I didn't open my eyes. My head felt like someone had pried the top off, dropped a grenade inside, and slammed the lid shut again. "Hello, Adam. What are you doing here?"
"Fetching you. It's time to come in."
"Is the heat off already? It's only been a few days."
"Nah, you're still radioactive as hell. But Luke needs you more than you need to lay low. It's time to roll out and end this shit. And for that, they need their big guns."
Adam wasn't kidding when he referred to himself as one of the big guns. He was honestly one of the biggest dudes I'd ever seen, and was as strong as a bull elephant besides. "Sounds good. The boss got away, but he told me where Orobas was headed. Balomik has his own shit to answer for, but that's going to have to wait for another day."
"Shit to answer for? Like the pretty woman with her heart ripped out lying on the scorched carpet surrounded by demon carcasses?"
"Well, when you put it like that..." I said. Adam looked around, and I heard the sirens. "Fuck. We gotta go." I struggled to my feet, not helped by the mountain of ugly china and dishwater scattered around me. I kept sliding on plates and Adam finally had to pick me up and deposit me on my feet beside him.
The giant bent over, then straightened up and handed me my pistol. Apparently I'd dropped it when I got my ass beat by the demon. "Yeah, wouldn't do to have you involved in two mysterious murders and destroyed crime scenes, would it?"
"You're a regular laugh riot, Adam."
"Thanks, I've been working on new material." Part of the problem in dealing with someone who isn't exactly human is that you never know when they're joking or not. Some of the wiring is just off enough that their sense of humor doesn't exactly match the norm.
"You got a car?" I asked. My pickup was parked a few blocks away, and walking even that far with my swimming head and the police presence that was about to be swarming this place was right out.
"Yeah."
"Good. The demon told me before he knocked me out that Orobas is in Atlanta, or he will be soon."
"That fits with what I've got. Luke called me a couple hours ago to come get you. They lost Orobas at the airport, but he's on a charter to Atlanta right now. They're already on their way down there."
"Sounds good. Let's roll." We picked our way through the wreckage of the house out to a massive Hummer idling by the street.
"This thing's your ride?" I asked. "Could you maybe have gone for the inconspicuous option?"
"Harker, you might have missed the fact that I'm over seven feet tall and am carrying more muscle mass than the Bengals’ offensive line. Inconspicuous is not a word that is often associated with me."
"Good point. I suppose you're driving?"
"You're damn skippy I'm driving. I've ridden with you before, Harker. I'm not in a hurry to take my life in my hands again."
"That's something I've always meant to ask you. Can you die?"
"Haven't found anything that can kill me yet. Bullets won't do it, old age won't do it, knives won't do it. And as a bunch of peasants learned to their despair a long damn time ago, fire and pitchforks sure as hell won't do it. Now let's go meet up with the rest of the crew and kill this fucking demon."
"Sounds good, pal." I followed the giant out to the Hummer and me and Frankenstein's monster rode off to Atlanta on a demon hunt.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks as always to Melissa Gilbert for all her help, and to Adrijus at RockingBookCovers.com for his fantastic cover work.
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About the Author
John G. Hartness is a teller of tales, a righter of wrong, defender of ladies’ virtues, and some people call him Maurice, for he speaks of the pompatus of love. He is also the best-selling author of EPIC-Award-winning series The Black Knight Chronicles from Bell Bridge Books, a comedic urban fantasy series that answers the eternal question “Why aren’t there more fat vampires?” In July of 2016. John was honored with the Manly Wade Wellman Award by the NC Speculative Fiction Foundation for Best Novel by a North Carolina writer in 2015 for the first Quincy Harker novella, Raising Hell.
John is the author of the Bubba the Monster Hunter series of short stories and novellas, the Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter novella series, and the creator and co-editor of the Big Bad anthology series, among other projects.
In 2016, John teamed up with a pair of other publishing industry ne’er-do-wells and founded Falstaff Media, a publishing conglomerate dedicated to pushing the boundaries of literature and entertainment.
In his copious free time John enjoys long walks on the beach, rescuing kittens from trees and recording new episodes of his podcast Writing Rants, where he provides writing advice laced with a lot of profanity every two weeks. He’s also a member of the Authors & Dragons podcast, with a bunch of other writers who are way better and funnier than he is. John is also a contributor to the Magical Words group blog. An avid Magic: the Gathering player, John is strong in his nerd-fu and has sometimes been referred to as “the Kevin Smith of Charlotte, NC.” And not just for his girth. He can be found online at www.johnhartness.com and spends too much time on Twitter, especially after a few drinks.
Find out more about John online
@johnhartness
johnghartness
www.johnhartness.com
Also by John G. Hartness
The Black Knight Chronicles - Omnibus Edition
Paint it Black
In the Still of the Knight
Man in Black
Scattered, Smothered, & Chunked - Bubba the Monster Hunter Season One
Grits, Guns, & Glory - Bubba the Monster Hunter Season Two
Moon Over Bourbon Street - a Bubba the Monster Hunter Novellas
Night at the Museum - a Bubba the Monster Hunter novellas
Midsummer - a Bubba the Monster Hunter novella
Year One: A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter Collection
Heaven Sent - a Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter novella
Heaven’s Door - a Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter novella
Queen of Kats Book I - Betrayal
Queen of Kats Book II - Survival
From the Stone
The Chosen
k with friends