The Lycan Chronicles

by Schroeder, Brent

  “Yep,” Jason called over, always eager to agree with him. “It’s very easy, especially since you’re already a Vampire. A human wouldn’t be able to live through it… no way.”

  “Now, you just sit in that chair, right there and don’t move, Brittney,” Mason directed her, pointing.

  Silently obeying her orders, Brittney sat down and Skinny quickly pulled back all of her hair and he began stuffing it into a metallic shower-cap.

  “Now, this might hurt for a second, Brittney, but you’ll be just fine,” the mayor assured her.

  Before she had a chance to react, Skinny jabbed a thick, metal meat hook into Brittney’s back and he began pulling on a chain, hoisting her up into the air. She screamed in agony, while the two men worked, removing the rest of her clothing, stripping her naked. They shaved her entire body, including her pubic hair and underarms, before sticking pieces of adhesive tape over every orifice, except for her mouth and eyes. Once her swinging body had been prepped, she was moved over a giant vat that was bubbling with a molten liquid and Skinny began to lower her in.

  “Stop!” Brittney screamed. “What are you doing? Please….”

  “Close your eyes and don’t try to open them. I will open them for you,” Mason instructed.

  Brittney thrashed and screamed, as she was lowered into the huge vat of boiling Sunlife, until she was completely submerged. Skinny looked at the clock and counted out ten seconds, before pulling on the chain, lifting Brittney’s squirming body out of the hot, steaming liquid. He let her hang in air for a moment to let the excess skin drip off, before he lowered her back to the ground and Mason immediately stepped over, ripping the hook out of her back. Then, using a razor blade, he sliced open her eyes and lips, that had been melted shut and pus began seeping and oozing from the slits. The wound in Brittney’s back was healing fast and Mason continued to peel off the industrial shower cap that was protecting her hair. Skinny took a brush and dipped it into the vat, touching up what was once a huge gash on her back, with the scorching liquid.

  “What did you do to me?” Brittney asked in astonishment, as her eyes were already healed over and wide as can be.

  “Now you’re able to walk under the sunlight… as a Vampire,” Mason explained to her. “The only vulnerable places will be, your eyes and the top of your head, so you must wear sunglasses and some sort of hat, when you are out in the daylight. I’ll take you back to your motel room and you will wait there for further instructions.”

  Little did Mason know, that because Brittney grew up in Wolf Creek and has been around Vampires most of her life, her mind has built a resistance to Mason’s influence. Her thoughts have remained close to human and the curse he’d brought upon her wasn’t able to take over… but she played along and did as she was told, anyways.

  It was a hectic morning in Southern Indiana and the television and radio were both blaring constant reminders to their audience about yesterday’s bank robbery. It was Friday when the downtown Indianapolis bank was hit, so there was plenty of cash on hand for the people bringing in their regular weekly paychecks.

  “The thieves got away with 5.2 million dollars in small, untraceable bills. The police are baffled,” said the radio announcer.

  “Eight police officers were killed and thirty nine people inside the bank were also gunned down. We’ll keep you updated with any further developments. On another story, two more boys have gone missing in the middle of the night in Willow Creek and a girl is missing from the Indiana University college campus. She was last seen around midnight, leaving on a date with a man who apparently may have lured her by using a fake profile on the social media website, Facebook.”

  JD was sitting in his living room watching the story repeat itself on the television, as he sipped on a hot cup of coffee. The phone rang and JD picked it up; Nate was on the other end.

  “Can you meet me down at Dave’s Grill in a half-hour? We’ll talk over breakfast, I’m buying.”

  “Sounds good, let me get myself together,” JD accepted. “See you, then.”

  JD brushed his teeth, grabbed a clean pair of jeans from the end of his bed and then kissed Wendy goodbye. He was the first to arrive at Dave’s Grill and as he was pulling in, he noticed one of the Hunters’ black sedans parked up front near the entrance. After leaving his truck, just few spaces down, the sheriff took a good look around before entering Dave’s Grill; Nanook jumped out of the back of the truck and took a post in front of the restaurant, on full alert.

