Paranormal Hunter Chapter 1

“Careful with his legs!” someone snarled. “You just about dropped him.”

“What’s it matter?” another mysterious voice asked. “He’s not going to be needing them soon, anyway.”

What the fuck was even going on? My head felt heavy and full of static like an old TV, and the sound of the blood glugging through my veins was slow and lazy.

Thump… thump. Thump… thump.

The last thing I remembered was sitting on the steps of UC, just a few feet away from the Mick and Mack lion statues, eating my lunch. Then my head started to feel a bit heavy, and I blacked out right there on the pavement.

Now, I had no fucking clue where I was. There was some sort of hood or bag over my head that obscured my vision, but I could clearly hear the sound of croaking frogs and screeching cicadas along with the footsteps and the jabber of my abductors.

Definitely in a forest of some sort.

I could also see several obscured bits of glowing red and orange light all around me that wobbled too and fro and flickered like the flames of a campfire.

I didn’t know who these people were, and I really didn’t want to find out. I tried my damndest as I told my body to start twisting, punching, and kicking at mystery men, but it was about as useful as telling a cat to get off the counter. I felt super sluggish and, no matter how hard I tried, my body would not respond to the commands of my brain.

These fuckers must have drugged me or something, because I was about as spry as a sloth right now.

“You sure we’re deep enough into the woods?” a deeper voice asked. “I don’t want to have another incident like Cleveland.”

“So we had to kill a couple of nosy cops after the ceremony was done,” the first voice scoffed. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“It was all over the papers and the local news,” the deep voice growled. “Maybe you’d actually know that if you could read.”

“Asshole,” the first voice muttered.

“Will you two morons quit yacking?” yet another voice demanded. “This was one of the easiest bag and grabs we’ve ever done, and you’re both acting like we just kidnapped the Queen of England.”

“That old woman probably would have put up more of a fight than this one did,” a nasaly voice snickered, and then a hand patted my side casually. “That’s the best part about grabbing them before their powers kick in.”

Powers? Who the fuck did they think I was?

“He can still hear you, dumbass,” the deep voice growled. “The spell was for paralysis of the body, not the mind.”

“Awww, don’t worry about it, Tony,” the nasally voice responded. “This Bastard of Baast will be out of his misery in a minute here, and then he won’t be telling anybody.”

“He will certainly have the chance to tell Khonsu,” one of the men noted. “In between all the wonderful torments our almighty God has planned for this Bastard of Baast.”

Bastard of Baast? What the fuck were they even saying?

Could this be a dream? A coma? Maybe I cracked my head a little too hard when I passed out.

Suddenly, my momentum completely stopped, and I was tossed around like a sack of potatoes. My back slammed down onto some hard wooden surface, which caused a sharp twinge of pain to shoot up my spine, but of course, all I could do was let out a gurgled moan.

The pain wasn’t the worst part, though. It was the fact I could feel the pain so sharply.

This couldn’t be a dream.

“Awwww,” the first man’s voice mocked. “I think we’re hurting the poor kid.”

As I laid there flat on my back, my captors began to bind my wrists and ankles with leather straps. Soon, they had me completely sprawled out and tied up, and I lost the ability to move my limbs even a fraction of an inch.

“Do we really have to bind him?” the nasally voice grumbled. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“You know the drill,” the deep voice sighed. “This is how every one of our sacrifices are made.”

Sacrifice?

Holy shit. I was seriously tied up in the middle of a forest, and these satanist fucks were going to kill me.

“It’s a stupid rule,” the nasally man snorted. “I say it’d just be a lot easier to smash in his skull with a lead pipe and dump him in the Ohio River.”

“I’m a bit disappointed in you, Arlo,” a new voice, one with much more gravitas, interjected. “You should know by now why we perform these sacrifices the way we do… It is the way Baast killed Khonsu during the time of the Old Gods.”

Okay, so I’d taken enough classes over Ancient Egypt to know Baast and Khonsu were Egyptian gods, so these guys weren’t satanists, but still, this made no fucking sense. These fucks were going to sacrifice me to a god nobody has believed in for thousands of years?

“Yes, High Priest.” The nasally man’s voice was now humble. “Forgive me for questioning Khonsu.”

“All is forgiven, Moon Child,” the high priest’s voice answered. “Now, remove his hood. We must ensure the light of his life goes out when the knife is plunged into his heart.”

Jesus Christ. They were serious.

I gritted my teeth as I commanded my limbs to fight back against their restraints, but they were still useless. I was a sitting duck right now.

Fuck me. If I’d known I was gonna die today, I wouldn’t have gotten my last meal from freaking Mick and Mack’s.

