The Beast of Nightfall Lodge

by SA Sidor

  “This is a gruesome discovery,” I said.

  “Agreed,” Evangeline said.

  “He looks mighty different without his clothes and burned up like that,” McTroy said.

  “We all do,” I conjectured. “But it is he. I am having a particularly ghastly idea. Do you suppose there is any compounded elixir in his satchel? We may not need to talk to the man in the spirit realm if we can stir a last gasp or two out of his crisped remains.”

  “How did he get in there?” Wu asked, gazing into the chimney mouth.

  “Not by his own accord,” I said. “I think it is fair to assume the Beast put him in as a practical joke. Or perhaps this was an attempt to smoke us out of the lodge. But our fire-building revealed the trap early. Who knows? But we can take an advantage here.”

  “Excuse me,” Viv said. “But where is my husband? He isn’t, you know…” She pointed in an upward fashion and looked intently in the direction of the fireplace hole.

  McTroy crouched in the place of wet ember and damp stinking wool.

  “I can see sky. There’s nobody else up this here smokeshaft.”

  Cassi sat up, opening her eyes fully and focusing first on the room and then on the charred body of Pops.

  “Oh my. I thought my wound was grievous. But is that a man?”

  “Indeed,” I said. “It is formerly Pops. Now the Beast’s leftovers. I hope you are not too disturbed by the sight of him. Should we cover him up?”

  Cassi considered the question.

  “No, I am fine with it.”

  She fell back on her pillow.

  Viv said, “She has fainted.”

  “What is that putrid stench?” Gavin Earl said. He entered the trophy room and went straight for the liquor cabinet. He had changed his clothes, and I noted extra bullets tucked into his gunbelt. The last remnants of smoke sucked out the open window.

  “It’s your partner,” McTroy said.

  Earl craned to see what lay upon the Persian rug.

  His face wrinkled in repugnance. “Which one?”

  “Pops Spooner,” McTroy said. “Billy’s dead too. The Beast took both of them.”

  Earl nodded and drained two glasses of bourbon before speaking.

  “There is no Beast,” he said.

  Smoke Eel shook his head in disbelief. Earl spun from the cabinet, walked over to him, and grabbed one of his braids. Before the Indian guide could stop him, Earl wrenched the plait.

  “I have scalped your Indian,” Earl said.

  He held up the wig. Both braids were still attached to the red bandana in Earl’s hand. Before us stood an utterly bald man whose darker pigmented skin ended in a line just north of his forehead. The skin of his pate was as smooth and white as a peeled onion.

  Smoke Eel turned purple with rage, stomping his feet, and shouting.

  “Crisse de câlisse de sacrament de tabarnak d’esti de trou viarge!”

  29

  Source-Wendigo

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “It means I’m not invited to Frenchy’s house for dinner any time soon,” Earl said.

  “You bastard!” LaFarque said. “If the Beast does not kill you, I will.”

  “Curb your outrage, con man. We are the ones who should be damned angry with you. But the charade is over. Your giant friend is dead in the woods. We have your costume and sound effects. This farce is at an end. I will hold Oscar to his promise to pay me when I capture the Beast. Here is the Beast, or the thinking part of the Beast scheme. I am taking home that golden bull. The rest of you all can fight over the scraps and a train ticket home. Where is old Oscar?”

  “Stupid, stupid fool,” LaFarque said. “We are in la situation dangereuse.”

  “Is Gavin right?” Evangeline asked. “Is the Beast a hoax? Who murdered those hunters?”

  LaFarque said, “It is true that I wished to trick Oscar. My compatriot, Jules le Géant –

  who you tell me sadly is dead – together we planned to take Oscar’s money. But we hurt no one. I am here thinking Oscar was seeing things, a man caught in his own imaginary games. So yes, we played along. But I experienced the real Beast. I heard the piercing cry which no whistle can imitate. This femme, Cassi, she has a bite in her arm… did I do that? Ask her. No. She was in the grip of this thing before I saved her. I know the Indian legends. The Wendigo spirit is here. Someone invited it. It is infecting our souls. I feel it gnawing in me. I have thoughts I never had before. Devouring thoughts. I am a loup-garou in my dreams. But worse. I kill to kill. I eat knowing I am forever empty. But I do not care. Ask Dr Hardy. He saw the Beast. He feels it too.”

