THINGS THAT GO BUMP

By Dani M. Ward

The world as we know it, is now gone forever. Vampires exist. Werewolves are real. Witches can create plagues. Wizards can raise the dead. And on top of that, new creatures are no longer satisfied hiding in the shadows. Now they roam the streets, claiming their place on earth or delivering your pizza. It's in this world that we meet Wren Willia

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dani M Ward LLC
• Release date: Jan 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736386514

Dani M. Ward

THINGS THAT GO BUMP

Book preview

1

I walk briskly down Main Street, occasionally stopping to check my surroundings. I do my best to stand next to the bright neon lights coming from the bars and clubs that litter the road. It's pretty dark tonight, the clouds in the sky are covering up the moon. The biodomes make the moon seem much closer than it actually is and allows me to see stars that I realistically couldn't from my location. The smell of roasted meats drifts towards me from a few different food carts that are likely waiting for the last call bar swarm. There are lines at nearly every location. Each building has its own group of supernatural creatures patrolling the lines as security. Most of the people in those lines are humans, hoping that they would be so lucky to get let into a bar where their presence is prohibited. Well, unless they're a snack, either literally or figuratively.  

Regardless, this isn't the area I’m looking for. I just parked over this way since it is a nicer side of town, not that anyone would ever steal or break into my car. So, I march on. I come upon probably one of the less desirable areas in the city. There leaning up against the side of the building, is a Carnelian colored woman putting a cigarette into her mouth. The building is definitely on its last leg. It started slowly tilting years ago, losing its center of gravity and now has a full vertical slant to the left. Like someone took some Legos and tried to build a tall tower on a soft carpet. I can see her inhale, then slowly the end of the cigarette glows a vibrant orange and red. The building she is up against has no people waiting, as it's never packed or even slightly difficult to get into. She takes a large puff as I walk past her.

I purposely smack her shoulder bag with my big hips, I thought we said you would stop smoking?

I do irresponsible things when I’m stressed. You know this. She hisses back as we both make an immediate turn to the small alleyway stationed between one club and one club/pizza shop.

Not really sure what it is this month. No one can keep a business afloat there, so it changes pretty regularly. 

My pace is leisurely down the barely lit alleyway with my best friend Gracen trailing behind. I can smell the stench of cigarettes wafting off her. I shake my head when I look at her, she can tell I’m disappointed. She shrugs because we do this every few months.

I take a peek down at my watch and wince when I see the time. It is half-past midnight, and all I want to do is go to bed, even if I can only sleep for three to five hours tops. I have work in just a few hours. And Gracen probably has, well I'm not sure what she has to do in the morning, but it's likely nothing that she would need to get up early for. She pulls the cigarette out of her mouth and it immediately extinguishes. She blows off the end to clear the ash then tucks it back behind her ears. 

The most important thing to know about Gracen Altavusta López, who is two years younger than I am, is that she is likely insane. And that she is an endless supply of energy.

Did I just say Altavusta? Yeah, I did. She belongs to that wealthy ass family of Altavusta's, which owns more than 60% of the city. While many Mexicans place their father's surname last, her mother's surname truly carries the power. Honestly, I'm surprised that the city hasn't changed its name to honor her mother's side. 

I turn and look behind me at Gracen, and mouth the words, Tired. 

Instead of sleeping like I know I need to, I find myself couching down and basically crawling to get behind the large green and, unfortunately, full trash cans. Gracen somehow managed to crawl gracefully up next to me, then slink over to the empty trash cans across from me.

I manage to barely hold in a large yawn, but not before I get the look. The look consists of a frown, and a perfectly groomed silver eyebrow, with a small split in the hair, being raised. 

What look? 

The one that says I should have stayed home. The one that says Gracen could have done this on her own, even though technically she is not allowed to. Or that we could have done this another night all together. But I have been searching and planning for ages, we couldn’t just do this another time. It might not have been in the same area. She wears that look often. It's not that we haven't been in a similar situation before. My name is Wren Williams, and I’m twenty-six ish, wait I just had a birthday, I’m twenty-seven years old.

My normally untamed coily-curly black and purple hair has pulled into a sleek medium-sized bun and is covered with a beanie. My hair when it is unconfined after being wet is large like a lion's mane. Gracen's hair, which is dyed grey with silver streaks this month and is almost always straightened within an inch of its life, is snatched into a ponytail so tight that it would give an average person a migraine. Even in a ponytail, her hair comes to the middle of her back. I know she cut it almost to shoulder length last month. She claims it's her Afro-Latina heritage, I think it's a spell. 

I'm wearing my standard hunting outfit. I threw on my black sneakers, black yoga pants, and a long black sleeve basic T-Shirt, all covered in a comfy black hoodie. Gracen has about the same thing. Only with mine being slightly worn out and comfortable, while Gracen’s are new and shiny.

