Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (17 page)

“Sure, I can
give you a ride,” Jason said, feeling like a teenager again. Just like the
upcoming lecture he would get from his father, he pushed the fact that she was
married out of his mind. Not to mention the mother of one of his friends. He
nodded to Jed on his way out, who just shook his head.

“Is this your
car?” Mary said with a gasp as they walked up to the mustang.

“Yeah,” he said
as smoothly as he could without his voice cracking. His mind was working
overtime, trying to figure out how he would measure up with a woman much older
and experienced than him. He had heard rumors that she used to bang all the
football players back in the day. Being a football player himself, he held the
record for the most yards rushed in a single season, not to mention the most
overall yards during his tenure at Crimson Falls before playing in college.

“I hear you
scored a lot in high school and in college,” she said as she sat down.

“Uh, yeah,” he
said, unsure what she meant.

She laughed. “I
mean you were quite the football star.”

“Yeah, football
is my thang,” he said as he walked around the car. He smacked himself in the
forehead for saying ‘thang.’

When he got into
the car, her hand was on the shifter. “I like sticks,” she whispered.

“Me, too,” he
said, then closed his eyes when he realized what she meant. She giggled like a
schoolgirl. He could feel himself becoming aroused.

“I like sticks
that make me go fast. Nice, long, rides.” Her words were almost more than he
could handle.

“I know a place
we can go,” he said as he hurriedly started the car. He peeled out of the
parking lot and quickly merged onto the interstate. Three miles up the road was
a small park and ride, almost always vacant since there weren’t any bathrooms
or vending machines. During the drive, she feverishly rubbed his legs and front
pockets. He was so hard he wasn’t sure he would make it.

When they
finally arrived at their destination, he pulled in, parked, and got out of the
car. He dropped his keys and leaned down to pick them up. His car door was
open, so he was hoping she was taking a long, good look at his firm butt.

“I’m a little
clumsy sometimes,” he said as he began to straighten up and lean back toward
his door to smile at her. “I’m hoping you can teach me how to…” but he stopped
speaking when he noticed she wasn’t in the car. Her door wasn’t open and he
hadn’t heard a door shut.

For a brief
second, fear paralyzed him completely.
You’re just freaked out by that
yellow tooth
, he scolded himself.
That’s more than eight miles down the
road for Christ sake.

When he realized
she was probably trying to hide from him and undressing while he searched, he
started to get excited again.

“Oh, Mary!” he
called to her, trying to sound sexy. “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your
garden grow? Why don’t you show me!”

“Out here!” Mary
called from behind the first few picnic tables.

“Damn, girl!” he
yelled. “How did you get out there so fast?”

He listened for
her response and all he heard was her giggling again. “I’m coming to get you, cougar.
You’ve been a bad kitty!”

Jason removed
his shirt as he ran toward the tables. He stopped for a brief moment to flex
his muscles, thinking she could see clearly see him from wherever she was
hiding. “You want some of this, ma’am?”

Silence.

“Come now, Mary.
Show me your garden.”

Silence.

“Mary? Can you
hear me?” Jason’s smile was beginning to fade. “Mary, seriously. Where are
you?” Suddenly the door to his mustang slammed shut. He turned around,
remembering that he threw the keys on his seat when he came to bang her on the
picnic table.

“Mary?” he
called, but again she didn’t answer. He walked cautiously to his car. He tried
to open the door, but it was locked.

“Shit!” he
yelled. “Goddammit, Mary! The keys were in there! It’s a three mile walk back
to Crimson Falls!”

Silence.

Jason turned
around two or three times, hoping to see her walking toward him with an
apologetic grin and no bra. Still, nothing.

“Mary!” he
yelled, though not too loud. He didn’t want to sound as scared as he was
beginning to feel.

“I’m here, silly
boy!” she cried. Again, the voice came from behind the tables.

There isn’t any
wind
,
he thought as he tried to figure out how the door shut on its own. “Come on
down here, girl,” he called to her. “I’m going to lay you over my stang!” The
last thing he wanted to do now was get laid, but he didn’t want to leave her
here, either.

He listened for
her response, but she remained quiet.

“Mary!” he
yelled, this time a little more forcefully. “I’m not coming out there! I’m
going to call someone to come pick us up!”

“You can’t call
when your phone is in the car, silly boy!” Mary called back. Jason checked his
pocket for his phone, but it wasn’t there. He tried to remember taking it out
of his pocket. Fear began taking over again. He knew for sure it had been in
his pocket. She must have taken it out when she was making the moves on him
during the drive.

“Damn!” he
whispered harshly. “I’m outta here, you crazy bitch!” He turned around and
started walking toward the road. He listened for her response, but she didn’t
say anything. He began hearing footsteps behind him, then a heavy breathing
sound that scared him. He began running toward the road, praying that a car
would pass by. His heart dropped in his chest when he realized that the entire
three mile stretch of interstate leading back to Crimson Falls was surrounded
by woods. He stopped to listen for any sounds, but it seemed Mary was no longer
behind him.

“I’m moving as
far away from Crimson Falls as I can,” he promised himself. “I don’t ever want
to see a tree again.”

He got to the
road and the breathing returned again, but this time it was louder and heavier.
Gathering what courage he had, Jason turned around to face whoever was behind
him. No one was there.

“Mary? Mary, are
you there? What the hell?” He saw the headlights of a large semi coming toward
him. He ran out into the road and began to try to flag him down. Without
warning, he was knocked to the ground with such force that he slid into the
left lane of the highway. He quickly stood back up, turning in all directions
to see who had pushed him.

