Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (45 page)

My second ex, Heather, came on the scene two years later
. She was wrong for me and I knew it – younger by five years, pampered, beautiful and flirty. That marriage lasted less than a year. We split by mutual consent, but I knew
I had not tried very hard to make it work.

Sleep seemed beyond me, but I knew I needed rest.
I heard Joria breathing softly behind me on the bed.
I looked at the clock – midnight. I wondered if the creature was
even now
out searching for his next victim. I took off my clothes and lay down
beside Joria
but found it impossible to relax
.
Finally, s
omewhere between a dream about
Joria
and I making love
and a nightmare
about
watching
her torn apart
by a gray shadow
, I found sleep.

2
3

Elizabeth Pierce enjoyed jogging at night. The park was too crowded during the day and her job as a
police officer
meant she had to jog late nights. She knew it was dangerous, but she had taken self
-d
efense classes and carried a five-shot, .25 caliber derringer in her pocket.
The sidewalks were
well illuminated
and only one area of the sidewalk passed near any places of concealment.
Besides, in three years, she had met only two other people
on her jogs
and they were cops patrolling the park.
Now, she timed her jogs to coincide with at least one of their rounds.
She had been a little leery during the ‘Midnight Monster’ times, but she was twenty-
eight
and tall, almost 5’
9
”. She didn’t fit the description of the other victims.

As she made the turn around the playground, she increased her stride for the long uphill section along the creek. As she neared the tree line, she spotted the familiar outline of Officer Tommy Rush, a middle-aged bachelor walking toward her, swinging his baton
like a Vaudevillian
hoofer
. She raised her hand and waved.

“Hello, Tommy,” she called out. “How are the feet?”

He smiled. “Flat,” he called back, “or else I’d give you a run for your money.”

“Quiet night,” she said as she drew abreast
of
him.

“That’s the way I like them. Maybe you should go straight home. You heard about the three girls?”

Her heart pounded. “No, I haven’t
. How horrible.
I thought it was over.
I’ve got another mile to go,
and then
straight
home.”

He called back to her as she drew away, her feet crunching the loose pea gravel. “See that you do.
It’s not safe out.
”

She ran a few more yards; then stopped to wipe the sweat from her brow and take a sip of water. She turned around at the sound of a muffled yelp and gravel crunching. Tommy was
gone
.
She knew he couldn’t have gotten out of sight in that short a time.

“Tommy?” she called out
, alarm rising in her breast
.

There was no answer. She reached into her pocket for her derringer. A shadow passed over the moon, leaving her in darkness. She glanced up just as Tommy’s body fell from the sky and landed
with a sickening crunch
a few
yards
away.
She knew immediately that the fall
had
n’t killed him.
His
severed head clung to his torso by a shred of skin. His
right
arm and leg
twitched a few times before still
ing
.

Now, she
panicked
.
She was a cop, but only an office manager. She had never made a felony arrest or confronted
anyone
in her life
. Certainly
,
she had never stumbled across a dead body. She searched the sky but saw nothing. Keeping the derringer in her hand, she began to run, across the grass to the parking lot
and her car
. She hurtled the teeter-totter and raced around the merry-go-round. She felt as if she was being pursued but could see nothing.

Finally, she reached her car. Where were the keys? She fumbled in her pocket for them; then dropped them. She bent over to pick them up when her car bounced heavily. She looked up into the eyes of the devil. She had heard rumors about the Midnight Monster but had only half believed them. She
believed
now. The creature stared at her with fiery crimson eyes, its mouth open just enough to show rows of long, sharp teeth. Its breath stank of a charnel house
. It was squatting
on the roof of her car
, a gray monster, a nightmare in her waking world
. Now it rose to its full height
and f
ear swept over her in a tide. Her
mind begged her to run
, but she
stood
frozen to the spot, trapped by the horror of
the creature’s
eyes.

Slowly, she forced her hand to raise the derringer. The creature watched her movement
with
amused
interest.
Without aiming, she fired.
Nothing happened.
She knew she had hit the creature in the chest, but
t
he .25 had been a pinprick to an elephant.
It
opened its maw and emitted a shrill bark that sounded like laughter
. She knew she was about to die.

