

Wes Parker

Monster Hunter

Volume Two

Short Stories

By C.J. Pike

Copyright © 2014 by C.J. Pike

Smashwords Edition

This collection is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are draw from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely accidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any forms or means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

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A Quick Note

This book is a collection of short stories

that were originally posted on my blog.

You can visit there for more hunting.

I was feeling pretty gloomy after my run in with Raymond and his bunch. It brought up a lot of bad feelings from the past and there were a couple things that were bothering me. One of them was I had no idea who had warned me about the werewolves and why, and why was he building an army? It just seemed strange that it was all happening now. Although he could have been turning people for the past five or six years for all I know. Anyway, I was back out on the road.

Wes Parker here. For those of you that may not know me I am a paladin, which means I'm pretty much a badass, I'm 17 and I hunt monsters. That's my life. It's not the greatest life but it is mine. I recently ran into one of the werewolves that killed my parents and that was what I was talking about before. So, with the help of Kelly, someone that works for an agency of humans that hunt monsters, we blew the town right off the map, literally. It was kind of awesome.

I was driving as far away from that town as I could and ended up in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains. It was cold and everything was covered in snow, so on the way I had traded my bike out for my car. Driving in snow with a motorcycle is not safe, even for me.

There wasn't anywhere in particular that I was heading, considering that I didn't really hear about anything or catch wind of any monster. That was until I was about six hours into the state when I felt it, something pulling at me, beckoning me to follow it. The next town was about five miles and that was obviously where I needed to go.

It was a nice town, which was a good change of pace from my last stop, and a little more populated, too. I searched about the town on the Internet and didn't find anything that caught my attention, nothing out of the ordinary, but why did I feel something close by?

I pulled into a general parking area and decided to walk around town, see if anything came up. It was a real touristy town so I figured I would fit right in. It was a Thursday afternoon but it was winter vacation so it was pretty busy. People were walking about and everyone seemed very happy. If they only knew the crap that was really out there.

There was a really cute girl walking down the street toward me and the moment she saw me she smiled. I felt that it was only right that I returned the gesture. Plus I couldn't stop myself from doing it even if I wanted to. She had crimson hair, perfectly white teeth and a white winter hat. She looked amazing and actually looked like she was a couple years older than me.

"Hi," she said as we walked by each other.

"Hi," I replied and continued walking.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Not too far I hope." Her smile broadened.

"You have any suggestions?"

"I was just going to the Coffee House."

"Sounds like a good place to be." Whatever was in this town could wait. It wasn't like anything bad had happened yet.

"Let's go then."

I listened to her and started following her to the so-called Coffee house.

"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked me.

"No," I said. "I'm guessing you are?"

"Yeah. It's funny, there really hasn't been any outsiders in a while."

I looked around. "It seems like this town is pretty full, though."

"Everyone seems to be sticking around."

"What?" I asked her, now very intrigued.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Do tourists usually stick around here long?"

"A week maybe but not for a month."

I stopped. "A month?"

"Yeah. Plus there is all the weird stuff."

"What weird stuff?"

"Nothing bad. Just cars flipped upside down and peoples' laundry spread out in the front yard spelling names."

Uh oh.

"That doesn't bother you?" I asked.

"Not really," she replied.

"I gotta go." I took off without saying another word. I chanced a quick look back and she didn't seem like she cared.

If there were flipped cars, discarded laundry and other weird things going on in this town up in the Rocky Mountains then that meant only one thing: Elves.

Elves are awful. At first all they really do is cause a lot of trouble and do a lot of property damage but eventually it gets ugly. They have some sort of spell that makes everyone in the town that they invade careless of what's going on around them. No one ever leaves and no one gets in. Then the little devils get what they need: just one kill.

I needed to get out of the town before they realized I was there. Being a paladin I can come and go as I please, unless they know I am there and put a little more magic into their wall they put up around the town. Yeah, they can do magic. I don't have any other explanation. If I was in their containment bubble I couldn't make any calls or anything. If I could draw them outside of the town then I would have a much easier time. All I would have to do was cook a big batch of baked beans. It is catnip for them and they can't resist. I can do that in the town and probably would but they are much stronger in their magic bubble.

Elves are small with the stereotypical pointy ears, but they are fast and strong thanks to their magic. They look normal, just like Santa's elves.

When I reached the border of the town I could see the wall was already there. Most of the time they know I'm there before I have a chance to get out because they can sense me. The only thing I could do at that point was go back into town.

I needed to find out more about when they arrived, that way I would know how much time I had before they were going to kill someone. Usually they travel in packs of five. They need to kill a human and, well uh, consume them. When they do that it replenishes their magic, I guess. I don't know how it works. I really hate the little rats.

The Coffee Shop was located in the center of the town and I found the redhead sitting alone sipping on what I assume was a coffee.

"Well, look who's back," she said.

"Sorry about that," I replied. "I had to do something."

"It's no biggy."

"This place is nice."

"I 'spose."

"When did all this weird stuff start happening?"

"Do you want something?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want something to drink? It's on me."

"Oh. Yeah sure."

"What do you want?"

"Cappuccino."

"OK. Be right back."

"Wait." It didn't matter. She was already gone.

I sat there waiting rather impatiently for her to come back. The elves had this effect on people. They didn't care what was happening and when I asked about it they usually just ignored me.

A few minutes later she finally came back. She placed my drink gently in front of me and to be honest it smelled pretty good.

"Thanks," I said.

"No problem," she responded.

"Anyway, when did the weird stuff start happening?"

"I'm not really sure. I didn't really believe anyone until I woke up one morning and my dad's lawnmower was hanging from a tree."

"When was that?"

"Last Thursday."

If that was when it started that would mean I would have a lot of time but she said that there were people that had been there for a month.

"Can you remember when someone first mentioned something?" I asked.

"Well," she began, "I guess it was that crazy girl that no one likes. It was about a month ago."

"Do you remember the date?"

"Why does that matter?"

"It just does."

"OK." She thought for a moment. "December 19. I only remember because it was the day of my last final."

That was one month ago. The meant that they were going to kill someone that night.

It was a really good thing I ended up wandering into this area when I did because these people were in trouble. I had until the end of the day to save whoever it was they were going to kill and eat. No pressure, Wes.

I didn't realize it but I had been silent for almost a minute and the girl was just staring at me.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Sorry. Where does that girl live?"

"What girl?"

"The crazy one."

"She lives at 555 Pinebrook Avenue."

"OK. Thanks."

I got up and walked toward the door.

"Wait," the girl stopped me. I still didn't get her name.

"Yeah?" I said as I turned around.

"Don't you want my number?"

I stared at her for a second. "You don't want me to have it."

As I walked out the door she still didn't seem to care, which was good because without the elves' magic I'm sure she would have been very angry.

I needed to go to the girl's house where the elves supposedly started making trouble. I stopped by a store to buy some baked beans and a pan to cook them in. The elves will usually hang out near the first person they harass and that was usually the person they were going to eat too. I had to lure them away from her and take care of them before that night.

The street was conveniently quiet and the houses were scarce. I found a trail off the side of the road that was big enough for my car to travel down, so I traveled far enough where no one would see me.

After I found an adequate spot to set up a fire I stepped out of my car and got to work. It was difficult to find some dry wood but I managed. Once the beans started cooking the smell filled the air I knew it would only be a matter of time before they would show up. I didn't see the point in trying to hide considering they knew I was there anyway so I just stood by the fire, with my axes in hand, and waited.

It didn't take long for them to show up. At least they were nice enough to not attack me when they showed up. The first one popped up from behind a tree.

"Beans?" it said.

"Beans?" another said behind me.

"Beans," a third one confirmed.

"That's right you little jackals," I told them. "Come and eat it."

"Wes?" a fourth one said.

"Wes Parker," another confirmed. That makes five. I wasn't too happy that they knew my name. I'd seen these five before.

"You're not getting away this time," I told them.

"You can't stop us," number one said. I'm going to label them by numbers.

"You got lucky last time."

"No luck," number three said.

"Magic," four pointed out.

"Beans." Number five was still stuck on the food. They all started to shout and move closer.

"Beans."

"Beans."

"You little monsters can't even focus," I blurted. "I'm going to kill all five of you while you eat."

"Five?" three asked.

"Not five," said four.

"No," one agreed. "Much more."

"More?" I asked.

All of sudden more of them started popping up from behind the trees and bushes. There were a lot more than five. After 15 I stopped counting. I had never seen so many elves at once.

"Much more," said five.

The Elves were slowly walking towards me. They were getting close and my options of getting away were very limited. Fighting an elf is tough, considering they can do magic. No matter how small and physically weak they may be they were incredibly hard to fight, and given the fact that there was a whole bunch of them it was pretty safe to say I was in trouble.

The first bunch was within a few feet from me and it was seconds before they were going to attack me.

"Beans," said one.

"Beans," two agreed.

That's right! I had a full pot of beans sitting on a fire right next to me. I kicked the pot over sending the beans everywhere. I had never seen anything move so fast in my entire life. All of the elves jumped on the beans like their lives depended on it, every single one of them.

I jumped out of the way and started running. I didn't stand much of a chance against more than 40 elves. Running as fast as I could, I headed back to my car so I might be able to get away from them. It was a short-lived hope, though, because I hadn't really made enough beans for all the elves and that meant they were going to be angry as well.

Within 20 seconds the first elf had reached me. Actually it was the giant wrecking ball that reached me. I know. It's strange to have a random wrecking ball in the middle of the woods. That's the power of magic. God, that was lame.

I flew through the air and hit softly against a tree, and then fell carelessly to the ground. Just kidding. The impact was so hard that my body broke right through the tree. It didn't feel very pleasant.

As I tried to stand up a bull was running at me. It lowered its head, took my legs out, and sent me flipping over the giant beast. I rolled off its back and fell to the ground. When I looked back up it was already gone. I was annoyed.

From there it was hit after hit of something completely ridiculous, like a snowman attacked me or a giant fist made out of ice knocked me right off my feet. I couldn't even get a hit in.

Eventually they stopped using things to attack me and started hitting me themselves. Like I said before, they used magic so each hit made me think I was fighting a troll, but with them coming into my reach I was finally able to make a stand.

One of the elves was flying through the air at me with their arm held back, ready to drill it into my face. Once it was within two feet of me I sidestepped and ducked so it passed right by. When it reached the perfect position I brought my axe in an arc over my head and chopped its head right off. It fell to the ground and orange blood spilled onto the snow.

No. Stop it. Do not feel bad for these things. Yes, they look like something from the North Pole and when they talk it sounds cutesy but they are monsters and they eat people. So if I don't kill them you better believe that they will kill you. So you can shove your morals where the sun don't shine.

All of the elves stopped running around and looked at me in awe. I don't know why they were so surprised but when I thought about it the last time I faced the elves here they got away and I didn't kill any of them. They probably weren't used to being killed. In fact I've only ever ran into elves that time and another time with Drake—my mentor and trainer—and I'm pretty sure they got away that time, too. I was knocked unconscious and Drake seemed pretty mad about how it all went down.

I looked around at all the elves and they seemed like they didn't know what to do.

"He killed us," one of them said. I realized the one whose head I just chopped off was number three.

"How?" said another.

"Why?"

"What do we do?"

"Run?"

"Run."

Poof. They were all gone. Sometimes I wish I could do that and just get away but I was left with doing it the normal way. I had to walk or run away, or drive.

I waited around for five minutes in case the things returned but apparently I had scared them enough that they weren't coming back. It was doubtful that they had left for good but at least I gave myself some breathing room.

When I got back to my car I decided that I had to get to the girl and warn her about what was coming. I don't think it was going to be easy to stop all of these elves from taking her considering I was barely able to get away by myself. That's when it occurred to me: five elves eat one person. How many would over 40 of them need to eat? Gulp.

The girl's house was kind of a crapshoot. I know I'm not really one to talk because I don't even have a home. Now I'm really depressed.

I walked up to the front door and knocked. It occurred to me that I wasn't even sure what I was going to say to her or even what I could do. If it was just the five elves I would still have a chance but with this many there was no way I was going to be able to stop all of them. We couldn't just blow up the town either, because it was actually populated with humans and I couldn't reach out to Kelly.

I knocked on the door and waited. It wasn't too long, though, until a small timid girl answered the door. She wasn't young but short. She was around my age. Her skin was ghost white and her auburn hair covered half of her face. I frightened her, which makes sense since I was covered in cuts and bruises. It wasn't a very welcoming look. I had tried to clean myself up as best I could but there was only so much that I could do.

"Hello," I said.

"Hi," she replied in a small, mouse-like voice.

"I know this seems strange and honestly when someone looking like me shows up on your front door you should probably call the cops but I'm begging you to hear me out."

I waited for her to respond or run away but she just stood there, waiting for me to continue.

"There are elves terrorizing you," I said. Honesty sometimes is the best option. "All the weird stuff that has been going on is caused by them, by their magic. They cause a bunch of havoc and then they eat someone." I needed her to understand the urgency of the situation. "It's usually the first person that experiences the mischief they cause. My name is Wes Parker and I can protect you."

For several seconds she stared at me. Then she stepped out of the way and allowed me to walk through, which I did.

The house was just as sloppy on the inside as it was on the outside. There were no sign of any adults and quite frankly that concerned me. This girl just let a man—OK, fine, young man—in the house that is bloody and has an axe attached to his hip. For all she knew I could be there to murder her. I'm not, of course, but she had no way of knowing that.

"Water?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I said, realizing how thirsty I was. "I'd love some."

She walked out of the room and into the kitchen. When she returned she had a small glass of water in her hand.

"Thank you," I said.

We both sat down on what could be considered a couch.

"So," I started, "do you mind telling me what happened?"

She shook her head. "I woke up one morning and got out of my bed."

I stared at her waiting for more. "That's not very strange."

"I was on the roof."

"Oh." That wasn't normal.

"Yeah."

"Did it stop at that?"

"No."

"What else happened?"

"My cat disappeared, and the kitchen was completely rearranged."

"Did they make your parents disappear?" That question seemed like it stung a little bit.

"No," she said. "I haven't seen my dad in months."

"Oh," I responded. "Sorry."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"That started about a month ago?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"OK, then. That means we have until tonight."

"Are they going to kill me?"

"They are going to try, but no."

"OK." Oddly she seemed to believe me. I wasn't sure if I believe me. "What do we do now?"

I turned to answer her when it hit me. I always had a solution. There was always a way to win, whether it was setting the monster on fire or blowing up a town, but this time I could honestly say that I had no idea.

She was waiting for an answer but I didn't have one. I couldn't take her out of the town because we were trapped here, thanks to the elves' magic. So that really only left us with one option.

"We wait," I finally said.

"Is it safe?" she asked.

"Sort of."

"Can they not enter the house?"

"That's vampires, and that's not true either. Seriously if you ever run into a vampire don't assume they can't come into your house."

"There are vampires, too?"

Crap. "Yeah."

"Wow." She didn't seem very frightened by the idea of it.

I shouldn't have told her about that but in all honesty she wasn't going to remember any of this once it was over. That was of course assuming we both made it through this.

There was a knock at the front door.

"You expecting someone?" I asked her.

"No," she answered.

I walked to the front door and slowly opened it. There was no one there. As I closed it there was another knock from the back door.

"Crap," I said out loud.

"What?" she asked me.

"They're here."

"What do we do?"

I just shook my head, showing her that I wasn't very confident in the situation, which wasn't a good thing. The last thing that I wanted to do right there was let her think that I couldn't save her.

"We should get down to the basement," I suggested.

"There isn't one," she informed me.

"Oh, OK, then. We can just wait right here."

There was laughing. It sounded very innocent but I knew it was not. The amount of laughter was increasing by the second and that meant they had the house completely surrounded.

"We should run," the girl said.

"No," I told her. "We wouldn't get far and it would be a wasted effort."

"What then?"

"Well," I started, but I was lifted off of the ground and tossed across the room, crashing into a shelf with a bunch of hunting pictures on it.

"WES!" she shouted.

"Crap," I strained.

As I looked up there was an elf standing right in front of my face.

"Hello," he said right as he kicked me in the face. The force was so hard it nearly snapped my neck. My nose would be bleeding any second for sure.

"Wes, help!" the girl screamed.

There were a group of elves surrounding her and were picking her up off the ground.

"You can't have her," I said.

"Too late," one of them said.

"We already have her," another confirmed.

I stood up and went to charge them, but I was stopped short by a bus that crashed right into me.

When I woke up I was lying on the ground outside with pieces of the house spread out around me, and the sun was starting to set. It was a new experience for me, getting hit by a bus in the middle of a house. I could tell it did quite a bit of damage inside but I was the only thing that passed through the wall. I was a little sore but I would get over it.

The girl was gone and it started to sink in that the sun was setting, which meant that the elves were going to be eating very soon. Time was very short and I had no plan. Well, I had a plan. I just don't think it was a good one, at all.

I had to go to the store again and grab some baked beans. Knowing how many elves I was dealing with I cleared the store out. Unfortunately there weren't as many cans as I was hoping for but it is what it is.