The semi was
getting closer. It was his only chance to get out of this situation. He began
trying to move as much as possible in the road, to bring attention to himself, but
it was so dark he was afraid the trucker wouldn’t see him until it was too
late. Just as he moved into the left lane and continue to wave at the semi, he
was picked up and then thrown to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement.
He sat up, gently rubbing the fast-forming knot on the back of his head.

When he looked
in front of him, he saw Mary. But it wasn’t Mary. Although it was wearing the
same clothes as Mary, the face was distorted. Its teeth were long and yellow,
its thin lips looked like dried blood. It breathed heavily on him and Jason
almost vomited from the stench of its breath.

“What the hell
are
you?” he asked. Before it could answer, Jason heard the loud sound of the
truck’s horn behind him. As he turned to gauge the distance, the bumper of the
semi struck his forehead at seventy miles per hour.

* * * * * *

3

Matthew and Amy
waited patiently in the library while Jake stayed behind to talk with Anna.

“How are you
doing, Michael?” Matthew asked soothingly.

“I’m tired and
dizzy,” he said, sounding as though he was either going to pass out or vomit. Maybe
both.

“We’ll be at the
hospital soon,” Amy said, rubbing his back. “All of this will be over soon.”

“It will never
be over until we find Alan and stake him through the heart,” Michael said as he
shrugged Amy’s hand away.

“Okay,” Amy said
with a grave look of concern on her face.

Matthew wasn’t
sure what to make of all that had happened. Although he knew there was a dark
presence in the tunnel, he hadn’t anticipated finding Michael in the state he
was in. Sure, he had read about possessed people trying to eat the flesh of others.
But in those cases the people became violently ill because humans cannot digest
blood. Apparently whoever was drinking or draining Michael did not have that
problem, if any of it even happened the way he said it did. Matthew nodded to
Rick and John to stay with Michael. He motioned for Amy to follow him into the
hallway.

“So what do you
make of this?” Amy asked.

Matthew exhaled
loudly. “Honestly, I haven’t the slightest idea. I think Michael believes what
he is saying, but we can’t be sure he isn’t in shock and having false
memories.”

“No one checked
that room he was in, either. And I don’t know about you, but I think that room
was pretty big and probably had other exits.”

“I know, but I
wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t want to check it out,” Matthew said while
scratching his chin.

“Well, someone
has to do it. Who else would it be if not the police? We’re not superheroes for
Christ sake.” Amy laughed at herself, and Matthew joined her.

“I think it’s
safe to assume that we have a madman on the loose, and he may be under the
influence of a demon,” Matthew surmised.

“Or a vampire,”
Amy said, not smiling. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but do you think
it’s possible?”

“Do I think it’s
possible that there’s a vampire running around the woods of Crimson Falls?”

“I know, it
sounds ridiculous,” Amy agreed.

“I’ve learned
that what is ridiculous in the secular world is not always so in the spiritual
realm.”

Amy’s jaw
dropped a little. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Matthew
chortled. “I’m just saying that if you had told me when I was fifteen that I
would spend half my life fighting demons, I probably would have laughed. But
now, I think just about anything is possible.”

Amy just nodded
and became lost in her own thoughts. Matthew thought back to that night when he
saw the shadow in his backyard that propelled him to the priesthood. Could it
be possible that vampires existed? More importantly, would he have thought that
if it weren’t for the surreal obsession that Americans seem to have for the
genre? He certainly didn’t fancy himself a believer when he was in Rome.
Everything in his world was defined by the Church, and even when circumstances
were outside of what he had been taught, he always had faith that there would
be a Christian answer to it. He was becoming less convinced of that by the
minute.

“Do you know
what sucks?” Amy asked, bringing him out of his memories.

“What’s that?”
he said with a fragile smile.

Amy cringed. “We
have to leave the house to get into the car.”

“Good point,” he
said. “I can’t imagine it will be much worse than what we just experienced. You
know?”

“That’s true,”
she agreed. Matthew actually wasn’t sure if the journey to the car would be any
better than their ordeal under the house. But Amy was quite green when it came
to such things, so he tried to comfort her as best he could. Perhaps he was
even attempting to comfort himself.

Rick and John
brought Michael through the secret panels and moved past Matthew and Amy to
leave the library. Matthew and Amy followed them. Meanwhile, George stood
motionless in the hallway.

He’s such an
idiot
,
Matthew thought to himself. He felt guilty for thinking it, but it was true
nonetheless. If George found himself alone outside he wouldn’t last very long.
Just then Jake strode out into the hallway and slapped George on the back.

“Let’s get
moving,” he said. “We need to get to the hospital ASAP. The sheriff is waiting
for us there.”

Jake gave
Matthew a nasty look as he approached.

“Everything
okay, Jake?” Matthew asked.

“At some point I
need you to explain to me why you thought it would be a good idea to go into
that room without letting any of us know what you were doing. We wasted
valuable time looking for you.”

“With all due
respect, Jake, we were able to find Michael and bring him back,” Amy said
defiantly. Matthew fought back a smile.

“And that’s
great,” Jake said carefully. “But it doesn’t mean you weren’t foolish to go
under a damn house with no weapons and no backup but God.”

“God can provide
pretty good backup,” Amy retorted.

“Blah, blah,
blah!” Jake groaned, spittle flying everywhere. “It’s no use talking to you
religious people.”

“Then let’s not
talk,” Amy replied. “Let’s get him to the hospital.”