When did you get glitter shoes? I whisper.

Gracen shrugs, I needed new shoes. Hell, you need new shoes too.

She’s not wrong. I’m wearing some boring old gray and white (not so white anymore) tennis shoes. 

The world as everyone knows it changed about seventy years ago. This was during the historical time of The Killings or The Cleansing. Depending on what your species is, determined how it was taught. For us, supernatural beings, it is spoken about as The Cleansing. When creatures that most people thought were fiction, came out into the mainstream world with a loud bang. Humans were beyond terrified after realizing that they were low on the totem pole and being hunted. Demons, Fae, Witches, and many more creatures came out of hiding to attack. They were no longer satisfied being on the sidelines and watching humans screw over the world. And so, for nearly forty years, there was nothing but mass genocide. Humans were the primary causality because of their inferiority. Witch’s cast horrible spells killing lands, creating great plagues, and destroying livestock, Shifter’s hunted and killed whoever they could in massive, deadly packs. Fae’s enchanted humans enough to make them attack and kill each other. And the end result was pure fucking chaos. It was nearly the end of the world. 

When the Humans realized they were outnumbered and outmatched, they decided to make peace with all the other sects. The different factions were Witches, Wizards, Shifters, Vampires, Demons, and Fae. Humans tried to give the different denominations any and everything, but the other groups only wanted technology. That was their only bargaining chip, and after some negotiations, it worked. A deal was passed. But the world had been ruined, the fighting had destroyed many areas beyond repair, creating widespread turmoil and a massive wasteland that in some regions caused radiation. 

So, the Witches and Wizards of the world joined forces long enough to create bio-domes that covered every major city. And one of these groups of celebrated witch families belongs to, drum roll please, Gracen's ancestors. Which is why most of the city is named after her mother's side. 

But back to the bio-domes. These bio-domes give us the four seasons, different weather, and helped to rebuild the destroyed world. Biodomes were only given to major cities that were still standing, and even then, there could be no more than three per state. The effects used to be a lot worse, some cities even though they have been rebuilt, still aren't better than others. Biodomes couldn't save or replicate everything, though. Many animals went extinct during The Cleansing.

Birds aren't even real anymore. They are fake creatures created by the domes or shifters. Many species of plants are a hit or a miss. Animals like cows, pigs, certain fish, and others had to be cloned for them to still be here. Rivers dried up and had to be refilled with water in the areas under the domes. These domes encompassed about 1000 square miles. Not a lot by any means. The intense fighting created unknown creatures or creatures that have had their abilities enhanced. It is believed that many of these unknown creatures outside of the domes wander inside. That's where people like us come in. Our job is to find them.

We are equipped with my notebook, Gracen's expensive camera and camera bag, pencils, and a sketchbook. Just in case the creature we are tracking is friendly enough to stand there for a quick sketch and photo. That does happen sometimes and by sometimes, I mean like once. I’m a Zapthropoligist, or a Zappy a person paid by the Council of Seven to find and study new creatures. We are to get their dietary, sleeping, and even hunting habits without engagement. That’s a lot easier said than done. The Council of Seven is a different group per state and is headed by the High Council. The Council of Seven is always made up of an ancient Shifter, Vampire, Fae, Witch, Demon, Wizard, and someone from the Human Council.

This light is horrible, Gracen whispers from behind me, I can't even get a good photo.

It's a good thing that my hearing is decent; otherwise, she would have scared me and made me jump, causing me to spook the creature.

I figured she couldn't get a good picture, or any for that matter. The alleyway has maybe three lights scarcely spread around. And by the looks of one light flickering, it was about to become two. If we were in a better part of The Hartlands, a city that historically was called Columbus, that would be a different story. 

I was hoping this would be easy like that time we found a Popolire. She whines. 

How was that easy? The thing was like 10 inches tall? I hiss. 

A Popolire is a male species of demonic centaurs that are between 10 and 20 inches tall. It took nearly 7 months to locate one. And that's barely including the time it took to track him as he moved around to understand his habits. 

At least we got to go somewhere nice. Gracen states. 

I didn't realize your upbringing would allow you to consider a two-star motel nice, I respond. 

Eh, you know the only thing I'm snob-ish about is clothing. And this isn't too terrible. At least it wasn't like that time we were tracking that huge ass bug, she mumbles as I heard a door bang open and loud voices spill out. 

Ah by far my least favorite find, the Cixuda, which was that centipede demon that exclusively fed on pregnant women. I still have nightmares about watching that thing slithering. I turn around and see her camera blocking her face. 

