The vision hit me as I put my head back to take a long pull on my beer. Thankfully, my visions never hit while I am driving, because I can’t see a thing until the vision passes. This one hit really hard, about three seconds of movie image violence involving a girl, a corridor, and, of course, one of the demon-ridden. My eyesight returned as I choked on my mouthful of Mexican beer. Coughing the rest of it out, I immediately scanned the room for the source of my blackout.
We were on the second floor, so I moved to the railing. Pella had joined Scott with the two girls he was hitting on. My new view covered most of the dance floor, stage and main bar. At about that time the band finished their song, and the lights dimmed, shrouding the stage in blackness. Fantastic! I need every feeble sense I have to find the monsters I hunt.
Some of the more serious Goth types started to chant a name, but it was too indistinct to make out. I stopped my scan, getting caught up in the club’s theatrics. More of the crowd by the dance floor started to pick up the shout, repeating something that sounded like tat. Still in darkness, the band began a new song, one with a really heavy beat. The regulars went wild and now every floor’s railing was crowded with screaming people as the female lead added her voice to the burgeoning song. A punky girl and her acne ridden boyfriend shoved up against me, trying to see the dance floor. As if by common agreement, the center of the dance floor cleared, leaving two indistinct figures standing motionless in the dark. The song suddenly paused, music and vocals both stopping dead for three heartbeats, and then suddenly exploding in full sound. A pool of light blasted into being, illuminating the lead singer, but centered on two female dancers in the middle of the dance floor.
It was like nothing I had ever seen or heard of before. More than anything else in the entire club, these two women pushed me over the edge of belief. It didn’t seem possible that any human could move the way these two did. One was blonde, wrapped in a curve hugging red dress, cut low in the front and high on the side. Her bright eyes scanned the crowd as she spun and wove around her companion. The other was raven haired, wearing white, spinning with her head down, lost in her own dance. She finally lifted her head and electric blue eyes knocked the breath out of my chest. The blonde was gorgeous, but the brunette had to be the most beautiful woman in existence. She was also the girl in my vision. I can’t begin to describe their dancing, not in any way that would portray it accurately. It was alluring, primal, sensual and utterly captivating. Fluid, athletic, and well beyond the grasp of any ballerina on earth.
I was reluctant to tear my eyes away, but now that I had found the victim, the Hellbourne couldn’t be far away. Pretty much the entire club had stopped to watch the show, crowding the rails three people deep all the way around. Closing my eyes for a moment, I opened my mind, just a little, feeling for the vile, oily essence of the Hellbourne. After a moment I got it – below -- near the dance floor. Opening my eyes I scanned the main bar, skimming over the people crowded there, then back a second time.
One man caught my eye on the second pass, mainly because he was exceptionally unexceptional. Bland. Average height, dirty blond hair, slim build, and plain ordinary face. He stood out to my Sight because he was so unnoticeable. That and the greasy blackness of his aura.
The people around him paid no attention to the thing in their midst. Most standing with their backs to the most dangerous creature I knew.
Shoving my way through the crowd by the rail, I moved to the stairs. Movement near me caught my eye. Sometimes Hellbourne travel in pairs and it wouldn’t do to get blindsided. It was just the waitress, watching me with a puzzled look on her face. I snapped my attention back to the bland man, panicking when I didn’t get a visual on him immediately. But he was still there, watching the show from the bar. A support post gave me a place to lean, pretending to watch the awesome display on the dance floor, while I kept my attention squarely on him. Much harder to do than it sounds, because I felt a real compulsion to watch the brunette dance, but looking away could be disastrous. A Helbourne in Albany had almost gutted me once when I let my attention drift in a bar. That scar was still on my stomach, a reminder to pay attention.
The dance ended almost as suddenly as it had begun, and the bland man moved from the bar in a fast jerky manner that was inhuman and went unnoticed by the people around him. Hellbourne have a powerful ability to cloak themselves, forcing people to forget them on sight. Except me…I always see them. Part of the tool kit of talents that for some Godforsaken reason I was born with. Yeah me.
The demon moved toward the back of the stage area, and ahead of it I spotted the beautiful brunette leaving through a metal door. The Hellbourne followed her, walking right past several large bouncer types and I hurried to catch up, knowing that the demon’s bubble of forgetfulness could cloak me too. The bland man opened the door and followed the dancer. I slid through just a whisper behind him. The door opened into a long institutional corridor, stacked on the sides with cartons and crates of supplies, the lighting white florescent. The air was musty and cool. Footsteps pattered ahead of me and I ran to catch up. A sharp left brought me to another metal door, this one just closing. Instinct made me rush through… right into my vision.
A split-second glance laid it all out. The girl was backed up to the cinderblock wall, pinned in place by a silver bolt through each shoulder. A strange two-barreled gun was clattering to the floor as the Hellbourne drew a long silver blade from the back of his plain tan jacket. I was unarmed, but my vision had given me an advanced sight of the fighting area. My right hand fell on an empty crate that I knew would be there. I swung it at the man shape as it spun to face me. I missed the torso, but hit my target – the demon’s knife hand -- knocking the blade flying.
Hellbourne have blinding fast reactions. The demon snapped a wicked roundhouse kick at my head without any pause. Despite the slim build of the body that housed it, it was stronger than I. That kick would break my neck if it landed, but again, fore-Sight gave my reactions a boost, allowing me to block the kick in time. Its force knocked me into the wall and before I could recover, the demon had turned and run down the hallway, slamming through a crash bar- equipped door. It was gone – but the girl needed my attention.
She was thrashing like a feral cat caught in a trap, her fast jerky spasms ripping huge wounds in her chest and shoulders. Her reaction wasn’t remotely normal, at least human normal.
“Whoa, easy, easy, you have to stop so I can get these out.” I tried to calm her, at least so I could pull the bolts. She was injuring herself so much trying to get free that she would bleed out long before help got there.
Her motions slowed a bit, those blue eyes locked on mine. I moved closer, grabbing the bolt in her left shoulder with my right hand, yanking it hard and fast. As it came out, I grabbed the other bolt with my left hand. That one was deeper in the wall and it took a few tugs to get it free. She had been hissing in pain, but as the bolt slid from her chest, she stopped, frozen in place. I was thinking that she would die in the next few seconds. The blood was gushing down her front in crimson waves, staining her white dress red. I reached out to steady her, but she just suddenly moved. She sort of blurred, then I felt a sledgehammer hit my left arm. She was biting my wrist, a sharp pain lancing up my arm. The force was stunning, like getting an arm caught in an industrial machine. I tried to pull away, but she didn’t budge. Not even an inch. She couldn’t weigh over one-twenty, but I couldn’t move her.