Page 39 of Monsters of Midnight

“It will feel good for a moment,” Oren said. “Then eventually, it changes, doesn’t it? Because the realization dawns that the very thing making you feel good right now is the thought of something you can never have. When you realize this, the pain and suffering is completely overwhelming. Because you were attached to something that has passed away in time.”

“So, what you’re saying is there is no such thing as a good haunting,” I said, shaking my head and closing my eyes briefly.

“Precisely,” Oren said. “You are better off, for everyone’s sake, of just letting go and moving on.”

Chapter 22

RYDER

In typical Vina style, the portal from Undirheim did not drop me back at the top of Mount Diablo. Instead, it dropped me back in Alameda, close to where I had taken the portal Vina had made. Once she had decided on something, she wasn’t going to hold it up. She decided it would be okay for me to go to Undirheim to see Caroline, and she had sent me immediately. Now I was back in the living room of my Victorian house in Alameda and I wasn’t sure my request had been such a good idea. And my heart ached with the loss of Caroline. Seeing her in the hands of the demons and the Valkyries was more than I wanted to stomach.

I was sure that seeing me would’ve triggered her desire to return to Earth, and to join me again, but the argument had been strong for staying in a blissful, peaceful world where feelings were numbed. She didn’t have to have such a hard time with the waves of human emotions and the way they moved her. The way they moved all humans, or those of us who are half human. I had the same feelings she did. It was just over a period of hundreds of years I had learned to stamp them down and let a lot of feelings go in the river of time. Inevitably, it swallowed up most of the events that seemed so monumental.

A light whimpering filled the air. I turned around and to my shock and surprise there was Bales, grinning from spiky tooth to spiky tooth, his face mostly absorbed by his gaping maw.

I had noticed the hell hound had been missing since Hawaii. I don’t know how he found his way back, but far be it from me to tell a hell hound where he should be and where he shouldn’t be. I was just grateful he wasn’t blaming me for the death of Caroline.

“I saw Caroline,” I said, rubbing my hand over the massive forehead of the beast.

A shining light in the far corner of the room warned me a portal was opening. I could tell by the red and gold light it was a demon portal. My heart skipped a beat, hoping upon hope it was Thrain delivering Caroline to me. The portal had hardly been fully formed once Ratchet stepped through it, stumbling into the room.

“Ratchet.” I moved forward to steady my friend.

“The potion worked pretty good,” he said, without needing to be asked.

“Did it take the edge off?” I asked.

“It did better than that,” he smiled wanly. “It stopped my cravings.”

“I have another DGC assignment.” I looked him up and down, not sure if he was up to the task.

“Is there ever anything but DGC assignments?” Ratchet asked with a sideways grin that looked a lot like a smirk.

“I suppose not,” I said, with a shrug. It had been that way for so long now, I hardly even noticed. Even now, as I was receiving the instructions, or hearing about the infractions of monsters on Earth, the desire to protect and serve was gone. I was completely devoid of the feeling of needing to stop the monsters from destroying all of humanity. I still had the feeling to protect, but without my wife, it had lost power. It was no longer as compelling as it used to be.

Still, it was a job to do, and someone had to do it. At least now I knew I wasn’t fighting my own brother.

“Where is Cade now?” Ratchet asked.

“Yellowstone.” I passed on the information Vina had been giving me earlier.

“What’s he doing in Yellowstone of all places?” Ratchet asked.

“One of the largest volcanoes in the continental United States,” I said. “Seems like a pretty good place for the son of Vulcan to be.”

“One portal to Yellowstone, coming up,” Ratchet shrugged.

The corner of the living room was taken up by a red and yellow, flame-encrusted demon portal. I gave a sharp whistle and Bales came running toward me. I didn’t want to get the little guy hurt at all, but I felt pretty confident the hell hound could take care of its own ass in a fight. At least that was the assumption I had made for everything I’d seen so far.

We stepped through the portal and landed on a broad glen, surrounded by a forest of trees. At the center of it was a steaming cistern of water.

“A geyser,” Ratchet said, pointing at the sulfur infused turquoise water in front of us.

“Better stay back,” I said. “The last thing we need is boiled demon or monster bones.”

“We can send the monsters through it,” Ratchet said.

“There’s only one problem with that idea,” I said, raising my thumb and pointing it behind us. “The monsters are on our side of the geyser.”

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