Hunting The Dark Side

Chapter 13: You Asked For It

The car skidded, the tyres screeching their final agony, the acrid smell of burning rubber, a fateful, grinding, crash of metal and glass, as the car slammed onto its side and slid along the little straight road ahead till it stopped and fell back onto its four wheels, followed by the ominous ticking of a cooling engine. Sapphire panted and gasped for breath.

“Jackson! Was there any need for that? You saw that I was driving at some speed and you decide to frighten me to death when I'm trying to concentrate on the road.” She yelled at him as she tried to control her breathing again.

“I heard you talking with the demon,” Jackson simply said there was hurt and anger in his voice.

“I know you heard, I was there, remember? I untied you and laid you where you were whilst I fought some demons.” Whilst she spoke she tried the engine which, after several attempts, started again and off she drove.

“Stop avoiding what I want to talk about, you said no one has seen the extent to your power. Power, not strength, what power do you have?” he questioned.

“Seriously you want to talk about this when Dominic needs to be found before he is killed?” Sapphire said, stressed to hell.

“Yes, I want to talk about this now! You are not avoiding something as important as this!” Jackson yelled.

Sapphire shouted back before thinking. “I'm a demire-wolf, alright! Try and wrap your head around that one!” As soon as she said it regret and sorrow ran through her, she didn't want to tell him like that when she finally got round to telling him.

Stunned, Jackson stared ahead trying to wrap his head around it, Sapphire staying silent and letting him think it through. Sapphire let the tears stream down her face as she drove, Jackson muttering, “A demire-wolf?” Then he said, more loudly, “What is a demire-wolf and why didn't you tell me?”

Sapphire hesitated as she let the fear wash over her. He is my brother he wouldn’t hurt me. “It's a demon, vampire and werewolf; I'm obviously human too, like a quarter of each, and I didn't tell you because you are a supernatural hunter and I didn't know how tell you that your little sister was three of, whoever knows how many other supernatural creatures there are.”

Jackson stared in even more shock. “That's impossible, you can't be all three, can you? You must be wrong! How can you be demon? Is a demon possessing you? And how did you turn into a werewolf or a vampire? How long have you been like this?” He spat out all at once.

Sapphire, who was looking ahead at the road, glanced at her brother. “One question at a time in future. Please. Yes, it is possible that I am all three since I am all three. Err. Technically, yes, a demon is possessing me but, well, I guess the word is I suppressed her so she is held prisoner, not me.” Then she said, not wanting her brother to blame himself, “maybe that's enough for today, I'll tell you more later plus we’ve got to save Dominic I just need to get a scent of him.”

“Scent? And no answer to the other questions? How did you turn into a werewolf or vampire and how long have you been these creatures?” Jackson was getting overwhelmed, he started feeling dizzy and sick but he wanted to know more about what his sister was.

Sapphire hesitated then stopped the car, turning fully to look at Jackson. “You know how I turned into a vampire and werewolf, I got bitten by both, and,” she looked down at her hands, “when I was younger, when you and Leo always told me to stay in the hotel whilst you two went hunting, I never stayed – I always followed you. One hunt it was vampires, it was in Barnstable, I wanted to help, I was just sick and tired of you two treating me exactly like our dad did, leaving me behind, never caring, never teaching me how to defend myself. I wanted to learn the 'family business'. I thought how can it be a family business if not all of the family members were in it? I mean mum was in it so why couldn't I have been in it? I knew you wouldn't approve of me going, so I just went alone after you. I was in the forest alone when I found them, I knew you went in the wrong direction because your footprints weren't there which meant I found them before you. I wanted to kill them just like you, Leo, mum, dad, grandma and granddad did. But I underestimated their speed and strength.” As she told the rest of the story she saw what had happened through her eyes like it was happening all over again. “They had a hostage who was bleeding, at first I thought it was you or Leo but as I went around the trees to get a better look I saw that it wasn't either of you. I was so relieved. I watched them for a bit to see if there was a weakness or if there was anything I could get from them that might be of use, but as a vampire turned around looking in my direction I turned to hide behind the tree and a twig underneath my foot snapped. Suddenly one of the vampires was right in front of me. I fought like hell, trying to stab him with my stake, but he was too strong for me. He grabbed my wrist, pulling it to the side. He grabbed my head with the other hand and tilted it to the side and he bit me. It burnt like fire but when he was finished it stopped and I headed back to the hotel. At first I was fine; I slept through you two coming back in, then I woke up about 4am and I was starving, it felt like I hadn't eaten for weeks. I raided the fridge and ate but it wasn't enough, I never seemed to fill up, I was so, so hungry. Then I saw you. I walked to you. I smelt your scent and it made my mouth water, the burning running down my throat when I swallowed back my saliva. Suddenly I saw the blood run through your veins so fast it made me even more hungry, it shocked me. I mean how could anyone get so hungry? Then I knew what I was. A vampire.” When Sapphire concluded her story she was trembling, tears streaming down her face.

