I have to stop for gas, so I look up where the mall is while I’m in line. It’s twenty minutes from the gas station, so it won’t be too bad of a drive, but I have absolutely no idea what I’m walking into. My machete has seen better days after that fight, but I’m not spending the money to replace it.
I hand the stolen twenty to the clerk and head back to my truck, not quite filling it up. It’ll have to last me until I can find a poker table or a very rich vampire I can kill. Though I was with one of those a few minutes ago. I should’ve done it. Why did I let her live?
She is a leech. She admitted she’s a monster. What could possibly have possessed me to leave her in one piece? I even helped fix her arms after I cut them off.
There was no reason to help her. There wasn’t even a reason to help Mia. She may be innocent by vampire standards, but she is still a vampire. What was I thinking, leaving them both alive? I could have taken Olivia’s head at the door and walked right back in to finish Mia. I’m sure they have some cash lying around, and then I wouldn’t be in such dire straits, and Toronto would have two fewer monsters to feed on its people.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It had to be the way she said “please.” A monster was begging me to help the woman she loved.
I close my eyes and slam the pump back into its holster hard enough to dent it. I begged. And it didn’t get me shit. I guess at least I know I’m better than him, but that’s not much comfort. If I can’t be as heartless as him, how can I know I’ll have it in me to finish the job? If I’m going to compromise my morals and let monsters live, then what’s the point? I’ve spent eighteen years doing nothing but hunting these creatures, and then one looks at me the right way and begs for her wife’s life, and I spare them both?
I’m getting soft. And I can’t risk that, not if I want to actually make a difference. My life’s work is to cut down these miserable leeches and that bastard most of all, and I’m starting to sympathize with them.
If I’m the hunter I claim to be, I should drive right back there and kill them both. And I know I won’t. Maybe I just can’t take another happily married couple from this world, even if the comparison makes me feel sick.
I climb into the cab, grit my teeth, and drive to Etobicoke. I need to kill something, to remind myself that that’s still who I am and that I still have the follow-through to do it, but instead, I have to play nice and talk to monsters like they’re people. Otherwise, I can’t find him.
Someone flashes their brights behind me. I try turning mine on, but the sun’s still up, and they keep flashing, so I pull to the side of the road, and they follow.
Cleaver walks up to my window. At least I know for sure that I didn’t eat him now. I roll it down and look at him, trying to figure out what he could possibly want.
“You’re in Etobicoke,” he says.
“I noticed.”
He crouches until he can meet my eyes. His are the same brown as his hair and as bushy as his mustache, and they look oddly concerned. Maybe I’m not the only one growing soft. “I told you we’d be watching you.”
“See anything interesting?”
He snickers, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d say we did.”
I don’t gulp or react, but I’m certain I grip the steering wheel tighter. Did he see a living vampire letting me out of her house without a fight? There hadn’t been a window in the kitchen, so he at least didn’t see me drinking. “Do tell.”
“I’m sure you know.”
I quirk an eyebrow.
“You’ve been running all over town. You did good work on that smack house. I burnt it down after you left. We don’t need any evidence or more people finding out about this shit. If we’re not keeping them innocent, what’s the point?”
I narrow my eyes, trying to figure out what he wants.
“You might be as good as you say. Was there a vampire at that mansion?”
The thought of him trying to take on Olivia and Mia is funny enough that I have to force myself not to laugh. “No, just an acquaintance. I was hoping she’d have some information, but I came up empty.”
“Hm.” He nods, looking over me and the sheet of paper on the passenger seat. “What’s that list?”
“A clue I’m looking into. Why? Were you hoping to work together?”
He sucks on his teeth, meeting my eyes again, seeming to probe, as if he’s looking for an answer to an unspoken question. “We’ve lost a lot of hunters around here. I don’t know what you think you’re doing getting this close, but I have to assume that you’re trying to find where they’re meeting up.”
“And if I am?”
“Then you’re probably going to die.”
I’ve done that before. I shrug. “If this is what finally kills me, then I’ll die”
He looks down the road, then at me, and slowly nods. “Do you know where it is?”
If I tell him, he’ll get himself killed too. “I have a few ideas, but I was going to check abandoned buildings and hope I get lucky.”
“On your own?”
I try to hide my fear. He wants to come with me. All that would do is make it harder to get answers and guarantee he dies, and I’m not willing to have another human’s death on my hands. “I don’t play nice with others.”
