Joely Sue Burkhart - Queen Takes Knights

I t sucked to be twenty-two years old and still afraid of the dark.

Bad things always happened in the dark. Id learned that at an early age, when my father was brutally murdered in front of me. My mother met the same fate when I was seventeen.

Waiting for the sun to set, monsters were real and they were always hungry. Always hunting.

Demons with pasty gray skin, wasted bodies down to skin and bones, with red, glowing eyes. Mom always said they were hunting her, but after she died, I kept seeing them.

They were still hunting me.

Id lose them for a few weeks at a time, but then Id start to get that old familiar itch down my spine. Id feel the eyes at dusk. Shadows crowded around my cheap room, testing the doors and windows, looking for a weak spot in paper-thin walls. It was always the same story, and at dawn, Id head out to the bus stop and try to lose them again for a few days.

It didnt matter how careful I was. They always found me again, because they hunted by the smell of my blood. Thanks to my very regular menstrual cycle, I could count on them always finding me in under a month. And if I cut my finger, Id better leave on the next bus as quickly as possible, knowing the scent was like a beacon shining over my location.

Id been in Eureka Springs, Arkansas for about two weeks. Only a week until Christmas, but Id be gone by then. The thought made me sad, because I actually liked this town. It had a deep, resonant feeling, like a ringing bell that I could almost hear. Maybe it was all the caves, natural springs, and deep cliffs that funneled its inhabitants energy into a river I could almost touch.

I had a modest inheritance from my parents, but it wouldnt last forever, so I always tried to find a temporary job to cover my expenses. If I was extremely lucky, I could find a job cleaning motel rooms that let me have a cheap room for free. Eureka Springs had lots of small ma-and-pop type motels for the wedding business, but with the holidays, pickings were light. Most motels had already closed for the season, and my boss said itd be a ghost town after the Christmas shopping died down.

I only knew the owner as Hosea. Hed been pretty nice to me so far, even letting me eat meals out of the small kitchen (as long as I was willing to help out waitressing tables or delivering food to the cabins) so I didnt have the heart to tell him I probably wouldnt make it that long.

Yo, Shara, Hosea called, waving me toward the office. I started to tuck the cleaning cart into the storage closet, but he hollered, No, bring it.

My nerves were already starting to jangle a warning. It was almost five in the evening. This time of year, itd be full-on dark pretty quickly. Id feel a lot better once I was safely in my room for the night.

I dragged the cart over and he smiled apologetically. His bald head gleamed in the light, his face lined and worn. He had the nicest eyes, though. So kind and good-hearted. Almost like my fathers, from what I remembered. I hadnt met too many people with nice eyes over the years. I know its late, but we had an urgent clean-up call from the honeymoon cabin.

Id made it clear Id do just about anything he asked as far as cleaning the rooms or working in the kitchenas long as I stayed indoors after nightfall.

The main motel was a lodge building, with rooms off one main hall. Over the years, hed added individual cabins spaced out on the property, away from the main building. The customers loved being able to have a room out in the woods where they couldnt see anybody else, but still be minutes away from a hot meal or the main shopping strip.

The honeymoon cabin was bigger than the others with a giant heart-shaped Jacuzzi that Id come to despise, and of course, it was the furthest from the main building. The tub again?

He nodded. They put some bubbles in and lost track of how full it was getting.

Crap. I so did not want to track out there and mop for an hour or two.

Ellies home sick and Toms in the kitchen. I really need you to take it if at all possible. Ill give you a bonus.

I could use the money, but my hands were already trembling. It was early. My period probably wouldnt start for another day or two, so the monsters shouldnt have tracked me this far. But that didnt mean they werent out there, waiting for me to be stupid enough to walk around at night.

With a small nod, I turned around and headed down the hall to the back door. Id stay inside as long as possible, take the shortest route there, and get back. Id leave the cart and run if I had to. Pausing at the door, I crouched down and checked the bucket on the very bottom with my personal supplies. It wasnt much, just a large container of salt and a strip of wood with a few rusty old nails Id scrounged. Salt and iron were about the only thing Id found to deter the monsters long enough for me to get to safety. If I could make one of them bleed, the rest of the pack would usually attack the wounded one, buying me more time.

I didnt have much of a coat, just a pullover hoodie I now dragged over my head. The cold didnt bother me much, but I got a lot of weird stares if I walked around in the middle of winter without at least some long sleeves on. I checked my pocket, making sure the small pocketknife hadnt fallen out.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to sense anything amiss. Was the trickle of ice down my spine my imagination brought about by fear? Or was there really something out there? I couldnt tell, but it might be the faint white line of salt Id spilled at the door when I first came here. So far, no one had noticed and swept it up. It helped that they put salt on the sidewalks to keep them from being slippery. Another thing that might keep me somewhat safe tonight if I stuck to the sidewalk.