Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (22 page)

Should I look
for him? Should I tell Anna?
Sam had learned to trust his instincts,
so he walked outside to find him. Again, no sign of Trevor. He circled the
station, hoping to find Trevor hanging out. Shit, even smoking a cigarette or
something. Anything would be better than Trevor going missing.

“Damn,” he
growled. He didn’t want to have to tell Anna that her son was missing. Although
Sam was confident that the shadow hadn’t come to the station or abducted
Trevor, that didn’t mean that Trevor hadn’t wandered off and gotten himself in
trouble. He saw the lights of the stadium at the high school.

Could he have
gone to the game? After what he had seen earlier, why would he have risked
walking down the path in the dark?
Sam looked up at the sky, dimly lit by
the moon. He turned around and headed toward Anna’s office. He smiled at Tommy
and Trisha who had joined Janet and Lisa at the front desk.

“…vampires!”
Michael was shouting as Sam approached. Sam closed the door behind him.

“Vampires?” Sam
repeated. Anna looked flabbergasted and irritated.

Michael stared
at Sam. “Yes, Sam. Vampires. I heard you were attacked, too. Did you see it?”

“I saw a shadow
running through the woods beside the cruiser,” he admitted.

“And your ankles
are black and blue?” Michael asked, noticing that Sam had a slight limp when he
walked.

“Yep, black and
blue,” Sam said.

“And did you
think it was human?” Michael asked, almost in an accusatory tone.

“Did I think it
was human?” Sam knew he kept repeating what Michael was saying, but he had to
weigh his responses so Michael wouldn’t grow more hysterical than he already
was.

“Michael!” Anna
shouted. “Listen to me. I understand how you feel, but you losing your shit
does
not
help us. Vampire or no vampire, if you can’t pull yourself
together then I’m going to lock your ass up in a cell and you can freak out
there.” Everyone stared at her, and Sam nodded at her to express his support.

“I don’t know
what it was, Michael, and we cannot be sure of a definitive answer at this
point,” Sam said.

“I agree,” the
tall Native American commented.

“I’m Sam,” Sam
said as he walked up to introduce himself.

“Anish, nice to
meet you,” Anish said affably. “Michael, I am not saying you are wrong.” He
scanned the faces gathered in the room. “There are many things in this world
that cannot be explained by science or reason.”

Sam looked at
Jake, who he was sure would have something to say. But Jake remained silent,
staring at his shoes. George was rolling his eyes, but George was the town
idiot.

“Sheriff!” a
voice yelled from the other side of the door. Tim burst through the door with
Geraldine, Aaron, and Ralph. Immediately following them were the three
remaining officers on the force, Dean Lofton, his brother Dylan, and Peter
Shoemaker. The sheriff’s office was getting crowded.

Sam listened
with growing alarm as Tim relayed the story of what had happened in the wine
cellar. Jake then shared what had happened in the secret tunnel behind the
library, and Damien explained what they had seen on the cameras, with
occasional interruptions from Jake, who had actually experienced it.

“Holy
shit
!”
Dean exclaimed, while Dylan and Peter shook their heads. “And to think we were
stuck at a finance meeting,” he said as he looked at Father Matthew, who winked
and smiled.

“Okay, now that
everyone is on the same page, here’s what’s going to happen,” Anna shouted. “We
have to return to the Brickton estate. That seems to be the epicenter of
activity. We need to stock up on weapons and anything else that might come in
handy.” Anna looked around the room. “Jake, Ralph, Damien, go to the closet and
load up the Berettas and Winchesters. Grab everything. And I do mean
everything
.”
Damien nodded and they left the room. Sam knew that something unspoken had just
occurred between Anna and Damien. Sam made a mental note to ask Anna what that
was about.

“Sheriff, if I
may?” Sam offered. She gestured to give him the floor. “I think we need to
gather civilians and form a perimeter around the Brickton house.”

Anna looked at
the floor, deep in thought.

“I think that is
a good idea,” Tim added. “Many of us have brothers and cousins who can come
armed and ready to help.”

“And sisters,”
Geraldine added defiantly. “My sister can kick your ass!” she said to Tim. A
few people chuckled.

“Okay, but we
need to keep this as quiet as we can,” Anna said. She knew, as did Sam, that
keeping something on the down low in a small town was next to impossible.

