Chapter Twenty-One #3
“Nah, like I said yesterday, we’re just going to kill it and go home.”
“Do they know who summoned it?” Felipe asked.
There hadn’t been time for him to gather any information.
Once his grandfather announced he would be accompanying Alfonso to track and kill the demon, he had been spirited away to pack, pray, and prepare.
In the past when demons or strange creatures had appeared, there had been a flurry of speculation in the compound.
If someone was dabbling in witchcraft enough to summon something, they needed to be dealt with swiftly and harshly.
When Felipe looked up from poking the fire, Alfonso was giving him the same shrewd look he had outside the church.
With a shake of his head and a stretch, it was replaced with a languid smile.
“Don’t worry about it. Our fathers are handling it.” Alfonso craned his neck toward the dark expanse of the hill behind him. “I’m going to take a piss. Call me if you see anything.”
Felipe watched Alfonso walk into the shadows beyond the firelight.
As he listened to his steps fade away, fear sharpened his senses.
Choruses of crickets and cicadas sang in the trees in time with the rising moon.
Somewhere in the distance, coyotes yipped and mournfully howled, and Felipe wondered if they were calling for their fallen mate.
He hoped that the coyote had been old and sick because if the demon had caught a coyote— He didn’t want to think about it.
Felipe added another stick to the fire and watched the flames lick up its length.
As the branch charred, his gaze trailed to the gap in the trees where Alfonso had last stood.
He should have been back by now. Felipe half rose before catching himself.
That was probably what Alfonso wanted, for him to call out in panic because he couldn’t handle being alone for five minutes.
Scooting closer to the fire, Felipe warmed his hands until his palms prickled with pain.
He wouldn’t give his cousin the satisfaction of panicking.
When Felipe pulled back just shy of burning, footsteps scuffed down the goat trail.
Finally, Felipe thought without looking up from stoking the fire.
It wasn’t until all the crickets fell silent and he caught a whiff of rot over the campfire that he knew something was amiss.
Swallowing hard, Felipe raised his gaze and found a monster the likes of which he had never seen standing just inside the ring of the firelight.
What had once been hooves had shattered into ragged nails on feet that were not quite human, and the body atop the two too-human legs was the same grey-black as the goat he had seen his uncle lead through the gate, though its skin and bones had been mutilated by the demon’s sudden transformation.
Its horns now curled forward like an elephant’s tusks, and what had once been a goat’s head had twisted into the sharp, focused face of a predator.
The snout had grown longer and almost lupine with sharp canines extending past a gleaming row of flat teeth that could break bone.
The creature still had the goat’s golden eyes, but the slit pupils and the intelligence behind those eyes as they tracked Felipe’s movements belonged to the demon wearing its skin.
Felipe slowly stood, his hand inching toward the wicked knife on his hip.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong, his brain screamed as he slid the blade from its sheath without taking his eyes off the creature.
Suddenly, every weapon or technique at his disposal seemed useless in the face of something from another world that had caught and killed a coyote.
When Felipe took a slow step back toward the ridge, the creature stepped closer to the flame as if the heat meant nothing to it.
His voice caught in his throat as he tried to call, “Al— Alfonso—”
The demon’s fingers flexed, revealing four raptor-like talons on each hand made for rending flesh from bone.
Felipe slowly shifted his weight onto his back foot and called for his cousin again, this time louder, but Alfonso never came.
The first strike came so fast he nearly missed it in the glare of the flame.
Embers singed Felipe’s legs as the demon surged through the fire.
Its talons screeched against Felipe’s blade as he met it blow for blow.
He ducked under its arm and slashed. For a moment, he thought he had missed until the demon turned its head toward him and let out a rough, dry roar that rang from the pits of hell.
Felipe had barely twisted away when the creature struck again.
It leapt forward, catching him in the side with its claws as he parried its other hand.
Felipe hit the ground hard but rolled back to his feet out of reach.
Where was Alfonso? He couldn’t risk taking his eyes off the beast to look, but he hadn’t heard screaming or the telltale sounds of violence.
He knew that meant little when a demon was involved.
Still, why hadn’t he returned? Felipe ducked and swiped the moment he had an opening, praying his cousin would appear before the creature wore him out.
He hoped Alfonso was merely waiting for an opening to jump in, but a little voice still wondered if he was dead.
He couldn’t imagine why else Alfonso wasn’t at his side.
Felipe surged forward, cutting deep into the creature’s hide.
Black sludge oozed from the wound, hissing as it hit the ground and dissolved.
The second the blow landed he knew it had been a mistake.
The creature’s eyes sharpened as it stalked forward.
Ichor leaked from its side with every step, but it didn’t seem to matter.
Felipe backed up. If he made a break for it in either direction, it would grab him; he could see it in its eyes.
He needed Alfonso. He needed him to pounce on the creature’s back to give him an opening.
This was why they always went out in groups.
Felipe’s foot hit nothing but loose earth.
For a heartstopping moment, his foot dangled in empty air before he caught himself and shifted into a crouch.
The demon had walked him to the edge of the ridge.
Stupid, my ass, Felipe thought bitterly.
This far from their camp all he could make out were the beast’s eyes gleaming in the darkness and the warm glow of the fire over its shoulder.
Felipe raised his knife and waited for the demon to fling itself at him when something stepped from the shadows of the trees.
Alfonso. Felipe’s heart leapt with relief, but the other man never moved.
He merely watched as the demon collided with Felipe’s chest, its talons puncturing his flesh as they went over the edge together in a tangle of flesh and fur.