Her Dark Destiny (Hunters of the Dark #1) Read online

  Chapter One

   

  One Year Later…

  “Shanna, are you listening to me?” a sharp voice demanded in Shanna’s ear.

  Shanna Hunt held her cell phone a little further away from her head and rolled her eyes. “Yes, I hear you, Valor.”

  She steered her jeep along a dark lonely highway, imagining what the dance club, where she was going to meet her best friend Kelly, was going to be like. It was the club’s opening night, so all she had to go on was the name. Styx. Simple, ominous. It could be really cool or incredibly lame, but like Kelly had said last night, “at least it’s something new.” They’d been going to the same clubs near the college town of St. Cloud, Minnesota for years, so a change of scenery was bound to be nice, at the very least. And it could potentially be their new hangout if it wasn’t a disaster. With a name like Styx, Shanna imagined dark wood panels and a wide dance floor with red lights bathing a sea of dancers. The pounding bass rocking the floor and throbbing through her ears. A vast improvement over the 80’s night she was subjected to every Friday evening at The Glass Chandelier, the only other club worthy of mention in the rather suffocating town. Of course Kelly had insisted they go on opening night, like the place was oozing irresistible pheromones, and she was dragging Shanna along with her. Unfortunately, Shanna had been scheduled to work at her part-time job as a waitress as Russell’s, so she was going to meet her friend there an hour after the club had opened its doors. She’d tried everything to get out of her shift, but no one had been willing to switch with her and her boss wasn’t about to help her out for a social obligation. Whatever. She was almost there now, so she could look forward to some real fun soon enough.

  “I know you hear me,” Valor said. “But are you listening? This could mean life or death for a lot of people, yourself included. Won’t you at least give it a trial run? You can leave at any time. After the first day, if you’d like.”

  Shanna sighed. The seven years since her parents’ death had seemed like an entire lifetime. Nobody had wanted to take her in, but her aunt had eventually set her up in her own apartment at the complex she owned. Probably for the tax write-off. But now that she was eighteen, she was paying rent herself and was sure that her aunt was holding out hope for a written notice every month that past by. But even harder for her to deal with in wake of becoming an orphan was that no one had paid attention to her account of what had happened to her parents. They said that she must have been dreaming, half asleep when the burglars had been surprised by her parents and hastily murdered them, leaving without getting a thing. No one mentioned the chalk circle. No one mentioned the strange dust scattered about. They ignored everything that could have possibly been reported as supernatural. But Shanna had refused to forget.

  “It’s just not for me,” Shanna relayed. “I’m not -“

  “Why don’t you just come and see us for yourself?” Valor insisted. “It wouldn’t hurt. You could say ‘no’ then. I just think that it would be beneficial for both of us to sit down and really discuss this, examine each and every concern you may have.”

  Grieving for her parents hadn’t come easy for her. She’d found herself unable to cry at the funeral. Unable to talk about life with them. But there was one thing that she could do to get some closure. She’d done her research, studied up on demonology and the supernatural, checking out books and discovering unlimited resources on-line. And she’d trained herself to fight, to aim, even joined archery and self-defense clubs at school. She was determined to do something about what she’d witnessed even if she had to take matters into her own hands. So she’d become a self-learned expert on demons and had taken it to the next level - she’d started hunting them. She sought them out in their common dwellings - caves and graveyards; even participated in an exorcism with a priest she’d persuaded she could help.

  And then she’d hit the jackpot. During her on-line research, she’d been swept deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of sites discussing demonology, until she’d discovered a webpage for hunters in the abyss. Hunters. The word had been foreign to her. But what she shared with other individuals at this common destination had rung true in her mind. A shadow society of people like herself were working to make the world a safer place from monsters, relating their stories, sharing secrets and tips, where to find weapons and texts, all with total anonymity. She suddenly wasn’t so alone. There were others out there who’d been touched by what dwelled in darkness, in one way or another. Others who could empathize with her plight, and point her in the right direction for carrying out her revenge. Years ago, someone suggested to have a convention of sorts, a meeting of the minds, but while the site was in an obscure place on the internet, it was still public and thus, quite risky. They would be too vulnerable to traps sprung by those they hunted. It was best that they fought alone. In the shadows. Each cleansing their own piece of the earth. Shanna, for one, found it comforting just knowing that there were others like herself out there, doing some good.

  And then three months ago, out of pure dumb luck, she’d tracked down the demons that had destroyed her life. Yet she’d gotten no pleasure from driving her blade through their hearts. If anything, it had made her feel even emptier. What else was there, if her vendetta had been carried out? Who was Shanna Hunt?

