The Baron Blasko Mysteries (Book 3): Claws

by Howe, A. E.

  Blasko tried to push the creature off of him, but François was enjoying the moment. He placed his huge clawed hands on Blasko’s chest, digging into his flesh, and made a couple of coy snaps at Blasko’s face. Then, just before the beast started to rip into his chest, Blasko caught a motion to his right. Something metal came forward and rested against François’s head, just before a huge blast threw fire and guts in his face.

  Momentarily blinded, Blasko felt the full weight of the monster settle on top of him before it suddenly became lighter and easy to roll off. Looking over François’s mostly headless human torso, he saw Josephine standing above him, holding a double-barrel shotgun.

  “Excellent,” he said with a fierce smile.

  “More than one way to remove a monster’s head.”

  Blasko got to his feet slowly. His sword was still embedded in François’s side and he pulled it free.

  “Where did you get that?” he asked her, nodding at the shotgun.

  “Daniel’s library. He’s passed out drunk and hasn’t heard a thing. It’s an eight gauge. The biggest gun I could find.”

  “Did the job.”

  “We better get back downstairs. There’s quite a mess to clean up. Or maybe I should say, cover up.”

  “I don’t think the people of Semmes County are ready for the truth,” Blasko agreed, using his sword to finish severing what was left of François’s head from his body. “We shouldn’t take a chance with something this old and evil,” he said, feeling great satisfaction as he administered the coup de grâce to his old foe.

  “Do you think he was right? Is there a battle coming?”

  Blasko put his arm around her. “If the last year is any indication, yes, I do.”

  Epilogue

  Downstairs, they found Dr. McGuire tending to Matthew’s wounded shoulder, assisted by Colonel Etheridge. “He needs a blood transfusion.”

  “I have some blood at the house,” Josephine said and received a very odd look from Dr. McGuire.

  Josephine glanced around the parlor. The mayor and his wife were gone. Alice was sitting on the sofa in what looked to be a catatonic state, her mouth half open and eyes wide.

  Etheridge helped the doctor carry Matthew out to his car. Josephine agreed to ride along so they could stop at her house and retrieve the blood before taking the wounded man to the doctor’s office.

  When they got to the car, Bobby Tucker’s car came to a squealing halt at the curb. He got out and rushed over to them, but slowed down as soon as he saw that Josephine was all right.

  “I was clear on other side of the county dealing with a fatal car crash. I came as fast as I could,” he said breathlessly.

  “The monster is dead. Blasko’s inside and can fill you in. I need to go with the doctor,” Josephine told him, climbing into the car.

  A bit stunned, he watched them drive off before turning to the house.

  Blasko saw Bobby come in. “There are a few items to deal with,” he said, looking down at the body of Charlie Parsons.

  “What the hell happened here?”

  Blasko told Bobby all that he knew. They went through the rest of the house and found Daniel Robertson still snoring on the sofa in his library. Also in the library was the open gun cabinet where Josephine had found the shotgun.

  Up on the roof, Bobby looked at the body of François and turned to Blasko. “Help me get this downstairs.”

  After a messy trip down the circular staircase and to the first floor, they placed the body close to where Parsons lay.

  “Parsons was the murderer. He shot François and then shot himself,” Bobby said.

  “But he doesn’t have any gunshot wounds,” Blasko pointed out.

  “We’re going to fix that now.” Bobby looked over at Alice, who was still staring straight ahead. “First, take her back to her husband. And grab another shotgun shell.”

  Blasko eased Alice up from the sofa. She was compliant and went with him without a struggle. Blasko set her down in a chair before going over to the gun cabinet and taking a couple of shells out of a box inside.

  “We’ll just have to count on the neighbors not caring that there was another shot that came later than the first.”

  “No one’s even looked out the windows,” Blasko said. “I imagine that the recent murders and the howling from the rooftop earlier has everyone minding their own business.”

  “Good thing,” Bobby said. Just as he took the shot and finished arranging the body, they heard other cars pull up outside the house.

  Josephine came back inside with Deputy Paige and several part-time deputies behind her. Bobby was able to focus everyone on cleaning up the mess. They all bought the story without too much effort.

  “What about Mayor Harrington and his wife?” Bobby asked Josephine when they had a moment alone.

  “I don’t think it’ll be that hard to convince them to keep their mouths shut,” Josephine said, determined to leverage this carnage into support for Etheridge. If more trouble was headed their way, then she certainly didn’t want Paige to get in the way. With François dead, she didn’t imagine there would be much resistance to Etheridge’s appointment to sheriff.

  On a warm night in March two weeks later, Josephine, Blasko, Bobby and Colonel Etheridge were gathered in her parlor.

  “I received a letter today that might be the answer we’ve been looking for,” Blasko said.

  “We can’t keep Molly locked up down there much longer,” Bobby said.

  “We won’t have to. Duhamel’s book mentioned several of the werewolf clans by name and I used them to track down one in this country. I have made contact with a man who has offered to help us.”

  “This man is a werewolf?” Bobby asked suspiciously.

