Chapter 4

The Full Story

“What do ya mean? He’s gotta be out cold after that, and why was he after you?”

“It’s a long story, and I won’t lie: I don’t intend to tell you. Now move!”

I heard the roar I was dreading to hear so soon. I threw off my jacket and shirt with a sigh, “Too late.” A long thick appendage landed behind me after I jumped forward and grabbed AJ. I looked back and saw it was clearly a fist, but far bigger than my head even.

Applejack wormed her way out of my grasp and slapped me. “Now what the hay was that for? I pointed at the man we’d supposedly knocked out. “What in tarnation is that?!”

“A cambion,” I answered in deadpan. “Long story short, he was human, but he sold his soul for power.” I heard him grunt and I grabbed Applejack again, pulling us both out of the way again. “You wanna help, don’t get hit or you’ll be dead. Apart from that, aim for whatever you get hit. Focus on breaking limbs and hitting his face when possible.”

I looked at the cambion rising from his previous beating like nothing happened, although he was backing away to give himself some time to plan his strategy again. He knew that I’d hit him fast and hard if I got the chance, so he wanted some distance between us. I just kept walking towards him cockily. The main problem was that he could back away again, despite the bit about me having broken his leg.

That was the problem with cambions: when they reveal their true forms a lot of things change. For example: he had the look of a normal (although large) human, and now he had green skin somewhere between a troll’s skin and a giant insect’s carapace. His arms grew nearly four as long and had something that was more like clubs than hands, not only that, they had two joints, as apposed to just the normal elbow. Swivel jointed too, bent every which way, like nunchucks. He’d grown himself too, about fourteen/fifteen feet tall, and that was where the major problem laid.

“Whatever part of his body has changed is partly healed,” I explained to Applejack as shortly as I could, “In a nutshell: he’s near good as new.”

She looked at me with her jaw dropped. “Wha? But! YA GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME!”

I waved her off. “There is one thing you’ll want to know though,” I said with a smile, “I’ve figured out whatever was damaged is still very fragile. Unlike when bones heal the right way, his broken bones are still brittle.” I took another look at him. “Though where those bones are now is a bit of a tossup.” I smirked. “Except for his face.”

That fucker wasn’t exactly good lookin’ to begin with, now he had a face not even a mother could love. Ugly bastard looked like a troll too, not just his skin. Extended lower jaw, giant lower canines, bizarre looking ears, the works.

“Man,” I taunted, “You. Are. One. UGLY mother fucker!” I smirked at him madly. “You’re a big one though. This is gonna be fun.”

He raised an arm and snapped it back down. He was aiming for AJ.

Oh, she can dodge that.

I looked over to see her still with her jaw dropped. You know that look in a deer’s eyes when there caught in the headlights? That’s the look I saw in her eyes, so no, that’s not a myth. People actually do that too.

Unless she turns into deer.

I panicked. I ran for her as fast as my legs would let me. I measured the speed of the club and I knew what I had to do. I wouldn’t be able to tackle her out of the way in time; we’d both be crushed. Drastic measures.

I stopped holding back and thrust myself forward with everything I had. Reality caught up with her and she fell back screaming. I skid to a halt in front of her with no time to spare. I put my claws up and stopped the blow with one hand, which dug into the hard flesh.

“How did ya get here so—“ She stopped mid sentence. “When did ya get wings?” she asked me.

I looked back at her for the briefest moment before focusing on my enemy again. “Suffice to say,” I growled as I lit up my claws in azure fire, “Fun’s over.”

I ran at the messenger roaring like an animal, ripping through his skin with ease. He roared in agony, sounding like what you’d imagine he’d sound like, lookin’ like that and all. Up close and personal he had little means to defend himself. He tried to kick at me with what was a pretty long leg—given his height and all. I jumped up, thrusting higher with my webbed wings, and grabbed his jaw.

“It burns!” he cried out in pain of my flaming talons.

“Good,” I growled.

I ripped his jaw right off his face. I was done wasting time. I was pissed. On the way down I shredded his chest with my claws. When I landed I spun and slashed open his belly with my razor edged wings—very useful by the way. I jumped up again and plunged both hand’s fingertips into his throat. “Time to die you son of a bitch.” I ripped open his neck without a second thought, causing blood to gush everywhere.

The cambion fell on his back and flopped around a bit like a fish out of water before the light left his eyes once and for all. Officially: he was dead, and I did not feel sorry for him.

I heard Applejack’s boot on the pavement a good ways behind me. I think she was just standing up again after recovering from the shock.

“What are you?” she asked me.

I looked back at her with a mean look, and she was scared. “Isn’t it obvious?” I asked, “I’m a cambion too.”

She took a step away from me. I couldn’t place why at the time, but that hurt. “Why?” she asked, “Was it for your parents?”

