A female voice said, “Hi, yes, I got your number from a flyer on a telephone pole and wondered if you could help me?”
My high-tech advertising was finally paying off. I had plastered business cards and flyers all over Pittsburgh. I hadn’t gotten around to advertising online yet.
I said excitedly, “I can certainly try. Can I meet you somewhere to discuss it?”
“Sure. I’m at my house right now if you want to stop by and talk about it. I don’t want to do it over the phone.”
Very interesting. She gave me her name and address and I convinced the cop to drop me off there instead of my house.
I leaned back into the headrest and ruminated on the recent happenings. Shock still surged through me, realizing that fight in the E.R. could have ended badly. The brawl had convinced me that these humans were being controlled by a powerful demon. A master of shifting who didn’t need the lunar cycle, which went against most information that I’d learned.
And if the shifter survived being shot, what would it take to kill them? The more I found out, the more I realized that I would need the help of some experienced magic practitioners.
The woman lived in an area close to my apartment called Montrose Hill. A main road led up a steep incline and plateaued off at certain intervals. We drove to the very top of the hill. Getting out, I said goodbye to the officer as loud as I could and tapped the top of the car.
I hoped my prospective client had seen it too, to give me a little more credibility. She lived at the top of the hill, across the street from a park. Her house was surrounded by ancient trees, branches twisting and turning to create an arborous shield for the small, blue, one-story house.
The woman met me before I reached her door. I held out my hand and she planted her palm in mine. Her hand was sweating. I could feel the pulse in her palm. She was nervous.
“Detective Mike Merlino,” I said in my Bogart voice.
“Patty Elmhurst.”
I took a step back and conducted a two-second study. A sturdy woman in a long dress and button-down sweater with short, frizzy brown hair that reeked of hair spray. Her hazel eyes appeared to have been crying and it made me think of my mother. She had cried a lot under the abuse of my father.
Pushing that emotion down, I softened my Bogart tone. “So what seems to be the problem ma’am?”
“I’m not really sure. I don’t even know if it’s anything, really. It’s like when you see a suicide bomber and they interview the neighbors and the neighbors knew something was wrong with him. I’ve seen interviews where those people said they could never sleep again. I just want a clean conscience if anything happens.” She started crying. I hugged her and held the back of her neck firmly, bleeding some of my strength into her.
I knew we weren’t talking about a bomber and my curiosity shot through the roof. “Do you want to go inside and talk about it?” I left a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“It’s not inside. It’s up here.” She pointed to the park. She led me to a set of stone stairs with metal railings on either side. We got to the top and the park expanded. A searing pain radiated from my shoulder courtesy of the werelion brawl, but I pressed on.
A baseball diamond appeared and blended into a steep hillside that acted as the home run fence. Behind right field sat a basketball court, slides, swing sets, a hand-powered merry-go-round and two port-a-potties that I could already smell in the slight breeze. The nasty aroma had something deeper behind it that I couldn’t quite put my nose on yet.
I held her shaking hand as she led me toward the basketball court. She huffed and puffed, and the aroma of smoked tobacco came from her mouth. I stopped and pretended to tie my shoelace so that the older woman could take a breather. Behind the basketball court was a major cliff and I assumed many baseballs had been lost over the precipice.
She pointed to a dirt trail that led uphill to another level of woods. I practically carried her up the steep incline, through her wheezing and coughing. She pointed toward the middle of the woods.
She covered her eyes. “Over there. I can’t be here. I don’t know. I just don’t want anyone else to die.”
I patted her on the back for reassurance. “I’m with you on that. I don’t want anyone to die either. If you feel safer back at your house, I can do this myself. I’ll stop by your door on my way out.”
She nodded, took off down the steep, loose incline and I could hear her sliding down. I hoped she hadn’t hurt herself. She looked like a sweet older woman trying to help the community.
The woods weren’t dense, but there was a good amount of brush and bramble to work around to get to the middle of the area. Even with fall in full swing, I heard the lively sounds of crickets, cicadas and other insects. The natural wildlife noises mixed with the sounds of the traffic from the street at the bottom of the huge drop-off.
The porta-potty stench had been overpowered by a more offensive odor. I couldn’t quite figure it out, but my nose didn’t like it. It smelled worse than burnt flesh.
Chapter 17
I PINCHED MY NOSE CLOSED and pressed on.
Strange. I found a black cast-iron cauldron hanging from a tripod. I touched the cold cooking vessel and realized the fire had gone dead some time ago.
I peeked inside, turned around and dropped to my knees. I hadn’t eaten anything yet so I dry heaved for about a minute. A burning rage started to build inside of me as I continued to retch.
I drew the courage to get back up and look inside again. I winced in pain at the thought of what had happened here. My rage started to overflow. I whirled around, crushing some fallen orange leaves, praying that the person or people responsible for this were here right now.
I tried to calm down but I couldn’t. I looked into the cauldron again at the charred bones and skulls of dogs. I didn’t have to be an osteologist or veterinarian to figure it out. I saw the remnants of a chain-linked collar and several tags that were now unreadable. I had a feeling I might know who was behind this.
