Demon Trackers: The Anointed

part thirty-two

Henry raced into the clinic after Jake, following the swarm of gremlins that had honed in on Cal's scent. Cal was asleep. Cal was unarmed. Cal was vulnerable. The nasty little beasties would rip his son to pieces in minutes.

Gun fire blazed ahead. Shouts and thudding. Little monster shrieks. Henry skidded into Doc Wal's personal quarters, his own gun instantly firing. Gremlins were everywhere, Jake shooting point-blank into them, but having little effect. There were beasts shredding the couch. No Cal. Gremlins on the dressers and TV cabinet. Gremlins climbed up the ceiling, pouring into a square hole—attic access—coffee table below. Cal must have pulled himself up inside there. Good boy. Henry nearly bent in two with the relief, except his boy was in the attic now with however many of the monsters got up in there. Bangs and crashes thudded above them.

"I'm out!" Jake's gun clicked. He pulled his kremloc dagger out and flung it at one of the creatures. It shrieked, its skin instantly bubbling as it flung itself around the room. Jake disappeared through one of the doors.

Henry kept firing, knowing his clip didn't have much more either. He leaped onto the coffee table, concentrating on the gremlins closest to getting into the attic, and shot a hairless monkey right in the eye. It thumped to the floor. Hard to kill his ass. There was more than one way of getting past an impenetrable skull.

The gremlins went crazy. Soap or no soap, they rushed Henry, bearing him down and dragging him across the room. For such little guys, these beasts were strong. Suddenly Jake was back, flinging a bucket of white powder over them all.

Little nasties howled, jerking away and jumping around like they'd been burned, shaking and slapping at their heads. Jake flung out more powder and the gremlins scattered, yowling and crashing through every door, through windows, a few into the attic to get away from the soap.

Jake reached down, assisted Henry up. "You bit?"

"No." Henry rubbed soap powder from his eyelashes. "Good thinking." The thuds overhead had moved to another part of the clinic. Henry rushed outside, backing up enough to see the roof. Doc Wal ran up to him from the barn, a couple of rifles in his grip. "Is there a rooftop access to your attic?"

The Doc's scraggly brows rose. "They're in my attic?"

Several of the creatures that had scattered outside were now climbing up the side of the clinic. "Jake! Get that soap out here!" Henry grabbed one of Doc's rifles and began shooting, moving closer, trying for more eyeball shots, while he wondered why Jake hadn't shown yet.

Doc ran toward the other end of the building. "Attic window on this side!"

Henry swiveled and sure enough, there was Cal, pulling himself onto the peak of the roof from the window Henry couldn't see on the other side. He watched, heart lodged in his throat, as Cal ran across the roof, a slew of gremlins galloping after him, more coming from the other end. Come on, Son. If Cal could make it down to the edge, it wasn't that far of a drop. Henry cringed as Cal slipped, his socks providing no traction, and quickly recovered his balance. "Cal!" Come on, come on. Henry just wanted his son down off that roof, where he'd shove him behind him and douse him in that soap powder.

Sighting a beast several paces behind Cal, Henry pulled the trigger. He didn't dare shoot any closer to his kid. Beast paused, hissed, and leaped ahead. Realizing he was caught behind two groups of nasties, Cal started angling downward, socks slipping on the tiles.

"I'm right here, Cal. I'll cover you!" Henry ran toward the middle of the building to meet him. He was going to make it. Cal was going to make it. Just get to the edge and jump. Gremlins launched at Cal, pulling his legs out from under him. He went down hard, sliding headfirst down the roof on his back.

Shit! Henry dropped his gun and raced forward as though he'd be able to catch the teen, at least break his fall. Cal fell headfirst over the edge and jerked to a stop, dangling upside down. Several gremlins had hold of his legs.

"Dad!" Cal's tone sounded very young and striped with fear. Long arms stretched out for Henry like they had when Cal was small and wanted to be picked up.

"Got you!" In easy reach, Henry latched onto Cal, hand's looping beneath his armpits. "I got you," Henry gritted out, heaving against the strength of the gremlins, feeling his son being pulled upward. Where the hell was Jake?

Doc Wal joined in the tug-of-war, grabbing onto Cal, but their combined effort wasn't a match for the supersized strength of one gremlin, let alone several. Henry roared. He was not giving up.

Cal screamed. Henry's gaze wrenched up to the roof where a gremlin lifted its head from Cal's ankle, razor teeth dripping red. Growling with rage, Henry pulled harder.

"Dad…" Cal clung to him, fingers digging into Henry's forearms, his voice vibrating with fear. "Don't let go of me."

"Not letting go. Never letting go."

But Doc Wal did.

Gnarled fingers flew to Cal's belt, scrabbling to get it loose, popped open the button beneath and grabbed onto the kid again. With one giant heave, they pulled Cal right out of his jeans and thumped to the ground in a snarl of arms and legs.