“They fit into the equation, but my soul is mine,” I told her, “I didn’t sell it like this sack of shit.”

“What happened?” she asked. She was walking towards me now. I guess she could trust me as long as I had a soul.

“…My mother came from a long line of priests and priestesses,” I explained as I looked at the twisted black, leathery skin that covered my hand and forearm, “We were taught things no one else knew. She even knew how to exorcize a demon from its host: the real way. She taught me a few things before she died, and I’m eternally grateful for that.

“A cambion came knocking one day. Hunter class as I’ve dubbed the fuckers. I watched from under the bed as my dad tried to hold it off so my mom could get rid of it. I watched his head roll off his shoulders, and I watched it rip my mothers heart out soon after. It wasn’t done though. I was next. It was hunting priests and I was good enough to kill at four fucking years old. I tried speaking the sealing incantation I was taught, but I said something wrong.”

I stopped there. I didn’t want to say the next part.

“What did it do?” she asked.

“It died by my tiny flaming hands I guess. I don’t know what happened, not really. All I know for sure is that whatever spell I ended up doing ripped the power out of him and put it in me. That’s what turned my hair black too.”

She said something in astonishment under her voice, but I couldn’t hear it over my own thoughts. It had been a long time since I’d told somebody the truth of what happened that day, and the first time I told the complete truth. Even when it happened I kept the part of stealing its power to myself.

“What’s goin’ on in this here city Greg?” she demanded. Not asked. Demanded. “Why are ya really here? Ya didn’t just ‘end up here’. You hunt ‘em or somethin’?”

“Or something,” I answered. I looked down the street and saw more movement in the shadows. “We should leave before the bureau gets here to clean up. I don’t like them.”

“The bureau?” she parroted, “What?”

I started walking off towards the house. “Get goin’ or I’m carrying you. I ain’t askin’ this time around.”

***

“Alright Greg. Ah want answers. No more secrets.”

“No secrets?” I parroted with a smirk, “What are you my girlfriend?”

“I DON’T KNOW! I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING!”

“Okay, okay, humor gone, got it.” I leaned back into the couch and started again. “Well first you should know I never lied to you. Everything I ever said was true. I just stayed away from the big things.”

“Good, Ah can still trust ya,” she deadpanned.

“Anyways, the hunter that killed my parents ended up having a couple memories in his head that I got with his power,” I explained, “It mentioned a exceptionally powerful cambion just known as ‘The Holder’. No one knows his name anymore. Soon as I was able to I went looking for him. I wanted vengeance. I wanted my justice. I found out he’s the city’s kingpin of sorts. He sends out crossroad cambions to make deals, contract cambions finalize the deals and hold contracts, and he keeps all the souls.”

“Any way out of a deal?” she asked.

“Just a couple,” I told her, “See all these powers need to have something to feed off of in order to work. Ya follow?”

“Yeah I think so.”

“Now normally with supernatural powers it feeds off of something your soul cooks up,” I continued, “I know there’s a technical name for it, but all it really amounts to is magic.”

“Magic Ah understand—sorta.”

“Anyways, without a soul all that power wouldn’t work,” I told her, “Oh, and you’d be dead. So when you sell your soul and get these dark powers they put a spell seal on ya. It binds the power to the seal and your body, giving you free access to it. It also acts like an artificial soul. Get rid of the seal and the powers gone too. Contract null and void.”

“But then yer dead,” she finished.

“Correct, and when you die your soul looses power, so the Holder throws it into the afterlife. There’s another way though.” There was so much to this I was racking my brain for the bits I’d learned over the years. “If you find the cambion that holds your contract you can make another deal. Get two more people to make deals and you’re free to go. Two souls for the price of one you see.”

“That Holder is a greedy son bitch in’t he?”

“You have no idea,” I scowled, “An artificial soul and a real soul can’t exist in the same body either, so when you get your soul back you can kiss that power goodbye too. Hell, if someone deals good enough the Holder will give their soul back and make them a new crossroad cambion. The last option is what I’m trying to do: kill the demon or cambion holding the souls and they all go back where they came from.”

“So the Holder…he’s in this here city ain’t he?”

“Yep, and I’m hunting him.”

The room fell silent after that. I don’t know what she wanted to say. It stayed that way for a minute. I thought over my life. Everything that went my way and everything that didn’t. The monsters I’ve killed, the people I’d met, and the bureau.

“Ah wanna help,” she told me unsurprisingly.

“I know,” I told her, “I may have only known you for a week, but I’ve learned enough about you…you can’t just walk away until it’s done you know.”

“The Holder has to die,” she said firmly, “Ya said it yerself: stand fer what ya believe in, and fight for what’s right. Ah ain’t sat idly by once in mah life, and Ah ain’t gonna start now.”

