Demon Ash Read online

  The group of fey fighting the two hounds to the right kept the creatures at bay while the rest worked to try to kill the pinned one. My gaze swept the darkness, searching for more glowing red. They were out there, somewhere, along with the groups of fey who had left to hunt them.

  A flash of movement drew my attention to the left. A fey had caught the crazed animal by its neck, reached around, and ripped its lower jaw off in a disgustingly familiar move. The hound continued to make sounds and struggled to lunge for the fey as if unaware it could no longer bite.

  The fey fell upon the beast, hacking at the creature. I wanted to turn away but couldn't. It was brutal to watch, but they had to find a way to kill it. If they couldn’t, there was no hope for us humans.

  Something slammed into the fence right in front of us, jolting my attention. The volume of the hound’s snarls competed with the sound of its claws against the fence as it tried to climb its way in. Drav stepped back and growled in return. The men around us opened fire until the hound bled from multiple wounds. The report of gunfire didn’t cease, each bullet mangling the beast’s flesh further until I could see inside of it.

  A light flashed in the dark cavity of its body. Not a normal bright light, but an unnatural dark glow. A shiver raced through me as the sinister non-light shimmered again.

  “Did you see that?” I said to Drav.

  He grunted.

  “Keep shooting at its chest,” I said. “Where the heart should be.”

  Tissue disintegrated under the fire until I saw bone, and the dark peeked through the mangled mess.

  “Molev, look at its heart,” Drav said.

  Molev and another fey rushed forward. The firing stopped, but the hound didn’t. It continued its attempt to claw its way through the fence unaware or uncaring of the two men approaching. The fey crashed into the wounded hound and knocked it over. The hound tried to jump back up, but Molev threw his arm around the beast’s neck, pinning it while keeping a safe distance from its snapping jaws.

  The second man plunged his hand into the creature’s chest cavity.

  “Hurry,” Molev barked.

  The fey tugged twice before finally jerking back and pulling out a rugged, black rock from the hound. The object pulsed with its darkness. The hound continued to struggle, unfazed by whatever they’d removed.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “It looks like a crystal,” Drav said.

  Molev strained to keep his hold, the muscles in his arms and neck bulging.

  “Break it,” Molev said.

  The fey wrapped his hands around the stone. His arms flexed and the crystal on his wrist flared blue. With a crunch, the black stone dissolved to black dust, and the hellhound stopped moving in Molev’s arms.

  “Their hearts are their life crystals,” Molev bellowed. “Remove them, and destroy them.”

  While he tossed the dead hound aside and got to his feet, the fey dealing with the speared hound ripped out the same black stone and crushed it as well.

  The floodlights flared to life behind us. The remaining hellhounds yipped and ran back into the night.

  The relief I felt in the destruction of the two hellhounds didn’t last long, though. With the light, I could see the men. The hellhounds had left their marks on so many of the fey. So had the bullets of the humans within the fence.

  “Put me down, Drav.”

  He’d barely done as I’d asked when some asshole pushed him from behind. Drav pivoted, facing the man.

  “What the fuck do you think you were doing?” the man shouted.

  “I accept your challenge,” Drav said with deadly calm.

  “No, you don’t!” I quickly tried to step around Drav, but he held me back with an arm.

  “No challenge issued, right?” I insisted, looking at the man.

  The guy didn’t take the hint as his challenging gaze stayed locked on Drav.

  “Fuck if there wasn’t. You almost got us killed. Why? To prove you could kill the hounds?”

  ”What are you talking about?” I demanded. “You assholes hid behind this fence while the fey did all the work. How does that translate to them almost getting your cowardly asses killed?”

  The man held up several broken arrows.

  “They took out our lights and brought the hounds.”

  “Enough,” Commander Willis said, striding toward us. “Go check the back fence.” He held out his hand for the arrows. The man surrendered them and walked off stiffly.

  The Commander looked down at the broken shafts.