“Right away, High Priest,” the deep voice announced.

My heart pounded in my chest as the fabric of the hood was lifted away from my eyes, and I was left staring up at the night sky. The darkness was dotted by several bright pinpricks of light, which themselves were shrouded by the canopy of tall trees that swayed along with the wind.

My head was turned to the side, and once my eyes adjusted to the darkness I saw I was surrounded by several men, all of whom were in dark crimson robes and held torches in their hands. My captors wore stern expressions upon their faces as they circled around me and lowered their heads.

Then another man stepped into my field of vision. He had a sharp nose, high cheekbones, wispy blond hair, and a scowl that could peel paint. Unlike the rest of my captors, this guy sported a gaudy, jewel-encrusted belt wrapped around his waist, and it came up all the way to his chest and hung down between his legs. At its very center was a brilliant chunk of polished gray moonstone that must have been the size of a cantaloupe, and it was surrounded by several smaller pieces of labradorite arranged to create some sort of hieroglyphics.

Worst of all, though, was the fact he held a bone-hilted dagger in his hand.

This had to be the “High Priest.”

The man bent down and tilted his head as he stared deep into my eyes, and then he clicked his tongue.

“How did it take us this long to find him?” He whistled. “Just take a look at those eyes… Only a Bastard of Baast has the piercing eyes of emerald like he does.”

“He has the mark, too,” one of the men added. “He’s definitely one of them.”

I wanted to do nothing but scream right now. All I wanted to do was sit up and tell them they had the wrong guy, and that I had no goddamn clue what they were getting at with all this “Bastard of Baast” stuff.

But I couldn’t. All I could do was lay there and watch helplessly as the High Priest moved around so he was standing over my head.

“And now, my Children of the Moon…” the High Priest announced. “The time has come to send another one of Baast’s heinous creatures back to the netherworld from which it came. I am sorry, Carter Hatfield, but Khonsu can not tolerate having your kind on this Earth. You may have been chosen by Baast, my child, but realize we are actually doing you a favor… She did not bless you. She cursed you, and now we are going to release you from that curse. Let us begin.”

The men in the crimson robes began to chant something unintelligible under their breath. It almost sounded like something mediterranean, like Latin or Greek, but I didn’t recognize a single word they were saying.

It didn’t really matter, though. Right now, I had way bigger problems.

Like the guy standing over me with a dagger, who was waiting for the cue to plunge it into my heart.

Come on, Carter. Just move your legs. These straps weren’t very tight, and I could at least wiggle out of them if I could just regain control of my body. Hell, even some simple motor functions would be great right about now.

The chanting of my captors echoed through the forest in a dull, spine-chilling drone.

Then I heard the words I fear the most.

“And now, we return this child to the Earth from whence he came,” the High Priest muttered.

My heart now beat at the speed of a hummingbird’s wings, and I was fully panicking. Then I felt a small twinge in my left arm, like somebody had just pricked me with an invisible needle, and a dull throbbing sensation began to spread up and down my shoulder and forearm. It didn’t feel painful at all. In fact, it was actually somewhat comforting.

What happened next, though, was anything but.

My brain started to fucking burn, and the hot pain spread through my entire skull and then down through my cheeks, chin, and eventually my neck. The canine teeth in my mouth started to throb intensely as darkness surrounded my vision, and then every muscle in my body tensed up as a tingling sensation washed over my face.

Finally, it felt like I had control of my motor functions again. Unfortunately, the first thing I did was open my mouth and scream.

But instead of a blood-curdling cry of fear I heard something else.

A powerful, guttural roar.

“I thought you said he didn’t have his powers yet?” one of the men gasped.

“Do it now, High Priest!” another begged.

The muscles in my arms and legs started to spasm as they twisted and stretched inside of my flesh like they were elongating, and at the same time, every hair on my body started to tingle as they thickened and turned into scratching bristles against my skin. I heard the sound of ripping fabric just before I saw my jeans and my UC hoodie fall away from my body, which rendered me completely exposed to the elements.

I jerked my head upright so I was facing the High Priest, and the man’s face was frozen in pure terror.

His eyes were as wide as saucers as his mouth fell agape, but then he quickly raised the dagger up over his head and prepared to strike.

I let out another powerful roar as I struggled against my restraints, and this time all four of the thick leather straps tore away as if they were made of cardboard. I instantly rolled over to the left, seconds before the blade came down where my chest had just been.

“K-Khonsu help us all…” one of the men sputtered.

As I stood to my feet, I realized I now towered over the High Priest. I’d always been on the taller side, but now I was literally looking down on the man by nearly two whole feet.

