Hunters Series - Part Seven

The air was hot and dry. It was one of those dry heat days when you were thankful that it wasn’t any wetter out. I walked across the dusty road towards the hotel that I needed to get too. There was no one around and not a person to tell me that I was in the wrong place. My eyes shifted to the side street catching a figure walking towards me. He was tall with long blonde hair and I knew right then what it was that was coming towards me. I swallowed hard and glanced back at the hotel. Another figure was there. It looked like he was yelling to me. I ran as fast as I could for the hotel. Then, I realized who it was that was yelling to me.

My Father.

My feet seemed to stick to the dusty street and wouldn’t move. I willed them to run, screaming at them, but still nothing. Karchack strode closer to me until I could see his face clearly.

“You're not going anywhere. Your father, he’s already dead.” His cool voice said in my head.

“Talia, are you ok?” I opened my eyes and saw the passing traffic on the Interstate. We were still on the road. “Talia?”

“Yeah, I’m OK.” I lied. My palms were still sweaty from the realness of what I’d just felt. The road signs passed and I caught my breath. We were getting close.

“We’re almost there, now.” He had been driving all night and his face showed it. The sun was rising behind us and seemed to be following us to Vegas. I watched the buildings seem to grow around us and the traffic become thicker.

“Where do you think she is?” I asked rubbing my reddened eyes.

“I’m not sure. You could check that list.”

“I don’t have a computer handy and it may not be safe.” I shifted in my seat to sit up better. “Lets just try the casinos first. We’ll ask around.” C.J. nodded and slowed down with the traffic. The buildings were huge and colorful. I’d never been to Las Vegas and it looked so different from what I thought it would.

We turned off of the Interstate and started down a less crowded road. I watched the hotels and buildings pass me by until I saw something that stuck out to me. It was the same hotel that my dad had been standing in front of in my dream.

“Stop the car.” I reached my hand over and smacked C.J’s arm.

“Why, what’s wrong?”

“Just stop the car!” I yelled as the car came to a roaring stop.

“What is it, Talia?” He watched me open the car door and start toward the hotel. I knew that this had been a message and had to be where Max was. C.J pulled the car into the parking lot at the side of the hotel and ran around the building to me. “What now?”

“I’m not sure. Would she use her real name?” I asked the air more than him.

“We could try it. She is pretty smug.” He opened the door to the office and motioned for me to go in. I hesitated a minute, but went in anyway.

The office smelled like old furniture and dust. It seriously needed to be vacuumed and dusted. The lady at the desk was dressed in tight jeans and a pink shirt that left nothing to the imagination. She was maybe 25 and had short curly red hair bouncing around her face.

“What can I do for you?” She asked with a big fake smile plastered on her face.

“I’m looking for a friend of mine. She might be staying here. Her name is Max.”

“I can’t really help you if all you have is a first name. Privacy rules and all.” She smiled again and I matched it with an equally fake smile. I pulled a $50 from my pocket and smiled even brighter.

“Are you sure that you can’t just take another look?” I slid the bill across the counter. She smiled and took it from my hand, looking around just to be sure there was no one looking.

“There’s a lady in room 209 that goes by that name. She asked to be left alone, but there has been a lot of people coming and going if you know what I mean.”

“You have no idea.” I said walking out of the office.

All of the doors to the hotel looked the same, and it was hard at first to see what the right number was, until I watched a big guy walk out of a second floor door with his eyes glazed over. When the door shut it, sure enough, was room 209.

I knocked at the door and waited for an answer. C.J wasn’t far behind as he had just found a parking space that faced the exit of the hotel. That would be better if we needed to get away fast.

The door opened only a crack and let out some very nasty smelling smoke.

“What do you want?” The voice said behind the door. I couldn’t see anything about them through the closed door and the smoke pouring out of the room.

“I was told you could help me.” I stated back, unsure at this point what I was doing here.

“Yeah? Who told you that?”

I looked at C.J. I had never had the chance to learn his name before the demons found us.

“Callon.” He stated looking at me. I didn’t know if I trusted him, but at this point, he was all I had.

The door swung shut and then a second later it swung open fully and the smoke really got me. I almost didn’t want to go in the place. I wondered how the management let her get away with so much nasty stuff.

Once my eyes adjusted better to the dark, I could finally make out the witch that so many people had been talking about. She was tall with dark hair that hung straight down her back. Her eyes were a brilliant emerald color that almost seemed to glow.

“What do you want?” She asked crossing her arms in front of her. She had on a tight pair of dark jeans and a purple colored tank top. All fit her well and helped with the heat that was Las Vegas.

“Callon said that you might be able to shield us from the demons that are hunting us.” C.J had stated before I could even open my mouth.

“Callon’s a fool. I’m not going to get in the middle of a demon hunt.” She looked over at me for a minute. “What do they want with you, anyway?”

“I have a list that is important to them.”

“Are you talking about the hunter list? I always thought that was a lie. Who would be stupid enough to list out all of the hunters in the US anyway?”

“Paige, remember her?” She had mentioned Max when all this was getting ready to start. I knew that would let her know that I was on the right side.

“She’s a fool.”

“She’s dead.” Max looked down at the floor of her room before looking back at us.

“I can’t do much, but there is a way that you can fight them off. It’s risky and it’s painful, but it’s the only defense I know against a demon.”

“What is it?” I asked before I thought.

“It’s called burning your soul. There are some very good benefits to it, but there’s also one drawback.”

“Go on.”

“You won’t be able to be killed, but you will not have a soul either.”

I thought about it for a minute. “Would I be able to get to my dad?”

She stopped for a minute before she talked again. “Who’s your dad?”

“His name is Jack.” I figured that was enough to let her know. All the hunters I had ever run into knew him by that alone.

Max studied me again before she spoke. I felt like she was hiding something. Maybe something that was important, but all that mattered to me right now was getting my dad back and hiding the list.

“If demons have him, you’d stand a better chance after the burn than before.” She stated leaning on the counter at the foot of the bed.

“When can we do it?”

“We can’t do it here. There would be too much noise. I have a friend that owns a casino downtown. It’s called Boulder Station. Meet me there in an hour. I’ll be waiting at the front entrance.”

Now we get to the point.