Before I could start heating the beans up I needed to find out where they had taken the girl and that was a bit tricky. I was told it was almost always right near where the victim lives but when they know we—paladins—know where that is then they will seek out a different spot. They could be anywhere in the town and it was a pretty large town.

The town seemed a lot quieter now and that was because right before they ate the person they had chosen they put everyone else in a trance just so they wouldn't interrupt them. Not that anyone could stop them anyway. There were no cars and no one walking around.

"Where the heck are they?" I asked out loud.

"Who?" someone asked.

I turned around and there was girl was standing behind me. She was probably about 11 years old, with black hair.

"Oh," I stammered. "I'm looking for some friends of mine."

"Oh," she said.

"You feel OK?"

"Yeah. Everyone else is acting really weird around here, though."

"It would appear that way." Why didn't she seem affected? She didn't seem scared either. Not that she was clueless but just not scared.

"I'm Alexandra," the girl said, sticking out her hand. Even though I was kind of panicking I was impressed by her courtesy. "Alex."

"Wes," I replied while shaking her hand.

"Do you know why everyone is acting like this?"

"Sort of. Have you seen a bunch of people dressed like elves running around?"

She looked at me like I was kind of crazy. I knew it would be a long shot but Alex seemed a little more aware than everyone else.

"Yes," she answered reluctantly.

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded her head.

"Do you remember where you saw them?"

"Yeah. I can show you."

"My friends aren't really the friendly type and I'd rather you didn't come with me. Do you think you can point me in the right direction?"

"I'm not afraid."

"I know but I'd rather you didn't come with me."

"I'm not good with directions."

I let out a long sigh.

"Fine," I said, "but when I say go, you go."

"OK. We can walk there."

"Lead the way."

She started walking and I followed her. I wasn't quite sure what it was but she looked very familiar. I couldn't figure it out, though.

"You grow up here?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said.

"Born too?"

"I don't know. I was adopted."

"Oh, sorry."

"No need to be."

We walked for about five more minutes until she finally stopped.

"It's right up ahead," she told me.

"There?" I asked, pointing into the woods.

"Yeah just walk down that path."

"OK. I need you to go now."

"OK." She left.

I walked down the path for a little while until I eventually came to a clearing. My heart hit the ground. In the clearing the girl was hanging from the tree upside down. The thing was, there were nine other people as well.

There was a small part of me that had expected there to be more than one person but I honestly didn't think there was going to be 10 of them. It should have been obvious, though, considering how many elves were there. Clearly one person wasn't going to be enough to stifle their hunger.

I walked around the site trying to find a good path to go down to start heating up the beans. I needed to get them away from those victims and I had no idea how much time there was before they were going to start eating. I still didn't know what I was even going to do.

On the other side of the site from which I started there was a path that looked like it may be a good one. So, I headed down it hoping that none of the elves had seen or heard me. When I was passing in between two relatively close trees I was suddenly standing right in front of the people hanging upside down. They were all unconscious.

"Wes," one of the elves said.

"You came," called out another.

"We were hoping you would."

"We're hungry.

"Hungry."

"Thanks for the beans."

"Beans."

"We want you to see this."

So much for sneaking in unnoticed, and they got the beans from me. Not only did I not get to distract them, but they were going to get the beans anyway.

"You know I can't just let you guys eat these people, right?" I asked them.

"You can't stop us," one of them promised.

"Haven't you tried already?" another asked me.

"I really hate you guys," I said.

"We know."

"So, I guess we get to you guys doing ridiculous things and tossing me around?"

"Yep."

"Great."

I charged after the closest elf and took a low swing at its head. When the axe was inches from the elf's head it was stopped short by a giant metal pole. I'm not really sure why my axe didn't cut right through it but then again, they were elves.

Before I had time to get over the initial shock another one of the elves came over and punted me right in the face. I jerked and landed right on my back. The elf that had blocked my axe brought the pole up that he used to stop me and swung it right into my stomach. All the air left my lungs and I gasped trying to get it all back.

I was really starting to get aggravated and I felt a surge of adrenaline surge through my entire body. As one of the elves came over and tried to drop a giant boulder on me I whipped out one of my guns and shot him right in the chest. He dropped the boulder and it crushed the thing like it was nothing. Once again all of the elves were shocked that I managed to kill one of them.

"Another one," one of them said.

"There's more where that came from," I taunted them.

"Kill him."

"Try it."

They all flew at me and I wasn't going to let them get the better of me this time. I swung my axes around like a mad man, killing one after another.

"Stop him," two of them yelled at the same time. I was getting to them.

"We must."

"We have to eat."

"He will ruin everything."

"You little shits don't like being on this side of the fight, do you?"

"Time to sleep, Wes."

"Huh?"

I didn't really have a chance to ponder what the elf said. Something hit me in the back of the head and then I was out.

I woke up with the biggest headache. To be honest I was surprised that I wasn't dead. As my sight started to come back I saw there was a man standing in front of me. At least it looked like the size and shape of a man but my vision was a little too fuzzy to tell.

"Wake up, Wes," the man said.

I wasn't very happy that he knew who I was and had a very big advantage over me at that moment.

"Get up," he said again more sternly.

I pushed myself up into a kneeling position and he started to come into focus. It was the same man that I saw when I was back in my hometown. He had on the same trench coat and hat. So, added with the dark of night, I couldn't see his face.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Just someone who knows you," he replied.

I wasn't sure if I should be scared or not. Whoever he was he just saved me. I could see there were a few elves lying dead that I didn't kill so he couldn't be that bad, but the fact that he could just disappear in the blink of an eye made me uncomfortable. The last time I saw him he just vanished. It was a very brief meeting.

"I've had my eye on you for a very long time," he informed me.

"Oh yeah?" I asked. "That's creepy."

"Nope. Just being observant."

"Yeah, creepy."

He chuckled but I could tell it was the kind of chuckle that might end up with him punching me in the face. Trust me, I know.

"You are funny," he said.

"Some don't think so," I replied.

"No one really does, Wes."

"Cool."

"You're quite good at what you do."

"What is it exactly that you do?"

"Come on now. I don't want to spoil the surprise for you. I promise you'll find out when the time comes."

My vision was clearing up but I still couldn't see his face. Something was telling me that I knew him but at the same time I had no idea.

"Are you going to at least give me a name?" I asked, not bothering to press him about what he was doing.

"Just call me Larry," he said.

I looked at him a little disappointed. "Larry?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes, why?"

"Couldn't you have a cooler name like Hunter or Slash, or even Bob?"

"Do you have a problem with my name?" He sounded angry.

"No, no. It's great. Larry works."

There was a lot of blood around me and I wasn't sure if it was the elves or mine. I didn't think it was mine but then again I was feeling a little bit woozy, so who knows.

"So you're not going to tell me what you're doing, Larry?" I asked him.

"No," he replied.

"OK, then will you at least tell me why you saved me and these people?"

He just laughed, a very evil laugh that told me I was naïve. I can be very perceptive sometimes.

"Is something funny?" I probably shouldn't have bothered asking.

"Wes," he started, "who said anything about me saving anyone."

"Huh?"

I turned around and hadn't been so horrified in such a long time. I have hunted a lot of monsters in my day and one thing was always the same, in the end I always won. What I saw when I turned around was what was left of the people I was trying to save. The elves had eaten them.

I was at a loss for words. I was supposed to protect these people and I had failed, badly. There was barely even a fight between the elves and I before they knocked me out. Larry didn't do anything to save those people but he obviously came in and saved me. There was no way the elves would just let me live. They would have wanted to eat me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Why what?" Larry replied.

"Why did you save me and not these people?"

"I'm sure you would like me to say it's because by the time I arrived they were already dead, but in reality I just didn't want to."

"Then why save me?"

He leaned in real close. I couldn't see his face still but his breath was horrendous. "I have plans for you."

I was really uncomfortable with that answer but I knew he wasn't going to tell me what those plans were.

"But," he started as he stood back up straight, "I'm not going to tell you yet." See?

I couldn't even respond to him.

"Well," he said. "Even though this conversation is very riveting I have things to attend to."

"I don't know who or what you are," I began, "but I can promise that one day I am going to kill you."

He simply laughed.

"I don't think so, Wes," he said. "See you later."

Puff. He was gone just like before.

I looked at all the carnage around me and had no idea what I was supposed to do. It wasn't like I could just leave and let everyone see this but the friends and family of these people were going to wonder where they all went. Even still, there wasn't really much to identify anyone with and I'm sure everyone's blood was all mixed together by now. I couldn't leave everything like this.

The next two hours were spent cleaning up the entire area. Any left over body parts were thrown into a pit I dug and burnt to ashes. When I was just about done I heard someone walking up behind me. Relying completely on reflexes I whipped out one of my Desert Eagles and pointed it directly at the would-be attacker.

"Alex," I sighed.

It was hard to tell if she was scared of me.

"I thought I told you to go home?" I pointed out.

"I didn't," she said. She was stunned; baffled by everything she had obviously just seen.

"How long have you been there?"

She just shook her head.

"The whole time?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she replied.

"I'm sorry."

"It was horrible."

"I can you promise that this won't haunt you."

"How can you promise that?"

"I'm going to erase your memory."

"What?"

I flashed my beam of light before she could say anything more. After the light faded and she regained her wits she just stared at me.

"What happened?" she asked me.

"I found you wandering in the woods here," I lied.

She looked at me like she didn't know what to say, like she was confused, which was understandable.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Nobody," I replied. "Let me take you home."

I brought her back to my car and then brought her home. When she got out of my car she looked back a couple of times and still seemed very confused. There was something very odd about her.

While I was heading out of the town I felt severely depressed. It seems unlikely but I have honestly never let someone die on my watch. I felt wrong. I felt really bad. I was going to make sure that didn't happen ever again.

New York City. Major cities were not places that I liked to visit very often because there were never really any monsters in them and way too many people. Call me anti-social but I'd rather face a pack of vampires than face a large group of people. This time, however, I didn't have a choice.

I had been surfing the Internet, as I often do, and found that there is a large apartment building being haunted. Before you go getting any ideas I was pretty sure that it wasn't a ghost. Why, you ask? I will tell you. It's not a ghost because people mentioned little creatures running around. I researched the building and there was nothing out of the ordinary as far as deaths go.

I drove around the streets, which were surprisingly easy to navigate, looking for somewhere to park. I couldn't go to the building's parking garage because it was gated off. It wasn't like any small town I normally visit where you can park pretty much anywhere and no one cares. This place was much different.

After much searching I finally found a place where I could park my car overnight. I drove up to the girl at the booth.

"How long?" she asked.

"I'm not really sure," I admitted. "I think a night but I'll say two to be safe."

"Eighty dollars."

"What?"

"You deaf?"

"No, I just think I heard you wrong."

"Did you hear me say 80 dollars?"

"Yeah."

"Then you heard me just fine."

"OK then."

I gave her my card and she scanned it.

"You can drive through now," she said.

"Right," I replied and searched for a spot.

I wasn't too happy with the way the girl just treated me but I'm not one to complain. Or maybe I am. The streets were extremely busy with people. No one seemed to mind if they bumped into me and I won't bother to tell you what they said. Some of them were extremely vulgar.

It was a 20-minute walk to the building and that was 19 minutes longer than I wanted it to be. I walked up to the front of the building and for a second I thought about what I was going to do to get through. I decided that I would pretend to be a relative of someone that lived in the building. There was a Mr. Killingsworth. That seemed good enough to me.

The doorman stopped me as I started to go through.

"Can I help you, sir?" he asked me.

"I'm Robert Killingsworth," I lied. "I'm here to visit my uncle."

"And who is that?"

I stared at him like an idiot. I didn't think he was going to ask me that question. Clearly he saw through my bull crap story.

"Mr. Killingsworth?" I tried.

The doorman laughed. "Nice try, sir. I am going to have to ask you to leave now."

I let out a long exaggerated sigh. "I guess I had that coming."

I left and walked down the street out of view while I tried to think of a better way to get in there. The only problem was that the doorman had already seen my face and that put me at a severe disadvantage.

"Wes Parker," a voice came from behind me. I knew who it was right away.

"Kelly," I said as I turned around.

"Hi there."

"Thanks for blowing up that town for me. No one has ever done anything that nice for me." Just a reminder, Kelly works for an agency of humans that hunt monsters, just like me. She and her group helped me fight against a witch and she blew up a town of werewolves I had discovered.

"Aren't you sweet?"

"What are guys doing here?"

"The same thing you are."

"Fair enough."

She smiled at me and took a step closer to me.

"That was a nice try," she said mockingly.

"Do you have a better idea?" I asked her.

I looked at her crew as they were gearing up and they were all wearing exterminator outfits.

"Ah," I said.

"Suit up," Kelly said.

I was expecting to go on this one alone but I had to admit it was good that they were there. I wouldn't have been able to get in there without them. This was surely going to be interesting.

When we went back to the apartment building I made sure to wear a mask so that the door man wouldn't recognize who I was. Luckily it worked and we were able to get in without a hitch. Building management had decided what the people had been seeing was rats and called for exterminators. So, Kelly's agency took that as an opportunity to sneak in. Having their resources really came in handy sometimes. They knew as well as I did that whatever was in there was not rats.

When we were going through the front the doorman did look at me for a second and I thought he was going to realize who I was but he didn't. That was good, too, because if he did he wouldn't have let any of us in.

The manager of the apartments was waiting for us in the lobby. He was a short man with his hair slicked back and he wore a cheap blue suit. The man looked like a little sniveling weasel. I don't really like to make quick assumptions but I was usually right. Most of the time, anyways.

"They are everywhere," he said. "I've been getting complaints all week about these things. I can't have my building getting this kind of attention. I need you to take care of this now."

Kelly stared at him. I thought for sure she was going to punch him in the face.

"Can you show us to the basement?" she asked him.

"Right this way," he replied.

He led us to a service elevator and took us to the basement level.

"If there's an infestation they will most likely be down here," Kelly explained.

"I think one of my normal maintenance people might have noticed that," the manager pointed out.

"Not if they don't know where to look."

"Hmmm."

"Is there any access to the air ducts down here?"

"Yes. Over there."

"Are there any cameras down here?"

"No."

"Good. Wes, will you?"

"Gladly," I responded.

"Huh?" the manager asked right before I punched him unconscious.

"I'm going to go put him somewhere out of sight," I informed them.

"Good idea," Kelly agreed.

I put the little jerk in a closet. I was pretty sure that no one was going to find him in there any time soon. I went back to the rest of the group. Everyone was grabbing all of their weapons and dividing them up. I already had mine on me concealed in my costume.

"What do you think we're dealing with?" Kelly asked me.

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted.

"Why did we even bother bringing him in?" Lenny asked. He was one of Kelly's men who really didn't get along with me.

"Well, Jenny," I teased, "it's because I am a paladin. I'm faster, stronger and smarter than you."

He walked towards me.

"Stop," Kelly ordered.

Lenny did stop, which is good for him because I would probably just break his nose.

"Let's just start looking around," said Kelly. She tossed me an ear piece. "Stay in contact. Let's take the first four floors and split up in to teams. Wes, you go with Lenny."

"With all due respect, Kelly," I began, "I'm going by myself. I work better alone."

"You could do that. I could also go tell the doorman that you snuck in with us and have security escort you out of the building."

I looked back and forth between her and Lenny. He was shaking his head and was just as upset about the situation as I was. I could have stood there and kept arguing with her but in the end that was only going to slow everyone down.

"Fine," I said.

"Good," Kelly sighed.

"This is bull," Lenny complained.

"Drop it. We need to 'distract' security."

Just then the lights shut off and all power was gone out of the building. For a second the backup generator came on but it immediately went off. The basement was completely dark now and none of us could see a thing.

"I don't think we have to worry about security seeing us," I said. "Also I'm not worried about you getting them to escort me out either."

Whatever was in there had cut off the power and what was worse than that, they knew that we were there as well.

The dark wasn't going to stop us from doing our job, especially me. I have my own internal night vision. Did I not mention that before? My bad. I'm sure Kelly and her team has night vision goggles but they obviously didn't want to scare anyone running around with those looking like they were there to attack the place, so they had flashlights.

"This doesn't change anything," said Kelly. "Wes and Lenny, I still want you two to take the 4th floor."

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"I can still get security."

"Don't bother. Let's go Jenny."

Lenny grunted and I half expected him to hit me in the back of the head, but he didn't. We took the stairs for obvious reasons and ascended up to the 4th floor. There were 16 total so this was going to take while.

For the first five minutes neither of us said a word to each other. We hated one another and all I would do is antagonize him if I did speak. He finally broke the ice.

"We should start knocking on doors," he suggested.

"Probably," I said.

"Split up?"

"Gladly."

"Don't even think about it," Kelly's voice came through the earpiece.

"Don't worry. Wouldn't dream of going against your orders. Especially since I work for your agency. Oh wait, I don't. See ya Jenny."

