11. Chapter 11 （Nickur）

CHAPTER 11 (NICKUR)

I t’s fully dark when something wakes me and I strain my hearing to figure out what sound disrupted my sleep. Hailey sleeps beside me and although I see her chest rising and lowering with each breath, I hear nothing but an oppressive silence that makes the hairs on my neck stand up. Something is very wrong.

I get up, pull on my jeans, and walk to the front of the cabin. The silence presses against my skin as I retrieve my socks from inside my hiking boots and don both them and the shoes. I open the door and low chanting reaches my ears. Someone is casting a spell around the cabin.

A hand on my back makes me jump. I turn around to find Hailey. “What is that?” she whispers.

“I don’t know, yet.”

“It’s from over there.” Hailey points toward the lakeshore. She’s dressed in the outfit she had on before her bath, and leans down to put on socks and shoes.

“Stay here,” I say as I step out of the cabin.

“Nope,” she says and follows me out. “We do this together.” I want to argue, but she stares at me. As I open my mouth, she slowly shakes her head, her eyes filled with anger. “If that’s Johnny, this is more my fight than yours.”

This woman. This magnificent woman who balks at nothing. My woman. “Our fight,” I correct, and she rewards me with a brilliant smile.

We walk toward the lake together and the chanting grows louder. The sound comes from our left, and take Hailey’s hand to steer her a little to the right. A full moon illuminates the ground and I stare toward the lake but can’t see anything.

“He’s cloaked himself,” Hailey whispers. “But I recognize his voice. It’s definitely Johnny.”

“Can you decipher the spell?” It’s not anything I’ve heard before, not that I know that many spells.

She tilts her head, listening for a moment. “Not really. I think it’s a seeking spell. He’s probably looking for the trident.” She grins. “Good thing I hid it. I’m not sure I can find it again, so his spell is shit out of luck either way.”

I love this woman so much. Her spirit, her humor, her joy of life. I kiss her, hard. “You are smart, beautiful, and strong. We’re going to destroy Johnny.”

She’s breathing a little harder after the kiss and determination shines in her eyes. “Yeah, we are.”

We continue hand-in-hand toward the lake. Almost by the shore, there’s a large boulder that we crouch behind. “I still can’t see him,” I whisper.

“I can.” Hailey squeezes my hand, and something passes between us. Her eyes widen and then she grins. “You’re filled with power.” I have no idea what she means and when she stands up, I tug on her hand to pull her back down. “Trust me,” she says. And I do.

A silent wind that touches only Hailey blows her hair back. The Twin Lakes call to me and I close my eyes to hear what they’re trying to say. But they’re really talking to Hailey through me. A rush of energy flows from my waters to the woman beside me.

She holds out her hand, pointing toward the shore. A sizzle of power flares from her fingertip toward the shore. A flare bursts by the water’s edge and a middle-aged man appears as if out of nowhere. He’s cursing loudly.

“I take it that’s Johnny,” I say.

“There’s Johnny,” Hailey says in a sing-song voice and laughs as she steps out from behind the boulder. She’s still holding my hand, but even if she wasn’t, I’d still go with her.

I’d follow this woman anywhere.

“Hailey,” the man spits out as we approach him. “Where’s the trident? It’s mine.”

“Is it, though?” She tilts her head.

The man mutters something under his breath that I don’t catch. It’s not in a language I recognize. He slaps himself in the face several times and then screams, “Give me my trident.” Hailey exchanges a look with me, and we both take a step back. I grasp her hand harder. The man faces us, drool trailing down the side of his mouth. “Give it to me.” Spittle flies out of his mouth.

“I don’t think that’s Johnny, anymore,” Hailey says.

The man tilts his head in too far to the side than what’s humanly possible. He studies us for a beat. “You’re a linked pair.” A chilling grin stretches his lips too far across his face. “This will be fun.” I have no idea what he’s talking about, but there’s no time to ask if Hailey does before the man rushes us. He runs on all four, like a dog.

