Shadows in the Sand (A Finn McCoy Paranormal Thriller Book 2)

by Scott Langrel

  “What article?” Karen asked sharply.

  “Before the power went off, I was looking to see if I could find out what that thing was. I think it’s called a Nix. It’s a kind of evil water spirit that lures—″

  “I don’t want to hear any more of this,” Karen interrupted. “I don’t want to hear anything else from you. I have to go find my husband.”

  “Karen,” Becky said. “Didn’t you hear what she said? We can’t go outside!”

  Karen spun on her sister. “Would you be saying that if it were Robert out there?”

  Becky recoiled as if she’d been slapped. She backed away from her sister, her face a mask of hurt and surprise. Pru jerked straight up, fully realizing that she was now the only thing standing between her aunt and the door. She knew that she had little chance of stopping Karen if her aunt was determined to go out, but she also knew that she couldn’t allow it.

  Since the situation was partly her fault, and because she couldn’t bear to look her aunt in the eye, Pru came to a decision: if anyone was to go outside, it would be her. She knew better than the others what they were up against, and she alone possessed the skills to make survival a possibility. Not much of a possibility, but a possibility, nonetheless.

  Because she was standing in front of the door, it would be easy for Pru to slip out before her aunt could reach her. The problem would be keeping them from following her out. She had no way of locking the door from the outside. But there was no time to plan. Karen was already heading for the door, a look of determination on her face. Pru turned and hurriedly unlocked the door, went out, and slammed it behind her.

  Pru turned, meaning to head toward the beach, and ran straight into the arms of Finn McCoy.

  ***

  “Whoa!” McCoy yelled as he struggled to keep the thrashing girl at arm’s length. “Watch the leg!”

  Pru looked up, realized who had her, and dove into McCoy, hugging him fiercely.

  “Thank God you’re here!” she exclaimed, her voice breaking into sobs. “They got Uncle Paul. He went outside and never came back. I know what they are—at least, I think I do. But I can’t stop them. There’s a way—″

  “Slow down,” McCoy said gently. “Start from the top and tell me what happened.”

  “Pru!” Becky came bursting through the door, followed closely by Karen. She saw McCoy and the others and stopped short, relief washing over her features. “Mr. McCoy! Thank God!”

  “He’s been thanked already. Now, can somebody tell me—slowly—what’s going on here?”

  “I was on the computer trying to figure out what these things are,” Pru said, her breath coming heavily. “I think they’re called Nixes. Anyway, the power went out, and Uncle Paul went outside to check things out, but he never came back. And then Aunt Karen opened the door to call for him, and that’s when I felt them. Or at least one of them. Out here, close.”

  McCoy paused to take all of this in. After a few seconds, he turned to Nan.

  “You did say that you thought the singing you heard was in German. Are you sure about that?”

  “Pretty sure. But then again I’m not fluent in German.”

  “I’d need to look it up,” McCoy said, “But I think Pru may be right. A Nix is a Germanic water spirit. And they use music to lure people into the water. That’s all I can remember off the top of my head, though.”

  “I don’t care about any damned pixies,” Karen said sharply. “My husband is out here somewhere. Are you all just going to stand here talking, or are you going to help me find him?”

  “What’s going to happen,” McCoy said, “is that all of you are going back inside while I look for Paul.”

  “Like hell,” Karen spat.

  “What she said,” Pru added.

  “It’s not open for debate,” McCoy said irritably. “I can’t look for Paul and keep an eye on all of you at the same time.”

  “Six sets of eyes are better than one,” Amanda argued. “Besides, we’ll be fine if we all stick together.”

  “You’re not helping matters,” McCoy hissed.

  “I’m only trying to help Karen. And Paul. Between you and Pru, surely you’d sense something before it got too close.”

  McCoy looked down at Pru, knowing full well which direction the river was flowing.

  “Are you up to it?” he asked.

  “Does a bear shit in the woods?”

