While the Fleischhackers gathered some things to take with them, I put my boots back on, headed out the front door to get my car, and nearly got an arrow punched through my eye. It hit the doorframe instead, but only about a foot to my left. The thwack sound it made sent my heart into my throat. I jerked to the side and glanced out toward the street to see where the hell it had come from.
Twilight had settled in and night wasn't far behind. There weren't any streetlights on this stretch of street so plenty of shadows crawled in under the maples and oaks planted in various front yards.
But I could see the small car that looked like a shoebox with wheels, and the gleam of someone’s eyes in the driver's seat staring out at me.
I also saw a glint of what remained of the daylight on something metallic inside the window.
"Hey," I shouted.
The door popped open and a little waif of a girl stepped out. She was dressed in a pair of white high top sneakers, a frilly black skirt, and torn black nylons underneath. Her shirt looked like a spatter of random colors on a black background, as if Jackson Pollock had collaborated with someone puking paint. She had an Asian cast to her wide face and a sharp pointed chin. A lot of black makeup, too.
But the whole look wouldn't have been complete without the crossbow held at her side.
"Who the fuck are you?" she asked.
I stammered, heartbeat still out of control from the shock of nearly getting my skull skewered. "Who the fuck are you?" I threw back like a grammar school kid on the playground.
She snorted like that was the dumbest question in the whole wide world. Then she crossed the street. I took an instinctive step back. The girl couldn't have been much older than twenty. Maybe she could get into bars, but she sure as heck couldn't rent a car. Yet she had a hell of a presence. Even from halfway across the street, I could feel it press closer as she closed in.
I reached back and absently drew the door shut.
When she stepped up the curb, she jerked her chin at the house. "What were you doing in there?"
It didn't take long for me to figure out who this girl was. Or, rather, what she was. Another hunter. And she had sniffed the trail to the Fleischhackers’ house same as me.
"I was taking care of business," I blurted. Great. I was speaking in cheesy song lyrics. What an interesting stress reaction.
She raised one of her dark eyebrows. "Business, huh?"
“Yep,” I said. "You know. Hunting stuff."
"Stuff?"
I felt my face flush. I was sounding like a total dork. I needed to get rid of this girl, damn it.
"Yes," I said with some force—maybe too much. I swallowed, tried to straighten my expression as much as possible, showing her how serious I was. "Goblins, to be specific. That ring a bell with you?"
"You're really a hunter?"
"Sure am."
She shook her head. "They'll give anyone a license these days."
I let out a short, derisive laugh. "You're what? Twenty?"
"Twenty three," she snapped. I noticed her hand tighten on the grip of her crossbow.
I felt a headache coming on just thinking about one of those arrows lodged through my eye. "Well, you're no old lady. So you can't use the whole 'these days' thing."
Her lip curled.
"I've been hunting since I was sixteen," she said.
"Wow," I said with a ring of sarcasm. But I really was impressed. I couldn't imagine being a kid, a mortal one at that, chasing after demons and other kinds of creeps. As the son of sorcerers, I'd grown up knowing about this stuff, which made it a little less traumatizing.
She rolled her eyes and started her approach again.
I stepped off the porch to meet her in the center of the front lawn. She tried to sidestep me, but I slid in her way. I held out my hand. "My name's Sebastian."
"Good for you," She dodged left, then zagged right, managing to get around me. She was damn quick.
I turned around and put as much boredom in my voice as possible.
"He's already dead.”
She stopped, looked over her shoulder. "You put down a goblin?"
I shrugged. "So hard to believe?"
"Kinda."
"Well, I am glad I can disappoint you on that score. Fleischhacker is a charred lump of nothing."
She turned all the way to face me. "You got the remains?"
Oops. I'd forgotten about that part. You had to turn in some remains to the Ministry as proof of the kill. "Yeah, I'm going to get my car so I can bring the goods out without drawing suspicion."
Her brow furrowed. "Why? Not like you need a big piece. A hand, couple of fingers maybe. They can tell from that if you did the work. Which I'm getting the feeling you didn't."
I laughed, and I knew it didn't sound convincing. "I'm new at this," I said.
"Obviously."
"Point is, I thought I needed more than that. Thanks for the tip. I guess I can go back in there now and get it."
One corner of her mouth curled up in the evilest of evil smirks. She kind of looked like she was about to eat me.
"No worries," she said. "I'll go in and get it for you."
I held up my hands. "Totally not necessary."
"You're a terrible liar."
I guess Grandpa had been right about that.
She turned on her heel and headed for the front door. I took a few steps after her, but she reached the porch well before I could reach her. She raised her crossbow and reached for the door handle.
"Hey," I shouted. I pulled on my magical energy, focusing on the air, drawing it together in front of me in a sort of mini hurricane. Nothing too crazy, but enough to feel the breeze blow my hair back and chill my skin like an October night.
She ignored me.
Left me with no choice.
I solidified the ball of air, creating an invisible pocket of wind with the heft of a large stone. I hurled it straight at her head.
She jerked forward on impact. Her head collided with the brick facade. She bounced backward, stayed on her feet for a couple seconds, then pitched backward off the porch. Thankfully, she dropped onto the soft grass and not the cement approach. I didn't want to crack her skull open, just knock her out long enough for me to get the Fleischhackers the hell out of there.
I rushed over to her. She still gripped her crossbow, as if her hand had gone into premature rigor mortis. I grabbed her under the arms and dragged her behind the shrubs.
I jogged to my Escort, drove it back, and pulled into the Fleischhackers’ driveway.
Carrie stood just inside the door when I came in. "Who was that girl?"
"She was here to put an arrow or two into your husband. Another bounty hunter."
Her face paled.
I gave her arm a squeeze. “It’s going to be okay. Where's Frazier?"
"Here." He came down from the second floor lugging a suitcase nearly as big as him. He didn't show any sign of struggle as he carried it down, though.
"We're not coming back here, are we?" Carrie asked.
Frazier took his wife's hand. “We’ll be fine.”
I reached out to Frazier. "Let me take that.”
He looked like he wanted to object, but he handed the suitcase over without grumbling.
I carried it out to the car, leaving the two of them to give their home one last glance before I led them to an uncertain future.