Blackteeth Read online

“Where are we going?” Moss asked instead of answering.

  “We’re going to look at their prisons.” Hesper clutched the bush axe in her right hand and tested its weight. “I’ll show you all the horrors you’ll wish a thousand times that you’d never asked me to see.”

  Hesper took in a breath and let it out. Moss stood at her right shoulder, pushing in where he probably shouldn’t. His presence felt as alien as she had previously felt. It wasn’t right to have a companion in this place. She was meant to be alone, always alone. If she had someone, then they would be snatched away. After all, it had happened before.

  “I’m going to open the door,” she said. She’d said everything she needed to say. If she kept talking, she would repeat herself, and it would sound as if she was trying to convince only herself. Moss would either stay silent, or he would get himself killed. Worse, he might get them both killed.

  Out of the corner of Hesper’s eye, she saw him nod. He raised the machete up as if a Blackteeth would be waiting outside the door.

  She pressed the door’s mechanism, and it moaned hollowly before it rumbled open. The isolated moan was as loud as the klaxon of a tornado siren, although it really wasn’t.

  Darkness greeted them as Hesper stood there for a long moment. She held the bush axe in one hand, and she steeled herself so that when the attack came, she would be ready. It might be one. It might be two. There was a little light from behind her from the room they’d been inside, and it showed a void in front of her.

  An eternity stretched out as Hesper waited.

  There was nothing there. A quote popped into her head: “Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away.” Perhaps Percy Shelley had once ventured into the darkness of this world. The sand was only dirt from the hewn ceilings above, and many things remained, all without explanation or obvious purpose, left for no one, left for everyone.

  Hesper let out her breath before her lungs imploded. She looked left and then right, tilting her head to listen. The rocks had ceased their glowing while they had been inside the structure, but if they lingered, the glowing would begin anew. It was a problem, and it had always been a problem for Hesper. In her time here before, she discovered that if she layered her clothing, she could fool whatever apparatus seemed to register her body temperature in order to turn on the light in the walls. They didn’t have the time to find the rooms where the Blackteeth had left the belongings of their victims, so as soon as they found one of the cross sections, they would ascend into another aspect of the old city.

  They took a step out. Hesper didn’t bother closing the door. It would shut automatically after a few minutes, leaving it looking as though no one had been there for a millennium or more.

  Moss kept at her right shoulder, holding the machete out in front of him.

  Hesper turned to the left. She knew this path. She’d walked it for years before. Most of the time, the Blackteeth stuck to the pools and the side of the city in which they lived. They’d only ventured here when they hunted her, which had been more and more. She knew where to go and when to go there, although her senses had been dulled by two years in the human world. There was no Abracajava’s from which to purchase a latte and a biscotti. In Portland, there was no point in arming oneself with a garden tool to behead the nearest black-haired monster who was intent on disemboweling her first. There had been a soft bed and a set of ear buds to play some selection of classical music to lull her to sleep. It had been like all her senses had been drugged by unambiguous comfort.

  The hair on the base of Hesper’s neck abruptly stood up straight, and the world went like ice. She knew what it meant. They weren’t alone.

  Hesper took a step back and bumped into Moss. He steadied her with his left hand and peered ahead of them.

  The attack came from above. It didn’t shriek as it flew down at them from the top of the building. It merely had perched itself in place and waited for Hesper’s exit to ambush her all the same. Because it had waited above the building, it hadn’t triggered the exterior lights, and Hesper hadn’t been forewarned.

  Hesper shoved Moss backwards and swung with the bush axe at the same time.

  The swipe of the Blackteeth’s claws came a hairsbreadth away from Hesper’s throat and then it was past her, tumbling down the hallway. It was graceful as it rolled and came to its feet. The glow of the walls began to illuminate their presence, and the light revealed its pitch-colored hair flinging away into the night as it twirled back toward Hesper. A thousand sharpened teeth glistened with saliva.

  Moss had stumbled backward into the doorway, and Hesper could hear him trying to get to his feet. “Stay there!” she yelled.

  The Blackteeth faltered as it looked at Hesper. She had no idea if she had encountered this particular one before or not, but it acted as if they had faced off before. Not all of Hesper’s traps had worked. Sometimes she only escaped by the skin of her teeth. She’d marked one permanently, and that one had a scar across the face like the one in her dreams. It hated her. All the Blackteeth seemed to hate her with the intensity of a star going nova.

  This one hesitated as it considered Hesper. It snarled soundlessly as it writhed in place. Its hair came out in black strands like lightning strikes. Its teeth clanged against each other, undoubtedly eager to bite on human flesh.

  Maybe Hesper had been sleeping on soft beds for too many months, but she’d also been doing other things. Learning had been the most important of them.

  The Blackteeth flew at her again, a blur of black and white. Teeth gnashed terribly as it came; it was the picture of absolute horror. It screamed then, and the sound was like some animal having nails driven into the base of its spine.

