Taboo (A Tale of the Talhari Book 1)

by Heather Elizabeth King

  The man stood there, staring down at the thing. Then slowly, inexplicably, the creature turned to dust. It disappeared. Like it had never been there.

  Four people landed beside the man. Landed, as though they’d been flying seconds before. Two men and two women. They were at a distance so she couldn’t make them out, but she could see both men were tall, like the one who’d knocked her down. There was a dark haired woman, who was also tall, and a black woman who looked to be a little taller than Sydney.

  “Do a scan of the area and make sure it’s the only one,” the man said to his companions.

  “What about her?” the raven-haired woman asked.

  He turned to face Sydney and her breath caught at the sight of his face. He was beautiful. He was far too perfect to be an ordinary man. Then she snorted at that thought. Watching him jump twenty feet into the air was as clear an indicator as any that he was no ordinary man.

  “I’ll take care of her,” he was saying. “I want this place wiped clean. No one can know what happened here.” He paused. “Anyone else harmed?”

  The woman shook her head. “No.”

  “I’ll take care of her.” He started toward Sydney. “The girl was actually running at it,” he said over his shoulder, “like she meant to fight it.”

  The dark haired female smiled. “A human with spirit. I like that.”

  Sydney tried to stand but found her legs wouldn’t support her. So much for having spirit.

  “I’ve got you,” he said, bending and lifting her into his arms.

  “Who—what are you?”

  “I’m Alaric. Where do you live?”

  Sydney sputtered.

  “Where do you live?”

  “Rivermont. But what about my friend?”

  “Your friend is gone. I’m sorry.”

  “Dead?”

  He nodded. Still cradling her, he took a step forward, another step, a third, and then he was running.

  The air whipped past her face so fast she had to close her eyes or risk losing a contact lens.

  She knew this couldn’t be possible. Nobody could run so fast. The only logical explanation was that she’d hit her head when she’d fallen and knocked herself out. She was probably laid on the ground right now, unconscious. But that wouldn’t have been good either. That would have meant she was a sitting duck for the monster that had come out of the trees.

  When Alaric slowed, she opened her eyes.

  She cried out when she saw they were in Rivermont. He was standing in the parking lot beside Magnolia Foods. She could smell the delicious aromas rising from the restaurants, see people walking along the sidewalk, talking and laughing. A couple walked a dog. Teenaged girls giggled. It was all very normal for a Thursday night in Rivermont.

  “But how?” she said.

  “Tell me, where’s your home?”

  Again, she sputtered.

  “Your home?”

  “A few blocks up on Pershing,” she said, pointing straight ahead.

  “Can you walk?”

  “I can.”

  “I’d carry you but we’d attract too much attention and I don’t want anyone to notice us.”

  She stared him up and down from his gorgeous face, long golden hair and black tee-shirt and cargo pants to his combat boots. The clothes were snug and displayed a body that would have made Mother Teresa stare. He looked like a model turned para-military soldier.

  “You’ll attract attention.”

  He frowned down at her then set her on her feet. “Let’s walk. Briskly, though.”

  They joined the pedestrians on the sidewalk, walking past restaurants and shops as though nothing odd had happened this night. She could tell he was trying to look normal, like they were out for a stroll, but he wasn’t going unnoticed.

  “Hold my hand. It’ll make us blend.”

  She offered her hand and he took it.

  They moved past the realty office, salon, pet grooming shop. She’d be home soon. Home where she could bolt the doors, lock the world outside, and stay safe.

  “What about my friend?”

  “She’s gone.” They stopped for a traffic light. “What’s your name?”

  “Sydney.”

  “I’m sorry Sydney, but she didn’t make it.”

  Sydney swallowed, sucking down a whimper of pain. “So what happens now?”

  “Do you know what you saw?”

  “Of course I don’t know what I saw. I know that whatever that thing was, it wasn’t human. It came out of the trees and ran at us. Just ran at us out of nowhere.”

  “You can’t tell that to anyone.”

  “Something like that thing exists and you think I’m not gonna tell anyone? You’re crazy.”

  “You can’t. No police force is equipped to fight something like that. You saw for yourself what it’s capable of.”

  “It was a bloodbath. It ripped her throat open.” She was suddenly out of breath. “It ripped Cora’s throat open. We were at the magazine an hour ago. An hour ago we were in my office and she was alive. I knew there was something wrong. I knew we should have gone back, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Someone…something was watching us. As soon as we stepped into the park, something was watching us. I could feel its eyes on me. That son of a bitch.”

  She wanted to punch something, to tear something apart.

  He turned her toward him and tilted her face to his. “I have a team in place to handle them. I’m sorry about your friend, but you’re safe now. Nothing can hurt you.”

  She stared into his eyes for a moment, wanting to believe him, wishing she could think everything was all right. But Cora was dead. Her best friend was gone. Nothing would ever be all right again.

  He released her chin when the light turned green.

  They started across the street, but she froze. “Them. You said them. You’re telling me there are more of those things?”