“Make sure to
tell them that if they tell anyone what’s happening, and people start to
congregate around the woods, then dead bodies will start piling up,” Anna
continued. “It may sound dismal, but it will keep most everyone quiet. And if
you drive that point home, I think their first instinct will be to protect
their families.”

Everyone nodded
in agreement. Sam was pleased that Anna was coming into her own as sheriff.
Nothing
shows what you’re made of better than a crisis
, he mused.

“Make the
calls,” Anna said. “But only call two people you know can defend themselves,
and make sure they’re people you can trust. If something goes wrong, or word
gets out, I
will
find out who did it and there will be hell to pay.”
Sounds of agreement and understanding filled the room. “Tim, go tell Janet and
let her know she may be manning the phones for a while. Also let Damien and the
others  know. They’ll have a few people they can call. Have everyone come to
the Brickton estate. Damien will stay here to man the cameras. It will be good
to have those eyes. We will post a few of you outside in the driveway with the
dogs to make sure we get people out of their cars safely.”

“Tell Damien to
call Stan and have him bring some floodlights,” Sam said to Tim. “I know him
well. He has more than enough light so we can make it as bright as day in the
yard. That way nothing is going to get past us, not if there are three dozen of
us.” Anna nodded to Tim.

“Michael, I need
you to stay here with David,” Anna said firmly. Sam knew he wouldn’t like that
order.

“Sheriff, I’m
coming,” Michael declared.

“No, you’re not.
I need you to stay here with Janet and take care of the phones. I am sure there
will be some hype about this, so I need you to be my eyes and ears at the
station.” Sam flinched when Anna said ‘eyes,’ considering Michael only had one
good eye left.

“But Sheriff,”
Michael insisted, but Anna remained firm.

“This
conversation is over, Michael. If you disobey and I hear that you’ve left Janet
here alone, then you can start looking for another job. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,”
Michael said, defeated.

“Now, go see
Janet and have her forward some of the lines to the backup switchboard.”
Michael left without further argument with David following close behind.

“Sheriff, what
should we do?” Dean Lofton asked, standing beside his brother and Peter.

“Go help the
others load the cruisers with the weapons and the dogs. When everything is
ready to go, come back and let me know and we’ll get going.”

“Sounds good,”
Dean said.

Anna turned to
Matthew, Amy, and Anish. She threw Matthew her keys. “Go ahead and get in my
cruiser. I’ll be there in a minute.” They left without saying a word.

Once everyone
had left, leaving only Sam and Anna, he spoke. “Sheriff, if I could speak with
you for a moment,” Sam said.

“What’s up?”
Anna said.

“I don’t want to
alarm you, boss, but I think Trevor may have left the station.”

“What?” Anna
said, panic in her voice. “Son of a bitch!” she yelled. “Tommy!”

Tommy ran into
the office. “What?” he said, also panic-stricken.

“Where’s your
brother?”

“I think he’s in
the break room,” Tommy said.

“No, he isn’t.
Sam said he isn’t anywhere in the building or outside.”

Tommy looked in
all directions, as if he expected to find Trevor hiding in the corner.

“Oh, God, Mom.
I’m so sorry!”

“It’s not your
fault,” Sam said.

“Not at all,
honey,” Anna agreed. “You aren’t your brother’s keeper. I’m sure he’s around.
He’ll be fine. I need you and your sister to come in here and get back to your
homework.”

“But I’m done my
homework, Mom, and so is Trisha.”

Anna was
flustered. “Then read your book, Thomas. I need you guys here and I need to
know you’re safe.”

“You got it,”
Tommy said as he went to fetch Trisha. Damien passed him as he entered the
office.

“Sheriff, we
have a problem,” he alerted her.

“What now?” Anna
huffed.

“There are some
things missing from the closet,” he said.

Anna sprinted
across her office to her desk. She opened the drawer, rooted through it, and
slammed it so hard it splintered. “My keys are gone.”

“Anna,” Sam
said. He knew Trevor must have stolen the keys, confiscated weapons, and left
to become a hero.

“There’s more,”
Damien continued.

“Of course there
is,” Anna said as she shook her head.

“Our, uh, our
bullets are also missing.” Surprise, shock, and anger flashed across Anna’s
face.

“What bullets?”
Sam asked. He figured this was what Damien and Anna were thinking about a
moment earlier.

