My blood ran cold. How did she find me?

Even though I didn’t see her, I knew she was there. Some deep and primal alarm inside me told me to run. Tain barked ferociously at the sliding glass door behind me. He bashed the glass with his front paws, causing the window to shake.

Gosh, how had I gotten myself into this mess? Now my family was in danger. What should I do? I couldn’t keep running from this demon lady, this Banshee. I’d have to corner her and take her out.

I turned and opened the door, careful not to let Tain out, shut it and ran to my little brother’s room. Oh please be there. Please be there. I hoped Mom hadn’t decided to get rid of it.

“What’s going on, Sean? Why is Tain freaking out?” asked Mom. She and Aiden were watching the movie.

“Just stay there. Everything will be okay,” I said, but even to me it was not very reassuring.

Her eyes widened as she read my body language and saw the look on my face. I jogged into my brother’s room. Please be there!

Still mounted to the wall was the katana Aiden got for his birthday. I still remember Mom freaking out because it was real. Grabbing the entire thing, sheath and all, I tied it to my belt loop on my jeans then dusted off my hands. Aiden hadn’t touched it for some time. From there I rushed to my mother’s room.

Mom barred my path down the hallway. “What’s happening?” she asked, now holding the wireless landline. Yeah, I know. A landline. “Are you getting the shotgun?” mom asked.

A strange, abnormal sound in the backyard caused my mother to pause. The hairs on her neck stood up. Guaranteed, because mine were.

I gently pushed past her into the bedroom and entered her walk-in closet. She had donated my dad’s clothes to Goodwill a while ago, but I knew that on top of the shelf, mounted on the wall lay a long black bag. Pulling it down, I sneezed because this bag had dust on it too. “Doesn’t anyone in this family dust? Gee whiz.”

Unzipping the bag I pulled out the Mossberg 500 that belonged to my father, who firmly believed in the Constitution. ‘Murica. I loaded the seven shots as quick as I could but I had little practice.

“Mom, take Aiden and Tain and find a place away from any windows and sit tight,” I spoke with a firmness she probably wasn’t used to hearing from me, but she moved quickly and did as I said.

Another strange noise sounded outside along with some crashing and breaking of things. I grabbed my Mossberg and the katana. I removed my jacket and t-shirt, leaving on my A shirt. My heart raced faster than an Amazon Prime driver. Not my family, demon-lady.

Then the electricity went out and everything became dark. Even Tain stopped barking, letting out an uncharacteristic whimper.

Moonlight shone through the sliding door. I couldn’t see a thing in the yard but there was no turning back. Holding my breath I slowly slid open the door, stepped outside, then slid it shut.

Immediately I tripped my brother’s skateboard. It nearly sent me flying but I caught myself. Almost sprained my ankle though. I took wide steps, trying to move past objects I wasn’t even sure were there. I’d have to scold that kid. Until he cleaned up this backyard he’d be grounded.

I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Raising the Mossberg I turned, surveying the entire backyard. The backyard consisted of tall grass and weeds. Oh, that boy was really grounded now. Why hadn’t he mowed?

Alongside the house leading to the front yard was the water meter and several garbage and recycling cans. I edged past them to the corner of the house. The fence couldn’t open from the front because of the latch.

Was the Banshee even out here? Maybe I had fooled myself. Perhaps the electricity had another explanation for failing. It didn’t explain why Tain was freaking out though.

My ears strained to hear her movements. Every grasshopper, mosquito, cat, and owl could be heard, but not a peep from the screamer.

Long fingers suddenly seized my throat.

I wanted to scream but I couldn’t. She blocked my windpipe. How had that sucker snuck up on me?

I lifted the Mossberg and jammed it into her rib cage.

The shot rang like a kid yelling in a library. High winds were typical in this neighborhood, but the wind rested tonight. I’m sure I woke everyone up for the next five blocks over.

The Banshee twisted out of harm’s way and backhanded the gun out of my grip. I tried to unsheathe my sword but the she-devil was faster and clipped my chin. My body has endured hard punches before, but never like this.

She grabbed and threw me skyward and I landed on the roof. On the freakin’ roof. I would need some serious medication because a huge headache formed. I could taste the iron in my blood and felt drops on my head.

It was hard to think, hard to move. Somehow I still had my sword at my side. I tried to rise but didn’t need to. The she-demon leapt onto the roof and pulled me to my feet so she could rip out my heart.

Her appearance shifted again. She was no longer the cute, deathly white twenty-something that she was earlier. And it wasn’t just the glowing red eyes. She looked older and stronger, like a woman in her prime who does CrossFit.

The skirt of her white dress fluttered in a chilling wind that swept around us. She held me by my A-shirt aiming to throw me again.

I was weak but I wasn’t going down that easy. I put both my legs on her stomach and kicked away with all my might, ripping out of my shirt in the process. Hitting the roof, I rolled to my feet and unsheathed my sword in one quick motion. Thank goodness I had practiced that in Kendo class.

I raised the katana high, poised to attack. But nothing happened. I expected my newfound power to trigger again. That would have looked cool. But nothing of the sort happened. Maybe it had to recharge? If I was in a video game I’d be able to see my magic bar. There’s an idea for the new Apple watch.

I sought to conjure that feeling again, attempting to tap into the force that had filled me but it wasn’t there. Forget it. Keep fighting.

