The Depths of the Hollow (Mercy Falls Mythos Book 2)

by Nathaniel Reed

  The detective had taken the call for the Mills Park incident and had asked questions on sight to the few he could ask. Most were being led into ambulances. He would have to revisit some of these witnesses, and get accounts and descriptions from those he did not speak to.

  “Of course!” Faraday exclaimed, “I’ve got it!” He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. He hadn’t been around for it, but he’d seen the files for the case.

  He punched some numbers on his cell. “Deborah, do you still have the number of that sketch artist the department used for The Rock Spot incident in ’86?”

  “Yes,” his secretary answered, “Right here in my Rolodex.”

  “Great! Can you get me that ASAP? ”

  “Yes sir, did you want me to tell you now?”

  “No, just write the name and number down. I’ll be right over.”

  “All right.”

  The artist renditions of the assailants at The Rock Spot had been these hideously deformed creatures that looked like a more nightmarish version of Nosferatu, with wings, and talons, and elongated bodies- the same thing the attendees at the town hall massacre described seeing. Looking at the old case files, he’d thought it was something brought on by mass hysteria, but the similarities were too striking to ignore. It had been so long ago he hadn’t made the connection with the newer case. If those representations were as accurate as he believed them to be now, then he could rely on them being so for the sketches of whomever or whatever the witnesses described. Faraday hoped one of those would be a depiction of Anastasios Drakos. That was all he needed, if not for a warrant, at the least to question the man. Dave Faraday crossed his fingers that things would go as planned. He could not afford to fail another child or family.

  k

  The Coven of Hecate was her next target. They didn’t know it yet, but she would get them. The same way she’d killed the remaining two members of The Black Hand, Vladimir and Sergei. It was easy. Her particular talent was fire. She had waited, that first morning, after they made her a vampire against her will, and burned their cabin to the ground. Svetlana Kurylenko was not to be toyed with. The sun’s rays had not affected her yet (she hadn’t fed from a human), although it did give her quite a bit of a headache. But since then she had fed, and could only walk about at night.

  It didn’t matter what time she killed the coven, and it wasn’t even a matter of them being sworn enemies of The Brotherhood- she had no loyalty left for them. It was a matter of them preying on innocent children. She was a vampire now- had been for several weeks now, as well as a witch, and it was increasingly harder for her to sympathize, but she had to do something while she had any compassion left in her at all. If anyone could destroy them she could.

  In the three days it took Detective Faraday to get the sketch artist, who’d been out of town, to draw the outlines of what he hoped, Svetlana Kurylenko made her way onto the Drakos estate, by cover of darkness, with the ability of flight that her vampirism gave her, undetected. Unbeknownst to her, although lights were on, there were no witches home; only a newborn child, and a very pregnant teenager.

  She circled the mansion, blazing a trail of fire all about its surroundings, using her arms and hands like wands, starting the flames around its foundation, using her vampiric speed to circle the edifice, and to fan the flames swiftly, causing an inferno. That was when, with her heightened hearing, she heard the infant’s cries. She crashed through the window and found it in its wicker basket atop the altar of Hecate, and freed it from that place.

  Svetlana heard no other cries or screams. Even with her sensitive hearing, she couldn’t hear beyond the steel walls of the dungeon through the mingling of the baby’s cries and the roaring fire, the shouts for help by Chelsea Greene.

  When the fire department put out the flames and found the ruins of the mansion, they already had a baby on their hands, left at the fire station’s doorstep, and a missing expectant girl who was not found in the dungeon.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  WALTER

  The mayor was dead, Carl was in the hospital with a broken leg, and Blake still had the task of going after Walter- the only one still about from the group that had kidnapped Vivien.

  Stephanie had disappeared after delivering the final blow to the mayor, and Blake wasn’t about to risk anyone else. He was going after Walter alone. This was his fight, after all; his payback, his vendetta. No one else’s. Other than a jaw that felt like rubber he had escaped the mayor’s office mostly unscathed, and he had Walter’s address in his pocket. But Blake would rest tonight. Tomorrow was Walter’s funeral.

  

  The new vampires were coming around, thankfully adapting to their much improved existence. It was a good thing, because Walter was at his wit’s end with them, especially muscle man. He was a stubborn one, but Walter had finally gotten him to drink blood, at last. Told him to think of it as a protein shake. I’m too funny.

  The girl was really easy on the eyes, but Rusty had done a number on her and the kid. Even as she became more accepting of her circumstances, her gaze grew more distant, haunted. Conscience was a bitch, and Walter was glad to be rid of it.

  The other man, the single bloke, appeared to be the least resistant, probably because he had lost the least. He actually seemed to be enjoying it. It was with these insights that Walter received the knock at the door.

  It was after ten p.m. and he wondered who it could be at this hour. Possibly Lucio or the mayor, though he hoped not. He really didn’t feel like dealing with them tonight. He just wanted to drink some blood, maybe some liquor (though he couldn’t get drunk anymore, and it pretty much passed through him like water, the flavor was a type of nostalgia) and just crash.

  He walked to the door and said, “Yeah, who is it?”