  “Prucilla!” Becky gasped.

  “Sorry, Mom.”

  “Yep, you’re gonna be a handler,” McCoy said with a smile. “Okay, everyone stay close. Karen, you wouldn’t happen to have a flashlight, would you?”

  Karen shook her head as if trying to clear out the cobwebs. “There’s one in the drawer beside the refrigerator. I’ll get it.”

  “Go with her, Becky. Just in case.” McCoy turned to Amanda and Nan as the other women went inside. “I’m serious about the staying together part.”

  “We’ll be your shadows,” Nan assured him. “Do you sense anything?”

  McCoy shook his head. “Nothing close. And by close I mean a fifty yard radius, so don’t go getting comfortable. And a Nix may be able to mask its presence.”

  “It wasn’t masking it before,” Pru said with a shiver.

  “That was when it was dealing with two frightened women and a girl. It probably wanted you to know it was here.”

  “I’m still frightened,” Nan said.

  “Me too,” Amanda added.

  “That’s good,” McCoy mumbled. “It might keep you alive.”

  The door opened and Karen and Becky rejoined the group. Karen handed the flashlight to McCoy, who flipped it on and scanned the immediate area. The light revealed sand dunes, sea oats, and little more.

  “Okay, everyone stay in a tight group. I’ll take the lead. Pru, you and your mom take the rear. If you sense anything at all, let me know.”

  “You’ll be the first to know.”

  McCoy climbed down the steps and stepped into the sand, Amanda so close behind him she was practically riding on his back. The salty night seemed to wrap around the small group, enshrouding them in a palpable darkness that the flashlight’s beam had a hard time penetrating.

  McCoy’s first inclination was to check the beach. If Paul had run into one of the Nixes, that seemed to be the likeliest place to find him. Unless, of course, they had forced or dragged him into the ocean. In that event, they wouldn’t be finding him anytime soon.

  The Nixes, if that’s indeed what they were, had escalated their activity much faster than McCoy had anticipated. He hadn’t thought that they would attack again so soon after that afternoon’s grisly discovery of their latest victim. He also hadn’t considered grown men to be at any significant risk, and now Paul Stallings may have paid the ultimate price for McCoy’s shortsightedness. Paul might be a pretentious asshole, but he didn’t deserve to be murdered by a German water spirit. No one did.

  The beach proved to hold nothing of interest for McCoy. It was deserted as far as he could see in either direction, and while there were various footprints, there seemed to be no sign of a fight or struggle.

  Backtracking toward the house, McCoy led his little group around the western side of the building. As he swung the light across the ground, he began to see signs of what could have been a brief scuffle. It could have been nothing at all, really, but his gut told him that something had transpired here. He shone the flashlight’s beam in a wider arc, searching for any trace of Paul, but there was no sign of the man.

  A closer look at the building’s exterior proved that someone—or something—had been there, though. The power meter had been pried apart, showing significant damage to its interior. Obviously, this was why there was no electricity in the Stallings’ house. It occurred to McCoy that the nixes may have been deliberately trying to lure Paul Stallings outside. It was an unsettling thought, because it inferred that they were highly intelligent. McCoy vastly preferred working with stupid monsters. They were a lot easier to stop. />
  “Paul!” Karen shouted, unable to hold her silence any longer. “Paul, where are you?”

  Silence was her only answer. McCoy thought about shushing her, but it wasn’t worth the effort. He hadn’t sensed a foul presence, and apparently neither had Pru. Perhaps his arrival had frightened them off; just as he could sense supernatural beings, they could more often than not sense him, or at least his special abilities. It made sneaking up on one of them a little harder to do, but he guessed it was a fair trade to keep them from sneaking up on him.

  “Let’s head around front,” he whispered to the others. “Everyone keep their eyes open.”

