by Deborah Noel
“Chloe, Emily.”
Chloe leaned back to Emily and whispered in German, “Ich habe dir doch gesagt, sie würde sich an uns erinnern.” (Told you she’d remember us.)
Emily seemed really fidgety. Chloe hesitated to look me in the eye.
She relented, “Um, we really hate to bother you, but can we talk?”
I was completely unprepared and flabbergasted by the visitors standing on my stoop, trying to wrap my head around the very fact that they wanted to talk to me.
“Um, sure girls. Please come in.”
They followed me to the kitchen. I suggested that we sit out back on the patio. They agreed by nodding their heads and took seats at the table when we got outside. I offered to get them something to drink, but they turned me down.
Bullet made a fuss over the girls then settled down at my feet.
“So what brings you two to my door?”
Emily, still fidgety, looked to Chloe.
“Well,” Chloe began, “we are here because we found something up near the beach and we don’t know what to do about it.”
“Oh. Why did you come to me? Why didn’t you go Bolton?”
Emily cringed.
Chloe giggled nervously. “We are a little intimidated by Morticina.”
I nodded my head slightly. I could see how she could have that effect on young girls, especially if they were dating Morticina’s sons.
“Besides,” Chloe continued. “It’s about the beach where we first met you. Weird things have been going on up there and we were wondering if you’ve noticed anything.”
My entire being froze for a second. I controlled my breath and facial expressions so that I didn’t give away my concern.
“I haven’t noticed anything lately. But then again I haven’t been there in a while. What do you mean by weird?”
Emily spoke up this time. “Well I’ve heard lots of howling, and I mean LOTS.”
“And I’ve spotted a couple of different wolves hanging around,” Chloe added.
“One day while Blake and I were hiking, I noticed about a half dozen dead animals laying around. They seemed to have been viciously killed,” Emily explained.
I glanced back and forth between the girls as they took turns telling me of their apprehension of the many oddities they noticed at the sensational getaway we shared.
“It gets weirder,” Chloe offered after a few seconds of quiet.
She looked to Emily, egging her on to spill their secret.
Emily took a deep breath. “Then two nights ago I saw your friend Shane.”
“Shane?”
“Yes, that is the name of the man who keeps an eye on your girls, right?” Chloe answered and asked.
“Yes, it is. But I don’t recall ever introducing you.”
“Oh no,” Emily jumped in quickly. “You never introduced us. We ran into him walking Bullet shortly after we met you.”
Chloe continued, “We recognized Bullet straight away. We stopped to pet him and said that we had just met a dog that looked exactly like that named Bullet. He laughed and said it was Bullet and introduced himself as your daughter’s caretaker.”
I felt myself relax. All things have an explanation. I also realized that that was how Morticina knew I didn’t have any sons.
“Okay,” I tried to point out the logical. “It isn’t weird for Shane to be there. Declan probably took him up there a time or two.”
“He was burying the carcasses.”
Before I could stop myself, I felt my eyebrows arch toward the Heavens.
“I can’t argue that that is odd, but he is a gentle soul,” I offered as an excuse for his actions.
The girls went on to explain to me that it struck them as odd Shane’s actions, but figured there was a simple explanation. Knowing that he looked after my daughter, they wanted to make sure I knew what they had seen. I thought it was pretty noble of them to even care and I was sure that it took some guts for them to come to me. I asked the girls what they did for a living and learned that they were studying to work for law officials back in Germany. We talked of my short career and I promised to help with any questions they might have. I asked them if they knew Rogi. Emily recoiled back into her introverted and nervous self. She looked to Chloe for confirmation. I was impressed with their unspoken understanding of each other, must have been a twin thing.
Chloe took the lead, “If your path has crossed with Rogi, you have done something gravely wrong.”
She left it at that, no uncertain finality in her tone. I changed the subject. We shared some small talk. We promised each other to visit and chat again. They left not soon after. All in all, it was a nice visit. Strange, but nice.
Sam was in his recliner watching the 11 o’clock news when I showed the girls out the front door.
Soft music was coming from the piano room.
I watched the girls drive away down the street.
Sam stopped me on my way to join Declan, “What was that all about?”
I sat on the corner of the oak coffee table facing him.
“Strangest thing. They wanted to know if I noticed anything weird going on up at the Castle.”
He sat himself straight up.
I patted his knee. “I played dumb.”
“Good. What did they see?”
“Far as they would tell me, while hiking they came across some animal carcasses in the woods.”
“So?”
“Later they saw Shane burying them.”
Declan was standing in the doorway. “Yeah, he told me about that. Said doing the sketches weighed on his mind, he wanted to see the place for himself and check things out. He saw the dead animals and didn’t want to attract any further attention to the area by the Rangers.”
Sam contemplated for a moment, “Makes sense to me. The fewer people in that area, the fewer casualties we will have.”
I agreed, “Did Shane get home yet?”
“No,” Declan answered. “He called to say he would be home late. His buddy’s band is playing a function he’s attending.”
My husband reached for my hand, “Ready for bed, my love?”