Most shocking of all, though, wasn’t the fact I was taller.

I had paws.

Gone were my human hands, replaced now by two giant cat-like paws that were covered in a thick black fur. I no longer had fingers, nor did I have a palm like a regular person. Instead there were five massive black toe beans and a giant pad.

“Die, you foul Bastard of Baast!” the High Priest screamed as he lunged at me with his dagger.

I jumped to the left, away from the attack, and gasped when I went ten freaking feet. Then I landed gracefully on all fours before I spun around and looked back at my captors.

If I wanted to, I could have high-tailed it out of here, out of the forest and back to my dorm room where I could contact the police. But a little voice in my head told me that was a bad idea.

For some reason, a red-hot ball of rage settled inside of my stomach.

These men had all tried to kill me.

Why should I run when I could just return the favor?

Now that I’d put some distance between myself and the robed men, I could see there were ten of them in total.

Wait. How the hell was I able to see them so well? It was pitch-black in this forest.

I couldn’t dwell on it for long, though, because the captors all had daggers drawn, and some of the bastards bowed their heads as they mumbled something under their breath.

Fuck that.

I didn’t know what those mumblers were trying to pull, but it wasn’t anything good, so I let out a roar as I charged at the men.

And they looked like they were about to piss themselves with fear.

Once I was about seven feet away from the first chanting man, I crouched down and propelled myself forward with all the strength in my body.

I smashed into the man with a powerful thud and tackled him to the ground, and he let out a wail of agony when his ribs snapped under my weight. Before he could retaliate, I pulled back my right arm and slammed my fist into his face.

Well, actually, I slammed my paw into his face.

Blood sprayed out in a geyser as the entire front of his skull crumbled with my punch, and his body began to twitch. I hit him again, and this time his entire head exploded like a gore-filled balloon. Bits of brain, bone, and bloody flesh splashed across the forest floor as his body went limp, and my mouth fell open.

I just crushed a man’s head with my fucking bare hands, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it long.

I felt a sharp stabbing pain on my right hip as a dagger pierced my flesh, so I whipped around and lashed out at my assailant. My giant paw slammed into the side of his body and launched him like a flicked fly straight into a nearby tree.

The poor bastard hit the trunk awkwardly, and there was a wet pop as his body literally twisted around the tree backwards. He screamed in pain as he fell down into the dirt, where he continued to wail, motionless.

“Khonsu etwan mortrollo devos,” one of the muttering men whispered, and then his hand began to glow with a gray glimmer of light.

“Protect Arlo!” the High Priest commanded. “Khonsu is on our side!”

The remaining seven men attempted to form a human shield between myself and the chanting man.

That was a big mistake.

I let out another rage-filled roar before I went down on all fours and began to run at the robed assailants, and even though I bounded across the forest with the speed of a cheetah, I heard no footfalls as I ran.

“Bastard of Baast, begone!” a robed man snarled as he stepped forward with his own glowing gray hands.

The guy held out his open palm and launched a beam of his gray light straight at me, but I instinctively sprang up into the air and over the attack. He tried to follow my trajectory, but I simply twisted in midair and avoided the beam of whatever the fuck he was trying to hit me with.

When I came down from my fall, I landed right behind the fucker. Nothing but rage filled my mind as I lashed out at him with my left paw, and this time, I sensed something pop out from between my toes.

A claw. A claw the size of a butcher knife.

My claw caught the robed man in the side of the head, where it promptly stabbed into his temple like a toothpick into an olive, but I wasn’t done. The momentum carried my blow the rest of the way through, and I ripped the upper left part of his skull off his body with a Monty Python geyser of blood.

The robe man’s eyes rolled back in his head as he stumbled around in shock before he went down, and then I turned around just in time to see four of the robed men coming at me with knives at the ready.

Two could play that game.

I unsheathed all ten of my claws and snarled as I watched my attackers approach.

The first two jumped at me at the same time, and I knocked them away with a harsh backhand. They tumbled off into the trees like wet ragdolls, but they were still very much alive.

Before the other assailants could get to me, I lashed out, slammed my dark paw pads into the sides of their heads, and Hulk smashed their skulls together. Both of their heads cracked like blood-filled eggs, and their bodies collapsed as a massive geyser of brain matter erupted into the sky.

The High Priest now cowered behind the man known as Arlo, who himself had a giant circle of gray light around his hands.

I took one step toward the fuckers before he unleashed his magic at me. I let out a grunt of pain as the beam slammed into my gut, and then my body lifted off the ground. I felt a few trees splinter behind my back as I crashed through them, and then I hit the ground hard. I used my momentum to flip myself back onto all fours, and now all I could see was white hot rage.