Jackson was just watching and listening, he didn't know what to say, what could he say? He couldn't comfort her, it had happened years ago. The anger washed out of him and was replaced with this awful guilt. As the silence grew longer, Jackson was wrapping his head around it and hurt when he thought about it, then Sapphire suddenly broke the silence. “You don't have to say anything at all, you know, you wanted to know and I told you, I won't tell you about the demon or werewolf in detail. Now let's just leave it at that and track down Dominic. He needs you more than I do right now so get into focus.”

Jackson looked at her and nodded. “You’re right, we can talk about this another time but right now we need to save Dominic. Do you even know where to start?”

Sapphire started the engine up again and drove, opening up her senses. “No, but I am following my senses so I am hoping that they can lead me right to him, but I don't know for sure if they will.” Then suddenly she remembered something that was quite important.

“Oh, you best call Leo, he must be worried about you, he doesn't believe in me.” She glanced over at Jackson and saw confusion written all over his face, so she added more, suddenly feeling in a sharing mood. “Before Dominic and I came looking for you we headed home to tell Leo and to get the demon knives that I made. Then Leo said there was no such thing as demon knives, that it was stupid and dangerous of me. We argued for what seemed like a lifetime. I was in a worse mood than I was already in and I left him behind. To be honest I am surprised he didn't look for a way to find you before me.”

“So I'm gone for what, two hours? And you two manage to have a massive argument? Wait. You made a demon knife? That is so awesome, you are going to have to show me how you did it. Did you say anything to him that you regret?”

Sapphire shook her head. “No, but he said something hurtful to me and if he doesn't apologise or something then I won't have him living in my house and to be honest I don't want to be around him at all. Jackson, he really doesn't care about me, he likes it just you and him. He thinks I am weak.”

Jackson stared ahead. “I'm sure he didn't mean whatever it is he said. I mean, he was probably upset or overwhelmed that I had gone missing. Sapphire, he does care about you, you’re our sister, we can't just not care about you, it's impossible.”

“Impossible to you maybe but you didn't hear what he-” she broke off mid-sentence, stopped the car and cut out the engine so she could just listen.

Jackson looked around; they were still in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, then he looked at Sapphire. “What is it? Why have we-” He was cut short by Sapphire holding a hand up to silence him, and he did as she commanded him to.

After a few moments she got out of the car and looked around, trying to get her bearings, trying to figure out which direction the sound was coming from. Jackson then got out of the car and looked around himself, searching in the bushes for any clues, but he didn't find anything, he just looked at Sapphire. “Are you going to tell me what is going on?”

She turned to look at Jackson. “He is around here somewhere but I can't seem to get a good location to whether he is east or west, but I can hear him, just. He is far away in the forest, tied to a tree with rope. He is rubbing his arms up and down the tree to try to escape. But which direction?” The last part was mostly to herself. Jackson just stared back at her, feeling paralysed. She could hear that? All of that from here?

he thought, then he said out loud,

“You can hear that? I mean you really hear that? And I don't know what direction, you are the one with super senses, not me.”

