Free Damoren by Seth Skorkowsky Page A

I thought I might be going mad. Then one night it found me.”
    “ What was it?” Matt asked
    “ Hellhound; a kind of werewolf, really. I had just crossed a farmer’s fence onto a dirt road, when I heard it howl.” He gave an exaggerated shiver. “Like an idiot, I pulled Ibenus out and headed toward it. I’d passed a hillock when I saw its red eyes in the shadows. It was huge. Massive. Like a small horse. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life. It charged at me and leapt. I swung, trying to block it, and bam, I was a meter away. Ibenus had never done that before. It came again, and this time I blinked to its other side and brought my sword down right into its flank. Legends had said a hellhound’s wail could sour milk and cause a miscarriage.” He nodded. “I’d believe it. Unholy sound. It staggered back, then turned toward me. I blinked closer, and split its head in one blow.
    “ I hadn’t been ready for the fire. Brilliant blue flames. Then Ibenus changed. The corroded metal mended. It became as new. The leather I’d wrapped around her handle split open as the ancient wood beneath grew back. Bloody amazing.” He paused. “Then I saw the burning dog was becoming a woman. Naked, face cleaved open, and there I was, holding a fucking sword above a corpse.”
    Matt sighed. It had taken him years before he could handle seeing the body after a demon kill. Sometimes, it still got to him. “What’d you do?”
    “ I freaked. Killing a monster is one thing, but murder, prison. Thought about burying her, but what then? I just got the hell out of there. Went home. Police found the body the next day. I swore I’d never do anything like that again. But Ibenus had me. Month later, I’m in Chinatown looking for a succubus.”
    “ You find it?”
    “ No, but Marcus found me. Valducans recruited me, and I’ve been with them since. That was four years ago.”
    “ You finish school?”
    Allan shook his head. “No, but I’ve been leading the project to convert the Valducan library to digital. Learned a lot. Lot more than anything school could have done.”
    “ Like what?”
    “ Everything. Lore, demon-types, histories. There’s a lot of stuff they’ve packed away. Like, do you know why silver hurts some like vampires and werewolves?”
    Matt shook his head. “Why?”
    “They’re deceptive creatures. That’s essentially their power. Silver is the metal of mirrors, so it hurts them. It reflects what they really are. That’s why vampires abhor mirrors.”
    “ Why don’t werewolves, then?” Matt asked, his brow furrowed. “They don’t give a damn about them.”
    Allan rubbed his bandaged neck. “Well...maybe because werewolves are more physical. Vampires are more spirits. It’s why a vampire can continue inhabiting a body even after it has died. They aren’t as tied to the flesh as a werebeast.”
    “ OK, then. What about gold or iron. Rakshasa’s are masters of deception. Silver just pisses them off.”
    “ It’s a different kind of deception. Gold is highly reflective. It doesn’t corrode. They need something more powerful than silver.”
    “ But gold won’t kill a vampire.”
    The Englishman shrugged. “It’s just a theory,” he said, his tone surrendering.
    “ Well,” Matt said. “Best one I’ve heard so far.”
    #
    They landed late the next day at a tiny airport in Southern France. A tall man with hair so blonde that it bordered on white picked them up in a sedan the color of oiled leather.
    “ Jean, this is Matthew Hollis,” Schmidt said to the driver in French. “Clay Mercer’s student. Matthew, this is Jean.”
    “ Good to meet you,” Matt said, holding a heavy duffle over one shoulder and clutching Dämoren’s wooden case under his other arm.
    Jean gave a terse smile. His dark sunglasses stared back with cold indifference.
    “ Jean is protector of Lukrasus, and is one of our finest knights,” Schmidt said proudly.
    Matt smiled back at the white-haired hunter,