Fuck these guys.

Two of the robed men limped back to the High Priest and Arlo before they turned their attention in my direction.

“Did that kill him?” one of my enemies asked.

“Khonsu is with us,” the High Priest reminded his friends. “Surely that slayed the beast.”

Think again, asshole.

Now, I was in control of the situation. I didn’t know where this surety came from, but it felt instinctual, right. I could move around silently, and apparently I could see in the dark.

These guys were so fucked.

I crouched down so my belly was nearly against the ground, and then I began to slink around on all fours. I snaked silently around the forest, and I ducked behind any trees and bushes that could give me cover.

It didn’t take long for me to come around behind the group, who now frantically searched the darkness for my body.

Finally, I pounced.

I roared intensely as I leap from my hiding spot with my claws at the ready. I held out my front paws and stabbed both sets of deadly nails right into the first man’s chest. Before he could even process what had happened, I dragged my arms downward and sliced open his abdomen with a splurt of viscera.

The man screamed as his innards plopped out onto the ground with a hiss, and the poor bastard helplessly tried to stuff them back into his body.

I turned away from the dying man as Arlo prepared another blast of silver.

This time, he wasn’t fast enough.

I swiped my claws across the bastard’s throat, and his head fell backward like it was on a severed marionette string as the flesh on his neck ripped apart. Crimson blood erupted from the man’s jugular, and the warm metallic fluid covered me in its warm spray as he crumpled to the ground.

Then there were two.

Another knife plunged into my back, and I snarled with pain as I whipped around to counter.

This time, I opened my jaw wide and then plunged my teeth into the bastard’s left shoulder.

He screamed as my elongated canines pierced his flesh, and then he began to wail when I picked him up and started to shake him like a dog with a chew toy. Once I’d had my fun, I raised my head up and slammed the man into the ground. Then I pressed my front right paw into his face, and it only took a few seconds for the pressure to build. Finally, his noggin exploded under my fist like a ripe watermelon.

“K-Khonsu?” the High Priest whispered. “Please forgive us.”

The High Priest’s brow furrowed as he came at me with his knife, but we both knew he didn’t stand a chance.

I easily sidestepped the attack and then slashed my claw across the bastard’s leg. My attack ripped apart his tendons and muscles easily, and he fell down on one knee as he screamed. Then I quickly stabbed the claws of my right paw into his back, lifted him up into the air, and then began to snarl.

The High Priest just whimpered like a baby as he prepared for his demise.

I couldn’t bear to watch a grown man snivel like that, so I made it quick.

I tossed him back into the ground as hard as I could, and there was a sickly snapping sound as several of his bones were shattered. He started to crawl away from me, but I wasn’t done quite yet. I crouched down, jumped up into the air, and held out all four of my paws as I plummeted back to the earth.

My full body weight landed on the High Priest’s back, and his bones snapped underneath my paws. Warm blood splashed up onto my belly as my paws passed through him like nothing, and then he let out a whimpered gurgle as he went limp.

I panted intensely as I stood up and surveyed the scene. The bastard whose back I’d broken earlier now just laid there, wide-eyed and limp.

They were all dead.

Or so I thought.

I heard a rustling in the bushes off to the north, so I ducked down to hide again. Then I cautiously circled around and followed the rustling noise, which was only about two-hundred feet or so off in the forest, but as I grew closer to the sound, another noise was added to the mix.

The sound of breathing.

Sure enough, I soon saw a figure in the darkness.

I didn’t know if it was another one of the robed men, or if it was just a random passerby, or what.

There was only one way to find out.

I slowly peeked my head out from behind my hiding spot and saw the person who was headed my way.

It was a woman.

She looked to be in her early to mid twenties, with ruby red hair tied up into a messy ponytail behind her head. The woman wore a moss-colored, long-sleeved top reminiscent of something a person on safari would wear, along with skin-tight black pants and a pair of square brown glasses.

I recognized her immediately, and I blinked as shock replaced some of my rage and adrenaline.

That was Janine Beckett. We’d taken like, ten classes together throughout college, and I’d always thought she was the hottest girl I’d ever met.

Of course, I’d always been too shy to actually ask her out or anything. Hell, I didn’t even know if she knew I existed.

Janine’s chocolate-colored eyes were full of intrigue as she glanced around the forest, until finally she seemed to look right at me.

Fuck.

“It’s alright, Carter,” the redhead said with a bubbly smile. “I know you’re there. Don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone else. Your secret is safe with me.”

What freaking secret? She couldn’t know I was…

“Carter…” Janine continued. “I know you’re a werepanther.”