Switching to offense, I slashed at the Banshee. Her claws emerged and she defended most of my slices just fine. Moonlight gleamed off my blade and I kept up a flurry of attacks that I’d put to muscle memory when practicing my kata routine. Wax on, wax off.

Her face betrayed a slight fear. She didn’t expect this much of a fight. I leapt high and brought my blade down in a vicious arc, scoring a slash. I grinned as the blade gleamed crimson. Her red eyes glared at me and grew brighter as she opened her mouth inhumanly wide again and inhaled. I had seen this attack before and sidestepped as she screamed.

I did not have time to cover my ears which proved almost fatal. I’d never seen or heard a real explosion but I imagine this was similar. Though I was out of the direct path of her sonic scream, the sound waves still hit my eardrums.

I tripped and fell, rolling down the rooftop. The roof tiles scraped my exposed back, chest, and shoulders like sandpaper. Gravity pulled me downward and I wrecked part of the drain pipe as I fell to the front lawn. The house wasn’t very tall but the fall knocked the wind out of me.

I lay there on the lawn which was now cold and wet, the night dew aggravating the scrapes along my entire back. My ears rang and my hand sought desperately for the sword but it was nowhere within reach.

I soon discovered that the Banshee held it. She threw the sword straight at me, intending to bury my own weapon in my chest. I barely rolled out of the way in time as the blade planted itself firmly in the grass all the way up to the hilt. She lunged off of the roof and landed with nimble grace.

I stood up as she kicked me square in the chest. I tumbled back into the old giant oak tree which stopped me like a brick wall. Good old oak tree. Had it not been there I would have hit the soft grass. The bark of the oak scraped into my back even deeper than the roof but I was sort of numb now; my brain received too many pain signals.

She clawed at me and somehow I dodged, leaving the oak with scars. She attacked with her other hand and I dodged again, but she caught me across the chest this time. The cuts weren’t deep but my blood glistened a deep red.

Taking a moment, she licked some of my blood from her claws. She was enjoying this. Like a cat cornering a mouse, she was toying with me. I was gonna die.

The front door opened and Mom stepped onto the porch. “Sean?” she screamed. Tain was at her side in an instant, bless his canine heart. He huddled low to the ground and bared his teeth at the monster. A vicious growl rose in his throat as he foamed at the mouth.

The Banshee faced Mom and Tain. Mom froze, a look of terror on her face. Move Mom. Get back inside! In moments of danger some people fight, others flee. My mom was the frozen type.

The Banshee raised her clawed hand, advancing on my mom. Tain jumped in the way, latching his jaw firmly on her arm. She shook her arm violently until Tain was sent sprawling. He yelped and then lay still.

“No!” I screamed.

I didn’t summon or even think about it. One second I lay against the oak tree feeling like I was about to die, and suddenly my left arm was glowing with raw emerald energy. Celtic knots began to form around my hand. I forgot about the pain of dying. I needed to protect my family because when push comes to shove that’s what men do. Real men protect innocent people if they can help it. And I had Luck and steel to aid me.

Crossing the yard in a few wide steps I retrieved my sword with my right hand and yelled at the Banshee, stopping her in her tracks. “Don’t… you… touch her!”

The conviction in my own voice gave even me goosebumps. I snarled in rage and as she turned to face me I stabbed her in the gut, pushing the blade as far in as I could. The she-demon looked down at the sword in shock. I didn’t pause as I dipped my left shoulder and threw an uppercut that would have made Conor McGregor proud.

I connected with her jaw and power erupted from my fist, sending the Banshee skyward over the bushes and into our neighbor’s yard.

Mom’s gaze followed the flying monster to me, her eyes widening.

My power fizzled out and my fist returned to normal. That was short-lived.

I grabbed my mom by the hand. “We have to go,” I said. “Get Aiden and my car keys quick. They’re in my backpack.”

I bolted to the side of the house to retrieve the Mossberg. I was pretty sure I’d dealt the deathblow, but couldn’t be certain. I ran to the front yard to find that Mom and Aiden weren’t there. What’s taking them so long? I ran inside and called out to my family.

Aiden was in the kitchen, his hands covering his mouth. He wore a t-shirt and sweatpants.

“Put your shoes on, kid. We’re leaving.” He ran to grab his shoes. Mom frantically searched through my backpack. She saw me standing there and explained, “I can’t find the keys, but here’s your t-shirt.” I took the shirt and threw it on then snatched the backpack. “Grab your purse and let’s get the heck out of here.”

They gathered their things and returned. Mom was behind me with her purse. Aiden trailed along last, carrying a bat.

“Good thinking. That might come in handy,” I said. I fetched the keys from my backpack, on the porch under the moonlight. Next to my car, Tain rose on all fours and shook himself off. I love that dog. He’s made of tougher stuff.

“We’re all good,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t know where we were heading, but we needed to leave and catch our breath. Mom closed the door and we all piled in the Mustang. As I was getting in the car, leaves of the bush shook behind me. Tain snarled. Mom looked past me and screamed.

I fired up the Mustang. No time for seat belts! I threw it in reverse and mashed on the gas pedal. I gathered speed, then cranked the steering wheel and whipped the ‘Stang around like a boss. I threw it into gear and drove off.

Another terrible scream echoed behind us and the back window of my car cracked as if a large rock hit it but didn’t shatter.