  Just a week ago, this Valor woman had identified Shanna through the hunter site, somehow getting ahold of Shanna’s cell phone number and coming to some very real conclusions about Shanna being a demon hunter, with enough information on her background to make her feel vulnerable and exposed. Now Valor and this “government-funded agency” were trying to recruit her for a team of hunters. But could she trust them? With the information they had on her, they could have easily come for her if their intentions had been malicious. But they hadn’t. Still, she was hesitant, dubious of working with others in life-and-death situations, being responsible for actions she would report to a superior in a more official capacity.

  “Look, I’m just not interested in being an X-Man or whatever, okay?” Shanna reasoned. “So, can you please just -”

  “Shanna, the creatures of the dark are finding hunters and executing them, one by one. They’re going to come after you eventually. Our only defense against these monsters is surprise. With a team of hunters, we’ll have quality and quantity. Hopefully, that will be enough to stop the death blow that they’re striking against the good guys. If we don’t do this, there won’t be any hunters left before long. And then what? Everything that you’ve been fighting for will have been in vain. Darkness will reign! Is that what you want?”

  Shanna couldn’t deny Valor’s claims. Screen names she’d become familiar with on the message boards of the hunter site had disappeared, like stars in the sky darkening. There were fewer and fewer of them visiting every day. But she just wasn’t sure if this was the right solution. They’d kept themselves anonymous and hadn’t met before for a reason. What they did was dangerous. It was better not to be visible.

  “No, what I want is to be left alone,” Shanna retorted. “I work alone. I’m no team player.”

  “We can teach you to be one. Do you think anything could stand in the way of a team of trained hunters? Really trained? Studying up on demons and fighting techniques isn’t enough to prepare you for everything that comes your way. You’re an ordinary girl, self-taught, and that makes you prone to get hurt…or killed. It’s not like you have any super powers like these things have. But we can teach you martial arts, give you rare materials to go through, and give you a fighting chance!”

  “Maybe you’re giving them an easier target. Maybe you’ll just end up getting a group of hunters killed in one quick slap.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line for a moment. “But maybe not,” Valor’s voice returned quietly. “If we do nothing, we’re doomed. If we at least try something, we have a chance.”

  Shanna watched the darkness ahead of her jeep’s headlights part like a curtain to either side. They
briefly illuminated a group of trees beyond a steep ditch as she curved along the highway. She suddenly realized that she hadn’t past a car for fifteen minutes. Styx seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Maybe she’d taken a wrong turn somewhere…

  “You know, I think I’m a little lost right now,” Shanna observed. “You’re gonna have to call me back.”

  “Shanna, you…”

  Shanna turned her cell phone off and tossed it onto the passenger seat next to her.

  Kelly had said that it was quite a ways down Highway Forty-Three, but this far? It was supposed to be on the right side and “you can’t miss it.” So where was it?

  Valor was probably yapping at me, distracting me, and I drove right by it, Shanna thought. Just my luck. What kind of a name is Valor anyway?

  Sighing, Shanna began to watch for her next chance to make a u-turn, when screaming red neon lights demanded her attention from over a hill just ahead of her.

  Please be it, she thought, or I’m heading back and owing Kelly big time for leaving her alone.

  She held her breath as her jeep crested the hill. And there it was. A sprawling one-story building with red neon lights, emphasizing the club’s name.

  It may have been a little out of the way, Shanna thought, parking her jeep in what seemed to be the only spot left in the dirt lot, but obviously there was an audience for this sort of thing, just a little drive outside of the city. Without any neighbors, they weren’t liable to get any complaints, and with the acreage it boasted along the deserted road, it could afford to take up some space to accommodate what was hopefully a roomy, awesome club. The Glass Chandelier, although located in the heart of downtown, was a two-story building with narrow aisles and a cramped dance floor. Styx was definitely aiming to set itself apart.

  Shanna took inventory of herself quickly in her visor mirror and stuck her cell phone into her purse. She paused then, wondering if Valor would try calling again. I’ll leave it in the jeep, she decided, tossing it back onto her passenger seat. Just in case.

  Stepping out of the jeep, Shanna stuck her keys into her purse and slung it over her shoulder casually. A royal purple spaghetti-strap dress came down to her mid-thighs, the very top of which blurred into white, a silver purse and shoes joining her clothing in a dance meant to command attention, if not monopolize it.

  Smoothing out her dress, Shanna walked toward the club entrance, realizing suddenly with a little alarm that there were tall black iron spikes all around the club, so close together that a small dog could just barely squeeze between them. A burly man stood beside the only opening to the club, his greasy goatee sculpted to a point below a deep frown. He crossed his arms over his chest and, as he shifted, his bald head caught the red neon lights overhead, as did the round frames of his silver-rimmed glasses. A black dragon was tattooed onto his exposed right shoulder, its tail coiling endlessly until it disappeared into the crook of his elbow.