I bid goodnight to Sam and allowed my man to lead me upstairs.
Our pillow talk consisted of Declan recounting official business of the day. Sam and Declan rummaged through stacks and stacks of missing people reports, none of which matched the description of the couple we saw. Sam, Declan and Shane had gone back up to the Castle to take care of the human corpses, but they were gone. So far the bodies hadn’t turned up anywhere.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I felt such comfort and security in Declan’s arms. While listening to the sound of his voice I drifted off to sleep.
It felt like I had been sleeping only an hour when I was awakened by the alarm clock. Declan was already in the bathroom getting ready for the day before him.
Downstairs, breakfast was typical. Shane had come to be there for our morning rituals. Declan asked Shane if he could stay around the house as he and Sam had some business in town to take care of. Declan didn’t want me to be left by myself.
Of course he said he could stay.
Just like any other day, Shane got ready to take the girls to school. He promised to return within a half hour. He asked if I needed anything; I didn’t. As Declan and Sam left for the office, Declan promised he would be keeping an ear tuned if I needed him. Though the men in my life were trying to be subtle, I was growing weary at the veiled attempts at making sure that I wasn’t left alone. I managed just fine on my own for years. A silly little vampire on a killing spree wasn’t that much of a difference…
I cleaned the kitchen. I vacuumed the whole house. I tidied the bathrooms. I went into the office and checked my email. There was one from Morticina thanking us for such a pleasant evening and apologizing, once more, for the interruption with Rogi.
Rogi.
I found myself plugging his name into the search bar. I don’t know what I expected to see appear on the screen. I ca
n’t say I was surprised at what did appear. I clicked onto the site that was offered. It was the history of a Russian Diplomat with great authority in the 17th Century (relative to a modern-day mafia family). After several wars and uprising in that time, the family was forced underground. Nothing of substance was noted after that. A dead-end on the information trail.
Declan called my cell phone to “check in.” I knew it was more of a check “on” phone call though. I assured him I was fine. He asked if Shane had returned from dropping the girls off at school yet. I said not that I was aware of, but that I had busied myself with cleaning and then got lost in research on the computer, so it was possible.
He promised to be home in a few hours and he wanted to take the family out to dinner this evening. I thought that was a wonderful idea. We said our goodbyes and I clipped the phone back into its place on my hip.
There was growling coming from just outside the office door that I recognized as Bullet’s.
Chaos exploded outside. There was howling and hissing. Distraught moans echoed through the opened windows. Hair stood up on the back of my neck. Something major was wrong. I instantly scooped up Bullet and ran upstairs. Shane’s room was the only one with a view of the backyard. I slowly moved apart two of the blades of the mini-blinds that I thought would give me a good view of the yard.
Through the glass I saw nothing.
The yard was empty but the commotion intensified beyond the tree line. I could hear the crackling of tree branches. Leaves fluttered on the displaced breeze. There was a hollow thump that shook the ground as the branches fell. Whatever it was, it had to be big bodies to cause the thick branches of the 100-year-old oak trees that made up the forest behind my home to fall apart like that. Still there was no visual aide to stop my creative mind from making up what was causing all this pandemonium. I decided that I would put Bullet, who was still growling and thrashing in my arms, in my bedroom and close the door so that his barking wouldn’t lure any of the chaos closer to the house.
On tip-toes I went downstairs to close the doors and windows. I figured it wouldn’t be as easy to break through glass as it would a mesh screen on the doors and windows. Most people, or things, don’t want to crash through glass, as mesh screens are less painful. I turned the lock on the door for safe measure, even dropped the bar down in place for shits and giggles. I went back upstairs curious to see if I could see anything that was going on outside.
Crippling bellows rang in the air.
I made it to the window in time to see a tree fall across our backyard. From behind where it cracked, close to the base from on the woods side, emerged a wolf that looked to be over the 200 pound mark. It pounced onto the stalk now laying on the ground. Another smaller wolf raced to the side of the fallen oak tree. Their noses pressed to the ground searching for something that had eluded them.
Then, about thirty feet away from the where the wolves were, up by the treetop appeared a gruesome creature unlike anything I had ever seen before. It stood erect and snarled and hissed at the wolves, who poised for attack.
I knew what I saw before me was a vampire, but it wasn’t the one I had seen previously. It was more hideous looking, more evil. I drew in and held my breath.
It looked to be around six foot tall, around 190 pounds, not scrawny by any means. This one reminded me of the ghastly, meant-to-scare-you-into-submission vampire of some of the horror movies I watched as a kid.
His torn skin was more of a muted gray. His bare chest was covered silver hair matted with blood. White scars of all shapes and sizes decorated its leathery looking hide. He wore shorts that were caked with mud, blood and some other unidentifiable muck. His feet were shielded by the leaves of the tree in which he stood. His face was twisted and pitted. It was drawn, lacking the luster of life. His eyes were a mixture of the color you see when flames of a fire go from their glowing orange to a pale yellow. And his eyes shared the intensity of a flame as it kisses the wood it is about to devour. Crimson stains plastered its chin. Thick fangs protruded from its lips, fresh blood dripped from them. His long arms continued into brawny hands that ended with stretched fingers capped with razor-sharp tips which were caked with blood and fur.
