Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
T he arrival of Sheriff’s Deputy Lucia Durant in one car, and Deputy Gayle Walsh in another introduced even more flashing lights to the scene. The red and blue didn’t play so well with the solid yellow of the DPW trucks, and the headache that had started just behind Cody’s eyes was threatening to engulf his entire skull.
He sat on the front bumper of the truck he and Demmy had been driving, head in his hands and his eyes closed. Demmy’s leg was pressed against his, and he could feel him shiver every so often. The temperature had dropped since the sun had gone down, and neither of them had brought jackets or hoodies.
“You two doing okay?”
Cody squinted as he lifted his head. Deputy Walsh stood before them. She was very fit, with smooth, dark skin, amazing cheekbones, and short hair. The light bars from the sheriff cars painted her back in red and blue, while the lights on top of the DPW truck turned her face and torso gold. She looked concerned, but Cody wondered if it was for him and Demmy or whatever had managed to leave so much blood in Spiffy’s seat. And taken off with his body. Walsh had been on the bank of Parson’s Pond back in August when the nix had revealed itself— as Cody himself, and in a much less flattering manner, or at least Cody thought—so she knew things outside the norm existed.
As if following his train of thought, she squatted down, looked between the two of them and, in a determined and steady voice, said, “Nix.”
Cody managed a smile. “We’re not shapeshifters.”
Her relief was clear. “I had to be sure.”
“I’m glad to see you took all of that seriously,” Demmy said.
“Are you kidding me?” Walsh rose to her full height again and glanced toward the bloody truck. “I’ve been learning a lot from Clarabell.”
“Oh, God.” Cody put his face in his hands. “Please don’t say her name two more times and make her appear.”
“Wait, she didn’t tell you?” Walsh said.
Cody turned his head slightly to find Demmy frowning up at Walsh, looking just as confused as he felt. That helped quell some of the conspiracy feelings he was experiencing.
“Tell us what?” Demmy said.
“She’s rented a place in Parson’s Hollow. She moves here this weekend.”
“And the gates of Hell were opened, and all the demons swarmed the land,” Cody said.
Demmy laughed and bumped his shoulder against Cody’s. “Stop it. At least she’s not going to have to stay with us again.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “And it’s not our honeymoon.”
“Yeah, there’s that.” Cody looked up at Walsh. “Been talking with her a lot?”
“We’ve been emailing and texting a bit. I had a lot of questions after… Well, after what happened out at the pond.” She adjusted her hat and looked off into the woods. In a softer voice, she said, “A lot of questions.”
“Yeah, we’re familiar,” Cody said. “Only we didn’t really have someone to ask.”
A siren in the distance grew louder, the sound drilling into Cody’s temple and making him squint. He saw red flashing lights down the road, and in short order an ambulance pulled up in front of Spiffy and Pete’s truck. The siren went blessedly silent, but the red lights added to the color palette along the trees and road. Cody thought briefly of seizures brought on by so much stimulation, but then lost that train of thought as Lucia came out from the passenger side of the truck and approached the ambulance.
“She been talking with Pete?” Cody asked.
“Yeah, Lucy—” Deputy Walsh stopped herself, glanced down at Cody, then straightened her posture and looked back across the road. “Deputy Durant has been talking with Pete. He won’t come out of the truck, just keeps repeating the Lord’s Prayer. She’s been trying to calm him and get him to explain what happened.”
Cody raised a mental eyebrow at Deputy Walsh’s slip up. As long as he’d known Lucia, Cody had never heard anyone call her Lucy. That kind of name shortening was something people did with very close friends. Or lovers.
Demmy shivered again, so Cody put an arm around him and tucked him in close against his side.
“I’m okay, just got a chill,” Demmy said.
“It’s not for you. I’m freezing.”