  “Hi,” Shanna greeted the man nervously. Her eyes flicked down to his name tag, which read “Cerberus” with squiggly lines underlining it like running water. They have quite the theme going, Shanna thought, unable to stifle a smirk.

  “Four dollar cover charge for under twenty-one,” the bouncer grunted without humor, holding out his hand and consequently exposing the tattooed dragon’s tail in all its glory, running along the length of the smooth skin, its tip coiled around a dagger in the middle of his forearm. “And an ID.”

  Shanna fumbled through her purse and handed the man the requested cash and her ID. She also had a fake ID that claimed she was twenty-one instead of three years shy of it, but she wasn’t in the mood to drink tonight anyway. That and if anyone inspected it closely, they would see the girl on the license had a hooked nose and a double chin. It was almost an insult every time she passed an examination. But for some reason, she didn’t think that this guy would see the humor in the obvious contradictions.

  “Cerberus” handed her back her ID, then snapped a green plastic bracelet over her right wrist a little too tightly, although she didn’t complain. As long as she got inside, she could deal.

  Shanna stepped past the bouncer with a forced smile, averting her eyes from the grotesque tattoo, and nearly gasped when she noticed what was before her. She was in front of a wooden bridge that extended over a stone pit that encircled the club. The pit was twelve feet across and at least twenty feet deep and seemed to be made of concrete, like a swimming pool. On the other side of the pit, another set of spikes encircled the club. Or was it encircling the pit? Either way, it creeped Shanna out. She reasoned that they must have been planning on filling it with water, to go with the whole River Styx theme, but ran out of time before the grand opening. Not the best first impression, but it was an ambitious prop.

  Clasping the cord railings of the bridge ferociously, Shanna gingerly made her way across the rickety bridge, trying to ignore the swaying boards beneath her feet. Heights really weren’t her thing. When she reached the other side, she silently congratulated herself and refused to look back.

  Despite the creepy entrance, Shanna was psyched. This place wouldn’t be the typical, mundane club from the looks of things. It had to be just awesome inside.

  Another ten feet and Shanna was at the door to the club, skimming a poster on the door that read “Hosted by The Black Flame” with a negative of a struck match. She didn’t really get it. Was it an actual company or a mock-up of something? In the end, it didn’t really matter. If there was fire and brimstone inside, it would be just perfect.

  Holding her head up high, Shanna walked through the door, greeted by the pulsing house mix of Gwen Stefani’s latest single. Just to her left, a glowing six-foot skeleton stood grinning at her, a name badge similar to the one “Cerberus” wore proclaiming the rubbery specter to be Chiron, one of his hands gesturing deeper into the club, as if daring her to proceed. Shanna looked into its empty eye sockets and something of a shiver crept up her spine. The skeletal figure was a little amusing perhaps, and it certainly boasted that fun was in store for attendees, but it unnerved Shanna nonetheless. She tried to ignore it, but felt as if its eyes were boring into her back as she continued down a short hallway, past a bored-looking girl sitting behind a counter to her right, “coat/purse check” written just above it. The girl didn’t even look up from the paperback she was reading, its worn spine indicating that it wasn’t the first read-through. The cover was so faded that Shanna had a hard time making out the title, but she suspected from the image of the man with the long fingernails and top hat that it was Dracula.

  Deciding to keep her purse with her, she headed through a doorway to her left that opened into a bar, instead of continuing up the hallway to the dance floor. Shanna would bet anything that Kelly was at the bar, trying to get a light buzz before cutting loose for the evening, so she headed there first.

  Immediately, Shanna was hit with a wave of cigarette smoke that seemed to settle in her mouth like ash. She could just imagine the smell clinging to her hair when she left for the night. She’d definitely be taking a shower when she got home.

  Scanning the bustling room of people, she noted pool tables and dart boards to the left of the room, and a wide bar with four bartenders manning it, to the right. Two arcade games sat in the back of the room, separating the two sections and guarding the restrooms. One of the machines had an old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on it, while the other was a racing game. A small crowd stood around the racecar game, cheering and patronizing at intervals while the other stood empty.

  Shanna felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth. It had been years since she’d played that old Ninja Turtles game, but she remembered her parents bringing her to the arcade fondly and standing in front of that screen for hours on end.

  Beside the Ninja Turtles game, a girl suddenly backed away from two guys, and Shanna felt her body tense. Her eyes flickered over their leather jackets and the shape of what could be a knife handle subtly bulging through the fabric of the
jeans of the bigger guy on the left as his jacket rode up his torso and he leaned menacingly over her. His posture was threatening; no good was sure to come of what he was saying to the girl, who shrank in his shadow.

