Chapter 6
Chapter Six
MAX
We’ve been spoiled by the fact that Harmony Glen has always been a pretty safe place to live.
I circle around to the Manning girls’ bedroom window and catch the ten-year-old’s scent along with another musty, putrid smell that I don’t recognize.
Whatever took her, it’s not human. It’s also not a creature I’ve ever encountered before.
Rounding the house, I knock on the front door.
Lori’s eyes are filled with tears, but she holds them back. “Thanks for coming, Max. I know you’re on vacation.”
I hug her. “No one’s taking time off when Livi is missing, my friend. We’re going to find her.”
She nods, but her chin shakes as she walks to the living room. The chief is already there, his lips pulled tight. The house is modest, with new hardwood floors that Lori recently saved to install. The couch and chair are old, as is the scarred coffee table. An electric keyboard sits in the corner.
“I don’t know what happened. I locked all the doors and windows, Max. I always do.”
“Walk me through it.” I sit so she doesn’t have to crane her neck to look up at me.
Arms wrapped around her waist, a tear escapes. “I was sleeping. There was a strange clicking sound, and I thought the girls were awake, playing a game. I went to their room to get them back in bed, but Dotty was in bed, the window was open, and my Livi was gone.” She gulps down a sob.
“Mommy?” Livi’s twin sister, Dotty, stands in the threshold of a hallway.
“Baby, what are you doing awake?” Lori pulls Dotty into her arms.
“I heard voices.”
“I’m sorry we woke you, Dorothy.” I kneel on the floor. “Can you tell me when Olivia left?”
She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand.
Her blue pajamas have a cat wearing a dress on the front.
A wild mass of strawberry blond hair forms a halo around her sweet face, and her blue eyes stare at me.
“It was dark like a shadow. Livi didn’t scream, but she was scared.
I tried to scream, but nothing came out.
My bed held me down, and I couldn’t stop the shadow.
” Tears stream down her cheeks. “Will you find my sister, Mr. Max?”
“I’m going to do whatever it takes to bring her home to you.” I probably shouldn’t make promises, but the other options are unacceptable.
Dorothy wraps her arms around my neck, and I pat her back.
The sun peeks through the windows.
Chief Martinez stands. “Lori, stay here. I’ll have Willa stop in and keep you up to date with what’s happening. We’ll organized a search with all the best trackers in town. Maybe she simply climbed out the window and went on a little adventure.”
“That doesn’t sound like Olivia.” Lori picks Dorothy up and holds her like something is coming for her, too.
With a squeeze of Lori’s shoulder, I walk outside with the chief. As soon as we’re out of the house, I say, “I don’t think she left on her own. There’s another scent. It’s not anyone from Harmony Glen, but something came to that window last night.”
Frowning, he asks, “Can you track it?”
“I can try. Bring some of the others over to that window. Try not to freak Lori and Dorothy out, but they might pick up the scent as I did.” My senses sharpen as the hunt begins.
The chief walks to his car and pulls the radio handheld through the open window.
Lori is one of our dispatchers, but I hear Willa’s voice.
He tells her to send anyone willing to track a scent over to the Manning house, then turns to me.
“Call if you need anything, Max. Be careful. We don’t know what we’re up against.”
Willa says, “Quite a few residents have already come forward. The Alfson brothers; Manus and Sven have good tracking instincts. They said the Dead and Breakfast can do without them until Olivia is found. Roarke is here too. His lion’s sense of smell might be a big help.”
The lion man is the town’s veterinarian and a good guy. I listen for a moment while the chief give a few more instructions, then with one last nod, I return back to the window, find the scent, and take off to the north at a full run.
Encouraged by the fact that I don’t sense any blood and that the creature’s scent and Livi’s are both present, I keep moving.
I’m miles away when I lose the trail at a river. I walk along, east and west, searching for a clue as to which way it went. Maybe it flies or leaps and crosses the river. I’m about to wade across when movement to my right has me drawing my sidearm.
In a blur, Ion Radu comes to a stop a few feet away. “Hello, Maxime.”
“Mr. Radu, what are you doing here?” I’m cautious, but the scent of Ion is far different from whatever took Livi.
“I came to see Tilda and Mari. I arrived just after dawn and heard of the trouble. I thought perhaps I could help.” He’s a tall vampire. His dark hair has a smattering of gray at the temples, and his eyes are hazel. There’s something calming about him, and I wonder if he’s put me in thrall.
“Did you track Olivia or me?” I secure my weapon.
He scans the trees and the water. “Neither. I smelled the bogeyman, and that horrible smell was easy to follow.”
“I thought those were just stories people tell children to make them behave.”
“People said you and I were myths as well, my friend.” He shrugs.
“True.” There’s no arguing with that. I imagine there are more monster species in the world yet to reveal themselves. “What’s the nature of a bogeyman, and why would it take Olivia?”
A low growl rises up from his chest, and his eyes flash.
“They are malicious beasts who feed off the innocence of children. He’ll want to keep her secure for as long as her thoughts are pure.
From my last visit, I remember Ms. Manning has twin girls, and they were sweet. I witnessed a music lesson with Mari.”
“They are good girls. Does that matter?” I’d search for a rotten kid just the same.
“It bodes well for the time we have to find Olivia. He’ll not be able to destroy her spirit easily, and he’ll like that source of energy and want to keep it as long as he can.” Ion paces the edge of the river.
“What do they look like, the bogeymen?”
“Nightmares. A giant sloth with long teeth and deadly claws. They can shape-shift and become invisible. However, if he’s carrying a human, he will not shift. He can’t feed on her energy in any form but his true one. They like dark places and can easily blend into shadows.”