  “I have seen a Beast I cannot explain,” I said. “It was surely no man. No disguise could do what this creature did. And it talked to me. I think it is not of this world, this dimension where we perceive the world. But it travels through our plane of existence. Monsieur LaFarque, you told me Oscar used our hunting party as bait for the Beast. That he knew it would likely kill us. But he did not care as long as he made a bigger name for himself when he captured it. Is this true?”

  The con man hung his head and spoke without looking at me.

  “No. I was worried you and McTroy would kill Jules. I was waiting for him the night you saw me with my spyglasses. The storm was not a thing we expected. But I did find those torn clothes. I believe the Beast transformed from a human host. The Wendigo possesses one of us. That person is a source-Wendigo. Others fall under the spirit’s influence. But only one changes into the monster completely. If we kill that person, then the spirit will leave the mountain. All those who are under its spell will be free once the spell is broken. But make no mistake. This evil thing was invited here. It was called to walk among these trees and stones.”

  Cassi groaned. Her wounded arm slid from her lap and struck the side of the divan.

  She screamed in pain.

  “We will take Cassi to her room and lock her in,” I said. “It is too dangerous to bring her down the mountain road until we know the identity of the Beast who inflicted this injury. Wu, you and I will put Cassi in Vivienne’s chair and bring her to her bed. McTroy, stay here and make sure no one leaves. Evangeline–”

  “Vivienne and I will prepare for the séance,” Evangeline said. “If you agree…”

  “I do.” It did not matter if I did or not, she would proceed as she pleased. “McTroy, will you need anything to assist you in guarding the trophy room?”

  “Nope,” he said.

  He handed Hodgson’s shotgun to Evangeline and rested his hand on his revolver.

  I looked hard at Earl, who was the one gunman I knew could match McTroy’s skills.

  “Don’t worry, Doctor. I am fascinated by this investigation of yours. I can’t wait to see what happens next.” He lit his pipe and reclined against the wall, amused and lethal.

  “I will return shortly,” I said. The room had gone absolutely frigid with the fire out and the window open. “Perhaps another fire is in order? It is going to be a long night.”

  “Longer still if we don’t find Oscar. I’m not sure what’s going on up here anymore. But I’m not leaving until he pays me my money,” Earl said.

  “Then you had better hope he is not the source-Wendigo,” LaFarque said.

  The thought had not occurred to me. But now that the seed was planted, I feared it would grow and overcrowd my reasoning. Where was Oscar? Why would he challenge us to a hunt where he was the hunted? An arrogant monster might see us only as food, not adversaries.

  “Who’s to say you’re not this thing?” Earl retorted. “What better way to hide your identity than by creating a masquerade of that which you really are. I vote for you, Frenchy.”

  LaFarque hissed and threw his hands up in the air. “I would eat you first, bastard!”

  “Enough,” Evangeline said.

  She stepped between the two men. McTroy was smart giving her the shotgun.

  “I know
that I am not the evil spirit,” I said. “If one of you is this Wendigo, or whatever you are, be forewarned. We will find you. You are outnumbered and outgunned. Now Wu, help me move Cassi to the chair.”

  Cassi did not rouse as we transported her in Vivienne’s chair down the long shadowy hallways of Nightfall Lodge. The wheels hummed. Her head twisted to one side, and when I adjusted her position, she made a low, gentle rumbling sound and rubbed her cheek against my fingers.

  “Wu, when you found Viv, was she still tied to her bedposts?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “So she might’ve been able to leave her room?”

  “I guess so,” he said. “Are thinking she is the Wendigo?”