  McCoy eased around the corner of the house and into the front yard, which bordered the main avenue that ran across the island. There were, unfortunately, no streetlights nearby, though some could be seen shining in the distance in either direction. The wind, which had died down considerably after the storm earlier, was beginning to pick up as it swept in off the ocean. A discarded soda can rattled noisily as it scuttled across the street like an armored metal crab.

  The front of the house was as deserted as the back had been. Nothing moved in the darkness other than the rustling of the palmettos.

  McCoy moved to the eastern side of the house, where the public access road ran down to the ocean, and where they had parked Amanda’s car. He swiped the light across the vehicle and immediately froze in his tracks, all of his senses rapidly going into full alert mode.

  “What the—″ Amanda gasped, coming up beside McCoy.

  The hood of the car stood propped open.

  “Son of a bitch,” McCoy said.

  Chapter Thirteen

  If his leg hadn’t been so sore, McCoy would have kicked himself in the ass. He stood looking into the engine compartment of Amanda’s car, a scowl clouding his face. The radiator hose had been ripped to shreds, and the fan belt was completely AWOL. And those were only things he’d noticed during a cursory inspection; there might be more damage that he’d failed to notice during his brief once-over. Not that it really mattered—the damage done was more than enough. They wouldn’t be taking the car anywhere.

  “Where do you keep your vehicle?” he asked, turning to look at Karen.

  “It’s in the garage. But I’m not leaving without Paul.” Her lower lip jutted out, causing her to resemble a pouting young girl.

  “Humor me,” McCoy said, walking toward the garage.

  “You can’t get in from the outside without the remote,” Karen said. “And it’s in the car. I’ll have to open it from the inside.”

  McCoy shook his head. “No power, remember? Surely the door can be raised by hand.”

  “Not from the outside. We’ll have to go in through the house.”

  McCoy stopped and considered that option. “I don’t like it,” he said finally. “Smells like a trap.”

  “I don’t sense anything,” Pru said.

  “Neither do I. But one of them trashed Amanda’s car while we were around the back side of the house, and we didn’t sense anything then, either. That means they can hide from us. They might anticipate we’d go for Karen’s car next, and they could be waiting inside, right now.”

  “Then what do we do?” Nan asked.

  “Head back to your place, fast. It’s only a quarter of a mile or so. We need to regroup and fortify for the night, and I might need more access to the internet.”

  “I told you, I’m not leaving here without Paul,” Karen repeated, shaking her head firmly. She turned and looked at the dark house. “If those things are in there, they might have Paul inside with them.”

  “Karen,” Becky said gently. “Maybe Mr. McCoy is—″

  “The only place I’m going is back inside to look for my husband.” Karen turned and began walking toward the house. McCoy, out of options, grabbed her by the arm and spun her around to face him.

  “Listen, lady. I don’t think these things are in the habit of taking hostages. I don’t mean to sound heartless, but if your husband ran into one of them, chances are he’s gone.”

  “Get your hands off me, you Neanderthal!” Karen shouted, wrenching her arm from McCoy’s grasp. Her eyes were wild and unfocused. McCoy knew the woman had lost it, and was seriously considering tossing her over his shoulder and removing her by force when he felt something tug on his shirt sleeve. He looked down to see Pru staring at him questioningly.

  “McCoy, I put down the red brick dust just like you said. So they shouldn’t be able to get inside, right?”

  McCoy stopped to consider this. The girl was right. As long as the line hadn’t been broken when they’d come out of the house earlier, then the Nixes wouldn’t be able to gain access. In theory, anyway. But then why keep them from leaving? The creatures obviously had some sort of plan, but McCoy just couldn’t see it.

  Maybe it did make more sense to hole up here, at least until morning. If worse came to worst, he knew their names, and that should give him at least some advantage over them. The Nixes seemed to want them to remain there, and if he could keep the women safely inside the house, there was a possibility he could end the whole thing before dawn. If they ran, he would have to wait for the creatures to show themselves again.

