by Howe, A. E.
“I’m not stupid. After everything we’ve been through, I’ve sort of figured out that Blasko isn’t like… other people.”
“I will tell you someday. Just not today.”
“Are you coming home now?”
“We’ll leave as soon as the sun sets.” She squeezed his hand, then let it go.
Epilogue
Blasko sat in the parlor trying to read Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key, which had arrived in the mail that day. However, he was finding it hard to concentrate over the sound of Josephine’s footsteps as she walked from one end of the room to the other, varying her destination just enough so that he couldn’t accuse her of pacing. With a heavy sigh, he put the book down on the end table.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, anticipating that it had something to do with their strange experiences on Cedar Island the week before. They’d both been a little restless since their return.
Josephine stopped and looked out the open window, then finished the gin and lime she’d mixed a few minutes earlier. “You don’t want to talk about it.”
Resisting the urge to sigh again, Blasko stood up and walked over to her. The weather had improved a little that week and a light summer breeze came through the window, blowing a lock of hair across her face. He reached out and tenderly brushed it away. “Tell me.”
“It’s about what you said on the boat.” Josephine leaned against him and he wrapped his arms around her. “Did you really mean it?”
“Yes, I meant it. Josie, I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you in my old fortress—you were so fearless and strong… and maybe a little reckless.” His lips ran softly over her hair as he held her in a firm embrace. “At first I thought what I felt was just a part of our blood bond, and that’s why I tried to deny it. Now I know that it is so much more… But still I worry. I would give anything to avoid the pain I will feel as I watch you grow old. Or, worse, feeling your envy and anger as you grow more feeble while I remain the same.”
She looked up at him and he could see the love in her eyes. “So where does that leave us?” she asked.
“You know what the choices are. Do you think you could live as I do?”
The bluntness of the question made her pause. “I don’t know,” she finally whispered into his shoulder.
“Would I have chosen to be like this, knowing what I do now? No… never. What’s been done to me can never be undone. I won’t let it happen to you.”
“Even if I ask you to do it?”
“I told you what it is like. What if I changed you, but then you came to hate me… or yourself? How could either of us live with that?”
“Maybe you could become… human again. I’m sorry, I know that sounds awful. I don’t mean that you aren’t human now…” Josephine shook her head and tears fell onto Blasko’s shirt as she clung to him.
“Years ago I searched for a way out of this… condition. I never found anything to give me the faintest glimmer of hope.”
“Maybe Franklin can help. He told us how Enoch used the old books to undo his deformity and now he’s recovering.”
Blasko eased back from her and gave her a small smile, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket to wipe away her tears. “And I would have enjoyed watching the process, especially once he realized he had to take the Oath of the True Order of Dagon. But remember that the corruption had only reached his shoulder. What I suffer from took me over body and soul centuries ago.”
“But we could search for a way,” Josephine insisted. When he didn’t respond, she pressed him. “Promise me that you won’t give up. It might be useless, but we have to try.”
Blasko had never seen her plead for anything and it took him by surprise. For a moment he couldn’t speak, but then he said, “We’ll search together,” and sealed the promise with a kiss.
After Josephine had gone to bed, Blasko walked down the stairs to his basement apartment, where he found Anton petting and talking to Poe, the resident black cat.
“Why don’t you take him upstairs and feed him?” Blasko suggested. Anton nodded and carried the cat, happily cradled in his arms, up the stairs. Blasko locked the door behind him.
In his bedchamber, Blasko went over to the bier that held his coffin and shifted it enough to open the lid of a compartment he’d cut into the floor beneath it. The space held several items he valued, along with the Necronomicon that he’d taken from Carter.
He heard a squeaking overhead and looked up to see Vasile hanging upside down between the floor joists, looking down at him. The bat seemed anxious at the sight of the book and flew over to the small hole in the wall near the ceiling that allowed him to fly outside.
“The book scares me too,” Blasko admitted.
He heard more squeaking near the hole and saw a second bat stick its face into the room and nuzzle Vasile. “I am happy for you, my friend. We all need love.”
With great trepidation, Blasko carried the book into his parlor and settled into his favorite chair. For a few minutes he just sat and looked down at the strange leather binding. At last, he sighed and opened the cover, beginning his search of the accursed volume.
THE END
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon—it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Baron Blasko and Josephine will return in:
SCALES
The Baron Blasko Mysteries–Book 5
Coming in 2021
To be notified when it is released, sign up here.
Author’s Note
Fans of H.P. Lovecraft will have noticed the influence of his short story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” If you’re not familiar with Lovecraft, be sure to check it out. It’s a very accessible introduction to the author and the mythos he created.
Other Books by this Author
The Larry Macklin Mystery Series
The job of criminal investigator in a rural Florida county is never easy, but it’s even harder when your father is the sheriff, your “brother” is an unruly Great Dane and your confidential informant is a drug-addled cross-dresser.
Join Larry Macklin as he deals with departmental corruption, serial killers, treasure hunters and enough murders to fill a BBC mystery series.
Books in this series include:
For more details, visit the author’s page on Amazon.
About the Author
A. E. Howe lives and writes on a farm in the wilds of North Florida with his wife, horses and more cats than he can count. He received a degree in English Education from the University of Georgia and is a produced screenwriter and playwright. His first published book was Broken State. The Larry Macklin Mysteries is his first series and he released a new series, the Baron Blasko Mysteries, in summer 2018. The first book in the Macklin series, November’s Past, was awarded two silver medals in the 2017 President’s Book Awards, presented by the Florida Authors & Publishers Association; the ninth book, July’s Trials, was awarded two silver medals in 2018. Howe is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, and was co-host of the “Guns of Hollywood” podcast for four years on the Firearms Radio Network. When not writing Howe enjoys riding, competitive shooting and working on the farm.
Copyright © 2020 by A. E. Howe
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Corvid Design
Cover illustration ©2020 Duncan Eagleson
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, business establishments, persons or animals, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
>
Howe, A.E., The Baron Blasko Mysteries | Book 4 | Tentacles