Death to All Monsters (Sebastian Winter #1) Paperback

As we drove through Wakan Hollow, the road twisted and turned like a serpent, its sharp curves lined with decaying buildings that loomed over us like phantoms. The few inhabitants we passed moved slowly along the sidewalks, with shuffling steps and hunched shoulders, as a thousand pounds of despair was pressing down over the entire place like a vice.

My GPS directed me up a narrow dirt road on the far side of town. The road was surprisingly smooth—not that I was complaining. My ‘70 Chevelle wasn’t built for off-roading. I’d expected a bumpier ride. It was like driving through a virtual world in some kind of video game. Like someone had created this place and done their best to mimic the real world but had missed just enough of the detail that it felt off.

You have arrived at your destination.

The robotic feminine voice of my GPS app almost startled me out of my skin.

I turned off the engine and stepped out of the car into the biting Nebraska air. Donnie followed suit, his movements clumsy and disoriented as he climbed out of the passenger seat.

The sky above us was a pale shade of blue, streaked with wispy clouds that hung motionless in the sky. The silence was deafening, broken only by the distant cawing of crows. It felt like we had stumbled upon a forgotten world, frozen in time and trapped in perpetual anticipation.

I took a last glance at the blurred image on my phone. This was what we were after. It’s what I’d always been after.

The glowing red eyes, twisted horns, forked tongue...there was no doubt in my mind. We’d finally found a creature like the one that ruined my life. This was what abducted my Angi. This thing was why I’d become a hunter.

My best lead in years brought me to America’s heartland. Wakan Hollow, Nebraska. A long way from Cabo San Lucas. But I’d spent almost five years hunting monsters in Mexico without a lead half as solid as this one.

An anonymous hunter had posted the photo to a hunter’s subreddit, claiming this thing had been holed up in a barn out here for weeks, stirring up trouble. He’d tracked it this far, but had no clue how to handle it.
He asked specifically if I could take the case. I don’t monitor the boards. That’s Donnie’s job. If it had to do with computers, or anything else that goes beep, it was his territory. After Donnie saw the post, we hauled ass straight from our last job in Rhode Island.

After twenty hours in a car with Donnie, I was on edge already. The guy was nice enough, but you can only hear a guy drone on about his D&D campaigns for so long before you develop an uncontrollable urge to punch him in the mouth.

If ten years hadn’t done it, the car ride with Donnie made me more than eager to eviscerate this creature. But I had to be smart about it. Just because this monster looked like what took Angi didn’t mean it was the same monster. It might have just been the same species. If it could talk—a 50/50 proposition for monsters—it could know something about Angi’s whereabouts.

“The barn fits the description.” Donnie peered out the window at a weathered structure up ahead. “Place looks like it’s about to collapse. Perfect monster den, if you ask me.”

I tucked my phone away, flexing my fingers in my tactical gauntlet. “That’s the one. The guy on Reddit said it’s been lurking around here for a month?”

Donnie nodded. “Give or take. Let’s hope it’s still here.”
As we approached the barn, a shrill cry pierced the air. “Help! Someone, please help me!”

That voice. It couldn’t be.

“Angi?” My heart pounded against my ribcage.

“Sebastian, wait!” Donnie called out, but I was already sprinting towards the barn, my tactical gauntlet humming with energy.

I burst through the rotting wooden doors, splinters flying in my wake. And there she was. Angi. My Angi. Standing in the center of the barn wearing the same lacy black lingerie she had on the night she disappeared. Her chestnut hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her skin seemed to emit an otherworldly glow.

“Sebastian?” Her voice was like honey, sweet and thick with emotion.

Tears blurred my vision as I stumbled towards her, my heart aching with a decade’s worth of longing. “Angi, is it really you?”

Donnie caught up, panting heavily. “Seb, be careful. Something’s not right here.”

I barely heard him. All I could see was Angi, her eyes brimming with tears. “I’ve missed you so much, Sebastian,” she whispered, extending her arms towards me.

I reached out, my fingers trembling as they brushed against her soft skin. “What happened to you, Angi? Are you okay?”

She smiled, a smile that used to light up my world. But as I clasped her hands in mine, her skin began to ripple and shift. Her eyes flashed a demonic red, and twisted horns erupted from her skull. I recoiled in horror as Angi’s form melted away, revealing the monster from my nightmares.

The creature that had haunted me for ten long years now stood before me, its forked tongue flicking out between razor-sharp fangs. A low, guttural laugh echoed through the barn as it fixed its fiery gaze upon me.

“Hello, Sebastian,” it hissed, its voice a twisted mockery of Angi’s. “Did you miss me?”

Rage and desperation coursed through my veins as I lunged at the beast, my gauntlet blade flashing in the dim light. The blade struck true, but instead of piercing flesh, it merely glanced off the monster’s hide as if I had struck hardened steel.

I quickly channeled energy from the enchanted gems embedded in my gauntlet, sending a blast of celestial light towards the creature. It howled in pain and stumbled back, but the wounds knitted themselves back together almost instantly.

“Sebastian, we need to take this thing down!” Donnie yelled, hurling a trio of throwing knives at the monster. They sank into its flesh, but it merely plucked them out, unfazed.

“No!” I roared, my voice cracking with emotion. “We can’t kill it. Not yet. It knows something about Angi!”

I circled the beast warily, my mind racing. This creature had taken Angi’s form down to the very lingerie she had been wearing that fateful night. It had to be the same monster, the one that had torn my life apart. If I could just subdue it, make it talk...