  “We use guns,” he said.

  “And they use spears and arrows. So what? I’ve already told you, they have two outlaws up here. Those arrows weren’t fired by these fey, right here.”

  “And you expect me to believe it was their outlaws?”

  “Expecting anything in this world seems pretty pointless, but I’m telling you the truth. These fey have traveled by day to avoid the hounds because of me and Timmy. They wouldn’t shoot out lights and risk us. And none of this would have been an issue if you’d let us in the fence where you could have clearly seen what we were doing, which was trying to sleep on the hard ground.”

  The commander sighed, a soul-weary sound, and scratched under his jaw as he looked at the bodies of the fallen hounds.

  “Infected we can handle if there aren’t huge waves of them, but those hounds…nothing we have slows them down, aside from a well-thrown grenade. But they’re usually already out of the way before it detonates.”

  He faced me.

  “Collect any supplies you have and bring in your injured. We’ll set you up in the training gym. We don’t have enough beds for you all, but we’ve got a good supply of cots.”

  “Open the gates,” he called.

  While the fey helped their wounded inside, Byllo joined us. Timmy was still draped against the man’s shoulder, one little hand resting on Byllo’s neck.

  “Are you okay?” I asked the little boy.

  He shook his head.

  “Did those dogs scare you?”

  He nodded.

  “Me too. But we don’t have to sleep outside anymore. We’ll be safer inside, okay?”

  He nodded once more, and I wondered if he had any hope of growing up normal.

  “This way,” the commander said when the men were inside.

  He led us toward one of the larger buildings, stopping soldiers along the way with orders for them to round up all the unused cots and bring them to the training gym.

  When we arrived, a few cots already waited.

  “We house traveling families or groups seeking shelter until we can get them to a better equipped base. Rest up. We’ll talk in the morning. More soldiers will be in with cots.”

  After that, the man left.

  The fey spread out, the wounded taking the cots. I searched through our bags for the first aid supplies and went to work cleaning cuts, bites, and the occasional bullet hole. Drav followed me around quietly, not trying to stop me from using what we’d gathered.

  While I worked, Molev spoke to a couple of groups who nodded and went outside.

  “Where are they going?” I asked Drav as I dabbed a cut over a fey’s eye.

  The man held himself completely still and kept glancing at Drav. They’d all done that. I didn’t try to send Drav away, though. Having him near comforted me, even in the midst of the fey who I knew would protect me to the last man.

  “To guard the entrances. Molev does not trust the humans here.”

  “I don’t blame him.”

  I added a bandage and stepped back from the injured fey.

  “The cut probably needs stitches, but I don’t know how to do that. Keep an eye on it. If it starts oozing anything nasty, tell me.” It was the same thing that I’d said to all of the fey I’d treated.

  I turned, looking for anyone else who needed help. The men lay spread out on the cots that had slowly appeared, courtesy of the commander. Those without cots sat propped against the outer walls.
Most already slept. No one else seemed to require my attention.

  My eyes burned with the need for sleep, and I shuffled closer to Drav, leaning into him.

  “Come,” he said.

  Drav led me over to two cots pushed together and encouraged me to lie down. I didn’t need much encouraging.

  “Stay with me?”

  “Of course, my Mya.” He lay beside me and held my hand.

  I drifted to sleep with his thumb rubbing up and down the back of my hand.

  * * * *

  “Commander Willis will want to know more about the hounds and how to kill them,” I said before taking another bite of my plain oatmeal.

  Byllo sat at the same table as Molev, Drav, and me. He carefully fed Timmy each bite from their shared bowl. Once the boy chewed and swallowed his current bite, he immediately opened his mouth for more. I was pretty sure Byllo hadn’t eaten anything yet.

  “He saw how to kill them. The humans do not have the strength,” Molev said.

  “Sure. We know that. But, it’ll take a while for them to come to that same conclusion.”

