Transylvania's Most Wanted (6 page)

“I understand,” Tom told him.

Red drove quickly down Appian Way, turned
west on Murder Street that took them across Dracula Bridge to the
other side of the Black River. He turned north on River Road then
and drove the full length of it, to where it dead ended at the
start of a forest just west of Goblin Park. They got out the
car.

“Stay right behind me,” He told Rebecca.

“How exciting is this?” she said.

Immediately upon exiting the car, they head
the howl of a werewolf, coming from deep inside the woods just in
front of them.

“Let’s stay right here a moment,” Red said.
“See if we can get an idea which direction the thing is
headed.”

“How accurate are these rifles?” Tom
asked.

“Hundred yards at best.”

They waited for the werewolf to howl again
and less than a minute later it did. It seemed to be making its way
eastwards, moving closer to Goblin Park. Its scream seemed
particularly anguished, enough so that Rebecca grabbed on to the
back of Tom’s coat.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a werewolf
sound so tortured in all my years here,” Red said. “Let’s head into
the woods here,” he said starting there.

The car’s headlights lighted their way into
the forest, but before long they were swallowed up by it as they
marched further into the woods. Before long the werewolf howled
again.

“It’s not too far in front of us now,” Red
said. “Let’s head east here and come out in Goblin Park.”

Goblin Park is located just the other side
of the Black River from the Hotel Triumph, not far from where the
Black and Blood Rivers come together. A foot bridge crosses over
the river near the hotel and leads into the park to a spot where
the public can sit in some grandstands permanently constructed
within the park boundaries. The grandstands offer the public a
place to sit outside come the full moon, to listen to the howls,
and even possibly spot, a werewolf in the flesh.

There are four, five-star hotels in
Transylvania City; The Fountain, The Monte Christo, The Hotel
Romania, and The Triumph, but of these The Triumph is hands down
the most luxurious, grandest and largest. Across the river from it
lay Goblin Park, the only spot in the city where the T.C.P.D.
allows tourists, or anyone, to be outdoors north of either the
Black or Blood Rivers, come the full moon’s rising.

Twenty four constables, spread about fifty
yards apart, form a half-circle perimeter along the park
boundaries, stretching from the banks of the Black River to the
northern edge of the park and back to a point further east along
the river. These officers will stand duty one hour before the moon
rises the night of the full moon, until the sun rises above the
cliffs surrounding Transylvania City the next morning.

Each constable is responsible for keeping a
fire going inside a barrel and while the warmth and light from
these fires is enjoyed by the constable, this is not their primary
purpose. Werewolves are frightened by fire, especially torches and
if any of these constables should spot a werewolf emerging from the
forest, (which would have been cleared of any visitors long before
the moon began to rise that day) his first means to shoo the
werewolf back into the woods is a flare fired into the air. He then
is to light a torch and jab it at the beast. On average, one
werewolf might appear near Goblin Park each full moon and it is
considered great luck to be sitting in the grandstands there and
witnessing an actual sighting of a werewolf.

If the constable is not successful scaring
the werewolf back into the woods with his flare and torch, then he
is to blow his whistle, which act usually does the job if the flare
and torch do not.

Also, at the sound of the whistle, a team of
constables, comprised of three officers, will begin moving toward
the constable who has spotted the werewolf. If by the time they
arrive there, the werewolf has not been frightened back into the
woods. Each of these officers has a specific duty or piece of
equipment they are deploy if the werewolf lingers or advances
closer. The first one has a scatter-gun which fires rock salt.
Maybe once or twice a year is the scatter gun needed within Goblin
Park.

If the scatter gun fails to deter the beast
from advancing closer, a golem net is shot over the werewolf and
the animal is then tranquilized with a dart shot from the pistol.
If such means are taken, the beast would then be dragged to a
special paddy wagon where it is locked inside and will remain under
close guard the rest of the night just in case it should awake from
its slumber while still in a foul mood.

