Between Dusk and Dawn (25 page)

Manny studied LaShaun for a few
seconds. His dark brown hair had been cut short, and combed back in
soft waves. He couldn’t have been taller than five feet ten inches.
With no bulging biceps, Manny did not look threatening at all. A
long snake tattoo coiled down his left arm. The snake’s head on the
inside of his left wrist had large fangs. LaShaun blink a few
times. The thing seemed poised to sink those fangs into Manny’s
bluish veins visible beneath his pale white skin. On his right arm
a tattoo of barbed wire wrapped around his upper arm. More tattoos
were on his neck.

“
You don’t look like I
imagined. I don’t look like you thought I would either, huh?” Manny
shrugged and dipped his head as though apologizing. “But what is a
serial killer supposed to look like?” he said softly and gazed out
of the window for a second. Then he looked back at her.

“
What did your granddaddy
tell you about me?” LaShaun asked. The unpleasant, almost painful
tingling had stopped. She pushed against the invisible shield he
had up.

“
Don’t do that,” he
whispered with a quick sideways glance at the guard. When the guard
didn’t seem to notice anything Manny’s gaze slid back to LaShaun.
“I ain’t always in control. “

“
Mr. Orin feels like maybe
you weren’t responsible for killing your victims,” LaShaun replied.
His bark of laughter startled her.

“
PawPaw done started
believing that story. Lord, he needs to let it be. That scheme
didn’t come close to gettin’ me outta this fix I’m in.” Manny waved
a hand as though brushing aside the explanation. “I’m done. Let’s
talk about somethin’ more interestin’. Tell me about
you.”

“
You know pretty much all
there is to know. I live in Beau Chene, and my family is from
there. My grandmother’s house is off Rougon Road.”

“
Yeah, I remember where
that is. You told Dr. Norris that you’re a voodoo woman?” Manny
leaned forward a little. “Bet she kept you down there talking a
long time. She’s got a thing about that sort of stuff.”

“
Did you tell Dr. Norris
that your granddaddy thinks you’re possessed?” LaShaun replied
evenly.

“
When the murders went down
you mean.” Manny shrugged again, and wore a boyish grin. His eyes
sparkled making the green flecks in them come alive. “Course I
don’t remember the details. Maybe he’s right.”

“
Did you ever dabble in
voodoo or any kind of satanic rituals?” LaShaun felt him toying
with her, so she went along.

“
I might have, mostly to
get next to girls that went in for stuff like that. You know the
type, always looking for somethin’ different. Drugs, heavy metal
music and freaky sex, anything goes with that crowd. I got to
convince these people I ain’t crazy so I can get sent to Angola. At
least I could party there.” Manny’s long thin mouth pulled up to
one side.

LaShaun felt a chill. He actually
looked handsome on the surface with that grin tugging his mouth up.
She got an image of him in a black T-shirt with the embossed emblem
of a popular band on the front, and a pair of black jeans. Yes,
women would have found him attractive. Then the image winked off.
LaShaun blinked back to the room, stunned at getting such a strong
picture. Manny continued to wear a slight smirk like a wicked imp.
Then he looked harmless again.

“
What happened to you?”
LaShaun said so softly that both Manny and the guard leaned as if
trying to hear clearly.

Manny sighed. “I fell into a bad, bad
crowd. I dabbled in some stuff I shouldn’t have, and now look where
it’s got me.”

“
Stop lying, Manny,”
LaShaun snapped. She placed both palms down on the table top. “If
you don’t want to suffer some of the worse agony imaginable for
eternity, you better get straight. I’m not talking about rotting in
prison or a needle in the arm. Those are going to seem like a
vacation compared to what comes
after
you die.”

His skin turned paler as he blinked
rapidly. Manny scratched his arms nervously. “I don’t like talkin’
about what happens in the next life.”

“
You better start thinking.
Did whoever got you into this explain that nasty downside? Did you
know ripping women into pieces was part of the deal? Well, answer
me.” LaShaun put enough force in her tone to rip at his psychic
shield like a razor sharp talon. Manny definitely had not
innocently stumbled into experimenting with the supernatural. “Yes,
you were influenced, but you had a chance to walk away.”

“
It was too hard. You don’t
get it,” Manny said. Gone was the forceful manipulator. He voice
took on a whiny sound. “I can’t... it’s more complicated than you
think.” He brushed a hand through his hair.

