Seeking to Devour

by Kyle Alexander Romines

  Suddenly, her reflection appeared monstrous, like a savage animal emerging from the glass. Startled, Sarah rolled off the bed and hit her head. When she glanced up at the mirror again, her reflection was normal.

  I must be losing my mind.

  “It’s almost time,” a voice echoed in her mind. “Come.”

  The force of the command drove her to her knees. Get out of my head.

  “Rise,” the voice hissed, and Sarah’s vision erupted in white light.

  Her body contorted, and she climbed to her feet with a vacant expression. She put on a change of clothes and walked into the hallway, where her mother was clearly surprised to see her.

  “Sarah? Surely you’re not going out?”

  “There’s something I have to do,” she said mechanically. She didn’t quite sound or feel like herself.

  “But you’re sick! You only just got home.”

  Sarah brushed past her and threw open the door. She was gone by the time her mother followed her outside.

  Once everything was in place, Aristae dialed Ellie’s number.

  “This is Michael Sullivan. Can I ask who’s calling?”

  “I’m a friend of Ellie’s. I’d like to speak to her. I heard what happened, and I want to make sure she’s all right.”

  After a short interval, Ellie’s voice came over the line. “Hello?”

  “It’s time to play, little one. I’m looking at an old woman I believe you’re quite fond of.” Aristae glanced at Mrs. Wells, who slept in her chair, and gently brushed a strand of white hair away from her face. Mortals. How fragile they are. “Arrive before sunset, and I will let her live. Come alone, or another of your friends dies. The choice is yours.”

  “Wait—”

  Aristae hung up the phone. That would bring her running, like a moth to the flame. She snapped Mrs. Wells’ neck and left her corpse behind. Her death was a message to Alexander, who had also come to care for the old woman. Aristae felt no remorse. She’d been killing for so long she’d lost count of all her victims. It was a far less painful fate than what Aristae had in store for the others.

  Outside, the sun offered a false promise of safety. Ellie would think herself safe. She was wrong. Aristae’s ring shimmered, and a faint wind stirred and tousled her clothes. She raised her hands toward the sky. Unlike Alexander, she knew how to harness the true power of her curse.

  “Let darkness stand within the light.”

  The dim outline of the moon appeared in the bright sky. Aristae’s lips pulled back in a sinister smile. Tempted as she was to wait for Ellie’s arrival, she had other places to be.

  Matt couldn’t believe his eyes. He read the computer article again and tried to make sense of the new information.

  Student Goes Missing. The story was dated almost twenty years ago. After his conversation with Ellie Sullivan, he’d done some digging. Surprisingly, there was no record of Alexander Thorne within the past year. No one he spoke with aside from Ellie had even heard of his father.

  Then he tried again using Alex Hawthorne instead and found a story about an animal attack at a campground in the Smoky Mountains. Matt pulled up the links Michael Sullivan had sent him about the predator. The area where Alex Hawthorne had gone missing twenty years ago overlapped with a town that had suffered a series of fatalities thanks to an unidentified predator.

  What does this mean? Suddenly, Ellie’s werewolf story didn’t sound quite so far-fetched—aside from the fact that it was impossible. He searched for another explanation with little success. I know Ellie kept something from me. What was it? The more he thought about the article, the more it didn’t make sense. He sighed and dialed the Sullivans’ home number.

  “Hello?” It was Michael.

  “Doc, it’s Matt again. Is Ellie home? I had a follow-up question I wanted to ask her about Alex Hawthorne.”

  “You mean Alexander Thorne?” Michael sounded confused.

  “You’ve met him?”

  “He came to dinner. Is he in some trouble?”

  “I’m not sure. It would be helpful if I could talk to Ellie.”

  “You just missed her. She went out to visit Mrs. Wells, I believe.”

  “Thanks.” Matt ended the call. It didn’t sit right with him. Why was Ellie rushing off so soon after her encounter with the predator, and why was she going back to the very spot where she was almost killed? Something didn’t add up, and he planned on finding what that was.

  The station was closer than the Sullivans’ house to Mrs. Wells’ cottage. If he left quickly, maybe he could head her off. Matt left the station and hurried to his car. He spotted Ellie’s van driving down the winding road less than five minutes from the house. He didn’t need his speedometer to tell him she was going well over the limit. Matt turned on his lights and motioned for her to pull over, but Ellie kept going until she reached the Wells farm, where she swerved onto the gravel road and skidded to a halt.

  Matt slammed on his brakes and brought the cruiser to a stop. “Ellie!”

  She threw open the door and ran to the house as if she hadn’t heard him.

  Matt swore under his breath went after her. “What’s going on?”

  She vanished inside before he could stop her. “Mrs. Wells? Can you hear me?”

  Matt rounded the corner and watched her approach Mrs. Wells’ chair. Ellie reached out and touched her tenderly, and the old woman stared back with lifeless eyes. Ellie screamed.

  Matt put his fingers on Mrs. Wells’ neck and felt for a pulse. “She’s dead. I’m sorry, Ellie.” He inspected the body, and his hair stood on end. Mrs. Wells’ neck was broken. Someone had murdered her.