  “She is a dabbler in black magic. And she is sensitive to the spirit world. Her family has a long history of shapeshifting. How far is a werecat from a Beast? I make no direct accusations, Wu. Not under these dire circumstances. But she might’ve been able to slip out of the lodge and attack Cassi, and then return to her bed before you and McTroy fetched her. That night I saw the Beast in the lodge window, I might’ve smelled Vivienne’s perfume in the animal gallery.”

  “Then she is the Wendigo.”

  “We cannot be premature in our conclusion. But the Adderly family does live on this mountain where all the attacks on Raton’s townsmen originated. Who else was even here?”

  “LaFarque might have been, and we don’t know when Gavin Earl really came to town.”

  I opened the door to Cassi’s bedroom. Wu pushed her inside.

  “That is what is so insidious about this affair. We stop trusting each other. Everyone hides a monster inside. That is what we come to believe. We are the monsters. It eats away at us.”

  I turned down the blankets on Cassi’s bed. Wu went around to Cassi’s legs and I scooped my arms underneath hers. We lifted her onto her bed. Even though I am quite uncomfortable with the sight of fleshly trauma, I unbound the scarf from Cassi’s left forearm.

  “Wu, take these matches. Light the lamp on the nightstand and bring it to me.”

  The scarf was soaked in blood. I dropped it into a painted bowl on her dresser.

  “Let me have that light.” I turned the wick on the lamp higher. “Go and find towels. They must be with the sheets in one of the linen closets. Cut them into strips for bandages.”

  Wu left on his mission.

  I forced myself to inspect Cassi’s wound.

  The sudden intake of my breath did nothing to alleviate my lightheadedness.

  LaFarque was correct. Something with a huge mouth had stripped most of the tissue from the lower half of her arm. Skin, fat, muscles – all were missing. Except for the two white bones which were not broken but upon which I could discern deep tooth marks. Her wrist and hand remained intact. The Beast must have clamped down on her when she raised her arm to defend herself. A Raton doctor would surely need to amputate. If Cassi lived through the night. I loosened the tourniquet only a smidgen. The vessels near her elbow began to pump fresh blood.

  “Achh, I’m making quite a mess of you, poor Cassi.”

  I retightened the knot.

  “Rom, you are here. In my bedroom,” she said, smiling mischievously.

  One might’ve mistaken her hooded eyes for an effort at seduction if one did not realize it was languor and the shock of almost dying from substantial blood loss. Her paleness surrendered none of its distinctive allure. If anything, Cassi looked more beautiful to me than she ever had.

  “We will fix you,” I said.

  “And if I cannot be fixed?”

  “Don’t talk that way. It could be worse.”

  “How, Rom?”

  “You know how. You are still among the living, Cassi. That is the best chance at improvement, I believe. The alternatives are far from reliable and have dubious side effects.”

  “Claude is dead,” she said.

  “We don’t need to talk about that.”

  “But he is. I feel it. Or what I feel is his absence. He is missing from me.”

  I looked at her for a long time. She had the most pleasing way of never breaking one’s gaze without any underlying feelings of awkwardness or hostility. I swam in her honeyed stare.

  “I know what Claude was. We witnessed him changing.”

  “Where did he die?”

  “In the cave. It was like he fell asleep, very tired. He had a last drink. And a smoke.”

  “So you’ve visited our cave. It was rustic but private.” Her tear-filled eyes stayed on mine. “Are you afraid of me now, Rom?”

  I shook my head. “No more than I was before.”

  She laughed softly.

  “Read me a bedtime rhyme from that book on the top of the others,” she said suddenly.

  She indicated a sizable volume on her bookshelf.

  I picked it up and held the cover near my light. Gold lettering on black leather.

  “Odd & Ghastly Rhymes for Frightening Young Children. Are you serious? This is what you want to hear now?”

  She nodded in an exaggerated manner.

  “My favorite,” she said. “Read ‘An Eerie Alphabet Rhyme’. Start with ‘C’.”

  “Here we go. Just a few lines and then you must try and sleep.”

  “This will help. I promise,” she said.

  I cleared my throat and began:

  “‘C’ is for Centipede asleep on your cheek.

