Rougarou II

by Judith Ann McDowell

  “We can certainly hope that will be the case. See, the thing is, once a person has had one heart attack, in most cases another attack follows.”

  “But, can’t you give him somethin’ to stop another attack?”

  “He’ll be on medication and in the meantime, we’ll be watching to see what the tests show.”

  “I’m gonna go on back inside with him. It was nice seein’ you, again.” He smiled down at her.

  She turned the gold band on his finger, gave him a slight wink.

  “It happens to the best of us. Now that I know whose takin’ care of him, I’m a little less worried `bout him bein’ here.”

  “Jack, have you found out anything yet?”

  Jack turned to see Seelah and Jenny coming towards him. “Not a whole lot. Only what we already know.” He reached out, pulled Jenny against his chest.

  “I’m so scared, Uncle Jack.” She wrapped both arms around his waist.

  “I’m not gonna pull any punches with you, little one. I’m scared, too.”

  “Where is Barbara, inside with Donavan?”

  “No, she’s down talkin’ with Donavan’s doctor. She should be back any moment. Let’s go back inside. I don’t like leavin’ him alone.”

  Jenny hesitated just inside the room, leaned back against Jack. “I’m afraid of what he’s gonna look like.”

  “Don’t be afraid, sweetheart.” Jack squeezed her hand. “He ain’t hooked up to a lotta tubes. Come on, Aunt Seelah and I will stay close to you.”

  Jenny walked up to the bed. “He’s sleepin’,” she whispered. “That should make him feel better. You need to get well, Daddy.” Tears ran down her face to fall on Donavan’s hand that she held against her mouth. “We need you too much for you to leave us.”

  Barbara walked up to stand beside Jenny. “I just talked with your dad’s doctor. He feels he’s going to be all right.” She sniffed as hot tears ran unchecked, down her face.

  Jack pulled her into his arms as Seelah reached out pulling tissues from the box on the stand beside the bed.

  Barbara wiped her face then blew her nose. “The doctor said he did have a heart attack, brought on by stress and high blood pressure. He feels that with some bed rest and no excitement he should be just fine.”

  “How long did he say Donavan’d be out?” Jack picked up Donavan’s other hand, caught his breath as he felt Donavan’s fingers move. “Donavan! Can you hear me?” He leaned in close.

  “Are we both dead?” Donavan’s eyes fluttered open. “Or just me?”

  “Neither one of us is dead, partner!” Jack gave him a brief hug, then, backed out of the way as Barbara and Jenny rushed forward.

  “Oh, Donavan, you scared us to death,” she laughed, raining kisses over his face.

  Without a word, Jenny stretched out on the bed beside her dad, laid her head on his chest.

  “I’m okay, baby girl.” Donavan drew a hand over her hair. “You don’t need to worry.”

  Jenny nodded, snuggled in closer.

  “Somebody going to tell me what happened?” Eyes wary, he gazed up at the three people standing beside the bed.

  “You had a heart attack, darling,” Barbara told him. “Your doctor feels that with some bed rest and no excitement, you should be up and around in no time.”

  “Did he say what caused it?”

  “High blood pressure and stress. He’s making a list of things to help bring down your blood pressure, like stopping smoking and taking a little vacation away from the department to cut your stress.” She drew a gentle hand across his forehead.

  Donavan glanced up at the ceiling then over at Barbara. “There’s no way I can be away from the department right now and stopping smoking is out of the question. If I stop smoking, cold turkey, all I can look forward to is another heart attack or a stroke.”

  “I hear ya.” Jack grinned down at him, then, became serious, as both Seelah and Barbara gave him a sour look.

  “Jack,” Seelah touched his arm, “I think we should go and let Donavan be alone with his family.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Jack leaned over, gave Donavan’s hand a tight squeeze. “Try and get some rest. We’ll see ya in the mornin’.”

  Donavan nodded, returned the kiss Seelah blew his way.

  Out in the hall, Seelah smiled as she watched Chandra slip through the closed door to Donavan’s room. She leaned her head against Jack’s shoulder. “We can rest easy. Donavan’s in good hands.”

