Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (20 page)

It lifted into the air
, hovered a
few
second
s
staring at her
and
continued
up
over the roof.
“Damn it!” I growled.
I looked back at t
he girl
in the apartment as she
cowered on the floor,
whimpering
,
knees drawn up to her chin,
her body
trembling.
I turned my attention to Joria to make certain she was safe.
She had retreated inside the apartment.

Unexpectedly, the creature did not flee. Instead, it circled the building
like a vulture
.
Then
I
remembered
the uniform
ed
officer
on the roof. I had dismissed hi
s presence
after he had fired, but the
Chupacabra
had not. It was a vengeful creature. I raised the rifle but had no shot. I heard the shotgun blast out three times,
followed by
a loud scream. I
watched in horror as
the officer’s body arc
ed
over the side of the building
in a macabre imitation of flight, but a flight in which gravity won
. He
struck the middle of the street
with a sickening
crunch
. I
hoped
he was dead before he hit. I waited a few minutes to be certain
the creature
was gone before turning my attention
back
to the girl.
Now s
he was unconscious
from fear
. Her only wound was a bruise on her shoulder and a
slight
cut on her thigh.
I knew from experience that infection would soon set in.

I
first
called an ambulance and
then
called in the squad cars patrolling the area. I waited until one of the uniforms arrived
to look after the girl
before I went down to the street.
The officer who had probably saved the girl’s life was a broken heap on the asphal
t
, surrounded by a rapidly expanding puddle of blood
.
I covered
him
with my jacket. I looked up as Joria walked across the street wearing a
robe over her
nightgown
. I could see the disappointment in her eyes. I could not hold her responsible for the fiasco. She had picked the right locale, but the creature had gone after different bait. Did it sense a trap? Was it that damn smart? According to Joria it was.

Well, I suspected the captain would have a few choice words to say about the night’s events.
I had no doubt that my part in stopping the creature was finished.
Under my guidance, we had lost two uniformed officers, a coroner’s assistant and a detective
– m
ore than a slight blemish on my record.
Joria ran to me and clung to me. I felt the heat of her body
as it pressed against
mine.

“I’m so sorry,” she sobbed into my chest.
“I was so frightened, I dropped the remote control.”
I held her tight
to comfort her, enjoying the feel of her body against mine. It amazed me that my hormones could rage so during such a crisis. I think I could have taken her there beside the dead officer with no qualms.

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I underestimated the creature in spite of your warning. I screwed up.”

“I was so certain it would come here and that I was the perfect bait.”

I thought about that. “Has it ever seen you?”

Her eyes went wide. “Once, perhaps, in Brazil, but I was not certain.”

I nodded. “I think it recognized you and sensed a trap but was determined to play games with us. It could have easily killed the girl but didn’t, in spite of its hunger.”

Joria placed her hand over her mouth and looked surprised. “You’re right. It should have been starving
by now
.”

I could see the direction of her thought.
“But it wasn’t
hungry
because it had already fed. Damn
!
Somewhere out there
is
another dead girl.
”
The creature had been one up on us all along. We were playing its game by its rules. That had to change.

“You injured it,” she said
.
“I could see the wound in its side as it flew past.”

“Not deeply enough. With what you said about its regenerative powers, I just knocked it out of commission for a while. It
’ll
be back.”

She sighed. “Yes, it will.”

“Did you get your photographs?”

She looked sheepish. “I was so frightened
as I looked into its eyes
that I forgot to press the button until the creature was leaving. I think I got a great shot of its feet.”

I chuckled. “Looks like we both failed.”

The neighborhood was
wide-awake
by now. Lights
flashed
on in the
surrounding
buildings and
curious residents
lined the balconies
and wandered onto the street
. The ambulance
skidded around a corner
and
raced
down the street, lights
flashing
,
followed by a half dozen cop cars. I knew reporters would soon follow. I had to get Joria out of the limelight.