“My brother, he tried to find this place too. It was a month back, and I haven’t seen him since. He taught me everything I know, and Etobicoke was too dangerous for him. You’re only a girl. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
I’m quite certain I’m older than him. “I’ll be fine. I promise, if you follow me again tomorrow, you’ll find me in one piece. But don’t get yourself killed keeping an eye on me tonight.”
“You’re one to talk there.”
“Are you suspicious of me or worried about me?”
He stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks me up and down. “Both.”
“I haven’t proven myself yet?”
“I don’t trust too many people, let alone weird foreign women who brag about doing impossible things.”
“You’ve seen me fight.”
“You barely held your own against me and my boys. That doesn’t mean you’d beat a pack of vampires.”
I sigh. “I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
He snorts. “Suppose you weren’t.”
“Do you have any other warnings you want to give, or can I leave?”
He steps back and walks to his car, then climbs in, and it pulls out, driving away. Maybe he’s actually taking my advice.
I drive straight for the Honeydale Mall and hope those vampires weren’t lying to me.
* * *
The mall looks run-down and abandoned from the outside. Did Olivia lie to me? I wouldn’t put it past her. She is a vampire, after all.
I park in front of it. There are two cars there, and they look almost as beat-up as my truck. This may simply be a place where people dump cars they can’t sell. It doesn’t mean there’s actually any sort of monster society inside.
After making sure my machete is still safely secured to the small of my back, I climb out of my truck and head toward the entrance.
The first thing that hits me is the smell. There’s meat, pastries, wet fur, blood, foul odors I couldn’t possibly name, and the general scent of a crowd mingling and sweating together. This is the place. I open the door and step past the outer facade to enter a massive market, with monsters moving from stand to stand, talking, bartering, and in general, reminding me a bit of home.
Except that they’re not human. Everyone wandering about has horns, tusks, cloven hooves, fur, fangs, or something else distinguishing them as quite obviously monsters. I’ve never seen this many in the same place before. I’d seen vampires, fairies, a couple demons, and a few other things I’d never heard the names of, but this is something entirely else. It’s a cacophony of monstrous forms in more shapes than I’d ever have thought possible. And they’re living under everyone’s noses, preying on them.
Every muscle in my body tenses for a fight. I want to grab my machete and start cutting. But I’m massively outnumbered, and I’d die in a matter of seconds. That’s not something I can allow before I find him. I don’t care about my life, but he’s damn sure going to Jahannam with me.
I look around the bazaar, trying to keep calm. I’m surrounded by monsters, any of which I’d kill in a second any other day, and I have to let them live if I want information. I glance from one stall to another for any sort of clue. Where the hell do I start?
It’s a market, and that means I need money if I want to find anything out. So there is only one logical place to start. I walk up to the nearest stand, a clothing shop with garments in all sorts of strange configurations for any number of limbs or unusual parts. I try to look at them appreciatively and not think about the monstrosity opposite me. He’s a minuscule man covered in plants both growing out of him and worn as clothes. It seems ironic that someone who doesn’t wear clothes would sell them, but perhaps that’s why. I’ve never seen one before, but there aren’t too many other creatures that look like Elokos, and they’re well-known for feasting on humans. I’ve had quite a while to look up the creatures I’m most likely to run across, particularly those who prey on humans. I haven’t done it as much as I should’ve, and I don’t have the best memory for them, but it’s a lot easier than learning types of stars, if for no other reason than they’re a lot more likely to try to eat me.
My machete chafes at my back, and I itch to draw it, to stop this creature from feeding on innocent people. If I don’t, it’ll bewitch them and eat them in a single bite. But if I do, then I’ll never be able to kill Reynolds.
“See anything you like?” he asks.
I take a deep breath, trying to keep my hand from shaking. I have to kill him. It’s the only answer. Can I actually be so selfish as to put my own need for revenge over the lives this monster will take?
And what of the lives that Reynolds will take? And all the other monsters I’ll kill before and after him?
But does that mean that I should allow these creatures to live simply so I can hope to do good in the future? It’s cowardice! “Is there a casino here?”
His beady eyes look me up and down. If I was still human, he’d probably be considering the best way to eat me. “Are you certain I can’t interest you in any of these fine wares first?”
“Maybe after I win some money.”
He chuckles amicably. The monster thinks he’s being friendly. It’s disgusting. “Then I suppose I’ll see you then.” A clawed hand points to the side, and I somehow keep from lopping it off. “There’re a few tables for cards over there, in one of the old stores. It’s easy to look past, and the door is often closed, but it’s about midway down the wall. I’m not sure if anyone is playing right now.”
“Thank you.” I turn and leave without another word. My hand aches. I don’t know if I can handle spending long in this place.