Auntie's Hotel

Chapter 17 Out of Here

"She walks with you," a young man said as he took Jensen by the shoulder and led him away from the beasts tearing into their feast. "How? She hasn't been seen... ever. How do you get to walk with a Guardian?"

Jensen winced at the sound of tearing flesh and muscle. Having been one of them, so temporarily, he couldn't believe he had even considered doing what they were doing. He covered his ears. He tried to think of more pleasant moments... more pleasing sounds.

This morning, perhaps, before Don Cook had called him for the favor of coming by his place later that night. Or yesterday, when he had finished his shift and could put Jaimie and Billy Ward behind him for the evening, while he relaxed on his back porch and watched nature continue on.

Trapped... wherever in the Hell this nightmare existed... being a host to the Light... this Guardian or whatever she was... these things could have never been expected by anyone. He knew he was going to die here. It was only a matter of when. Or... he was going to wake up and discover this had all been some sort of twisted and deranged nightmare. All he had to hold onto was Hope.

"She does," Jensen said. "She does walk with me. I don't know how. I can't explain why. I can't even begin to understand." He looked down at his hands as if that would somehow explain things for everyone. His hands would open a rift in this world and take him away from this village and none of this had ever happened. Not tonight...

The glow was gone. So was the fur and the appetite. He could only wonder how this all fit into her plan and possibly, how he was going to0 free people from this Devourer of Souls? Her sister? All he had seen tonight? He wasn't supernatural. How would he be able to defeat these beasts?

"You truly are blessed," the young man said. "It is a true blessing to be able to walk with her. We are excited for her return. Soon, things will return to normal."

Normal? What is normal?

"Maybe that's so," Jensen replied. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he said, leading Jensen to a seat far away from the fountain. He walked around the table and sat across from him so that he had a view of the fountain and the villagers. "I'm listening..."

"What is this place?" He asked.

"This village?" The young man asked. "It doesn't really have a name. Naturally, we call it the Village of Light, for obvious reasons. It has been here longer than any of us."

"Interesting event," Brian Jensen said with a nervous chuckle.

"The darkness does not come here because the festival protects us. At least... that is why we believe it does not come here. You can't begin to believe how relieved we are now that the Light has returned."

"The Darkness?" he asked. "You talk about it as if it is a person."

"Yes," he replied with anger in his voice. "He brings outsiders to the Devourer in the mansion. Every night he manages to to find her what she needs and something is left for us because she has had her fill."

"Who is this... Devourer?"

"No one really knows. It may be just one being. It may be many. As long as we stay here, we're safe...ish."

"How long have you been here?" Jensen asked.

"No one knows," he said. "That's like asking how time existed? Or, when will time end? None of us can tell. None of us knows how long the Village of Light has been in this place or even if it was somewhere else before. We can only be certain of one thing... The LIght protects us from the darkness."