Demmy chuckled, making Cody smile. But it felt grim and out of place, and it quickly faded. They sat like that and watched Lucia lead the ambulance guys with the stretcher to the other side of the truck. There was some conversation they could just make out over the rumble of the big engines. It started to get louder, interspersed with inarticulate shouts of anguish, and Deputy Walsh walked to the front of the DPW truck to observe. A short time later, the EMTs rolled the stretcher back toward the ambulance. Pete was strapped onto it under a sheet. He thrashed his limbs beneath the sheet, staring up at the sky, head turning back and forth and eyes wide in the pulsating lights. Even from that distance, Cody could see that his face was spattered with blood and his lips were moving.
“Jesus,” Demmy whispered beside him.
“I don’t think He’s been listening to Pete,” Cody said.
The doors on the back of the ambulance slammed shut, and the driver hurried to his door. Cody winced at the start of the siren, closing one eye against the sound as he watched it do a U-turn and speed off back toward town and the hospital.
Lucia and Deputy Walsh crossed the road and stopped in front of them.
“What the fuck is going on?” Lucia said.
“Good question,” Cody said. “You should call someone to find out. Oh, wait. I heard they were forced to shut down their business.”
“Hey, that was not my decision. And, besides, your actual business was catching critters, not monsters.”
“And yet…” He felt his fingers tightening on Demmy’s shoulder, and made himself relax.
“We found him like that,” Demmy said, always the peacemaker. Cody really should try to be more like him. But then what would Demmy have to do?
“Any sign of Spiffy?” Demmy continued, his voice so quiet Cody almost couldn’t hear him over the engine sounds.
“No. Just…” Lucia waved toward the truck without looking behind her. “What’s in the truck.”
“It looked like Pete was afraid of something being in the air when he was taken to the ambulance,” Demmy said. “Cody was swarmed by a flock of bats this week. But bats couldn’t have carried Spiffy away.”
“Bats, huh?” Lucia said with a smirk.
“Yeah, bats,” Cody said, glaring back.
“Did Pete say anything at all that could give us a clue?” Demmy asked.
“Just kept repeating the Lord’s Prayer.”
“Gonna need more than that,” Cody said at the same time as Deputy Walsh. They grinned sadly at each other.
Lucia shot Deputy Walsh a look. “You are not allowed to adopt his attitude.”
“Allowed?” Deputy Walsh and Cody said at the same time.
Then, just to be a total dick, Cody said, “That’s extremely authoritarian, even for you… Lucy.”
“Oh, God,” Demmy said quietly, and Cody felt his shoulder sag just a bit beneath his hand.
“What?” Lucia turned her fiery glare from Cody to Deputy Walsh. Her tone was low and slightly menacing when she said, “Deputy?”
Cody felt a little bad for Walsh, but Lucia’s reaction had been worth it. Seeing Deputy Walsh stammer and wave her arms as she tried to explain gave him all the insight he needed. He was glad Lucia had finally found someone able to tolerate her long enough to give her a shortened nickname. Hopefully he hadn’t fucked things up between them. Well, not too much. Every relationship needed a bit of ire to add some sizzle to it.
“So, if you’re done with us, we’d like to get back to the garage and figure out how to get paid for all this overtime.”
Lucia turned on him. “Oh, no. You two are material witnesses. I should keep you overnight in jail.”
“What? Again?” Demmy said. “Lucia, come on. You know we didn’t have anything to do with this. And we didn’t see anything. We found the truck in that condition.”
“Fine.” Lucia pointed right at Cody. “Don’t leave town.”
“Guess I’ll be canceling that Airbnb in Morocco,” Cody said. He pretty much couldn’t help himself most of the time he interacted with Lucia. It was like she lit the fuse to a stockpile of sass inside of him.
“What will happen to their truck?”
“We’ll have it impounded for evidence,” Deputy Walsh said. “I’ve called the State Police for the big tow rig they use.”
A sudden breeze gusted over them. Cody ducked his head, expecting to once again be surrounded by bats. But instead of a multitude of small, dark bodies, a single pale form swooped down in front of them. It had long wings, the tip of one brushing against Cody’s cheek, feathery light and terrifying. He jerked his head away and waved a hand in front of his face. “The fuck?”
“Gayle!”
