Three

three

Kris

I went with the guys the next day for the interviews, partially because it would be too far for me to be comfortably away from Zhen for long, but also because of curiosity. I wanted to hear what the kids had to say.

The sheriff had us meet him at a house near the watering hole—no surprise there. On the other side of it from where the boys had visitied, in fact. The row of houses were old farmhouses and Craftsmans, products of a bygone era. It was picturesque, for sure, like a postcard of rural America. Especially with all of these rotund, older trees lining the street.

The sheriff’s big black SUV was already parked in front of the house. Jake pulled in behind him, and I got out without fanfare, then paused when a thought struck. “Zhen, these are two boys we’re talking to, right?”

“Uh, right.” He clearly did not understand why I asked.

I had several reasons. One, these kids didn’t know Zhen or Jake, so they’d be hesitant to talk freely at first. We needed them to be chatty. Second, I knew how boys worked. No matter the age, the most important thing was to have the coolest toys.

“Bring at least one of your swords,” I instructed. “As an icebreaker.”

“Ooooh, lǎo pó , you’re full of good ideas. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I must be losing it.”

“You had it to begin with?”

Zhen, being a mature man, stuck his tongue out at me, then immediately dove into the back of the vehicle, bringing out two of his swords: the wakizashi , which was his Japanese short sword, and his dao , the much longer, single-edged sword.

Trust me, I had gotten a full introduction to them.

I heard the SUV’s doors shut before a man’s voice called out. “Hi, folks, are you the monster hunters?”

I turned to look and found the sheriff approaching us. He was in uniform—full-on khaki pants, brown shirt, and a cowboy hat. Man was country as hell, from his thick brown handlebar mustache to the polished boots on his feet. He was trim and in shape, though, with barely any gut to him. His friendly smile gave off good vibes.

“That’s us.” Jake extended a hand, which the sheriff grabbed in greeting. “I’m Jake. This is my buddy Zhen and his wife, Kris.”

“Sheriff Tucker. Pleasure, folks.”

When he shook my hand, I found his grip firm and warm. He seemed curious about me, but he asked no questions.

“Inside is a very scared mama with her two boys. Now, I normally wouldn’t spread gossip, but I want you to understand the dynamic a little. We’ve had a very messy divorce in this town recently, and in the fallout of it is young Cooper, one of the kids who was attacked. He’s been taken in by his aunt, as neither parent was willing to take custody of him, and that was only three months ago.”

I winced. “This poor kid is having a hell of a summer.”

“Certainly been that. Now, the boys are thick as thieves, but that was still a traumatic thing to happen to anyone. If you three could make them feel better about how they fought it off, I’d take it as a kindness.”

I now fully understood why he’d given us a brief history. “Sure. We can do that. I understand there were three children?”

“Third one was a visiting half brother who’s gone back home out of state.”

“Got it. We’ll ask what we can of these two.”

“Good. Let’s go inside, then. Uh…is there a reason you’re bringing in weapons to this fine home, Zhen?”

“Icebreaker,” Zhen explained with an easy shrug.

“Oh.” Sheriff Tucker looked at the swords again in a new light. “I bet that’ll work, too. All right, let’s head in.”

We followed him up the winding path to the front door. A very petite woman with her brunette hair up in a messy bun opened it almost immediately. She wore jeans and a white t-shirt, and her appearance suggested she’d been cleaning something up.

“Sheriff, I didn’t expect you quite this early. I’m sorry.”

“No trouble, ma’am, it’s the boys we really need to talk to. That all right?”

“Oh, sure, sure, let me call them downstairs. Come in, please. Make yourselves at home. I’m Samantha, nice to meet y’all.”

The inside of the house was just as cute as the outside. It had a lived-in feel, with overstuffed couches and a fireplace framed by bookcases filled with everything known to man except possibly the kitchen sink. For a moment, I was wistful. I wished I’d grown up in a house like this—one filled with warmth instead of the cold palace my parents resided in.

“Boys!” Samantha stood at the base of the stairs and called up to them. “Come down!”

“In a minute!” a young boy’s voice yelled back.

“No, now! The sheriff and monster hunters are here to talk to you!”

I loved how everyone kept calling us that when Zhen and Jake’s official job title was demon slayer. Eh, semantics.

There was a pause, then small feet thundered down the steps. I settled in the love seat, Zhen standing next to me and waiting.

When they did appear, I took both boys in with interest. They could almost pass as fraternal twins, so close were they in age and looks. Both had copper-streaked hair, as if they spent a great deal of time outdoors, tanned skin, and big brown eyes filled with a wary sort of curiosity.

“You remember Sheriff Tucker, right?” Samantha drew them in to stand in front of her, a hand on each shoulder, like she was trying to pass along moral support.

Both nodded, but their gazes took in the rest of us.

Sheriff Tucker took over. “This is Jake, and this is Zhen and his wife, Kris. They’re going to hunt down the thing in the pond.”