“Yes, I can hear that and don't you think I know that, don't you think I know how useless I feel because I can't pinpoint him? Jackson, I have never used these senses. I tried to suppress them and it worked, I even stopped myself turning into a werewolf on a full moon, it was agonising and it took months but I finally achieved it and now I’m suddenly using the powers. All I am saying, Jackson, is that this is harder than it looks. I don't just hear things, it takes time, concentration and focus and right now I don't have the time.”

Her head snapped east, she took a couple of steps in that direction and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling the fresh air go down into her lungs. She focused on her breathing and her own heartbeat, cutting out any unimportant sounds or distractions, then she concentrated on what she needed to find, what she needed most. After a couple of seconds, it jumped out at her like Jack jumping out of its box. Her eyes snapped open and she pointed east. “He is this way.”

Sapphire started to walk east, Jackson following, then Jackson stopped, patting his trousers rim, looking for either a knife or gun. He hesitated. “Err, Sapphire, I don't have any weapons on me, we need to head back.” Sapphire shook her head, sighing, as Jackson, just like Leo, underestimated her. “Don't be silly, Jackson, we are not turning back now. Here.” She turned around and handed back one of her two knives. Jackson took it and looked at the handle’s curved edge, then he looked at the blade with its terrifying sharp edges. He frowned, noticing the writing carved into the blade, which read 'Ad perdendum omnem malum'.

Jackson wasn't good enough at Latin to understand what it meant so he decided to ask. “Sapphire, what does 'Ad perdendum omnem malum' mean?”

As Jackson was inspecting the knife Sapphire had continued walking. When Jackson questioned Sapphire she stopped turning to look at him, she shakes her head chuckling. “You have been hunting all these years and you are still rusty on your Latin. To answer your question, it means 'To destroy all evil'.”

Sapphire turned back around, following her three main senses, her super sharp sight, her amazing sense of smell and incredible hearing. Jackson ran silently to catch up with his sister. “So this knife will kill all evil?” Jackson questioned, impressed with this weapon Sapphire had made.

She carried on waking, turning north for a little bit then turning east again. “It should, yes, but I haven't tried it on every evil creature that I know, only demons. It might not work of ghosts because you need to burn the bones or any device that they may be attached to, but everything else it should work with.”

Jackson thought a bit then opened his mouth to say something but Sapphire put her hand over his mouth, dragging him behind a tree silently, then let her hand down knowing that he would have understood by now that someone was coming. Sapphire looked around the corner seeing two demons.

They were talking to each other.

The first demon was saying, “I am sure they were here, I heard voices.”

The second demon replied, “Oh, since you were the only one that heard it.”

First replied, “that's because I have better hearing than you.” He looked at the ground. “See! Footprints and they are fresh; I knew I heard something!”

Second replied, “Alright then, Corson, where are they now, then?”

Corson says, “How am I meant to know, Mammon, the tracks end here. It's strange.”

As Corson and Mammon were talking, Sapphire turned to look at Jackson, making sure she made eye contact. She pointed at him then the ground to indicate for him to stay there, then she pointed to herself then to the demons. Jackson nodded understanding. Sapphire walked out from behind the tree but sped to a different tree. “It seems you have a friend of mine.”

They spun around. “So you must be the famous Sapphire Abaddon is so worked up about,” Mammon said.

“I don't think he is worked up about me, but he is scared, that is for sure. Now why don't you tell me where Dominic is?” Sapphire said.

Corson chuckled. “Our master is scared of nobody, especially no hunter.”

Sapphire, at speed and strength, slammed Corson into a tree. “I am no ordinary hunter. Now why don't you just tell me where he is?”

Corson grinned, “Not a chance.” Mammon came up behind Sapphire with a knife, and started to thrash it forward, stabbing Sapphire in the shoulder after she tried to duck. She grabbed her knife, kicking her foot against Mammon’s knee, and he fell to the ground. She stabbed him, then looked at Corson as he had a knife; he moved towards her and punched her, she moved to the side and it missed her by inches. Sapphire backed away a bit.

