“Catherine,” Joseph said while lacing his fingers within hers. “You must not feel any guilt, my darling. As long as we can enjoy each other, I do not care if it has to be the netherworld. I do not have any care in my bones of how and where we meet as long as we do. Being with you is all that matters as my heart beats only when you are near.”
Catherine blushed with excitement and flattery and kissed Joseph on his cheeks. She came up with an idea of how to solve their problem. “How about we move away from Baltimore? We can catch a carriage and go anywhere we please! We do not even have to stay in Maryland. We can go to Georgia, New Jersey, or even Pennsylvania! The possibilities are endless!”
Joseph stood silent considering Catherine’s suggestion. As much as he wanted to whisk her away, there were circumstances in his life that prevented him from carrying on with his paramour’s wishes.
“These thoughts are rash and are without strategic thought, my princess. We cannot simply move away from Baltimore. You have your life here and I have my apprenticeship to consider. Moving out of Baltimore would mean that we would have to start our lives anew, and I’m not ready for that quite yet.”
With a frown on her face, Catherine asked, “Then, what are we to do? Remain under our parents’ control forever? How much longer must we sneak away into this rugged landscape? I want to enjoy our time together in peace and comfort!”
Before Joseph could respond, a great horned owl interrupted the moment with its hooting. It landed on the branch of a tree across from the duo and stared at them with its piercing yellow eyes. Suddenly, a rustling in the forest scared Joseph and Catherine, which caused the damsel to leap to her feet and cling onto her lover’s arms in fright. It was the sound of bushes and tree leaves shaking violently; a sound that could not be created from a simple breeze.
“What was that wretched noise?”
“My dear, it is nothing but a woodland creature searching for its nightly nourishment,” Joseph answered in a calm manner as he sat himself and Catherine down on the log.
“I despise creatures! What if it is a wolf? Or a dangerous beast? We shall not stay here any longer! I am sorely afraid!”
“It might be a small creature. There is nothing to be frightened about. Regardless, I will answer the questions you posed before I was rudely interrupted by that winged bird of nightmares. I was going to explain that we won’t be in this predicament much longer. I will find a way for us to marry, then we will have our independence and can leave Baltimore. Then, I will seek a job in our new city, and we will live the lives we deserve. And when we do get married, it will be under a solar eclipse, since it was on this occasion that we had our first kiss.”
Catherine smiled at this assertion and grabbed hold of Joseph, kissing him once more. As the couple rekindled their passion, however, they were being observed by an unknown creature. It stared at them and growled. The shuffling noise they heard earlier returned and scared Catherine once more. This time, she was adamant that they were in danger and pressed Joseph to investigate the matter at once.
“We cannot stay here in this dangerous forest! You must eradicate the antagonist responsible for this wretched noise!”
Joseph laughed and remarked, “I will prove to you that it is nothing but a small creature looking for food. But I shall return to allay your fears and revitalize our passion.” He bravely ventured into the forest but saw nothing except darkness and damp foliage in his way. Catherine sat on the log, shivering from the chill as her body twisted and contorted in an attempt to stay warm.
Joseph looked around for any signs of any predator or marauder. However, the same owl who interrupted his moment with Catherine caught his attention yet again. He stared at the owl with wide eyes of surprise and fascination as the owl gazed back into Joseph’s eyes with its own glinting yellow orbs. It clutched a dead mouse in its talons prepared to feast. The owl had strategically hunted and preyed on the mouse until it saw the perfect opportunity to capture it with its talons, then kill it with its dangerously sharp beak. It was now ready to enjoy its meal.
“How did you teleport into the forest from your earlier position? And on a more important subject, are you the one who has been scaring my lady?”
The owl replied with its usual hooting, which angered the chap further. “That hooting is where I leave you, you winged fiend! If that was you making this hellish commotion, cease at once! You are ruining my night with my one and only!”