  “Is this Walter?” a man asked on the other side.

  “Yeah, who the fuck are you?”

  A blast of machine gun fire ripped through the door pummeling his body. The new vampires looked up from where they sat at Walter’s little breakfast nook near the fridge in amazement. Walter dropped to the carpet, flat on his back. Another blast tore the door knob off and Blake pushed his way through.

  Walter looked up. “Ah fuck, it’s you!”

  “Yeah, you fuck, it’s me! I almost killed you once and I’m here to finish the job you piece of shit!”

  Blake leveled the gun at Walter’s face, when out of nowhere, a big hulking man sailed through the room, landing on top of him and knocking him over. The machine gun sprayed bullets into the ceiling, plaster and white dust raining down onto the wine-colored carpet.

  “Well all right!” Walter exclaimed happily, “Nice going big guy.”

  The girl was moving forward now, unsure what to do, the other dude smiling peculiarly.

  The big guy crushed Blake’s hand against the carpet until he dropped the gun. Blake kneed him in the groin. What would have caused an average person to roll over in pain, made him wince, and get angry. He was about to punch Blake in the face, which would have probably broken every bone in his skull, but Blake used his free hand to grab a vial of holy water and smash it across the man’s face. He screamed, stumbling back, and rolling off him at last. Blake staked him while his hands still covered his face.

  “NO!” Walter screamed, not out of any sympathy, but at the loss of his momentary ally. He had hoped the big guy was going to take Blake out. Blake realized what was going on as he picked himself up. The two remaining with Walter, and the one he’d just slain, were the ones in the paper- the ones that had disappeared, only recently turned into vampires. He would have time to feel terrible about it later. Right now, he had no choice but to kill them.

  Walter kicked the machine gun away. “Play fair.”

  The other man-vampire approached Blake.

  “Four against one is fair?” said Blake.

  “Hey, I wasn’t itching for a fight. You brought it here. And I didn’t think these yanks had any fight in them.”

&nb
sp; Walter stepped back and let the new vampire have a go. “Have at it boy.”

  The vampire lunged at Blake. Blake side stepped him easily. They were clumsy, so he hoped that would mean quick kills for the other two. He still had his stake in his hand, and brought out his cross with the other. The vampire flinched at the sight of it, but didn’t completely back off. Whatever he had been in his life, he hadn’t been particularly religious, though he had enough guilt about it to affect him.

  Blake pushed forward with it and the stake. The vampire raised one arm to cover its eyes. With the other he smacked Blake’s arm, sending the cross flying. Blake grabbed that arm and pulled him into the path of his stake, plunging it into his heart.

  “Damn it!” Walter screeched.

  The vampire gasped, a pained expression on its face as if asking, “How could you?” He dropped to the floor when Blake tore the stake out from him.

  “Okay,” Walter said to the girl, “You’re my last shot.”

  The woman shook her head.

  “You shouldn’t set your pawns on me Walter,” Blake said. “It’s going to make it worse for you. And in case you haven’t realized, I’ve already got plenty of reason to want to kill you.”

  Walter really wasn’t in the mood for a fight, and he really didn’t give a shit about Blake’s beef with him. Hell, he had more reason to be pissed off at Blake for what he did down in the pit. And he was still smarting from the bullets anyway, that dirty fighter.

  The woman walked past Walter, and then past Blake. It seemed like she was headed out the door, but turned left silently, expressionless, and dove for the machine gun.

  Blake dove for cover, but to his surprise she turned back the other way, aiming it at Walter.

  “Bloody ’ell!” Walter shouted, “What are you doing?! Shoot him!”

  She sprayed Walter with the firearm. For a full minute he danced under the assault perforating his body. It was the bullet that took him in the throat that finally caused him to go down.

  “I’ll say,” Blake commented. “You are taking a bit of the enjoyment out of my revenge.” Then the woman turned the gun on him.

  “Oh shit!” Blake dove out the open doorway, a split second before the walls and entry became a shooting gallery. He was down on the ground, to the side of the opening. When she came through the doorway, he stuck his foot out and tripped her. Gunfire scattered upward into the sky, raining shell cases on both of them, the gun airborne. She fell face down into the grass. Blake rose, giving her enough time to turn and try to get up before he drove the stake in.

  All three of Walter’s minions dead, Blake went back in for Walter. He didn’t have much time. All this gunfire the police would be here soon, and he knew Walter wasn’t dead, yet. Blake didn’t bother to grab the gun. He rushed in, stake in hand, to see Walter escaping through the window, having transformed himself into a bat.

  “Son of a bitch!” He was surely out of his reach already, and the distant sirens told him it was time to flee. Walter would not return back to his apartment. Indeed, he would spend the rest of his days in the pit. This would have to be a battle for another day.

  Blake would not see him again for another fifteen years.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CONVINCING

  “You’re a werewolf?” Emily said.

  “Yes,” Tom replied. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me. You know the reports of a wild animal in the vicinity? They said it was probably what killed them.”

  Emily nodded. She wanted so desperately to believe him, and in some insane way it made sense. She couldn’t think of any reason why he would have left the way he did. He wasn’t a murderer, and leaving his family was not part of his makeup. Her brother was a stand up person.

