The old hag pointed at him with her crooked, dirty fingers and yelled:
"Ubey yego!"
The one-eyed likhos went to attack him on all sides. Howard was alert this time. He struck the one close to getting him using just the umbrella with all his might.
The impact was enough to knock it off, and it crashed into the soft and sticky pews. It struggled to move away, and that gave him enough time to strike it in the eye again. The blood splattered on his clothes, but Howard Jones did not falter.
He received a bite mark on his shoulder from one of them, but did not mind it.
Instead, he threw his weight so that the one that clung to his shoulder with its teeth would swing and hit the other one going after him.
Again, it got stuck on the sticky goo, and he plunged that umbrella tip all the way until he felt it hit the skull itself.
These things may have brains, but they were basically pointless. None were wise enough to avoid being stuck on the pews. Howard used that to its full advantage.
But that doesn't mean that he only sustained that one bite as an injury. By the time that he had killed half of them, he was bleeding all over in several gashes.
Yet he felt no pain.
That was the change. He never felt pain again. Even when he accidentally nick himself with the knife he uses for whittling, or when his hammer would miss and hit his fingers instead….
He never felt it.
There was a condition like that called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. This was not a good thing for the patients, as they also become susceptible to more dangers than those who do feel pain. Some would even lose the ability to sweat, though Howard did not lose his.
At least, he still sweats when he is nervous or having one of his usual nightmares.
But at this moment, this condition was almost like a 'gift'. If he could feel pain, he would have not been able to fight this long.
The rain mixed with his blood and made reddish puddles on the floor. The smell was putrid, but it already stank the moment he stepped in this corpse of a building. These creatures— these free and unbound agents of evil and misfortune— had consumed it and were even licking at the bones.
But now it was the putrefied state of the church that led them to their defeat.
The dead likhos remained stuck in place in the rotten wood. Their eyes popped like balloons, and the insects crawled inside the hole Howard made on them.
His state was just as terrible. There was a large deep gash on his stomach, several on his arms and thighs, and there was now a large gash on his cheek. If not for his legs being made of metal, they would have been easier to break and lose function.
But with or without legs, Howard will keep fighting.
And he knew that the old hag knew that too.
She looked at him with that singular eye in what appeared to be both terror and anger. She pointed her cane at him.
"Lyobnovik nochi!"
Howard spat out blood on her foot. "Speak in English or I'll stab your eye too."
"You are the lover of the Night! It's chosen you! I should have known…. I just thought that after it gave birth to the child…. It would kill you too."
Howard gritted his teeth. "No. But it chose something else. It chose to deceive me, to fool me and my family into thinking that we can have a happy peaceful life. Then, it will take away everything. First my wife. Then my children. Then.... Me."
He laughed with his bloodstained teeth. "But I won't allow it. Now tell me where it is, and I might spare your life."
The hag scoffed. "Very well. But only because you have won this game of fate. You would not be so fortunate in other times."
"Just answer me, hag!"
She grinned wide with her own bloody teeth. "Alright. Noch is….."
"I do not actually know where it is."
Howard's vision went red with fury, and this time he aimed that fist towards that eye.
"You liar!"
But before it could make an impact, the hag said.
"But I do know that the hunters are after it, as they had sensed its emergence. They will find him. That is what hunters do. And I know where they are."
Howard stopped for a moment, and thought about it.
This old hag had nothing else to lose but its life. The other likhos were dead, and despite being a powerful creature, she was old. He can sense her weakness, that was why she used the others to her disposal.
So could she be bluffing just to mess with him one last time?
But then again, he had no other leads. Yakov Perelman did not know anything.
Howard thought that man was much worse than this likho. At least they were not an obsessed worshiper of the one he wanted to kill.
In the end, he took his chances that this monster was telling the truth.
"Fine. Tell me where these hunters are."
The old hag did. She gave every location where she knew the hunters had been in America. She didn't make it clear who exactly they were, but Howard didn't need to know.
They were monster hunters like him. And they specifically go after the Night's kind.
The nearest one was actually here, and lived hidden under the Bush House Museum that was known not just for its historical importance, but also supposed hauntings of disembodied voices and shadows.
Howard nodded. "I'll go find this hunter. Don't even attempt to attack me as I go. I can still see you, even if I turn my back."
"Of course you could." The old hag sneered. "Lyobnovik nochi."
He ignored this teasing. It may seem unsafe to leave the old hag alive, but he was a man of his word no matter how many liars were around him. Though he does feel guilty because he would have to leave the kids for a longer time as he tried to recover.
The rain continued to wash over his wounds, and he limped his way to the Museum as a bloody mess. Soon, he would lose consciousness after losing so much blood…..
But that wasn't the first time anyway. He knew he would survive.
The Night will always find its way to make him survive. More than that…..
There was also him.
As Howard collapsed in the front gates of the empty museum, he came and sat beside him. His gossamer thin robes shone a little from the sheen caused by the rain, and dewdrops formed on the web-like lace of it. His many eyes watched him carefully.
"Oh dear. This one is quite a lot, don't you think?"
"Just….. Patch me up….. Tarantulaman."
The man just laughed at this, and kneeled beside him. "Very well. Pardon me if my stitching is not as good as before."
"How are the kids…. Your critters are watching over them…. Right? They have always….. Harker especially…."
"Yes they do. So long as there are webs, we have eyes on your children." He said as his hands moved in a motion that was too jittery to be 'normal'. "But it is never in our interest to reveal the truth, Howard. We love to manipulate behind the scenes, to control... Quite the opposite of the truth that you Watchers so chased after."
Howard groaned. "I'll just have faith that they're fine."
He was losing consciousness, and the spider man just patted his head. "Might as well, it's for the best. Now sleep well. I'd rather do this somewhere without the rain."
Howard chuckled and sang. "Itsy bitsy spider climbed out the water spout….. Down came the rain and….."
He was made to sleep by Mr. Spider before he can finish singing.
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