As Joseph was about to return to Catherine, he heard a growl behind him. Knowing that what he heard was not a normal animal growl, Joseph slowly turned around. He began to grow nervous and shook with fear thinking that he might have intruded into the habitat of a wild animal. Alas, it was no such thing. Sweat dripped from Joseph’s brow as he strode through the forest in slow motion as his eyes darted from right to left searching for the source of the roar.
He arrived at a cluster of bushes. He thought it was a possible location for the noise but found nothing there. The youth moved to another area that he believed was large enough to hide a human or beast. Joseph marched over to it and stealthily searched it but found only a squirrel eating a walnut. Suddenly, he heard the growl again, only this time, it was louder and sounded even closer than before. Joseph sensed the atmosphere around him become thick and heavy, as if something was behind him and crowding his space. He spun around and saw the monstrosity. Joseph screamed, but the fiend disregarded it and abruptly seized him.
Joseph screamed again and cried for help, but the monster dragged his body across the forest floor like a sack of vegetables. The man cried for help one last time before the unknown terror sank its claws into his heart, terminating its ability to beat ever again.
• • •
Catherine remained patiently by the log, waiting for her chap to reappear. But the meter of her patience ran out and suspense filled her being. She rose to her feet and ventured into the forest in search of Joseph.
“If this is a trick, I am not in the mood, Joseph! I am scared beyond my corset. Come out of hiding and end this foolish game!”
While her warning went largely ignored, a visual clue soon appeared before her eyes as she slowly walked deeper into the forest. The prints of Joseph’s shoes emerged in front of her and Catherine started following their path until they suddenly stopped. Then, the wider path resulting from Joseph’s dragged corpse emerged into view, so she followed it, too. She remained on the path of this ominous trail until it also stopped, but her lover was nowhere to be found.
“Joseph? Joseph!”
Catherine called out his name over and over again, but never received a reply. Her eyes searched the trees, the bushes, and within the branches of both for any possible sign of Joseph’s whereabouts. He remained out of her view and nowhere in sight.
“Joseph! Come out this second! I’m in no mood for foolish tricks! You are in serious trouble!”
Catherine continued her search in another direction through the forest where she found a set of otherworldly prints pressed into the mud of the forest floor. They did not belong to any common animal she was aware of. They appeared to be in the shape of wildcat paws and a demon’s hands combined. She followed the path in the hopes of finding Joseph and followed it until the paw prints ceased to exist. Whatever had created the path had either flown in the air or climbed a tree.
Catherine received her answer when Joseph’s corpse dropped from a tree and landed in front of her. His brain, liver, and heart were missing, and his clothes were covered with the forest’s muck and dirt. She ran to his corpse and screamed like a banshee. She became silent when she noticed dark red blood dripping down from the tree. It was very dark, almost black, which was too dark to be from Joseph’s carcass.
She watched in disbelief as the substance dripped onto her slain sweetheart. Catherine turned her gaze upward toward to tree and screamed in horror as the unknown monster dived from the tree and pounced on
her.
Chapter 2
Nathaniel Quincy was seated at the kitchen table in the new house he shared with his hunting partner, Edgar Allan Poe. He wore his favorite outfit for the morning – a cutaway coat with black trousers and a light blue vest with a black cravat. He kept his dark hair short and neat, and he sported a goatee that contoured perfectly around his mouth. He sat at the table eating his usual breakfast: boiled eggs, corn bread with butter, and a side of black coffee.
Quincy was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he grew up in a religious family. His father wished he would become a pastor, but young Quincy had a passion for politics and had high hopes of becoming a mayor one day. His father was a pastor himself and his mother was a seamstress. Quincy joined the military when he became a young adult and served for six years. Upon his exit from the military, he moved to Baltimore because he liked to live in a city rich for its history and scenery, the most prominent being Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. After living for six months in Baltimore, Quincy campaigned for a seat on the city’s council in an unsuccessful bid.