  As if mentioning the commander had summoned him, the man walked through the door. As he strode across the room, he addressed Molev.

  “Your people can continue to rest here until the patrol returns with the supplies. Meanwhile, I’d like to discuss a few things with you.”

  Molev’s gaze shifted to me briefly before landing on a few of the fey.

  “Azio and Ghua, come with me.”

  The two fey stood and walked out with Molev and Willis.

  I finished up with breakfast and glanced around the room. The fey were resting, Timmy was in good hands under Byllo’s watchful eye, and we weren’t under any immediate threat.

  “I wonder if there’s anywhere to shower,” I said, looking at Drav. The bathrooms attached to our building just had toilets and sinks.

  “Most of the humans here smell like soap,” Drav said.

  I grinned.

  “Then let’s see if we can find one.”

  I stood, and Drav followed me outside. I asked a soldier watching our building where I could find a shower. The man led us to a different building.

  Inside, not far from the entrance, the soldier opened the door to a locker room type space. He pointed out the stock of supplies and the towels that filled a shelving unit just inside the door, then left with the warning that he’d check on us in ten minutes.

  Drav and I took a quick shower together. It felt good to really clean myself, but I hurried to rinse and dry, not wanting anyone to walk in. Especially not with the healing bite still on my shoulder. Once dressed, we left the shower room.

  I thanked the man, who’d waited just outside the door, and Drav and I went to rejoin the others in their dining hall.

  The fey we’d left there no longer sat at the tables quietly eating a meal I knew they found disgusting. Instead, the bowls had been collected and stacked on one unoccupied table while the majority of the men gathered around a different table. Human soldiers were crowded in with the fey, all focused on something I couldn’t see clearly.

  Shouts of encouragement and a low murmur of conversation echoed in the room as I pushed my way forward, through their numbers, already suspecting what I’d find.

  Four fey sat on one side of the table with four humans on the other. Each pair had their hands clasped above the table’s surface. Grins plastered the participant’s faces.

  “Go!” one of the humans yelled.

  The men were at a standstill for several seconds until the first fey grunted. As one, the fey began pushing back on the humans.

  Sweat dotted the forehead of each human. Several bicep muscles quivered with effort. They didn’t stand a chance. Not in arm wrestling. Not in any physical sport against the fey. In short order, each fey brought his opponent’s hand to the table. The fey grunted and grinned while the pairs shook hands. The contenders switched out so four new sets could test each other’s strengths.

  At the end of the long table, Byllo sat with Timmy. In front of Timmy waited an open coloring book and a couple crayons. Byllo had a crayon in his hand and followed Timmy’s gaze to the men arm wrestling.

  Timmy twisted in his seat and mimicked the men further down the table, lifting his tiny elbow on the table and held his hand out for Byllo to take. Byllo set his crayon down, gripping the toddler’s hand.

  Timmy grunted loudly just like the men further down the table. Byllo grunted and let Timmy knock his hand down to the surface. Timmy’s delightful laughter filled the room, catching the attention of the other fey. Soon more fey and even some of the humans came over and “challenged” Timmy.

  I smiled. Maybe there was hope that human and fey could co-exist, after all.

  Thirteen

  The distant rumble of engines and a growing commotion outside our building woke me. Drav’s cot beside me lay empty but still retained his heat. Whatever was going on had woken him, too.

  I got up and stepped outside while redoing my ponytail. Many of the other fey stood near the building’s entrance, blocking my view. Nudging my way through, I found Drav near the front. I stood behind him and took in the sight of the busy enclosure.

  Human men poured from the white building and ran toward the fence where the gate was in the process of sliding open. Just beyond the outer fence the convoy of seven vehicles, along with their fey escort, approached. No infected trailed behind them.

  The vehicles and fey cleared the gates, and I smiled at the sight of Kerr’s familiar face. With Drav at my side, I hurried toward the gate to welcome the fey back. The commander already stood nearby with Molev.