In the distance, she heard a vehicle. She was afraid to turn her head but the creature
jerked its head around at the sound
. It opened its mouth and let
out
a piercing scream
that hurt her ears
. It
glanced
at her one more time; then flapped its wings and launched into the air. She raised her head and watched it disappear over the trees.
Freed from her paralysis, s
he turned and saw approaching lights, a street sweep
ing vehicle
. It had saved her life.

Elizabeth Pierce pulled the crucifix
on its golden chain
from around her neck with a trembling hand and kissed it reverently.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
She knew God had been with her this night. Her legs
suddenly went
numb
and s
he
slowly
collapsed onto the asphalt.
Lying there, s
he watched the bewildered driver get out of the street sweeper and rush to her
side,
but she
could say nothing. She was still mute when the police arrived a short time later. She did not know if she could ever explain what she had witnessed. Her Catholic
S
chool educated mind refused to admit that such a thing
as the creature
could exist in her
neat little
universe. It was like admitting there really were leprechauns.

As she
left
the park in the back of the ambulance, she remembered Officer Rush. She hoped they found his body soon.

2
4

Clad Simmons had been waiting for
his chance
. When his scanner picked up a
police
call to
T
hackery
Hardin’s apartment, he knew it had come. Three dead girls – the creature was not dead as they
all
had
t
hought, or there was another one
on the scene
. Either way, he would have
his
opportunity for
redemption.
Simmons
had hardly slept since the deaths of the Twins. Their shades came to him at night when he closed his eyes
and stood beside his bed
. They did not speak, did not accuse, but their dead eyes questioned the reason for their deaths, the necessity of it. Either would have gladly given his life to save American citizens from terrorists, this was their job, but to die in
an ill conceived
attempt to capture a monster
for strategic purposes
– that rankled their souls, and his. What was the purpose? To create a bio weapon for our side?
To advance man’s knowledge?
The creature was dangerous and should
die
.
Hardin had the right idea
.

Simmons
could understand Hardin.
Like him, Hardin was an uncomplicated man.
H
is
purpose was
straightforward
and
clear. He wanted to destroy the creatures to prevent the deaths of
more
innocent young women.
In this
,
h
is goal seemed far nobler than Sections One’s.
Simmons
had
tailed
Hardin after Hardin’s return from his vacation.
He was not surprised to se
e the Alvarez woman with him.
After leaving
her at a motel
,
Hardin had driven
straight to the burned out
monastery
.
Simmons
was tempted to get out and confront Hardin, but
his curiosity was aroused
. Was
Hardin
searching
for the creature or just
visiting old haunts?
Most likely the latter, since Hardin had destroyed the creature’s lair pretty thoroughly. W
hen
Hardin
left
a short
while
later
, h
e
moved with a purpose.
When Hardin visited the offices of the
Metro Area Rapid Transit,
Simmons
began to get a
notion
as to what Hardin was
planning
.
He smiled to himself.
The man was
bright.

Simmons
remembered hearing the rumble of the subway the night he and the
T
wins had encountered the creature in the
chapel’s
basement. Now that the
monastery
was
a
burned out husk, the creature needed a new lair. What better place than the subway system beneath the city?
It was dark, it was empty and it was secure.
Subway tunnels were filled with
cubbyholes
.
What was Hardin’s plan?

Simmons
had just the right piece of equipment in the back of the van to find out.
He pulled out a handheld parabolic microphone capable of picking up con
versations from a hundred yards
away
or through windows at a closer distance. He chose a spot
behind a row of rhododendrons near the manager’s office window.
The sound reception
quality
was good. He smiled as Hardin explained
the
purpose
of his visit
to the manager, winning the man’s approval in record time.

Hardin’s plan seemed
direct, to the point – trap the creature inside the abandoned subway tunnel
and kill it.
Simmons
admired
Hardin’s
boldness but questioned
his
sanity.
Going one on one with this creature seemed like a bad idea. He had seen what it was capable of. Trapped, it would fight even harder.
It came as no surprise when Hardin announced his resignation from the police force. Simmons had contemplated the same thing.
As Hardin spoke,
Simmons
began to get ideas of his own.
Hardin might not want any help, but what if he had help he did not know about?
Simmons
knew his duty required him to tell Faber what he knew, but somewhere along the line, his duty to
Section One and
his duty to the country had become
divided
.
Divided loyalt
ies
w
ere
worse than no loyalty.
Maybe it was time to
put the lives of innocent young girls first.