Liminal Hash

I was running. Hunted.

Not my usual habit. I had gone to a club that I knew was frequented by Others. A little lubrication in the form of a benjamin had gotten the doorman to lift the rope for me. A quick nod and I was inside.

The place was packed, normal for a Friday night. The well-heeled participated in controlled mayhem as the loud music thumped and lights flashed. A smell of cologne and perfume mingled with sweat and alcohol as people danced and others drank their courage to participate in the orgiastic union as old as man. All hunters in search of each other.

I could sense the Others, here and there, small presences in the aether, hunters of a different sort.

I hunted the hunters.

I went upstairs to the VIP room where I could look out over the masses. Drink acquired, I planted myself at a small table by the window open to the below. A surreptitious waggle of my fingers cast a quick scan over the crowd.

There were a couple of hits, one by the bar, another on the dance floor. Small sparks, probably just trying to pass the night drunk, like everyone else. Didn’t seem too dangerous though you could never tell. I’d investigate later.

I swept through the lower floor toward where I was located.

Another spark directly below me, by the bathroom. I couldn’t see who it belonged to. It seemed to be still.

I flicked my fingers a little wider, to cast a stronger augur.

Below, a flash quickly shut down.

My fingers clawed, hand moved in a circle, trying to swipe the veil away. Something grabbed the power, twitched my fingers. Muscles strained. Sweat on my skin gleamed in the purple and green lights of the lounge. My jaw clenched, teeth ground. Its control of me was traveling up my arm. If it reached my heart, game over.

Music slowed, no beats. Lights stopped flashing. Chill spread toward my chest.

I snapped the fingers of my other hand. A bright, white flash went off downstairs, a camera on steroids.

The music pounded again, the lights strobed. I was drenched, breathing heavy.

Whatever was down there was powerful enough to shut me down and ride the trails of power back at me. And now it knew I was here.

I grabbed my drink and headed down. Tendrils sought me through the aether. I could feel them. I dodged one way and then another, earning some curious glances. This thing was persistent.

Good. I needed to get it away from all these people. I had to make sure it followed.

Downstairs, the faces of the people weren’t on me, eyes turned toward their partners, their interests. They danced with abandon, unknowing of what was in their midst. A few were looking around, looking for someone, ignoring me.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood. Something was looking at me. I cast a look into the aether. Teeth. Lots of teeth. Way too many.

I ducked out.

Despite the lateness, the night was still hot and humid. I walked across the parking lot, going from puddle of light to puddle of light. There was a faint fragrance in the air. Jasmine.

I looked around. I was in the middle of the parking lot to the club, next to the parking lot of a hotel. Only cars in the street on either side.

I hurried. I guess I didn’t have to do anything to get it to follow.

The heady smell grew stronger, making me drowsy. My feet moved through mud. This wasn’t good.

I stopped. My arms whirled, a ward went up. I just lit up the aether with a big ol’ sign saying, “Here I am.” Couldn’t be helped. I was too tired to be discrete. The little tousle in the club had drained me. I needed some energy. I didn’t think my pursuer was going to let me go home to my comfy bed and sleep it off.

Where was it? I chanced a look, extended into the Realm. Yes, there was the dark spot nearby, hunger made visible in the swirls. It stuck out.

At least it wasn’t in the club anymore. The people there should be safe. The fact that it wasn’t bothering to hide gave filled me with concern.

I shook my head. I needed to do my damn job. I walked on.

A sort-of dome was forming, the boundary of my spell. The air beyond grew thicker. Miasmas sent feelers in, seeking.

I strained and shut them out. Getting a headache. This humidity didn’t help. I dripped with perspiration. My shirt stuck to me.

Needed an isolated place, away from human eyes where a bystander couldn’t get hurt. A side street loomed. I cast my second sight.

A brightness in there. Hard to tell what it was, too much interference. I lurched in the direction.

Pressure grew. My bubble shrank. Needed to hurry. Something was taking shape in the thick mists. Eyes, glowing eyes, about human height, a little shorter. Strong smell of jasmine. Long hair, maybe brown? Looked like female curves. Hard to see properly with the assault going on. Keeping up my protections took all my effort. Another few steps.

