Full Moon Hike - Julie Steimle (red queen free ebook .txt) 📗

down from the second floor as blue as a Smurf, setting each foot carefully on each step as he descended. “I can hear you also.”

I backed off as Rick ran on all four paws into the kitchen. This McDillan had a much more deadly look than my History teacher. He also appeared to be younger, but then perhaps it was because he was thinner in the face and around the stomach.

“Give up the wolf and maybe I won’t kill you too,” he said as he looked right at me.

“Oh really?” I took another step back, listening to Rick’s heartbeat as he ran upstairs through another passage I didn’t know about. He was above us now, listening and waiting.

“The word of a man like you cannot possibly be trusted,” I said.

“Better than a demon.” And he pulled the trigger.

I caught the bullet three inches from my face.

His eyes went slightly wider, staring at me. I dropped the bullet to the floor. He cocked his gun again for another shot. I went invisible and immaterial just as he fired.

The bullet passed through me without any damage to my body. The wall, however, splintered with a hole in it.

I heard Rick’s heart jump up above me, and he scurried away. The hunter’s breathing went heavy.

Deciding not to chance that again in case I was unable to maintain my lack of solidity, I pushed off the ground and flapped so that I was hovering not far from the ceiling. I grabbed hold of the wood rafter above me with my extended claws and hung on.

“Oh…you really are a demon,” he said, swishing the barrel his gun barrel around the room to feel for me. “But your friendship with that werewolf won’t last. Don’t you know what you are?”

I decided to land behind him. “A vimp.”

Then I moved. It was good that I did because he shot at where he had heard me. There was now a hole in the stair wall. As he cocked his gun, I said, “Ooh. Mr. Deacon won’t like that.”

He shot where I stood, but I had ducked already. I was extremely glad I had imp reflexes then. The bullet had come a bit too close to hitting me.

“Fine. You know. This generation’s vimp.” He felt around for me again, but I had already gone around him and lighted on the stair banister. He said, “The demon of all demons. Lucifer’s pet.”

My insides clenched. But I knew he was just goading me, trying to make me angry so I would lose my temper and do something stupid. Instead, I grabbed a hold of the back of his shirt, and with a flap, I pushed off the banister while yanking the shirt over his head.

“Gah!” He shouted with his arms jerked up, firing a hole into the ceiling. Before he could cock the rifle again, I grabbed at it and kicked him in the stomach, wrenching it out of his grip. As he struggled to get his shirt back down to free his arms from the awkward position they were in, I set the gun up above us on some hooks that were meant for drying herbs or quite possibly garland for Christmas. Perched there briefly, I could imagine how beautiful that cabin would be around Christmas time. It seemed like the kind of place Rick and his father would go during the holidays, especially if they had wanted to be near good hunting grounds at the same time the full moon came. I landed back down wondering if maybe my family could come up here at Christmas this year since going to Gran Wilson’s home was no longer an option.

But coming out of my thoughts, I saw that McDillan had pulled out a large hunting knife once he had his shirt righted, swiping the air in front of him. He almost nicked me. I felt it as he slashed out, but I had already hopped back. It was then that I really appreciated how silent my body could be when I was in my invisible state. I stepped around him, tucked my wings further into my back so I had more maneuverability where we were. Then, I went around him towards the kitchen door once more. There I materialized.

Making a face at him, I laughed. “Missed me!”

Then I pushed into the kitchen with a hop and darted to the old fashioned telephone with a cord, going invisible again. I hopped onto the kitchen counter right next to the wall phone, picked it off the hook and held it out towards the kitchen center as if I were standing there rather than off the floor, and I started to dial. He ran in the moment I had taken the phone off the hook.

“Who are you calling? The police?” He laughed as if it were his turn to mock me. He patted his side pocket where I noticed a lump. “I have a legal license to hunt monsters, demon. No one will care if you or two werewolves are dead. In fact, they will cheer.”

He then lifted the knife to throw it. However, he seemed to think twice about it, perhaps remembering the bullet that I had caught.

I finished dialing, letting it ring. He walked slowly to where he thought I was, with the knife ready. The phone rang twice before someone picked up.

<< Hello? >>

“Mr. McDillan,” I said, tossing the phone at the hunter. “This call’s for you.”

The hunter nearly dropped the knife even as the receiver flew at him. But he let the receiver swing to the floor, though the man on the other side shouted out as I hopped off the counter toward the other side of the room.

<< Hello? Who is this? >>

Whipping around, the hunter narrowed his eyes, searching the room in a pathetic attempt to see me better. “How did you know my name?”

<< Gregor? >> The voice on the telephone shouted out. << Gregor, is that you? >>

Halting, the hunter looked down to the phone’s receiver. He blinked first and stared at it. “How’d you do that?”