  Ignoring the leers from a group of loud college boys, she strode over to the threesome purposefully, making it look like she was making her way toward the bathroom, her gait nonchalant, her eyes keeping the group in her periphery rather than looking directly at them. She didn’t want to interfere in anyone’s personal business, but if they were in fact threatening her, she wouldn’t stand by and watch them intimidate the girl into doing anything she didn’t want to.

  As she got closer, she saw that the girl was probably college-aged, with mocha-colored skin and wavy black hair that fell just past her shoulders. Her eyes, despite the situation she was in, didn’t exactly project that she frightened in any way, which was puzzling. In fact, they had a glint in them of…mischief perhaps? Expectation? However, Shanna couldn’t ignore her body language that made it apparent that she was not enjoying the boys’ company.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you,” she heard the girl say in a shaky voice. “Now, if you’ll just let me move along…”

  The bigger guy, who sported bleached blonde hair that peeked out beneath a red bandana, reached back to where Shanna was sure he had a weapon of some sort, and she immediately made up her mind, changing direction and moving right for them.

  The big guy’s brunette friend saw Shanna coming and slapped his arm, nodding to her, and the two watched Shanna approach, eyes taking her in before they smiled at one another knowingly.

  Shanna pasted a wide smile on her face and tried to think fast. “Well, fancy meeting you here,” Shanna found herself saying to the girl, looking past the boys as if they weren’t even there. “My brother’s here. You know, the body builder? He’s been dying to meet you. Just tell him you like his muscles and you’ll have him in the palm of your hand.” Shanna winked at the girl and reached past the boys to grab her hand, hoping the girl would be smart enough to just go along with it.

  “Now wait a minute,” the brunette guy said, putting up a hand. “She’s with us.”

  Shanna blinked, pretending to notice them for the first time. “Oh, sorry. This’ll just take a minute. I’ll bring her right back.”

  The blonde boy moved to block her retreat with the girl, and Shanna sighed loudly, feigning irritation. “Or I could bring him over here and he could meet you guys too.” She tried to make the sentence sound threatening and found that it worked. The boys stepped aside with some reluctance and let them walk away. Shanna was sure she felt their glares searing into her back as she led the girl steadily away, but not so fast as to draw suspicion.

  When they rounded the other side of the bar and the guys were no longer in view, Shanna turned to the girl with a wry smile. “Sorry. You looked like you needed an out in a bad way.”

  “No, I…I did. Thank you so much,” the girl said, shaking her head, as if she couldn’t believe it. “I think they were just a little drunk, but…they were getting a little scary.”

  “Glad I could help,” Shanna told her.

  “Shanna?” a voice suddenly called out from behind her.

  Shanna recognized Kelly’s voice instantly. She turned and gave her red-headed friend a quick smile through the crowd before she turned back to the girl.

  “Is that your body builder brother?” the girl asked with a laugh.

  “You guessed it,” Shanna grinned. “Are you okay now?”

  “I think I can manage to not get harassed the rest of the night,” she agreed. “Thanks again.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  The girl turned on her heel just as Kelly arrived, sauntering over in that way she had, too confident, as if she owned the place. “I thought that was you,” her friend said. “What are you doing over here?”

  “Oh, just saving a damsel in distress. Us girls have to stick together.”

  Kelly frowned. “What? You are so weird sometimes.”

  Shanna smiled, deciding not to elaborate. What she’d done was more daring than the Shanna that Kelly was used to being around.

  “Isn’t this place the coolest?” Kelly gushed, leading Shanna to the bar.

  “It’s something all right,” Shanna concurred. “Did you wait long?”

  “Not too long. I kept myself entertained.”

  “I bet you did.”

  Kelly pushed between a couple of guys to reach the bar. Shanna followed her example.

  “Another shot?” a dark-haired bartender asked Kelly, raising one bushy eyebrow with subtle charm. He was really handsome, but he was probably pushing thirty-years-old. A hint of his smooth chest was visible atop his nicely-pressed dress shirt, where it lay conveniently unbuttoned. Kelly seemed to notice how cute he was at the same time as Shanna. She leaned over the counter, giving the bartender an eyeful of the breasts that were threatening to pop out of her sleeveless denim dress. Always one to try to get noticed, Shanna wasn’t sure if Kelly just liked to look sexy or if she wanted to be scandalous and edgy: the naughty girl. Either way, Shanna nearly rolled her eyes when Kelly breathed “Another shot would be wonderful” in a husky voice, doing her utmost to mimic the actresses of black and white film.

  The bartender winked at her and walked across the bar to an open bottle of Tequila.

  “You tramp,” Shanna laughed. “He’s almost twice your age.”

  “So what? He’s still hot.”

  “I can’t believe you sometimes. How many shots have you had?”

  “A few,” Kelly disclosed with a wave of her hand.

  “Uh-huh,” Shanna said in a tone that made it obvious that she disapproved. “Maybe that’s what’s making you go ga-ga over your dad there.”