  “Aristae lied to me. She said she would let her live.” Grief filled Ellie’s voice.

  “Who’s Aristae?” Matt asked. “What’s this about, Ellie? I’m trying to help, but you have to tell me the truth.”

  The doorbell rang before Ellie could answer, and they stared at the door. Matt held a finger to his lips, pulled his gun and advanced quietly. He threw open the front door and looked outside. There’s no one here. Matt lowered his voice. “Someone’s playing games with us. Stay close to me.”

  Ellie brushed past him and reached for a gun of her own.

  Matt raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you get that? Do you have a permit for that?”

  “I tried to warn you, but you didn’t listen.” Ellie kept her eyes ahead, as if expecting something to leap out at her at any moment.

  “Tell me you don’t seriously believe a werewolf killed Mrs. Wells. Do you even know how to use that?”

  “I know what I’m doing. My dad used to take me to the gun range all the time.”

  As Matt started to respond, someone approached along the gravel road.

  Ellie’s brow arched in alarm. “That’s Winston.” She ran to him. “Are you all right? Where’s Sarah? Is she safe?”

  Matt followed—though, mindful of his training, he continued to look for danger.

  Winston merely stood there, staring at her with a vacant expression. Suddenly, he began rocking back and forth, and Matt noticed a nasty-looking scar on his neck and shoulder. Something had bitten him. Something big.

  “Not you, too.” Ellie lowered her gun. “Fight it, Winston! Don’t give in.”

  “But I want to.” His voice became a growl. “You shouldn’t have toyed with me, Ellie. No one is ever going to hurt me again.” His eyes turned amber, and he threw his head back. Matt stood rooted to the spot, watching as gray fur covered Winston’s body.

  Ellie pointed at the sky, where the moon was visible even in the dying sunlight. “He’s transforming.”

  “It can’t be.” Matt stared, transfixed. Winston’s face contorted, and his mouth opened to reveal a set of fangs. Matt took aim with his weapon. “Stay back!”

  “Stop! It’s not his fault.” Ellie grabbed at his arm. “We can’t stay here.”

  “Come on.” Matt sprinted toward his cruiser to radio for backup. “Get in.” He fumbled for his keys and
flung open the door. “Get in!”

  A howl rang out behind him, and the werewolf—fully transformed—landed on the cruiser’s roof.

  “You don’t have to do this, Winston. This isn’t who you are.” Ellie pleaded with the creature with her eyes. The werewolf snarled and crouched to pounce. The gun wavered in Ellie’s hands, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger. At the last moment, Matt fired two shots into the monster’s flank. A third shot hit it in the head, and blood sprouted from its gray fur.

  The werewolf fell from the cruiser’s roof with a shriek. As Matt ran to Ellie’s side to pull her away, he heard the creature thrashing loudly behind the cruiser.

  A howl sounded in the distance. Samantha wished her daughter hadn’t left home. A feeling of dread had been gnawing at her since their dinner with Alexander Thorne, and she felt powerless to overcome it. Samantha gazed out the living room window, waiting for Ellie’s return, and noticed the barn doors were ajar.

  She found Michael at his desk in the next room. “Did you leave the doors to the barn open?”

  “I don’t think so.” Thunder echoed outside. “I don’t remember rain in the forecast. I’d better close them before the storm hits.” The door shut as he headed outside.

  Samantha jumped. A figure stood in the shadows.

  She went absolutely still as she regarded the apparition from her past. “It really is you, isn’t it?”

  “It is.” Alex wavered uncomfortably.

  “Twenty years, and you haven’t aged a day. How is that possible?”

  He didn’t answer.

  The shock of seeing him receded as one moment passed into the next. “What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure if I came here to hurt you, say goodbye, or both.” One of his hands became a claw, with long, razor-sharp nails.

  Samantha trembled. Something monstrous lurked in his eyes. This wasn’t the man she remembered—not really. “You’re not going to hurt me. Alex, it’s me.”

  “You broke my heart, Samantha. I loved you, and you broke my heart.”

  “Alex, that was twenty years ago.”

  His expression was raw, a mix of anger and pain. “For me, it still hurts like yesterday. You were everything to me, Samantha. You moved on after six months. Six months. How could you?”

  “That’s why you want to hurt me? Because I married someone else? What happened to you, Alex?”

  “Without you, there was no reason for Alex Hawthorne to exist. Everyone believed I was dead, and in a way I was.”

  “Do you think it was easy for me when you left right after you came back? I had to lose my best friend all over again.” Samantha’s thoughts turned to Ellie, and she felt a sickening sensation in her gut. “What about Ellie? What have you done with her?”

  The mention of Ellie seemed to calm him. “I told you, Samantha. You hurt me. I wanted to hurt you back. I wanted to take away something you loved.”

  Although his appearance hadn’t changed, Samantha no longer recognized him. “What have you done?” A sensation of dread settled in the pit of her stomach.