I got a knock at the door. I didn’t bother with the bat this time. I knew who it was. I opened the door and saw what about amounted to a ninja standing in front of me. “Let me guess—“

“Same offer Greg,” he told me, “The bureau needs someone like you. You have unrestrained power and unrivaled potential.”

“Who’re you?” Applejack asked.

“He’s part of the bureau’s clean up crew,” I explained, “He helps clean up the mess the cambions leave behind. Why do ya think this ain’t international news?”

“I was wonderin’ ‘bout that.”

I looked between her and the janitor for a moment and finally conceded. “The bureau fights the Holder in this quadrant,” I explained, “I don’t work with them, but we have the same goal. They keep offerin’ to join…so fine. Count me in.”

“What?!” he said in shock.

“On one condition,” I interjected.

“Name it!” he said quickly.

“The girl joins too,” I said, “She wants to fight and I can’t train her. When the Holder’s dead we’re gone.”

“Deal. Just follow me to the base of operations whenever you’re ready,” he told us, “Oh, and pack light. We’ll provide the necessities.” He ran off to tell his buddies the good news.

“Ya have a lot more to explain than ya already did don’t ya?”

“Yep, but that’s for later.” I walked off to grab a few clothes from my room. I packed them in a duffel bag I had for whatever reason.

“Not that Ah’m happy that ya volunteered me fer somethin’, but what should we bring?” she asked me as she gathered up a few of her own clothes.

“Clothes for starters,” I answered, “Shampoo, body wash, favorite accessories, and personal items. They’ll provide food, rooms, shower, and most importantly for you: training. I don’t like working in a team AJ. I’m only doin’ this so ya don’t get yourself killed.”

“Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically, “Yer confidence in me is just overwhelming.”

“You’re only human,” I told her solemnly, “You’re stronger than most, but you are still human. No matter what you are, bones break, you bleed, you die. Everything dies eventually.”

“Yeah, well then so will you ‘eventually’!” she shot at me like a venom spitting cobra.

“I know,” I said softly. I think that surprised her. “But I can’t die yet. Not until I avenge my parents. After that, I can die with a smile. Hell, I’ll be able to smile.”

I think she was looking at me, but my back was turned. I’d sat on the bed to think for a moment. “Ya smiled in the bar today,” she reminded me, “Shoot, ya were even laughin’!” She gave a small nervous chuckle. I kept silent.

“My life is a wreck,” I told her, “I know this lust for revenge has kept me from living a full life, but I never cared. I lost my full life when I lost my family. Now all I have are the broken pieces to pick up and put back together.”

I heard her sniff. She was actually crying for me. “Greg…” She sounded like she was going to say something to try and cheer me up, but she veered off for some reason I couldn’t figure out at the moment. “Mah parents died when mah little sister was just a baby,” she told me without warning, “Ya know those mechanized harvestin’ machines?”

“Yeah.”

“Mah daddy got one to help make harvestin’ the wheat faster. Something got jammed in there one day, and they thought it was a rock. They both went in there to figure out what happened.” She started balling her eyes out.

“That’s enough!” I yelled without looking at her. Hell I even clamped my eyes shut. “You don’t have to tell me this just because I told you what happened to my parents. There’s no reason for you to tell me. There’s no reason for you to relive that memory!”

“Ah know that!” she yelled back still crying, still with her voice cracking madly. “Ah just…misery loves company right?” she asked meekly.

“Don’t…don’t hurt yourself just to try and lessen my pain,” I begged, “I don’t want anyone innocent to get hurt because of me, by any means, for any reason.”

“How noble,” she joked, probably hoping to lighten the mood.

“I’m not in the mood.”

I got up and started grabbing the rest of what I needed. I walked out to the back porch and grabbed my guitar. As I was about to leave I stopped. I leaned up against the door frame for a moment and just plucked a string. I didn’t feel like playing the whole song, but that at least calmed by nerves a bit.

I took a deep breath and went out to the foyer where Applejack was waiting. She’d washed her face so she didn’t look like she’d been crying. “I never have since that day,” I told her. She looked at me in confusion. “Since they died,” I specified, “I haven’t cried since that day. I just can’t.”

I walked past her and got on my bike. “We’ll provide a vehicle for you,” the janitor told me.

Applejack got on the back saying, “Trust me, ya don’t wanna screw around with his bike.”

He looked at her, looked at the bike, looked at me and said, “Okay. Just follow us then.” He walked off and got in a black impala. He drove off with a bunch of other black cars of varying models and years. I followed close behind. I knew I felt a storm coming, and now I was riding right into it.

Author's Note

Just a quick disclaimer: there will not be many religious bases in this story just because I’ve introduced demons. There will be a few of the basic things, but it’s not as though you need to read the fucking book of revelations or the holy bible to get any of what’s to come. Now that that’s cleared up, enjoy the story.