Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (57 page)

“Pull the trigger,” I said.

He tried, but the effort
made his arm tremble. “I can’t
,
”
he finally admitted.

I grabbed the pistol
from him
and shoved it down the front of my pants. Now
,
I held the only
effective
weapon
, the elephant gun
.
There were two of us, stumbling around in the dark
, only one of us armed and
both
of us injured. We did not present a formidable threat to the creature. It could attack from any side swiftly and
ferociously
a
nd it
its hunger was increasing by the hour
.
Soon, it would tire of toying with us and kill us to drink our blood
, whereas our
chances of killing the creature were almost non
-
existent.
I did not forget about Joria. If, as I suspected, she had killed her father, she would not hesitate to kill us if the opportunity presented itself.
I wouldn’t have given us
high odds
for
our survival.
We had one chance.

“I have a plan,” I said
, hoping it was
not
a suicide move
.

“What?”

“I
stumbled upon
a way into
an underground river and cave system
earlier
.
The opening is narrow.
I don’t think the creature can follow us. We might be able to find a way out along the river.”

“What about the creature?
We can’t
just
leave it here.
”

I sighed. This part of my plan was iffy at best. “We set the place on fire.
Smoke it out. The creature has to breathe
air
. Maybe we can suffocate it or burn it.”
I tried not to dwell on the fact I was condemning Joria to the same fate as the creature, but she had chosen sides. It was her life against the
Chupacabra’s
.  

Simmons
chuckled. “You’re an arsonist at heart, aren’t you?
In the meantime, w
hat
do
we breathe for air?
”

“Maybe the air in the cavern is fresher.
” I paused
at his look of skepticism.
“
It’s all I can think of. We can’t let your
Fed
friends capture
the creature
alive.
They don’t know how dangerous it is.”

“I’m game. I’m not much good with this
gash in my side
and I suspect I’ll be like
Walmsley soo
n
enough.”

I took out my wallet and removed receipts, money – anything that would burn.
Simmons
did the same.
He handed me a wad of bills.

“There goes three hundred bucks
,” he groaned
.
“
I hope you know I should arrest you for burning
money.”

I stuffed
everything
in the gap between two boards
low
along one wall
and pulled out a
road
flare.

“Here use this
instead
,” Simmons said, handing me his lighter.

It took several minutes
for the
wood
to catch.
As
the
flames
danced
on the boards, w
e
searched
for
more
loose
wood and
used Walmsley’s knife to split off
long splinters
to
make a respectable pile of kindling
,
feeding it to
the
mounting
flames
.
As soon as the fire was burning
satisfactorily
, I
started a second one a few yards away on the opposite side of the tunnel. When I
showed him the opening in the
wall
,
Simmons
eyed it suspiciously.

“It looks
pretty
narrow.”

“It’s wide enough,” I assured him, hoping I wasn’t lying. He was going fir
s
t.
If he became stuck, we were in big trouble.
“Get in.”

He started in but stopped when we heard
a voice
echoing down the tunnel
. “Who the hell?” He looked at me. I shrugged.

“Section One?” I asked
, hoping I was wrong
.

“It’s possible
,” he said
, but looked doubtful
.
“
Whoever it is, they’re not
moving very professionally.
They’ll attract the creature for sure.”

We waited.
The steps stopped and
I heard a loud gasp.

“Detective Hardin?”

It was a woman’s voice,
muffled by a red scarf over her mouth
. It was a voice
I seemed to recognize
from somewhere
.
Her face
above the scarf
was
dirt
smudged but
her
brigh
t green eyes
peek
ed
over
the top
.
Suddenly, I put the voice
and
the eyes together.

“Ella
Ramirez
,” I said in disbelief. “How the hell did you get down here?
The doors are sealed.”

She ignored my question and
burst into tears.
“He’s dead,” she sobbed.

“Who’s dead?” Simmons asked.

“Steve
, my cameraman. She killed him.”

My stomach did a somersault. “Joria?”

She nodded. “
Dr. Alvarez, y
es
. W
e saw her talking to the creature. When we confronted her, she killed Steve
for this.” She held out a small object I didn’t recognize.

“What is it?”

“The memory card from Steve’s digital video camera. She’s on here, talking to the creature
about killing you
.”