"I'll get security."

"I don't care."

Lenny grabbed my arm as I started to walk away.

"You may not work for her but I do," he pointed out. "I'd rather not get canned because you're reckless."

For a few seconds I just stared at him. I may hate the guy but I didn't want to get him fired or anything.

"Fine," I said. "Let's go."

We walked up to the next door and began knocking. We waited a minute and then knocked again. Finally after another minute the door open as far as the chain lock would allow.

"Hello?" came an old voice. The woman was tiny and looked very frail.

"Ma'am," Lenny started. "We're exterminators and are here to stop the infestation of rats."

"Oh. Come in, please."

We stepped through the door after she unlocked it. The apartment was very clean and every shelf in there was littered with porcelain dolls. To be honest I expected that the moment she had opened the door.

"Are you the ones that did this to the power?" she asked us.

"No," I said. "Whatever is infesting this building probably did it. Rats most likely."

"Oh no. It's not rats."

"No?"

"No."

"How can you be sure?"

The woman sat down in her chair with a lot of struggle.

"Well," she began, "when it started there was a lot of strange stuff. Things were getting knocked over, I and several others heard voices, and people have gone missing."

"The manager didn't mention anything about that," said Lenny.

"He wouldn't. Only a couple have and it's only been a day or two. A lot of us don't have family and vacation a lot."

"How do you know they just didn't leave then?"

"I know. Plus I've seen the little devils."

I walked over to her.

"What did they look like?" I asked her.

"I didn't get the best look," she admitted, "but they were about the size of a child and had red skin." Uh oh.

Lenny and I both looked at each other.

"Where are you two?" Kelly called through the earpiece.

I stepped away from the woman. "Room 419. Why?"

"Meet us in the hallway."

I motioned for Lenny and we both did just that. It took a couple minutes for them to show up but when they did I could hear someone struggling.

"We found something," Kelly informed them.

"And?" Lenny asked.

"They asked for Wes." Not good.

One of the other team members brought the monster forward and I did not like what I was seeing, or whom I was seeing I should say.

"Hey, Wes," he said.

"Mygle," I replied.

I looked at Mygle and he looked right back at me. This was not a position that I had wanted to end up in. I never expected for both Kelly and Mygle to meet. To be honest I wasn't really sure that I would ever see him again. That was just wishful thinking.

Everyone in the group was staring at either Mygle or I and they were obviously looking for some sort of explanation. Like I said, I never really pictured the day when I would have to face this situation so I wasn't really prepared for it.

"What is this?" Kelly asked.

"That's Mygle," I replied.

"Yes, I understand that much. What is this?" She motioned back and forth between us.

"Oh, right. We kind of go back. You guys can let him go."'

"I don't think so."

"Listen to me." I walked right up to Kelly. "I have run into him on many occasions and even though I would love to kill him—believe me, I would—he has saved my life more than once."

"You're so sweet, Wes," Mygle mocked.

"Shut up."

Kelly was staring at me and I could see in her eyes that she didn't have any intentions of letting the little jerk go. I couldn't really blame her, though. If the roles were reversed I wouldn't have even waited for Mygle to say anything and would have just killed him. Although, I guess I wouldn't have because here he was. The first time we met I didn't kill him. OK, fine. Yes I have tried to kill him on several different occasions but I think if I got my blade close enough I wouldn't have actually cut it through him. Think what you want.

"I know you don't trust him," I started, "but you can trust me."

That seemed to get somewhere because Kelly was now looking between the two of us again and I could see that she was entertaining the idea.

"You do realize that he is letting you hold him, right?" I asked. "He can get away anytime he wants."

"Fine," Kelly finally said. "Let him go."

"You can't be serious," Lenny complained.

"Don't worry, Lenny," I said. We both looked at each other and were surprised that I called him by his actual name. That seemed to work, though, because he let it go.

The two guys holding Mygle let go of him and the little gremlin came walking over to me.

"Thanks, buddy," he said.

"Don't ever call me buddy," I demanded.

"Why do you always try to fight our friendship?"

"So how did you guys meet anyways?" Kelly asked.

"Well," I began, "it was online. I was having a really hard time finding someone and I figured I would give it a try."

"Seriously."

"We were both hunting vampires. He kills and eats other monsters not humans."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just am."

Kelly still didn't like the situation but who could really blame her? We hunt monsters yet here I was vouching for one. How could anyone expect her to just let it go and accept that? It was completely understandable.

"I don't like this," she said.

"Me either," I agreed.

"I'm right here," Mygle pointed out.

"Shut up, Mygle."

"So feisty."

Kelly walked up to Mygle. He pretended like he was scared and was hiding behind me but he had a smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. "Are you the one causing all of this trouble?"

"Not exactly," he replied.

"What do you mean not exactly?"

He pointed behind everyone and I honestly didn't think it could have gotten any worse. We found out what was causing all of the trouble. There was a large group of gremlins standing there, staring right at us.

We all just stood there. I think the gremlins were just as shocked to see us, as we were to see them. Of course, they had to know that I was here because they could feel me, just like I could feel them. That's one of the perks of being a paladin. I can feel when a monster is close by. So, I'm sure they weren't surprised to see me, but everyone else that was with me.

"Mygle?" I muttered.

"That's why I'm here," he replied.

Kelly and her team held very still, which I was thankful for because I didn't want anyone on either side to make any sudden movements.

There were seven of them. We outnumbered them but they were all stronger than Kelly and her team. I wasn't really sure whose side Mygle was on but we were definitely going to find out soon enough.

Kelly looked at me out of the corner of her eye and she was livid. I didn't blame her. This didn't look good at all.

"Mygle," one of the gremlins spoke in a very raspy voice. "What great surprise." Their English was just as bad as Mygle's, apparently.

"Hi," Mygle said back. He seemed a little afraid.

"Which one of you is the Paladin?"

"I am," I answered.

Kelly turned to me with a look that told me I shouldn't have done that.

"There's no benefit in not telling them," I defended myself.

"Did Mygle bring you here?" the gremlin, whom I assumed was the leader, asked me.

"No. You did when you started terrorizing this place."

"You'll regret coming here."

"So won't you."

All hell broke loose. The gremlins exploded toward us with malicious intent buried deep into their eyes. Fighting Mygle was a pain in my rear, so you can imagine what fighting seven of them was like, especially with humans getting in my way. Actually you can't imagine that because you've probably never fought a monster before. Stop nodding your head in agreement.

The gremlins were fast and strong. They didn't seem to be as good as Mygle was, which made me wonder about him a little more. As I dodged the first one that came at me I turned to Mygle to see what he was going to do. At first he just stood there, obviously afraid of which side to take. I thought he had turned his back on the other gremlins, so why wouldn't he just start helping us?

Another gremlin jumped at me and tackled me to the ground. As we fell and started to roll backwards I used the momentum to launch the little monster right off of me into a wall, leaving a nice little dent in the plaster. As it came back at me I took a swing with my axe, aimed right at him or her—it might have been a her—but it disappeared right before I could chopped off their head.

I turned to Mygle again.

"Do you plan on helping anytime soon?" I asked him.

He looked back and forth between the battle and I, trying desperately to make a decision. I could see the inner turmoil he was going through but I honestly didn't care at that moment. We needed his help.

"Sorry, Wes," he said and then he was gone.

"Are you kidding me?" I complained. I didn't have time to whine about it, though. There was a fight going on in a crowded hallway and I needed to focus on that.

The gremlins were getting the better of Kelly and the rest of them. They were all good at fighting, even against monsters, but those red devils are just too fast and strong for them.

The gremlin that had spoken to us was leaping at Kelly from behind with a knife held high in the air, ready to bring it down on her exposed back. Now even though I really don't have any feelings toward Kelly, I couldn't just let her die, could I? Ha like I was really thinking about letting that happen.

I took out one of my Desert Eagles and shot him right out of the air. It wasn't a kill shot but he wasn't ready to attack Kelly anytime soon.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," I said back.

That moment I spent responding to her was the moment that I got hit in the back of the head. It was just in the right spot too because it didn't knock me out but it was enough to completely disorient me.

I fell to my knees and that's when they started to drag Kelly and her team away. I tried to react but I was so woozy that I just stumbled as I tried to get up. If I didn't do something and fast they were going to get all of us. As they grabbed Lenny and started pulling him away, I pulled out my Desert Eagles and just started firing. My aiming was spot on because the gremlin that was going to drag Lenny down the hall jerked several times and fell. It was dead.

That scared the rest of them and then they were gone, with Kelly and everyone else. I looked over at him and he looked over at me.

"You've got to be kidding me," we said in unison.

Let's take a look at the situation: Kelly and almost all of her team were just kidnapped by a group of gremlins and most likely were going to be eaten. Mygle had taken off and left me high and dry. All I could think of, however, was that I was going to have to figure the rest of this out with Lenny, the one person in the world I hated more than anyone else. I knew that I was going to have to work with him at first but I didn't think it was going to be just the two of us. I could tell he felt the same way.

We both got up and stared at each other. We looked back and forth at the hallway and it was kind of a mess. Some broken up plaster and blood were spread out on the floor. I was surprised that no one had come out to say anything yet. We were making so much noise I'm sure that everyone in the entire building would have heard us.

A door opened up next to me. I always speak too soon.

"What's going on out here?" asked the old lady that we were just speaking to.

"Uh," I stumbled. "I fell."

For what fell like forever she just stared at me. There was no way she was going to buy that bull crap story.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

Seriously. She bought that. "I'm fine."

"Should I call an ambulance?"

"No. I'll be OK. We'll clean up here, too."

"Alright." She closed the door behind her.

I looked over at Lenny.

"That was weird," I said.

He just stared at me.

"Why isn't anyone else coming out?" I asked.

"Seriously?" he asked me.

"What?"

"Kelly and the rest of my team were just taken away."

"Yeah?"

"Then what does it matter if people heard us or not?"

"Calm down, Lenny." I didn't see the need to mock him at the time. "It isn't like I haven't been in this situation before. We'll get them back."

"Let's go then. Now."

I put up my hands in surrender and followed him as he took off. I could understand his panic. It wasn't like I wasn't freaking out a little bit on the inside but it didn't do anyone any good to start throwing a fit.

We headed off in the direction that the gremlins had been dragging the bodies but there was a lot of ground to cover. There was no telling where they were heading and there was no trail because they had done their amazing teleporting act. Or they might have gone invisible, but I didn't think they could make humans go invisible, too.

"There's no telling where they are," I pointed out. Lenny was freaking out and moving around erratically. "They could be anywhere in this building."

"You don't think I know that, idiot?" he asked. He had turned around to say it right in my face.

"Name calling isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Can you just shut up?"

I grabbed him by the arm and whipped him around.

"Look," I began, "I know this situation sucks but it is what it is. We could search this place top to bottom and probably wouldn't get to them in time. We need to pull ourselves together and figure this thing out. They are in here somewhere and the gremlins would have picked a place to nest. If we ask around we can find out where that nest is."

Lenny looked at me like he wanted to say more but he was professional. He knew that I was right and we needed to work together to get this done.

"Fine," he spat. "Just follow me."

"I really think it would be better if you would follow me," I said.

"No."

"I have more experience and I'm better."

"I'm older."

"You're uglier."

"I should just shoot you right here."

"Try me." I don't know how we got here.

"I can lead the way," said Mygle.

Lenny and I both put our differences aside and pointed our guns directly at Mygle's head.

"Whoa, guys," Mygle pleaded. "Don't kill me."

"Explain why we shouldn't?" I demanded. I was really mad.

"Because if you do you'll have a hard time finding your friends."

"I don't care," said Lenny.

"Don't." I stood between the two of them so he wouldn't shoot Mygle.

"Do you think that is going to stop me?"

I had to admit that I really didn't think it was going to stop him. If he got to shoot the both of us he might actually come out of this happy, even if Kelly and the rest of them did die. I hoped he was better than that, though.

"Yes?" I said.

He looked like he was going to shoot for a second but stopped and put his gun down instead.

"I don't trust him," Lenny admitted.

"I do," I told him.

"If we are going to let him help us then he is just going to turn on us."

"I won't," Mygle promised.

"You just did."

"Actually I didn't. I didn't help my others fight you."

"You took off, though," I pointed out. "Why?"

Mygle just shook his head. Something was really bothering him and I didn't want to push it right then. But before this was all over I was going to get to the bottom of it, regardless of his feelings.

"He asked you a question," Lenny informed him, stating the obvious. Why do people always say it like that as if the other person, or in this case thing, didn't hear them? It never really made sense to me.

"Leave him be," I said.

"Fine," Lenny submitted. "If he turns on us, I'll kill him."

"I'll help you."

Lenny walked away. I turned to Mygle.

"Do you mind telling me what that was about back there?" I asked him.

"Yes I do," he said.

"Fine. Just don't do that again."

"OK."

It was odd. I had seen Mygle frightened before back when we fought the trolls but something had him really scared. I needed to find out what had happened to him that made him eat other monsters and not humans.

We all headed down the hallway in search of all our missing friends.

"So where are we going?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mygle replied.

I stopped and turned around. Lenny looked like he was going to explode.

"What?" Lenny was growling through his teeth. "If you don't know then why did you make it seem like you did?"

"I said I didn't know where they were," Mygle informed us, "but I didn't say I couldn't find them."

"Good. Find them."

"It isn't that simple."

"Once again, why are you here?"

This whole thing was going to be tough with just Lenny and I, but now I had to keep the peace between him and Mygle. Although, it was nice to not have Lenny put all his hatred towards me for once.

"Just walk that way," Mygle pointed down the hall.

We listened to him and started walking in the direction that he had pointed.

"Hey, Mygle," I said, as I turned around. I was surprised to see that he was no longer behind us. He had ditched us again.

"I'm gonna kill that little jerk," Lenny promised. He didn't say jerk but I have decided to keep this as clean as possible.

I couldn't believe that Mygle had taken off on us again. He was acting very strange.

"He's acting weird," I said.

Lenny was looking at me like I had three heads.

"He's acting weird?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I replied.

"How should a gremlin normally act?!"

"I don't know, but I know Mygle and he wouldn't just run away like this."

"Apparently he would."

I felt like punching Lenny right in the face but I held it back. I didn't want to spend time fighting with him. So, I buried my anger deep inside and would let it come out later when we found all of the gremlins.

With no help from Mygle we needed to search the old fashioned way, again, by asking questions. We traveled up to the next floor and decided to split up by going door to door. After each one, assuming someone would answer, we were to meet back in the hallway so neither of us lost the other. For the first three doors no one answered. Finally on the fourth one a man answered. He wasn't as old as the previous lady I spoke with but he was definitely much older than I am.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Hi," I said. "My name is Wes. I'm an exterminator. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions?"

"Why would an exterminator need to ask me any questions?"

He had a good point. "We are having trouble locating the nest of rats and we were asking around to see if we could locate the source."

"I guess that makes sense. Come on in."

I stepped into the door after he opened it fully for me and the apartment was very bare. Clearly this guy lived alone. The one thing it did have going for it was the huge TV and the surround sound system that was set up. The man noticed that I was looking at it.

"Nice, isn't it?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I answered. "Wish I had this setup."

"I can't really turn it as loud as I want. The walls are pretty thick and everyone else's hearing around me is pretty bad but still, so is mine." He laughed to himself. I smiled so he didn't think I was rude. Plus, it was kind of funny.

"Bet it cost a pretty penny?"

"Yeah, but I've got more money than I know what to do with and no one to give it to."

I felt a little awkward after that.

"So you were looking for the critters?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "The rats."

"Funny looking rats. I think it's disgusting that there are rodents in this building."

"You've seen them?"

"No but I've heard. Old Lady Haggard downstairs talked about them and a gentleman on the 8th floor said something about it, too."

"Are those the only ones?"

He thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah," he finally replied. "I guess. The only ones I talk to anyway."

"OK," I started. "I think I already talked to Mrs. Haggard so I should probably go talk to that other man. What is his name?"

"Fred Hill."

"What apartment number?"

"Eight zero three."

"Thank you."

I got up and headed for the door.

"I'm going to go talk to him," I said.

"No problem."

I walked out the door and met up with Lenny in the hallway.

"I've got a lead," I told him.

He didn't say anything but just kept staring down the hallway.

"What?" I asked him.

I looked down in the direction he was facing and saw four gremlins, staring at us.

This time I didn't wait to see what the red devils were going to do. So, I charged at them with my axes held at my sides. Two of them came at me while the other two disappeared. I assumed they were going after Lenny but I started to think that they wouldn't really see him as a threat, for good reasons, and were probably going to surprise attack me.

I spun around and swung my axes at the two gremlins, both of whom jumped at me. Both axes sliced and hit nothing but air. Planning for the other two gremlins to appear in front of me I pushed off the ground and did a barrel roll. It was the perfect thing to do because the other two did appear in front of me and tried to attack my legs. As I spun through the air I swung one of my axes and managed to cut one of the gremlin's head in half. The other one rolled out of the way.

