Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (24 page)

A second thought sent my stomach into convulsions
– was there a female? Was I facing not one, but two of the
adult
creatures? Why had Joria not mentioned this possibility? After all,
s
he was the expert.
My jittery nerves calmed somewhat when I recalled a nature program I had seen on television about hermaphroditic lizards, male lizards able to lay eggs.
Was the Chupacabra a hermaphrodite? I
hoped the hell it was
because
I didn’t savor the idea of confronting two of the creatures
in the dark confining basement
.
This changed things
dramatically
. The
young
would have to die as well as the adult. Four
or five
of the creatures loose in the city would be a
n impossible
nightmare.

Louder
this time
, I heard the sound again
from deeper in the room
, a
blanket snapping in the
wind
though I felt no breeze and
had a sickening hunch
it was no blanket
.
I swallowed saliva to moisten my suddenly dry throat and c
rept closer
.

In the
darkness
ahead, I distinguish
ed
movement of
a d
eeper
shadow outlined against a wall. The size changed
constantly
, as if the creature w
as
extending and collapsing its wings
, hence the flapping
sounds
I had heard
.
I hoped it was the adult.
I crept closer
on hands and knees
.
As I neared the creature, t
he stench
became
almost overpowering – blood, dead flesh,
feces,
ammonia – all combining to sicken my stomach.
I swallowed hard to keep my rebellious stomach under control.
Only a low wall separated me from the creature now. I was less than six yards away. I feared to get closer les
t
it detected me
.
I
knew instinctively that I
would not get a better shot. I had to act quickly
.
Any delay
and I
could
lose
my
shot, or worse, bring the creature down on me.

I took a deep breath, clicked on the flashlight and dropped it on the floor beside me
in one swift movement
.
As I had hoped, the sudden bright light briefly blinded the creature.
I leveled the Pfeifer
.60
, but
hesitated
when I saw
that
the creature was not the one I had
earlier encountered
. This one was much smaller, barely
f
ive
feet tall and much lighter in color
,
one of the
juvenile
s
testing its wings. It was
much larger than I had anticipated
.
Now I understood why there were two
dead
women in the apse above. The juveniles had
matured quickly and had
graduated from rat blood to human blood. This was why the
adult
creature had changed its pattern. It was nesting.
But where w
ere the other two
juvenile
s
?

When the creature
before me
hissed and flashed its talons, I fired. The .60 caliber jumped in my hands so badly that I almost lost my grip
on it
.
The
muzzle flash cast
the room
into short-lived brilliance,
dispelling the shadows and
creating
a
decidedly
Dante’s Inferno
hellish
scene
.
The sound
of the blast
deafened me even
through
the earplugs
, shaking dirt and plaster from the ceiling and walls
that
showered
down on me
like
dry
rain
.
A
s the cloud of dust cleared, I caught a glimpse of my handiwork
.

My
first
had
round struck the creature in the chest, producing a small
entrance wound
but
splattering the wall behind the creature with
ochre hued
gore as it exited through a hole the size of a grapefruit.
The creature
screamed
in pain
and f
lailed against the wall, smearing its own blood
across the stone
, but still
lived
. I
took a deep breath
, held it and
cocked the gun
, aimed
and fired again, this time at
the juvenile creature’s
head.
Time slowed as I pulled the trigger. The flash and sound
disappeared. I watched the .60 caliber slug
leave the barrel of the P
f
eifer
,
bore
a hole
through the dust
motes frozen in the
air and strike
the creature
just
above its right eye. Half the skull exploded from its body
in a reddish mist
, along with chunks of brain matter
and a yellowish ichor that oozed down its body
and colored the wall
.

I exhaled.
Sound and fury returned in a clap of thunder.
The clap of the shot slowly receded into the distance. Then the echoing
anguished
wail of another of the creatures, sounding almost human, drifted down the twisting corridors.
I didn’t have much time.