“That we are.” Zhen stepped forward and offered a hand, his left still gripping his swords. “But I’d love to get some more intel first, if you guys are willing to talk about it. Who’s who?”

“I’m Cooper,” the slightly taller boy answered. “This is Derek.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Derek blurted out, “Are those real swords?”

“They sure are. Want to sit and look them over?”

An immediate, fascinated nod.

Ha! I was right; it was the icebreaker we needed.

Zhen, though careful of his ankle, plopped himself right on the floor with the kids like he’d done it thousands of times before. Knowing him, he had. He kept an eagle eye on the boys as they unsheathed the swords.

“Be careful,” Zhen warned. “I hunt monsters and demons with those swords, so their edges are beyond sharp.”

“Whoa,” Cooper breathed, looking over the dao in his hands. “Have you killed, like, huge monsters with this?”

“Took down a mountain orc with it last year. I think that was the biggest.”

“ Whoa ,” he repeated, eyes wide with wonder. “That’s legit.”

“What about this one?” Derek asked eagerly.

“Now, the wakizashi I use for close quarters. Say, if I’m fighting in a hallway or something. So, it doesn’t do the big jobs. But the most dangerous thing I killed with it was a wraith. You know those boogeyman tales of shadow wraiths that swoop in and take off with kids?”

“Those are real?!” Cooper squeaked out.

“Oh, they’re real. And a damn nuisance to hunt ’cause they fly everywhere. I chased one for half the night before I managed to corner it.” As an afterthought, Zhen tacked on, “Don’t ever live near a graveyard, all I’m saying.”

They’d relive war stories all day if I didn’t intervene. “That’s not all he brought with him, either. Jake has just as many weapons, too. That’s how prepared they are to hunt the Bloody Bones down.”

Derek’s face fell a little at the reminder. “Is…is that what it’s called? The thing that attacked us.”

“That’s what it’s called,” Jake confirmed. “Let me tell you, when I saw the pond and realized what you guys fought against? I was seriously impressed. I mean, you’ve now seen the weapons we bring with us to fight these things, and you guys got away from it without a single weapon but your wits. It’s super impressive.”

Derek’s shoulders straightened back up, and he shared a speaking look with Cooper. It was like they hadn’t realized what kind of an achievement it was to evade a monster and live to tell the tale.

Zhen piled on his own praise. “I’ve been hunting things since I was a teen, and trust me, no way do I want to fight a Bloody Bones on my lonesome. Especially not unarmed. It’s seriously impressive.”

“Could you take it, though? Without a sword?” Cooper seemed very invested in this answer.

“Probably. But I absolutely would not want to. I’d take all my swords, my buddy, and my wife who’s a crack shot to take this bastard down.”

I saw the confidence spark in them—the knowledge that they’d done something most adults wouldn’t or couldn’t do. Hopefully it wouldn’t go to their heads and make them reckless. We just didn’t want them living in fear, either.

In fact…we should allay some fears. In Mandarin, I murmured to Zhen, “Maybe let’s give them something blessed?”

He turned his head, looking up at me in consideration, then nodded. “Not a bad idea. You boys carry a pocketknife or anything? If you do, I can bless it.”

The boys were very respectful about handing back the swords—which Zhen promptly sheathed—and then Cooper immediately pulled a long, straight blade pocketknife out and handed it over. “Can I hurt something with it?”

“If it’s blessed, sure.” Zhen pulled out a marker and started drawing on the plastic hilt, the silvery pen a stark contrast against the black. “Blessed items are awesome. Even if you only scratch the surface, or nick something, it’ll do a lot of damage. Save it for a close combat, I’m-gonna-die situation, okay? This is a last resort, not something you charge into battle with.”

Derek pulled his free and handed it over as well with a brilliant smile, and Zhen drew on without pause before handing them back.

Since Zhen wasn’t saying the important bit, I said it. “The blessing is done in the traditional Chinese shamanic method. They’re especially effective against anything evil, like a Bloody Bones. Just one scratch will make the creature scream and want to retreat. If anything happens like this again, it should at least give you the chance to hurt it and run.”

Cooper clutched the knife to his chest and swore, “I’ll always have it on me.”

“Good. Do that. Just don’t tempt fate, either.” Zhen held up a finger. “Man-made ponds are generally a bad idea. Things like to make them home, things like Bloody Bones, so just avoid those types of ponds. Natural ponds aren’t nearly as dangerous.”

“Got it.” Derek nodded seriously. “But you can make our pond safe, right?”

“Oh, for sure. Speaking of, can you tell me what happened? The more information I have, the better.”

Cooper seemed much more relaxed about the whole experience, but he still had a dark expression as he spoke. “It was…bad. It was just really bad. Tavish was with us, and he was fighting it, but still I didn’t think Derek would survive it.”

