“I understand,” Saul said. He slid to the edge of the bed but kept himself covered. He slept in the nude and did not want to risky any sort of offense in the eyes of The Guard. “But these were circumstances that could not be helped. Granted, I should have had more will power when it came to shoving Lester Dobbs. That is what caused most of it.”
“How did a mortal get under your skin in such a way?” It was not a taunting sort of question; Benali was genuinely doing his/its best to get to the bottom of this. Saul knew that Benali would report back to the other members of The Guard and that many of them were far less forgiving that Benali.
“This whole town was an audience for the death of my father,” Saul said. “Lester Dobbs used it to provoke me.”
“Why?”
“Because he was drunk. He is the type that must feel like he reigns over everyone.”
“And the women?”
“The first one is the deputy of Red Creek. Her name is Kara Humphrey. She came to question me about the assault. The other was named Nikki Galimore. She is…well…if I’m being honest, she has the potential to cause some trouble.”
He hated to admit such a thing, but he knew that Benali would be able to sense it if he, Saul, lied about her.
“Trouble of what kind?” Benali asked.
“She saw the assault on the street and it made her curious. She then did some research and found an article about my father’s murder. She saw me in the picture and realized I looked exactly the same.”
“Anything else?” Benali asked. He asked in a way that let Saul knew that he knew that there was more to it.
“Not regarding me, but there is something that concerns me.”
“What is that?” Benali asked.
“There is footage of something feeding on cattle. One of Nikki’s friends caught it on some sort of hunter’s camera.”
“What manner of something?”
“The way Nikki described the figure, it looked very close to a vampire.”
“But you are the only vampire in this area,” Benali said.
“Exactly. That’s why it concerns me. Might there be another family trying to encroach on my territory?”
The shadowy composure of Benali’s skin seemed to flicker at this. His eyeless face seemed to contort a bit.
“That is very doubtful,” he answered. “Who else has seen this footage?”
“Just the girl and her friend.”
“I don’t need to tell you that you need to keep an eye on this girl, correct?”
“I know.”
“Things aren’t so bad that The Guard needs to act yet; I can keep them at bay for a bit. But you need to somehow make sure that this footage, this girl and her friend, are not able to show anyone else. I don’t care how you handle it, just handle it. If you need to break our rules, I will allow it. But you must be discreet.”
“I understand. Now, what about this other creature?”
“I will check with the Guard. As you know, we would be fully aware if another family was encroaching on your territory. And we would obviously stop it. But we have neither seen nor heard anything. I will keep you posted.”
“Thanks.”
“Saul…you have only eight years remaining before you are free to feed as you were intended. Eight short years. You are coming very close to ruining that for yourself. You need to act with more tact and caution.”
Saul only nodded.
“I’m sure you understand that I must keep you under surveillance from time to time as a result of these events. The Guard has been sensing some very strange disturbances in the fabric of things. We are on full alert for any peculiarities. Of course, your recent string of events is alarming but not of the caliber we are expecting. This other creature your lady friend claims to have seen, though…that is alarming.”
“What sort of disturbance are we talking about?”
“We aren’t quite sure yet, but we remain vigilant and always watchful.”
Sensing that Benali had no real answers to give him, Saul reclined back into his bed. “Is that all?” he asked.
“For now. Take care, Saul and use your best judgment in all things in the days to come.”
Then, as if a strong breeze had come through the cabin and pushed away billowing smoke, the shadow-like composition of Benali vanished. Saul blinked, making sure his eye were not failing him, and let out a deep breath.
Although he was alone in the bedroom again, he felt like there was a ghost occupying the room as well. He knew that a member of The Guard would not share the same habitat as someone they were keeping tabs on (it was against one of their many oaths), but he still felt that Benali was there with him, all the same.
Saul got out of bed and dressed himself. He walked into the kitchen, made himself a sandwich, and walked out onto the back porch. He was relieved that he at least knew for certain that he had been sensing the prying eyes of The Guard over the last few days. Benali had all but confirmed that. Still, if there was some sort of disturbance in the order of things, Saul couldn’t help but wonder if his own recent disturbances might somehow be related.
And if Nikki was right about this other creature that was surely connected someway as well.
He thought again of Nikki Galimore and wondered how he could keep an eye on her without seeming suspicious. He then remembered that she had jokingly asked if she could visit him again and he had never flat-out denied her. Given that, he thought he knew exactly how to keep her in his sights without seeming suspicious.
Making his plans on his back porch, the approaching night suddenly seemed very warm and bright.
5
While Saul formulated a plan and tried to shake off the chill of Benali’s unexpected visit, Nikki was getting ready for bed. She rarely went to sleep early, but tomorrow would actually be an eventful day at the Red Creek B&B. She decided it might do her some good to get some rest.
Of course, when she lay in her bed and thought of Saul Benton, sleep did not come as readily as she had hoped. She was still in a mild sort of shock over the reality of what she had done. Had Saul been the sort of vampire that the movies were full of, she’d have been nothing more than a snack that had stupidly walked right into his clutches.