  “Yes.” He tugged at her arm to get her moving again.

  “In my town? What are they doing here?”

  “I don’t know why they’re here, but as I said, I have a team in place. We’re equipped to handle this situation.”

  “You’re not really human either, are you?”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I saw you jump. I saw the way you knocked that thing back when you hit it. Something that strong and you practically knocked it off its feet.”

  “What I am is no concern to you.”

  “This is my street,” she said, stopping at the head of Pershing.

  “I’ll take you to your house. I want to make sure you get inside safe.”

  “What was that thing? Do I have to worry about waking up in the middle of the night with one in my bedroom?”

  “I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t seem very smart. Deadly, but opportunistic, feeding on easy prey.”

  “Easy prey,” she repeated. She stopped on her front porch and turned to face him.

  “Are you going to be all right?”

  “I just watched my best friend die. I am so far from all right, right now.”

  “Is there anyone you can call to be with you?”

  “They’ll asked questions. What do I tell people? How can I explain how Cora is dead and I’m alive? She only went to the magazine today to help me. How can I explain how I wound up back at home and she’s gone?”

  “Nobody will know she’s dead, at least not yet. She’ll be missing.”

  “No way. No way am I letting her family suffer, wondering what happened to her.”

  “What exactly do you intend to tell them?”

  “The truth?”

  “And you think they’ll believe you?”

  Sydney stared at him. “Maybe not, but—”

  “It won’t be forever. I promise you. You have to trust me.”

  “I don’t even know you.”

  “I saved your life.”

  And what could she say to that? If he
hadn’t come along when he had she’d be dead with her friend.

  The thought made her knees go weak beneath her. She nearly slid to the floor.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Just…this is so much to take in.” She paused, then nodded. “Okay, I won’t say anything. For now.”

  “Did anyone see you?”

  She remembered how empty the street had been. “The street was empty. I can’t guarantee nobody in any of the apartments or condos didn’t see us, though.”

  “Okay.”

  “This is crazy.”

  “Go on inside. I have to get back.”

  “Will you tell me what you find out?”

  “Please, go inside now.”

  She took out her house keys and unlocked the door. She pushed it open and set one foot inside the threshold then turned to look at him. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  He met her gaze and nodded. “I wish we would have gotten there sooner.”

  Chapter Three

  Sydney woke suddenly. She’d left the bathroom light on, just in case she didn’t sleep through the night, but was surprised to see it hadn’t been necessary. Sunshine glinted through her bedroom windows. Everything was bright and that seemed all wrong. Cora was gone. It should have rained today. There should have been thunderstorms, not sunshine.

  And there were creatures in her town. Horrific, nightmare creatures.

  She pushed the covers aside and sat up.

  How could any of this be real? How could Cora have died so suddenly? One minute everything was all right, the next, some creature was charging at them. And would Alaric really come back to update her? Who was he anyway? And who were his friends. She didn’t know if she could just sit here and not do anything. That wasn’t her nature.

  What was that thing? Where had it come from? How did it even exist?

  She got up and crossed to the bathroom, splashed cold water on her face, brushed her teeth, and then slid into her robe and slippers.

  She’d brought Cora to the magazine to help her, Sydney, with research for an article she was writing on the life of the Israelite king, David. Cora had been trying to make changes in her life to make up for the bad decisions she’d made in her twenties. Decisions that had left her working a dead end job. Sydney had been getting Cora to help out with research, had bought her to the magazine to help with various other tasks, too. She wanted Cora to be visible to the decision makers. The hope was that when a position opened that didn’t require any advanced education, Cora would be considered. She’d make more money, get benefits, and have a job she could enjoy…possibly a career.

  That had been the plan. But now, Cora was dead.

  Sydney trudged down the hallway, past the stairs—deciding coffee could wait—and into her home office where she had access to various news sites and online databases.

  She booted up her laptop, deciding to take a quick look at the local news and newspaper websites to see if they had reported anything about Cora.

  While the computer booted she jogged downstairs to make coffee.

  She’d purchased her home because every room on the first floor had expansive picture windows that looked out onto her picturesque street of colorful bungalows, cottages, and Cape Cods. Last night she’d shut the curtains on every one of them so she didn’t have to see outside and think of the thing she’d seen. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that thing, and every time she looked out the window she’d imagined it loping up the center of her street. Now, in daylight, she paused to open the curtains and let the sunlight in to dispel the shadows.

  In the kitchen, she did the same thing. The sight of her back yard with its lawn chairs, flowers and herb garden made her feel a little bit better. They were familiar. They made her feel safe.

  She brewed coffee and was back upstairs in her office in minutes. She searched the online newspapers, news sites, even a few disreputable sites, but could find nothing about her friend’s death. It appeared Alaric and his team were good at covering up murder.

  She spent the next few hours surfing the news sites of towns as far away as Charlottesville, looking for anything she could find about similar attacks, but she found nothing.

  Could last night have been an isolated incident? She didn’t think so. That creature had come from somewhere.

