Secret Of The Crest (17 page)

   ‘So, what do you do for a living?’

   ‘I am a hunter.’

   ‘That’s a profession here?’

   ‘No, it isn’t but I haven’t found my one true goal yet and hunting is what I do best so far so I made it my profession. For the time being anyway. How about yourself? Let me guess. You are a fashion model for a famous clothes designer.’

   ‘No I am not. But I am flattered. Actually I’m a photographer and I usually take pictures of those fashion models who work for famous designers!’

   As they kept their conversation going they had unnoticeably been left behind the rest of the group. Mano stopped walking for a moment and Cassandra who was attracted to him expected him to make a pass at her.

   ‘Look, there is something moving behind those trees over there.’ He pointed to their right. Cassandra looked to where he was pointing but saw nothing.

   ‘I can’t see anything. Perhaps a bird flew out or a squirrel shifted the leaves. Let’s move along anyway. We’ll get lost at the rate we’re going!’ she said annoyed that the reason Mano stopped was not her.

   Soon they caught up to the rest of the group and only moments later they were all standing in front of the beautiful rushing waters of the river. The colors at this point were so vivid all around it seemed they were all engulfed in a 3D movie.  

   ‘We’ll set our things down here. Prepare yourselves for a great experience and a day to remember!’ Gregor sat down.

   He took out the reels and bait and then a small box of hooks and baited them for everyone except for Mano who did it himself. Besides being a hunter he knew a thing or two about fishing as well. Cassandra watched both men in admiration. One was her brother and the other, “
what is he to me? No, I’m not in love, he’s just an acquaintance. He may never be anything more than the hunter I once met in Greece
” she thought to herself.

   She went over to the river bank and sat with the other girls. It was extremely cold early in the morning so Sam was building a fire next to them. Gregor began showing them step by step how to use their reels effectively.  They all dropped their lines into the river and the time passed. After almost an hour Rebecca finally called out.

   ‘I’ve got one, everybody!’ They all looked over to see what she had caught but she hadn’t pulled it out yet as her line was heavy and seemed to be stuck.

   ‘Love, you mind giving me a hand here? I can’t pull it out!’

   He went behind her and held her arms in a still position.

   ‘Don’t pull; let it loose a little at a time as if you don’t want to catch it. Then you will feel your line pull again let loose a little over and over until your fish is close enough for you to see at the surface. Then pull quickly’.

   He left the line to Rebecca and a short time later she pulled out a twelve pounder. Everyone was excited. Cassandra gave her reel to Sarah and took out her camera to catch the action of the trout squirming on the line.

   ‘It’s a beauty!’ she called out. ‘Come on! We could do better than that puny fish!’ Sam said in a jealous tone. ‘There are more fish where they came from!’ They all laughed knowing Sam.

   They all knew he wouldn’t rest until he caught one now that a girl had caught the first fish. He was pretty competitive in that way.  The day went by quickly as they talked, laughed and fished for hours. In this time Mano and Cassandra had shared more than a lot of information about each other. They had been in their own little world all those hours and really didn’t notice what the others had been saying or doing for that fact.

   ‘I got one too!’ Sam yelled after hours of nagging and wining that the fish didn’t want to be caught today.

   He started to pull on the reel but for some reason it wouldn’t budge.

   ‘I think it’s stuck under a rock!’

   ‘Pull harder!’ Sarah said.

   After a few minutes it was loose. He slowly brought in his line.

   ‘It’s a big one, I can feel it’s weight, at least twenty pounds!’

   Sarah started screaming as he pulled it up out of the water.

   ‘Oh, my God! What on earth?’ she turned her head away not to see it anymore.

   Cassandra ran over to see what it was that caused Sarah to scream like that but Mano was quick to take her in his arms turning her from the gruesome scene and putting her face to his chest.

   ‘No, don’t look!’