Suddenly, the weight on my brain cut off. I almost stumbled. The smell of jasmine was gone, the mists had cleared. I could see the office buildings and parking lots around me. I hazarded a look.

The ground glowed beneath my feet.

A ley line. I was standing on a ley line.

I followed it.

* * *

It was still out there. I could feel it, hovering on the edge, its presence fluttering dark wings of hunger against my mind.

It didn’t like the line for some reason but I had no illusion about how safe I was. Undoubtedly, Jasmine would attack as soon as I left the relative safety of if. Jasmine is how I thought of it now. Seemed appropriate.

So far, the ley line had gone down the middle of the street. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any cars due to the time, but sooner or later, there would be a building or other obstacle and I’d be forced off.

Like now. The steep embankment to a highway rose in front of me. Cars and trucks roared by, even at this late hour.

“Looks like you’re at the end of the line,” came a low, sultry voice behind me.

To the left was an overpass, at least a couple of football fields away.

There was a chuckle behind me. “Think you can make it, sport?”

Being on the line had let me recover some energy but it wasn’t enough. I’d never make it back to the line on the other side of the highway to be safe.

“Oh, you’re not safe on it. I can still get you. It just requires a little effort.”

I turned to face her.

She had a heart-shaped face, full lips, big eyes. A short, tight black dress sheathed her curves and high-heels on her feet made her taller. Made me wonder how she well she could follow me. She smiled. Yup, too many teeth. And sharp.

She came right up to the edge of my wards and tapped the air with an finger. Yellow and green lines crazed the surface of my protection. “You’re just delaying the inevitable.”

“You’re full of it. If you could, you would have broken through already. All I have to due is wait you out until dawn, you piece of shit hellspawn.”

Her face scrunched, her eyes blazed red, her mouth opened from ear to ear. A wicked tongue darted in my direction. An unholy screech came from her, then became a low, rhythmic rumble. “Ha, ha, ha.”

Her face settled back to human. “You don’t have until dawn.”

Tendrils sneaked past her thighs down to the ground from under her dress and thickened. Her heels filled and rooted. She spread her arms wide. They lengthened and twisted in an approximation of wood and vines while they grew around the perimeter of my spell. Energy crackled where it contacted the surface and they met on the far side.

Oh oh.

I could feel the pressure squeezing my head. I dropped to one knee. Brain felt like might be having stroke. Jasmine filled nostrils.

She had me. The warding not being able to move meant I couldn’t move.

Think. Must think.

Cracks were appearing, forking, splitting along the hemisphere. The feedback when it popped would kill me. Hard to concentrate.

I mumbled an incantation and dismissed my protection. I sprang into a dead run, lept right over a wriggling vine following the ley line. A scream of rage split the night.

My feet magically gripped the ground, sending me straight up the slope at full speed. Behind me, woody, rustling sounds. The highway stretched across my intended path. I sprinted into the traffic.

Wind from a passing car wrestled my clothes, horn blaring. Can’t stop, truck coming. Keep going, pause, sprint. Other side coming up, safety.

Loud air horn, loud smash as my feet touch the grass on the other side of the concrete river.

Still here, still on the ley line.

I could hear the traffic winding over the road behind me.

I needed to get the hell away from here before the police showed up. I didn’t believe for an instance that a truck had solved my problems. The ley line beckoned.

* * *

Ahead, a yellow and black sign hoisted high into the heavens acted as a beacon for late night denizens. The ley line went into it, right through the door.

All the while I was walking, I could feel a growing presence, building power keeping pace with me. Smells of jasmine lingered in my nose, getting stronger. The late night diner seemed a good place as any to make my stand. Just needed it empty so no one would get hurt.

I went inside.

A tired waitress, thick black hair done up in a tall bun, peered at me through her glasses.

“Coffee, hun?” She placed a sturdy mug on the counter and poured some in from a glass coffee pot.

“Uh, thanks. I’m trying to recharge.” I slid into the stool. There was one other guy at a table by the far window. The bars would be closing soon so I needed to hurry before the influx happened.