  Hesper’s left foot came out pointed forward, and her right foot went back half a step. Without hesitation she reached up with her left hand and grasped the neck of the Blackteeth as it reached her. She spun with its weight and threw it in the same direction it was aimed. It hit the wall with a crack, but she didn’t pause to congratulate herself. The words of her last dojang master came to her. “Attack then flee if you can,” but Hesper knew she couldn’t flee. There wasn’t any place she could flee to. She leapt forward, and before the Blackteeth could recover, she jammed the bush axe into the spine of the creature.

  Hesper twisted the bush axe as she put all of her weight behind the stabbing motion. She forced the handle of the axe into her stomach and pressed ever downward. It was an eternity later when she heard the thing’s back crack and saw its head fall limply.

  She yanked herself back and pulled the bush axe with her. It slung black blood onto the dirt-strewn ground.

  Over her shoulder Moss stood transfixed in the doorway, the machete held limply at his side.

  Hesper tilted her head and listened, but all she could hear was the pounding of her blood. She took a deep breath and waited a little more. They didn’t normally travel in pairs, but for Hesper they had made exceptions.

  The second one came from the opposite roof, and it arrived screaming in purest rage at the loss of its companion. The delay in its attack probably meant that it had been waiting for Hesper further down the grand hallway. It was likely that they couldn’t have known exactly which building Hesper and Moss had gone into, so they had spread out. Its shriek gave Hesper enough time to duck to the left and snap a roundhouse kick into its gut. The full impact of her foot into its mid-region made a noise like the cracking of the other one’s spine, and Hesper knew that bones had been broken. Its claws fell limply as it attempted to gather its breath and scuttle away from Hesper at the same time. The truth was that the Blackteeth weren’t used to prey fighting back, and she had surprised it regardless of her previous activities with them.

  However, Hesper wasn’t having any of the Blackteeth backing away. She went after the creature with her bush axe, swinging it over her head to maximize the force of her strike. There wasn’t an obvious shot to the spine, and it took Hesper about ten blows before the B
lackteeth stopped moving.

  Hesper stood over the body and made certain that it was dead. It took a minute for her to regain her own breath, and she listened for another minute to ensure there wasn’t a third Blackteeth. Then, she went to Moss and extracted the machete from his limp fingers. The long knife was sharp enough to make quick business of what she intended. She cleaned the machete on the Blackteeth’s clothing and handed it back to Moss, who was plainly having a problem processing what he had just witnessed. Whether it was the lightning speed of the Blackteeth’s attacks or the ferocity of Hesper’s defense that bothered him more, she did not know.

  Of course, it might have been that Hesper had just used his machete to decapitate both of the Blackteeth.

  Before Hesper sat the two heads on the nearest wall, she checked the bodies to see if either of them was carrying a key like the one she wore around her neck. She was mildly disappointed not to find another one. She carefully positioned the two heads so that any of the Blackteeth who would pass would see them. The creatures wouldn’t miss seeing them. She cleaned off the bush axe in the dirt and studied her work, knowing the Blackteeth’s breath would hitch upon seeing it.

  Finally, she announced, “That’s right, bitches. I’m back. And I’m new and improved.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  If the hunter can’t shoot, even

  his hound is left without a bite.

  – Yiddish proverb

  “We’re going on the roofs of the buildings,” Hesper said to Moss. “The walls aren’t lighted there, and it’ll be full dark. You’ll hold onto my shirt and follow my lead. Step lightly. There are holes, but mostly the roofs are solid. If I go, you go. If I stop, you stop. Don’t go anywhere without me.”

  Moss nodded and glanced tellingly at the two heads sitting on the nearby wall. “Is that why they decapitated my father?”

  Hesper thought about his question. She decided what he meant. “You mean, did they do that to your father because I was doing it to them?”

  Moss nodded again.

  “Probably,” Hesper admitted. “If I had known you and your father were going to kidnap me, I might have warned you that they don’t like me, and by extension, they probably don’t like you, either. Consequently, they probably didn’t have warm feelings toward your father.” She wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t know, however.”

  Moss frowned. “I apologized, didn’t I?”

  “Did you?” Hesper frowned. “I don’t remember an apology. If that’s what you have to do to justify yourself, then good on you.”

  Moss said, “I was wrong. I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have kidnapped you.”

  Hesper shrugged. “Played merry hell with my timetable.”

  “What? What timetable?”

  “When we’re on the roofs, if you see lights in the distance, then it means the Blackteeth are moving down the grand hallway. You can see their direction by watching how the lights appear. I rubbed the old shit of whoever built this place all over our bodies so we blend in smell wise. If you get a scratch or bleed in some way, you need to let me know so we can take care of it. Remember, freaky bloodhounds, and I can’t emphasize that enough. These two were probably a roving patrol who happened on our trail as we came from the pools. The ones tracking us in Oregon probably have guessed where we went by now. They’ll be back here, and they’ll be searching for us. As soon as they find the heads, well, they’ll be searching for us more.”

  “Hide the heads? Hide the bodies?”

  “Too much blood for them not to know,” Hesper said. “Waste of our energy to do anything else. Let’s go.”