  Once his eyes adjusted, JD could see the Anderson family sitting in a back booth about to have breakfast, noticing right away that the younger boys were giving the young waitress a hard time. Wishing not to have an encounter with them this early in the morning, he moved to the other end of the restaurant, sitting on a barstool facing the opposite direction; JD had plenty of other things on his mind to worry about right now, beside these goons. The Andersons never even noticed, as they were already half-drunk and somewhat unmanageable.

  Dave came out from the kitchen, looking a bit relieved when he saw JD sitting at his counter. “Hey, sheriff, I’m glad you came in. Those guys are starting to get out of control and I didn’t think I could handle them on my own.”

  “I won’t leave, until they’ve cleared out, Dave. I can see you have your hands full… I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Thanks. Those bastards keep harassing my waitress, Jessie and it’s starting to freak her out.”

  “I’ll keep my eye on them,” JD replied, shooting a sharp glance over to the booth, where the problem existed. He took a few gulps of the coffee, that Dave had bought him, as he noticed the two Anderson boys getting up to follow Jessie out the back door. Setting his cup down and he hopped off of his stool to see what was happening. “Son of a bitch. I can’t even enjoy a cup of coffee, around here.”

  Outside, Jessie was about to swing a bag of trash into the dumpster, when one of the Anderson boys poked her in the arm, surprising her. Before she knew it, both of the brothers, Robert and Ronnie, were up in her face, huffing words at her with their foul breath.

  “What’s up, baby?” Robert said first. “How about cookin’ me up something that ain’t on the menu? Maybe a little extra sugar?”

  “Make sure there’s enough left for me, little brother,” Ronnie replied, licking his lips.

  “Let me go!” Jessie screamed at him, trying to push by. “Get away from me, you fucking creeps!”

  “That’s no way to talk, little lady.” With that, Robert backhanded Jessie across the face, knocking her to the ground.

  Ronnie stood there grinning with his crooked, yellow smile, while his brother unbuckled his pants.

  Jessie was trying to crawl away, as she screamed out, “Help! Someone, help me!”

  Reaching down, Ronnie smacked her across the face again, harder this time. “Shut up, bitch, or I’ll knock you out!”

  Just then, JD stepped out from around the corner of the building and the Andersons looked up, instantly recognizing him. Robert and Ronnie both reached for their pistols and Robert was able to pop off three shots. JD was hit in the arm and shoulder, before a single blast from his 44 Magnum sent Robert flying back, smashing through a few trashcans. Ronnie had his gun drawn on JD, but when he pulled the trigger, his gun jammed, giving Nanook enough time to spring into action, as the loyal pooch was already running around the corner to assist his master. Nanook attacked, snapping his teeth and locking his jaws into Ronnie’s arm, giving JD the edge he needed to unload the rest of his bullets. Blood and bone fragments blew out of Ronnie’s back, as the bullets penetrated his chest, dropping him to the ground, with Nanook still hanging on, sinking his teeth further into the Anderson brother’s arm.

  Pa Anderson was watching from around the other end of the building, waiting to fire; he’d always wanted to kill JD and his gun was loaded with the silver bullets that would be sure to do the trick. He waited for the right moment, before stepping out from around the corner, pulling back both hammers of his gu
ns and aiming at the back of JD’s head.

  ‘Bang!’

  Without warning, Pa Anderson’s head exploded like a watermelon and his body hit the ground--dead as a doornail. Nate stepped over to the body, with his gun still smoking in his hand and a smile on his face.

  “Thanks,” JD said. “I owe you one, or is that two now?”

  “Just a day in the life in the town of Wolf Creek,” Nate replied. “Do you think anyone else heard that gunshot?”

  “I doubt it, it’s too early… but we need to get this cleaned up.”

  Just then, Dave came running out the back door with his doublebarrel shotgun and his cook was running close behind swinging an iron frying pan.

  “What the hell happened?” Dave asked, looking over the dead bodies. “What are we going to do with them and what about the other Hunters?”

  Jessie ran over to JD and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you! They were going to rape me and probably kill me… I could see it in their eyes!”