I classified myself as a pretty laid-back guy, but there were two things that made me want to murder someone and take my chances with the police or the Golden Chamber. I hated people who abused women or animals more than anything else. I tried to think logically.
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but it wasn’t working. I heard a bark. A desperate bark that I assumed came from the cauldron. I took two steps forward and looked inside at the pile of burnt bones. Another bark sounded from behind me.
I whirled around and stared at a rhododendron. It was out of bloom, but the branches started to wiggle around. I took a step forward and jumped back in fear as a brown blur leapt from the bush.
The barking tone shifted from sad and desperate to a territorial, stronger bark. The tiny cocker spaniel landed, saw my size, and dove right back into the rhododendron. I sighed and dropped to my knees.
I opened my soul. A little. I needed this dog to see that my soul was pure. I tried not to open it too much. The poor little creature didn’t need to see any of the details of my death fight with George. I projected my spirit toward the animal, begging for it to accept my kindness.
It took about a minute or two and I couldn’t blame the dog for mistrusting me. He or she had been abused, I could see it in the brief glimpse I had gotten earlier. I opened the door to my soul a little more, hoping that I wouldn’t scare my new friend away.
The dog barked and this time it was a normal bark for a cocker spaniel of that size. I reached my hand into the bush and just left it there. A few seconds went by and I started to get nervous. This dog had been seriously abused to show this amount of distrust of humans.
I opened my soul a little more, worried that I might scare the emaciated dog away. A second later, I felt some warm air, and then a wet nose on the back of my fingers. I smiled. The little dog started licking my fingers, then the palm of my hand. I closed my soul just a bit so I wouldn’t frighten the dog and removed my hand from the bush.
The cocker span
iel peeked its tiny head out. I was kneeling with my palms open on my hips, inviting the animal to come out. I wanted to make sure he knew I wasn’t going to harm him.
“Hey little buddy. I’m not one of those sick, demented lunatics. I would never harm you. You got a home?” I noticed a temporary plastic collar on his neck that you get from the pet store after making a purchase. He scampered out, lifted his leg and let out a little squirt on the red and orange leaves. A bird started a shrill song and the cocker spaniel jerked its head toward the sky to see.
The emergency address had been clipped from the collar. The dog circled and smelled me for about a minute until he slowly sidled up next to me and mashed his wet nose into my hip. I gently touched the back of his neck and he jumped away in fear.
The dog had light amber fur with streaks of white over his body, but his floppy ears were a solid golden brown and he had a patch of white fur on his forehead. His glossy dark eyes and moist black nose made the little guy adorable. The dog was emitting strong magic vines which shocked me. They were dark magic vines.
Was this tiny animal a magic practitioner?
I bonded with the dog for about fifteen minutes, completely forgetting about the killer cauldron and the sweet older lady waiting at her house for an answer from me. Some things were more important. I wasn’t leaving without this little guy.
A closer inspection showed burn marks all over the dog’s body. Big burn marks that must have been caused by a cigar. Lowlife motherfu... I bit my tongue and turned to leave, the true test.
I took a few steps and heard nothing behind me. I continued and still didn’t hear a shuffle of paw steps. I didn’t want to turn around. I took two more steps, and my little buddy darted across the woods and stopped right at my heels. Perfect. I needed to be sure the dog wanted to come with me. I wouldn’t take an animal against its will.
The cocker spaniel followed me down the trail, through the basketball court, down another small dirt trail, across the cobbled-brick road, and up to the woman’s front door. I knocked.
She immediately yanked the door open with a look of concern on her face and a cordless telephone in her hand. “Oh my God, you’re all right. Thank the lord and praise Mother Mary.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Why would you think something happened to me?” I scooped up my dog and held him to my chest, trying to calm his thumping heartbeat.
“You were gone for so long. I thought they had gotten to you too.”
“Who?”
She used her free hand to twirl her frizzy hair. “Oh, I don’t even know anymore. I don’t know if they’re real or if this is anything. I just don’t want something to happen that I didn’t say something about.”
“I understand. Do you mind if we talk inside?”
The woman let me in and the cordless phone in her hand started buzzing like when you called a wrong number. She pressed a button on the phone and it stopped. “I had pressed nine, one and was ready to press the last one when you showed back up.” She pointed to an oval, two-piece table with duct tape holding the separation together.
“Do you mind grabbing a little water for my friend here?” I gestured to my new dog.
She turned her head and screamed, “Suzette, could you bring us some water in a bowl?”
A female voice called out, “What do you want a bowl of water for?”
She looked over her shoulder and yelled louder, “Just bring me what I said. It’s for a dog, all right? Happy? Bring it in a cup or bowl, I don’t care. Just bring something that a dog can drink out of.”
A woman emerged from the back with a handled saucer of water in her hand. She spilled it over the sides as she stomped into the room. Her scowl shifted to a smile when we made eye contact. She pushed her brown shoulder-length hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear as she handed me the saucer.
“Thank you,” I said, and held the saucer under my new dog’s mouth. My thirsty friend lapped up the liquid.