“
Sure, you had a rough
childhood. Your mama loved drugs more than you, and then she
disappeared, and your daddy cared more about partying than being a
father.” LaShaun repeated his family history without a hint of
sympathy in her tone. “A whole lot of people go through worse, and
they don’t charm perfect strangers into trusting them and then
slaughter them to get a thrill.”

Manny slapped a large hand down on the
table. The sound bounced off the walls, and made the guard spring
forward. LaShaun held up her hand as a gesture he should wait.
Manny hadn’t moved toward her. The man stood at alert, but didn’t
take action.

“
What the hell do you know
about what I went through?”

Manny breathed in and out a few times,
the sound loud in the silence. The green in his hazel eyes seemed
to dance like flames. His gaze darted around the room as though he
saw something move. A thick wavy lock of hair fell across his
forehead and he turned his intense gaze on LaShaun.

“
That’s why we’re here,
isn’t it? For you to tell me enough so that I can help your
grandparents have peace. Tell the truth so Mr. Orin can stop having
false hopes, and your poor grandmother can rest easy.” LaShaun
watched as his face twisted, transforming like a melting mask of
rubber from one expression to another. He’d smile, then frown and
bare his teeth. Manny hissed a few times and squirmed in his seat.
Then he raked his hair with long fingers until several spikes of
dark locks stuck out. LaShaun wouldn’t have been surprised if his
head spun around like something in an old horror movie. What she
saw in him wasn’t just an insane man going into a fit. The shimmer
of something malevolent floated around him like an oily swamp
mist.

“
Don’t talk about MawMaw
Flora. She’s been through enough.” Manny swayed from side to side
slightly, and then rocked back and forth in the chair. “Lord, that
woman has suffered.”

The guard spoke into a compact
walkie-talkie on his shoulder then strode forward as the door swung
open. “Okay, ma’am. I think that’s enough for now.”

“
I’m sorry, Manny. I didn’t
mean to upset you,” LaShaun said quickly. “I know you wanted to
talk to me. Maybe if you get some water and calm down.”

Roosevelt stood next to the other
guard. “No, ma’am. I don’t think...”

“
Wait, wait. I’m gonna be
okay. It’s just that I’ve been real worried about my grandmama.
Y’all can understand. Please, I’m goin’ to calm down,” Manny said
and looked up at Roosevelt. “Please, she is tryin’ to help
me.”

LaShaun saw Dr. Norris hovering just
outside the door. Roosevelt glanced at the doctor. Some signal
passed between them because he nodded to his colleague. The other
guard took a position against the wall again, but remained
vigilant. The door swung inward, but Roosevelt left a few inches of
space so that it didn’t completely close.

“
My grandmama ain’t been
too well, and she’s had to go through hell.
Manny clasped his hands together tightly on top of the table.
“Hearin’ about the killin’ and all was too much.”

“
Of course, the trial and
stress took a toll on her health,” LaShaun said.

His head hung lower. “I should have
been stronger so I could be there to protect her. Not give her more
grief.”

“
Your aunts are there to
help Mr. Orin take care of her.” LaShaun tried to reassure him. In
spite of all he’d done, she felt a sliver of compassion for the
man.

“
Verlena got her family to
think about, started over. I don’t know where Diane is,” Manny’s
voice broke and he blinked hard.

“
Sorry to hear it,” LaShaun
said and leaned her elbows on the table. After a long moment of
silence, she decided to stay away from discussion of his family. He
seemed genuinely anguished, and might become too agitated to talk.
“You remember an old friend, Willie Dupuis? He remembers
you.”

“
Willie... Willie, hmm. Now
let me see.” Manny expression changed back to the wily truth
twister again. “So you gettin’ close to the real deal. I been
readin’ in here. They got a good library. Gettin’ more educated
than I ever did on the outside. I read this old saying, ‘Be careful
goin’ after what you want cause you just might get it’.”

“
He says you got him into
occult activity. Now he’s caught up in a murder.” LaShaun pulled
back a few inches when Manny chuckled, his voice sounding hollow
and deep.

“
Shame on him. Can’t put
that one on
me
.
I’m obviously not gettin’ out nights to travel.” Manny nodded at
the solid stone walls around them.