  Chapter Thirty One

  Rafael looked out over the throng of people filling up space in the main chamber of the cave. He smiled, knowing how many of those, taking their place within the growing circle, made up the parish’s entitled. Doctors, teachers, lawyers and politicians. Upstanding citizens all. Who, of their own free will, chose to straddle two worlds.

  “I take it the people have not been told who will be joining us this evening?” Lawrence pulled the cape up higher on his shoulders as he walked beside Rafael. “I am sure they will be as enthralled as I when they hear the news.”

  Rafael nodded, his gaze caressing a tall, winsome young woman whose long thick mane caught and held the reflecting fire from the torches. “Jonathan was an important part of their lives for many years. His return will strengthen their trust in the powers of darkness. However,” his attention swung back to Lawrence, “to answer your question, I thought it best to keep his appearance a surprise. This night he will announce his upcoming return to this plane. Our people will join him in celebration, for they know how important it is for the dark side to remain in power.”

  “The time is fast approaching when this parish will know our wrath.”

  Two men walked through the crowd, one carried a young girl slung over his shoulder. The child did not cry out when the man sat her on her feet. She merely looked around. As her eyes lit on a man she recognized she cried out, “Mr. Lybbert.”

  The man with red-hair and bright blue eyes, turned as he heard his name being called. When he spied the young girl, standing now before the altar, he walked, with deliberate ease, towards her.

  “Melinda, how nice to see you here this evening.” One hand slid over her soft cheek.

  “Why am I here, Mr. Lybbert? I don’t want to be here. I want to go home.” Tears slid down her face to be wiped gently, away by the man who stood before her.

  “But you can’t go home, my dear.” He placed a light hand over her mouth as she drew in her breath. “You are here for an important reason. You know you have always been one of my favorite students. You and Jenny Hays.” The daughter of Donavan Hays slipped into his mind. With regret, he pushed her image away.

  “I don’t understand why I am here. Please tell the men, who brought me here, to let me go. They will listen to you. I know they will.”

  “Melinda, my beautiful child.” He pulled her against him for a moment. “You don’t want to leave and miss all the festivities.”

  “Yes. Yes I do want to leave here! My mom and dad will be worried about me. They always come into my room before they go to bed, to kiss me goodnight.”

  “Melinda.” His touch was no longer gentle as he gripped her arm. “I have told you, you cannot leave. Now, be a good girl and settle down.”

  The young girl cowered away from him. The man standing before her had always been so gentle with her and the other students. She started to shake and as she spied the others in the room staring at her, began to cry.

  “I see our offering to my father has arrived.” Lawrence gazed across the way as he saw a young girl talking with one of the members. “Innocent blood always tastes the sweetest.”

  “Yes,” Rafael nodded, his need, to partake of this delicacy, almost out of control, “she will feed the terrible hunger clawing at each of us. It has been too long since we have allowed ourselves to feast.”

  “There is danger with this child. Because of who she is, she will bring police crawling over the grounds in search of her. You know Hays and Olivier’ will come here first.�
��

  “They will search, but they will not find. This night is too important to settle for the blood of any mortal. This night our hunger demands the blood of the innocent.”

  As they watched, a goblet was brought forth to be handed to the child. When she shook her head in refusal, Rolan Lybbert placed the goblet into her hand.

  “This was made special for you, Melinda. It would be rude to refuse to drink it.”

  “I don’t want anything to drink,” she cried out slapping at the silver goblet. “I just want to go home.”

  The men who had delivered Melinda to the cave, grabbed both her arms behind her back. As they held her, Rolan forced the girl’s mouth open to pour the liquid down her throat.

  Coughing and sputtering she tried to move her head, but the strong hands holding her in their grip, made refusal impossible.

  Within moments, Melinda felt herself becoming very weak. As strong hands lifted her onto the altar, she no longer cared what was being done with her body.

  Rafael’s deep, strong voice rumbled out over the waiting crowd and all eyes turned to acknowledge him.

