Chapter 7

 

After lunch, I grabbed another short nap while Matt burned chicken carcasses, then we walked down the dirt road to the edge of the woods for a shooting lesson, leaving both our cars parked at the house.

“What do you know about firing a gun?” Matt asked. “I know you’ve used a shotgun, but what about pistols? Rifles?”

I crossed my arms and looked around, uneasy being out in the open after what had happened only hours earlier. What if there were more unseen demons lurking?

Matt opened the case he’d brought along, displaying a variety of guns set into molded spaces.

I shrugged. “I have a shotgun, in case of a rabid animal, or if a fox or raccoon goes after the chickens.”

Matt wordlessly paced off about fifty feet and nailed the target to a tree. I kept looking around, nervous being even that far from him.

He returned and got a handgun out of the case. “This is a .357 magnum. It’ll knock a fair hole in something. This is the safety. Are you right-handed or left-handed?”

“Right-handed,” I replied. I wasn’t afraid of guns, but I had a healthy respect for the power behind a weapon. Would I be able to handle it?

Matt moved around me with the gun pointed at the ground and held it out to me that way. “Two hands, take your stance, feet shoulder-width apart, point it at the target, and shoot when you’re ready.”

I did as he said. It rocked me backwards when the gun went off, yanking my arms upward. The shot barely caught the upper right of the paper target. We had foam earplugs in, or I think I would have been deafened. “Whoa.” Matt took the gun from me. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for a gun like that.”

“No, you did fine. You just have to be patient,” he said, demonstrating. “Flex your knees, and you’ll have the stance down. You have great hand-eye coordination. In general, women are much better at shooting than men because they wait for the shot. Aim, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and just let your finger naturally tighten on the trigger. Don’t think about it, it’s not intentional.” He handed it back to me.

“Does that mean if I kill someone, it’s only manslaughter because my finger really did it?” I joked.

He flashed a quick grin. “Maybe you could convince them to just take your finger? No, I don’t think so.”

I took my stance and aimed at the target. “It was a great time for me,” I muttered. “Learning to fence, fight, anything anyone would teach me.”

“I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

“What?” I spun around, adrenaline shooting through me. Matt knocked the gun down. “Watch where you’re pointing that thing.”

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly, pulling one ear plug out. “What did you say?”

“I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

I blinked, startled. I’d gotten caught up in the lesson, forgetting my nerves, then they came rushing back.

He explained. “You know: good night, Wesley, sleep tight, I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Duh, I’d just quoted The Princess Bride myself. What was wrong with me? I screwed the ear plug back in, turned to the target, and took a deep breath, then let it out before bringing the gun up again.

I sighted along the barrel, took another breath, and released it slowly, concentrating on my breathing instead of the trigger. The gun seemed to go off by itself, drilling a hole through the upper right quadrant of the circles.

“There you go,” Matt said grimly as he took the gun back from me. “With some practice, you won’t miss anything you’re aiming at. I’ll get you familiar with a few different guns, but I think this is optimal for your ability to hold it and shoot straight while making a fairly big dent in a demon.”

“That’s it? All I have to do is shoot a demon to get rid of it?” It sounded like there should be a hitch.

“No, and even that’s not as easy as you think. One, some of the beasts are invisible, as you’ve discovered.”

I rubbed my hands up my arms. Yeah, that did present a horrifying problem.

“Second, some you won’t know if they’re demons or not because they look like humans. You can get a clue as to whether or not they might be demons by reading their auras. Demons tend to have black auras, though even that’s not foolproof. Some have yellow, or green, or chartreuse, and humans can have those auras too. The only way you’ll know for certain whether it’s a demon or not is if you touch them. Then you’ve lost the element of surprise because they’ll sure know who you are at that point.” He stared at me.

I gulped. “Ah, I hadn’t thought of it cutting both ways.”

“Also, the gun is just for incapacitating the demon if you can get a shot,” he went on. “It may kill the body; however, that leaves the spirit free to possess someone else. You still have to banish it. That’s a hell of a lot easier if it’s still in the body, confined.”

“That doesn’t sound too difficult,” I replied. “I just put my hands on them and bless them, right?”

Matt shook his head. “That’ll work for the minor ones. I suspect the one you came across as a kid had found you by accident and took the opportunity to advance his position in the hierarchy. It would have been quite a coup if he could have stopped you before you even got to adulthood.”

I shuddered at the thought. I had apparently been very lucky.

“It wasn’t all luck,” Matt said as if following my thoughts. I frowned at the intrusion, but he just grinned. “You have good instincts and a compassionate heart. It has stood you in good stead.”

I felt shy under his positive regard. I had never been the focus of compliments, certainly not from a gorgeous hunk standing there with his sleeves rolled up, flexing some mighty strong hands and forearms as he checked gun clips. I shivered again, though it had nothing to do with the breeze.

Blissfully unaware of the turn my thoughts had taken, Matt continued. “The moderately dangerous demons might be slowed down by a blessing, but it won’t take them down. You’ll need something stronger. The strong demons won’t even blink. They’ll snap your neck before you finish.”

That brought me up short.

Matt took a step toward me. Our eyes met. “I won’t let that happen. They’ll have to go through me first.”

I swallowed. God, he confused me. My attraction to him felt wildly out of control, though I couldn’t say I trusted him wholeheartedly. I supposed I trusted him more than I had almost any other person I’d met, other than my parents. Well, and maybe Jen. Though I hadn’t trusted her to know my secrets and still want to be friends.

“I’m going to teach you everything you need to know. There isn’t going to be a demon you can’t take down when I’m done.”

Matt showed me several more guns, explained the purpose of using the different weapons, and had me try each one. Finally, he loaded the gun case, and we headed back up the road. I felt bad letting him carry the heavy case all by himself, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I still felt a bit weak from the healing process.

“We should have driven down,” I commented. I wouldn’t have felt so exposed either.

He shrugged. He hadn’t broken a sweat or struggled at all. It was a little disconcerting. Something niggled at the back of my mind. He had been sweating when he dealt with the wounds on my arms. Why? Was it mental instead of physical? I certainly hadn’t weighed any more than that gun case, and he’d been sweating for a while after he’d carried me in. Had it been fear? Fear for me? I felt a rush of warmth at the thought and smiled.

“What’s that smile for?” Matt asked.

I froze, straightening my face. I hadn’t realized he was watching me. Oops. “Um, just never thought I’d be firing a gun like that in the woods.”

He didn’t look like he quite believed me.

When we got to the house, my phone message light blinked steadily. It jarred my memory. “Shit.”

“What is it?” Matt asked, tensing.

I grabbed the phone and punched in the number for my voicemail. “I totally forgot I was supposed to meet my friend Jen for lunch today.”

Matt chuckled. “I think she’ll forgive you.”

I keyed in my pin, and the message began. It wasn’t Jen. “Allyson,” the voice stopped, then the sound of sniffling filled the silence. “This is Denise, Jen’s mother. There’s been an accident. Jen is going to… to be okay, but she’s at the hospital. I’ve left word with the desk so you can visit. We’re at the Montgomery Memorial hospital. I know she’d like to see you when you can get here.”

I stared at the phone in horror. The date and time stamp placed the call an hour before. “I have to go,” I murmured, dazed.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s Jen, she’s in the hospital. There’s been an accident.”

“I’ll drive you,” Matt said, taking the keys out of my hand.

That was probably a good idea since my worry for Jen was making it hard to focus. My nerves jangled as we headed out the door for my car.