“Come on. I’ll take you back to your hotel
b
efore the press gets here.” She did not let go of me as I walked her back across the street to get her clothes
.
It felt good to have her under my arm. It had been a long time since I had felt anything but
contempt for most women, though I could not place all the blame for my failed marriage
s
on my ex-wi
ves
, bitch
es they
may have been. I was never home. I was always so eager to solve everyone else’s
problems
I had no time for mine.
Well, my problems had just gotten bigger.

As we pulled up at Joria’s hotel, I spotted
a familiar
black
SUV parked across the street with the same two men
inside
trying hard to be inconspicuous
.
The dark suits and matching shades gave them away. I escorted Joria
to the elevator and
said goodnight
.
By the time
I
walked
back outside, ready to confront our
unknown friends, the SUV was gone.

8

Ella
Ramirez
was ecstatic. Her
teacher and
mentor, Professor
Emmett
Warren of Loyola
University
, had always told her
, “G
reat
reporters don’t report the news,
young lady,
they make it.
”
She deeply believed in this philosophy
and tried to live by it
.
She had been furious at herself for letting Hardin slip away to the old
monastery
without following him, but s
he had
a broadcast
and
could not shirk
her responsibilities
. She and Capaldi had
listened
intently
to the police call
on the scanner
and
left
the station
as soon as she went off air, arriving
at the monastery
just
after the ambulance
and back up police cars.
She learned that
Hardin had found Sasha Sattersby injured but alive, but in the process
Attwood,
Hardin’s partner, a
female
forensics
assistant and a uniformed officer had
died
and the Midnight Monster had
escaped capture
.
The
police
had whisked Sasha
Sattersby
away in an ambulance and
was
telling no one where she was
.

The Midnight Monster had injured Har
din
as well
and he
had
spent the night in the hospital.
Uniformed guards prevented her from getting anywhere near him.
Two days later, s
he
and Capaldi had stood in the rain filming
the funerals of Lew
Atwood and Melody Anderson from a distance
, keeping a
close
eye on Hardin. He had seemed unnaturally subdued
and melancholy
. She
imagined
losing a partner could do that.
She and Steve had been friends and colleagues for three years and
she
supposed she would lament his passing.

To get her story, s
he decided to stick
with
Hardin
as if
married to him
.
Keeping
close
tabs on
him
led her and Steve Capaldi
to a building only a few blocks from Sasha Satter
s
by’s apartment
.
They watched
from a distance as
Hardin
and a beautiful dark haired woman
ma
d
e
mysterious
preparations
with Hardin
carrying
a sniper rifle
up a fir
e
escape
and
hid
ing beneath
old rugs and boxes
, while across the street
the woman
repeatedly
walked
out onto the balcony and
glanced in his direction
.

“He’s using her as bait,”
Capaldi
said
after her second appearance
.

“Beautiful,” Ella replied. “
We need to find out who she is.
Get a good shot of her. If he succeeds, I want it on
video
.
Either way we’ll get some great footage.”

They waited for hours. She wondered how
H
ardin was ma
naging beneath all those boxes and
rugs
in this heat. At least they had thought to bring a thermos of
ice tea
and some snacks
.
Ella had just dozed off when
Capaldi suddenly cried out.

“My God!”
he yelled
,
grabbing his camera
from the floor beside him
. “What’s that?”

Ella saw a flash
of gray
and heard
the
crash of breaking glass
as someone
entered
a
n upper story
window down the street
and
dire
ctly
across from the bait apartment
.
A woman’s screams broke the
quiet
night
.

“Get this! Get this!” she yelled at
Cap
a
ldi
, beating on his shoulder with her fist
.

“Stop shaking the damn camera!”
h
e shot back
at her, fending her off with one arm while trying to focus the camera
.

She
watched as Hardin threw of
f
his concealing cover and climbed onto the roof
, his rifle slung over his shoulder
, racing
along the roof
top
. She held her breath as he leapt
the gap between
the two
buildings
;
then disappeared.

“Come on,” she yelled at
Capaldi
to get him moving. “We need close ups.”