Chapter 19






Sitting on the porch in the late evening for BJ was her only time to get fresh air and some decent time away from Cayden. In the mid-summer it was warm and pleasant outside at night but tonight it was unusually chilly. BJ wrapped her arms around herself feeling a chill run through her body. The air felt thick but it wasn’t humid it was…tense. The sky was preparing for a storm. A rumble of thunder rattled around her making her jump. She couldn’t understand why she was so jumpy, storms never bothered her but there was just something she was sensing that wasn’t right. Another rumble but this one didn’t sound like thunder, it was a…growl. She remembered her mother once telling her to always keep a gun successivo to te when living out in the wilderness of the desert, te never know what creature will come lurking around at night but she paid no attention to her mother’s warning tonight.
She reached down under the porch bench hoping to find a gun o some kind of weapon under there. Her fingers grazed against something rough, she grasped her hand around it and quickly realized it was just a rock.
I can always throw a rock at its head, she thought stupidly as she held on tightly to her lousy excuse for a weapon.
Her breathe caught in her throat when a yellow pair of eyes in the darkness stared at her.
She was Frozen still.
The eyes did not belong to an animal…
This was a human.
Now I know why Cayden was so spooked.
BJ jumped to her feet as the yellow eyes started to advance towards her. Her cuore started pounding fast as the adrenaline kicked in, urging her to run but her mind told her that the figure would chase her making her vulnerable to any attack.

“Who are you?” she demanded trying to keep her voice strong. The figure did not answer but stopped moving, perhaps surveying its position.
She decided to do something rather stupid while the figure had stopped moving…to throw her lousy rock at its supposed head.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t particularly intelligent.
Taking her aim, she threw the rock hard and straight for its forehead. The rock hit its target and the figure let out a shrill inhuman scream, literally piercing BJ’s ears. She ran for the front door of the house but a boney clawed hand grabbed the back of her neck. The claws dug into her skin, blood began to trickle down her back and chest. She tried to fight back but her body seemed to be paralyzed, no command her brain sent was working. She was abruptly thrown against the railing of the porch, feeling her ribs crack from the impact.
Her chest burned as she tried to take breaths of air in but her rib cage protested. Still unable to move, she saw the creature’s horrible yellow eyes above her but it was too dark to see what it looked like. A putrid smell of rotting meat filled her nostrils making her gag.
“What…are…you?” she choked out.
To her surprise and fear, the creature leaned down to her face breathing its horrible breath on her.
“Your reaper…” it hissed.
It opened its mouth preparing to tear her neck open but something stopped it in mid bite. A powerful force threw the surprised creature to the ground. It landed hard making a struggled grunt.
Apparently it was thrown so hard unto the ground that its back was broken, rendering it paralyzed. Suddenly her body sprang back to life as she was able to pull herself up from the ground. Her ribs still hurt and breathing was definitely a challenge. She watched as another figure attacked the creature, tearing it apart. Its shrill scream pierced the air but was ended abruptly.

“Are te alright?”

She jumped at the low but human sounding voice that suddenly came out of the darkness.
“Who the hell are you?” she detto as she stumbled up the porch steps opening the door. The light from the living room flooded the porch. She looked behind her shocked to see a tall, black haired and muscular young man dressed in a leather jacket, black camicia and jeans. He appeared to be a biker and definitely a Native Indian.

“Sorry about just appearing out of nowhere but I was ridin’ da and heard that strange scream so I rode over and…”

“Hold it, who are te first? I don’t like talking to people without knowing their name.”
“Oh, I’m Koda…short version for Miakoda but it sounds girlish to me so it’s Koda,” he answered politely.
“Indian?” BJ asked.
“Full blood,” he detto giving her a wink. He stepped closer to her and now she could see più details of his appearance. He was handsome, his hair was long but a bit shaggy, and he looked as if he’d hadn’t seen a bath for a few days.
His eyes were a deep reddish brown, almost hypnotic as she found herself getting Lost in them. She had to look away but his presence didn’t feel dangerous and since he practically just saved her life, she asked him if he wanted to come in.
“Oh no, that’s okay, I should go now” he protested.
“Come on, its late, te look tired and te just killed some weird culo coyote o some shit over there.
She motioned behind him. Whatever it was, she never thought a coyote could talk but it was probably her fear playing with her at the time.
“So te should stay the night and enjoy a nice shower, te look like te need one.”
Koda gave in, the offer of a doccia sounded nice and also sleeping on a letto instead of the ground was più than inviting.