“Silver
bullets,” Anna confided. Now it was Sam’s turn to have shock dance across his
face.

“Silver
bullets?” he repeated. “Are you shitting me?”

“Sheriff Kelly,”
Damien said. “They’ve been here for going on twenty years now.”

“Ron Kelly had a
lot of superstitions ever since the killings of 1990,” Anna said.

“Superstitions
like what? Werewolves?” Sam asked, almost embarrassed by his own question. He
thought of Trevor and his question when they had been standing outside.

“Do you know
what else a silver bullet would be for?” Damien asked.

“Vampires, for
one,” Michael said as he came back into the room. “At least that’s what happens
on HBO. It doesn’t kill them, but it sure as hell slows them down.”

“This is
madness!” Anna cried. “Are all the bullets gone?”

“No, but about
half of them are,” Damien said.

“He took 400
rounds?” Anna shouted.

“He? Who’s he?”
Damien asked.

“Trevor,” Anna
sighed.

“Well, there is
one piece of news that could be positive,” Damien said as he walked toward
Anna.

“And what would
that be?”

“He also took
two radios with him. So if he has them, and they’re turned on, we can reach
him.”

“Okay, keep
packing up the closet and bring it with us. Bring it all, even the hand
grenades.”

“Good God!” Sam
cried. “You have grenades? Surely you mean smoke bombs.”

“If we have
silver bullets, are you really surprised that we have grenades?” Anna asked.
“We’re not your typical small town. And Sam, I think you knew that when you
came here.”

It was true, Sam
did know. His ancestors came from Crimson Falls. Sam was, after all, half
Chippewa. Or, as they are also known, Ojibwe.

1

“How are we
going to track its blood when we can’t see shit in the dark?” Simon asked.
“Plus, we don’t even know what werewolf blood really looks like.”

“”Then let’s
find out,” Trevor said, walking toward the spot where the shadow had been
standing when they shot it. He pulled a flashlight from the bag and shined it
around the area.

“I’m keeping
watch,” Simon said, both guns still drawn.

Trevor continued
to search for drops or puddles of blood but found nothing.

Didn’t we hit
it? I know we did
.
He was confused why it hadn’t bled.

“Uh, we do know
that werewolves bleed, right?” Trevor asked.

“Of course they
do,” Simon said matter-of-factly.

“And we hit it
at least once, right?”

“There’s no way
we could’ve missed at that range, especially considering it didn’t move.”

“Well, there’s
no sign of any freaking blood. Nowhere.”

“That can’t be
possible,” Simon said.

“You wanna look
yourself?” Trevor snapped.

“It’s not that I
don’t believe you, dude,” he shot back. “I’ve just never heard of a werewolf
not bleeding. I mean, I know their blood clots faster than ours, so it doesn’t
lose nearly as much blood.”

“And if you hit
him with the Beretta, then the silver should’ve at least hurt him more,” Trevor
pointed out.

“Yeah, but if we
didn’t hit it in the heart or the head then it may hurt like a bitch, but
doesn’t really phase him as far as bleeding goes.”

Trevor nodded in
agreement. Then he made a somewhat frightening realization. “Shit, dude. If
it’s a vampire we’re screwed. Silver apparently doesn’t work, and we don’t have
wooden bullets or stakes. No crosses, no holy water. No garlic.”

“Okay, vampire
encyclopedia,” Simon interrupted. He paused, then had nothing to say.

“Yeah? You were
saying?” Trevor shrugged.

“Then I guess
you’re right,” Simon confessed. “We’re screwed.”

“That’s
helpful,” Trevor groaned.

“You’re the one
that said it, dumbass.” Simon put the flare gun in the front of his pants and
crossed his arms.

“Nice watch
keeping there, Simon,” Trevor joked.

“What do you
think we should do?” Simon asked.

“I think we need
to think for a minute.”

“You know, I
would prefer to not get killed while we sit and chat about the thousand ways we
are totally fudged right now,” Simon quipped.

“Fudged?” Trevor
laughed.

“Whatever.”

“Dude!” Trevor
cried. “I can’t think when you keep bitching!”

“I say we turn
around. Like, right now,” Simon pleaded.

As he turned to
leave, the shadow dropped from the tree above them and landed in front of Simon.
Trevor watched as he fell on his ass. He pulled the Winchester into position as
quickly as he could, but it had already disappeared.

