I jumped over the edge, disappearing from sight, letting the bullets continue their straight line above my head while the shots echoed in the ravine. Praying my beat-up sneakers didn’t give up the ghost on the way down, I slid down the ravine wall which was more vertical than sloped. Normally I would be guiding the descent using my gloved hand while riding my skateboard, but this wasn’t a concrete skate park and I wasn’t dressed, so I grabbed a broad branch with a smaller branch handle and pressed it against the soil, stone, and vegetation for what little control it could offer me. I directed through a shale outcropping into a corpse of trees which would block me from overhead view, managing to come to a complete stop after the wickedest wallride of my life. The slope still was over 80 degrees, but I managed to be completely out of sight, and the shale actually curved a bit overhead.
“Where the fuck did she go?” a voice asked overhead.
Here we are little man, come get us.
Will you shut the fuck up! I wished I could shout at my inner rider. He can’t hear my thoughts any more than I can hear his. But he could project his voice into my head. Unfortunately for him to hear me, I have to speak out loud and I couldn’t risk that. I had enough trouble controlling my gasps for breath.
“Girl jumped.” The other chaser responded. His voice deeper than the other and had less of an accent. “Demon may have teleported her. Damn demons. Check to see if the phone trace is still up.”
So that how they found me. Well, that shouldn’t be an issue since I dropped that back when they first started chasing me.
“She’s back at the club.”
No she isn’t. She is here. Come get her.
Innuk, man, I am going to fucking lock you up for a year if you don’t shut the hell up. I am not going to let you out to kill these dudes. That just leads to more trouble.
“Fuck, call in our position and see if they can pick us up.”
The dark got darker as the moon set for the night before I heard a car come to take them away. In between Innuk begged, whined, and screamed. He hadn’t tasted blood in weeks. My fingers cramped holding back his claws, my mouth ached from holding back the teeth. I couldn’t stopped the forked tongue from darting out to smell the air and lick my lips. I waited another two hours even though the smell of the other humans had faded, waiting until Venus danced along the horizon, before hissing at him. “Be quiet and let me think.”
Up or down? Down. Innuk couldn’t teleport, and I didn’t know of any other possessors who could, but thank the nine hells that rumor never faded. I let him raise close to the surface. Tougher skin and claws would help the descent. My eyes changed to his, and the night didn’t brighten so much as became our natural environment.
I would need to kill some people to pay for tonight. I would need to get that done before leaving for a new home. Not enough time to do proper research, so the kill will be messy and easy to trace. Innuk will love it. I smile, letting our teeth become sharp.
(words 572; first published 3/28/2022)