  “This night we are gathered together to welcome the return of a much cherished Monarch of the Hindel family. His absence in our lives has caused a strong and bitter rift. The strength of the dark side and our all-powerful Master of Darkness, has seen fit to return our fallen brother to this plane.”

  A shadow took shape in the form of a man. A man they all recognized. Praise for their returned leader rang out filling the cave with jubilation.

  At last Jonathan raised his hands for silence. “This night begins a new era. An era our family has waited a long time to embrace. When my body was destroyed, it was feared I would never return to this plane. The strength of the dark side would not allow that. And in this refusal, we have all been taught an important lesson. We are not our body. Our essence is in our soul and our soul is what continues to live on. Soon I will return in a new body. Through the years my body will grow into that of a man; enabling me to walk, once more beside my family and to take my rightful place as ruler over this parish.”

  He watched as one by one they bowed down to their leader. His eyes strayed to the child laid out on the altar. He moved forward until his hands rested upon Melinda’s thin shoulders. Unable to partake of the sweet nectar laid out before him, he motioned his son to come forward to usher in the feast.

  Lawrence walked to the altar and without hesitation, gave into his all-consuming need. Sinking his teeth deep into the neck of Melinda, he welcomed the warm rush of sweet red blood. A great howling erupted within the cave as he lifted his head. His body shook as the sweet taste, he so craved, filled him with a satisfaction too long denied him. When his soul and body had been sated, he raised his mouth and with arms held high invited the others to join him in his feast.

  In the early dawn, an innocent child whose blood and body fed the hunger of those celebrating the return of their darkest leader, was but a forgotten memory.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  The jingle of the phone had Jack barking into the receiver on the first ring. “What? Hello!” When he heard the voice on the other line, he thanked God it wasn’t the hospital calling.

  “Oh hey, Jamison, what’s up?” He shook a cigarette out of the pack on the nightstand. “Ah shit! What’s her name?” He sat up, flipped the sheet off to the side to slide his feet to the floor. As he felt Seelah stirring beside him, he motioned her to grab a pen and paper.

  “Okay, go ahead. Melinda S.a.y.e.r.s? Age? Yeah, I’ll get down there soon as I can.” He dropped the receiver into the cradle.

  “What’s going on?” She fanned away the smoke and breathing a deep breath, tried to quiet her queasy stomach.

  “We got a missin’ kid.” He ran a hand over the slight stubble covering his face. “She’s the same age as Jenny. Which means, they probably know each other.”

  “Do you want me to see what I can find out about what happened to her?” She snapped her robe closed, slipped her feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers.

  “No, I don’t. I want you to stay calm and relaxed. You go delvin’ into the spirit world, you’re just gonna get yourself all upset.”

  “I don’t think it would hurt me to help you. If I feel myself getting upset I’ll simply back off.”

  “I don’t want you involved in this, Seelah.” His unease, at what may have happened to another child, sharpened his tone. Glimpsing her frustration, he gathered her into his arms. “I’m sorry, babe. I don’t mean to be harsh with you. I guess I’m a little leery of what’s goin’ on. With Donavan in the hospital, I don’t relish workin’ with another detective.”

  “Speaking of Donavan, I sure don’t envy his nurses if he gets wind of this. They’ll have to tie him to the bed to keep him there!”

  “He’s gonna know about it, `cause I’m gonna tell him,” he declared over his shoulder, as she trailed after him down the hall. “He sure as hell ain’t gonna hear somethin’ this important on the news.”

  “In that case, you better bypass the station and head right to the hospital. When this gets out, it’ll spread through the parish like wildfire.”

  “That’s what I got planned.” He spit, then rinsed his mouth dropping the toothbrush back in the holder. “Try and keep Jenny away from the TV as much as possible. Today bein’ Saturday, I know she’ll want to watch her programs.” As his robe fell to the floor he stepped into the shower.

  “I’ll go turn on the coffee.”

