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Here was the problem.
Jo was almost certain that she was dreaming. This was the Roadhouse…and that was her mom cleaning down the counters…but when she looked down at herself, she was wearing a sunflower-yellow dress and her hands were pudgy. So she had to be about six years old.
The problem was…Jo couldn’t remember falling asleep…
“Sweetie! Stop messing with the music!” Ellen called, and Jo glanced up to see the Roadhouse jukebox leering over head. When did that thing get so big? Her body moved without her say-so, skipping—skipping? Really?—over to the bar. Only there, another woman picked her up and placed her on the bar so that they were eye level.
The woman had red hair and bright eyes, which made Jo smile.
“So you’re Jo Harvelle?” The lady asked.
“Yea.” Jo answered with a nod.
“You’re cute. How old are you?”
“I’m six—”
The lady tilted her head curiously, and then Jo was suddenly aware that this was a dream again. Jo blinked a few times as she struggled to stay within the dream. “Erm…22 actually.” She managed. “Who are you? How’d you get in my dream?”
“My name is Anna,” the red-head replied. “And I’ve been assigned to you, now that you’re officially a hunter. Normally, we make this greeting in person, but I can’t seem to find you.”
Jo blinked again as the meaning of Anna’s words suck into her dream infused brain. “Wait, I’m a hunter…and you’re an angel…but you can’t find me?”
“Don’t struggle, just let the dream happen.” Anna warned. “You might not be safe right now.”
“Then where am I!?” Jo gasped, panic slowly creeping into her mind. “How—”
“Listen to me very carefully. When you wake up, you need to pray to me,” Anna said. Her hands clasped around Jo’s shoulder, holding her steady when Jo started gazing around the room in confusion. “Pray to my angelic name, Annael. I’ll be able to find you then. Can you do that Jo?”
“Yea…Yea I—”
Something hit her head. Or maybe she hit her head on something. All Jo knew was that she was conscious, it was dark, and her head was throbbing. Oh that was a crazy dream she had. Jo tried to rub her head.
Why were her hands tied behind her back?
Panic lanced through Jo as she twisted in the restraints, and her senses started to wake up fully. That was a car engine she could hear. That was the bump of a wobbly rear axle. Fuck she was in the trunk of some car?! How did that happen?
“Shit.” Jo whispered. Good. At least she wasn’t gagged. She could call for help—
That dream flashed back into her mind and Jo gasped. “Anna…no no, what was her name. Shit.” Jo slammed her head back, shutting her eyes tight. She needed to hold onto that dream. She needed to remember what her angels name was….it had sounded close to Anna.
The car took a hard right turn and Jo winced. “Anna…Annae…Annel? Aw shit what was your name?” Jo muttered, over and over. “Annael? Annael! Yes. Annael, if you can hear me get me out of this truck—!”
The car came to a screeching halt, and Jo was sent rolling further into the truck. Her head knocked against the spare tire and she winced. There was going to be a bruise in the morning. Jo could hear muffled arguing, the closing and slamming of doors and someone screaming.
“Open it! NOW!” A woman’s voice boomed, and the trunk was opened the next second. Jo rolled over, wincing at the harsh street lamp over head. There was that red-headed lady again, though she had a man’s arm twisted up so far behind his back, Jo wondered if his shoulder was dislocated. “How kind of you.” Anna muttered. She released the man’s arm, only to swing her right hand. There was a thin blade in her fist, and the man’s head rolled away, mouth full of fangs.
“A vampire?” Jo muttered with a groan. Anna reached into the trunk and sliced the bonds around Jo’s wrists and ankles. Climbing out of the trunk, Jo stretched and rubbed her head. “Didn’t even see the bastard. Must have knocked me from behind…”
“Probably. But he knew you were a hunter,” Anna mused. “The trunks guarded against angels.”
Jo blinked and turned back to the trunk. It looked normal to her.
“You can’t see the sigils. But there’s about three painted into trunk here, which explains why I couldn’t find you…” Anna said. She had a hard frown on her face as she inspected the car further. Jo sighed as she looked around the street. They were on some highway, but it was late enough in the night that there was little traffic.
“We should really get off the road, especially with a dead body lying at our feet.” Jo muttered. Anna seemed to agree because she stepped away from the car.
“I’ll take you back to your motel,” Anna explained, and without warning she placed her hand on Jo’s shoulder. Suddenly they were weightless, and when Jo’s feet touched the ground again, her stomach flipped dangerously.
“Oh fuck could you warn me next time?!” Jo gasped as she fell back on her bed.
“Just breathe. The dizziness will pass.” Anna said. While Jo rubbed her face and attempted to keep down her dinner, Anna wandered around the small motel room. “So you knew there was a hunt here in the city, but you hadn’t pin-pointed it just yet…” Anna observed, standing in front of the motel wall where Jo’s had pinning of new reports and pictures of past victims.
“Um yea. The victims were all females between the ages of 19 and 25,” Jo muttered. “There’s quite a few monsters that like going after pretty girls like me—”
“Did you stage yourself to be captured?” Anna gasped, turning around sharply.
Jo sighed gently, raking her fingers through her hair. “Yea, but I had almost everything I needed; holy water, salt, silver knives—”
“Vampires can only be killed by decapitation and you were not equipped with a large enough blade,” Anna murmured.
“Is this how it’s always going to be?” Jo asked sharply as she unlaced her heels from her ankles. “Because you’re honestly sounding like my mother right now.” Jo stood up from the bed, glaring at Anna as she tore down her scrapes from the wall. The vampire was taken care of, so the hunt was over. Now it was just a matter of packing up and getting out of the city before the local LEO’s found the body.
“I’m your angel Jo, it’s my job to look after you on your hunts.” Anna explained.
“Yea, I know,” Jo murmured after a minute or so of silence. “I didn’t think I qualified for an angel. I only just started hunting without my Mom.”
“That’s exactly why I was assigned to you,” Anna admitted. Jo turned around to finally look at this angel. She seemed a bit older than Jo, but not by much. Her hair hung about her shoulders in straight strands, ever brighter against a dark green coat. The black tank top underneath the jacket clung to a thin frame, but it looked a bit too small. Plain dark jeans were tucked into shin-high black boots and to complete the ensemble, Anna had a knife handing from her hip. It was the same one she had used earlier to takeout the vampire, but it wasn’t a knife Jo had ever seen.
“Angel Blade.” Anna supplied, seeing Jo’s gaze lingering on her weapon. “Deadly to every creature from Heaven to Hell.”
“Handy.” Jo agreed, tossing a bunch of clipping into the garbage can. “So did you give me the dream or did you break into my head to meet me?” Jo wondered, finding her matchbox and lighting the papers in the bin.
Anna smirked across the flames. “It’s a very cheap trick few angels actually use.” Anna admitted, and Jo found herself laughing.
“Well, thanks, ya know, for saving my skin.” Jo added with a small chuckle. Anna smiled gently.
“You’re welcome.” Anna murmured. Jo moved around the room quickly, grabbing clothes and knives and piling everything into her bag.
“So? Fancy a drink now that this hunt is over?” Jo wondered as she zipped up her duffle bag. Anna didn’t answer her, and she was staring curiously at the door when Jo glanced over her shoulder.
“I’d better get going, we get our own assignments but if you ever need me, you know how to call.” Anna gave her one last smile and then disappeared to the faint sound of fluttering wings.
“Huh, they’ve actually got wings then…” Jo mused, tossing her bag over her shoulder. “Handy.”