  Stir and you’ll wake her. Those legs! Shriek!

  ‘D’ is for Dung Beetle rolling ’round her ball.

  Strong little scarab – she gives it her all.”

  “Oh, I do like dung beetles. They are scarabs, you know? The Egyptians loved them.”

  “I knew you’d like it. Keep the book. It’s my gift to you. You see, I know you, Rom. Even though we’ve only just met. We are kindred spirits, you and I. Won’t you take me away? I want to go with you to the city. Or to some far-off country, I don’t care. I get lonely on this mountain with only my family. Now that Claude is gone I will lose my sanity. Mother immerses herself in her charts and esoteric books. Father has his trips and sews his trophies to remind him of his past adventures. Where are my adventures? What is my story? When will it begin? Take me with you, Rom. Please. I will be good, I promise. I am awfully good when I am good. The bad part of me might be something you learn to love as well. Don’t you need a little badness in your life, Rom? Unpredictability. I see in your face that you are lonely like me. Evangeline will never be yours. She is good and, well, exciting to you. I like her. But will she ever ask you to be with her like I am asking you?”

  I put the book down on the blanket.

  With her good hand, Cassi took up mine. She pressed her lips to my knuckles. I felt her hot breath. Her kisses were damp on my fingers, and she licked the inside of my wrist playfully. She whispered something I could not hear. When I leaned closer she kissed me on the lips. It was quick but not without bolts of energy. The back of my head felt as if it were lifting off.

  She is too young for you, I said to myself.

  Although she is a woman, I answered, and not that young. She needs you too much, I said. You are not in need? A voice in me barked back.

  She is a werecat. You are an Egyptologist.

  Wu returned with the towels.

  I took my hand back.

  Cassi closed her eyes.

  “She is still asleep?” Wu asked.

  “Yes, she needs to rest. I hope to talk to her in the morning. We have much to discuss.”

  I dressed her ravaged arm and turned down her lamp.

  Though the pain must have been incredible, she did not move the whole time.

  30

  Cold Gruel

  When Wu and I returned to the trophy room we discovered the space transformed. Evangeline had ordered LaFarque and Earl to place the only round table in the room near the center, beside Oscar’s cubical Beast cage. Viv told her where to locate a black tablecloth em
broidered with stars. After spreading the cloth, McTroy could not seem to keep his fingers from tracing them. A stout red candle sat in a stand before the only place without a chair; this is where Viv would seat herself and conduct the séance. Viv steeled herself for the task, drinking a small pour of brandy from a cordial glass. I noticed she had put her back to the windows that still showed the mountain.

  I pulled Evangeline to the side.

  “Has Oscar appeared?”

  “He hasn’t,” she said. “Viv isn’t asking about him. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

  “Place an empty chair for him. I will go out to the stable and see if I can find Pops’ medical bag. If he has any elixir left, that’s where it is. I want to use it on him. Maybe Oscar went outside.”

  “Because he is the Beast?”

  I shrugged. “We are all susceptible to the Beast’s influence. It is best the others stay together here. That way everyone is being watched. If behaviors alter, early intervention is a must. Tie the person up, or, failing that, you have McTroy.”

  “What if he is the one under the Beast’s control?”

  “I trust you still have your pistol under your skirt.”

  She smiled. “I will shoot to incapacitate, not kill.”

  “How very kind of you,” I said.

  Then to the others I raised my voice. “I am going to see if I can find Pops’ bag out in the enclave. I will go alone. If I do not return in thirty minutes, assume I have met with an unfortunate end. Conduct the séance. Find the Beast’s lair. Stop the source-Wendigo.”

  “Why do you get to go?” Earl asked.

  “I have spoken to the Beast. Perhaps I may again. In any event, I am expendable.”

  No one disagreed with my logic.

  Evangeline took the shotgun from the table and handed it to me.

  She said, “This is about as foolproof as it gets. Pull one trigger and one barrel shoots. Pull both and that’s all the firepower you’ll ever need. Aim in the general vicinity of your target. Good luck.”