Elvirund | ✔️

Chapter Sixteen

Virginia was crawling with Mutarchs, small round demons with stubby legs and a tuft of fur on their heads. Colored appropriately according to their habitats, Mutarchs were harmless pests. I had cleaned Seattle of them, and now I would sweep Chesapeake as well. It was the more powerful demons I was worried about.

"What a waste. If I shoot them they fall over and break the arrows. Do they think I'm made of arrows?"

"They probably don't think anything."

Mutarchs were clumsier than newborn babies on badly lit runways. It was a miracle if I could even fix an arrow after shooting one, never mind extract an unbroken one.I sighed, tired of losing materials to these small menaces.

"Well, what can you do, squish them to death?"

I contemplated it for a second, very tempted to try it. Their bodies looked enough like a viscous jelly, and when I pulled my arrow fragments out of them the arrowheads remained coated with a clear layer of slime. It was certainly a possibility.

"Don't tell me you're actually considering it."

"Maybe." I scoffed.

"I suppose it wouldn't be the worst idea we've thought of."

Chip and I both looked at each other in tentative approval. I started to giggle and in seconds it turned into full blown peals of laughter sending me doubled over at the waist. I reeled back and forth deliriously, swaying on my feet. Why was this, of all things, cracking me up so violently? The idea was extremely ridiculous, but perhaps that was why.

"Aurelia, are you okay?"

Chip, recovering from his own laughter, reached out one hand to grab my shoulder and shake it a couple times. Even as I tried to calm myself I still could not; a single thought of a flattened Mutarch sent me cackling once more. It still took me a full minute to reign myself back in, as serious about this as I should have been.

"Sorry. I don't know what's going on."

Chip raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Anyways, let's finish up these three streets just ahead and we'll call it a day. It's approaching dinner time."

Laughter danced at the edges of my lips and I held it back, trying to refocus myself on the task at hand. Of course, I knew I needed to focus; a bow didn't just shoot itself. It was an effort, however, to keep from smiling at the thought of a Mutarch suffering death by pressure of all things. I drew my arm back, unleashing another arrow into the unsuspecting Mutarch bouncing across the road in front of me. A flicker of motion at the corner of my eye caught my attention, but the leaf floated harmlessly to the ground without a sound. I was jumpy now.

"You feel something again?"

"Maybe." I muttered.

"Tell me when. I'll get the bell ready."

I took a deep breath and began walking towards the next street on our list with a cautious pause in each of my steps. A breeze tickled the hair at the base of my neck; I flipped my jacket collar up against my jaw. We were close, but not close enough.

"Anything now?"

"Nothing definitive yet. Stupid demon."

We turned onto the wide street, littered with broken cement and dust, and soon enough I felt something. A cold wind ruffled my hair and then a slight tingle in my fingertips sent me on high alert. It was very close indeed. This was the right direction then.

"Just ahead. Be careful."

My senses sharpened, as if a switch had been flicked, and I suddenly knew exactly where the demon was. It staggered on unsteady legs eight yards ahead of us, crossing the road. In another yard, it would smell me, less if its sense of smell was strong. As Chip and I crept slowly toward the thing, I wondered silently if it had possessed another person this time, or if it was just another inanimate object. The one that had taken Kerry Truhill had been strong, but no demon could stand the Bane Bell. We had the advantage in any situation.