Jack Templar Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus

a paralyzing terror that I knew would overwhelm me the very instant I stopped fighting against it.
    I turned to T-Rex and I waved him back inside. I needed to see what happened. I needed to find out who this creature was that hated me so much.
    I turned my attention back to the scene below. Ren Lucre was walking among the dozens of Creach monsters, all lying on the ground, many whimpering in fear. I leaned forward so I could better hear.
    “I had only one instruction,” Ren Lucre said. “Bring the boy to me alive. Was I not clear on this?”
    No one dared to answer.
    “I could sense him from the second he broke the seal. A power I hadn’t expected. And, only a few minutes ago, nothing. He just disappeared. I will ask again, how can this be?”
    I clutched the medallion around my neck. Suddenly, I understood. Whatever signal my presence sent out that attracted the monsters was being covered by this medallion .
    “Either he was given a cloak of some type or he has already been killed,” Ren Lucre said. “Either is unacceptable. Was I not clear enough with my instructions?”
    Ren Lucre leaned down and grabbed a rock troll by the neck. The troll’s legs thrashed as if electricity coursed through its body. The troll’s skin turned black where Ren Lucre touched him. The farther the blackness spread throughout the troll’s body, the more it jerked around in pain.
    “I said: was I not clear?” Ren Lucre shouted.
    The rock troll collapsed, its entire body now black. Ren Lucre let go and kicked the troll. The body disintegrated, nothing but dark ashes.
    Mrs. Fitcher scampered forward, still bent low to the ground. She waved to something behind her. I stretched my neck out as far as I dared and gasped at what I saw.
    A group of ogres dragged the werewolf body of Aunt Sophie out from the house. A wide swath of blood trailed behind her.
    The ogres threw the body at Ren Lucre’s feet. And, impossibly, Aunt Sophie raised her head to look at him. She was still alive.
    Mrs. Fitcher ran up and kicked Aunt Sophie in the face. I put my hand to my mouth to stifle my cry.
    “Sire,” Mrs. Fitcher said, “she is the one responsible. She is the one who let the boy get away.”
    Ren Lucre held up his hand and Mrs. Fitcher lowered her head and backed away. Ren Lucre walked to Aunt Sophie and bent down to her so that they were inches apart.
    “Can this be?” Ren Lucre whispered, but somehow his voice still reached up to where I was on the roof. “Could it be possible that one of my own betrayed me? Is it true?”
    Aunt Sophie transformed from the devil-werewolf to her human form. From where I was, I could only see from her shoulder up because of the monsters crowding around. Part of me was thankful because I knew that her body would have the same wounds that I saw on the devil-werewolf.
    Something bumped into my side. I turned and saw T-Rex next to me. He stared wide-eyed at the scene below.
    I looked back down as Aunt Sophie struggled to raise her head to meet Ren Lucre’s gaze.
    “Did you do this thing?” Ren Lucre whispered.
    Aunt Sophie smiled. “He’s not the One. He is not the Templar.”
    Aunt Sophie’s body seized up with pain and she cried out, trying to force it back down. I inched forward but T-Rex put his hand on my shoulder. We both knew there was nothing we could do to help her. Ren Lucre placed a hand on her and the pain seemed to subside enough for Aunt Sophie to regain control.
    “He’s from a powerful hunter family to be sure,” Aunt Sophie wheezed, “but he’s not the One from the prophecy. I’m sure of it.”
    “That cannot be,” Ren Lucre snarled. “He was torn from his father’s arms.”
    “A decoy. Meant to buy time for the real child, the true last Templar,” Aunt Sophie wheezed, her breath coming painfully. “And it worked, didn’t it? Somewhere in the world, the real Templar boy grows into a man. Unhunted. Unwatched. Probably trained by Master Aquinas at their Academy for all these