“
Tell us about the other
murders, and if Willie was involved. Six bodies of women found
along Lake Chenier and the wildlife area. That’s a long way off.
And two in Texas. Ripped up real bad.” LaShaun had the sensation of
feeling crowded again, as though there were more people in the room
with them. She gazed at Manny and something happened.

A dark bubble closed around them as
she stared into his eyes. Green fire caused his eyes to reflect a
strange glow. LaShaun could not move. She felt pain down the middle
of her back as though a large claw raked her flesh. She tried to
move and speak, but a kind of pressure held her in place, and kept
her silent. Manny smiled at her.

“
I smelled you comin’ miles
away.” He sucked in a deep breath and let it out, then licked his
thin lips making them wet. “I could have you right here and they
couldn’t do a damn thing about it. I might have you yet, but not
today. I got a bitch in here gives it up whenever I want it, and
knows better than to say no. I bet you could handle my ten inches,
couldn’t you? Yeah, you could handle it real good.”

“
What have you done?”
LaShaun heard her voice, but didn’t feel her mouth move.

“
I’m goin’ to help you
because I intend for you to come back. Highway 333 to Little White
Lake is where they found the bodies, not Lake Chenier. Tsk, tsk,
tsk. That was supposed to trap me, huh? Yeah, I know about Texas.
I’m not the only one hungry for fresh meat and thirsty for blood.
I’m not the first one either. You better watch your back, girl,
cause they’re getting wild and loose. They don’t think anybody can
stop them now. Find the house Willie told you about, and you should
be able to track ‘em down. If they don’t come to you first. Use one
of them GPS things. I’ll bet your man has one.”

“
I can find it.” LaShaun
blocked out all thoughts of Chase to protect him.

“
He must be givin’ it to
you good. I like loyalty.” Manny wore a smile that made him look
anything but friendly.

“
Why are you giving me
clues?” LaShaun ignored the taunt, satisfied that he didn’t know
about Chase. The less information he had about her personal life,
the better.

“
Because... I like you,”
Manny drawled. He made the simple sentence sound like a sexual
threat. His gaze into her eyes intensified. “So you want to
know.”

LaShaun gasped as the air around them
grew heavy and darker. Plunged into a night scene, LaShaun became
lightheaded. She had the sensation of running. Leaves slapped her
skin as she raced through woods. Instinct guided her around thick
clumps of palmetto bushes and around tree trunks. A feeling of
freedom coursed through her, and of power. The night belonged to
her. Then she arrived at a clearing. Shadows moved, then came in
closer. The others like her, sweating and exhilarated. Two of the
group jumped on each other, not in attack. Their yowls softened as
they mated. The rest of the group ignored them and trotted to
another clearing. A woman lay on the ground looking wild. She
smiled as they approached. Anticipation seeped from her pores as
she moved toward a large member of the group standing tall, hair
thick on his arms. The woman rose and slipped the pullover shirt
over her head and shimmied out of her tight jeans. Gyrating in a
bra and thong, she seemed eager for attention from her
audience.

LaShaun struggled to scream a warning.
This foolish woman, her brain fried by years of drug and alcohol
abuse, expected a night of adventurous sex. Part of LaShaun felt
the lust of the being whose eyes she looked through, and her
stomach heaved. Yet she couldn’t make a sound. The object of the
woman’s seduction grabbed her by the buttocks with both hand and
licked her neck with a long tongue. Moaning and grinding against
him, she dropped to her knees. He roughly forced her on all fours
and mounted her from behind. His thrusts made the woman to cry out
in pleasure. At first. Then she admonished him not to be so rough.
But her lover didn’t stop. Digging her fingers in the dirt, the
woman tried to pull away. Her screams of anger gradually changed to
pleas for help. Her lover raked long claw like fingernails over the
flesh of her thighs, threw his head back and howled. Those watching
answered until their voices mixed with the woman’s screams. The
mating turned into an attack. The man still clung to the woman as
he sank his teeth into her back and ripped out a chunk of her.
Blood dripped down his mouth as he continued to thrust. With a
series of loud grunts he collapsed on top of the woman. Seconds
later he appeared to sniff at the fleshy part of her arm. In shock,
the woman whimpered and begged to be let go. Instead her attacker
bit into her body again, and again. He flipped her over and ripped
a hole in her neck. His pack moved in.