When people see the two of us, they know we are 100% opposite as far as appearances go. Like, okay we could possibly be like cousins. But Gracen isn't exactly someone who I could borrow clothes from. For starters, Gracen is tall, modelesque, and dresses to perfection; even her sweats are a designer brand. Gracen has deep set eyes that are hazel, and I have dark brown protruding eyes. At the same time, I'm short, curvy, and my clothes are just comfortable and sometimes frumpy. I've been called an old lady too many times. It's not that I couldn't borrow clothes from her per say, but everything would be too tight and way too short.

I’m the first black middle-class woman to get into a line of work that was mostly thought of as a rich white person's hobby. But I worked hard to be here. I have a degree in Anthropology. I took courses in English, Supernatural and Human Anatomy as well as Writing. It took me a little longer to get my degree. This is why even though I haven't been at it long, I’m much older than people who usually start. Gracen, because of her family and connections, started learning her photography skills at a young age. She trained with a professional and simply applied without having any degree because of her last name. She did, however, recently get a degree in Photography. Go my best fran. That’s my best fran.

Are you sure it's here? Gracen wonders snapping me out of my thoughts. 

Yes. I can feel it. I glance around the alleyway. 

The alleyway is about 50 to 55 feet long. It ends up against a dark gray stonewall, which is littered with trash. The trash cans are towards the front of the alley. And there is a large dumpster in the back. 

I slowly poke my head up from the trash cans I’m behind and glance down the alleyway towards the stonewall. I know I can feel something there. After a few seconds, Gracen gasps, and I know we can both see the glossy, shiny covered silhouette over by the wall. The creature is about seven feet tall. I can't tell if it has muscles or not, it's too dark and hasn't shown itself, but judging by its silhouette, it’s bulky.

I can't get a good picture. I'm going to put away my camera. I could hear her shove open her bag and pack away her camera slowly.

The creature lunges forward and smacks the dumpster into the stonewall spilling the contents. It uses what looks like long talon fingers to pull out a large radioactive glowing rat and a banana peel. It manages to crush the rat within seconds, not caring about the rat’s massive size. I can hear Gracen gag next to me. The now smoothie-like limp body is held gently as the peel is laid on top of it. It looks like it made a sandwich. I try not to gag loudly and do my best to cover up any sound. The creature looks up, and from the way it turns its shiny body I know, it's looking at us.

I've seen my fair share of gross, my second job is working at the morgue. And my third job is an organ harvester. I share an apartment with Gracen, but I still try to help pay for things.

We watch the shiny creature devour the banana rat sandwich in one gulp. That rat had to be at least a foot or so long. It managed to eat it whole in one bite, which means that the creature’s mouth is huge. My stomach starts to bubble, but then so did the creatures. I could hear the loud sound of gargling from almost 15 feet away.

While still looking in our direction, the thing opens its mouth, shoving its whole hand inside. I glance over at Gracen who shivers in fear and disgust. How scary must something be to scare her? She’s the scariest person I know, and I know a lot of people.

The long claws when they came back out a few moments later are completely visible. They are twisted and a dark brown color, holding the rat’s bones. Note to self, it doesn’t like bones, maybe a digestive issue? They are much bigger and deadlier than I gave them credit for. They are at least half a foot long, if not longer, they look like knives, all four of them in a twisted circle that made up a hand. Recently the morgue has gotten bags of bones, that look like someone cleaned them intently. Think eating chicken wings. This might be the cause of that, except those bones have huge teeth marks on them. Nothing in my books have those size marks. I've been listing this thing as the Bone-Regurgitator in my notes.  

The Bone-Regurgitator takes the bones and starts to gnaw on them. Alright then, maybe this is still the creature that has been giving me extra hours at the morgue. Note to self, change the name to the Bone-Nommer. The Bone-Nommer goes back to fishing around through the trash when I hear the sound of a steel bar door opening and loud dance music again. This time it seems to freak the demon out. The Bone-Nommer turns its head towards the sky and lets out a screeching sound that I'm sure others hear over the loud dance music. Then it launches itself on top of the massive dumpster then jumps once more to the top of the building. It’s gone in a moment.  

Wow, I turn behind me just in time to see Gracen put away her camera again. I didn’t even hear you bring your camera out again. You get anything?

Yeah, kind of. It was a little hard with no flash, but my night vision might have gotten something good. She explains. 

You think it's nocturnal? I ask. 

Yeah, I think that the Bone Chewer is probably nocturnal. Most of the disappearances occurred at night and the remains, which I originally thought were smashed, were located early morning. Gracen points out.

You've been calling it the Bone-Chewer? I want to know. 

For all of two minutes, yes. She states. 

But Bone-Nommer sounds way better. I yawn. We need to find the daytime resting place.

"Hmm, you're right. Nommer sounds better. It has a certain je ne sais quoi." She rolls her eyes and puffs out her lips.

I’m going to go grab the bones. Do you have something I can put it in? I wonder.

Does it look like I carry something like that? Gracen asks.

No, so I guess I will just be walking with a radioactive bone rat in my hands until I get to the car.

