Pirate Journalism

So…Here is are sample chapters from my work in progress…Chapter C is a little hot and heavy, so I have password protected it. Serious, Adult readers may request the password for access.

Chapter A -

Kate landed hard on her back, her butt leaving a furrow in the sand. She shook her head, jaw numb from the blow. What was this thing? If it weren’t for the spirit of the Bear, her head would probably be in another state by now. Considering the bruise that would be there tomorrow, that might not be such a bad thing. Arching her back, she kicked herself up. It had been a long time since she practiced Te Kwon Do, and it felt good that she could still pull off the maneuver.

“You are going to have to do better than that,” she said to the bird-headed creature. The demon stared back at her with cold black eyes. It cocked its head and chirped. Kate got the distinct impression that it was a derisive remark. The Bear did not take it well. Blinded with rage, she charged at the monstrosity with a roar. She tucked in her chin and leveled her shoulder at the beast’s midsection. The bird-headed demon let out a trilling laugh and spread its arms wide, welcoming her. Had Kate been thinking clearly, or had chose a different fetish to evoke, she might have slowed her charge. The Bear was not concerned.

She ducked lower, planning to hit it below the waist, and then flip him over his back. It was a nice plan. Then she hit a solid wall of muscle, leather and feathers. The bird creature slid back a step in the sand spreading its wings in counter-balance. There was no flipping going on here. A little voice reminded Kate that no plan survives contact with the enemy.

The demon slammed both of its fists down on Kate’s back. Pain sparked down her spine. Even with the power of the Bear, numbness spread and her knees began to buckle. Black spots and little stars flashed clouded her vision. Her left knee hit the sand. One hand grabbed on to the leather strap securing the demon’s breastplate trying to keep her off the ground. Her other hand reached insider her jacket, fumbling for something in her pocket. Without thinking, she found her knife but struggled to get it out of the leather sheath with one hand. Her thumb slipped off the snap. She had to hurry. Another blow would put her down. Then who would help Raquel?

Something scrapped against the lacquered metal breastplate above her head. Something whizzed by her head and then another whiz ending in a fleshy thud. Someone was running, but the knife slid free of the sheath suddenly and she tried to focus on keeping hold of the weapon. In a deftness born of desperation, Kate flicked the leather sheath away and triggered the release. The blade snapped open and she stabbed up and between the creatures legs, aiming for the vital and tender spot found there on most males. She felt the blade hit, but it seemed to slide off, turned away as if she had tried to stab a Teflon frying pan. Before she could strike again, the beast’s massive wings sent sand billowing around her and the beast quickly lifted away from her. Kate scurried backward, trying to get some distance before the next attack. The beast hovered for a second, then landed several feet from where it first stood. Kate could see the demon was bleeding now, but not from where she struck. The moonlight reveled a line of silver broken by the liquid crimson of blood. The demon let out a screech and ripped out the offending metal. Kate could now see that it was a four-pointed throwing star inscribed with runes of some kind. She could see them clearly as if they glowed with their own light. The beast tossed the star at her before she had time to consider it more, and she tried to roll out of the way. Everything was moving in slow motion. She rolled two more times before she realized that she wasn’t hit. Then she realized that she wasn’t even the target.

A man stood a few steps from where she had fallen. She guessed he was tall, but from her vantage point, he was an NBA star. He was dressed all in black, as should any mystery man saving a damsel in distress from a crow-headed demon in the middle of the night on a deserted beach. His long coat whipped in the wind. It had a high tight collar, like a priest’s frock, but it was not fastened tight. Blown open by the wind, Kate could see his pants were loose-cut denim and held fast by a black leather belt with a silver buckle that caught the moonlight with a sparkle of blue as if a sapphire or topaz was set in the center. There was a silky shine to the button-up shirt that was tucked in neatly. It was all within the realm of possibility-A young man taking a walk on the beach after a night at the club or maybe a date.

Except for the mask. Like some strange cross between a superhero and a cowboy,  long black scarf was tied around his nose and covered his face and neck, reaching down to the second button of his silk shirt. Even though the tip of the mask flittered in the wind, it never moved enough to reveal any more of his face. Shadows and a long mane of black hair framed his eyes. Kate imagined them as silver-grey orbs, though she had no idea where that image came from.