“Flare!” Trevor
yelled. Simon immediately pulled out his flare gun while Trevor prepared to
fire at anything that moved. “Try and shoot at least five flares into the
trees. Open your bag and get more. I’ve got you covered.”

As Simon shot
the first flare, then the second, Trevor waited for the beast to charge them.
After Simon had shot six flares, the immediate area where they were standing
had become bright with fire.

“There!” Simon
yelled, shooting the flare gun toward a shadow that was moving outside of the
light. He then pulled the Beretta as Trevor took another shot then picked up
the second Winchester.

Boom!

Pow!

Pow/Boom!

Pow!

Boom!

Whoosh!

“Shoot your
flares!” Simon yelled. Trevor pulled the gun and shot a flare in the same
direction.

Whoosh!
He reloaded.

Whoosh!

The light from
the first flares had begun to fade.

“Do you see
anything?” Trevor shouted. He jogged toward the rim of the perimeter, then
pulled out and fired another flare. Simon followed his lead. In all, they fired
five more flares.

“Dude,” Simon
whimpered. Trevor saw it at the same time. On the ground, not ten feet from
them, was a body.

“It looks like
the shadow werewolf,” Trevor said.

“Now it’s a
shadow werewolf? What’s that?” Simon laughed.

“A type of
werewolf that casts a freaking shadow over all the lore that’s ever been
written,” Trevor answered as they crept toward the shadow.

“How do you
figure?” Simon asked. “I mean, we shot it with silver, grazed it with a flare,
and nailed him with at least one blast from the Winchester.”

“I don’t know,
dude,” Trevor said. “He just doesn’t seem to look like one, or act like one.
Usually werewolves aren’t so quiet. They growl and shit.”

“True,” Simon
admitted.

When they came
close enough to see the shadow up close, Simon pointed the Beretta at the head
and Trevor shot two flares onto the ground beside it. When he looked at the
body, he dropped the Winchester in shock.

“Good thing that
wasn’t loaded, genius,” Simon snarled. Trevor wasn’t moving. A look of horror
washed across his face. Once Simon looked at the face of the shadow he
instantly understood. It was Trevor’s father.

Both boys stood
in silence. A voice startled them.

“Trevor!”

“Jesus Christ!”
Trevor yelled, looking at Simon. “That’s my mom’s voice!” He looked frantically
all around them.

Simon grabbed
the radio from the belt loop on his pants. “Shit, I’m sorry. I turned it on
when I realized we had killed it. I figured we would need it so we could call
your mom.”

“Give me that!”
Trevor snarled. He looked at his father, then at the radio, and back to his
father again.

“Trevor? Trevor
can you hear me? It’s Mom.”

Trevor closed
his eyes. He lifted the radio closer to his mouth, his hands trembling. “Mom.”

“Oh, Jesus.
Thank God! Where are you? What were you thinking?”

Trevor said
nothing.

“Honey, where
are you? Are you safe?”

Trevor tossed
the radio to Simon. “I can’t deal with this right now.”

He fell to his
knees and stared at the body of his father.

“Ms. Blackwood?
This is Simon.”

“Simon? Simon!
What are you doing there?”

“Trevor, well,
he came and got me. You know, at the game.”

“The game?
Right. Are you safe?”

“Well, that
depends,” Simon said as he looked around him. He decided to shoot two more
flares into the trees, and then two more onto the ground.

“Depends on
what? What are you doing?”

“Shooting flares.”

“Flares?” She
sounded scared. “Why in the hell would you be shooting flares?”

“We’re in the
woods, maybe halfway between the Brickton house and the Laundromat,” Simon
responded.

“In the woods?
Did Trevor tell you what’s been going on in those very woods?”

“Yeah, Ms.
Blackwood. That’s why we’re here.”

“You went
looking
for the killer?”

“Well, it’s more
like we’re looking for the werewolf.”

Trevor stood
back up and grabbed the radio. “Jesus, Simon!”

“Well, it’s not
like it’s a mystery anymore!”

“Simon? Are you
there?” she asked.

“Mom, it’s me. I
think you need to come out here.” Trevor stood up and turned away from his
father. He couldn’t stand to look at him anymore. His father had become a
werewolf.

“Stay where you
are!” she ordered.