“I didn’t either, for a second.” Derek let out a long sigh. “We were playing at the pond, we like—liked—to go there to hang out. It was getting dark, so we called for Bailey—”

“Bailey’s the dog,” their mom added.

“—but Bailey was growling at something in the water. We came in closer to take a look, and it just whoosh ”—Cooper’s hands illustrated something sharply coming upward as he did the sound—“came up and snatched Derek. I think it wanted to drag him back under the water, but I still had my stick in my hand, and I started hitting it. Tavish had a machete, so he was hitting it on the other side. Bailey latched on to its arm bone and kept biting down hard, and I think we hurt it? It didn’t make a sound, but it rattled hard, and it let go of Derek.”

“I started running the second I had my feet under me.” A full-body shudder ran over Derek. The memory was still with him. “I heard Bailey, Tavish, and Cooper right behind me, and we just ran and ran until we got home. Uncle Jim was already outside calling for us, and we told him what happened, and he immediately called the cops.”

Damn. These kids really had been in a battle. In ten years, this would make a good story, but right now it was a terrible memory.

“Okay, this is important.” Jake knelt down next to Zhen, putting himself at eye level with the boys. “About how big do you think it was?”

“Uh…I dunno. As big as Mom’s van?”

Jake accepted this answer with a nod. “Cooper, when you hit it, did you do any damage to the bone?”

“Uh…yeah.” Cooper frowned as he thought, eyes screwed shut. “Like, little dents, but it didn’t break.”

“Adolescent,” Zhen murmured thoughtfully.

I looked at the back of his head, surprise flooding me. A teenage Bloody Bones could be as big as a fucking van?! I beg your fucking pardon, no one mentioned this before.

Samantha also caught the implications. “I’m sorry, do you mean to say this thing my boys faced is a child?”

“From the sounds of it.” Zhen gave her a sympathetic smile. “Honestly, we suspected this might be the case. After all, people are used to playing in and around the pond, right? But there’s never been issues before now. What makes the most sense to us is that the Bloody Bones is new. Bloody Bones tend to form and stay in their burrow. They don’t move around, and they don’t hibernate. I wanted to talk to Cooper and Derek to make sure I wasn’t making assumptions, but it fits with what I know of the species.”

It also explained why the boys were able to get away from it. But I didn’t say that aloud. I was sure Samantha realized the full implications easily enough. I didn’t want to diminish the boys’ spirits.

Cooper looked nervous about it. “Does that mean after you kill this one, more can appear?”

“Hmm, yes, but in this case, no. We’re going to do some ritual shaman stuff on the water to make sure nothing can reappear in there. Sheriff, if you’ll make sure that about twenty pounds of salt is dumped in the pond once a year? It’ll keep the ward active and the pond clear.”

Sheriff Tucker drew a cross over his heart with one finger. “Cross my heart.”

“Excellent. See? Nothing to worry about.” Zhen gave them his sassy grin, which was somehow vastly reassuring. At least, it always reassured me. “And we’re hunting this thing down tonight. I’ll send word through the sheriff when it’s safe to be around the area again.”

“Thank you.” Samantha breathed out in ragged relief.

Derek looked at the pocketknife in his hands and asked tentatively, “Do we still get to keep these?”

Zhen laughed and ruffled his hair. “Yeah, keep those. Just in case. All right, I’ve got plans to make and something to kill later tonight, so I’m going to go. Ma’am, where’s the dog?”

“At the vet’s, getting looked over. Why?”

“Not hurt, I hope?”

“No, I took Bailey over there as a precaution.”

“Oh good. Your dog should be fine, by the way. On the off chance you see something funny about his mouth, get some blessed water from a priest and pour it over his mouth. Sometimes minor fungus growths happen when you encounter a Bloody Bones, so just take precautions if you see something weird.”

“I absolutely will. Thank you so much.”

We all got up at that point and left with a final bye to the boys. Sheriff Tucker paused us when we reached the sidewalk again.

“Did I catch the implications right in there? If it had been an adult Bloody Bones, we’d be short three boys and a dog?”

Jake shrugged. “Yes, sir. That’s the size of it. The kids were damn lucky.”

“Fuck.” He took his hat off and slapped his thigh, looking perturbed. “I’ll dump forty pounds of salt in the pond every year. You best believe it. Rock salt okay?”

“Sure. The bigger the pieces of salt, the more effective it is.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do. Also, if you need anything—and I do mean anything—you call me.”

“I will.” Zhen shook the man’s hand with a smile. “Just make sure the area’s off-limits for the next two days. That’s the best help you can render us right now.”

“It’s already done. Good hunting, all right?”

“Thanks, Sheriff.”

We piled into Jake’s Jeep, with me in the back. Zhen put the swords in the trunk area, then opened my door so he could lean in and smack a kiss against my mouth.

“Is that for being smart?” I asked him dryly, although I enjoyed getting a kiss for it.

“That’s precisely what it was for. I didn’t realize every good interview should start with swords.”

Help. I think I’ve created another monster.