She put the pot on the top by me. “Drink the coffee. It’s magical. You ordering anything to eat? Be a dining customer?” She had one hand on her hip. Behind her, a large man in a white apron and hair net cooked on a metal grill top.

I glanced at the menu, turned the laminated card over. “Two eggs, ham, hash brown, smothered. Extra crispy, please.”

“You got that Bernie? You need me to write it down?” She had a long yellow pencil and pad in hand.

Bernie grunted and waved her off and tended to the sizzling bacon.

I read her name tag. “Hey, Stephanie,” I leaned over the space between us, “there’s an ex that’s following me. Things could get ugly outside. She might be dangerous. You may want to lock the doors.”

“Yeah, sure. We don’t have locks on the doors. We’re open 24/7.”

“Oh. Well, you might want to hide. Or leave.”

“Don’t think so.” Stephanie raised an arm and pointed past me. “That her?”

I turned and looked over my shoulder.

Sure enough, Jasmine was standing in the parking lot, high heels and little black dress looking none the worse for wear.

“Shit.” I got up.

“You coming back or you want it to go?” The waitress held one of those white foam clamshell food containers up.

“I... I’ll be back.”

Okay, I might be a tad hopeful but it couldn’t hurt. I took a deep breath and went outside into the warm, humid air.

“Hi, sweetie. So, an ex? Wow. Dumped already. I feel hurt.” She pouted.

“This ends here.”

“It sure does. After I’m done with you, I’ll snack on the ones inside and use their bones to pick my teeth.” An evil grin spread wide showing all those pointed teeth.

“Like hell you will. I protect them to my death.”

“Promises, promises.”

My skin prickled. Her hair started to stand. Sparks flew around her. She was gathering power, meaning to kill me outright. A stench of jasmine blanketed me. I reached into the ley line and pulled hard. A glow came from behind me as all the other intersecting ley lines inside the restaurant answered. I fashioned my defense.

She kame-ha-meha’d me. I triggered my mirror. The yellow-green bolt hit my shield like a truck and reflected back, catching her by surprise.

I staggered, knees suddenly jelly. I was dazzled. My hands sought the handle to the door and I almost fell inside. I blinked a couple of times. The customer was eating his bacon and eggs with a side waffle. The waitress leaned against the counter looking over a newspaper working on a crossword puzzle with her pencil, pot of coffee next to it. Bernie was scrapping the grill.

My own breakfast waited for me at my stool.

I got half way to it when the double door was flung open.

She stood on the threshold, dress in tatters, one heel on, the other barefoot. Her eyes glowed an enraged red. The waves of jasmine made me gag.

“You are dead!” She took a step inside.

Something big and fur covered with an apron and hairnet lept at her. Bernie wrestled with her.

Despite the size difference, she was holding her own. Her arms grew and lifted her attacker off the floor. She grinned at me and took another step.

ZAP!

Jasmine staggered.

ZAP! Another bolt flew at the horror by the door, ozone clearing some of the jasmine stench. Stephanie was wielding her pencil, muttering something under her breath. Sparks issued from the lead.

The other arm grew toward the waitress.

I did my best and put up a shield to help her.

I must have done too good a job. The arm got deflected. Unfortunately, it got deflected toward me. I tried to cast another shield.

Too late! Woody fingers grasped my throat. Vision tinged purple. I lost concentration.

Jasmine then kicked her remaining footwear at Stephanie, catching her between the eyes. Glasses flying, the waitress went down.

Can’t breath. Long purple tunnel with Jasmine at one end. She’s on top of me. So much flower.

“I’m going to rip you guts out while you watch.” Teeth snapping in front of me.

Hand on counter. Something, anything. Coffee pot. Coffee pot handle. I smashed it into her head.

A scream rended time and space. Lines on the floor flared. A loud pop.

I can breath again. My vision started to clear as I rubbed the welt on my throat. The werewolf sat on the floor. The witch hauled herself up using the counter.

“Hey, can I get a refill?” The customer was holding his empty coffee cup up.

I looked at the coffee pot in my hand. It was full. I look at the waitress. She nodded.

I refilled his cup.

“Ha, ha. Pretty weird, right?” I pasted on a smile.

He shrugged. “It’s not the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a Waffle House.”