  Hesper showed Moss the best way up to the roof, and she was glad she’d been working out and eating regularly. Moss had an easier time climbing because he was extremely fit. Once they were on the wide expanse of the roofs, she pointed in one direction and said, “Keep quiet unless I talk to you. Keep a hand on my t-shirt. I’m moving slowly. We can use the flashlight app on your phone, but I don’t recommend we do unless it’s an emergency. We’re going about a mile or so. It’s going to take several hours, and we’re going to be taking our time. If you hear something other than me, pinch my arm or my ass or whatever. If you need to stop and pee, tap my shoulder. Questions?”

  “You did this for ten years?”

  “It didn’t seem like ten years,” Hesper said faintly. “I would have guessed it was only two or three. Now shut your yap, so we can keep breathing.”

  Hesper led the way. It wasn’t really hard. The buildings bled into the next without delineation. Some parts met with each other with only inches to spare, and there was a definite pattern. The roofs didn’t need to be tilted because of rain or snow, and their flatness was merely a way of ensuring the rooms remained consistent, or so she’d conjectured. She’d spent time thinking about why the original inhabitants had built them the way that they had, in much the same way she imagined archeologists thought about the cliff dwellings in New Mexico and Colorado.

  After a while everything became as black as the darkest night imaginable. It was a night without even a sliver of the moon or without stars or any slightest bit of light to guide their paths. The interior of this place didn’t have any light except the mechanisms that had been built into its walls. Evidently the builders didn’t think lights were needed on the roofs and hadn’t included them. Hesper had learned a long time before that if she simply went in a straight line while sweeping her foot ahead of her, she would make steady progress. She counted in her head and could estimate her advancement. She also knew that if she kept to one side, she wouldn’t encounter any of the little presents she’d left for the Blackteeth.

  It would have been nice to be able to talk to Moss while they went but that would mean the Blackteeth might be able to hear them. Hesper had more questions for Moss, but she wasn’t certain he could answer them. She knew he had questions for her but that he wouldn’t like the answers.

  Hesper didn’t know how long it took them, but she eventually became thirsty again and knew that Moss would be, too. She crouched near the back of the roof, on the part farthest away from the grand hallway, and held his arm while she listened and scanned the darkness. She sketched the word “wait” onto his forearm and tried to find a deep well of patience. The Blackteeth weren’t patient. They wouldn’t wait in the dark for hours for her to appear, so they would make mistakes. If she listened long enough, she would hear their restlessness. She had done it many times before.

  Hesper decided it was safe for the moment. She led him to the side where the walls had been formed into large steps. She made his hand touch hers, and she made a pointing gesture that he felt. He patted her shoulder in a way that she thought he understood.

  Carefully scaling the side, Hesper could hear the whisper of Moss’s clothing as he followed her. In a minute the lights of the nearest wall began to glow, and she could see about ten feet in either direction. She jerked a thumb at the nearest doorway and he nodded.

  She leaned in to his ear and whispered, “I’m going to leave you for a minute. I’m going down the hallway and lay a line of lights so that they’ll have a hard time telling where we went. I’ll be back very quickly.”

  The door grated a little as it opened, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as the last one. Hesper wondered how many of these places she had been inside, but she had no idea. She checked for one of her boobytraps, but no one had been in this one for an age or more.

  It shut behind Moss after a minute, and Hesper went to do what she had become very good at doing. It didn’t take long, and she was back at the door Moss had gone into. It opened with a shudder and a little groan that was even less than the last time. Moss waited for her at the back where the little room was. He was holding the machete up as if there had been a possibility that whatever came through the door wasn’t Hesper and she nodded approvingly.

  She found the tap and pushed the button. The water ran, and she bent to drink. It tasted as it always had before, not like the water on Earth where the taste
of chlorine tainted it, but like it was from a fresh spring trickling from the rocks as it had done for millions of years. When she was done, she motioned at Moss. He did the same, and when he finished, he sat on the floor and rested his back against a wall.

  “We can talk now,” Hesper said quietly, “but keep it down. Rest is more important.”

  “How far is it?”

  “Hours away,” she said. “We can’t rush across the roofs without giving ourselves away.”

  Moss nodded again. “I’m beginning to think that I don’t owe you a single apology, but more like a thousand.”

  Hesper’s eyes rolled. “Rethinking the whole ten-dollar bill thing, now?” She heard the words come out of her mouth and understood instantly how harsh they sounded, however, they couldn’t be unsaid, so she bit her tongue instead.

  “It’s not an excuse, but you have to know that we could have never guessed the truth.”

  “Sounds like an excuse to me.” Hesper could have kicked herself. She was angry with Moss, but it was difficult to maintain that anger given that his father had been slaughtered like an animal in the whole sorry mess.

  “I couldn’t get my hands on your psychological records,” Moss said. “I tried.”

  “Oh, reading it from a psychiatrist would have made it more real?”

  “Of course not. But when I saw those two faces looking down at us, looking at you, maybe I would have realized in time…”

  “Your father was already dead by then,” Hesper said flatly. “Sometimes we have to live with the consequences of our actions. It isn’t always easy to do.”

  “It’s like I don’t have the time to mourn. I feel numb inside.”

  “You don’t have the time now.” Hesper sighed. “If you fall to pieces now, you’ll never make it out. Your father wouldn’t have wanted you to die for this, would he? After all, he was thinking about killing me in order to protect you and your group, too, right?”