She sort of wished he were that sort of vampire. That, at least, made sense. But no, he was pretty normal and even courteous in an odd sort of way. And as much as she hated to admit it, she was drawn to him. She had never been the sort of girl to crush on men—especially not ones that were built like him—but there it was, plain and simple.
She fell asleep trying to come up with a clever excuse for paying him another visit.
Even after she fell asleep, he was there. Only he was not in his cabin. He was in the forests behind the cabin, the ones that ran along the town limits of Red Creek. She was there, too. She was waiting for him, with a coquettish sort of smile on her face. He walked closer to her, his massive size nearly dwarfing a few of the trees he passed.
“Your thrill for danger is going to get you killed,” Saul said to her as he closed the distance. “These woods are dangerous for me, so they could be lethal to you.”
“Why?” she asked, with the smile still on her face.
“The Guard…they see everything. Anything tied to me in any way, they will have an interest in.”
“Yeah?” she asked.
She held her hand out and placed it on his hip. It felt like granite under her slim fingers. She tried pulling him to her but it was like trying to pull a car. He looked down to her and when she met his gaze, there was a primal look in his eyes that instantly sent electricity through her.
“Are you sure?” he said.
She nodded, returning his primal gaze with her own.
He encircled her, his large hand finding the small of her back. He pulled her to him in a rough way that created more sparks in her body. When their bodies met, she actually lost her breath for a moment. She let out a surprised gasp and then, before she could properly collect another b
reath, his mouth was on hers.
Her hands went to his face as they kissed and she found his hair, running her fingers through it. She felt him pulling her tighter against him as their mouths continued to work together. Slowly, his mouth left hers and found her jaw. When he trailed down to her neck there was a moment when she was certain he would bite and make her like his own kind. She was terrified by the thought but something fluttered inside, something below her stomach and closer to her waist.
But he did not bite, although he nibbled on her collarbone through the fabric of her shirt. As she giggled at this, his hands pushed her shirt up and she finished the movement for him, sliding it over her head and throwing it to the ground. Her bra was still on and he wasted no time with her breasts as his kisses traveled further down.
When he reached her navel, she let out a sigh and leaned back against a nearby tree. His hands were on her hips again, gripping her and pulling her closer to him. They then inched around to her front as his mouth met the waistband of her jeans. There was a brief moment of nothing, only the silence of the forest, and then the soft sound of her jeans coming undone and sliding slowly down her thighs.
She felt his mouth hovering above the lace of her underwear and when his hands started slowly pulling them down, his mouth following suit, the forest seemed to explode.
***
She woke up gasping and felt as if she had just been making out with someone for hours. Every nerve in all of the important parts seemed to be on fire. She had twisted the sheets into knots during the dream and her entire body felt like one large knot.
She sat up in bed and realized that she was trembling lightly.
“Damn it,” she said, feeling like a fool.
The clock on her bedside tables read 2:12. She knew her body was technically tired, but she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so energized. As a matter of fact, something in the dream had made her feel sexy—something else she had not felt in quite some time.
She lay in bed and waited to fall back to sleep. But the images of the dreams kept creeping into her head, so strong that she considered getting in her car and heading back to Saul’s cabin right then and there.
But better sense prevailed.
When sleep finally made its return, it washed away one remaining fragment to the dream that followed her down like a mantra as slumber took her. It was Saul, looking at her with those fierce eyes and making one comment that had kept the otherwise sensual dream anchored to reality:
This is dangerous.
CHAPTER FOUR
1
Jason Eastman often woke himself up with his own snoring. His mother had always told him that he’d end up having the same sleeping issues as his father, ending up with one of those stupid CPAP machines before he was fifty.
It was that comment from his mother that greeted him in his thoughts as he woke up two days after having showed Nikki his trap cam footage. But as he opened his eyes to his darkened ceiling, he was pretty sure he hadn’t been snoring. Something else had jerked him from sleep, some noise that he had barely heard as he’d sprung awake.
He sat up, feeling an uneasy sensation churning in his guts. The bedside clock read 3:51. He waited to hear the sound again, but it did not come. It was probably just one of your neighbors coming in late again, he told himself. Probably that coke-head two doors over stumbling back home from Randy’s Roost or—
The sound came again, clear now that his mind wasn’t fogged over by sleep. It was coming from his left, from the window along the rear wall of his bedroom. It sounded almost like a tapping noise. Had there been trees near his window, Jason might have assumed that a gentle wind had stirred the branches just enough to brush his window. But there were no trees out there and from the quiet of the night, Jason didn’t think there was any wind blowing outside, either.
He got out of bed and walked slowly across the bedroom. In the further parts of his head, he naively thought that he would find Nikki standing at his window. Perhaps she had finally realized that there was something between them and wanted to show him that she had been feeling the same emotions Jason had been wrestling with. Maybe now it was time for them to show one another how they felt.