When I landed on the ground they didn't give me any time to gather myself as they were on me again. I glanced at Lenny and saw that he had his gun pointed in our direction.

"I'd rather you didn't shoot that please," I told him.

"I can't just stand here," he said.

I knocked one of the gremlins away from me and back flip-kicked another one that was charging at me. I caught it under the chin and I thought for a second that I might have broken something but they are resilient creatures. Instead it flew across the hallway right by Lenny.

"There you go," I said.

"Thanks?" he sort of thanked me.

"No problem. Try to cut its head off."

"Yeah, piece of cake." I ignored his sarcasm.

Now that I had one of them off my back fighting two of them was much easier. We went back and forth for a while and, I don't like to brag but I had the upper hand.

"You're dead, paladin," one of the gremlins threatened.

"You're voice is terrible," I replied calmly. That seemed to get the reaction I wanted. I really don't know why I have to antagonize everyone.

The gremlin came at me with a renewed anger and moved quicker than I had expected. It slashed at my face with its razor sharp claws. I moved out of the way but it still managed to put a good cut across my right cheek. Right as it landed I kicked it like a field goal kicker as hard as I could. I wasn't too happy that he managed to cut me.

As the gremlin flew through the air I shot it right in the head. It wouldn't be dead but it was definitely unconscious. There was one left for me and Lenny was struggling with the other one. It was like watching a two-year old trying to catch a ball. I almost laughed out of amusement.

"You need help there?" I asked him.

He grunted in response.

"OK then," I responded.

The gremlin that was still attacking me swiped at my left leg. I lifted my foot off the ground and when its hand was in the right spot I stomped down, right on its hand. The thing yelped in pain.

"I thought I was going to die?" I said, right before I lopped off its head. "Hmm. Guess not."

I looked down on Lenny and he was struggling with the gremlin on top of him.

"Come on, Lenny," I whined. "It's no bigger than a child for crying out loud."

I grabbed the gremlin and threw it in the air. As it was coming back down, after it bounced off the ceiling, I chopped down and separated its head from its body. I turned back to Lenny who was still on the ground.

"Lying around on the job?" I teased. I put my hand out to help him out. He knocked my hand away and got up by himself. "Fine."

Lenny was looking at me differently.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," he said. "You're pretty good."

"Lenny you are so sweet to me."

"Shut up."

I laughed and he actually cracked a smile.

"It's kind of hard to tell because they all basically look the same but those ones seemed different than the ones from before," I pointed out.

"I couldn't tell," Lenny admitted.

"Hmm. No sense in dwelling on it."

"This seems like a lot of gremlins. I thought they travel in small packs, like three or four."

"Yeah. There has been a lot of that lately."

"Kelly told us about the town of werewolves."

"Ha. That was a doozy."

Lenny just nodded his head.

"Let's get moving," I ordered. "There's a guy on the 8th floor who might have some answers."

I had my back turned, facing down the wrong direction of the hallway. One thing you should learn from this is never have your back turned to an enemy, even if you think they are dead or unconscious.

I could see it in Lenny's face. One of the gremlins that I had shot was jumping at me with something sharp in its hands. It was too close for me to turn around. I had made the dumbest mistake.

In the split second that I had before the gremlin was going to stab me in the back I could do nothing but let it happen. That was until Mygle popped out of nowhere and tackled the gremlin away from me. I had to say that I was not expecting that.

The two of them wrestled on the ground back and forth across the hallway. I wanted to jump in and help him but I was afraid that I was going to do more harm than good. So, I just let the two of them work it out.

Mygle took his little knife out to stab the other gremlin but it knocked the knife away and kicked Mygle off of him.

"How could you?" the gremlin asked.

Mygle didn't say anything.

"You betrayed us once," the gremlin continued. Already. I am assuming the thing wanted to say already, or before. Really it could be anything that would make a complete sentence.

"I did had to," Mygle spat.

"I can't wait to cut you open and tell the King."

That seemed to sting Mygle a little bit.

"I can shoot the other one," Lenny whispered to me.

"No," I said back. "Let him work this out."

"I have a clear shot."

"Trust me."

Lenny was aggravated but he didn't shoot.

"The King has wanted you dead since," the gremlin said.

"I have no king," Mygle replied.

"No you don't."

The gremlin jumped at Mygle but he simply sidestepped and killed the gremlin with the knife. For the longest time we all just stood there. Lenny had gotten the proof that he needed that Mygle was on our side. I was sure that he wouldn't question it for the rest of the time that we were in there.

Mygle was hurt. I could see it in his eyes. He had turned against his kind a long time ago but that didn't meant he wanted to kill another gremlin. I slowly walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"It was a Monday," Mygle started. "The night was there and it was raining."

Lenny and I both walked a little bit closer to listen to him.

"My brother, Jenk," he continued, "had found our dinner for that night. I was so hungry and I could smell the girl from mile away."

I suddenly felt like I didn't want to hear the rest of the story.

"There was nothing better than human flesh," he admitted. "I craved it day and night. The thought of being to eat on your people meat was the best. Sorry." Mygle stopped for a second and just shook his head. "I walked up to my brother and saw that it was just appetizer. The girl was no more than three I guess. She was crying for mama. Something snapped in me that day. It was just a baby and it didn't know better. Most of the time gremlins don't care but I did. I asked my brother to let her go, to find another human. I tried to stop him."

"He ate the girl?" Lenny interrupted.

"No." Mygle was agitated.

"You said you tried to stop him."

"Yes, and I did."

"Come on, Lenny, really?" I said. "Let him finish."

"Sorry," Lenny apologized.

"I killed my brother and brought the girl home," Mygle told us. "I followed the scent to bring her back. My father not happy."

"Is your father the King?" I asked him.

Mygle nodded.

"Gremlins have a king?" It was surprising to me.

"He was going to have me killed so I ran," he said.

"Mygle I had no idea."

"Now you do."

I nodded my head and brought us back to the situation at hand.

"Why did you leave us again?" I asked him.

"I was looking for them," he answered.

"You couldn't tell us that?"

"Sorry. We have to go to the 8th floor."

"Yeah we know," said Lenny.

"Oh. Let's go then." Mygle walked down the hallway. "I won't just take off this time."

As we walked down the hall I thought about what Mygle had done and what he had to give up. He had to kill his own flesh and blood to do what he thought was right and be hunted by his father. I had a newfound respect for him.

We walked up the stairs and headed up to the 8th floor. Mygle was quiet for the entire walk, which is not usually the case for him, but it was certainly understandable. I never knew that he had to kill his brother and that his father wanted him dead for it. He did it to save a human life. No other monster had ever done that. It really made me wonder.

"So what did you find?" I asked Mygle, finally breaking the silence. "When you got to this floor, I mean."

"I didn't go in there," he said, "but I know they're there."

"How do you know?"

"Trust me."

"If you know that they are in there then wouldn't they know that you're out here?" Lenny asked.

"Yup."

"OK, good. So much for the element of surprise."

The 8th floor looked just the same as the rest of the building and felt just as empty. I still wondered where all of the people were because even after the last fight no one came out to check out what all of the noise was. Not even the man that I had just spoken to came out of his room.

"Why does it seem so empty?" I asked openly, more to Mygle, though. "I mean no one seems to hear us fighting."

"Maybe the walls are just really thick?" Lenny suggested.

"I'm pretty sure they would hear a gunshot, even with thick walls."

"It's my kin," Mygle informed us. "They are keeping hallways quiet so they can sneak around."

"Then how did people notice them in the first place?"

"Once they get in the room they only as quiet as their feet can be."

"Fair enough."

We reached the room number that the man told me to go to and stood in front of it.

"Do we knock?" I suggested sarcastically.

"We barge in," said Mygle. "Be ready. There will be a lot."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. On three?"

They both nodded their heads. I counted down and then I kicked the door in. It dented in the middle and the hinges snapped off with a loud crack. It flew down the hallway of the apartment and crashed into a very nice looking armoire. We charged in the room and readied ourselves for attack. There wasn't one, however.

I looked around trying to figure out what was going on, figuring maybe they were in one of the other rooms, but they weren't. The only living thing in the apartment was the guy who lived there and he looked terrified. I tried to imagine if I was in his shoes and three people—one being a gremlin—came barging in my apartment with weapons drawn right after they kicked my door 20 feet, I think I might have crapped my pants.

I put my axes away and slowly walked to him with my hand outstretched.

"Hi," I said.

The man jumped, so I backed up.

"Sorry about your door," I apologized. "I'm Wes."

"D-D-David," he stuttered.

"OK David, there are some gremlins that look like that guy over there." I pointed over toward Mygle. "We need to find them. Have you any of them."

He nodded his head.

"Were you the first person to see them?" I asked him.

"No," he replied.

"Who was?"

"Old Lady Haggard."

"Thank you." I turned to Lenny. "I assume your company can take care of the damages?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"OK. Let's go."

I let the two of them get out first and erased David's memory. There was no need for him to have to remember what I just did.

We travelled back down to the 4th floor where the old lady we saw before lived.

"I thought you said you knew they would be in there," Lenny barked at Mygle.

"I did," Mygle responded. "That's why they move."

"Same strategy?" I asked them. They both nodded.

I kicked the door in and this time we were met with a much different situation. The gremlins had the rest of Kelly's team and the old lady strung up on the wall. They looked like they were still alive. One of the gremlins was holding Kelly and had a knife held right above her chest. It brought the knife down straight at her.

The blade was within an inch of Kelly's chest when Lenny took the shot. I figured he would have been aiming right for the gremlin's head but instead it hit its hand, knocking the blade out of its grasp. I was about to do the same thing but Lenny already had his gun out and could get to it quicker. It was a good shot.

The gremlin yelped and cradled its hand, right where the new hole was. Every one of them in the room turned on us and were very angry.

"You stink of dead gremlin," one of them said. I think it was the same one that we first saw. "Especially Mygle."

Mygle didn't respond but he didn't lower his head and cower like he did before.

"You been here long enough," the gremlin continued. "Die!"

All of them came at us. The door slammed behind us so we had no choice but to fight them in that tiny room. I have had some bad fights in my time but this is definitely in my top five. I think most of the hits against me were by either Lenny or Mygle. It wasn't like I was perfect either. Even the gremlins managed to collide a few times.

I reached back with my axe and my hand slammed right into Lenny's face. Thankfully it wasn't the axe.

"Sorry," I yelled.

"Watch it," he screamed back.

"You've hit me, too, ya know."

"Just shut up and keep chopping."

I was very happy that Mygle was on our side and that he was a better fighter than the rest of the gremlins because if it were just Lenny and I we would have been screwed.

The comical fight continued and we were gaining the upper hand, narrowing it down to two of them. One of them jumped at me and I simply sidestepped and chopped off its head. The other tackled Lenny and bit him on the shoulder—not a very vital area. Lenny screamed like a little girl and then Mygle tackled the thing off of him. The gremlin pushed with all of his might and threw Mygle into the wall, but Mygle had managed to wound the gremlin.

"How could you?" it asked Mygle. "Your kin. Your own brother, for a human girl."

"It was right thing to do," Mygle answered him.

"The time is coming, Mygle. The King is gathering the army and soon the world won't stand chance. Pick a side."

"I already have." Mygle darted forward and cut the gremlin's head right off. They were all dead now, in case you lost count.

Lenny went over to help his team and I ran right up to Kelly.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"I'll be fine," she said.

We gathered everyone and headed out of the building. One of Kelly's team members let the manager out of the closet I hid him in as the rest of us went outside.

"You guys are going to take care of all of this?" I asked her, pointing toward the building.

"Yeah," she said. "It was good working with you, as always."

"A pleasure of course. I'll see you soon."

"Unfortunately." She walked away with a sly smile on her face

I walked over to Mygle. He was standing on the edge of the sidewalk with his head down. He looked very lost. I assumed that he was making himself invisible to everyone but me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," he said back.

"You OK?"

"Not really. You?"

"I've had worse days."

He nodded his head.

"Why would the King be gathering an army?" I asked him.

"I don't know," he lied.

"Please, Mygle. Don't lie to me."

He let out a long sigh. "There's someone."

"Who?"

"I don't know who." He was lying but I was going to get some truth out of him. "He's planning. All the monsters know."

"What's going to happen?"

"I don't know for sure, but when does I don't think even you can stop it."

Mygle walked away. My life just kept getting better and better.

I hate clowns with a passion. They have these painted faces and it is supposed to be this friendly, happy person that does fun things, but in reality they are the most uninviting looking people that will murder you in your sleep and suck your soul right out of you. They drain all of the happiness out and fill you with terror. I find them to be the creepiest things on this planet and I have seen some things. You know. I've told you.

No. I'm not here to hunt a bunch of killer clowns that are attacking people and eating them. I was exaggerating, kind of. I wasn't really sure what I was dealing with but there was a traveling carnival going around the country and each time they went into a town one or two people went missing. I'm sure you are asking yourself "then why didn't the police notice?" Well, they did because I could see some sort of agent snooping around, too. They probably didn't have anything on them yet but like I said, someone noticed.

The weather was nice and warm here in southern California. There were children running around and teenagers, most likely on dates, kicking up dirt as they walked about. Fun games were being played and cheers and screams from the rides filled the air. I wished my life were like that. Although, if it was then I might be the poor sucker that gets snatched up and has who knows what done to them. If they try to catch me I'll kill every last one of them.

What was weird was that I didn't feel anything. You know how I can feel it when a monster is near? I didn't, but something just seemed so off about this place. I shouldn't say I didn't feel anything but it was just so faint that it was more of a gut feeling. This might have been something that I've never run into before and could avoid my pull. That was a scary thought. I tried to push that idea out of my head but it was hard to come up with any other explanation.

It occurred to me that if there was an agent walking around then there would be a point that our paths would cross and he would notice. I really didn't need for him to notice me. However, I remembered that I could just erase his memory so that stopped my worries on that matter.

I walked up to one of the games and the girl working it seemed to be very chipper. She was running back and forth trying to grab everyone's attention. It was the game where you throw a ball and try to knock all of the jars off of the platform. Those things were so rigged.

"Come on up!" she boomed. She had a loud voice for such a small girl. "Take your chance and knock down these empty jars. Guys! Prove to your girlfriends that you are strong. You there." She was talking to me. "Want to give it a go?"

I walked right up to her. She was kind of cute. She had dark hair and had a lot of energy.

"I can give it a shot," I said.

"Four dollars for three balls," she informed me. "Let's see what you've got."

I gave her the money. I had pulled out some cash a few states back. That was something that I would be very grateful for later, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself.

I threw the first ball and missed.

"Oh," she said, "so close."

"How long have you been working here?" I asked her.

"A while, maybe a couple years. I didn't really have a home, so Renée, the owner, made me feel at home. This is my family."

"I can respect that. You guys get along good then?" I threw second ball and nicked one of the jars but nothing happened.

"So close. Yeah we get along nicely."

"That's good."

I stood there for a second.

"You going to throw the last ball?" she asked me.

"I'm just warming up," I told her. "Anything strange ever happen here?"

"That's an odd question. No. Everything here is normal. Except maybe the Freak Show."

"Right." She wasn't going to tell me anything, if there was something going on.

I took the last ball and whipped it at the jars. It hit right in the middle and knocked all of them off the platform. The girl looked at me, very surprised. I don't think it was because I had faked that I was bad but because no one was supposed to be able to do that.

"Huh," she said.

"Beginners luck," I said.

"Right."

"Hey you," I heard behind me. I turned to see the agent coming right for me. "I know who you are."

Uh oh.

"Do you mind telling me just what you're doing here?" the agent asked me.

"I uh," I stuttered. I didn't want to flash the guy's memory right in front of everyone so this was a problem.

"I was supposed to be alone on this one. Look at you, fresh out of the academy."

"Huh?"

"You're young, so clearly you are new."

"Oh. Yeah, right."

"Sanders." He stuck out his hand.

"Rogers." I met his hand with mine.

"I'm going to make one thing clear: do not get in my way."

"I didn't plan on it. I'm just here to learn." I needed to ditch this jackass as soon as possible. At least he thought I was another agent and not some nobody interfering.

"I was just asking this young lady some questions," I said.

The girl was gone and the game was closed. I was confused. For a second I thought I was dealing with a ghost.

"Did you see a girl there a second ago?" I asked Sanders.

"Yeah," he said. "She just left."

"Oh, good."

"What did you think it was a ghost? Pull your head out of your rear."

"Sorry." I wasn't sorry. This idiot thought there were no such things as ghosts and I'm the one with my head up my butt? Ha.

"What did you ask her?" he asked me.

"If there was anything weird going on."

"You imbecile. Why don't you just run around waving a big flag?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. My process was to ask questions and draw whatever it was out to me. That way I could deal with it as fast as I could and get out of that place.

"Maybe you could use a little more tact in your questioning?" he suggested with a snarl.

"I'm here to learn," I repeated. That only made him even angrier.