  Kelly sent her a dirty look. “You’re just jealous.”

  The bartender returned and set a shot glass down in front of Kelly. He lingered, wiping the counter clean with a damp, white towel.

  Raising her glass as if to toast him, Kelly threw her head back, swallowing the potent drink.

  Shanna laughed as Kelly set her glass down with a loud clank and made a sour face. “Lay off the hard stuff, will you? You can’t crash at my place again.”

  Kelly shrugged. “Only if you get something.”

  Turning to the bartender, Shanna said “I’ll have a Pepsi, please.”

  “Oh, Shanna, Jesus Christ. Join the big leagues already.”

  “What can I say? I’m a light weight,” She held up her hand with the green plastic wristband. “And underage.”

  The bartender grinned. “One Pepsi, coming up.”

  Shanna smiled at Kelly, who scowled. She didn’t understand why drinking was so important to Kelly or why she got annoyed when Shanna didn’t drink. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. Shanna just didn’t care for it. She looked around the room at the college crowd being generally loud and obnoxious, bonding over their alcohol consumption and the excuse it gave them to act in such a fashion. She honestly didn’t get the appeal.

  The bartender set a Pepsi down in front of Shanna and slid a green straw into her glass. “Two fifty,” he said.

  Shanna rummaged for the money in her purse and added a tip to the amount before sipping at the drink.

  Kelly leaned forward in her seat, grinning at the bartender as she teased her hair. “What’s your name?”

  “Mine?” the bartender asked. He seemed amazed that anyone would care to ask.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m Grant,” he said with a sheepish smile. “How about you?”

  Kelly glanced over at Shanna like he’d said something insulting, then turned back to Grant, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. “Tell you what: Ask me to dance later and I’ll consider being on a first name basis with you.” She jumped off of the bar stool and headed determinedly through the crowd without a backward glance.

  Obediently following, Shanna grabbed
her drink and slung her purse over her shoulder, awed by Kelly’s confidence. Looking back, she saw that Grant was watching Kelly’s retreating form with admiration in his eyes. She seemed to know precisely what buttons to push to get a guy interested. Shanna would never have had the nerve to tease a guy in such a fashion, assuming interest on his part. She could barely look a guy in the eyes without getting nervous, but Kelly…Kelly was something else. Kelly was like a wild, untamed horse, free and beautiful and unpredictable.

  Shanna followed the beacon, the lava of hair that thrived atop Kelly’s head as she threaded through the daunting crowd, the beacon that navigated her through the suffocating fog that had infiltrated the club by way of burning cigarette smoke and machines that churned and billowed clouds so that spectators could see the emerald green laser lights that flickered amongst the dancers. Unfortunately, the effect was that it made it difficult to see much else.

  But soon enough, they’d cleared the worst of it and Shanna found herself stepping onto the dance floor with Kelly grinning back at her. Shanna couldn’t help but grin back as she watched people dancing in tune to the throbbing bass, their arms and legs gleaming with thin sheens of sweat. Several guys were shirtless, and a few women might as well have been. It was a really erotic scene to take in, with all of the perspiring bodies grinding and flowing together, like sex-charged ants wriggling over a discarded lollipop. Not two feet away from Shanna, two men were making out in a corner with such ferocity that they might as well have been making love on the dance floor. It was both fascinating and scary to take the whole scene in, and Shanna felt her flesh tingle with excitement and anticipation. This was her night for fun and she intended to enjoy it. She deserved it.

  Kelly led them to an empty dancing block and jumped up onto it with little effort. She gestured for Shanna to follow, which she did, like an eager little child who’d been promised chocolate.

  A glass column behind the block held some shiny red and orange foil that was blown up by vents to look like fire, a really pretty backdrop for anyone on the block. And it was perfectly matched by Kelly with her fiery hair and provocative dancing. Grinding up against her, Kelly included Shanna playfully, as if they were lovers.

  Up on the dancing block, for everyone to see, Shanna felt high. Adrenaline raced through her body like electricity in a body of water. She could feel eyes of open adoration upon her in her flashy dress, following up from her smooth thighs to the soft flesh of her pale, beautiful throat.

  Shanna suddenly wondered if they were out there, looking at her unprotected neck at that moment. She looked out into the crowd that seemed to have transformed into a living, breathing tidalwave, threatening to crash upon her and smother her. Shanna slowed her dancing and squinted as lights blinded her from making out any individual faces in the sea of people.

  There were so many different colognes and perfumes in the air that suddenly permeated her senses, that she grew woozy for a moment and nearly toppled from the dancing block like a drunkard.

  “Are you alright?” Kelly asked, dancing closer to Shanna to be heard over the din of music.

  Shanna tried to shake off her discomfort and forced a smile. “I’m fine. I just got dizzy for a second there.”