“The creepiness is strong in this one,” Hailey says, stepping in front of me as if she wants to protect me.

I pull on her hand and swing her around until she’s behind my back. She sputters, but I keep her there as the man-demon—because he’s absolutely possessed by something—barrels toward us. Crouching down, I grab a downed tree limb with my free hand.

The creature in front of us is so focused on Hailey he doesn’t notice my position or what I hold. A few steps away from us, it launches itself into the air, hands stretched out as claws and aimed at Hailey.

I swing the thick branch in my hand like a baseball bat and hit the creature’s head so hard it spins and lands halfway into the water.

Howling in rage, it tries to get up again.

Hailey runs towards it, and I sprint to keep up with her. She’s still holding my hand. She steps into the water until it is at her waist. Keeping our grip, I step up beside her.

She closes her eyes and raises her hands, dragging one of mine with hers. I feel the tug of power through our connection again. A huge water column rises from the lake, glittering in the full moon’s light. It keeps growing until it’s three times as tall as me and then it bends. Like a burst pipe, water pummels the demonic creature. It shrieks in frustration but then gurgles as its mouth fills with liquid. After another few minutes, it stops struggling and just bops up and down as the water continues assaulting the body.

When the water column depletes, Hailey sags beside me.

I pull her toward me, but before I can get her into my arms, the creature jolts out of the water and latches onto Hailey. She drops my hand as she tries to fend it off, struggling to keep her balance.

They both disappear beneath the surface.

An inhuman growl erupts from my lips as I blindly grab for her but catch nothing but water. They surface further out in the lake and I throw myself toward them. The creature drags Hailey behind it, trying to drown her.

“If you kill her, she can’t tell you where the trident is,” I shout.

That stops the monster, and it turns toward me with that inhuman grin stretched across its face. “Good point.” It holds Hailey above the water and relief floods my body as I hear her grasping for breath. “Tell me where my trident is and I will spare your life.”

Hailey’s gaze meets mine. I see sorrow and an apology with it. “I’m sorry,” she mouths silently. A chill runs down my spine as I realize she’s going to sacrifice herself.

“No,” I growl, startling the creature to look my way. I dive and swim toward them under the surface. As I reach them, I pull on the connection I have with the lake and funnel through all the power I can. Hailey’s legs are still under water. I grab them and throw her toward the shore, praying that I’m strong enough for her to land far enough to where she can reach the bottom.

The creature shrieks out its rage as it loses the grip on my love.

I surface right next to it and punch it in its face. The surprise attack gives me the moment I need to grab its hair and force the head below the surface. The creature struggles fiercely, raking nails as long as claws down my forearms. I barely register the pain from the cuts as a hundred and fifty years of rage and frustration floods my body and I use it all to keep this despicable monster from surfacing.

How dare it come to my cabin by my lake, threatening my woman?

This time, when it stops struggling, a wail escapes the creature, and it shrinks. I turn toward the shore and want to cry with relief when I see Hailey sitting on land, a brittle smile on her face.

I swim toward her, dragging the creature behind me. With only a few strokes, the water is shallow enough for me to reach the bottom. I walk ashore and have to pick up the monster’s body the last few feet.

Hailey meets me out in the water and we stare down at the creature. It looks like a mummified body from eons ago. “Pretty sure something possessed him,” Hailey says.

I drop the creature on the shore and hug her close to me. “Pretty sure you’re correct,” I mumble into her hair.

She leans back, a cheeky smile on her lips. “How did it feel to drown your first victim, Nixie?”

I kiss her before I answer. “I prefer Fossegrim .”

“What does that mean?”

“That’s nixie in Norwegian.”

She laughs loudly, but then she turns serious. “I’ll call you whatever you like, as long as I can be with you.”

I cradle her face between my palms. “I’ll answer to whatever you call me as long as you are with me.”

She smiles. “We should probably figure out what to do with the trident before we plan our life together. The hiding spot I picked is not the safest place.”

I kiss her again, long enough to where she’s out of breath when I finish. “I might know someone who can help us with that.”