   ‘What is it?’ she asked. Before he could answer she heard Sam asking who it belonged to referring the human head which he had just pulled out of the river. Gregor looked at it intensely.

   ‘It isn’t but a few hours that It has been in the water. This I can tell because it hasn’t decayed at all and there is still fresh blood where it was detached.’

   The head which was ripped out of place belonged to a male thirty to thirty two years of age. This time Gregor suspected nothing. He knew it was the ghouls. Ghouls that were probably from another territory.

   ‘This fellow was luckier than your friend,’ he said to Mano, ‘his head was ripped off before they fed on him. He felt nothing.’

   ‘Poor soul!’ said Sam.

   Gregor took the hook out and carefully wrapped the head in a picnic tablecloth that they had brought and he laid it under a tree.

   ‘I suggest that we officially end our fishing trip,’ Gregor began. ‘Two attacks in three days is reason for us not to be out here at all! Something is going on and until it’s solved, I can’t risk anyone else getting hurt. We’re heading back!’

   ‘What did you mean when you said “ghouls from another territory?”’ asked Mano.

   ‘I mean ghouls from other villages or cities that are passing through only to feed and bring death at their passing. There are differences from one ghoul to another. The ones who recently died and had either been bitten before or after they died or the ones who were excommunicated for some reason by the church. The latter are much more dangerous. They are in revenge on everyone they see because they can never get into heaven because of their excommunication. They are damned for eternity to look and act as beasts. The

ghouls that were bitten before death are looking for redemption and will only feed to stay alive not killing their victims. The ghouls who were bitten just after death are the ones that seem like zombies. They feed until they quench their thirst either draining or not their victim but they are unaware of what they are doing or their surroundings. Their instincts lead them to anything warm blooded. A human or an animal. From what we saw when we found Mikhail, I believe that he was attacked by an excommunicated ghoul, which are also the original ghouls. Like I sad before, these are the most dangerous and we mustn’t take anymore chances so we should get inside quickly! I will put out a search with the chief of police and we will hunt them down later tonight.’

   ‘I will stay in Terovo as long as it takes to help you hunt them!’ said Mano.

   ‘I, on the other hand, will stay at the inn and take care of our damsels!’ said Sam in a very serious voice hoping that they wouldn’t ask for him to go along.

   Rebecca went over to Gregor and stood on her toes to whisper in his ear.

   ‘I’m afraid for you. What if they outnumber you and you can’t handle them?’

   She was right to worry. She had no idea what Gregor could actually do. The strength he had and what he turned into when he was challenged or in danger.

   ‘I am like them and they won’t harm me.’

   ‘But, you are planning to hurt them, why would they think differently about you?’

   Gregor didn’t want his fiancé to worry. ‘Trust me, I won’t be harmed. You do trust me don’t you?’

   ‘Of course I do!’

   Cassandra stood still looking into the forest. She thought of the ghouls that had scared her out of her wits the other day, her new brother, her family back home, the ones who had lied to her. Then she saw her real parents passing through the forest some meters ahead of her in the shadows of the trees. She felt sorry for them so she didn’t make a sound. Cassandra let them pass unnoticeable to the others. Gregor had been watching with her since the moment he caught her gazing like in a trance.

   ‘I’m sorry sister; I know how hard it must be to find out that your real family members are nothing more than creatures.’

   ‘No it isn’t really. I want to know them; I really want to get to know them just as I wanted to know you.’

   ‘Alright, then. I promise I will bring you back up here tomorrow before you leave. You can meet them and leave with your mind at peace. Okay?’ Cassandra nodded. 

   ‘I’m glad you are back early. Nicko has come and been waiting for you!’ Marina said.

   Gregor shuck the chief’s hand. ‘Nicko, good to see you, old friend! Everybody, this is Nicko our chief of police, Nicko, this is everybody.’

   ‘Nice to meet you all. Gregor, we need to talk in private.’

   ‘We sure do! Have a drink. I’ll unpack the gear and be right down to join you.’

