One Bounce Away From Crazy by Sam Cheever

Author:Sam Cheever
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Electric Prose Publications

14

VAMPIN’ IT UP

I strode down the street next to Justice with a new swagger in my steps. I was grinning like I’d just discovered a fifty percent off sale in my favorite shoe department.

Justice swung his gaze my way and I refused to look at him, knowing I’d find an amused expression on his face. “Stop that,” I told him.

“Stop what?”

I finally turned. “Gloating.”

He chuckled. “I’ve just never seen anyone get so excited in an armory before.”

I finally laughed with him. “I’ve always loved weapons. It’s probably because I was a female cop. When you’re smaller and weaker than most of the bad guys, weapons are the great equalizer.”

“Weapons and technique,” he reminded me. “Your technique is exceptional. I can see why Mira selected you.”

That reminder tugged the smile right off my face. “Can you, though?” I asked, not even sure exactly what I was asking him. “We don’t even know if she chose me on purpose. Maybe I was just the last face she saw before she died.”

Justice thought about that for a beat and then surprised me by asking me to describe my one and only meeting with the dead traveler again. “I came out of the store I was shopping in and was walking down the street, not really paying attention to my surroundings. Then, suddenly, she was there, draped across the sidewalk in front of me. I tripped over her.”

He nodded. “Go on.”

“There’s not much to say other than that. I tried to help her but she was too far gone. She tried to say something to me before she died. I couldn’t hear it very well, but looking back I’m thinking she called me Traveler Kitt. Then she just…disappeared.” I frowned at the memory. The here one minute and gone the next never to be seen again thing was disturbing to me. “Where did she go?” I asked my guide. “I mean, her body just disappeared. Was that it? No burial? No closure for her family?”

“Mira didn’t have any family. But, no. Her body disappeared from this dimension because she wasn’t of Terro. She was from Igne.”

“Igne? But I thought Igne was the monster dimension.”

“By way of percentages, it is. The dimension is eighty percent what most would consider monsters. The other twenty percent are normal people.” He frowned. “Not normal, really. Because of the circumstances they live in, Igneites tend to be warriors. They learn from an early age how to keep themselves safe.”

I thought about my very first monster encounter, remembering the family we’d rescued. The dead husband. The grieving wife and child. “They were Igneites, weren’t they?”

Justice turned a questioning look to me.

“That first family we helped. They were from Igne, weren’t they?”

He nodded. “The husband fought bravely, but he was no match for a family of Chickara. They should have known better than to be out there in the forest without protection.”

“Why were they?” I asked, my gaze sliding up and down the street where we were walking. The people looked much like those I would encounter at home, except for their clothing.

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