  Kelly nodded, as if confirming what she already knew.

  Monsters are out there everywhere, Shanna reminded herself. Demons, vampires, werewolves. Even if she was taking a night off from hunting, she couldn’t allow herself to get reckless. Recklessness gave them the opening they needed to kill.

  As a demon hunter, Shanna had fought maybe a dozen demons. She’d also had to fight a couple of ghouls she’d stumbled across in a graveyard, but had never faced off against anything as strong and dangerous as a vampire or werewolf. She just didn’t have the knowledge to go up against one at this stage in her learning, let alone seek them out. Studying demonology and hunting down the bastards was more than a full-time job without any other distractions getting in her way. It would be a lot easier if she had some sort of powers to make the battles a little more even, but unfortunately, she was just an ordinary girl like all of the other hunters. She chose to open her eyes to the world that thrived in the darkness and hunt down the monsters, despite the staggering risk she faced. And she was lucky to be doing it for two long years. She imagined most hunters were killed off pretty early in their careers.

  Looking over at Kelly, Shanna wondered what it would be like to be so oblivious to what was really out there. She was so vulnerable, so powerless without the knowledge to fight anything that came for her. After seeing her parents killed, there was no way Shanna could just ignore the things that hunted her and every other human. And even though hunting didn’t leave time to do much of anything else, Shanna seemed to find it satisfying that she was propelled to protect people, make a real difference.

  “Brian asked about you again,” Kelly yelled to be heard over the crowd. “He says he never sees you anymore.”

  “I’m busy,” Shanna shouted back.

  “That’s what I told him,” Kelly replied. “But come on, Shanna. You’re eighteen. You have a fricking job at a diner. You’re not going to college like me and Brian. You should at least relax and have fun more often. This is the first time I’ve hung out with you in what - three weeks? Cut back on the double-shifts. Think about your future a little bit instead of burning yourself out on work a monkey could do. College is fun…and productive.” She paused. “Look, I’m not even saying university. Even a technical college would be cool. Something to get you working toward a trade and…you know, socializing a little bit in the process.”

  Shanna shrugged. “I’ll…think about it. Really. And I swear, I’ll try to take some more time off from work, but we’ve just been swamped lately.”

  Kelly snorted. “How come when I come in, there’s barely three customers there at a time?”

  “Good timing, I guess.”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “As long as you’re not avoiding me.”

  Shanna stopped dancing. “What? I would never…you know you’re the closest person in my life.”

  “That’s not saying too much though, is it?”

  Shanna started dancing again, with less energy than before. Kelly was right. Unbeknownst to her friend, she was really only working part-time at Russell’s. The rest of her attention was focused on hunting. She hadn’t thought about college seriously at all, she had such tunnel vision toward her…calling. And that’s how she really did feel about it. She was sort of obsessed with it. It consumed her. She couldn’t imagine her life down the road, couldn’t get past “the now” of tracking down demons and killing them. She wasn’t sure if she even liked it…it was just something she felt she needed to do. And it was important. People needed to be protected so that nights like tonight could take place. But maybe she didn’t need to be the protector this particular night. Maybe tonight, just for once, she could leave that for someone else. She needed to relax more often, have some fun, otherwise she would get burnt out and fight like she was going through the motions, eventually getting hurt…or worse. This night was just what she needed to feel a little more refreshed. She couldn’t make a habit of it. She couldn’t turn her back on her calling, knowing that people would die. But on the other hand, she rarely ever hung out with her friends anymore. And Brian… She shook her head. She definitely didn’t have enough time in her life to start worrying about boys. She couldn’t commit that much energy toward something that wasn’t hunting. But tonight…the world would continue to spin on its axis if she had a little fun for once.

  “May I have this dance?” a voice broke through her thoughts.

  Shanna’s attention snapped to the man holding his hand out to Kelly. It was the bartender, Grant.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be getting people drunk?” Kelly asked.

  Grant shrugged sheepishly. “I had a break coming up.”

  As if seeking permission, Kelly glanced over at Shanna.

  Shanna winked at her.
“Don’t be too long.”

  Kelly grinned mischievously. “Shanna, Hon, they can never be too long.” She giggled and stepped down from the dancing block, taking Grant’s hand as if to promenade. She turned back to look at Shanna one last time. Shanna would never forget how beautiful she looked at that moment - like a modern-day goddess. Her face was a little shiny with sweat, her cheeks were rosy, her eyes sparkled, and a hint of glitter trailed up her cheekbones, lightly twinkling. The mass of curls atop her head were a little unruly, but it only added to how breath-taking she appeared. And as Shanna watched her, transfixed, Kelly uttered a few words: “I’ll be back in a minute.” The time seemed to slow for a moment as she added “I promise” with her perfect lips.