The creature
I had shot
convulsed
against the wall
several times and
then
collapsed on the floor. I
stared
at
it
trapped in the beam of my flashlight
with satisfaction
as it lay there
in a spreading pool of its own blood
. It was surely dead. No amount of powers
of rejuvenation
would resurrect it
now
. Its brain was jelly where the
heavy
.60 caliber
slug
had plowed through
the skull
and embedded in the wall with enough force to crack the
masonry
.

I would have felt more glee if this creature had been the
adult
.
I had been lucky. I had come up
on it unaware,
as i
t had been testing its wings
, preparing to leave the nest
.
I prayed the others were not yet capable o
f
flight.
Once free of the
monastery
, they might be impossible to locate.
Again, I wondered why Joria had not mentioned the possibility of offspring.
Had Joria or her father never encountered juveniles
in their
re
search
?
I looked further for the
remaining
two
juvenile
s
but
found no trace
.
Was I too late?

I
picked up my flashlight and
retraced my steps to the basement. I debated following the other corridor, but news
of my discovery
had to reach Joria or the authorities
as quickly as possible
. It was important for them to know we now face
d
more than one of the creatures. As I
rushed down the length of the basement
, I heard a shrill cry from
behind me
, from the other doorway.
I didn’t stop to look.
I began to run
, dodging obstacles
that
seemed to lunge into my path
out of the dark
ness
in their eagerness to trip me up
.
An
unseen object
clipped me
from behind
and sent me reeling. I stumbled and slid along the floor, losing the Pfeifer in the process.
I heard
the massive gun
slide across the
stone
floor
.

I glanced behind me and saw a pair of
human
legs barely visible in the shadows
.
As I watched, they disappeared into the darkness. A repeat of the earlier call, much closer,
forced me into action.
I had no time to investigate.
I
looked longingly at the rectangle of
light
before me
,
the door
beckoning me
like
a
church door to a repentant sinner
. The clouds had cleared and the moon
shone t
hrough the holes in the roof
, washing the sanctuary above in a golden lambent light
. Forgetting the Pfeifer
and my unknown assailant
, I ran.

At the top of the steps, I
glanced
back and
saw
a
second juvenile rushing at me, gliding just above the floor. I
looked
at the debris of the
wrecked gate
, knowing I could not shut it and suspecting I could not hold it
closed
against the juvenile
even if I could
.
Searching desperately for a weapon,
I grabbed
the
wrought iron
spear
lying on the floor
and
quickly
examined its diamond-shaped tip. I hoped it was sharp enough
to do the trick
. I hefted it
with both hands
and braced myself just as the juvenile launched itself
up the steps
at me
, mouth open wide, screaming its anger
. I struck it in the chest. The spear penetrated deep, but the force of the blow
knocked
me backwards
and I
lost my grip
on the spear
. Luckily, the
butt
end of
my
spear entangled
in
the twisted
wreckage of the
gate. The wounded creature
thrashed about but
could not pull free.

I
eased around it, keeping out of reach of its flailing talons
,
raced
back
down the steps and
located
the Pfeifer with my flashlight.
I briefly considered
searching for the owner of the pair of legs that had clipped me from behind. I suspected one of my dark-suited friends in the SUV, though their reasoning defied me.

The creature
still
struggled frantically,
screaming loudly
but only succeed
ing
in
enlarging
the wound. I took careful aim
.
The juvenile
went
deathly
silent and
stared at me as if it knew what was coming.
I fired.
The report echoed throughout the nave like thunder. The creature’s
head disintegrated, covering the floor and wall with gore.
It remained upright,
headless,
pinned
like a butterfly
by the
metal
spear through its chest.
I
sighed
and leaned against the altar
to rest
.
The cold stone felt comforting.
I
had
eliminated
two
of the creatures but not the adult
I had come for
and
I did not want to go back into the basement alone
.
I could
n’t
watch
my
front
and back
at the same time.
I knew I was
in
way
over my head. I decided to return to my car and
report
in.