“Trevor!” Simon
cried. “He’s gone!”

“Mom!” Trevor
cried into the radio. “Dad’s gone! He’s gone!”

“What?”

Radio silence.

“What do you
mean, ‘Dad’s gone?’”

“Don’t bother
coming here,” Trevor said. “We’re coming to the Brickton house. We’ll be there
soon.” He turned off the radio and handed it back to Simon.

“I’m sorry,
dude,” Simon said.

Trevor lifted
his hand. “Did you see where my dad went?”

“No, I was
watching you.” Both boys looked around as the flares began to fade again. Simon
pulled another Beretta out of the bag and tried to hand it to Trevor.

“I’m not
shooting my
father
, Simon,” Trevor declared.

“He won’t
hesitate to kill you, Trevor,” Simon said. “He’s not your father anymore.”

Trevor whirled
around and was almost nose to nose with his best friend. “This isn’t a movie,
Simon. And it isn’t a book. This is my
father
.”

“Yeah, I know,
Trevor. And I’m sorry. But there’s a reason those kinds of sappy lines are
always in our novels. It’s because it’s
true
.”

“Screw that,”
Trevor said, throwing the gun onto the ground. He started walking briskly
toward the Laundromat.

“Well, I have us
covered,” Simon said. “Let’s pray it doesn’t try to kill us.”

“My dad won’t
kill me.”

“Well, he kinda
sort of just tried to kill us a minute ago. Sometimes werewolves go after their
families in case…” Simon began to explain, but Trevor shut him down.

“Just stop
talking, okay? Let’s just go back to the car in silence. Please.”

“Whatever,
dude,” Simon said.

Trevor felt badly
about yelling at his best friend, but Simon just couldn’t understand what he
was feeling. It wasn’t
his
father that had been running around killing
people. It wasn’t
his
father that had been trying to kill his own son.
And it wasn’t
his
father that seemed dead and now had disappeared
again
.
It was all a little more than Trevor had anticipated. A little more than he
thought he could handle.

Trevor noticed
that Simon still had both weapons drawn, keeping a close eye on him and their
surroundings. He was grateful for Simon. There was little doubt that if he had
come out here alone he would have died. Worse, he would have died at the hands
of his own father. Had his father been in the woods all this time? Had he been
lurking around Crimson Falls, catching glimpses of his family while trying to
fight the evil curse of the werewolf? He needed answers. Considering the fact
that his mom was hiding silver bullets in the weapons closet, those answers
were a half mile away at the Brickton house.

“What now?”
Simon asked as they cleared the woods and made it back to the car in one piece.

“We go to see
Mom and tell her that dear old Dad is back.”

* * * * * *

2

What was he
thinking?
Anna
thought to herself as she drove her cruiser to the Brickton estate. Matthew,
Amy, Anish, and Sam were with her. She wanted nothing more than to go to the
Laundromat and search for her son and his friend.

“I’m sure he’s
fine,” Sam said. “He’s a tough kid.”

“Yeah, he’s
tough, but he’s out there in those woods.”

“With a
stockpile of weapons,” Matthew pointed out. “Plus, I’ve known Simon since he
was born. Next to Trevor, he is the smartest kid I’ve ever met – and I do mean
ever.”

“I know,” Anna
said. “That’s what scares me.”

“I understand
that,” Sam said. “But at the same time, brains come in handy in times like
these.”

“Mom?” Trevor’s
voice called. Anna pulled her radio with such force it almost broke its cradle.

“Trevor! Are you
okay?”

“We’re back in
the car now. We’re safe and are coming to the house.”

“No, I want you
to go right back to the station,” Anna ordered, but it was too late. Trevor had
already turned his radio off. “Son of a bitch!” she cried.

“Language,” Matthew
chuckled. “Does he remind you of anyone, Anna?”

“Stuff a sock in
it, priest,” Anna joked.

“What was that
all about?” Amy asked.

“Well, when we
were Trevor’s age, we went hunting for the killer who murdered my father,”
Matthew relayed. “We broke into her father’s gun cabinet and searched the woods
behind my house.”

“Did you ever
find anything?” Sam asked.

“Not a damn
thing,” Anna recalled. “In hindsight, I guess we should have hunted the
Brickton Estate.”

“True, true,”
Matthew agreed. “But that experience did ignite a passion in you for law
enforcement.”