  “Yes. He was born a werewolf. He had no choice about his condition and has learned to control it. He’s offered to teach Molly and Matthew how to do the same.”

  “Matthew has managed to help Molly a bit,” Josephine said.

  “But he’s started to have his own issues. He lost control two nights ago. I was just able to restrain him,” Blasko said.

  “Do you think he will go with this man?” Etheridge asked.

  “I talked to him before you all got here. He will. Which will also mean that he can look after Molly.”

  “Has she said anything?” Josephine asked.

  “Matthew is in there with her now. She mumbles, but it’s unintelligible.”

  “Who is this man who’s offered to help?” said Bobby.

  “His name is Finn Malone. He said that he can be here in a day. All we need to do is send him a telegram.”

  “We don’t have much choice,” Etheridge said and there were general nods all around.

  After everyone else had gone, Josephine and Blasko went outside and sat in the porch swing, enjoying the warm air as spring approached.

  “How is Alice?” Blasko asked. He’d used his mesmeric powers to help her forget the ordeal of that night.

  “Daniel says she gets out of bed most days. He thinks she’s coming around.”

  “What about us?” Blasko asked, surprising her with the question. Normally he avoided any direct reference to their relationship.

  “I’m sorry, but I read more of that book,” Josephine said, reaching out for his hand and clasping it in hers.

  “We both have things to be sorry for. I drank fresh blood a few days before our battle with François. I knew it was coming and needed to be at my strongest. I broke my oath to you.”

  “Whose blood?”

  “Gene Hawkins,” he said solemnly, prepared for her to angrily shame him.

  Josephine tried to maintain her stern expression, but failed. She started to laugh and then couldn’t stop.

  “That bastard,” she said when she finally caught her breath. “I wish I could have seen his face. That man has ruined so many good people in this town, but always just on the edge of the law. I can’t tell you how many people have come into our bank begging for money to save th
em from his greedy clutches.”

  “I think his business is going to be a mite stunted since I implanted a rather nauseous aversion to taking advantage of people.”

  Josephine looked him. When she realized he wasn’t kidding, she burst into another fit of laughter. When she finally had control of herself again she said, “Seriously, you really can’t go around drinking people’s blood.” She paused, took a deep breath and added, “We’ll chalk this up to an emergency.”

  She didn’t want this chance to talk about their relationship to slip away, so she wiped the last tears of laughter from her eyes and said, “The book says there are two ways in which our relationship can change.”

  “Stake me out and let me fry in the sun,” Blasko said with a frown.

  “Which would also be horribly painful for me. You know the other way.”

  “We’ve discussed this. You don’t want to be like me.”

  “Have you ever changed anyone?”

  “Once. And I won’t do it again. This is a curse, Josie! To manage it the way I have… Not many people can. I know of only a few others…”

  “I’m not sure it’s something I want. But what I do want is for us to at least consider it.”

  “It would mean you giving up the daylight. Not to mention that you would then be just as dependent on blood as I am.” He shook his head. “No, I…” Then he saw the serious expression on her face. “Perhaps.”

  “Am I wrong to think you care about me?”

  “No.”

  “This imposed physical bond that ties us together doesn’t allow either one of us to exercise our freewill,” Josephine said in frustration. “You could remove that by making me as you are.”

  He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply. “This is what I want. But if I did anything to cause you greater pain, I could not live with myself.”

  “At least we could stand as equals. Then we could decide if we want a future together.” She pressed her head against his chest and felt his strong heartbeat beneath his shirt.

  “We’ll see, my dear. We’ll see.”

  THE END

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  Baron Blasko and Josephine will return in:

  TENTACLES

  The Baron Blasko Mysteries–Book 4

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  Other Books by this Author

  The Larry Macklin Mystery Series

  The job of criminal investigator in a rural Florida county is never easy, but it’s even harder when your father is the sheriff, your “brother” is an unruly Great Dane and your confidential informant is a drug-addled cross-dresser.

  Join Larry Macklin as he deals with departmental corruption, serial killers, treasure hunters and enough murders to fill a BBC mystery series.

  Books in this series include:

  For more details, visit the author’s page on Amazon.

  About the Author

  A. E. Howe lives and writes on a farm in the wilds of North Florida with his wife, horses and more cats than he can count. He received a degree in English Education from the University of Georgia and is a produced screenwriter and playwright. His first published book was Broken State. The Larry Macklin Mysteries is his first series and he released a new series, the Baron Blasko Mysteries, in summer 2018. The first book in the Macklin series, November’s Past, was awarded two silver medals in the 2017 President’s Book Awards, presented by the Florida Authors & Publishers Association; the ninth book, July’s Trials, was awarded two silver medals in 2018. Howe is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and was co-host of the “Guns of Hollywood” podcast for four years on the Firearms Radio Network. When not writing Howe enjoys riding, competitive shooting and working on the farm.

  Copyright © 2019 by A. E. Howe

  All rights reserved.

  Original Cover Art by Carmen Design & Photography

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments, persons or animals, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.