<<Gregor! Pick up the phone!>>

That McDillan blinked and then reached down, carefully making sure it was not some kind of trick. “Hello? How did you know my name?”

<< Stupid! This is your brother, Brian! You called me! >>

Holding the receiver closer to his ear, the hunter replied, “Brian? This must be a joke. I didn’t call you. That demon did.”

<< Demon? What demon? Gregor, where are you? >>

Setting the receiver on his ear now, Gregor McDillan exhaled, realizing now that it was his brother on the other side. “I’m up at a wolf reserve on a hunt. I can’t talk now. There is another demon up here, a vimp. She dialed your number and dropped the phone saying it was for me.”

I could barely hear Mr. McDillan on the other end moan. But I did hear him say as I crouched on the center of the kitchen table, << Put her on. >>

The McDillan here stiffened. “What?”

<< You heard me. Put her on the phone. I want to talk to her. >>

“You want to…talk to that demon?” The hunter seemed quite shocked, his knife almost falling from his fingers.

<< That’s what I said. >>

Exhaling with exasperation, that McDillan held out the telephone receiver. “He wants to talk to you.”

I slid off the tabletop and stepped carefully into the center of the room in case I had to dodge again. “Tell him I won’t talk unless you promise not to attack me.”

But that McDillan looked directly at the space where he heard me, holding the phone out at me. “I don’t know how you know my brother but—”

<< Put her on the phone, Gregor! >>

I materialized and plucked the telephone receiver from that McDillan’s hand, walking with a crooked smile on my face as I went to the phone. I didn’t quite set the receiver to my ear because I knew I had woken my teacher up from perhaps a very restful sleep. He had no worries with me out of town and all that.

“Hello?” I said.

<< Eve McAllister! Why did you call me in the middle of the night? I was having a wonderful, vampire free, vimp free dream. But thanks to you, it was ruined! And what are you doing out there with my brother? >>

Cringing with one eye closed, I then rolled my eyes. That other McDillan just stared at me as I spoke calmly into the receiver. “Look. Normally I wouldn’t call you. You know I’m on vacation with my family, and like you, my sleep was disturbed—only it from gunshots and some jerk that happens to be your brother who is hunting a friend of mine. Now will you please tell him to leave my friend alone so we can both get some sleep?”

My History teacher answered with silence. Perhaps it was a bit too much to handle. Or maybe he was holding his temper. I didn’t care which really as long as I got the result I was aiming for.

<< Miss McAllister. There are a thousand things I wish to call you right now, but I will keep it PG. >>

That was a bad sign.

<< Give the telephone back to my brother. I will speak with him. And don’t call me again, even if it is to tell me you are dying. >>

“You are seriously morbid. You know that, right?” I said before handing the telephone back to the other McDillan.

The hunter took it from me and set the telephone to his ear. He cast me one look before speaking to my History teacher in slightly lower tones. “Ok, what is up? How do you know that demon?”

Mr. McDillan must have spoken in a hushed voice because I could hardly make him out now. I heard only the heartbeat of the McDillan here who listened with intent as my History teacher spoke to him. I saw the hunter nod a few times then sigh as he whispered back into the receiver then hung up the telephone. Almost immediately he turned to face me.

Sheathing his knife, he lifted up both of his hands. “Ok. I won’t attack you. But I have to ask why you, out of all creation and damnation, are protecting a werewolf? Vimps are not famous for their compassion for any creature, though Brian says you are unusual to begin with.”

Maintaining my distance regardless of his calmer heartbeat, recognizing a watchfulness to it, I replied, even taking a step toward the foyer, “The Deacons are decent people. They aren’t blood-thirsty monsters.”

“As you are?” the hunter said, lifting his chin some.

I huffed. “Did I kill those three men that attacked my family?”

He exhale giving his head a frank shake. “No. You didn’t. Though you really do have me wondering why. I would have thought a half vampire would have loved to have gorged on some blood.”

It made me sick just hearing him talk like that. It must have been obvious on my face because he actually laughed.

“Ok, so you aren’t blood-thirsty. And since there is no bounty on your head, I’ll leave you alone,” he said. “But I have been hired to—”

“So you’re an assassin!” I stomped over to him, raising my fist.

“I’m a demon hunter!” But he stepped back from me, yet honestly unwilling to fight me now.

“Rick is not a demon! He’s just a boy who wants to live!” I wanted to kick him. 

The hunter shook his head. “Werewolves are dangers to society. And to be quite frank, so are vampires and vimps. If my brother had not vouched for you and told me about your meeting with an important member of the SRA, I would kill you right now and not feel sorry. But if that particular young man didn’t kill you, then I have no right to.”

I stepped back and tilted my head. “You mean Michael Toms, don’t you?”

Gregor McDillan clenched his jaw. “You speak so familiarly about him. But you really ought not to.”

“Why?” I started to laugh.