If, by some remote possibility, a werewolf
should avoid the scatter gun, golem net and tranquilizer pistol and
should then continue toward the grandstands, the watch commander is
to fire his pistol, which is loaded with silver bullets. That night
Sergeant Hightower was watch commander over the Goblin Park detail.
He stood two hundred yards out in front of the grandstands along
with the team of three constables, by a barrel, warming his hands.
Stretched out in front of them were the twenty-four constables and
then another fifty yards in front of them was the edge of the woods
that surrounded Goblin Park.

At present the TCPD figured there were
sixteen humans suffering the curse of the werewolf. These sixteen
souls would all have exited out the city earlier that day, well
before the moon rose. They would walk well out into the woods
surrounding the city and then sit and wait for the moon to rise and
their bodies to begin the painful transformation from man (or
woman) to beast. It was their responsibility to exit out the city
to some remote spot in the woods.

As Tom, Red and Rebecca approached the edge
of Goblin Park, Tom spotted the series of barrels, with fires
burning within, and constables stationed next to them. When they
had stepped out of the woods, Red signaled to the nearest
constable. As they approached the line of officers, a flare went up
some four hundred yards, or eight constables down the line.

Tom looked toward there and spotted the
werewolf as the crowd, sitting in the grandstands, stood and
pointed at the flare and then the beast stepping out of the
woods.

“Oh my,” Rebecca said, as the constable
nearest the beast lit a torch and begin jabbing it at the beast,
hoping to scare it back into the woods. The next closest constable
did likewise, and then both began blowing their whistles. The
werewolf slowly backed into the forest and disappeared from
view.

The crowd in the grandstands clapped and
congratulated one another at having had the good fortune to have
seen a werewolf in the flesh, even if for just for a brief moment.
They clapped even louder when the beast let out a howl once it had
stepped back out of sight. The constable, a young man, who had
scared the beast back into the woods, turned around to wave at the
crowd and Sergeant Hightower shouted at him to “keep his watch.”
The constable went to turn back around then, but already it was too
late.

“Look out!” Sergeant Hightower yelled as he
brought his arm up to point behind the young constable.

The werewolf had broken out of the woods at
full speed and was charging straight toward the constable. The
beast covered fifteen feet with each stride. All in the space of a
couple of seconds, the crowd stopped clapping, fell silent and then
a lone woman screamed in fear for the young constable. By the time
the young constable had turned completely around, the beast was
upon him and Tom was running toward him.

As the team of three constables and Sergeant
Hightower ran toward him, the young constable tried to defend
himself with his torch, but the werewolf swatted it away before he
could thrust it at it. The constable ran then, but the werewolf
caught him from behind and with one powerful sweep of its arm, sent
him flying through the air.

The crowd in the grandstands screamed and
pointed at what was happening as the other constables blew their
whistles or rushed to the aid of the young constable. Tom was
running as fast as he could toward there also, but he was still too
far away to use the rifle.

“Kill it!” Sergeant Hightower ordered his
constables.

The constable armed with the golem gun
stopped and aimed at the beast as it charged toward him. He fired
when it was only yards from him, but the enraged beast slipped
underneath the net. The constable armed with the scatter gun fired
nearly the same time, but the werewolf ran right through the blast,
seemingly unfazed. It swiped at the first officer, and might have
killed him, if not for Sergeant Hightower, who fired at the beast,
causing it to halt its attack, but then it broke straight toward
the grandstands.

The officer with the dart pistol fired as
the werewolf passed in front of him, but the dart sailed under the
creature as it leapt six feet in the air with each stride. It was
hell-bent for the grandstands now.

Tom ran to cut it off, but stopped as the
werewolf passed a hundred yards in front of him, maybe two hundred
yards from the grandstands, where people were panicking, pushing
each other out of the way, wanting to flee the threat quickly
rushing toward them. He fired, but underestimated the speed of the
beast and the dart went behind the creature. He hurried to slide in
another dart.