  ***

  Jack stood for a moment outside Donavan’s room, then, pasting a smile on his face, tapped on the open door. “Looks like I made it in time for breakfast.”

  Donavan looked up a wide grin spreading across his face. “Jack! Am I glad to see you!”

  “I figured you’d be bored and in need of some company.

  “Bored ain’t the word for it.” The grin left his face to be replaced with a look of utter misery. “I want a cigarette so damn bad I’m about to jump out of my skin. They’ve stopped the smoking in the rooms. Hell they’ve made it where you can’t even smoke in the waiting rooms.”

  “Think they’d let you go outside if I was to go with you?” Jack sandwiched some leftover bacon and scrambled eggs into a piece of toast.

  “I don’t give a shit if they let me or not, throw me that robe and we’re outta here.” He snagged the robe in midair, pushed his feet into a pair of slippers lined up beside the bed.

  “Donavan, they’re not gonna let you just stroll outta here. Let me go get a wheelchair. Sit back down on the bed `til I get back.”

  “Hurry up and get the damn thing then, `cause I’m about to light up.”

  Out in the hallway he saw an empty chair and since no one seemed to be in need of it at the moment he turned it in the direction of Donavan’s room. As he walked back down the hall he caught the face of a young girl on a TV. He stopped for a moment outside the patient’s room, then hastened back to Donavan. Walking through the door he heard the anchorman describing the disappearance.

  “Fuck!”

  “Did you know about this?” Donavan gestured to the TV.

  “Yeah. I was gonna tell you about it, I was just waitin’ for the right time.” He swung the chair around and put on the break. “Plant your ass in here and we’ll go talk about it over a cigarette.”

  ***

  “I got the call about an hour ago.” Jack stretched his legs out straight, his feet resting on the wooden bench across from him. “I wanted to be the one to tell you so you didn’t get all upset.”

  “Missed that one, didn’t you?” Donavan flicked his lighter.

  “Don’t get pissed at me! Ain’t my fault the reporters are ahead of the fuckin’ sheriff’s department!” He pulled the lighter towards him.

  “So what do we know?”

  “Another kid’s missin’. That’s all I know. Well that and her name and age.”

  “She looked a little familiar.”

  “Melinda Sayers. She’s the same
age as Jenny. I’ve been afraid the girls might know each other.” He took a deep drag on the cigarette.

  “They do. Melinda Sayers is Jenny’s best friend. They started kindergarten together. They need to get a better picture of her to circulate. I didn’t recognize her.”

  “Ah shit! I’m sorry to hear that. The poor kid already has enough going wrong in her life. And now her friend bein’ missin’…”he blew out a long breath, shook his head in frustration.

  “Soon as we finish here, we’re going back upstairs so I can get ready to get the hell out of here.”

  “Whoa…hold on there.” Jack stubbed out his cigarette in the large ashtray. You ain’t goin’ nowhere!”

  “Don’t put any god damn money on it.” He dropped the cigarette butt on the cement, ground it beneath his slipper. “I feel fine and I got a job to do. I’m not about to lie in bed while a young girl, who is like a part of our family, is missing.”

  “Donavan, god damn it! You just had a fuckin’ heart-attack! If you don’t care `bout yourself, at least humor the rest of us who do!”

  “If I lay in bed while you run around looking for this little girl, I am going to go nuts!” He unlocked the brake, turned the chair in the direction of the hospital entrance. “Come on! We got a job to do!”

  ***

  Jack slammed the door, snapped the seatbelt into place. “You better hope you don’t have another attack. That doctor wasn’t kiddin’ when he told you, by checkin’ yourself outta here, your insurance ain’t gonna cover you.”

  “Fuck him.”

  “If you die on me, Donavan, I swear to Christ, I’ll knock your head so far up your dead ass, you’ll need a closed casket!”

  “Drive!”

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Seelah stepped from the shower being careful to hold onto the bar Jack had installed for her safety. As her feet touched the floor she caught her reflection in the long mirror. She ran gentle hands over her swollen stomach, smiling when she felt the child, growing in her womb, move as though reaching out to her.