“The name’s BJ,” she detto letting Koda walk past her as she closed the door and securing the locks.
“BJ? Gotta be short for somethin’ else,” he detto looking around their living room. She noticed his accent, a soft Texas Twang to it.
“Yeah it’s short for Bobbie Jo but I hate that name. Your accent sounds Texan, where te from?”
“Big Spring, it’s in the western part.”
“Sounds small.”
“It is.”
She pointed down to a hall that led to the back of the house, “My brother should be done in the doccia and most likely in letto so te can use it now, then just crash out on our sofa letto here. No guest room unfortunately. Well we do but it’s occupied da our cousin.”
“Shouldn’t te tell your brother y’all got a guest?” he asked looking nervous.
“In the morning, he’s dead tired from working all giorno so not a good time for sudden news.”
As she led him towards the bathroom a young girl popped her head out from a door, “whose the sexy lad?”
Her accent was Irish and very thick at that. Koda figured her to be the cousin but wasn’t expecting an Irish kid.
“He’s a friend of mine; his truck broke down and happened to be nearby so he’s staying the night. Now back to your room.”
“Fine, but I wanna know più about ‘ye tomorrow,” she detto looking him up and down in a playful flirting way.
Koda smiled to himself; if he didn’t look like a guy in his 20s he could easily make this girl his first girlfriend.

“Cute kid,” he said.
“Yeah, very adorable. Uh the towels are in the linen closet and I guess te can sleep in your underwear.”
Koda thought for a moment. He realized he wasn’t wearing any underwear!
“Um, a bit of a problem…”
He pulled down the waist band of his jeans a bit mostrare that he had no underwear.
“Oh that is a problem, ok…” BJ stood there staring blankly at the floor, wondering what she could do for Koda. “My brother has a pair of shorts he wore the other giorno in the hamper, not too dirty so just wear those.”
“No problem,” he answered. “Oh and da the way, I wasn’t driving a truck so you’ll have to re explain your story about me.” He closed the door before she could respond.
It suddenly dawned on her; she really had no idea why she even invited this guy in and where he even came from. o what he exactly killed outside. As if just coming out of a trance, she suddenly felt exhausted.
She went to her room and collapsed onto her bed, quickly falling asleep.

Koda finished his doccia and found the pair of shorts BJ told him he would find in the hamper. He felt a lot better but he had one problem, as he looked at his reflection, he noticed he had a few days old stubble and he never learned how to shave. If he didn’t shave this hair off soon, he was gonna look like a cave man.
He looked under the sink cabinet to find something to use but there was nothing but an air freshener, shaving cream, and toilet paper. Opening one drawer he found some razors.
There was no way he was attempting to shave with razors, he’d tear himself up. He checked another drawer and to his relief he found an electric shaver.

The sofa letto wasn’t all that great, it was a bit thin and a spring was pokin’ him in the back but it beat the ground any day.
He still wasn’t sure what made him come this way o even end up at this ranch but coming across that demon…there had to be another reason why he came here. He thought Iah had something to do with it but it wasn’t likely.
A terrible thought crept into his mind,
Maybe that Nukpana brought te here; maybe he wants te to kill this family as revenge…
He shut that thought out and tried to focus on his sleep and sent Iah a message for help.


“Your so called nephew is your home Achack.”
Achack laid on a letto of animal skins, the smell of dead animali filled the air and the familiar hunger for it began to take over.
“Don’t influence him, he’s just a kid.” Achack’s voice was not his normal voice, it was deep and gravely. Animal like with not a hint of human in him. But he held on to his emotions like they were going to keep him alive.
Nukpana was crouched in the corner of the cave; his red eyes glowed from the fire, filled with an animalistic evil.
“I don’t have to make him do anything; he’ll do what he is meant to do, unlike you…a coward.” Nukpana sneared.
Achack tried to ignore him but his anger was building and the pain was coming back.