Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (17 page)

At
Chupacabra,
I
smiled
politely
and
raised my hand to stop her. I had hea
rd of the mythical goatsucker
of Mexico and Central America,
had seen photos of a
mangy
coyote
reported to be the creature
. I was in no mood for fairy tales. “This
…
thing was no coyote,” I said. “It was bigger than a man
and it had
wings
.”

Her eyes went wide. “You have seen it? Yes, yes, I see that you have.
The legend of the
Chupacabra
has spread by word of mouth over the years until
any creature out of the ordinary becomes a
Chupacabra
, every stolen goat taken by the creature
, every missing child a victim
. I assure you, the
Chupacabra
exists and it is as you have described it
,
much larger
than a man, gray with wings
.

“
At first, m
y father dismissed these tales off hand
as superstitio
n
. That is,
until women began to disappear in some of the major cities. He followed the murders fanatically, often at odds with the local authorities
, who are somewhat ineffective and demanded bribes for information
.
He determined
an extremely savage serial killer with a taste for human blood
was murdering
them
, but what few clues he uncovered made a human killer seem impossible.
He
began to pay more attention to
tales of
the
Chupacabra
.
” Her eyes became suddenly hard and cold and a sneer marred her beauty. “
He
was dismissed as a lunatic
, scoffed at by his peers and colleagues
. Life is cheap in Brazil and tourism brings many dollars
into the local economy. T
he authorities do not wish to frighten tourists
with fairy tales
of monsters
.
They do not tolerate dissent.
”

“
What kind of animal is it
?” I asked, intrigued by her story.

She hesitated. “No kind of animal with which you are familiar. Its intelligence is eq
ual to or
surpasses
that of
a human and its cunning is beyond question.
It is savage
and
ruthless
.
Muito perigoso
. Very dangerous.
It kills
six to eight
women during a month
-
long spree; then disappears for
two or three
year
s
.
A few years ago
,
it began traveling
north
from Brazil
. I followed reports until I reached here.
Poor Mr. Atwood seemed interested in my studies.
”

“He never mentioned you, but we have been busy lately as you must have guessed.
This creature murdered Lew, my partner,
two nights ago.
It
also
wounded me.
”

Her mouth opened and worked silently. “You
were injured by
the
Chupacabra
?”

“If you mean
a
giant
gray
vampire, yes. It set me and my partner up and killed him.”

She nodded her head
looking distraught
. “
Sim
. Yes, i
t is very intelligent as I said and very difficult to kill. Its regenerative powers are remarkable. Bullets do little damage. It is a bad thing that it has chosen you
, a very bad thing
. It survives by stealth. If it allowed you to see it
and survive
,
then it means to kill you. It is toying with you, like the hunter with his prey.
It wants your blood.
”

“I thought it just drank women’s blood.”

“The blood of young women is special for it. Their blood has something in it that it needs, but it
often
kills for sport as well as
food. I must warn you, my father
believed
and now
I
have come to
believe that this creature lives a very long time, maybe
a
hundred years
or more
. If so, it would be very intelligent and wise in the ways of men.”

I tried to take it all in – First, a vampire, which was difficult enough to believe, and now a
Chupacabra
that lives for a century and is smarter than Steven freaking Hawking.

I shook my head. “Lady, you got me confused.”

She smiled. It was a warm, gentle smile, but I could tell she had witnessed much sorrow
in her life
. “It is much to take in at one time, especially from a stranger. I will let you see some of my notes and decide for yourself.”

“Can I show them to a friend, a doctor?”

“By all means. Perhaps he could answer questions I could not.”

I offered her my hand. “Detective Hardin,” I said.
I wondered how Munson was going to take this.

****

I hated to admit it but Munson seemed to believe every word she said.
I expected him to be his usual skeptical self, but h
e
simply
nodded several times as she spoke, staring intently at photos, charts, articles and neatly typed notes Joria had provided.
While he
poured
over her notes, I was busy looking over her body. She leaned over the autopsy table to point out something
to Munson
and I got an enjoyable view of
her
tanned, well
-
proportioned thighs. As I fantasized her in full
Rio
Carnival
regalia,
long legs in spike heels,
giant feathered headdress,
I
realized I had
missed the beginning of her question
directed at me
.

“Pardon?”
I asked, shaking my head
to erase my
erotic
image of her
.