The monster lunged at me, its claws slashing through the air. I ducked and rolled, feeling the rush of air as its talons passed mere inches from my face. I came up swinging, my gauntlet crackling with electricity as I slammed it into the creature’s jaw.

It staggered back, shaking its head as if to clear it. I pressed my advantage, raining down blows upon its twisted form. But even as I fought, doubt crept into my heart. What if I couldn’t make it talk? What if killing it was the only way to avenge Angi?

“Donnie, get the restraints!” I shouted over the din of battle. “We’re taking this thing alive!”

Donnie hesitated for a moment, his eyes wide with fear. But then he nodded grimly and began rummaging through his pack, searching for the enchanted chains we had brought for just such an occasion.

The monster’s tail lashed out, catching me across the chest and sending me flying. I crashed into the barn wall, stars exploding behind my eyes. As I struggled to my feet, I saw the creature advancing on Donnie, its eyes glinting with malevolent glee.

“No!” I screamed, throwing myself forward. I had to protect Donnie. I had to keep the monster alive. For Angi’s sake, I had to know the truth.

The monster spun around and before I could react, its claws caught me by the throat, lifting me off the ground. I gasped for air, my vision blurring as it tightened its grip. Dimly, I heard the roar of an engine outside, but it seemed distant and unimportant compared to the searing pain in my neck.

Donnie let out a war cry and charged the beast, his knives flashing. But the creature barely spared him a glance. With a casual swipe of its arm, it sent Donnie hurtling across the room. He slammed into a pile of crates and lay still, groaning softly.

This is it, I thought as darkness crept in at the edges of my vision. I was so close to the truth…how could it end this way?

Suddenly, a blinding flash of light filled the barn. The monster shrieked in agony, dropping me to the ground. I landed hard, gasping and coughing as I sucked in precious air.

Through watering eyes, I saw the creature stumbling away, its flesh smoking and sizzling. It let out an unearthly howl that shook the ground under me. Then it disintegrated, a fire blazing from its core that spread through its body, spider webbing in cracks from its torso to its limbs. The monster’s body crumbled into ash, some of it swirling away in the breeze.

I stared at the spot where the monster had stood, my mind reeling. What had just happened? Who or what had saved us? I had so many questions, but one thing was certain: my only lead to finding Angi was gone, scattered on the wind.

As I clung to the dirt, I turned my head toward the figure who’d blasted the monster. All I saw in the light that shone around her was the silhouette of a woman, clad in a form-fitting leather suit, a motorcycle helmet obscuring her face. In her hand, she held a strange device—the source of the light that still radiated around her, the light that killed the monster.

I tried to call out to her, to demand answers, but my throat, still raw from the monster’s brutal assault, failed me. I could only manage a hoarse whisper. “Wait...”
She turned, her helmet tilting slightly in my direction. For a moment, I thought she might approach, might offer some explanation for what had just transpired. But she turned away, striding purposefully out of the barn.
I staggered forward, determined to reach her, to unravel the mystery of her identity and her connection to the creature that took Angi. But my body, battered and bruised, betrayed me. I stumbled, my knees buckling beneath me.

As I struggled to regain my footing, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle engine roaring to life. The sound grew fainter as she sped away, leaving me with nothing but questions and frustration.

“Donnie,” I croaked, my voice barely audible over the fading echo of the motorcycle. “We need to find her. She’s our only chance now.”

Donnie was huddled over, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m not seeing straight. Hit my head on that damned tractor when the monster…whatever the hell that thing was… “

“That was it. It’s what took Angi.” I made my way toward Donnie and extended a hand, helping him back to his feet.

“You don’t know that.”

I sighed. “You saw her too, didn’t you?”

Donnie took a deep breath. “It looked like Angi. I mean, from the photos you showed me. Still, that doesn’t mean—”

“When it appeared like her, it was wearing the same lingerie she wore that night! The only way it could know what she was wearing was if it was the same damned monster that took her!”

Donnie sighed. “Maybe. I mean, that’s the simplest explanation, but you know as well as I do with monsters, it’s rarely the simplest explanation that proves true. The monster that took her was in Cabo. If it’s the same monster, why’s it here in Bumfuck, Nowhere? And how the hell did it get past our southern border?”

I shook my head. “Like everyone else does. Walked its nasty ass straight across. And if it can change how it looks, pretend to be anyone, it could go anywhere and no one would know any different.”

Donnie wobbled a little, still disoriented from the blow he took to his head. “Either way, if that was the same monster, what can we learn from what’s left of it?”
I rubbed my aching throat, still feeling the monster’s claws digging into my flesh. “We need to find that woman.”

Donnie raised an eyebrow. “She had skills, whoever she was. What the hell was that thing she shot it with?”
“No clue. But if she knew how to kill it, maybe she knows more about what it was, or where it came from.”
“And you think that’ll lead us to Angi?”

I met his gaze, my jaw set with determination. “It’s a long shot, I know. But it’s the best lead we’ve had in years. We can’t give up now. Not until we’ve turned over every goddamn rock in this town.”

Donnie sighed, shaking his head. “Sebas, man, I know you want to believe she’s still out there, but it’s been ten years. The odds of her being alive after all this time…”
“I don’t care about the odds!” I snapped, raw with emotion. “I can feel it in my gut, Donnie. Angi’s alive. And I won’t stop searching until I find her.”

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