I spent the better part of the next three hours with him. There was never really a chance to get away. The one time that I did he noticed that I was walking away. I told him I thought I saw something. He told me that if I tried to go off by myself that he would break my nose. There was no way he was going to let someone else solve the case without him. It didn't matter. Even if I did find something with him I was just going to erase his memory anyway.

It was nighttime now and the place was closed. We hid behind one of the trailers, waiting so we could sneak in and look around when no one else was there. I thought the place was eerie when they were open and in the daylight, but now it was really giving me the creeps. I was waiting for a clown to jump out and try to stab me.

"Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut," Sanders ordered.

I could knock him out now and wipe his memory but I didn't know what we were dealing with and I wanted to keep him within my sights. I couldn't let his death be on my conscious.

"OK," I replied.

We walked past one of the rides when I heard something off to the side. I took out one of my guns and pointed off in the direction I heard the noise. I wish I had my axes but I couldn't go back to get them, thanks to Sanders. There was nothing there, though.

Then there was a scream coming from inside the funhouse.

"This sucks," I said.

"Suck it up," Sanders spat at me.

It did suck. There was some sketchy stuff going on.

We both ran up to the funhouse and as Sanders began to run in I stopped him.

"What?" he asked, annoyed.

"We don't know what's in there," I pointed out.

Sanders pursed his lips up while he pondered that thought.

"Good point, rookie," he said. "We'll take this slow."

Sanders stepped into the building and I followed closely behind. Listen, I'm a paladin and I can defend myself against pretty much anything in the world. There was a whole list of monsters that I have fought and killed, but this is how every horror movie starts.

The funhouse was typical: mirrors and spinning things to throw off your sense of direction and balance. I didn't like it. Sanders was also making me feel uneasy. I don't know what it was but there was something about him that was just rubbing me the wrong way.

We passed through the maze of mirrors and ended up in a hallway where the floor was tipping back and forth. It wasn't on a motor but looked like whoever built it did a terrible job. Not that it was actually built badly but it was supposed to look that way.

I looked over at Sanders and he seemed nervous. He was holding his gun out straight to sturdy his aim and he was sweating.

"Nervous?" I asked him.

"Every time, rookie," he said.

"Fair enough."

"We need to find out where the scream came from."

"Shouldn't we have a warrant?"

"Screw that. I'd say that scream is probable cause, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, I would."

We finished going through the tipsy-topsy hallway and ended up in one of those tunnels that spins around a platform. It's weird how that can trick your brain like that. It wasn't like the platform was moving but you still have to hold on to the railing to keep your balance.

Right when we reached the end of the tunnel I saw something move behind it. There was a little gap between the spinning tunnel and the wall at the end. I peered a little closer and could see there was a door behind it.

"You see that?" I whispered.

"See what?" he asked me.

I pointed to the door behind the spinning tunnel.

"What about it?" he snapped.

"I just saw it move," I snapped back.

"Watch your tone, rookie."

"We need to get back there."

"How?"

"I think we can lower ourselves down and then sneak behind it."

"Go ahead."

I did just that and was able to get to the door, which turned out to be just a thick curtain. The curtain was pushed to the side slightly, letting a little bit of light seep through. I didn't like that. We both walked through and that led to another hallway. It must have been in the middle of a bunch of the rides because it was tented rooms and we were walking on the ground.

There was another scream further down the hallway. Sanders cursed and we both took off as fast as we could. I obviously pulled ahead of him in seconds. When we reached the curtain-doorway thing where the scream came from I jumped right through, but there was nothing there.

That is when we heard it again, the scream. Only this time it was right behind us in the same hallway. I turned to look and sure enough it was exactly what I thought it was: a killer clown. I had honestly thought when I heard the scream that it was a woman but it was definitely a man. And I knew it was he who screamed because he screamed again right as he charged after us. He wore scary makeup—unless it was his face—had a huge knife, and looked like he took steroids. I tried to figure out what it was but I was going to shoot first and ask questions later.

Sanders gasped and started to shake. I thought he was going to shoot but he didn't. It wouldn't matter anyway because it had to be a ghost.

It was within 10 feet from us and I couldn't wait any longer. I pulled the trigger and hit him right in the chest. Surprisingly, he fell to the ground with a thud. It was a pretty disgusting scene and my heart started to beat real fast.

"Is he dead?" Sanders asked.

"I don't know, Sanders," I replied. "Why don't you go check?"

He walked up to the thing, whatever it may be, and put his hand on its neck.

"He's dead," he said.

"Say what now?" I asked. "What do you mean he?"

"He. He is dead."

"He's human?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't he be?"

I was not expecting that.

I had to say that I was pretty confident that the clown was some sort of ghost or whatever. I didn't think that he was actually a human. Did that mean that there was something here and some crazy guy in a clown suit, too? Needless to say I was very confused.

Sanders stood up, slowly. He looked very scared. It wasn't something I would expect from a seasoned veteran of whatever agency he was from.

"I really thought he wasn't human," I said.

"What did you think he would be? A ghost?" he asked me.

"Yeah. I did."

"You're crazy." His voice was shaky. "There's no way you're on the force."

"Which force would that be?"

"The, uh." He stuttered and didn't come up with an answer.

"I didn't think so. You better start talking fast."

"Why should I tell you anything?" He started to back up and pointed his gun at me. "You lied to me, too. And you just killed someone."

"It was us or him." I did feel really weird about it. I had never killed a human before and I really hadn't planned on it.

"Why shouldn't I shoot you right now?"

I jumped to the side as quick as I could, which was much faster than he could think. Then in one fowl swoop I kicked his gun out of the way and brought mine right to his head.

"Because you don't have a gun," I said in a deep, stern voice.

"How did you move that fast?" he asked me, barely able to get the words out.

"You first."

"OK. Can you get the gun out of my face first?"

I pulled the gun back. I didn't really need it against him anyway.

"My name is Luke," he began. "My sister went missing when this place came through my town. I have been trying to follow them ever since. No one seemed to care about it enough to do anything, something about jurisdiction or whatever, so I decided to take matters into my own hands."

"I can understand that," I said.

"Why are you here?"

"I hunt monsters and I think there is one here. Although, now I'm not so sure."

"Ha. Right. What do you really do?"

"I hunt monsters."

"Kid, you are even crazier than I am."

"By then end of this you will believe me. Then again, you won't."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Let's get going."

We started walking back toward the funhouse when something caught my eye, in one of the doors of the tent area we were in. I looked in saw a girl, but she wasn't alive. That clown had killed her and it was the scream I heard the first time. This was a very bad place.

We left the funhouse, heading back out to the main area of the carnival. The place was like a ghost town—something that I was familiar with. I had a very strong feeling that just because we killed the murdering clown that didn't mean there wasn't any more crazy people here. It could be a possession, too. That might explain why I didn't really feel a strong wave of monsters when I got there. Maybe possessing a human dampened that feeling. It was a false hope but I held onto it. The other explanation was less pleasant.

Sanders was feeling very similar, I think. He didn't look any more relaxed now than he had before the clown. I have to say I was a little aggravated that he wasn't who he said he was but then again, neither was I. Plus if I were put in the same position then I would want to do the same thing. There were answers and we were going to get them.

All of a sudden all of the lights turned on and the rides activated. Someone knew we were there and they wanted us distracted.

"We've been spotted," Sanders pointed out.

"What gave it away?" I asked sarcastically. They obviously knew the moment I fired my gun.

"Should we hide?"

"I really don't think that would do any good."

"What do we do then?"

"The same thing we would do if the place wasn't lively, look around."

"What if there is more of them?"

"Then we'll deal with it. Let's just hope that they don't have a gun and shoot us in the back."

Sanders didn't like that comment but it was true. It wasn't like I could just let him go and get the cops by himself or even with me. If I went it would be a lot harder for me to cover my tracks—that was going to be the case anyway—and if I let him go by himself then he might get caught before he even reached the parking lot.

We kept walking down the dirt pathway, avoiding being too close to any of the rides or attractions. I still wanted to know what was happening here but I had to keep Sanders safe. He was really cramping my style.

There was a growl off to the side, by the Teacups. We both whipped around. I had expected for Sanders to jump behind me and hide but he held his ground. He might be afraid but he wasn't going to cower.

I started walking toward the ride.

"Wait," Sanders whispered. He grabbed my arm.

"What?" I asked him, annoyed.

"We don't know what that was."

"Yes, that's true. And we're not going to find out what it is until we go over there and look."

"Right." His voice was shaking.

"Just stay here."

"OK."

I moved toward the giant, spinning cups with my gun forward. Whatever it was behind there I was ready to shoot it. The ride was spinning around but none of the cups were really moving because no one was in there to spin them. I went around the whole ride and there was nothing, so I decided to jump on the ride and check all of the cups. When I got to the fourth cup something jumped out at me with a roar. It was a werewolf!

I tried to shoot the monster in the head but it knocked the gun out of my hand. It managed to scratch my face before I threw it off me to another ride across the way. It hit the gate surrounding the ride with a sickening crunch. It was a lot lighter than I expected.

As quickly as I could I stood up and readied myself for another attack but the werewolf wasn't moving. As I got closer to it I could see that it wasn't a werewolf at all.

"How did you throw him that far?" Sanders asked me.

It was a him. He must have been part of the Freak Show or something. It was another human. What was going on with this place?

"You killed him," Sanders whined.

The thing, or guy, was really trying to kill me. I had no choice. I was right that there were monsters at this place. The only problem was they were all human.

"You killed him," Sanders repeated.

I didn't bother responding. I was feeling a little weird about killing two people, having never killed one in my life. I know he was trying to kill me, but it still felt weird.

"How did you do that?" he asked me. "You threw him over 20 feet?"

"I'm a paladin," I told him. I was going to erase his memory anyway.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm really fast and strong. I hunt monsters. It's in my blood."

"So these are monsters?"

"I thought they were but I was wrong. They're all human."

"And you just killed them?" He backed away a little.

"That clown was the first human I've killed. Feeling pretty weird about it, so relax. I strictly hunt monsters."

I wasn't ready for this. I dealt with monsters all the time and I understand why they do what they do. It's in their genes, programmed into their brains. They have to do it. But these people, they were just sick.

"I feel like it might be time to call the police," I said.

"I like that idea," Sanders agreed.

We both were walking back to the front entrance when we heard another blood curdling scream. I really wish that I hadn't heard that. If I had just left a little bit sooner, then I could have called the police and got the heck out of there. I couldn't let whoever that was get hurt.

I started walking back.

"It could be a trick," Sanders pointed out.

"I know that," I said. "But I can't take that chance."

"OK. Let me at least call the cops."

"No." I ripped his phone out of his hands.

"What the hell? You just said you wanted to get the cops."

"That was when I thought I was leaving. I can't have them come here and see me."

"Why?"

"Do you really think they would accept my story?"

Sanders didn't respond to that.

"I thought so," I said. "Just stay close."

We continued back through the carnival, heading in the general direction that the scream came from. Honestly there was no telling where the sound actually came from. Then we heard the scream again, but this time it sounded like it was coming from behind us.

"How did it come from over there?" Sanders asked.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"You know, this really feels like a trap."

"I agree."

"Should we leave?"

"Probably."

"Are we going to?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Look," I started, but that was all I got out. Someone came up from behind me and knocked me right in the back of the head. It was just in the right spot too, because I was out cold. Who the hell hit me?

I was confused. There weren't any monsters in the carnival yet, I was knocked out, sucker punched in the back of the head. I was a little confused by who could have done that. I've been attacked by werewolves and come out on top.

Wearily, I stood up and tried to search for Sanders but he was gone. How did I always manage to let everyone get captured? You would think by now I would learn. There was a scream that sounded like it would come from Sanders. I could hear exactly where it was coming from, too.

I ran through the entire carnival until I came up to a large tent where the circus must have been held. They were all in there, waiting for me. Sanders' face had a large cut on it—probably why he screamed—and I realized then that I didn't have my guns on me. They had taken them.

The girl that I had first seen at the game with the balls and jugs—keep it together—was standing in front of him, smiling at me. It was kind of unsettling. I put all of the puzzle pieces together in my head.

"Renée?" I asked.

"You are smarter than you look," she said.

"I happen to look very smart. You look stupid." I don't know why that bothered me.

"If you insist."

"What is this crap hole?"

"We entertain people. We do a lot for others at our own expense. We deserve a little bit of fun."

"Fun? You call torturing people fun?"

"Yes."

"You're all sick."

"To each their own."

I scanned the crowd of people and the only one who looked innocent was Sanders. One of the guys there looked like a 1920's strong man. He was bald with very large muscles and he wore one of those ridiculous tank top, onesie things. I was sure he was the one who knocked me out and I could see why.

"You know steroids are bad, right?" I asked him. "I'm guessing that you are the one that hit me from behind?"

He just smiled at me.

"I'm going to get you back for that one," I promised.

"I don't think you are in any position to be making any threats," said Renée.

"Under normal circumstances, yes."

"Normal circumstances? We outnumber you by a lot. And we have your guns."

"True. But I'm not normal."

"I know."

"You know?"

"Yes."

I was surprised that she would know what I meant. Then I thought about it and realized that she didn't mean what I thought she meant, but thought something else entirely. Sorry. The last sentence might have been confusing. If so, deal with it.

"You're an outcast," she said. I guess she was kind of right. "Not accepted by society. Under 'normal circumstances' I might have asked if you wanted to join us. But you killed Hector and Wolf Boy. I suppose that makes you think you are invincible."

"They did try to kill me first," I pointed out.

"I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer."

"And I'm going to enjoy beating you up." I said something way worse. There might be kids reading this.

"Kill him."

I was actually going to enjoy this.

They all converged on me at once. That was smart, not like you see in the movies where the bad guys attack the good guys one at a time. That never made sense to me. If everyone attacks at once it would be much harder to fight them all off. But these guys weren't going to be able to fight me off.

As they all closed in I jumped and did a barrel roll, clearing right over them. As I landed on the ground I punched the closest person in the back, right in the kidney. They dropped like a fly and didn't get back up. I had to give them one thing: they didn't give up. If I were human and I saw someone do flip like that I would probably run, but they didn't.

The strong man was the first one to attack me. He brought his arm back and threw it at me with amazing speed for a man his size. It wasn't fast enough, though. I caught his fist with my hand and squeezed. He groaned and tried to hit me with his other hand but I swatted it away. I could feel his bone crack as I squeezed even harder and he let out a wail. He fell to the ground and everyone else took that as a sign to walk away. I wasn't a relatively large guy so I don't seem intimidating but when they saw me overpower that guy they were clearly afraid.

"What?" I asked. "Are you guys all done?"

They all looked at Renée. She pulled out one of my guns and aimed it right at me.

"I think you've done enough," she said. She was scared but she held the gun steady. Something told me that she wouldn't be prepared for the recoil, though.

Right as she took the shot I jumped to the right to avoid getting hit. The gun recoiled and smacked her right in the face, just like I expected. I then flashed everyone with a bright light, temporarily blinding them, and took them all down with lightning speed. They were all pretty much unconscious.

I ran over to Sanders and untied him.

"Thank you," he said.

"Don't mention it," I replied. "We have to get out of here."

I went to grab my guns but could only find one.

"Have you seen my other gun?" I asked him.

"I think she put it over there," he said, pointing to the other side of the tent.

I walked over but didn't see anything.

"I don't see it," I said.

BOOM!

There was a loud gunshot.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

Sanders had my gun and he was shooting them.

"Stop!" I yelled. I darted across the tent and ripped the gun out of his hand.

"They killed my sister," he cried, tears streaming down his face. "They tortured her until she was dead. I had to. I had to." He crumpled to the ground.

I couldn't blame him. I got some of my revenge and would do it over and over again, not that I feel any better about it.

I stepped up to try and comfort him but right then I saw flashing blue lights and could hear sirens.

"Crap," I muttered.

I looked at Sanders. There was nothing I could do to help him. I flashed his memories of me and woke up Renée—the only one he didn't kill—and flashed her, too. I then punched her in the face, knocking her out. They'll find him and figure out it was self-defense. I couldn't let them find me.

I darted out the back of the tent and made a big loop to the parking lot. There were at least four cop cars and two of the policemen were still by the cars. I snuck up behind them and knocked them out. I felt bad but I needed to leave before more of them showed up.

I pushed my bike far enough where I could start it and get away. I wondered how they got there since no one called them, but maybe someone might have been nearby and heard the gunshots. I'll never know.

That day was known as the Carnival Massacre. Kelly had questioned me about it but I lied and told her I wasn't there. Apparently, though, they can monitor my card and see that I was way out of the state when I last pulled out cash. I wasn't too happy that they could do that. I couldn't let them know I had killed some humans. They would have thought I killed all of them for sure. Even if they were bad it was the principal of it. I just couldn't take that chance.

I spend my life hunting monsters and I'm used to it. I never thought that some of those monsters would be human.

It had been a couple weeks since the carnival and I switched back to my car. I had only grabbed my bike in the first place because it was on the way and I knew California, the part I was going to anyway, wouldn't have un-drivable conditions for my bike. I was glad I grabbed my car but I will get into that in a couple minutes. I guess it depends on how fast you read. You could always skip ahead and find out. No! Come on, don't do that. Just have some patience.