  As much as he hated to admit it, it made more sense to stay.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” he said to Pru. He turned to the rest of the group. “Okay, we’re going to go back around to the rear door. Stay together and wait for my go-ahead before going inside.”

  There was no argument from the others. Even Karen seemed satisfied with this plan of action, though her eyes still burned holes through McCoy.

  They made their way cautiously back to the rear entrance. McCoy knelt at the doorway and inspected the line of dust. It hadn’t been disturbed. Relieved and satisfied, he opened the door and ushered the others into the house. Inside, all was dark and silent.

  When they were all inside, McCoy shut and locked the door. He held up a hand, the signal for everyone to remain still and quiet. No suspicious sounds greeted his ears and, try as he might, he could not sense anything supernatural on the premises.

  “I think we’re good,” he said at last. “Okay everyone, into the living room. I need to think for a minute on the best way to go from here.”

  The women and Pru followed McCoy from the kitchen, blissfully unaware that something was listening to each and every padded footfall.

  ***

  The male listened intently from the attic, to which it had gained access by removing a vent cover on the outside of the house. The man and the girl were sly, using brick dust to ward the entrances, but they did not have the benefit of thousands of years of experience in such matters.

  The group below had moved from one room to another, and had apparently settled down to plan their next move. As if they had any control over their fate. The male smiled grimly in anticipation. The action made its misshapen head appear as if it were going to split in half. Then he remembered Tietza’s warning to use caution and stealth. She felt that the man was a formidable adversary, and not to be underestimated.

  Mallobaudes tended to be a bit more dismissive of the human. Earlier, he had taken the other human male with hardly any effort at all. Humans were weak, and easily tricked. Mallobaudes was far stronger, and he could take any shape or form he wished. The man would never even sense the danger until it was too late. And when the man was gone, the females would have no defense against him once Tietza began to sing. Even the child, gifted though she may be, would not have the strength to resist.

  With a speed and stealth which belied his grotesque form, Mallobaudes moved to the trapdoor which opened into one of the bedroom closets. Once down in the main part of the house, he would simply need to draw the man away from the women. And he had already come up with a plan for doing that.

  With the silence of a passing shadow, Mallobaudes opened the door and dropped to into the room below.

  ***

  Pru shifted nervously in her seat on the couch. With the exception
of Amanda and Nan, who were quietly whispering to each other, no one was talking. McCoy sat deep in thought in the recliner, while Aunt Karen stood looking out of the window, her face slack and expressionless. Pru glanced at her mother, who was sitting beside her on the couch eyeing Karen with a concerned expression.

  Something about this whole thing didn’t make sense. Pru was only twelve, but she wasn’t stupid. She was sure that McCoy sensed it, too, but he had remained silent since they had come into the living room.

  The Nixes wanted them to stay put. Why else would they have disabled Amanda’s car? But due to the red brick dust, the creatures couldn’t get inside the house. That must mean that they felt confident they could lure everyone out of the house.

  Or maybe they weren’t after everyone. Perhaps the Nixes were targeting only one of them. Aunt Karen? Nan? Pru herself? Only McCoy seemed an unlikely mark, since he was a man. But how did they hope to draw the women out with McCoy still inside, presumably unaffected?

  The short answer was that they wouldn’t try, that they would know McCoy would prevent anyone from leaving the house. Which brought Pru back to square one. Why did the Nixes want them in the house?

  All of this thinking was threatening to give Pru a headache. Her throat was dry, and she wanted something to drink. She got up and started toward the kitchen. She’d made it about three steps before McCoy and her mother shouted at her in unison.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m thirsty. I was going to get something to drink.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Becky said, rising from the couch.

  “Mom. I’m not a baby.”

  “You’ll always be my baby. C’mon. Let’s go get something to drink.”

  They walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Pru actually stood for a moment waiting for the light to come on before she remembered the power was out. She dug into the darkness and came up with a can of soda.

  “Want anything?” she asked her mom.