Corson grinned. “You’re injured, you’re too weak now, too slow.”

Sapphire punched Corson, who stumbles back and Sapphire ran to him, slamming him into a tree. The tree broke, the trunk cracking all way through, and with a creaking sort of noise followed by a gust of wind the tree started to timber, landing with a heavy bang, although Sapphire and Corson hardly even noticed that it fell. Sapphire tried to pin him down with one hand so she could grab her knife with the other but he rolled them both over, grabbing her by the neck, about to snap it.

Sapphire struggled, concentrating, looking deep inside her, then suddenly she felt a burst of strength. She grabbed his hand and pulled it from her neck, slamming her other hand she slams into his chest and he went flying into the air.

Sapphire stood up, seeing Corson falling from the sky, hitting branches all the way down and landing with a heavy thud along with a groan.

Sapphire looked around for her blade then went to pick it up, throwing it in the air, spinning it back and forth as she threw it in the air. Catching it, she walked over to him, holding her wounds with her hand. Using the other hand Sapphire pulled Corson's head off the ground. “I may be injured, Corson, but I am not weak.” The she lifted Corson’s whole body off the ground, letting his feet dangle. “Far from weak.”

She plunged the knife right into his heart, black blood going all over Sapphire's face, the ground and a few trees. Corson's body shrank as all of his blood started to drain from his body then suddenly it exploded, parts of his body splattering everywhere, part of his head landing on Jackson's shoe.

Jackson shook his foot, moving from behind his tree and yet again complaining. “Sapphire, these were very expensive shoes you know, did you seriously have to hold him up whilst he exploded? That is just disgusting.”

Sapphire spun on her heels, totally forgetting that she was with her brother, then she felt guilt running all the way through her. She didn't need to go that far and she knew it. Sapphire just looked at Jackson for a bit, expecting to see disgust or shame in his eyes, but there was just pride. He smiled slightly, knowing what she was expecting to see.

“Sapphire, I know you are expecting me to be grossed out or ashamed that you used your Vamon wolf or whatever it is you called it but I'm not. I know that if you didn't use it then you would be dead right now and I know that I would be dead now if you hadn’t found a way to make these pretty awesome knives. I am proud of you that you suppressed your wolf side so that you don't change at night, and I am proud that you don't feed off blood or that you didn't use any power. But in the hunts these are all useful, like we have just seen.”

Sapphire starts to smile; that was the first time that Jackson had ever said that he was proud of her. “First thing is, it's a Demire wolf but I do like Vamon wolf so if you want to call me that then be my guest, and thank you. I never really expected you to say anything like that since you hunt what I am so it means a lot to me. I guess we best go now, come on.” Sapphire started to walk off, her hand covering her wound.

Jackson grabbed her wrist to pull her to a stop and she looked around with confusion. “What, Jackson? We need to go and find Dominic, he is near and he isn't as afraid anymore so I am hoping the two demons we just killed were the only ones.”

He just looked at her for a moment then nodded. “I know we do but you are injured. Why don't you head back to the car? You can listen or whatever it is that you do where you know where I am or where Dominic is, just point me in the right direction then go back to the car.”

With some hesitation, Sapphire nodded. “From here it's north east, just walk in a diagonal here and he should be around there. Jackson, be careful please, I don't want you hurt. “

He smiled, moving a bit of hair from her face, then kissed her forehead. “I am always careful. Listen for me.” Then he walked off in the direction that Sapphire told him.

Sapphire giggled. “Jackson, you’re going south east not north east and I'll always listen for you.” Jackson looked at her and grinned. “I knew that I was just testing you,” then walked north east. When Jackson was out of sight Sapphire walked to the car groaning, not realising how painful it actually was until she was on her own. When she got to her car she opened the boot and got the first aid kit, stitching and patching herself up whilst listening out for any distress from her brother or Dominic.