Lucia’s voice was strained, and she suddenly took off running down the middle of the road. Cody stood and immediately grabbed Demmy by the arm to keep him close. Lucia was looking up at the sky, and Cody saw something with a wide wingspan that blocked out part of the stars and moon glided overhead, high enough to clear the tops of trees. Strong, pale limbs that looked to end in claws gripped Deputy Walsh by the shoulders. She screamed and struck at the claws, kicking her feet as it carried her off.
“The fuck?” Cody repeated.
“Get in the truck,” Demmy shouted. “We can’t lose her!”
“The truck won’t be able to keep up with that,” Cody shouted back.
Lucia pointed toward Deputy Walsh’s cruiser. “Get behind the wheel and follow me!”
“Guess we’re driving a sheriff’s car again,” Cody said, running toward the cruiser, Demmy right behind him.
“What the fuck was that?” Cody said. He got in the car and cursed when his knees hit the steering column. “Am I the tallest person in town?”
“It couldn’t be a Pinesville Devil, could it?” Demmy said. “Not here.”
“Sure flew like one.” Cody slid the seat back, then put the car in gear and drove off after Lucia. “Damn, these cars have pick up.”
“Lucia’s going to make a deputy out of you yet.”
“Deputy?” Cody shot him a look. “Is that a uniform fetish poking its head out of your fantasy closet?”
“Just follow that thing.”
He sped along 118, following Lucia in her cruiser. He didn’t even bother trying to find the switch for the sirens since Lucia had hers blasting. The radio squelched and Lucia’s voice came through. “This is Deputy Durant. I’m in high speed pursuit of an animal that has taken Deputy Walsh. The animal is in flight over the eastern edge of town. Civilians are driving Deputy Walsh’s cruiser behind me to assist. All available units converge on the eastern edge of town. Demetrius, pick up.”
“Oh, shit,” Demmy said, grabbing the mic and pressing the button. “Um, yeah. Hi, Lucia. This is Demetrius.”
“Smooth,” Cody said.
“Shut up,” Demmy said. Then he realized he still held the button. “Oh, shit. Sorry about that. I’m new to this. Hello?”
“Release the button,” Cody said, ducking his head to look up through the windshield. “We still have her in sight?”
Demmy released the button and Lucia’s voice started immediately. “Keep an eye on that thing and tell us where it goes.”
“Got it, I will. Okay.” Demmy powered down his window and stuck his head out. Cody glanced over and saw his thinning hair standing straight up as he squinted against the wind, looking up into the sky. In that moment he looked brave and determined, and it both excited and terrified Cody. At some point, brave and determined was going to lure Demmy into a monster trap he couldn’t fight his way out of, and Cody would lose him forever.
“See it?” Cody asked.
“Yeah.” Demmy pulled his head in and raised the window, blocking out the wind and chill evening air. He pressed the button on the microphone. “Lucia, turn right at the next street. It’s drifting off over the fields.”
“What the fuck is it?” Cody asked.
“The more I look at it, the less I think it’s the Pinesville Devil.”
Demmy’s phone buzzed, and he squirmed to pull it from his pocket. He tapped the decline button and stuck the phone between his legs. “It was Amelia.”
The phone buzzed again, and Demmy looked over at him.
“Answer it. Tell her you’re busy,” Cody said. “Or she’ll just keep calling.”
Demmy accepted the call. “Hi, Amelia. Now’s not a good time.”
Even over the roar of the big sheriff cruiser engine and the sirens on Lucia’s car, Cody could hear her. “We can hear you on the police band radio Isaac Wilkerson has in his condo.”
“Gotta love those seniors,” Cody said. “Put her on speaker.”
Demmy tapped the speakerphone button. “Okay, well, so you know it’s not a good time.”
“Eileen is here, and she said she doesn’t think it’s a Devil of Pinesville.”
“That’s right!” Eileen’s voice came from the background, deep and scratchy from years of smoking cigarettes before switching to a pipe. She was Ollie’s grandmother, and Cody felt a warm glow of affection at the sound of her voice. He really loved that lady. And not just because she let him park Geraldine, the 1970s Cadillac Sedan DeVille he’d inherited from the Widow Monroe, in her garage.