I nodded, realizing
why
Joria
would kill for it. So far, there
was no solid evidence against her. A video of her and the creature
conspiring to kill a police officer
, well ex-police officer,
would put her away for
a long time
.
“Come with us. We’re getting out of here before the place goes up in flames.”

Then it hit me that there was only one way
Ella
and her cameraman could have gotten in. “You came in through the steel door, didn’t you.”

She looked at me, puzzled by my concern. “Yes, but we shut it behind us.” Her
mouth made an ‘O’. You don’t think it can open the door do you?”

“I don’t know, but I find hard t
o
believe a creature that can live for centuries would be stopped by a doorknob.
It doesn’t matter. Joria can
open it for him
.”

Her face screwed up to cry again. “I’m sorry,” she wailed
; then her eyes went wide. “The creature was headed this way
.
I, I must have passed it.”

“It’s probably searc
hing for a way out, but it will surely be back,” I said. The words had barely left my mouth when I head its loud screech.
“Speak of the devil.” I looked at Simmons. “You two go ahead. I’ve got to stop Joria.”

“No way,” Simmons protested.

“You’re no good with that
wound. Take Ms. Ramirez and get out of here. I’ll be along shortly, don’t worry.”

“But I do worry. I’m your guardian angel, right?”

“Right.”

Ramirez
looked at me uncertainly
when I said,
“You go first and help Clad when he comes through.
I’ll
tend
the fire for awhile.
”

She
stared into
the
dark
opening and backed away. “
You’re crazy.
I’m not going down there.”

“It’s the only way out,” I said.

She looked behind us. “Why not leave the way
I
came in?”

“The creature won’t give us that chance.” I looked at the fire.
It
was eating
the dry wood like it was soaked in kerosene. Flames crawled up the walls and nibbled at the
roof.
“Bes
ides
, in ten minutes the roof might come down on us.”

She hesitated
but the thought of a cave-in decided her
.
She slid
f
eet first
like Alice down the rabbit hole
. Her scream
followed her until I heard a
distant
splash
and a curse
. I tu
r
ned to
Simmons
. “You
r
turn.”

He
grinned at me and
went down the opening.

I looked around as he entered the hole.
The two fires were
well ablaze
, creating a lot of smoke and heat.

“You won’t escape that easily
,” a voice called from down the tunnel. It was the
Chupacabra
.

I fired one blast toward the voice
with the elephant gun
and yelled, “Come
get me
if you can!”

Just as I
wondered
why the creature had bothered to warn me it was coming, my sixth sense kicked into high gear. I
turned just in time to dodge a wooden board swinging at the back of my head.
Joria stood there, the flames
framing her like a scene from Dante’s
Inferno
.

“You tried that before, didn’t you
? Down in the old mill.”

She was breathing hard after pursuing Ella Ramirez. Her face was no longer beautiful but covered with blood, Steve Capaldi’s blood. “I didn’t try to kill you. I just had to stop you
.”

I leveled the elephant gun at her but kept one eye out for the
Chupacabra
. She appeared undaunted by the gun
.

“You have no right to kill them.”

“Them?”

She laughed. “Did you think there was just one?
Did you think you could wipe them out of existence?
There are many more here and elsewhere in the world. If they wanted
to dominate us, they could. They seek only to survive.”

I shook my head. “The cost is too high.”

She lowered her board. “If you join with me, help me, the
Chupacabra
will give you its precious gift, as it did me.
”

I stared at her dumbfounded. “You’re raving.”

Her eyes flashed angrily. “You fool! How did you enjoy making love with a woman old enough to be your mother
?”

When I simply stared, she continued. “I’m fifty-six years old. I will
continue to enjoy youth for a hundred years, perhaps more. Join me. You know I love you.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the
Chupacabra
moving at the edge of the light from the flames. Joria was attempting to use me again, keep me occupied while her gray friend
killed me. I didn’t know if she was telling the truth or raving, but it didn’t matter. I grabbed her arm.

“Sure thing,” I snapped. “Let’s go on a honeymoon.”

Before she could break free, I shoved her down the hole and leaped in after her. Behind me
,
the creature screamed its
out
rage.
The others were waiting on me. Ella was soaking wet
and fuming
.

“You pushed me
,
” she yelled.
She turned to Joria
and slapped her across the face so hard Joria stumbled. I hid my smile.