I didn't have anything to investigate at the time, and to be honest that concerned me. Things had been escalating lately thanks to whoever the guy—or whatever he was—that keeps popping up. I didn't like that things were quiet.

I was somewhere in the middle of Illinois just heading across the country. Spring was here and the sun was shining. I kind of wished that I still had my bike but I can be more relaxed in my car so I could deal with it. As I said, there was no chatter or stories that drew my attention so I was on a mini vacation.

My stomach started to growl and it dawned on me that I hadn't eaten since the last state. There was a little restaurant right off of the highway that looked sufficient enough. I pulled off the highway and parked my car in front of the building. The place was pretty empty save for a few truckers, a family of four and one weird looking dude. Serial killer came to mind. I quickly pushed that thought away, though. I didn't need to remind myself of what had happened.

A quick update, Sanders was found innocent on grounds of self-defense. The bad news is that he is now in a mental institution. Sorry.

I walked up to the counter and took a seat. There was a lady behind the counter who looked like she smoked way too many cigarettes, and smelled like it too.

"What can I get ya, honey?" she asked with a raspy voice.

"Well," I started as I looked at her nametag, "Janine. I'll have the steak with mashed potatoes and broccoli."

"How do you want that cooked?"

"Medium rare."

"Comin' right up."

She wrote everything down on a piece of paper and stuck on one of those spinning things that the cooks could use to see the orders. I love steak. It is pretty much the best food in the entire world, besides pizza.

I leaned forward on the counter and listened to the conversations around me. The family seemed like a nice bunch but the little kid kept sticking his tongue out at me. The father turned and noticed.

"Timmy," he scolded. "Don't do that." He looked over at me. "Sorry."

I just pushed my lips together and shook my head, letting him know that it was OK. The kid still turned around and stuck his tongue out at me again. I stuck mine out at him. He giggled and turned back around. I couldn't help but smile.

Janine brought my steak and I ate it like I hadn't eaten in weeks. That's just how I eat.

"Where you from?" Janine asked me.

"East coast," I said.

"What brings you out here?"

"I'm on a little vacation."

"Ah, road trip."

"Sort of. You guys get busy here?"

"Usually mid-morning and then later at night. You came at a good time."

"This steak was amazing."

"Don't lie, it tastes like dirt."

"Hey," the cook yelled. "I'm stadin' right here."

She smiled at me and I returned the gesture. Then something happened. Janine turned her focus outside and she looked very confused.

"You alright?" I asked her.

"How in the world?" she asked openly.

I turned around and could see why she was confused. It was springtime, and when I got to the restaurant it was maybe 50 degrees and the sun was so bright I needed sunglasses. When I looked outside I could see there was a full on blizzard going on. Now, I know it can snow in the spring sometimes but this was bizarre.

I walked up to the door.

"You shouldn't go out there," the mom in that family warned me. She was kind of right because it was crazy, but I did anyway.

The wind was blowing really hard and the snowflakes were huge. If it could start snowing randomly on a day like this it meant one thing: yetis.

Yetis are nasty, swift and good at what they do. Yes there is more than one yeti. It isn't like there is one Abominable Snowman running around and is a fast traveler. Why do you think there are so many sightings?

I stepped back inside and quickly closed the doors behind me. If the snowstorm just hit it meant that they were less than five minutes away. Everyone in the diner looked worried but they had no idea just how worried they should be. I debated if I should tell them or not, if I should warn them. In the end I decided it would be the best thing to do.

"Looks like we're going to be stuck here," said the mother that was with that family. "I don't want to drive out in that."

"I didn't even know it was supposed to snow," Janine stated.

"It wasn't supposed to," I said.

"Those weather men don't know their ass from their elbow."

"There's storms that come out of nowhere," said the cook. "Even in spring like this. I'm sure it will pass by as quick as it came."

"That will depend," I said under my breath.

Everyone broke out into chatter and clearly no one planned on going anywhere. I wasn't sure if it was better to try and get everyone out of there or if we should just stick it out.

One thing was for sure: I needed my weapons. I had left them with my car because I didn't think it would look good if I walked into the restaurant with a couple of axes and guns. It didn't matter now, though, and there was a bag in the back of the car that I could hide them in.

I headed for the door again.

"You aren't seriously going out again?" Janine asked me.

"I just need something out of my car," I said.

"That can't wait?"

"No."

I headed out the door and went straight for my car. Even though it was only 10 feet from the building it was still almost impossible to see. I almost ran right by it.

The car, as well as the ground, already had a couple of inches of snow on it and it had only been snowing for two minutes. When I opened the trunk to get my stuff the snow fill up in the back quickly. As fast as I could, I put my weapons in the bag and went back inside.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"What is so important in that bag?" one of the truckers asked me. They seemed a little on edge.

"My computer," I lied. "It wouldn't be good for it out in the cold like that."

"I'm sure a few minutes would have been fine."

"I didn't want to take that chance."

"I can't stay here," said one of the other truckers. "I can't be late."

"But you can't even see more than a foot out of the window," said the mom.

"It doesn't matter, lady. I'll have to chance it."

He stepped towards the door, but I stopped him.

"I don't think it's a good idea," I said.

"That's none of your business," the trucker spat. "Now let go or I'll break your arm."

"You don't know what's out there."

"What's that?" someone asked. It was the little boy, who was sitting next to the window.

I looked outside and it was hard to see but there were six figures standing outside. I knew exactly what they were.

"What are they doing out there?" the mom asked.

"They're yetis," I said plainly.

Everyone looked at me like I was psychotic.

"Like the Abominable Snowman?" the father asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"If those guys are outside then I'm sure I can handle it," said the trucker, not believing me.

I reached into my bag and fixed my guns on my belt and held my two axes. Everyone gasped and stepped back.

"Those are yetis," I repeated. "And they are here for someone."

Everyone stared at me. Some of them were worried while others thought I was a lunatic.

"Those are yetis?" someone asked. It was the guy who looked like he was crazy and was sitting off by himself.

"Yeah," I said.

"What do you mean they are here for someone?"

"Yetis are bounty hunters."

"Bounty hunters? Who would they be looking for?"

"I don't know." I had my suspicions but I wasn't really sure.

Yetis usually keep to themselves and live in remote areas but every once in a while they will come out of hiding because they were hired to do so. It isn't very often, however, and that is a good thing. They are fast, strong and amazing fighters. They are one of the monsters that paladins have a hard time with. Usually they are hunting us but I know there have been instances where they hunt other monsters or even humans.

I kept my eyes on the monsters outside. None of them moved a muscle. They were waiting.

"What are they doing out there?" Janine asked.

"They're waiting," I replied.

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"This is insane," one of the truckers said. "I don't care who they are. I'm going out there."

I turned around and stood in front of him. It was the same trucker from before.

"I strongly recommend that you stay inside," I said.

"Last warning, get out of my way."

"I can't let you go."

He went to grab me but I took his arms and flipped him onto his back. He hit the ground with a soft thud and all of the air flew out of his lungs. The man was trying really hard to catch his breath but was failing, miserably. I helped him get back up and put him in one of the booths toward the back.

"You guys should move away from the window," I suggested to the family. They did, but slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you guys."

"You just attacked that man," the mom pointed out.

"That was self-defense. You saw he attacked me first."

The woman couldn't respond to that.

"I'm not here to hurt you," I promised. "I'm going to help."

I walked back to the window and looked out at the yetis. I couldn't see them fully, still, but they were looking right at me. I could feel it. I wasn't really sure what I should do. Fighting that many yetis wasn't going to be easy.

"To all of those inside," came a voice. It came from one of the yetis but it sounded like they were inside. Oh yeah, they can speak. "We have come for one of you and we ask that you turn yourself in. We're not here to harm anyone else but we will do whatever we have to. If you comply this will be over rather quickly."

No one said anything but everyone certainly believed me at that point. I knew this because they were all staring at me.

I had known it, the moment that they had arrived. They were there for me. I wasn't going be a coward and hide in there but I was a little shocked. Not because they were there for me, but because I recognized the voice. It was from two years ago. Those yetis were the reason Drake, my mentor, was killed.

"Come on out, Wes Parker."

Okay. I know I've said that ghouls are what killed Drake and that is true. I didn't lie. But we were only forced into the ghouls because of the yetis.

Flashback. I'm going to flashback now so don't be confused.

It was a quiet, pitch-black night. The only light was provided by the occasional streetlamp in the small town we were staying in. Drake and I were in a cheap motel somewhere in Oklahoma. It was so hot and humid I could almost see the moisture in the air.

We were in the town hunting a vampire. We had killed it and were ready to leave the next morning.

"You did good," said Drake in his usual unexcited tone. He was encouraging to me but he never showed much emotion. When he did it was mostly anger, but he was preparing me for a life of pain and horror. Something I know a lot about.

"Thanks," I replied.

"We leave right at day break." He started looking around curiously and I knew why. We could feel it. Another monster.

"I thought we killed it."

"We did." He walked to the door and opened it. Snow flew in with a huge gust of wind. There was already snow on the ground.

"How is that possible?"

"Yetis."

"Let's get them."

"No. We have to run." I think he was worried about me. For good reason, I wasn't all that great yet.

"Okay," I said. I trusted him enough to listen, even though I wanted to attack the monsters head on.

"Why are they here?" Drake was asking himself more than me. "They're hunting one of us, I'm sure of it. Go out the back door."

We did just that but it didn't do any good. One of the yetis was standing right in front of us.

"You two are hard to find," it said. Despite all of the wind I could hear him as if he were speaking right into my ear. It was the same voice I heard in the diner.

Drake didn't waste time on speech and just attacked. The yeti was super fast and wielded a sword with a frosty, blue blade. They both fought vigorously. It was almost overwhelming. I joined the fight and we started to overcome the yeti, but then three more of them showed up and we were the ones who were overcome.

I knocked one of them to the side while another swung their sword at my neck. Drake deflected the attack and knocked all of the yetis away.

"Run!" he yelled. So I did. And he was right behind me.

We rounded the front of the building and ran into something else we didn't expect: ghouls. There must have been a witch that hired the yetis to find us—she had to be close by—and I wasn't really sure why. I had told you ghouls aren't hard to fight but they are hard to kill, and that is true. So when you are surrounded by more than 30 of them, it's safe to say that is a problem.

Drake threw himself at the ghouls.

"Run!" he shouted.

"I'm not leaving you!" I yelled back.

"Wes, you need to run. You have to live. We are the last ones and you need to survive. Run, Wes. Now."

I stood there for a few seconds but eventually I ran. Like I said, I trusted him completely to do what he said. I ran to the car and took off. I wasn't sure how I got away but I did. I never saw Drake again.

We're done with the flashback now, so we're back in the present day.

"That's you," said Janine. She was referring to the fact that the yetis were calling for Wes Parker. "It has to be."

"It is," I said.

"Then go out there," said the father.

"I am. Way to be brave." He didn't deserve that but he was willing to throw me to the wolves.

"I have kids."

"I know. I'm not going to let them hurt you. I'm going."

I had gathered up my bag and was standing in front of the door. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then I stepped outside, into the snow.

The wind was blowing so hard I had to exude a little bit of effort with each step. The snow was so thick it was still hard to see the yetis. They were there, though. I walked toward them but stayed 10 feet away.

"You are hard to find," the yeti said. I shuttered as I flashed back.

"Or you just aren't very good at looking," I mocked.

"You should really watch your mouth."

"That's hard to do without a mirror."

The yeti chuckled. "That's good."

"So you came to finish the job?"

"Finish? No. We finished that job two years ago."

"Why did you come after us? Who hired you?"

"Our job requires some discretion. I can't disclose that information with you."

"I know it was a witch."

The yeti was holding the same sword as last time. He was twirling it around in his hand, twisting it in the snow. He was still a little far away but I could tell that his hair was white and covered his entire body, as you would expect. They didn't wear any shirts but they had brown pants and straps that formed an X on their chests.

"That's all you will know," he said.

"Why are you after me again if you were looking for Drake last time?" I asked him.

"Let's just say we have a mutual friend."

I could take three guesses who that would be but I only needed one. That was kind of cliché.

"The man in the trench coat," I said.

The yeti shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe."

"So why does he want me dead?"

"Dead?"

"Yeah. You're here to kill me."

"We are bounty hunters, not assassins."

"You've killed things before."

"So we have."

The yeti took a step closer to me. I thought about backing up but I wasn't going to act like a wimp, especially in front of them. So instead I took one step closer to him, showing my pride. Inside I was shaking like crazy. Give me a break, these monsters killed my mentor, sort of.

"Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" the yeti asked me.

"That is entirely up to you," I said. "You could just walk away and be done with this."

"You do have quite the mouth."

"So I've been told."

"The hard way then?"

"You know it."

The yeti charged me with its sword held high. I brought my axes up and prepared myself for the attack.

The yeti slashed downward at an angle, aiming for my right shoulder. I brought up both of my axes and deflected the sword to the right. He then spun around and tried to kick me in the head. I was ready for it, though, and ducked just in time. I then brought my axe up and tried to slash his chest but he blocked it and elbowed me in the face.

We went back and forth for while. It was a pretty even fight; he got a few hits in, I got a couple. The fight was going nowhere. That was until of course the rest of the yetis joined the fight.

One of them slashed at my head but I deflected it. Another one used that opportunity to get a nice cut on my right side. I stifled the yelp that tried to escape my mouth and did a back-flip kick. The yetis broke apart, putting some distance between us. I quickly looked at my cut and saw it wasn't that bad. It still stung a little bit, though.

"Let's just skip this charade and you can come with us," the yeti suggested. "We are going to take you whether you like it or not."

"I don't go quietly," I promised.

"Yes, I figured that."

"Just shut up and let's fight."

I attacked them again and we continued to fight. I would like to say that it was pretty even or that I was winning but to be honest, they were kicking the crap out of me. If it were just one of them I could have handled it. But three of them were a handful.

One of the yetis came from the right and swung hard. I blocked it but another hit me in the side of the head, almost knocking me unconscious. I fell to the ground and didn't move. I couldn't. I barely knew what was going on around me.

"Pick him up," the head yeti ordered.

"We shall take his car," another said.

"Yes. We can't leave behind any evidence."

One of them grabbed me by the legs and started dragging me through the soft snow.

"This one was even easier than his master," one of them pointed out.

"Paladins are all weak," the head yeti spat.

"I really wish we could eat this one. They taste so good and they are so hard to find."

I felt like throwing up at the thought that they might have eaten Drake.

"This might be our last chance," the other one said.

"No," the head yeti almost shouted. "If we want to get paid then we will bring him back in one piece."

"He can still live without a leg."

"I said no."

Eventually we reached the car and they started rifling through my pockets, trying to find my keys.

"Hey," I spoke in a weak voice. "I don't go that far on the first date."

"Shut up," the yeti ordered as he punched me in the face.

"I barely felt that." The blow to the head had really taken its toll on me.

The yeti punched me again before he opened up the trunk and threw me in. I could hear three of the doors open and close. Then the car was in motion and we were back on the highway.

I couldn't believe I let myself get caught. I really wasn't sure how I was going to get out of this one.

There was a sudden popping sound that nearly shocked me out of my stupor.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

I looked up and was a little surprised.

"Mygle?"

Mygle was right there in the trunk with me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"To save you," he replied.

"Why? I mean how did you know?"

"I found there was hit for you. So, I found these yetis and followed."

"You're telling me that you've been following them this whole time and you waited until now to help me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I got the crap kicked out of me."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah, thanks."

"I could leave."

"No. No. It's fine."

I looked around the trunk trying to find something to get out of the back of the car. I then remembered that it was my trunk and I knew there was nothing in there. That was something I should consider in the future.

"Any ideas on how we're going to get out of here?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said bluntly.

I stared at him.

"Do you maybe want to share?" I hoped he could see how aggravated I was.

"No," he said. Then he was gone.

I was a little less than happy but I trusted Mygle. I wasn't really sure how he was going to take on three yetis, though. He was a good fighter but he wasn't better than me and I couldn't take them.

A few minutes passed by and nothing had happened. I was starting to think that he had ditched me. Suddenly, the yetis started yelling.

"Watch out!" one of them shouted.

The car started swerving back and forth until it was spinning out of control. It spun around a couple times before the car started flipping through the air. I was like a pinball in the trunk, bouncing back and forth. It hurt. I'm not going to lie to you. And the fact that I was still a little drowsy from the hit to the head didn't help.

With a loud thud and a sudden jerk we stopped. I was sure that we hit something.

I could hear some feet shuffling outside the car and it sounded like there was more than one set. Whatever Mygle had done didn't really help, at all.

My heart started beating fast as the footsteps were nearing the back of the car where I was trapped. There was nothing that I could do.

The yeti reached the back of the car and was struggling with the trunk door. It must have jammed in the accident. Eventually he managed to get it open and the snow and wind poured in.