  While the humans looked tired and dirty, the fey appeared well enough and no dirtier than when they’d left. They’d fared much better than we had.

  Kerr saw us and jogged over.

  “How did it go?” Molev asked.

  “Bud is dead. I’m sorry, Mya,” Kerr said.

  “Can’t say I’m really sorry about that. He was an asshole. What happened?”

  Kerr shrugged. “When we returned, the gate stood open. A trail of cans led from the empty barn into the woods where we found Bud’s remains and several waiting infected. We cleared the infected and helped gather the supplies the infected had left in trails all over the woods.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. More baiting and traps. Drav’s fingers brushed over my side in a comforting gesture.

  “Was anyone hurt?” I asked.

  “No. One gun misfired, but the human survived.”

  “Misfired?”

  Kerr nodded.

  “If you will excuse me,” the commander said, “I need to talk to my men.”

  The four of us watched him retreat into the white building with the driver from one of the vehicles. The gates closed and the men, human and fey, began to unload the supplies. I hoped the commander would deliver on his promise after talking to his men. We’d delivered on ours.

  “What happened?” Molev asked Kerr.

  “One of their men shot at me while we were clearing the infected. When I said I accepted his challenge, he said it was a misfire. An accident. It was not, but I kept the peace,” he said, meeting my gaze.

  I smiled at him.

  “I bet it wasn’t easy, but thank you for not giving Commander Willis a reason to withhold information from us. Hopefully, we’ll find out where my parents are soon.”

  “And more women?”

  “I hope so.” Except for me and Timmy, uninfected women and children seemed pretty scarce. “I’m going to go check on Timmy and make sure he’s been fed,” I said.

  “Byllo fed him twice already. The child was hungry during the night. He’s sleeping again,” Molev said.

  Drav walked with me back to the building, and I stopped to peek in on Timmy. The little boy slept curled against Byllo’s side on a single cot. The fey just lay there, eyes open, watching the entrance of the building. When he saw me, he nodded.

  “Timmy ate and relieved himsel
f then wanted more sleep.”

  “That’s just fine. Kids that age might still need naps, but I’m guessing everything he’s going through is just taking a little bit more out of him.”

  Byllo frowned, concern on his face.

  “Taking what out?”

  “It’s just an expression. It means he might be more tired than normal.”

  Byllo grunted, and I left the pair to gather the supplies the fey had brought inside our first night. With nothing left to do but wait, Drav and I returned to our position near the gate. Molev still watched the soldiers.

  “No news yet?” I asked.

  “Willis has remained in the building,” he said.

  The newly acquired supplies disappeared into the reinforced shed, and the trucks were parked inside the white building before the commander finally stepped out and strode toward us.

  “There’s another safe zone in Missouri,” he said without preamble. “Whiteman Airforce Base. Your family is there.”

  Hearing those words squeezed my heart in the best possible way. Mom, Dad, and Ryan. Finally.

  “We’ve radioed them and shared what you did for us,” he continued. “They’re expecting you.”

  He held out a folded map with the route already marked.

  “Avoid the places crossed out. There are too many infected there to go in for supply runs.”

  “Thank you, Commander Willis,” Molev said.

  The commander gave a slight nod and walked away.

  “Ready to head out?” I asked Molev.

  “Yes. Lead and we will follow, Mya,” he said with a glance at the map.

  Drav scooped me up, and I smiled.

  “Tell the men we’re ready then. And tell Byllo to try not to wake Timmy when he picks him up.”

  The fey retrieved our supplies from where we’d left them inside the building. Within minutes, we were on our way north. The clearly marked map showed we needed to head up Highway 69, but not to go into the city of McAlester itself.

  “Molev, we need to leave the highway before we reach the next town,” I said as our group sprinted over the blacktop.

  He called out for the group to slow and came over to look at the map with me. I pointed out the area that defined the city of McAlester and the highway cutting through it. Then, I drew my finger along the back roads that would take us far out of our way.