around the hilt of my sword and raised it over my head. The weight of the sword caused my biceps to strain and ache. With all the force that I could muster, I brought down the blade. It sliced through the monster's flesh right at the butt of the tail.

The oozing appendage fell to the floor with a gross splat. I wrinkled my nose, the room filled with a rotten smelled that resembled a chili cheese dog burp. There was a deafening yowl. The creature spun around. There were tears in its eyes as it stumbled towards me. I backed up as much as I can until I hit a wall. The beast continued to prowl towards me. "Iris!" I yelled, "Any time now!" I held out my sword and slashed at the creature. It clawed away my weapon and sneered. My heart pounded in my chest. My blood was rushing and my breath caught in my throat. I squinted against the harsh light of the room and tried to look for a getaway.

Before I was able to fathom any way to survive, Iris landed on the beast's back. She plunged the point of my sword through its back. It let out another screech and began to try and throw her off. I watched as she gripped its fur and rode it while it thrashed about. She was throwing her head back in her normal reckless laughing. The body soon began to snap and shrink. The sword popped out of it. She jumped off and strutted over to help me up. The creature appeared human again and limp. The smell of blood finally reached me and my stomach turned over.

"About time you helped me out," Iris pointed at me. "I felt like I had to distract the fella for hours before you snipped off the tail."

I picked my sword out of a puddle of red. Blood dripped down it in tiny droplets. I wiped it off on the curtains by the window. " Thanks for using my sword by the way."

"What did you want me to do? Next time, I'll let it maul you." She looked at me with narrow eyes. My heart pattered. She looked exactly like mom when she did that. Mom alway was annoyed with me and looked at me as if she expected better. I shook it off. Iris pulled out a little beaker. "Might as well collect some poison while we're here."

I laughed, "Why? Seems like everything is poisonous nowadays." She chuckled mildly. "Did he get you? Are you alright?" She laughed again.

"Just peachy." She gave me her biggest smile. Iris was always happiest after a kill. I must admit it worries me often. That's when we heard a clang of dishes hitting the floor. Iris whipped around, "What the hell was that?"

"S**t," I muttered. "It's okay. It's just that worker. She walked in while big man over here was hulking out." Iris gave me a weird look.

"You are such a nerd," she stated. I rolled my eyes. I walked back into the kitchen and sure enough under the table was our witness.

" Hello." I got no response. Just a blank stare and a bit of trembling. "We're not gonna hurt you. I promise."

"I mean unless you also turn into a large man-eating monster." Iris came up behind me.

I glared at her. "That is not gonna help."

"What? She's obviously human." She reached out her hand to the girl,"Why don't you come on out here?" The girl crawled back from us.

"If I were her, I wouldn't crawl towards the b***h covered in blood either." I pushed Iris out of the way despite her protest. I crouched down to the girls level. "Are you okay?" She nodded slightly. "I'm Andrew and this is my sister Iris." The girl didn't move. " We won't hurt you."

"What did you do to John?" She blurted out, blinking fast.

"Who?"Iris crouched down next to me.

"John."

"Oh, that guy?" Iris pointed to the other room. The girl nodded again. "Oh honey, he wasn't human." That didn't help. "He killed people so, we killed him. That's what we do."

"What was he?" The girl leaned forward a bit, biting her lip.

"A Mantikhoros," I answered. " Or a Manticore. Part man, part lion, part something else. The shoot poisonous arrow-dart things from their tail."

"Yeah," Iris charmed in, "A lot more common than you would think."

"Who did he kill?" The girl looked visibly less afraid of us now.

"All those missing women. He ate them."

"Swallowed them whole." Iris agreed. " Clothes, shoes, hair, everything."

"Their poison could instantly kill anything that moves."

"Except for elephants."

I sighed. "Yes, apparently only elephants could survive the terror that is the Manticore."

"Elephants?" The girl looked even more confused.

"Yes. So the legend says." I chuckled. "So what's your name?"

"Lena." She climbed out from under the table.

"That's Greek."Iris walked over to her and again reached out her hand. "Nice."

...........................................................................................................

I swung my bag off my shoulder and into the back of our old pickup. I groaned. "I think I may have pulled something in my back." I stretched my arm across my body and heard a series of small cracks along my shoulder blade. A dull throbbing persisted.

"Don't be such a baby," Iris called from the front seat. Lena leaned against the car, looking up at the array of stars. A smile appeared on my face. She looked young, possibly around Iris's age. Her honey hair glistened in the light coming off the car's mirrors. Her jeans had blood splattered onto the cuffs. I don't think she noticed, though. I climbed up onto the truck bed and swung my feet over the side next to her. She gazed up at me.

"You guys are just gonna leave?" She asked. Her face was stained with dried tears.

"We have to. We'll take you anywhere you like first. I wouldn't just desert you." I patted her back, but she flinched.

"What about the body?" She turned back to the diner up the road." I mean surely someone will notice. They'll come after you. "

I chuckled a bit. "We don't really have to worry about that."

"And don't call me Shirley," Iris added from the front seat.

Lena was still confused. "What do you mean?"

"Lena, he was a monster." She gawked at me. I let out a sigh. "Monsters disintegrate when they die. The body is probably already gone."

She nodded."So this is what you do?" Her eyes pierced mine. "You hunt monsters. They are real. like vampires, werewolves."

Iris laughed startled me. She came out and stood in front of us, in her usual arms crossed stance. "Don't be stupid. Those are just stories."

"Iris," I warned.

"Our family was chosen by the gods to hunt down the evil creatures," She explained. I shook my head and waited for Lena to start screaming and running.

"What gods?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

"The gods," Iris answered stepping in, cornering Lena." You know, Zeus, Ares... the big guys up on mt. Olympus."

"The Greek Gods. So the Greek monsters are the ones that exist." She drew out slowly.

"Well, technically Manticores are from India." I gave her a slight smile. She didn't laugh.

"So answer me this," I nodded her to go on," If the Greek Gods are the real ones, then why does no one worship them anymore? Huh. Why are they consider mythology."

I took in a deep breath. "Well, people move on," I explained, " The Gods are gone. Disappeared a few hundred years ago. Everything they created is still here."

"Yeah, and they went rouge." Iris chimed in, "the beasts lost all sense of unity. They didn't know what to do with themselves and just went wild. Running rampant, killing everybody."

"Should you be telling me this?" Lena cut off. "Isn't this suppose to be classified to normal humans?" She put an emphasis on 'normal'.

I shrugged, "Who's gonna believe you?" Lena turned her head back up to the sky.

"Nevada," She said.

"What?" Iris responded.

Lena spun her head around at me. "You said you'd take me anywhere. Well, my family is in Nevada. I wanna be with them. You know, after nearly dying. "

Iris stepped in, "No way. Not cool." She shook her head, " Do you realize we are in Charleston? That's like a day's drive. Over a day, actually." Both girls turn to me and I choke. I look from each one to the other. Then, turn to Iris.

"I did tell her anywhere," I muttered, shrugging again. She growled and stormed to the passenger seat.

"She's sitting in the back." She yelled and slammed the door.

Author's Note

What do you think?

Reviews

[Hunter]

Interesting. I would like to read more to get to know them better.