Screams came from the grandstands as beast
approached there, and a stampede began. Tom waited until the
werewolf reached the top of its undulating track toward there and
fired.

The beast jerked in mid-air when the dart
struck its side, near its hind legs. The dart’s sedative went to
work immediately, the werewolf’s front paws hit the ground and
slipped out from under it and the beast went sliding along the
ground, tearing up the grass. Red caught up to Tom and ran past him
then toward the animal as Tom reloaded. Rebecca was right beside
him now. The animal managed to regain its footing and start moving
forward again, but much more slowly and Red fired at it. The beast
collapsed as soon as the second dart hit it. Tom ran right up to it
then, ready to fire again if necessary, but the beast was not
moving.

“How long will it stay down?” he shouted as
the crowd fell silent and pointed out across the park as the
werewolf laying sprawled on the grass..

“About ten minutes,” Red said as Sergeant
Hightower joined them next to the beast. “We need to get it into a
paddy wagon as before then. Run and bring the paddy wagon here,” he
ordered a pair of constables, who had run out there from the
grandstands. The two constables turned around and began shoving
their way through the crowd that had followed them out toward the
beast, to look at it closer. “Whoever this person is,” Red told
Tom, pointing down at the werewolf, “you saved his life. I was just
about to open fire with my pistol.”

Tom nodded.

“It’s all over,” Sergeant Hightower said
holding his hands out and starting toward the crowd pressing
forward. “Everyone settle down, no pushing, help your fellow guests
now,” he said in a commanding, British Officer’s voice. “Hold them
back,” he ordered his constables and several of them went to stop
the crowd from pressing forward any closer. “The rest of you back
to your stations,” he shouted. “What is the condition of Constable
Martin?” he shouted back toward the constables at the spot where
the young constable had landed after being swatted by the
werewolf.

As Rebecca came and stood next to Tom, a
flashbulb went off.

“No pictures,” Sergeant Hightower yelled,
just as another bulb went off.

“Martin has been injured,” a constable
shouted from the other end of the park.

“
Have some ambulances
brought here,” Sergeant Hightower ordered a nearby constable who
ran across the footbridge toward a call box.

The paddy wagon made its way over the bridge
slowly, having to work its way through the crowd. When it arrived,
Red hurried to throw the back doors open while four constables
lifted the werewolf up and carried it inside the specially padded
wagon before it woke up.

For the next few hours, after the
tranquilizer wore off, the werewolf threw itself around in a rage
in the back of the paddy wagon. It started the wagon rocking and
then managed to tip the vehicle over on its side, delighting the
crowd to no end. Red and Tom stood guard close by with their
rifles.

It was not until after midnight that the
beast finally began to settle down and sometime later it fell
asleep, and nothing more was heard from it then. The crowd slowly
dwindled away, Tom had a constable drive Rebecca home and then,
when the first rays of sunlight appeared over the tops of the
cliffs that surrounded the valley, Sergeant Hightower and Tom
carefully opened one door of the paddy wagon as Red stood just
behind them, ready to fire just in case the animal had not
transformed back into a human.

After Tom let the back door of the wagon
drop to the ground, he looked inside and was surprised – not
because the beast was still present, but because he recognized the
man sitting naked inside – it was Pierre the Frenchman who owned
the hat shop. As well there was a lot of dark hair lying about. Red
lowered his rifle and stepped closer.

“Hello inspector,” Pierre said. “I’m afraid
I’m not dressed properly for company. Do you have any clothing I
could borrow?”

Red threw a blanket into Pierre and then he
took his raincoat off and handed it to Pierre. “Put that on,” Red
instructed him. “Put the blanket over your head so nobody sees you
while we walk you over to the police car. Some of them reporters
might be hanging around still.”

“Thank you,” Pierre said. “You are most
gracious.”

As Red, Sergeant Hightower and Tom walked
Pierre to Red’s car, a photographer with a large camera jumped out
of a car and ran up and flashed a bulb in Pierre’s face, but
fortunately Pierre was hidden under the blanket.