  Shanna stared after her as she was swallowed by the crowd and time resumed its normal course.

  “Promise,” Shanna said, trying out the word in her mouth. She hated promises. Her past seemed to be filled with promises that were never realized. They were empty reassurances. No one could really guarantee anything in life.

  Should I really be taking a night off? Shanna asked herself again, realizing that she would ask herself this several times over the course of the night, like she’d done on the other very few occasions she’d actually ventured out to have fun. People could be hurt because she wanted to get away for awhile. Maybe she should really think about Valor’s offer. If her life was already so consumed by hunting…

  Shanna shook her head, as if to clear it. Of course she needed a night off. If she hunted every night, without a break, she would become vulnerable and then there would be no one to protect this town, these dancers, in the long run. Why couldn’t she get that through to her restless mind? Why couldn’t she just let loose and have fun and not be plagued by these questions again and again? Why was this her calling?

  Looking out into the crowd, Shanna felt overwhelmed once more. Not only because there were so many people in a small place, but because any one of them could be a monster. Anyone could kill someone amid the chaos and confusion and be gone before even she could react.

  “Stop being so paranoid,” she scolded herself out loud. She would go crazy before long if she couldn’t just…focus on something else.

  “Paranoid that people are staring at you?” someone asked beside Shanna, startling her. “Because they are.”

  Shanna glanced over to see a blonde guy with crisp blue eyes watching her. He was wearing khaki shorts and a light blue button-up shirt that hung open, exposing a jock’s build underneath, a silver necklace with a lightning bolt dangling over his naked chest.

  Shanna averted her eyes to keep from staring at his body. Instead, she watched the crowd, noting that a few people were indeed watching them. But then again, I’m on a damn dancing block, she thought. People are obligated to look.

  “I’m Jeremy,” the guy announced.

  “Shanna.”

  Jeremy nodded and didn’t even try to disguise the fact that he was scoping her out. Shanna felt both flattered that he was admiring her and disgusted at the same time, for the same reason.

  “Wanna dance?” he asked, inching a little closer to her.

  Shanna cocked an eyebrow, ready to tell him off, when a Kylie Minogue song came on. Shanna smiled, glancing toward the deejay booth at the back of the dance floor. She loved Kylie. No one did dance music like she did.

  “Sure,” Shanna agreed, suddenly in a good mood once more. “One dance. And no groping.”

  Jeremy smiled slyly and held up his hands innocently, as if to say “Who, me?”

  The beat seemed to possess Shanna like a marionette led by invisible strings. She danced enthusiastically, swaying and moving her hips to the sultry rhythm. She felt like a part of the music. It hummed inside of her, making her feel tingly and energized. She was quite surprised to find herself enjoying her dance with Jeremy, the bass throbbing within her like a second heartbeat, making her feel so…alive.

  The very second the song ended, Shanna gave Jeremy a quick smile and a wave. “Thanks for the dance. Later!” She melted into the crowd, chastising herself for enjoying her dance with such an obvious player.

  Kelly is a bad influence on me, Shanna deducted with a slight smirk.

  She scanned the faces around her as she pressed forward through the throng of dancers, hoping that she’d bump into Kelly because she did not want to go back to the dancing block, and she didn’t want Kelly to wait around for her either.

  Glancing back to see Jeremy dancing with another blonde already, Shanna moved through the crowd again with a shake of her head. She had to mutter “excuse me” every few seconds since there was no realistic way of getting through without jostling someone or another. By the time she’d reached the end of the dance floor, Shanna still hadn’t located Kelly. She bit her lip and wondered if she should at least go dance close to the dancing block to keep an eye out for Kelly. But Kelly might already be searching for her at this point anyway.

  Sighing, Shanna glanced down at her purse and frowned. Her purse really hadn’t been bothering her, but if she was going to be dancing all night, she might as well check it in back at the counter. If she wanted something to drink, it would be a little out of the way to get money from her purse, but at least she wouldn’t have to hang on to it. And maybe Kelly would be back when she returned too.

  Shanna slowly made her way through the mass of people to the entrance area, and toward the coat and purse check. She handed her purse and a few dollars to the girl behind the counter. The girl pushed her glasses up her narrow nose before seizing the items and returning with a blue plastic chip that had the number forty-nine on it. Shanna scowled at the chip, unsure of where to put it. Hopefully, Kelly had pockets because Shanna hadn’t noticed her with her purse earlier.

  As she was turning to go back toward the dance floor, she noticed two men closing the front entrance doors beyond the grinning form of Chiron, who was pointing in her direction, as if accusingly. One of the men was Cerberus. The other man had red hair and a long forehead with “Red” written on his nametag. Shanna stopped as the men wrapped a chain around the door handles, gasping as they clicked a padlock over the chains.