As Quincy was finishing his breakfast, Edgar Allan Poe treaded into the kitchen dressed in a black overcoat, a crisp white buttoned-down shirt, a forest green vest, and a woolen scarf. A black top hat with a dark band tied above its brim finished the classy ensemble and caused his pale complexion to rival the light of the sun. His long, curly hair and signature mustache that gave him a stately appearance.
Poe was born in Boston and he, too, joined the military at a young age. He later established a career as a writer and poet, then landed a job as an editor for The Broadway Journal, a New York editorial. Alas, his writing fizzled in the end.
Poe and Quincy started hunting the supernatural after both of their wives perished at the hands of monsters. Quincy’s wife, Rachel, died after being attacked by a wendigo, while Poe’s wife, Virginia Clemm Poe, was slain by a ghoul.
Due to Poe’s pact with a demon, he and Quincy were able to reunite, so they could hunt and kill supernatural beasts. Although, Poe never uttered a word to Quincy about the demonic deal and kept it a secret for the time being. He preferred to wait for a better occasion to relay the news to his cohort.
Upon entering the kitchen, Poe greeted Quincy and poured himself a cup of coffee. He sat down at the table opposite Quincy and watched him wolfing down his breakfast. A smirk crept across Poe’s lips as he said, “Dear heavens, Quincy! If I could find a woman to love in the same way you love your breakfast, I would be a very happy man.”
Quincy responded to the joke by saying, “At least I eat, Edgar, unlike you. You are nothing but blood, skin, and bones. But I do extend an invitation for you to join me.”
“Thank you, but I will have you know that I do eat. But I eat when you’re not around, when there is food still in the house. Otherwise, your big appetite will consume every item in our kitchen.”
Quincy laughed at this assertion, but his jovial attitude was quickly replaced with a solemn expression after looking at the newspaper on the table. “We have a new case to investigate,” he stated while pointing to the newspaper in the center of the table. “Read the article on the front page.” Poe slowly set his coffee mug down and picked up the newspaper. He immediately saw the headline that demanded his attention.
DOUBLE MURDER IN THE PATAPSCO FOREST
A horrible crime occurred in the city of Baltimore! Police constables were summoned to the forest nearby the Patapsco River after two corpses were found dismembered with their brain, liver, and heart missing! Theodore Coolidge and Franklin Truman, the first men to arrive on the scene, were disgusted at the sight as they probed the bodies and found the tracks of non-human footprints near each of the bodies. Constables are on the lookout for the killer as this piece is being written. But with no clues to base their search from, law enforcement will have a hard time tracking this ravenous entity and capturing it. Ultimately, for the good of Baltimore, the madman must be brought to justice!
Poe read the article a second time in an attempt to grasp the potential case ahead. He formed a question on his mind and asked Quincy, “What sort of monster would do this? It is not one I have ever studied or come across. A monster that consumes the brain, liver, and heart of its victims? What would do such a thing and why?”
“We should investigate the matter immediately, Edgar. There is no time to waste,” Quincy said. Tension filled the atmosphere of the kitchen as both men paused in deep thought. Quincy broke the silence, “How do we probe the crime scene without being detected? We must go tonight, when no constable is in the forest mucking around.”
“That is what I’m afraid of, Quincy. The crime scene might already be contaminated because of the good-for-nothing police of this city. By the time we arrive, our investigation will be hindered and we may not be able to find any evidence. How are we to handle our duties?”
“Nay, Edgar! We should not be discouraged. We will go tonight, when the moon greets Baltimore, and we will peel our eyes for any proof of the extraordinary. Do not give up hope, my good lad.”
With Quincy’s assurances, Poe nodded his head and agreed to the task at hand. He sat back down and finished his coffee while Quincy finished his meal.
Night arrived and the hunters were at the heart of the crime scene of the dark forest. The smell of the river nearby wafted through the trees, then combined with the aroma of the moist earth and the acrid odor of the decaying blood leftover by the victims. This aromatic storm assaulted the nostrils of the duo as they scrambled to find a significant clue hidden somewhere within the ominous landscape.
