PART FOUR

Copyright 2007 Mike Suchcicki

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The sheriff gave Coggins a ride back to his home. Lake drove back to town by himself. On the ride back he passed what seemed like dozens of pickups and camper trucks heading up into the hills for the evening's hunt.

"Why are they insisting on hunting at night?" he said to the empty car. "Ghouls don't care what time of day it is. These idiots probably think hunting at night gives them some sort of tactical advantage."

The trucks and cars were packed with happy, laughing hunters of all races, genders and ages. Lake noticed plenty of teens and pre-teens in the hunting parties. He wondered if this was the first hunt for these youngsters, and if they had any idea what they were getting into. At least the hunters were dressed in bright garb — oranges and yellows — and not camouflage, which would have been pointless.

Even with all the hunters out in the woods, there still were plenty of revelers back in the town square, enjoying the evening's festival activities. A bluegrass band was pumping away as he pulled into the hotel parking area.

A middle-aged gentlemen whom Lake did not recognize was behind the counter. "I'm the night man," he said as he handed Lake his key. "Mrs. Collier's at the festival with some friends. Mr. Collier … well, Mr. Collier is where he usually is, down at the bar."

Lake nodded his thanks and headed upstairs to his room. As he was unpacking communications equipment and other gear from his suitcases, someone knocked at the door.

Standing there was a beautiful young blonde woman with wide, bright eyes and a beaming smile. She wore tight, low-rider jeans and a light blue fleece hoodie and hugged a stack of white towels to her chest.

Lake immediately smiled back. "Well, hello there," he said.

"Hi," the woman said. "I'm sorry, but I didn't get a chance to put some clean towels in here earlier. I was out playing hooky at the festival today. Can you forgive me?"

"I certainly do," said Lake, standing aside to let her come in. She appeared to be in her late teens or early 20s; Lake hoped it was the early 20s. She stepped quickly into the bathroom and dropped the stack of towels on a sideboard.

"You don't look like the average hotel cleaning lady," Lake said.

"Well, the owners don't have to pay me as much as they would the average cleaning lady," she said. "The owners are my parents. I help them out when I'm home from school." She held out her hand. "I'm Nattie Collier."

He took her hand. "Hi, I'm David La … hold on a second. You're Nattie Collier?"

"That's right. Why?"

"The Nattie Collier whose picture we saw over at Branson's this morning?"

She shrugged her shoulders, not seeming too terribly proud of the fact. "Yes, that's me."

"Sweetheart, forgive me if this sounds rude, but the way your parents were acting, my friends and I thought you were dead. We figured that the photo we saw at Branson's was a copy of the one that's missing from the wall downstairs. And the way your mother seems to feel about demon hunting … "

Nattie's smile faded and she suddenly seemed 10 years older. "You're right, they took down my picture. But I'm not the one who died … obviously. That was my brother, Jamie."

Lake pulled the desk chair out for her and sat on the edge of the bed. "Nattie, would you mind telling me about it?"

Nattie sat and began to stare at her hands as she rubbed them together on her lap. "He was nine years old. That was about five years ago. He would have been 15 this coming October."

"He died demon hunting?"

She nodded. "You see, I started it all, way back then. Ten years ago. Demons hadn't even been around much. The mayor and some of the city councilmen were encouraging parents to give demon rifles to their children, but the parents weren't happy about that. My father and Mr. Branson, they used to be good friends. They decided to take me out hunting with them, to show people that a child could kill the demons. I was 11. Once I made my first kill, more and more parents decided it was OK to teach their kids how to kill demons."

"Your first kill?"

"Oh, yeah, I went on a lot of hunts. Me and a lot of the other kids. For a while they even had a Demon Camp. It didn't matter that people were getting killed and maimed and wounded. They thought it was important that kids learn how to protect themselves. I don't know when it happened, but at some point it became kind of a contest among families to try to have the youngest demon hunter. Jamie actually went out with us when he was younger, I think the first time when he was only 7 or 8, but he never took down a demon. My dad started getting frustrated with him. There were a couple of younger kids who almost had kills; it would have been too late for Jamie. My dad started pushing Jamie harder, taking him out on more hunts. Jamie kept freezing and my dad or I would have to make the kills. One day I woke up and my dad had taken Jamie out on a hunt, just the two of them. Dad said a demon came up on them. Jamie froze again. Dad aimed at it to take it down, but then another one came up behind him and almost killed him. By the time he took that one down, it was too late for Jamie."

Her tears were flowing by this time. Lake took her by the hand. "But your brother's death didn't stop families from sending their children out on hunts?"

She shook her head. "Death's just a small price to pay for glory around here, I guess. Did you see little Hallie Branson when you were over there?"

"Yeah. She's about six or seven, right?"

"Only six. The Bransons already have her target shooting with a demon rifle. She's probably across the street at the festival now, shooting at the demon target game. They're going to have her out in the woods in no time." She stood up. "Gosh, here I am pouring my heart out to you and I don't even know you."

"Lake. David Lake. I'm a scientist. I study demons and their behavior. We call them Ghouls back home."

"Well, tell me, Mr. Demon Scientist, are we ever going to be rid of them?"

"One day. Soon. We're very close to a solution."

He followed her out into the hallway. Nattie turned and held out her hand again. "Well, I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circ … "

She was interrupted by a sudden wail from downstairs. Someone was crying, loudly.

"Mom?" Nattie said.

The two of them ran downstairs. Mrs. Collier was at the front counter, sobbing into the shoulder of the night manager.

Nattie ran up to her and took her into her arms. "Mom? What's wrong? What happened? Is it Dad?"

"No, it's Hallie Branson," her mother said, forcing the words out.

"What happened to her?" Lake asked.

"They came and took her. From the festival."

"Who?"

"Her father. Some of the other hunters. They came and took her and said it was a good night for her to start hunting in the field. They said she'd be protected because there's a bunch of them going out together. But, Nattie, she's too young! She's just too young! If there's too many demons out there, or if something goes wrong … "

Lake asked, "Mrs. Collier, did they say where they were going to be hunting?"

She nodded. "Yes, they said they were going to Granger Hill."

"OK, I've been to two places today. Out to Ferrell Coggins' cabin, and up to Hope Hartley's house. Is Granger Hill anywhere near either of those places?"

Nattie said, "Granger Hill is connected to Hartley Hill. You get to Granger by heading due east from Hope's place. It's only about a ten-minute hike."

"Great. Look, Mrs. Collier, my friends are up on Hartley Hill right now. I'm going out there to get them. We are all very good at what we do, and what we do is destroy Ghouls. Demons. We'll find the Bransons and talk some sense into them. At any rate, we'll make sure Hallie comes home alive." He ran up the stairs to fetch his equipment.

Nattie released her mother and headed to a door behind the counter. "I'll get my gear and come with you."

Lake stopped on the landing. "That's not necessary."

Nattie said, "I can show you the quickest way to get from Hope's place to Granger Hill. And besides, I'm also very good at what you do."

"Can't argue with that," Lake said, continuing to his room.

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