My eyes had trouble adjusting to all of the light, snow and wind, but the yeti didn't grab me right away. No, I wasn't cowering like a little girl. I couldn't see. What was I suppose to do, start kicking and punching, hoping for the best?

"Are you going to stay in there all day?" Mygle asked.

"Mygle?" I was surprised.

"What were you expecting?"

"A yeti."

"No faith."

He stuck his hand out to help me up and I accepted. I climbed out of the trunk and stumble on a piece of the car. My eyes eventually adjusted but I was still pretty beat up from the crash. It took me a moment to realize that my shoulder was dislocated. I looked at it, trying to decide how I was going to put it back in place. Right then Mygle punched me in the shoulder, resetting it.

I groaned.

"Stop whining," said Mygle.

"A little warning next time, maybe," I replied.

"What, so you can cringe and hide?"

I punched him in the face. He took it and didn't fight back.

I walked around the car and saw the yetis all gathered in the car. They were all unconscious.

"Did you do that or the crash?" I asked him.

"I caused crash," he pointed out. "So, both."

"We have to kill them."

"I know."

"I don't think so," said a voice behind me. I knew who it was before I turned around to look.

I turned just in time to see the man in the trench coat and hat knock Mygle across the road. I tried to kick him in the chest but he just grabbed my leg and pulled it so I fell on my back. He went to stomp on my chest but I kicked him with my other leg and rolled away. Before I could stand up he ran and kicked me in the stomach.

"You're pathetic," he spat as I tried to get all the breath back in my lungs. "I can't believe you."

"I was just in a car crash," I pointed out. That earned me another kick.

"Paladin," he muttered.

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"It doesn't matter."

"Why did you hire the yetis to find me?"

"Because they are very good at what they do."

"Yeah, but you've found me a number of times. Why did you need them to find me this time?"

He reached down and punched me in the face. Let me tell you something: I have faced a lot of different monsters and have been punched in the face by almost all of them. None of them hurt anything like that did. This guy packed a lot of force behind each hit.

"It was a test," he said. "And you failed."

"I never was very good in school," I choked.

The man looked over at the yetis. "Looks like I didn't really get what I paid for." He then looked at Mygle. "I wasn't expecting that, though."

"We go way back," I said.

"I'm not interested."

He walked up to me with his sword he had hiding under his jacket. I didn't get a good look at it because my head was swimming.

"I'm going to kill you now," he said bluntly.

I looked up at him and couldn't move. I was screwed.

He took his sword and held it over me. All I could do was sit there while he stabbed me. He didn't, though. The man stood there and stared at me with his sword now at his side. As before I still couldn't see his face but I could just barely make out his mouth. He was smiling.

"I'm very disappointed in you," he said.

"I don't need your approval," I told him.

"One day, you will."

I backed up a bit. I wasn't really sure what he meant by that and I didn't want to either.

"I'll be back for you," he promised.

"I'm looking forward to it," I lied.

Then he was gone. At the same time Mygle was flying right at me with his little sword aimed at my chest. Once he realized that the man had disappeared he pulled his sword back. It was too late to stop himself, though, so he crashed right into me. We both tumbled on the ground and crashed into the side of the car. I shoved him off of me.

"Sorry," he said.

"If you had been just a few seconds earlier then you would have had him," I said. "Thanks for the perfect timing."

"At least I pulled sword back in time."

"I guess I should thank you then."

Mygle just shrugged his shoulders.

"Did you know that he was the one who sent out the bounty?" I asked him.

"I wasn't completely sure but I guessed," he said.

"Really, who is this guy?"

"I told you wasn't sure. But he's bad."

I knew he was bad. It was bad enough when he had killed all of the elves back in Colorado. He just kicked the crap out of me. I'm going to blame some of it on the crash and the initial blow to the head but even if I had been at my best it wouldn't have been good enough.

"Thanks for saving me," I said. "I don't think it would have mattered anyway, though."

"Your welcome," he replied. "I guess."

I looked around and they yetis were gone, too, and the snow stopped. Mygle and I said our goodbyes. I had my car towed because it was totaled. I had to buy a brand new car, which I wasn't too happy about. But I picked something with the most muscle that I could find. Needless to say I was stuck in that town for a few extra days.

Oh, by the way, I went back to the diner and erased everyone's memories.

The man said he would be back for me. I was going to make sure that next time I was ready for him. Sorry for the cliché ending.

Here I was again, stuck with the blood sucking monsters that live in the night. That's right ladies and gentlemen, vampires. These things are probably the monsters that appear most frequently in this world. They are pretty much the bugs of the supernatural beings.

I was somewhere in the middle of Arizona or Nevada. I sort of lost track because it was somewhere near the state line. Anyway, I was following a lead—duh—and discovered that they were right in the middle of a town in the middle of nowhere, like usual.

I was outside a warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of town and they were building an army just like before. I suppose I should tell you how I got here in the first place. Déjà vu anyone? I'm not going to bore you with the details so I will be quick about it. I got to the town I was currently in, did some investigating and found out there was vampires. Nothing else that I did really mattered.

"What are they doing in there?" Roy asked me. Oh yeah, right. Roy.

So get this. I show up in this rinky dink town and as I am asking questions I run into him. Turns out he's a human that hunts monsters and he isn't part of the agency Kelly works for. I don't really know too much about him but it all seemed pretty typical: a monster kills his family and now he fights them. I wasn't going to let him join me until someone started giving us trouble in the bar I found him in. He was incredibly jacked and took the guy down like he was nothing. I knew he could hold his own. I liked Roy. He had the same attitude I did. I could get used to working with him.

When we were leaving the bar he tried knocking me out, saying I was too young to go with him. He swung at my head but I quickly put him in his place. He was strong, though.

We're back to the present now. I had just walked up to the window to look inside the warehouse and found myself standing next to Roy again.

"They're turning people," I answered him. "Building an army."

"What do you mean?" Roy was confused. "Vampires don't turn that many people. They usually eat them."

"You weren't kidding about hunting monsters."

"No. I've been at this for 13 years."

"That's seven years longer than me."

"See, you're the rookie."

"But I have a little bit of an advantage over you."

"What's that?"

"I'm better." I didn't tell him I was a paladin. I wasn't really sure he would even know what that was. I decided that I wasn't going to tell him what I was for now and keep that a secret.

"What would they be building an army for?" Roy asked.

"I ran into this before," I explained. I stopped for a second and tried to decide if I wanted to tell him about what I knew. "The monsters are all building up to something."

"I've sort of noticed that. Every time I've run into monsters there have been a lot more than usual."

The one thing that confused me was that sometimes I had barely gotten out alive. How could he fight monsters and live? Steroids. It had to be steroids.

"Do you know why?" he asked me.

I flashed back to where the man with the hat had kicked the crap out of me after the yetis.

"Nope," I said.

"It's weird," he replied.

"I agree."

There was a moment of silence.

"How do you manage to survive in this world?" I asked him.

"How do you?" he asked back.

"Fair enough."

There was a noise behind us. I turned around and was a little surprised to see what I saw. Sorry. That sounded redundant.

"Hairy," I started, "how are ya?"

It was a werewolf.

Okay, fine. I'll go back just for those of you that need back-story. You people are unbelievable sometimes. I am going to skip most of it, though, and just go right to Roy.

I was asking questions about the missing people, and there were quite a few, when a man walked up to me.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," I responded.

"You from around here?"

"No. You?"

"Maybe."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Can you?"

I appreciated the sarcasm but I still wanted to punch the dude in the face. "You know anything about the missing people?"

He looked at me oddly. "Why are you asking?"

"Just curious."

"People are going missing."

I waited for more but that was all he said. I put my hand on my gun just in case.

"That they are," I agreed.

"Should I kill you or not?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You're either a hunter or monster. That's why you have your hand on your hip like that."

I didn't take my eyes off of him. "If I was a monster it wouldn't do you any good to point that out."

"If you were a monster," he began, "I'm sure that I'd be dead right now."

He wasn't a monster. That much was very clear. He wasn't a paladin either.

"Touché," I responded and took my hand off my gun.

"Roy," he said.

"Wes," I responded.

We talked for a bit and that is how we met. Some guy gave him crap for bumping into him and Roy took the guy down as if the man were a child.

So now we're back to the werewolf standing in front of us.

"You two don't belong here," said the werewolf in its deep voice.

"I never really belong anywhere," I replied.

"I hate werewolves," said Roy.

"You have no idea."

The werewolf slashed at my head but I ducked just in time. He swung back, though, and knocked Roy, who attempted to stand up, right in the chest. Maybe I shouldn't have let him come. There was no doubt in my mind that he just cracked a rib or two.

I took my axe out and slashed at the werewolf's head. I nicked some of the fur but missed doing any damage. The monster used that opportunity to slash me right in the chest, ripping one of my favorite shirts. Just kidding, I don't have any favorite shirts.

We went back and forth for a while, and it was a bucket of fun but I was really sick of giant claws trying to cut me open.

The werewolf tried to sweep my leg so I jumped in the air to avoid being tripped. It then tried to cut my chest again but as I jumped in the air I kicked it in the head and knocked it over. While it was on the ground I didn't waste a second and chopped off its head.

"Don't lose your head," I chuckled. It was lame, I know.

Right then another werewolf came and tackled me to the ground. I tried to fight it back but it knocked the axe out of my hand and had me pinned, good.

"I'm hungry," it growled.

"Really?" I asked it.

It was about to chomp on my head—I was going to move out of the way—when its head just fell on me, along with a lot of blood. Roy was standing over us with a sword in his hand.

"Yeah, I do know," he said.

I stood up, wiped the blood off of my face the best I could and looked the dead werewolf up and down. I looked over at Roy and nodded my head.

"I wasn't expecting that," I admitted. "I thought for sure that thing did some damage."

Roy lifted up his shirt, revealing a bulletproof vest.

"Ah," I said.

"I learned very quickly that without this I pay the price," he told me.

"So that really protects you from that kind of a hit?"

"It keeps me from getting broken bones but I'm still going to feel it tomorrow, believe me."

I turned my attention back to the werewolves.

"Were there other ones inside?" Roy asked me.

"No," I replied. "All I saw were vampires."

"I've never seen werewolves and vampires together."

"Me either. Something tells me there is going to be an all out war going on here soon."

"We need to get in there and get those people out."

"I agree."

Roy took off toward the back of the building and I followed closely behind. Luckily by the time we reached the back door we didn't run into any more werewolves or vampires. There were a couple spiders. God I hate spiders. They are so ugly with their eight legs and hairy bodies. Throw a werewolf or vampire at me but not a spider.

Roy opened the door without making the slightest sound. It was a really old building so I figured it would have given us away.

We weaved our way around the left over equipment and materials, making our way to the people being held captive.

All of a sudden Roy stopped and turned to me.

"Do we have any garlic?" he asked with a worried faced.

I looked at him right in the eyes. "Are you frigging kidding me?"

His look turned from a concerned frown to a wry smile.

"Very funny," I said. I smiled. It was funny.

"Oh," he started. "I do have some cleaner, though." He held up a water gun full of blue liquid.

"That will help."

We started walking forward again.

"Garlic," Roy muttered.

"You could have been an idiot," I pointed out. "I don't know you."

"Fair enough. I still could be."

We reached the room where all of the people and the vampires were. I kept having flashbacks to the last time I fought vampires. I had a feeling this time was going to go much worse.

Roy and I were hunched down behind a box.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I like to run in, guns blazing," I said.

"Me too."

We both came out from behind the box and both immediately regretted it. Well, I knew that I did and I could only imagine that Roy did, too. At the same time six werewolves and five vampires jumped out from behind boxes and dropped down from the ledge above us.

I kicked Roy to the side and rolled in the other direction so we both avoided being crushed by a werewolf.

All of the monsters surrounded us and none of them were attacking each other. I was sure that the werewolves were there to attack the vampires, but I was wrong. The werewolves were working with the vampires. Uh, oh.

I had both axes in my hands and I was ready to fight. Roy had his sword along with a handgun. I didn't take notice of what kind but it wasn't as powerful as my Desert Eagles, obviously.

I wasn't that worried about whether I was going to make it out alive because I always do. I might be in crap shape after or barely make it out of those situations but let's face it: I'm still here. However, I was concerned about Roy and the abductees getting out unharmed.

The vampires and werewolves had us surrounded and I was quickly trying to devise a strategy to get out of there. They all ended up with every monster losing their head but how do I get from A to B?

One of the werewolves stepped forward and stood a few feet away from me. Roy was smart enough to have his back to me so that if any one of them tried to surprise attack us we would be ready.

"I thought I could smell you coming," the werewolf said.

"You could distinguish between us and all of the other humans?" Roy asked from behind me. I knew what the werewolf meant and it wasn't that.

"Why are you working with the vampires?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"There's a storm coming," the werewolf started.

"Nope! No."

"Huh?"

"Don't do that."

"Don't do what?"

"Say 'there's a storm coming.' First of all I know that. But secondly, and more importantly don't say there is a storm coming. Are you serious? Did you search the Internet and look for the most cliché thing that you could say? I'm dealing with a bunch of amateurs."

The werewolf stared at me and didn't change his expression. Of course, to me, they always looked pissed off, like they were ready to eat anything that came in front of them.

"The monsters are gathering," the werewolf continued, as if I hadn't even spoken.

"I've never seen a werewolf and vampire together," I pointed out.

"That doesn't mean we are enemies. Should we not work together to accomplish our goal?"

"Are you really working together, though? It's not like the vampires can exactly hold a conversation."

The werewolf smiled. At least I think he smiled.

"They do what we tell them," it said.

"Werewolves controlling vampires?" Roy asked. "What happened to the 'hounds of hell'?"

The werewolf didn't seem to like that comment.

"We're not dogs!" it growled, loudly.

"Yikes," said Roy. "Sorry." I really did like him.

The werewolf regained his composure.

"The vampires are smart enough to see our wisdom," said the werewolf.

"I bet," I said.

"Soon the world will learn to fear us. It will see we are more than a figment of its imagination."

Something about what he was saying sounded very familiar.

"I will rid the world of your kind once and for all," the werewolf said to me.

It was very, very familiar.

"We are expanding our race," it said. "The world will never see it coming."

It clicked. I should have known the moment I saw the first werewolf. Well, actually I kind of figured I knew. This was one of the brothers of the werewolves that killed my parents. Jackpot.

A deep rage started to build inside me but I did my best to hold it in. I wasn't in a good position to start acting like an idiot. I wonder if he knew who I was and that I killed his brother.

"I wondered if I would ever see you again, Wes," the werewolf said. That answers one out of two.

"How does he know you?" Roy asked.

"He killed my parents," I told him plainly. "He's one of the werewolves that killed them anyway."

"Oh."

It never really occurred to me why he would have known my name. Maybe my parents said my name that night. Plus our mall box did say "Parker." I highly doubt they were smart enough to make that deduction, though. They were there that night to kill me specifically. Not just because I was a paladin. It was because I'm me.

"I knew it was only a matter of time," the werewolf continued. "I wish my brothers could be here to witness this."

"Where are your brothers?" I asked him.

I needed an edge. I needed something to help me gain the upper hand and I think I might have just found it.

"I've seen too many movies to know not to tell you everything," he said. "Even if I know you're going to die."

"Like you said," I started, "I'm going to die. What's the harm in telling me?"

"No."

"I don't suppose one of them is in Louisiana by chance?"

The smile on his ugly-ass face completely evaporated.

"Oh haven't you heard?" I asked him.

He took a step closer to me and let out a low growl.

"I ran into one of your brothers, Raymond," I told him. "He wasn't very welcoming when I walked into town. Actually, at first he was but then he turned into a real hound."

"Raymond," he growled.

"Yeah, Raymond. Anyway, I left that town and blew it sky high. I guess it wasn't on the news or you don't watch the news. Maybe both. I also know for a fact that it was covered up."

The werewolf was getting angrier by the second.

"I bet you were wondering why he wasn't calling you?" I teased.

"I'm going to tear you apart," the werewolf threatened.

"Yeah," I began, "that's kind of what Ray said. That was before he was blown into a million pieces."

"What are you doing?" Roy whispered.

"Relax. I know what I'm doing."

The werewolf's breaths were getting heavier as his chest started heaving in and out. He clenched his fist as much as he could. His claws kind of got in the way.

I looked around at the rest of the monsters and they all seemed pretty mad. Well, the werewolves did anyway. The vampires looked like they could have cared less.

"So, why don't you just tell me where your last brother is so that once I am done with you I don't have go looking for him?" I suggested.

The werewolf was very angry now. I was, too. This monster killed my parents. I was glad that I had killed Raymond and I was going to take every bit of pleasure killing this werewolf as well.

"I'm done talking," I said. "Get over here and kiss my axe." Do you see what I did there? Axe? Ass? Come on people.

The werewolf let out a loud, terrifying growl and leapt into the air, heading right for us. I looked to my right and there were monsters. I looked to my left and it was the same. Roy was behind me and there were more monsters in front of him. The people that were abducted had a bunch of vampires and werewolves surrounding them, too. This was not going to be easy.