The demon said something in a guttural oriental language and the man in black responded in kind. Kate made out one word out of the exchange-tengu. While she didn’t know much about the breed of demon, she did know that the crow-headed beast were a particularly nasty species of Japanese demon. As she pulled herself to her feet, she tried to remember everything she knew about them, particularly any weaknesses, but her knowledge of Japanese demonology was limited. As a medicine woman, she dealt mostly with native species and the western monsters that had come to this land over the centuries. Oriental demons were rare in the West and usually were only involved in yakuza or Triad business.

The tengu charged, half running half flying at the man in black. The strange man stood his ground until the last minute and then spun out of the way, ducking under the tengu’s talons. The bird demon flew past, its momentum carrying it several yards before it could come to a stop. It turned to face the man in black, who was standing on the same piece of beach he held at the beginning of the attack. An angry shrill escaped the from the tengu’s beaked mouth. The man’s head made a quick nod and said, “Baka.”

This provoked the demon into another charge. Its feet kicked up sand behind it and the black feather wings flared back to cut through the wind. The tengu spread its arms wide; claws stretched open. Despite the rage, it came slower this time, prepared for the man to dodge again.

Kate watched in terror and hope, as the man in black remained motionless. It was like wishing for deja vu. The man in black granted her wish, spinning in the other direction. The tengu anticipated the maneuver and swung his claw to intercept the spinning man. Kate shouted, but noticed a familiar glint of silver appeared in his left hand. Using the throwing star as a blade, the man in black let his arm flail out, scoring a long cut on the beast’s forearm as he fell flat on his back to let the tengu pass over him.

However, the demon was ready and spread its wings wide, using the air to cut its charge short. Turning with unearthly speed, the tengu stomped down hard on the prone man. Kate thought she could hear ribs cracking. The tengu lifted its leg again for another attack, and the man rolled out of the way. The foot came down and sand exploded into the air. The man kept rolling, looking for some room to recover. The tengu wasn’t giving up and chased the man in black across the beach.

Kate knew she could not just stand by, but looking down at her switchblade now with a broken tip, she looked around for someway to help. Then she saw one of the throwing star laying on the sand. It must have been one that glanced of the armor, guessing from where it landed. It appeared the demon had forgotten about her, but she would not trust the wily beast. She reached into her medicine pouch, drawing out the Cougar.  Invoking the fetish, she crouched low and moved stealthily around the fight. The man in black seemed to be holding his own, slicing at the tengu’s stomping feet with a throwing star in each hand, but he was still on the ground rolling and twisting to avoid another blow like the first. It had been a long time since Kate had invoked the spirit of the Cougar. She could feel the sinuous strength flowing through her. It was not as strong or as powerful as the Bear, but in exchange for that power, Kate picked up a lighter, more agile strength that would be needed for her plan to work. Not to mention the whole “cat verses bird” metaphor.

Each step was quick but carefully placed without a sound and barely a print left in the sand when she moved on to the next step. She was crouched so low that her knees were against her chest when she moved. Her fingertips were millimeters above the sand, she could feel where the heat of the day was long gone or where the sand still held a little of the warmth. Without conscious effort, her feet stepped between shells and rocks that could give away her movement. Kate reached the throwing blade without being noticed.
The man in black was on his feet now, sparing against the demon with a throwing star in each hand. Sparks lit between the two when claw or armor clashed with the enchanted metal of the stars. Two sets of arms and legs were a blur of motion. Kate could barely make out any individual moves. The fight had become a dance with each fighter knowing his part perfectly. However, in the moment or two she could watch, she could tell the man in black was losing. The demon punched and the man blocked. The demon kicked and the man slid out of the way. It was pure defensive fighting. She could see the man jerk as he took in a breath. That stomp had broken several ribs, at least. Kate wondered how long he could keep up that pace. Hopefully it was long enough for Kate to get a chance to try her plan.