The thought of having Nikki in his bed was almost enough to stave off the fear that clawed at him as he made his way to the window. He saw nothing there, only the blackness of night and the vague dark shapes of trees that ran along behind the small apartment complex. He leaned towards the window and peered out.
A pair of eyes greeted him, shining bright with a sick shade of yellow. The eyes belonged to a face that was pressed directly against the glass. The face itself was not human in any way, nor was it an animal. It was ghoulish, twisted, and obscene. It smiled at Jason with cracked lips, drawing up a chin that nearly ended in a sharp point.
Jason felt a scream climb up his throat, but he locked it down. On the other side of the glass, the unnamable creature opened its mouth and began to talk. Its voice was blocked by the window, but Jason could tell that it was deep and guttural. Jason actually felt himself reaching forward to unlock the window and raise it up so he could hear, but he stopped himself just in time.
Instead, he thought of his cell phone, lying on his desk just inches away from him. He had to get a picture of this. What in the hell was this thing that was at his window? A demon? It certainly resembled every picture Jason had seen of demons, whether in comics or gothic paintings. If he could just get a picture of this thing, he’d…
The thing at the window threw a quick punch, shattering the glass instantly. When the glass came raining in, some of it actually cutting his bare arms, Jason finally let the scream rise up out of his throat.
As the creature came crawling through his shattered window, Jason was still reaching blindly for his phone. His fingers fell on it but he was never able to pick it up.
The last thing Jason Eastman felt was something hot at his throat followed by a brief yet excruciating pain. He died quickly, but not fast enough to be spared the sound of his own throat being ripped out by talon-like hands.
2
Kara Humphrey stepped out of her patrol car just before dawn. There were already two other officers at the scene. Yellow crime scene tape had been plastered up all around the apartment that Jason Eastman had resided in. The two officers were milling around on the slab of concrete that served as Jason Eastman’s porch. When they saw Kara coming, they exchanged an awkward glance with one another and then gave her an obligatory nod.
“What is it?” she asked. “What’s with the looks?”
The taller of the two spoke up. His name was Ralph Overton and while he was dedicated to his job, he could be a real dick at times. This morning, apparently, was no exception.
“The state police are on the way. It’s not anything for the squeamish in there. If you had a big breakfast, I’m not sure you should go in there. It’s nasty.”
Kara heard this as Well little girl, this is men’s work. Don’t want you going in there and getting all messy. Sheriff Morel won’t mind too much…
“The call I got said there was no body,” Kara said.
“Yeah, there isn’t,” Overton said. “Still the damn bloodiest thing I ever seen.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she said as she brushed past them and into the apartment.
She had taken no more than three steps into Jason’s small apartment when the thick, rich smell of blood reached her nose. Undeterred, she carried on. She walked to the back towards the bedroom, where Jason’s neighbor had found his body less than two minutes after hearing the sound of shattering glass and Jason’s screams.
Kara entered the bedroom, the smell of blood now overpowering. When she saw the dark red splattered everywhere, she understood why.
Blood was matted to the carpet, so thick and muddled that it looked almost black. It was also on the walls, splattered in random smears and splashes like some deranged abstract painting. But the thing that really got her was the fact that it was al
so above her head. Jason Eastman had been so viciously attacked that his blood had reached the ceiling. Kara tried to imagine the brutality of such an attack, but her mind only resorted to gory horror movie scenes. It was the only way she could rationalize it. Maybe Jason Voorhees had come in, beheaded Jason, and taken the body with him.
She almost let out a nervous laugh. She caught it just in time and realized that she was starting to feel slightly queasy.
It took a while, but the enormity of the scene finally caught up to her. She felt the little bit of breakfast she’d had rising in her throat, but she managed to keep it down. Truth be told, in terms of gore, this was nothing compared to what she had seen at Deke Goode’s farm. Still, this was different—this was a human.
She felt herself begin to tremble just as Ralph Overton stepped into the room.
“His folks have already been here,” he said. “We didn’t let them see this, of course, but they put it together for themselves. The dad is catatonic. The mother is next door, sitting on the neighbor’s couch. She’s apparently friends with them.”
“She in any condition to talk?” Kara asked.
“Seems to be. She seems to think that because his body wasn’t here, he might still be alive somewhere.”
Kara nodded. “How much longer before the state police get here?”
“Ten minutes, give or take.”
“Thanks.”
With that, she brushed by Overton and exited the apartment. She took in a deep breath of the early morning air, watching as the colors of dawn began to creep into the sky. The smell of blood still clung to her airways. It wasn’t pungent per se, just thick.
She readied herself as best as she could and walked next door. The name over the mailbox read Davis.
She knocked on the door and it was answered almost immediately by an older woman. She wore curlers in her hair and looked very tired. Kara knew the woman’s name to be Helen Davis but didn’t know her personally—the same old story in a little town like Red Creek.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted to the door, a stark contrast to the blood in Jason Eastman’s apartment. Usually a rabid coffee drinker, the thought of drinking anything after what she had seen in Jason’s apartment was sickening.
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