   All of them went to their rooms while Gregor finally poured himself a drink and joined the chief at the bar.

   ‘Before you tell me about what you found out in your investigation of the  scene you need to know there was another attack. We just found a head that was ripped off its body. It seemed very fresh; perhaps it was done last night or early this morning. I brought it with me. There were no tracks around so I imagine it drifted from higher up the river to where we were taken by the current. It could have came down a couple of miles, perhaps even from Hassi point.’

   ‘You know it’s hard to track alone, I need all the men I can get. Of course I don’t want anyone else to get hurt but I really don’t have a choice we have to close this case quickly as possible. If not, I’m afraid the media will find out and come up here causing chaos! Are you with me?’ Nicko asked.

   ‘I am, I’ll see who else I can gather!’

   ‘Shall we say about nine tonight?’

   ‘Sure! Pick us up; we’ll be waiting on the front porch.’

   ‘Okay, see you then!’

   Gregor knocked on Mano’s door.  He was taken by surprise when his sister opened the door.  

   ‘Cassandra?’

   ‘We had started a conversation at the river that we hadn’t quite finished. We seem to have a lot in common’ she continued.

   ‘I need to speak to Mano right away.’

   ‘He went downstairs to get us a snack.’

   ‘Yes, and it is a delicious cheese pie just out of Mrs. Marina’s oven! Care to join us, Gregor?’ Mano asked. 

   ‘No, thanks! Actually, I wanted to talk to you. We’re going out tonight to hunt down the beast that is spreading death everywhere. This is getting out of hand. We need all the help that is available to us. I know it’s scary but I could use your help. If you say no though I won’t think less of you.’

   ‘I would be happy to help you and I won’t leave here until we have finished the job and closed the case!’

   ‘Count me in, brother, and don’t even try to talk me out of it!’ Cassandra added. ‘I obviously am here to fulfill my destiny and you are both part of that. I really need to be out there with both of you tonight!’

   Gregor realized right then and there that Cassandra was infatuated with Mano so he didn’t deny his sister of her wish to go with them. Besides, he knew she had the stubbornness of the family; she would come no matter what he said.

   ‘Okay, you two meet me downstairs at ten to nine. The chief of police will be picking us up and taking us to our destination to start tracking.’ Gregor closed the door behind him. 

   ‘I’ll just take my pie to my room, rest a little and get ready for tonight. When you are ready will you knock on my door so we can go down together?’

   ‘Yes, I’ll be there promptly.’ Cassandra went back to her own room where she was surprised to find her closet door wide open once more. She looked inside then slammed the door shut.

   ‘Rebecca, were you in my wardrobe?’ Cassandra asked as she peeked into the joining room. She saw that Rebecca had fallen asleep.

   ‘It’s better that you are asleep than to know I’m going with them. You’d probably freak anyway,’ she mumbled to herself.

   She opened her suitcase, took out a pair of jeans and a warm sweater and put them on. Then she laid on her bed and eventually fell a sleep.

   There was a knock at her door and Cassandra was now wide awake. She jumped up and opened the door, letting Mano in.

   ‘Hi, just a moment.’

   She turned to look through her make up case. She put her small pocket knife in her jeans’ pocket. The chief of police arrived on time. They had all been waiting outside for him.

   ‘Good evening, Nicko. Let’s do this!’

   ‘You all be careful!’ Marina shouted out with whatever voice she had.

   Cassandra kissed her grandmother. ‘Don’t worry, grandmother, we will be back before you know it! We have just found each other! I’m sure it was so that it will last. That is why nothing bad will happen tonight.’

   Nicko had brought extra ammunition with him and unloaded it off his horse.

   ‘You’re not going to need that! I have brought tranquilizer guns for each one of us. We must not kill whoever is behind this right away. I think its best that we tranquilize them and find out if there are more of them or not. Then, when we know all we need, we can kill it… them… whichever.’