“How do you even know that?” Demmy said. “Can you see it?”
“I just know,” Eileen shouted back. “The Devil would never swoop down and grab anyone off the street.”
“Jesus, it’s like they were there,” Cody said, skidding around a corner behind Lucia. “Where the fuck are we? Is this Route 40?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
The radio squelched, and a male voice came on. “Car forty-two, this is car fifty-four, we’re behind you.”
“Car forty-two? Is that us?” Cody checked the rearview mirror and saw another cruiser coming up behind him, lights flashing across the fields to either side of the road. “First time I’ve been glad to see those lights in my mirror.”
“It dropped her!” Demmy shouted.
“It dropped her!” Amelia shouted to the people on her end of the call.
“It dropped her!” Lucia shouted over the radio.
“Where?” Cody strained his neck to see over the steering wheel and nearly rear-ended Lucia’s cruiser when she squealed to a stop on the shoulder of the road.
Demmy was out the door and following close behind Lucia as she jumped across the drainage ditch. Cody got out and was glad he was able to outpace the two male deputies from the cruiser behind him as he trailed Demmy and Lucia across the open field. The moon was up—not full, he was glad to see, though apparently that didn’t matter to whatever this monster turned out to be—and his shadow chased him across the uneven ground. Whoever owned this parcel of land had let it rest over the summer, because all it consisted of was hard clods of dirt and some scraggly weeds. He was glad to be wearing his work boots as he stomped apart dirt clumps and trampled knee-high weeds. Ahead of him, Demmy and Lucia were shouting back and forth, and he thought he heard water splashing.
Across the field, maybe a hundred yards away, porch lights clicked on at the farmhouse. Cody imagined some crusty old farmer coming out with a shotgun in hand, and his brain wildly tried to figure out if this counted as work time so Demmy could get the death and dismemberment benefit from his insurance.
He arrived at the bank of a farm pond. Walsh had landed in the middle of the pond and was working to get her feet under her. Lucia had waded in up to her knees and was extending a hand toward Walsh. Demmy stood on the bank, looking up into the sky.
Cody stood close behind Demmy and looked up as well.
“It just dropped her?” Cody asked.
“Not sure. But I don’t trust things that grab people and then drop them.”
“Basic rule to live by,” Cody said.
“Unless it’s playing with its food.”
“Jesus, that’s a dark thought.”
Demmy turned a frighteningly calm look on him. “After everything we’ve seen, does that really surprise you?”
“No, I guess not.”
He wasn’t sure if was the statement or the way Demmy said it that had surprised and saddened him. But all of that contemplation was wiped out by the arrival of the creature. It landed on the other side of the pond from them, wind from its wings sending ripples across the water.
“What the fucking hell is that?” one of the male deputies practically screamed, drawing his gun.
“Hold your fire!” Lucia ordered, still in the pond and just grabbing Walsh’s hand. “We’re between you.”
“What do you think it is?” Cody instinctively took a step closer to Demmy.
“I don’t know,” Demmy whispered. “Almost looks like a man. Or, at least, it used to be.”
Lucia had an arm around Walsh and was leading her back to their side of the pond. She repeatedly looked over her shoulder to keep an eye on the thing as it stood on the bank and watched them. The grassy slope around the pond was slippery, and Walsh couldn’t find her footing.
“Help her up, for God’s sake,” Lucia snapped.
One of the deputies holstered his weapon and helped Walsh out of the water while the other kept his trained on the creature. When Lucia slogged her way out of the pond, she drew her own gun and got down on one knee beside Walsh who was on her knees, holding her shoulder and trying to catch her breath.
“I’m Sheriff’s Deputy Lucia Durant,” she shouted at the thing. “You have attacked an Aspen County Sheriff’s Deputy. I am placing you under arrest.”
“Are you kidding me?” one the male deputies said.
“I’m working this by the book,” Lucia said, never taking her eyes or her gun, off the thing. “Keep your mouth shut and your eyes on it.”