“I was asking if the creature spoke
to you
.”

“Spoke?” I
asked, stunned
by the idea
. “You told me it was an animal.”

“An intelligent animal. That is what we are, is it not?”

“I’d like to think I was a little higher on the evolutionary ladder than a m
yna
bird, but no, it did not speak
; it
only screamed.”
Remembering that horrific scream sent chills down my spine.

“That is odd.
I
f it has focused on you for some reason,
as it seems to have done,
I
had
thought it might
speak to you
if only to threaten you
.”

I shook my head. “If it had spoken to me, I would have
probably
crapped my pants.” I turned to Munson. “What do you think?”

He looked tired. He had dark circles under his eyes and seemed to have aged ten years in the last three days. It was obvious he had taken Melody’s death very hard.
They had worked closely together for six years
, longer than Le
w
and I had
. His voice was barely a whisper as he spoke.
“Her report is extremely thorough and her credentials are impeccable, but if
I
had not witnessed … had not seen
what I did
… I would think she was crazy.” His voice caught as he
remembered
M
elody’s
tragic
death.

“Bottom line is how do we kill it?” I asked.
Who or what the creature was or wh
y it was killing young women
did
n’t
concern me. I only needed to know how big a freaking gun I needed.

“As you
have seen
, gunshots do very little but it is not invulnerable. Its
skin
is
very tough
but
its bones
are
hollow
to allow it to fly
. Unfortunately,
its regenerative powers
are
quite
remarkable. I believe it feeds voraciously for a few
short
weeks and then hibernates for two or three years while the search for
it, or
for
the unknown killer,
dies down.
In this way, its lifespan is increased dramatically.
”

I thought of
Sasha Sattersby
. “Have you ever heard of the creature leaving a victim alive?”

She hesitated. “I do not know this
Sattersby
girl
,
but
from what I have read perhaps her blood was tainted with drugs. It has happened before. The
Yanoma
n
i
use certain drugs
derived from plants
in their ceremonies in which the women participate. Once or twice, the creature did not feed on victims chosen during these ceremonies
, b
ut he did not let them live.”

I considered th
is bit of information for
a moment. “You mean he let her live to use her as bait. With her injured and alive, my attention would be easily distracted.” I shook my head and smiled. “Sneaky bastard.”

Her jaw dropped and she stared at me in amazement. “You admire this creature?”

“Hell no,” I snapped. “I’m going to kill the son of a bitch, but now I know just how smart the bastard is.”

Munson spoke up. “I have learned a couple of things. The creature’s
saliva contains a chemical
that sedates its victims and
its talons
initiate
a very rapid infection. The febrile condition weakens any prey that might escape and also
destroys capillaries.”

“Meaning?”

Joria answered for him. “Its victims bleed from the inside, therefore, more blood
upon which to feed
.”

I had suffered the touch of that venom and could vividly recall the feeling of helplessness it created as the fever wracked my body.
I
was
glad I hadn’t realized
the creature
was setting me up
as
a meal, too.
“This
thing
doesn’t miss a trick. It seems to be some kind of evolutionary marvel.”

This time, it was Jori
a
who smiled. “I understand now. You do admire it, but as an adversary. The
Yanomani
hunters believe the greater the
enemy, the sweeter the victory.”

I thought of how sweet it would be to see this creature with a big hole through its head.

“Maybe so
,
”
I replied.

****

I decided to take Joria out for lunch
to continue our
conversation
.
I had to admit to myself
that I found her
very
attractive and
more than a little
desirable.
Unless my powers of observation had failed me, she seemed attracted to me as well.
We walked to a deli down the street. I ordered
pastrami
on dark rye with brown mustard and onion. Joria eyed the dozens of choices behind the glass
display case
with the delight of a child
.

“They all look so delicious. What do you recommend?”

“Well, this pastrami is great, but the Black Angus roast beef with Edam cheese and a horseradish mayonnaise on a Kaiser roll is my second favorite.”

She smiled. “We produce much beef in my country. I think I will try that. Can I have an onion also?”

“A girl after my own heart,” I said. “At least my breath won’t bother you.”

I ordered two beers. We sipped the beers and ate our sandwiches at an outside table.
The weather was mild with a slight breeze
off the bay
.
The aroma of roasted garlic wafted to us from a pizzeria down the street.
The
street
traffic was loud so we had to more or less shout to be heard.