Come on. I can’t pick that up. I point at it.

Fine, I’ll use magic and make it come over to me. But you are taking me shopping to make up for ruining my bag. Gracen explains.

I hate shopping with Gracen. It’s a two-day affair, but I will take these stipulations.

Deal. I state.

Gracen grabs the bones for me. She waits for me to pack up the little bit of gear that I brought. We dart across the street together.

I'd have to try to track it during the day then, which left a pretty decent amount of time, even though I had a shift at one of my jobs today. I’m on call at the local hospital, Remedy Plus Care, which boasts about having every supernatural group of doctors. If there is an accident, and someone is brain dead, I could be called to harvest tissue. That is actually my favorite job. I get to talk to someone about how their family member is going to help someone else. I'm on call because not many creatures need to have their body parts replaced; usually, it's just humans. Most humans use the human hospital, Mankind Medicare.

Although I have three jobs, since I was on call for one, and the other I didn't work unless many people were dying (recently that has been changing), with my last being this, I didn’t get paid a whole lot. I put in a ton of hours for this one, but unless I found something and had acceptable information about it, I got nothing. I typically had to try to work the others throughout the week. I have no boyfriend and I have no animals. I do, however, have an annoying Fairy God-Demon that will more than likely pop up sooner rather than later, probably when it's the least convenient.

We walk in sync for a bit before Gracen clears the silence. 

Soooo, remind me again why you have three jobs? She wonders. 

Honestly, I guess I don’t need so many jobs since we moved in together, I state.

False, you haven’t needed to since we matched. Gracen says with a smile. 

I matched with Gracen in an online dating website way about three years ago. It was serendipity. We set up profiles in the Council's database, listing our strengths, rank within our graduation class (your girl was valedictorian), weaknesses, and personality. I matched with four others too. Why did I pick her? Not because she has a ridiculous amount of money. I picked her because she was the only person smiling in her company photo who genuinely looked happy. Everyone else looked miserable. I wasn't sure if it was because two of them had lost a previous partner, or if the other two were just so nervous that it didn't translate well. But I chose her, and we have been together ever since. We had a rocky start, but Gracen kind of grows on you like a fungus. And how would I describe myself? I’m a home body. I enjoy long naps, food on tap, and comfy blankets. I’m basically a cat. Our work relationship and friendship aren't simple, but they work for us—every loud, crazy, and bizarre moment. 

All Zappy's have to have a partner, they prefer you to have a partner who can keep you in check. For example, most Witches partner with Wizards, both can use magic, but they both have different rituals. Shifters usually partner with Vampire while Fae partners with Demons. Humans don't typically make it through training and school to even try to apply to become a Zappy. Even the famous Xander, who is a Vampire, has to have a partner. Gracen and I are a little mix matched. I'm listed in the database as Siren, under the demon genome and Gracen as a witch.

Not true, I mutter. 

Very true. It’s been like that since I pretty much saw you living out of your car. Not that you were entirely living out of your car. You had that one apartment. She explains loudly as we walk near some of the better clubs in town. 

My old apartment was in the hood. Not like the Human hood where there are guns and drugs, although the laws are laxer than they used to be. This is the supernatural hood. I lived in the same area as Faes who created new psychedelics out of their body parts, and Demons who would catch things on fire for fun. And who could forget about the lone Werewolves that were super territorial, and piss on everything during certain phases of the moon. I can never forget out the flasher who lived by me, his body is the stuff of nightmares. There was also the random guy on the street who practiced necromancy and liked to bury dead animals in his yard. He liked to raise them at the most inopportune times. Nothing worse than trying to dodge a bunch of dead animals running at your car. Just an average day driving by Frank’s. He’s actually a pretty cool guy if you can get around that part. It’s much more dreadful than that, but that's the gist.

The apartment I lived in now with Gracen is the best, but in all fairness the bar was pretty low to begin with. It is located in a nice sub-city. She's got a super expensive apartment with roof access covered in lights, and you can see the stars. She had a three-bedroom and the other rooms she was using as storage for her stuff. She moved me in and wouldn't hear of me paying anything at first since her trust covers everything. But I couldn't do it. I have always paid my own way, so we came up with a deal of me paying eight hundred a month. I’m fairly sure that the amount of money I pay barely scratches the surface. 

I don’t want to talk about this anymore. You know I pay my own way. I glare as we get closer to my car. 

Fine. Whatever, but can we stop for burgers on the way home? She rubs her belly. 

Sure? You aren’t going out tonight? What about Veronika? I wonder.

Not really feeling it tonight. Besides, Veronika is kind of tied up at the moment. But I’m feeling hungry. She walks over to my car and opens up the back-passenger door. 

I feel like this is a shibari joke, but I’m too tired to touch on it right now. Gracen slides in,