The werewolf was falling at me like a giant ball of fur. A giant ball of fur that could tear me to pieces, that is. When he was just far enough away I took a quick hard swipe with one of my axes. He knocked it out of the way, of course, and that was what I was expecting. So, I did this cool move where I stuck my leg in the air and threw him off to the side. Not the easiest thing to do.

The werewolf flew off to the side and took out a bunch of monsters with it.

"Close your eyes," I shouted to Roy.

"Why?" he asked.

Before they could recuperate and before the rest of them could attack us I let out a huge blast of light. Without waiting for a second I ran over to the abducted people and started cutting them loose. Luckily there were only four of them and two of them had started to wake up.

"Help these two," I ordered Roy, who had followed right behind me. He did so without questioning me.

I grabbed the other two and tossed them both over my shoulders. Then we both started running as quickly as we could. The monsters had regained their wits and were running after us. They were fast, too, so we were going to have a hard time getting away from them.

"We can't outrun them," Roy yelled.

"I know," I agreed.

"Then we can't make it out of here like this."

I could hear the werewolves and vampires gaining on us, but it didn't sound like all of them were chasing us. That made me a little nervous.

I looked around for something to use, anything that could slow them down. There was a large machine—I had no idea what it was—that was hanging from the ceiling by a chain. I took out one of my Desert Eagles and, with the people on my shoulders, shot the chain. The machine fell, narrowly missing Roy and the other two. It hit the ground with a loud crash and the monsters stopped chasing long enough to put some distance between us. I think I might have even crushed one of them.

The relief I felt was short-lived, however, because the rest of the monsters that hadn't been chasing us came around a corner in front of us and they looked hungry. I looked both ways and saw a doorway on our right. I quickly darted through there and Roy followed. It was a room with no other way out. Cut me some slack, I knew that going in there.

I put the two people down and ran back to the door. I slammed it shut just in time before a werewolf came in. The door was made of metal and was at least six inches thick. The lock wasn't going to be strong enough to keep them out for sure.

"That won't hold them out forever," Roy pointed out.

"I know," I said.

"Then what exactly do we plan to do?"

"Not really sure yet. But if we had kept running we would have been dead."

"Okay, well, do you have any syringes?"

I looked at him for a second. I was very confused why he would ask me that.

"Why?" I asked him.

"So you can inject your blood into them," he said.

"Why would I do that?"

"They've been bitten. You're a paladin, aren't you?"

I was a little shocked that he would know that but then again, he had been hunting monsters for a lot longer than I had.

"How did you know that?" I asked him.

"Other than the fact that you were stronger than me," he started, "that flash of light was a dead giveaway."

"How do you even know about paladins?"

The werewolves and vampires were banging on the door, hard. The two people that were awake started to look around.

"What's going on?" one of them asked.

"I've been doing this for a long time," he said, ignoring the man.

"Right," I said.

"I was trained by a paladin. I spent over five years with him. He taught me how to hunt and find monsters, how to stay alive."

"Who?"

"His name was Drake."

I couldn't believe it. This guy knew Drake. He was trained by him. I never knew that Drake had trained a human to fight monsters. I wonder how many he did. To me that seemed reckless. No offense, but you guys are useless against some of the monsters out there.

"Drake?" I repeated.

"Yeah, Drake," he confirmed. "You know him?"

I chuckled. "Yeah. I knew him."

"Knew him?" I realized that he wouldn't have known that he was dead. I wish I could have told him in better circumstances.

"Yeah. He, uh, he died."

Roy just nodded his head. I know that it definitely hit him hard but he was doing a decent job of hiding it.

"What happened?" he asked me.

"Yetis and a witch," I told him. "He saved my life."

"That sounds like Drake."

"When did you know him? How did you meet him?"

One of the people we were saving stood up. "Do you really think this is necessary right now? Something is trying to break through the door." The monsters were still banging on the door and had even managed to put a dent into it.

We both looked at him for a second and then looked back at each other.

"I had a wife," Roy told me. "One night she was sleeping and I was downstairs watching TV. I heard her scream. When I went up stairs I found her." He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath. "My whole world was torn apart that night. A few months later I heard of the same story across the state. I went there to investigate. Let's just say I wasn't expecting to find a vampire waiting for me.

"Drake came in and saved me. He taught me about monsters and how to fight them. He gave a purpose to my life. About five or six years ago he sent me out on my own. He said he had someone else that he needed to help. I never saw him again."

I could see the pain in his eyes. He obviously looked up to Drake, like I did, and it bothered him when he left. I felt a lump form in my throat. I was the reason that Drake left him.

"That was me," I said.

"Huh?" he asked.

"I was the one he needed to help." I told him the story of my life.

"I don't know why I never talked to him again," Roy said.

"I don't know either," I admitted. "I wonder why we never met?"

"I'm glad we did now."

"Me too."

We stayed silent for a second.

"Are you friggin kidding me?" the man standing next us yelled. "What is trying to break through that door?"

I turned to him. "Look. I know you're scared. Anyone would be with vampires and werewolves trying to kill them."

"Vampires? Werewolves?"

"Yeah. But I will keep you safe." I turned to Roy. "We will keep you safe."

Roy nodded his head.

"So, what do you think?" Roy asked me.

"I don't think we really have much of a choice," I pointed out.

"Okay. I open the door and we just start shooting."

"Somewhat, yeah."

"Alrighty then."

Roy walked up to the door and took a deep breath.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Okay."

He counted to three and started to open the door.

Roy was sliding the lock, ready to let the monsters in.

"Wait!" the guy who was previously complaining shouted.

"What?" Roy asked, aggravated. I'll admit I jumped. Give me just a bit of slack if you will. The room was silent except for the noise of the vampires and werewolves that were trying to break in were making, Roy was about to open the door to let them in and then this guy shouts at the top of his lungs. I was a little on edge.

"There's a vent right here." The man pointed to the right of the room. There indeed was a vent. It was large enough to fit us one at a time, too.

"Well, how about that?" I said. "Let's just hope they didn't just hear you say that."

"They're making enough noise out there," Roy whispered. "We should be okay."

"Let's head through there then. I'll go first."

"What about them?" the man asked, pointing at the other three people. Two of them were still barely waking up and the other one, a woman, looked like she was way too drunk.

"I can take the two sleepy heads there," I said. "Roy, you can help these two?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Fingers crossed people."

Now, I'm not afraid to admit when certain things make me feel uneasy. A tight space is one of those things. The idea of being in a spot where I can't move easily is very unsettling to me. Judge me. I know you're going to. Just remember, though, I can beat the crap out of you. I'm just saying.

We crawled through the vent as quickly and quietly as we could. Luckily the vent headed in the opposite direction of the monsters and it didn't go up or down. I had one of the people in front of me and I dragged the other person behind me. That was not an easy thing to do. Add that to my claustrophobia and it wasn't a good mix.

"You hear that?" Roy asked me.

"No," I replied.

"Me either."

I realized his point. The monsters weren't banging on the door anymore. That could mean two things: either they broke through—I didn't hear that happen—and saw that we weren't in there anymore or they heard us. Either way, it wasn't good for us.

"We should start moving a little bit faster," I suggested.

"We're waiting on you," Roy pointed out.

I did just that and moved as fast as I could. I still had to be careful because I didn't want to break anyone as I moved.

Eventually we made it to the end of the vent and it led outside into the cold night. We all made it out and the two people that were unconscious were starting to wake up. I looked around, but there were no monsters.

"I think we're in the clear," I whispered.

"Don't say that," said Roy. "Never ever say that."

He was right. That was such a rookie mistake. If you've ever seen a movie, whether it is a horror movie or not, then you know when someone says something like that they are definitely not "in the clear." And we weren't either.

All of the werewolves and vampires surrounded us. We were right back where we were when we were inside the warehouse.

The werewolf whose brother I killed was clapping as he walked toward me. I think it was him. They all look the same to me. I also think that calling it clapping is a stretch because it looked more like a dog when they stand on their hind legs and wave their front legs around.

"Bravo," he said.

"Thank you, we'll be here all night," I said.

"I assure you, you won't be."

"Do you know how many of you I've killed?"

"Do you know how many of you I've killed?" he asked me right back.

I just nodded my head.

"I think I've had enough of you," the oversized dog said.

"I don't feel so good," one of the abductees said.

I turned around and looked at him and he looked pale.

"Did we forget to do something?" I asked Roy.

"Yeah," he said.

"How long were these people being held captive?"

"I'm not sure."

The answer was too long. I had been so distracted that Roy knew Drake I forgot to inject them with my blood to cure them. That was really stupid.

The transition process into a vampire isn't quick so the people that were currently changing weren't really going to be a problem yet. But there was nothing that I could do to save them at that point. It was extremely careless of me to overlook that when we were trapped in that room.

"You can't even save those people," the werewolf pointed out. "How can you expect to save yourself?"

"It's the other way around," I said.

"What?"

"If I couldn't save myself than you could assume that I wouldn't have the ability to save others."

The werewolf stared at me.

"If you are going to use clichés at least get them right," I begged.

"Do you just do whatever you can to make them angrier?" Roy asked.

"Can't help it."

"I grow tired of your voice," said the werewolf. "You will pay for killing my brother."

"Technically I didn't kill him."

"Enough!"

The werewolf leapt at me but I stepped out of the way. Roy did the same. The werewolf passed right by us and tackled the soon to be vampires. Then the rest of them all converged on us.

I'll be honest I could spend a really long time telling you how that fight played out, so I'm going to shorten it for you. All of the monsters, save for the head werewolf and the ones who hadn't changed yet, were dead and Roy was bitten, six times. He yelled a lot but he didn't cry so I'll give him that. Okay, fine. I was bitten twice as well. Nobody is perfect.

The werewolf looked around him at all of the dead monsters and just laughed. He actually laughed at the situation.

"What's so funny?" I asked him outright.

"You think that you have actually accomplished anything?" he asked. "All of these monsters dead means nothing. There are so many more of us."

"Why are you all gathering?"

"To take over the world."

"I know that. Why now?"

"I'd like to say that you'll find out but you honestly aren't going to live long enough to learn."

"In case you haven't noticed, we outnumber you."

The werewolf laughed even harder.

"You have either forgotten or are too stupid to know," the werewolf said.

"Please, enlighten me," I replied.

"Newborns are so much stronger."

I honestly didn't know that. Why didn't I know that? Maybe the werewolf was lying to me. It was certainly something that he was capable of. I wasn't sure though because I have oddly enough never run into a newborn vampire.

"Is that true?" Roy asked me.

"I don't know," I admitted.

"You're about to find out," the werewolf promised.

The people had turned into vampires a lot faster than I had expected and were heading towards us.

"Are we going to just stand here and wait for them?" Roy asked, rhetorically.

"I think you should hang back for a second," I suggested.

"I don't think so."

Roy charged at the vampires and they knocked him aside like he was a fly. One of them leapt at me so quickly I barely had time to react. I jumped out of the way and went to chop it down with my axe, but it stopped me. Right after it twisted my arm it threw me with enough force to leave a huge dent in the wall. I think it was safe to say that we were screwed because these vampires were way stronger. It looks like Twilight did get something right. I can't believe I just admitted that.

Roy and I were tossed around like a couple of ragdolls for what felt like forever. I was going to look like hell the next day, if I survived. Who am I kidding? We both know that I am going to survive or I wouldn't be telling you all of this. But that doesn't mean that Roy is going to live. Maybe you should just continue reading and you might find out.

One of the vampires grabbed me by the shoulders and bit into my neck, hard. I grunted in pain and did everything I could to pry the monster off of me. Both my guns and axes were on the ground somewhere because they knocked all of them out of my hands.

"It will give me great pleasure killing the last paladin," said the werewolf. "Especially since it's the one that killed my brother." He added the last part with a growl that made my skin crawl.

"It looks like this vampire is doing all of the work for you, though," I pointed out.

The werewolf pulled the vampire off of me and threw it aside. He then picked me up by my jacket and held me high in the air.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" the werewolf asked. "I'm going to kill you."

"For making that vampire angry." I pointed to the one he just threw. It was not happy.

The vampire charged at the both of us and it was clear that it didn't want me. The werewolf threw me down and prepared for the attack. The vampire tackled the werewolf right to the ground. All of a sudden, as if they were all mentally linked, the other vampires stopped what they were doing—attacking Roy—and helped the other one. Soon all four vampires were in a fight with the werewolf.

I carried myself over to Roy. The other three vampires had been attacking him instead of me. He was in very bad shape.

"Hey," he said. He was bitten and scratched several times. It wasn't looking too good for him.

"Hey," I replied. "Don't move. I'm going to come right back for you, okay?"

"Take your time."

"Yeah."

I walked over to my guns and picked them both up. Normally I like to go with my axes but this situation needed to be dealt with quickly. I headed back over to the vampires and werewolf and started shooting. Within seconds all of the vampires were dead and the werewolf was a complete mess.

"You tricked me!" he shouted.

"I did," I replied.

"It doesn't matter. You have stopped nothing. There are more of us."

"I know. You still have another brother. Just to put your mind at ease, I'm going to find him and kill him, too."

"You'll be dead before you have the chance."

"We'll see. I've had enough of you." Without even given him a chance to respond, I put him down for good.

When I got back to Roy I quickly pulled out a syringe and drew some blood from my arm. I then took that and injected it into Roy. My blood would help speed up his healing.

"I need to get you out of here," I said.

"No hospital," he said.

"I know." He then passed out.

It was going to take him a long time to recover but he was going to make it, which meant that I just inherited a temporary partner. It could have been a lot worse. I could have been stuck with Mygle. And at least I killed another one of the werewolves that had killed my parents.

Let's recap: I didn't save any of the people that were abducted, got the crap kicked out of me and Roy is nearly dead. All in all I would say that it went terribly.

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Here's the First Part of the Next Story:

It Happened in Vegas

It had been three weeks since my run in with the werewolves and vampires. Roy was doing a lot better but he had been loaded with a lot of vampire venom, so he had a ways to go. He was just lucky that he hadn't been bitten by a werewolf also. He would have died right on the spot.

If you're just joining us, Roy is a human that fights monsters. I met him while hunting some vampires, which were working with werewolves. He got hurt really badly. If you're confused go back to the last story "Hairy and the Vampires." I'm not re-explaining everything. If you are still confused then go even further back.

We had stayed in the same motel for the first couple of weeks—who knows how much money that had cost—but eventually we had to leave. Roy was well enough to move so we took our chances.

We had driven across the country just to end up in another crap bag motel, but we had to. If I showed up in a fancy hotel I would have a better chance of being recognized. It was the nature of our job. We had left because, can you guess? Ding, ding, ding! There was another monster to hunt. Every day, all day there is another monster to hunt. I was literally going to be spending the rest of my life hunting them down and killing them. I don't like to complain, though.

There were disappearances in a town that wasn't too far from Las Vegas. I thought about maybe going through there if I had some time. The one good thing was that at least it was warm. I was done with the cold air.

It had been a week since we had arrived and I hadn't found anything yet. There was nothing about the disappearances that gave away whatever the monster was. Who knows, maybe it was another demented human being. I knew that wasn't true because I could feel that it wasn't a human.

"You find anything yet?" Roy asked me.

"Do you see blood on my clothes?" I replied.

"If I was out there I would have found whatever it is by now."

"Go on out then. You look well enough"

"You know I'd rather be out there."

"Maybe next time you can try not getting hurt."

"Not all of us can be paladins."

"Only some of us can be so lucky."

I sat on the crappy bed that was dawned with some pretty shady looking sheets. I didn't really care, though.

"Hungry?" I asked him.

"A little," he answered.

"What do you want?"

"Pizza."

"Pizza."

I ordered us some pizza and we waited. I was glad to find someone who liked pizza as much as I did. This would be the fifth night in a row. Thankfully I am a paladin or the pounds would start adding up very fast.

"So, you didn't get any leads?" Roy asked again.

"If I did I would tell you," I responded. "There is nothing out there. And to be honest everyone just talked a bunch of crap about everyone else. This isn't a nice town."

"Life isn't nice, kid."

"Yeah, I know."

Roy was watching the news. There was a reporter walking the strip. I wasn't really listening to her because I was way too busy thinking about the pizza that was on its way. Roy looked like he was listening but who knows. I decided to start listening to her.

"Apparently the thief grabbed the woman by the neck and threw her into one of the freezer doors," she said. "Witnesses have identified the suspect as a male, Caucasian with long hair and standing about six feet tall." The woman stopped. "What? Where?"

The woman turned around. Now she had my attention.

"There's nothing there," she said.

All of a sudden the woman was ripped out of the camera shot into the air. She was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Roy shouted.

"I don't know," I said. "I've never seen anything move that fast."

"Never?"

"Never. I have no idea what that was." It was true. I didn't. All I know was that whatever the monster was it was in Vegas and a lot of people saw that happen. This was going to be a nightmare...

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