Away from Poe’s sight, Quincy uncovered his shirt and rubbed the right side of his abdomen where a large scar was visible. The surrounding scenery resurrected Quincy’s memories about his battle with the wendigo, the guilty party that caused the damage and resulted in the scar. The incident happened in a forest and Quincy was still haunted by the recollections of the bloody combat. Poe suddenly called to Quincy, which brought him back to the present. Quincy straightened his shirt, “Did you find something?”
Quincy hurried to Poe and found him kneeling on the ground and inspecting a small, thin trail. Poe touched its soggy texture and deduced that the trail was not fresh, yet not quite stale. He theorized that it was a possibility that it was created during the murders. Poe then studied the large path that was of close proximity to the thinner one. Within the larger one, he observed ten small parallel lines running alongside the path.
“I hypothesize, my dear Quincy, that this wider path was of the victim, and I believe it is safe to infer that the ten lines are the finger marks of the victim as he or she resisted their captor. The poor soul must have been dragged by their ankles to their place of death, then dismembered. Furthermore, I presume that the thinner path was formed by the creature. But what possibly can it be?”
Quincy examined the paths, then formed a silly idea that the monster might have used a weapon to kill its targets. “Maybe the creature we are hunting carried a scythe. This miniscule streak could have been formed by a gardening tool such as a sickle or a pitchfork. Therefore, it is a possibility we are hunting a human, a sick-minded one.”
“No. That is not a realistic possibility. No human is capable of seizing the heart, brain, and liver of another human. Even if they did, what would have been the purpose? Why did they do it? I tell you, my good lad. The grim reaper did strike in this forest, but the form in which he manifested is yet to be discovered.”
Quincy frowned and nodded his head in agreement with his comrade’s grim suggestion. The duo’s investigation was suddenly interrupted when they heard the rustling of a nearby bush. The pair drew their pistols, which were both Colt Paterson models capable of striking a target at a range of more than sixty yards with wicked precision because of the barrel’s eight-inch length. The hunters faced the bush and took aim ready to open fire on whatever predator would emerge from its hiding. The entity violently shook
the bush again and the hunters maintained their steady aim. To their shock, the source of the noise pounced from the shrub and Quincy fired a bullet that struck the head of the creature.
But it was no monster; not even a formidable adversary. Poe and Quincy headed over to the bush and stared down at the rabbit whose life was just snuffed out by Quincy’s bullet. Small in size, its snow-white fur was stained dark red from the blood oozing from the deadly wound in its head.
“Well, Quincy! I suggest we take our fresh meat home and get it prepared for the oven.”
“Good idea.”
As Quincy reached down to pick up the rabbit, the hunters were startled by a loud roar in the distance. The comedic moment disintegrated and the smiles were wiped from their faces by the otherworldly sound. The huntsmen exchanged shocked expressions as if telepathically asking each other if it was the roar of a lion or the cry of a dragon they heard.
With his mouth agape, Quincy exclaimed, “What made that horrifying noise?” to which Poe replied, “That is no woodland creature or any organism of God! That is a beast from Hell!”
“We better leave posthaste, my dear acquaintance!” Poe continued. “We will return once we are prepared with better weaponry to challenge the source of that hideous noise.”
Following Poe’s advice, the hunters placed their weapons into their holsters and exited the forest, eager to return once the time was fit.
Chapter 3
Quincy was in the library conducting research on the latest case while Poe was in his bedroom consumed with writing a letter to a woman who was new to Baltimore. He fell in love with her the second he laid eyes on her as she stepped out of the carriage in front of her new home.
It occurred during the day and Poe was on his way to the bakery to buy a few desserts for the house, which included his favorite: Boston Crème Pie. As he stepped onto the corner of the bakery’s block, he saw her and stopped dead in his tracks. She had her brunette hair in a bun and was adorned in a red velvet dress, which reminded Poe of Quincy’s favorite dessert, red velvet cake.
Poe the Hunter- Bedlam in Baltimore Page 2