In a lightening quick change of tactics, the tengu crouched and swept his leg out, seek to trip the man in black. Kate darted to the left, trying to stay out of the sight and mind of the tengu, and whether through luck or design, the man in black rolled to his left, avoiding the sweep and returning to his feet. The maneuver cost him, though as a long pained grunt escaped from underneath his mask. The tengu turned to keep eye contact with his opponent, not knowing Kate was crouched behind him ready to pounce like a cat.
She reveled in the power of her taunt muscles. In that moment before the pounce, Kate was more alive than she had felt in a long time. There was so much she had forgotten. It had been so long since she had used her magic beyond the occasional charm or subtle misdirection to get her or someone else out of trouble. A little calming to break up a fight. Fear or confusion to stave off unwanted advances. A little cosmetics and charm for important meetings. These were little things that even the most limited adept could do without even know it. However, invoking the animal spirits, taking on their aspects and powers…looking at the world through their eyes. It was the healing of the blind…powerful…stunning…right.
That was it. It felt right.

A feline growl escaped from her lips as she left, muscles springing of with an innate wisdom of their own. For a moment, her rational mind doubted whether it was the right time, but that gave way to the instinct of the feline spirit. The leap surprised Kate as she launched into the air at the tengu. For a moment, the gigantic black-feathered wings blocked her sight, but then they opened for her like the automatic doors at the grocery. She hit the beast with a solid thud. The beast felt as hard as a brick wall-an armored brick wall covered with feathers. She wrapped her legs around his torso, or as fall as she could. She managed to grab on to the seam of his breastplate with her left hand, and pulled herself close to the tengu. It smelled like a dead bird that lying on the beach for a week.

The tengu let out a squawk and shot its head back, trying to head butt Kate. The feathered head slid across her face. Being smothered by rotting feathers was bad, but it was better than having the demon’s skull breaking her nose and it left the bird’s neck wide open. Kate’s right hand whipped around its neck and rammed the enchanted throwing star into its throat. An unearthly scream pierced the night. The beast arched and bucked, then finally reached behind him and ripped Kate from his back tossing her away. With the Cougar inside of her, Kate twisted in mid-air and landed on her feet in about a foot-deep of water. She hissed with displeasure at the beast, but the man in black had already resumed his attack.

The bird-demon was bleeding badly from the wound at its throat, and the man in black was doing everything he could to aggravate the wound. He led with a flying kick at the tengu’s beak, the followed up with several punches to the head that stuck home or caused the demon to twist it’s head violently out of the way. Either result opened the wound just a little bit more. Just as the tengu began to catch up with the man in black’s attacks, the shadowy figure dropped to his knees. With a loud kiai, the man punched the demon’s left knee, his body twisting into the blow that seemed to flashing like lightning. An audible snap followed. The man in black twisted back the other way, and punched at the other knee. Then back the other way, striking the thigh then up into the pelvis with the next blow. He had worked his way back up onto his feet during the flurry of blows, dodged to the side of a weak kick from the beast, then came in close, stomping on the tengu’s foot.

Then like climbing a tree, the man in black scaled the demon, planting his other foot on the creature’s good knee, using it as a step. His other foot dug in on the beast’s hip. Then he stepped off the beast’s shoulder and was in the air behind it. He planted a final slapping kick to the back of the beast’s head, using it as a springboard to leap away. The man in black rolled to his feet as the demon fell face first into the sand. The man swayed for a moment then fell back as if someone had cut a string.

Kate scurried out of the surf and to the side of the man, eyes on the unmoving tengu in fear it might get up again. She lifted the man up by the shoulders, and went to pull the mask away from his face…to see if he was still breathing, of course. But the man’s hand was suddenly around hers, stopping her.

“Banish him before he gets away,” he said in a weak voice and Kate could feel something soft pressed into her hand. It was a narrow scroll, tied with a red ribbon. She eyed it cautiously then looked back at the beast. A grey fog was coming off it. He was right; the beast would discorporate and then reappear in its earthly lair to heal. Then it would be on some kind of blood-oath revenge thing, Kate was sure. And she did not have the tools on her to kill it outright. She got to her feet and unrolled the scroll. It was a long single line of Chinese or Japanese characters. She couldn’t read them, but she was familiar enough with the idea. Slap one of these on the beast’s head and it wins a free trip back to whatever particular hell it came from.