  What is going on here? She wondered, stepping back into a corner where she wouldn’t be seen. Were they actually trapping people inside or was it some sort of a…publicity stunt? Trapped in hell…it does go with the whole theme. But…it feels wrong. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid again? Whatever. I’m getting Kelly and leaving, whether she likes it or not. She waited until Cerberus and Red had moved along, walking toward an exit that was obscured by a potted plant. She noticed a splash of red hair from someone waiting at the doorway, and her heart leapt, immediately thinking of Kelly, but despite the fact that the face was completely hidden by palm leaves and shadow, the hair was a different tone of red and the style was all wrong. It certainly was not her friend. The mystery figure disappeared along with Red and Cerberus through the door and Shanna let out a breath, skulking along the wall after looking to make sure that the girl at the coat check was again engrossed by Bram Stoker.

  On her way to the dance floor, Shanna spotted Grant walking back to the bar. She hurried to catch up with him, accidentally stepping on a girl’s foot on the way. The girl glared at her as she continued past, mumbling an apology.

  “Hey, Grant!” Shanna called out as he reached the bar and grabbed a towel, tossing it over a shoulder with finesse.

  Grant glanced up at her, startled. “Oh. Hey.”

  “Do you know where Kelly went? She didn’t go looking for me, did she?”

  “I’m not really sure where she went. She just kind of took off.”

  Shanna’s eyes narrowed at his flushed face. Was he blushing…because he was lying? He sure hadn’t blushed at Kelly’s advances.

  “Yeah, okay,” Shanna said, a little unsure. “I’ll catch you later.”

  Grant grinned. “Or vise-versa.”

  Shanna walked away with a forced smile on her face.
What had he meant by that? Was he coming on to her too? What a snake.

  She looked out into the crowd again at the edge of the dance floor and sighed. This is hopeless, she thought.

  The beginning notes of Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” sounded off, sending the crowd into a frenzy of cheers. Shanna couldn’t help but smile, and got lost in the music once more, dancing with whoever was available, or just by herself at times.

  By the time the song ended, Shanna had made her way halfway across the dance floor and could see the dancing block she’d been on earlier. Jeremy was still there, by himself again, but she couldn’t see Kelly.

  So much for being right back, Shanna thought with annoyance. She loved going to clubs, but it was kind of boring if she was alone. Where the hell did she go? And wasn’t this time for them to hang out together?

  “Attention, please!” a voice boomed out of the overhead speakers. “Can I have everybody’s attention, please?”

  Shanna turned to look toward the deejay booth along with most people, who stopped dancing at the announcement as the music abruptly ceased, and saw a man standing on the stage beside it. Any details on his face were hard to make out from where she stood, but even from this distance, Shanna was sure that it was the guy named “Red.” Maybe he would explain the locked doors now.

  “As some of you may have noticed, you are all in Hell.” Red began as soon as everybody was focused on him. “And being guests in Hell, none of you may leave. The doors…have been locked.”

  There was a lot of cheering, as well as some nervous laughter, at this announcement.

  “The only way out of here will be through the door next to the deejay booth. It leads through the basement to the outside. Although…” Red paused to chuckle for a moment. “All of you are going to die before you get out anyway. The floors, the walls, your very bodies, will be painted…scarlet.”

  The crowd stared up at him, puzzled expressions on most of their faces. A couple people smirked like it was a lame joke.

  Then the lights went out. A couple of girls screamed before the scene was bathed in an eerie red light.

  Everybody looked around, their voices filling the room with a low hum. Shanna’s stomach churned uneasily as she looked over the heads of the people around her. She wanted to get Kelly and get out of there now.

  She didn’t realize that anything strange was happening until the shocked intake of breaths around her caught her attention. She glanced at a college guy next to her, a frothy glass of beer in his hand, his mouth agape, staring back at the stage. Turning to follow his gaze, she saw Red’s skin, hair and clothes had melted together as if they were made of wax. They became one fluid body that twisted and flowed along itself like something out of The Terminator. Shanna took an involuntary step backward, suddenly quite sure that this was no act, no special effects or holograms. She bumped into somebody, but hardly noticed and received no protest from the girl she was pressed up against, who was just as stupefied by the proceedings.

  Red’s body suddenly reshaped itself, into a vague form at first, a bulky figure set low to the ground with four legs, and then it sort of fell into focus and details sprung out, along with a wave of red coloring. It was a huge bear, like any other grizzly bear that Shanna had seen on Animal Planet except bigger and boasting fur that was an unnatural blood red, with the most unusual eyes. The eyes were a solid robin’s egg blue, with no iris or pupil. Just cold, alien teal.

  The crowd was speechless and stood frozen as the red bear stood on its hind legs and opened its enormous muzzle, letting out a huge roar. A trumpet-sound of impending doom.

 

  Chapter Two