  “They never found that animal, did they?”

  Emily shook her head slowly.

  “Because the animal was gone. The animal was me, don’t you see?” Tom said.

  “This is crazy,” Meredith said.

  “It is,” Thomas Killian acknowledged, “But it’s also true, every word I’ve told you.”

  “The cage?” Emily said, pointing.

  Tom nodded, “To keep me in when I change. I lost my eye because I didn’t make it back in time last month.”

  “Last month,” Meredith said, distraught. “If we had found you sooner...”

  “What?” Tom said angrily, “You could have saved me, made sure I was in my cage before bedtime?!”

  Meredith shrank back.

  “I’m sorry,” Thomas said. “You don’t know how hard it’s been.”

  “I don’t... I don’t know Thomas? You left us. We didn’t know if you... we didn’t know anything. You were willing to let your son grow up not knowing who his father was.”

  “To keep him alive, yes!” Tom said. “Don’t you see that none of you are safe around me?”

  Wesley hid behind his mother.

  “Frederick?” Emily said, “Can you take Wesley into the next room?”

  “Of course,” he said.

  “This isn’t a life,” Emily continued, “Self imprisonment?”

  “Three times a month, only at night,” Thomas said, “To keep me from killing. Would you rather I let myself change with complete disregard for human life?”

  “No,” Emily sighed, “Of course not. I still can’t believe that you’re responsible, that you turn into a, a...”

  “Werewolf,” Tom said. “I’ve gotten used to it. Guess you will have to now to, unless you do the smart thing and leave. Never look back.”

  “Like you did?” Meredith snapped. “You could have stuck around. We could have helped you.”

  “The only thing that can help me is a silver bullet, and I’m too much of a coward to do it myself,” Thomas regretted.

  “Tom,” Emily said, placing her hand on his face, “Let us help you. You’ve done this alone for too long.”

  He cried. “So, you believe me?”

  Emily replied, “I guess I have to.”

  

  It was with some relief that Amelia received the news that her roommate Kelly would be moving out day after tomorrow. She’d found someone to stay with and she could move most of her stuff out while Amelia was at work. And since her roommate wasn’t at home, and at her own job this afternoon, Amelia Rivers decided she’d get on her scooter and go rent a couple of videos from Blockbuster’s. She didn’t have one of those new DVD players everyone kept talking about yet. Like most consumers she was wary of new technology that never quite lived up to what it purported to be. Blockbuster Video Stores were obviously on that bandwagon since they weren’t yet offering DVD movie discs for rental yet, despite the availability to consumers of DVD players since last year and relatively inexpensive discs for sale at retail outlets. They’d slowly come around in years to come, starting with one or two walls of DVD discs, before it became the major portion of their rentals.

  Amelia was content for now to watch slightly grainy worn movies on her VCR deck, and to BE KIND AND REWIND, as the Blockbuster sticker over every VHS tape announced. There was nothing like curling up in bed with a movie or a book. This time it was The Parent Trap, the one with Lindsay Lohan. It was still the good old days before all the craziness that happened later on with the actress and a whole slew of former Disney stars; before it was widely accepted and expected that most young stars would eventually become drug addicts and heavy partiers, leading to their demise, or at least the death of their careers.

  While the credits were rolling she realized she hadn’t seen Ben in quite some time, not since the incident with Dominic. Instead of popping in the next movie she decided she should visit him. He might be feeling abandoned about now.

  Detective Faraday was not at the police station. It seemed he was still investigating that other case, something about a burned down house and a kidnapped woman. The officers that were there let her through.

  Ben smiled when he saw her come in.

  “Hi,” Amelia said, “How are you holding up?”<
br />
  “Oh, just hanging in here.”

  “Least you’re not out there murdering anyone,” Dominic said. “Why do you talk to him?” he asked Amelia, “He killed your boyfriend too.”

  “Shut up Dominic,” she said. Something in the way she said it made him do just that. He sat in the corner of his cell and tuned them out. The new Amelia demanded respect.

  “Okay,” Ben said, sending her an approving look.

  “I kicked my roommate out last week,” she said, as if that explained everything.

  “I see. That’s good, right?”

  “Yes. Do you know what you’re going to say at the trial?”

  “I’m guessing I’m not going to go with ‘I’m innocent.’ I’m going to try to convince Detective Faraday to get a video camera in here to videotape me changing. They’ll have to believe me then.”

  Amelia shook her head slowly, uncertain. “I don’t know Ben. With all the Hollywood tricks nowadays I don’t think that’s going to fly. Anyone can doctor something like that up.”

  “Not if we get an expert in who can determine that the tape hasn’t been tampered with at all. And not if we have several eyewitnesses here recording it.”

  “It seems like you’ve been thinking a lot about this.”

  “It’s not as if I have much else to do.”

  “I guess not.”

  “Do you have a gun?” Ben asked.

  “Yes, why?”

  “Are you able to get silver, melt it down into bullets?”

  “You’re not serious?”

  “I am. What if something goes wrong when I change? What if I somehow get out of here?”