  Then it occurred to her. Alaric and his team had covered up Cora’s death. What if this wasn’t the first time they’d done that sort of thing.

  She returned to the local news sites and began searching for reports of missing people. If that thing stayed within the city there was no telling how many people it could have attacked.

  Almost immediately she started finding stories about people who’d gone missing.

  A husband and father of two had last been seen two weeks previous. His wife said he’d taken the dog out for a walk around nine that night. A seemingly harmless endeavor since they lived in such a quiet town. They lived near a restaurant and bar, so there were often people walking the sidewalks near their loft. Dogs had to use the bathroom, people were out getting drinks; at least they would have been at nine.

  He hadn’t come back. The dog had been found the next morning wandering around the neighborhood alone. The cops thought the dog’s location may have been an indicator of where the husband had gone, but he’d never been found.

  And he wasn’t alone. Two women had gone missing a week ago.

  She read a few lines down and laughed humorlessly.

  The two women had a condo on Jefferson and had told neighbors they were heading out for a run. Jefferson was where she and Cora had been attacked.

  The women had never been seen again.

  And there were more. When she finally finished reading, the tally was up to twenty-three. Twenty-four counting Cora. And it hadn’t just been downtown. It had been all over Lynchburg.

  So many over the span of just six months. Why wasn’t anyone doing something about this?

  She pushed out from the desk and went to a drawer where she kept various local maps. She leafed through the stack until she found her runner’s map of Lynchburg, then grabbed four pushpins from an adjoining drawer. She spread the map across the wall and pinned it in place. Grabbing more pushpins, she began setting them in the map where people had gone missing. As she worked, a pattern emerged. Although the disappearances seemed to be spread throughout the city, all of the people had gone missing within a half mile of the James River Heritage Trail.

  Bingo. Whatever these creatures were, their home base was somewhere close to the trails.

  The trails were scenic paths surrounded by trees, bushes thick with foliage and colorful plants. People came to the trails to bike, run, or walk. They went for miles. They were popular for their beauty and also because in the dead of summer, if you had to be outside, the trees kept the paths cool. And most importantly, you could get nearly anywhere in that section of Lynchburg using the trails. If it were at night, you’d never be seen.

  She looked down at the clock display on the monitor and was surprised when she saw the time. She’d been at it nearly two hours. Although she hadn’t found out anything about whatever it had been that attacked her last night, she’d figured out where the danger zones were.

  She wondered if Alaric knew about the trail connection, then decided he must. At the time it seemed like an eternity, but in reality it hadn’t taken his team long to get to them. She and Cora couldn’t have left the magazine more than ten minutes earlier.

  Showered and dressed, she called the magazine to let them know she’d be working from home today, then Sydney set out on foot on Rivermont. She wasn’t far from an entrance to the trails herself. Less than two miles in fact. So she walked up Rivermont toward Woodland Avenue to one of the trail entrances. If memory served, there were thirteen entrances, or maybe it was fourteen.

  She had no intention of actually entering the trail, but she did want to have a look around the neighborhoods surrounding the entrances; see if she could
find anything out of the ordinary.

  The day was crisp, the sun making everything look deceptively beautiful. The tree branches shifted on the breeze as she walked. It was a gorgeous day in Lynchburg, and her friend was dead.

  She had to know what that thing had been. If there were more of them, as Alaric had said, nobody in the city was safe. Anyone could be next.

  It had taken her years to adjust to living in this town alone, without her family around her. But eventually she’d found her place in this nook of the world. And this day she was happy her family lived more than three hundred miles away. She couldn’t bear the thought of her nieces and nephews being anywhere near such a creature.

  She’d feared she’d see that pale, blue tinged face in nightmares last night; see the claw slicing Cora’s throat; see the hooves where feet should have been. Then there had been its fangs. They were sharp and as deadly as any she’d seen in all the vampire movies she’d ever watched.

  She stopped walking and shivered.

  But no, that couldn’t be right. Vampires were sexy, seductive, and they sparkled. At least they did in Hollywood. If vampires were real, if somehow they really existed, would they be beautiful? Or would they look like what they were, eaters of humans?

  “Hi Sydney.”

  Sydney refocused on the sidewalk in front of her. She’d completely zoned out, so focused on her objective was she.

  “Hey Tonya,” she said, waving to her neighbor.

  “You must not be running today.”

  “No,” Sydney said, forcing herself to smile, “just out for a walk. The weather is so nice today I couldn’t resist.”

  “Me neither.” She waved. “Have a good one.”

  “You too.”

  She had this same conversation at least three more times, which made it damned hard to concentrate. Typically she would have been running on a day like today. People can’t do more than wave and smile at you when you’re running.

  She crossed to the other side of the street and turned. She walked till she got to Woodland, then turned again.

  The street was beautiful, full of grand houses so large her own Cape Cod could have easily fit inside any of them four times over. Lawns were perfectly manicured, sidewalks were lined with colorful flowers and streetlamps were ornate.