Whatever the thing was, it dropped into a low crouch and unfurled its massive wings. The moonlight leeched whatever color it might have had from its skin, leaving it a ghostly shade of pale. From what Cody could see at that distance, its face looked more bat-like than human, but its body was like that of a thin, strong man. As it slowly flapped its wings, Cody noticed small finger-like extensions at the corners, and he shuddered.
“I think it’s getting ready to do something,” Demmy said.
“What do we do?” one of the male deputies said.
“For fuck’s sake, shoot it,” Walsh snapped.
Before any of them could pull a trigger, a man shouted at them from across the field.
“Who’s there? What are you doing on my land?”
Everyone looked back toward the house. The man walked slowly toward them. He wore flannel house pants and a hoodie. Instead of a shotgun as Cody had imagined, he held a phone, the light on as he made a video of the encounter.
“Sheriff’s department,” Lucia responded. “Stay back!”
Movement from the other side of the pond made them all look back. The figure had raised one hand, the fingers long and tipped with claws. Both deputies fired, but the thing on the other side of the pond didn’t react. Either they were terrible shots, or this thing was bullet proof. And, of fucking course it would be bullet proof.
“Cease fire!” Lucia shouted.
Moments later, a cloud descended over them. It was a flock of bats, hundreds, possibly thousands. Everyone screamed and dropped to the ground, covering their heads. Cody dropped to his knees and pulled Demmy against his chest, ducking his head and covering both of them as much as possible with his arms. He heard the guy from the farmhouse screaming, but a glance showed he still held his phone up as the bats circled them.
It was over in seconds. The bats fluttered off as abruptly as they’d arrived, dust kicked up from their wings settling around them all. As Cody cautiously lifted his head, he saw the figure on the other side of the pond was gone.
“What the fuck was that thing?” one of the deputies said.
“Fucking bats! I got a bat wing in my mouth. Fuck!”
“What the hell just happened?” Demmy said.
“Good fucking question,” Cody said. “Just another evening in Parson’s Fucking Hollow.”
Lucia was already on the radio, calling for an ambulance for Deputy Walsh. The Parson’s Hollow EMTs were busy tonight.
The guy from the farmhouse approached, phone still up as he recorded their reactions. He was younger, probably Cody’s age, with messy blond hair and a scruffy little beard that matched.
“Dudes, what the hell was all of that?” the guy said. “Who was that guy?”
Lucia pointed a finger at him. “Stop recording right now. And I’m going to need a copy of whatever video you managed to make tonight.”
“Yeah, sure, okay. But I’m streaming it live, so everyone’s already seen it.”
Lucia hung her head and blew out a breath. “Of course.” She looked at Walsh who lay on her back, hands on her chest. “You all right?”
Walsh nodded, and Cody saw her hold up a small knife that gleamed in the moonlight. “I saw the pond below me and knew it was my chance. I stabbed it with this.”
Lucia looked at him and Demmy. “That knife is pure silver.”
Turning her head, Walsh smiled at them. “Clarabell suggested it. For protection.”
Cody scowled. “Of course she did.”
Demmy’s phone buzzed, and he answered it. “It’s Amelia,” he said, walking a short ways off.
“Stay close,” Lucia called after him, then looked at Cody. “Both of you.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
Cody scanned the night sky, listening to the hipster farm owner talk to his streaming subscribers. He shivered in the cold, and emotions spun inside him like a cloud of bats. As much as he complained about the town and how he and Demmy had been treated by those running it, he still felt protective of it, as well as the people who called it home. He considered many of them family, either by blood or circumstance, and if he could do something to keep them from harm, he knew he should and would.
But these kinds of situations inevitably turned deadly—he thought briefly, sadly, of Hap and Rufus—and he was torn, as always, between staying safely out of it and taking action.
He heard Demmy talking with Amelia as he paced a short distance away. Demmy always jumped right in with both feet, ready—sometimes eager—to help, to investigate, to save who he could. One day, it was going to get him killed. Actually, it already had. Twice.
Glancing at the sky once again, Cody kept an eye out for any airborne threat and wondered, not for the first time and surely not the last, what the hell he could do against something like what he’d just seen.