Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (31 page)

I was relieved when I did
n’t
find Joria’s body in the apse. This did
n’t
mean she was alive, but it offered some
small
measure of hope
that she was
. The juvenile
Chupacabra
s
w
ere
gone
also
. I assumed
f
orensics had taken
both
juveniles to the morgue
. I wondered what the authorities would make of them.
I recalled the black government SUV and realized the bodies
were probably halfway to Area 51 by now.
I continued down the steps into the basement
, warily eyeing the corners for signs of movement
.
I opened the gas can and began to pour its contents
liberally
on the floor and over piles
of
junk
, wooden
crates and old furniture
and soak
ed
old timber support beams
as I walked to
the
second entrance to the catacombs.
If pursued, I would ignite one of the flares and touch off a conflagration large enough to bring the
entire building
down
into
the basement
and
onto
the remaining creatures
.
I
only
hoped I would make it out ahead of the fire.
I wasn’t eager to die, at least until I saw the dead creatures with my own eyes.
The smell of gasoline was almost overpowering
,
but
I
still caught a whiff of ammonia drifting from down the
left hand
corridor
.

The second
corridor
wound up and down through
a series of
small rooms and
alcoves connected by short
, haphazardly placed
steps
. Some rooms had several doors that led roundabout back to
the winding, narrow passageway
, creating
a veritable maze. I too
k
my pocketknife and scratched arrows on the walls to mark my
passage
. I
passed through
one doorway
, stooping to avoid the low lintel,
and entered a room
piled high with stone coffins. The smell of fresh blood
and strong odor of ammonia
startled me.
With a hard knot forming in
m
y
stomach
,
I looked around for Joria’s body. To my utter astonishment, I saw the body of a
short black man, his throat slashed
open
to the bone
.
Nearby
,
lay a
ripped
steel mesh net.
From
the man’s
suit,
I
assumed
he
was one of the government
men
run afoul of the creature.
I knew he hadn’t come alone.
I wondered if I would find more bodies.

The corridor sloped
sharply
downward. After a few more turns, I entered a large space
that could not have been an original part of the
monastery
. It was
, I soon realized,
an old mill, complete with grindstone. I remembered the dry riverbed near the church
and
figured
that in the past, maybe in
Colonial days
,
the river
had run
with water and
that
a mill
had
stood on the site where
the
Jesuits
later built their monastery
. The flume and water wheel
,
which would have been outside the wall in the river, were missing
, washed away by a flood or removed by the Jesuits when they bricked up the outside wall
.
I searched for another entrance but
did not find one.
There appeared to be only one way in and one way out.

I panned my flashlight around the room.
Massive w
ooden beams stood
in rows
like
solemn
sentries
supporting
the roof
some twenty feet above my head
. A
n open
loft at one
end
of the room remained in shadows
.
Stacks of
bags of flour
sat in one corner. I briefly wondered why the Jesuits had not used them.

I focused my attention on the shadows.
The creature was present. I could smell it.
The room bore the
familiar odor of ammonia and the
rank
smell of death.
My hopes of finding Joria
still
alive grew dimmer.
I walked past stacks of decaying bags of flour, past dangling
rusty
chains
,
corroded
iron
machine parts
until I
stood beneath the loft. A wooden ladder
appeared to be
the
loft’s
only access. I used the
cloth
s
ling
to
secure
the flashlight to the
barrel of the
Pfeifer and climbed the ladder using one hand
, keeping the Pfeifer ready for action
. At the top, I
nervously
peered over the edge and scanned
the loft
with the flashlight.

To my relief,
Joria sat on a box by the wall.
Her eyes followed the light
across the room
. Her face was streaked with dirt but she looked otherwise unharmed.
When she
recognized
me,
a
mixture of relief and fear
appeared
in her eyes
, but she made no motion to come to me
.
I detected movement nearby in the shadows, the creature guarding her.

Now,
I knew where it was and it knew where I was. I saw no reason to hide. I
climbed onto the platform,
stood and walked slowly toward Joria. The adult landed between
us
. I did
n’t
see the
third
juvenile
anywhere around
.

“
Tack
!” Joria
called out
.

The creature turned and hissed at her. I raised the Pfeifer and it leaped behind a wooden beam.