Instinctually I called for Declan in my mind. The vampire looked up to the window where I was perched. I put my wall up. Before it was completely barricaded, I heard Mattie scream, “Mommy!”
I was torn. I moved away from the window to avoid the vampire’s sights. I snuck downstairs to the piano room and locked myself in there. Through the small oval window overlooking the woods, I watched as the bigger wolf launched itself at the vampire while his attention was drawn to the upstairs window where I had been moments ago, watching.
The wolf took the opportunity of the vampire’s distraction to knock the wretched beast off its feet, but it did not stay off-balance for more than a nano-second. The vampire slashed its long razor-like fingers into the side of the wolf. The vampire hissed at his quick, short-lived victory. The yelp of the injured wolf was ear-shattering. Then came the rage. With blood oozing from the open gash with every move the wolf made, he charged on.
I couldn’t keep myself from watching as the two of them threw each other about the yard with fur and flesh flying on the wind. I was too afraid to open my mind, fearing that the vampire would be able to hone in on me. Mattie’s scream was deliberate. She was in trouble.
I unclipped my phone from my hip and dialed Declan. He answered in one ring. “What the hell is going on?”
“Would you believe a vampire and two wolves are duking it out in our backyard?”
“What? What was with Mattie?”
“I was hoping you would know. When I called your name, the vampire looked up and saw me. I had to put my wall up so it couldn’t hear me anymore.”
The big wolf and the blood-soaked creature were trading slashes and bites. The smaller wolf was slinking its way around behind the vampire to offer a surprise launch. It worked. The honey-colored wolf used the downed tree and sprang into the air toward the vampire. It happened in slow motion; the wolf seemed to hang in the air for quite a long time. When it got to the vampire, it was able to sink its teeth into the vampire’s neck and rip its head clean off.
Captivated by the kill of a vampire, ever so quietly, I whispered into the phone, “Declan I’ll call you back.” I ended the call, holding the phone tight between my fingers.
A silvery red liquid shot up in the air then rained down covering everything underneath it.
The hound landed on its feet with the prize of the head hanging in its jaws. The body of the vampire slumped to the ground. The head continued to scream and hiss hanging from the wolf’s mouth.
Three more wolves emerged from the woods; they carried pieces of limbs from the fallen tree and put them in a pile in our fire pit. They checked on the bigger wolf, who had collapsed bleeding by the body of the creature it had just fought. One auburn colored wolf nudged it. Its eyes told the expression of exhaustion, pain and triumph. Those eyes, the eyes of the wolf, I knew them.
Suddenly somehow, a strange woman stood at the pile of tree limbs and set them ablaze. I didn’t recognize her. I wanted to scream out to her and ask her what she was doing on my patio. I wanted to know who she was and where she came from.
I didn’t have the ability to do anything other than watch quietly.
The wolf holding the head of the blood-sucker still clasped in its jaws went to the one who fought and laid the head on the ground at the victor’s feet. The vampire’s eyes glowed orange with rage. It hissed and began to wiggle. The bigger wolf, quickly picked up its trophy, limped to the fire and tossed the hissing and salivating head into the flames.
The scream of the vampire was the most ghastly sound I had ever experienced.
The body of the vampire was next to be hurled into the fire. The smoke thickened and darkened as the remains burned and turned to ash. I hadn’t noticed I had subconsciously released the hold on my cell phone and it dropped to the floor.
The wolf looked up at the house. If wolves could smile, I think it did. I still couldn’t place the eyes.
The animals and strange lady stood and watched to make sure the fire died out. All that remained were ashes. They all huddled around the fighter and aided him as they walked off toward the forest behind my house. I looked back to the fire. Then back to the wolves. I dropped my mouth to the floor as I watched three men and two women pass from my yard into the woods. Two men were helping the third, who was limping.
Chapter Nineteen
I stepped on the phone as I turned away from the window. It didn’t break, but I ended up on my ass, smacking my head on the piano’s bench. Rubbing my sore head, I picked up the phone remembering I had been talking to Declan.
The line was dead.
I went out into the kitchen, gazing out the patio doors. The top of the fallen tree was just at the start where the patio met the grass. Embers smoldered in the fire pit. I double checked to make sure there was nothing else out there in my yard, and slowly opened the patio doors.
The stench was putrid.
I walked over to the fire pit and recognized the shining ash that was all that remained of the vampire. It shared the same qualities as the ash in the fire pit at the murder scene of Declan’s brother.
That swirled around my mind for a few moments. That was the end of the murders. The vampire who had been responsible for the killings had himself been killed. The proof was in the ashes of the fire.
Now I wondered who killed the vampire of years ago. Wolves? Couldn’t have been,; there were too many people at the scene.
Another question, who was this vampire here today? It wasn’t the one who I had seen before at the beach at the Castle, the one who scented me. The difference between the two was clear as day. So why was this one here today?
And what was the deal with the wolves?
Always more questions. Always.