  “Do you even think the other Hunters are going to be that upset about this?” asked Nate.

  “I don’t think there’ll be any love lost over this,” replied JD. “I’ll smooth things over with Clyde, let’s just get this mess cleaned up.”

  “You people made this mess!” the cook shouted. “I’m not cleaning this up, no way! I don’t get paid enough for this shit!” he called out, heading back inside and slamming the back door.

  Nate called Dave over and asked, “Do you still have that woodchipper out back? You know, the one you always joke about using on your nagging wife?”

  “I sure do and I just used it the other day,” Dave replied. “It’s gassed up and the blades are sharp. What did you have in mind?”

  “Pull it down to the creek,” said JD, “and, I’ll pull my truck around.”

  The wood-chipper took a few pulls, before it finally cranked over, kicking out thick, blue smoke. And, the engine was loud as hell.

  ‘If the gunfire didn’t wake anyone up, this surely would,’ Nate thought to himself.

  JD backed his sheriff’s truck up to the chipper, where Dave and Nate where standing and he flipped the key back, shutting it off.

  “Just don’t stand there with your thumbs up your asses, give me a hand!” JD hollered, getting even more irritated about the situation.

  “Dave, give me a hand, would ya?” Nate asked, him then offering some advice. “Toss them in head-first, just in case they happen to still be alive. I don’t want to hear the screaming, once their feet start grinding in that chipper.”

  “That’s not something you’d ever want to hear,” agreed JD, as he approached. “Trust me on that one.”

  All three bodies ran through the wood-chipper with great ease. Their particles of remains sprayed into the creek and for a short while, Wolf Creek ran red. After the work was finished, the men began cleaning up the scene.

  “I’ll return the car to Clyde. All of the sedans are in his name,” JD said, dreading the through, alone. “This should be fun.”

  “Do you want me to come along?” Nate offered. “I think I probably should.”

  “Nah. Seeing more of us will just piss off the old Moore bastard, even more. Besides, I don’t think this is something to worry about. He didn’t like these guys, anyways.”

  “I still think I should come, that’s what deputies are for,” Nate offered one more time.

  “Just help Dave pick up any loose ends and I’ll get the car back to Clyde, thanks though. I told him I’d meet with him, as soon as I knew something… and I guess, now I know something.”

  Ignoring JD, Nate decided he would follow anyways… just in case.

  JD stepped out of the black sedan, slamming the door extra hard; he wanted to be heard. Someone pulled back the curtains of the window, as JD approached the motel room door. Before he could knock, Clyde opened up, standing there in his underwear, with a beer in one hand and a lucky red in the other.

  “Come on in… been expecting you, Sheriff. And, why the hell are you driving the Anderson’s car? Where are they?”

  “I’ll tell you, once we get inside. Let’s talk in private.”

  The room stunk of old takeout food, stale beer and cigarette butts, mixed with gunpowder and an array of foul body odors. David and Ross were sitting on their beds, half-crocked and wearing half of their lunch on their shirts. They nodded at JD, barely making any eye contact.

  “What’s up, guys?” JD acknowledged. “Been drinking a few brews, I see. Ever think of putting those cans down for a second and stepping into the shower? Probably not.”

  “JD,” replied David. “You can kiss my ass. Not on the left side and not on the right side, but right there in the middle. How would you enjoy that?”

  Before it could go any further, Clyde intervened, “David, shut the hell up! And, that goes for you too, Ross, before you open your big mouth!” He was tying his robe around his disgustingly-overweight figure, taking a seat at the end of one of the beds. “What news do you have for me? And again, what’s up with the Andersons?”

  “The Anderson boys tried to rape the waitress, out behind Dave’s Grill. When I tried to stop them, they shot me and Pa Anderson tried shooting me in the back of the head, while I was struggling with his boys,” JD explained. “Sorry, Clyde, but there was nothing I could do about it, they’re all dead.”

  JD lifted his jacket to show Clyde the bullet holes and blood stains in his leather jacket. In response, Clyde just cracked open another beer he’d grabbed from the cooler sitting at his feet and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket inside his robe. He lit a fresh smoke, using the one he already had fired up.