“Are you okay?” I asked
Joria
, keeping my weapon pointed at the creature
.

She nodded. “It brought me here to trap you.”

“I figured as much,” I said, slowing
edging
closer. “
Have you seen the other juvenile?
”

She shook her head. “No. Just the adult.”

“Get up slowly and
walk
toward me.”

She
stood and
moved
slightly
but
the creature screamed at her. She froze.

“Okay,” I told her
, quickly changing my plans
. “I’ll kill the bastard first and then get you out.”

Joria’s eyes followed me as
I moved away
from her
and
farther
across the loft, trying to coax the creature to a spot where I could get a
clea
r
shot at it. I
heard a slight scraping
and the sound of moving air
behind me and
immediately
dropped to the floor
, my sixth sense kicking in
.

“Watch out!”

Joria’s warning
was
a fraction of a second too late.
I glanced up to see talons rake empty air just above
my head,
the third juvenile
.
The bastards were tag
teaming me.
It glided into the shadows above me.
I had just glimpsed it but e
ven so, I could tell it was
now
as large as the
adult
. The situation had just
grown
more intense.
I
needed more light
if I was to
keep track of
both of them
. I
removed a flare
from my packet
and struck
it
against
the wooden floor
.
I held the flare away from me but it still
blinded me as it ignited. I
only
hoped
it blind
ed
the creatures
a
s well
.
They could see perfectly in the dark but perhaps they had poorer vision in the daylight.
I knew they
preferred to operate during darkness.
I tossed
the flare
into the middle of the floor. Through half
-
closed lids I
spotted
the juvenile perched on a
cross
beam above the adult. I stood and raised the Pfeifer
, but before I could fire,
Joria rushed toward me, blocking my shot.

I cursed silently as I lowered my weapon. Joria clung to my left arm, sobbing.

“Oh, Tack
. I was so frightened.”

I didn’t have time for a reunion. I roughly shoved her behind me and advanced on the juvenile.
I had taken only a few steps when
t
he
platform
began to
shudder and
the floor
went into
spasm
s
beneath me
.
I heard Joria’s scream as
I stumbled and
grabbed
onto a rusty chain for support.
Dirt
, pigeon crap and
rancid flour
cascaded from the ceiling
, filling the air with a
choking
cloud of dust
. I
heard
a low rumble below the floor
of the mill
.
The s
ubway
!

The East-We
s
t line of the subway ran
directly
beneath the
monastery
. I waited for the train to pass to take aim
but the shaking continued, grew worse.
Suddenly, w
ith a loud snap, the
dry
rotte
d
planks beneath me gave way.
Decades of constant shaking had taken their toll on the
centuries
old structure
. My
weight
,
with
Joria’s and the creatures’
weight
had tipped the scales.
The rusty chain slipped from my grasp and
I
plunged
into darkness. I hit the floor
below
hard, gasping for breath
amid a cloud of dust and flour
. The Pfeifer landed on the other side of a stack of bags of flour.

Joria’s startled scream
above me
pushed me to action. As I stood, my
left leg gave way.
I quickly assessed my condition. My leg
wasn’t broken but I had twisted my ankle
in the fall
.
In desperation,
I
began to crawl
over the flour bags on all fours to retrieve the Pfeifer.
I didn’t make it.
The juvenile landed on top of the stack and stared down at me, illuminated
from behind
by the
glow of the
flare, which had fallen
behind the stack of bags as well.
The juvenile
was almost a duplicate of the adult. It
had the same evil red eyes as the adult
but
was lighter in color
.
I reached for my .45 but
too late
. With a motion
almost too
quick
to
follow
, it
shot
out a taloned leg and yanked me up by my right shoulder. The pain was
excruciating
. I dropped the .45
as w
e faced each other
only
inches apart. Our eyes locked.
A thin membrane slid over its eyes.
A nictitating membrane
, like a frog
,
I recalled from high school biology
.
That was what allowed the creatures to see in full light as well as
full darkness.
I could feel its hot fetid breath on my brow.
Its two-inch long canines dripped white mucous
onto my arm
.
I knew that my death was imminent. With my left hand, I
slowly
reached in
to
my pocket and pulled out the stun grenade. I had no hope of saving Joria
or myself
now
but I could
at least
take one more of the bastards with me.