She got to her feet, scared and cautious for a second, and then she was more worried about giving the beast any more time to rest or escape and she ran toward the beast, nearly tripping over its outstretched wing, and slid to her knees by the beast’s head. With a none-too-gentle slap, she planted the scroll on the top of the beast’s head.

For a long second, nothing happened.

Then a wave of force knocked Kate back several feet and planting her butt into the sand, again. “I am never going to get the sand out of these clothes” was on the tip of her tongue until a stunned silence chased the words out of the way. The spell on the scroll had come to life. The inscribed characters now floated in the air above the beast in a swirl of reds, yellows and oranges-and none of them the pretty shades. The floated a foot above the fallen tengu, who was now struggling as if glued to the beach and whimpering sadly. There was a crack of thunder, and then the beast was gone. A roaring “ffff-whoosh” sudden filled the air and stole Kate’s startled scream. Nature abhors a vacuum she recalled, reminding her that breathing was a good thing.She had just fought with a giant bird demon. She tried to wrap her mind around that fact while she caught her breath. In all of her time working as a shaman, she had fought with several spirits and even demons, but never on the physical plane. Even fighting a possessed soul or skinwalker could not compare. If it wasn’t for that mystery man, she was sure that she would not have survived. Of course, if Raquel hadn’t scented the invisible beast before it could attack, she wouldn’t have had a chance to fight.

“Raquel!”

Kate was up and running. The beast had hit her hard and sent the German Shepard flying into the dunes. Kate had been too busy fighting for her life to realize that she hadn’t heard or seen the dog since then. Guilt and panic crashed in on her. How could she forget about her puppy when she was hurting…or worse? That she had been busy fighting for her own life was too rational to fight back her fears. She clawed her way up the low dune, slipping in the loose sand. She could see the impact of where Raquel had landed and then rolled down the other side. The dog laid half in the shadows, unmoving. Kate slid down the dune, and then carefully knelt down beside Raquel. Her side was torn open; three parallel claw marks ran nearly her entire side. Blood ran freely. Moonlight glinted off the bone and tendons. Tears clouded Kate’s eyes. Raquel had been a part of Kate’s life for the last four years. She had picked up the half Shepard/half Husky puppy from the local animal shelter, rescuing it from a locked cage. The “animal care specialist” told Kate that the puppy was a nice friendly dog, but had figured out how to open her cage. Not only would the dog escape its pen, but it would free the other dogs as well. If that story didn’t hook Kate, one look into the dog’s eyes-one blue and one brown, landed her. She went home with the dog that day. Now she was feeling as if those hooks were being ripped out of her heart.

Then she heard the slightest whimper and Raquel’s eyes flickered open for a second. Kate screamed, half in terror and half in joy. She got to her feet and tried to lift up Raquel as gently as she could. The dog whined in pain, and Kate almost dropped her. Raquel was a big dog. Sixty pounds of muscle and fur-slick with blood and sand-was not an easy load to carry over a sand dune. Having a demon beat knock you around the beach for a while did not help. She managed to catch Raquel before she fell, and then tried to hold her tight. A sad, gurgling bark came from Raquel. Kate reached the top of the dune. She was not far from the beach access and a few blocks from her apartment. It would be a tough trip, but she had to do it. She looked around and then started down the dune, when her ankle twisted out from under her. For a frightening moment, she felt the world flying apart. Dropping Raquel would probably kill the dog. She screamed.

The man in black grabbed her, appearing out of nowhere. He wrapped an arm around her and one underneath Raquel. He steadied them both and led them down the dune. Once they were on level ground, he took Raquel from her. Kate started to protest but he nudged her away with his shoulder and nodded down the beach. Kate got the hint and began to lead them toward the beach access.

She started to speak, wanting to say something to break the silence, to rail against the darkness. To bitch, complain and freak out. However, when she tried to open her mouth, she couldn’t move it. Then the pain hit her. The tengu did more than bruise her jaw.

She spun in place, and walked backward for a second, trying to express her frustration. The man in black just nodded; his green eyes seemed to float above the mask covering the rest of his face. She threw up her arms in frustration and spun back around. Her apartment wasn’t far now.