“You’re very welcome. Mom, you didn’t tell me a handsome man was in our house.” She shifted her glittering green sleeveless top, but it still presented a lumpy figure. Her thin face didn’t match up with her body. She smiled and her nostrils turned up slightly, giving her face the appearance of a cat.
Patty said, “I just need to talk to him for a few minutes if you will excuse us.”
The daughter smiled, turned and went back into the kitchen. I turned my attention to Mrs. Elmhurst as my dog lapped up the water. “I found some pretty disturbing stuff up there. What do you know, ma’am? As in, who goes up there at night?”
She looked around as if someone might be listening to us. She leaned closer and whispered, “Used to be just some of the neighborhood kids went up there. Then the gays started going up there to do...whatever it is those weirdos do.”
I hadn’t the time to tell her how ridiculously insensitive her comments were before she continued, “I called the cops, but the stupid cops said there wasn’t anything they could do about it. I could hear them from here, having sex like animals. And I went up one night to yell at them and tell them how big of perverts they were.”
She paused and took two trembling deep breaths.
I asked, “And?”
“I don’t know what I saw, I don’t think.” She buried her head into her hands. “They were naked and doing stuff that God didn’t intend for. With animals. He made men and women so...”
I cut her off. She could have her homophobic rant at another time. “What did you see?”
“I don’t even know anymore. No, I didn’t see anything. It was nothing.”
I tried a different route. “What is it that you want me to find out? Normally people hire me to figure out a case, but if you don’t tell me anything, I can’t really help you out.”
She waved her hands in front of her chest. “Oh no. I don’t have any money to pay you for anything. I was just being a Good Samaritan. After the cops did nothing last time I called them, I figured I would call you. I just wanted to clear my conscience. I’m so sorry about the money.”
Her daughter came back into the room. Patty shouted, “My daughter. My daughter. You can have her for a date.”
My eyebrows rolled in a natural reaction. I hadn’t expected to be offered a human being as payment. “That’s quite all right. I’m sure your daughter already has a lovely boyfriend and wouldn’t want anything to do with a guy like me.”
Patty argued, “Yeah right, you should see the losers she brings around here. You’re quite the prize, I gotta tell you.”
The daughter bluntly said, “I’d go out with you. You’re pretty hot and you seem a hell of a lot smarter than the guys I’ve been meeting. Plus, you look pretty badass with that blood on your face.” She winked at me.
I blushed. I didn’t receive many compliments from women my age. I didn’t say anything and wallowed in my shyness.
She walked over to a desk in the corner and tore a small scrap of paper away from a notebook. She scribbled something on the scrap and walked up to me.
She extended the folded piece of paper and I took it from her.
“Suzette,” she said.
“Mike Merlino.” I didn’t feel quite right about this, but it would be good for me to get out on a date.
She said, “Don’t call me. Just text me first and then we can go from there.”
I smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” She lingered, smiling, as I waited for her to leave so I could ask her mother a few more questions.
Suzette said, “Do you want me to show you out?”
“I actually had a few more questions for your mother, if you don’t mind.”
Patty threw up her arms. “No. I’m done with the questions. I told you what I know. I don’t want any more questions.”
You had to be kidding me. The climax of the story was on the tip of her tongue a few moments ago. The daughter walked me to the door and pinched my ass as I walked through the frame. I turned around and my eyes were met with a dirty smile f
rom Suzette.
I handed her the saucer, set my dog down and we headed for my house. I needed to get my little buddy something to eat and give him an epic name. I thought about a good name as we walked downhill toward my duplex.
I wanted a name with meaning. I thought about how I had found him. In a rhododendron plant. Rhode dog? No, that’s stupid. How about Adendron? Kind of cool, but still not there.
I kept trying to come up with a cool name, but the phrase Colossus of Rhodes kept popping into my head. I snickered thinking about the size difference between the two and tried to find something better.
The more I walked, the more I couldn’t get Colossus of Rhodes out of my head. Rhodes didn’t sound right and I kept searching for other names only to come back to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. I wanted my new friend to have confidence and the name Colossus seemed classy and perfect. Colossus it was.
As we continued, I tried to piece it all together. This had all the hallmarks of the Jersey Devil. Not only had Alayna mentioned him as a shifting expert, but he had a grand plan to stir up the hellhounds and lock the gates of hell. They weren’t exactly hellhounds in that cauldron, but the symbolism was there.
The Jersey Devil’s goal was to lock the gates so the devil’s rejects could terrorize the earth’s surface.
This possibility scared the living shit out of me though. This wasn’t just a regular demon, he was a demi-devil, one step below the real thing. He had hordes of minions, willing to lay down their lives for the cause.
As of now, I had me. Only me. I didn’t know anyone in Pittsburgh that I felt comfortable going into a supernatural fight with. This was a complete mismatch.
But why would the Jersey Devil shift plans to kill a bunch of world leaders? He wasn’t going to take over the world even if most of the world leaders are killed. Perhaps the world chaos would clear the way for his ultimate goal of locking the gates of hell.
I had a feeling the Jersey Devil and the McNights were in cahoots and using these sex clubs to recruit humans. The puzzle was starting to come together now.
Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1-3 Page 8