The sun peeks through the canopy, and Ion pulls a light gray hood over his head. “I suggest we split up. I’ll go west.”
Not sure if it’s right, I feel I have to continue north. “I’m crossing the river.”
When we part, I slog through the rushing water and reach the other side.
Ion watches me until I’m safely on the other side, then moves with blurring speed to the west.
TILDA
I don’t know why Max didn’t tell me he was called away because a child had gone missing. I can help. My sense of smell is very keen, and tracking people is what Pierre trained me to do. It’s how I found Mari. Maybe he thinks I’m too damaged to be any good for anyone.
With the sensitive skin of a vampire, the daylight isn’t great for me, but I cover myself from head to toe in pale-green leggings and a light hoodie of the same color. In a baseball cap and gloves, I’m safe from the sunlight, even if I look a bit mad.
The horrible smell of what Ion called a bogeyman leads me thirty miles north of town. Silently, I slow my pace and listen to the birds and animals of the forest. In the din of nature, a child’s soft whimper reaches me.
Dense underbrush fills the space between the trees.
“Sweet little human.” A guttural voice floats out of the black patch ahead.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I drop a pin and send it to Max.
A high-pitched scream rents the air before I can write more.
I move forward, and soon the darkness reveals itself as a cave mouth.
Another scream from Livi forces me to move more quickly. Rushing into the cave, the must and rot of the bogeyman make me nauseated.
The voice echoes against the walls. “I can smell you, creature. Are you a bird? There’s no flying out of my lair. You should turn back and fly away before I have you in my sight.”
The damp seeps into my skin, but all I can think about is how terrified that little girl must be, and I press on, ignoring the warning. Until earlier today, I didn’t even know bogeymen existed.
My several-times grandsire, Ion, arrived in the midst of chaos earlier today.
I didn’t even have time to ask why he’d come.
He recognized the creature’s stench and told us that it would draw life force from Livi’s innocence until her fear destroys her.
Perhaps it is because of my own stolen innocence, but I can’t let that happen.
Deeper and deeper into the winding cave, I’m glad for my vampire sight that allows me to see where I’m going. Livi’s fear is palpable.
A glimmer of flame lights a chamber up ahead, but I stay out of sight in the darkness of the tunnel.
The beast, worthy of the name, stands over the little red-haired girl.
A stream of light flows out of her, and it fills him with energy.
At least seven feet from head to tail, with long limbs and covered in wiry, black hair, its eyes glow red, and its maw, filled with sharp teeth, drips saliva.
Its face is much as Ion described as a sloth from the depths of hell.
Too late to go back now. I step into the light. “Get away from her.”
Released, Livi falls to the rock and dirt floor. She curls into a ball and weeps.
The monster turns toward me. “Bird?” Its voice grates. “Vampire.” The corners of its mouth pull up in what must be its horrible smile.
“You will give the child to me, boogeyman.” I lift my chin, hoping to seem more imposing. “You should not have come to this town to do harm. Dozens of creatures will risk their lives to protect her.”
Its neck moves like a snake assessing its prey.
“Who will die to protect you, little bird? You do not think a vampire is any threat to me, do you?” Taking a deep breath, it adds, “Looks like a vampire. Smells like a bird. I admit I am intrigued, but that one will feed me, and I must feed just like you, bloodsucker.”
I blanch at the moniker. “I will trade myself for the child.”
The sound that belches forth from it must be a laugh, but it hurts my ears. “I have you both. I’ll not give up either.”
As it closes the gap between us, I use my vampire speed to zip between it and Livi. “I will not be easy to keep unless you allow me to check on the child.”
The roar it releases is like a tree exploding from severe cold.
I have to resist the urge to hold my ears.
Livi screams and covers her head with both arms.
Backing up until my heel is against her, I have to admit that this creature scares even me. My fangs descend to their full length, and I’m ready to defend this child with every bit of anger built up inside me.
“You cannot bite a shadow, little bird. My blood will not nourish you.” That laugh again, and it grates inside my head.
“That might be true, but my bite does more than feed me, monster.”
It hisses and backs to the wall, where it becomes nothing more than a shadow.
“I feel your desires, and they intrigue me. If you leave, I will kill the child. Bite, and I’ll kill the child.
If you are good, I’ll become something that would feed the bloodsucker.
” His shadow grows and shifts until it turns from shadow to man and from man to giant.
Hunching to keep from hitting its head on the rock, the giant smiles.
The vein on the side of his neck pulses with rich, sweet blood that’s impossible not to smell.
Max’s blood still nourishes my body, and there is no temptation to take what the boogeyman offers. “I’m not hungry.”
As its eyes turn red, it returns to shadow. “Noooo? I must find a form that will tempt you.” Shifting to a naked young human male with blond hair and blue eyes, he rushes forward.
“Keep your eyes closed, Livi.”
She whimpers.
I move like lightning, and dig my nails into the human face, drawing blood and leaving a deep scratch across its cheek.
One long, hairy, black arm whips out and knocks me to the ground as an ear-piercing scream rents the air and echoes off the rocks.
I hit the ground, and my head smashes into the wall. Pain rushes through me from hip to shoulder while my brain feels as if it’s been scrambled. Pushing back keeps my body between the beast and Livi. I shake my head to clear my vision.
It was much faster than I expected, as well as stronger.
Back in the shadows, it says, “You should not have done that.”
Darkness, that not even my vampire eyes can penetrate, descends over the cave. The fire goes out and all the warmth with it.
“Try to leave and I’ll kill you both.”