  “Want one?”

  “Still smoking the Marlboro reds? No filter?”

  “Sure am,” Clyde said, as the cigarette flipped up and down in his lips. “Filters are for pussies.”

  “Then, I’ll take one,” JD said, receiving it from Clyde’s thick fingers. “You got anything else, besides beer?”

  “Nope.”

  “Clyde, I hope you’re not all broken up about the Anderson’s and I hope that doesn’t change anything between us?”

  “Nope.”

  “Is that all you can say?”

  “Nope,” replied Clyde. “Sorry for bringing them to your town. I think they’ve turned into monsters, themselves, over the years. They got what they had comin’ to ‘em… end of story.”

  “Alright, good. And, don’t worry about the bodies,” JD grimly replied. “I’ve taken care of them.”

  “I kind of figured that,” the Hunter said, kicking back on the bed. “So, what new information do you have for me?”

  “I had a meeting with that asshole, Mason Rockwell, at the Vampire club last night.”

  “Really? How did that go?”

  “He denied knowing anything… he really is a smug bastard.”

  “Do you believe him?”

  “No,” replied JD, “but, what I do believe, is that he’s a lying sack of shit. He knows something… I’m sure of it.”

  “Should we focus on him, or should we look in different directions? Someone’s making the Sunlife, somewhere in your town and we need to find it.”

  “I think we need to keep our focus on him,” JD replied, squinting his eyes. “I never trust a Vampire.”

  “Damn right,” Ross piped in. “Me and David were attacked, just last night. But, we had ‘em handled, didn’t we Davey?

  “Yeah, we did… and don’t call me Davey, you fucking moron!”

  “Shut up, you two!” Clyde hollered, turning his conversation back to JD, without missing a beat. “Those guys that robbed that bank were Vampires… I could tell by the way they moved. Nobody can jump twenty five feet in the air and get back up after taking thirteen bullets,” Clyde stated. “Nobody.”

  “I agree and I think someone’s hiding Jason Cross. I have some leads to check out, so I’ll catch up with you guys later,” Sheriff Davidson said, as he got up to leave.

>   “Sounds good. We’re not going anywhere.”

  ___________________________________________________

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  “So, he came to back me up, anyways,” JD said to his deputy, Nate.

  “How did the meeting go?” he asked, as JD slid into the

  passenger’s seat. “Did you tell them about the Andersons?” “Didn’t affect him one bit, Nate. Could you just get me back to

  the station, please? I just want to get in my truck and go home. I

  couldn’t sleep at all last night,” JD said, pulling his hat down over his

  eyes.

  “Sure thing. I’ll stay on patrol, until the night shift comes on.” “Thanks.”

  After passing out on the couch for a couple hours: JD woke up and had a quick bite to eat and after taking a hot shower, he went to his bedroom and saw that Wendy was sleeping snuggly underneath the covers. He quietly slipped in, as she woke up to welcome him under the blankets and they soon began to make love. JD let a long howl, partly transforming during his orgasm and Wendy moaned back, quivering with pleasure, as the soft glow of moonlight illuminated the room. After the next hour of raw passion… they soundly slept through the rest of the night.

  Eight full hours had passed and JD managed to get out of bed without waking his wife. He poured himself a cup of coffee and fixed himself a pork chop, making an extra one for Wendy. He sat and ate at the dinner table, while quickly scanning through the newspaper, until he reached the page with Jerry Davich’s column, about what it was like to be a cop.

  “If they had to deal with the shit I do, they’d want triple pay. I wish I only had gangbangers to deal with,” he said softly, under his breath.

  JD finished his coffee, throwing Nanook the leftover bones from his plate, while scanning the room for his hat. He headed out the door and jumped in his truck that was covered with a freshly-fallen snow. The engine turned over and the radio kicked on, blasting out one of JD’s favorite Warren Zevon songs, ‘Werewolves of London.’ He cranked it up and grabbed the ice scraper from under the driver’s seat, clearing off the windows before hitting the road.