  “Ellie reminds me so much of you. She made me remember what we shared—what we could have been. That’s why I came here tonight.”

  “You say you loved me? This isn’t love. It’s obsession.”

  “What I felt for you was real. What I feel for Ellie is real.”

  “I don’t think you know what love is. ‘True love is patient. Love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly.’”

  “Stop it.” Anger flashed in his eyes.

  “It does not seek its own, is not provoked, it does not take into account a wrong suffered.”

  He punched through the wall. “I said stop!”

  “Look at you, Alex. Look what you’ve become. I feel sorry for you.” She stared into his eyes, which had turned a deep amber. “If you ever loved me, let it go. Let us go.”

  Alex trembled. “I can’t. My anger—my hate—it’s all I have left of you.”

  Samantha mustered her courage and stood her ground. “Then do it. I can’t stop you, if it’s what you really want.”

  Alex’s brows knitted together. He took a step forward, and another, until only a hair’s breadth stood between them. Samantha’s heart beat furiously as fangs sprouted in his mouth and his remaining hand turned into a claw. He raised his claw, and she closed her eyes and shook violently.

  “I can’t.” Alex hung his head. “I can’t.”

  “Alex…”

  Suddenly, he sniffed the air, and his expression changed. “We’re not alone.”

  Samantha followed his gaze to the doorway, where an unfamiliar woman loomed. “How beautiful. The lovers reunited at last.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ellie stole toward the police cruiser and peered around the other side. Matt held his gun out and advanced beside her.

  “He’s gone.” The werewolf had vanished. Gray clouds passed over sun and moon alike, and thunder sounded in the distance. A storm was coming.

  Matt reluctantly lowered his gun and checked the cruiser. “Radio’s busted. I don’t have cell service out here.”

  “It looks like we’re on our own.” She noticed a trail of blood leading away from the cruiser and beckoned him to follow her. “He can’t have gone far.”

  “I hit him in the head. He’s dead.”

  Ellie remembered how Alex had healed from his stab wound. Likewise, Matt’s shotgun shells hadn’t left so much as a scar. She suspected Winston had similar healing properties. “He’s not dead. We aren’t dealing with an ordinary animal. It’ll take more than a regular bullet to put down a werewolf.”

  Matt swore. “A werewolf? In Hazard? I still can’t believe it.”

  They followed the trail of blood into the barn. Horses reared and stomped the ground in their stalls. Ellie thought again of how they had reacted to Alexander when she’d taken him riding. “He’s close. Be careful. There might be more of them.”

  Matt’s brow arched. “More? How many are there?”

  “I don’t know.” If Aristae had turned Winston into a werewolf, had she done the same to Sarah? Ellie couldn’t even bring herself to shoot Winston, let alone her best friend. She regarded the gun in her hand. Winston might not be in control of his actions, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t intended to hurt her.

  “It’s not as easy as it looks,” Matt said, as if reading her mind. Now that the initial wave of adrenaline had subsided, he looked shaken.

  They took turns inspecting the stalls on their way through the barn. Ellie noticed the door to the supply room was ajar. She nodded to Matt and eased the door open.

  Inside, Winston had reverted to his human form in the moon’s absence and assumed a fetal position on the floor. He wore only torn pants, and his eyes were wild and alert. “Don’t hurt me.” He raised a hand to shield himself.

  “What does Aristae want with me?” Ellie demanded.

  “It’s not you she’s after.” He sounded frightened. “It’s your family.”

  Ellie exchanged a look with Matt. “We need to get out of here. Now.” It was a trap, and she’d walked right into it.

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Winston’s voice became a growl as the clouds rolled back and the moon appeared in the sky.

  Matt gritted his teeth. “Ellie, get to the van. I’ll cover you.”

  “I’m not leaving without you.”

  Fur enveloped Winston’s torso, and his body began to increase in mass. Ellie and Matt sprinted toward her van, but Winston was already closing the distance between them. Fully transformed, he knocked Ellie’s van over on its side.

  Before he could round on them, Matt pulled Ellie inside Mrs. Wells’ house and slammed the door shut. “We can’t stay here forever. That thing will force its way inside eventually.”

  Ellie hurried to the kitchen window and glanced outside. Winston was gone from view. “You heard what he said. My famil
y’s in danger.”

  “Ellie, there’s no way we can outrun that thing in the open.”

  Ellie’s mind raced furiously. “Your keys are still in your car door. The hood’s busted, but I bet the engine still works. It’s the only chance we have.”

  A force collided with the front door, which groaned under the monster’s weight.

  He’s trying to force his way inside. Ellie hurried into the next room. “We need another way out.”

  Matt stared at the door. “You get to the garage. I’ll draw him away.”

  “Matt…”

  The door shuddered and splintered under the monster’s claws. “There’s no time!”

  Ellie opened the bathroom window and crawled outside. A howl rang out behind her, and gunshots broke out. The shooting stopped just as suddenly as it began, and Ellie heard something moving on the roof. “Matt?”

  A growl came from above, where the werewolf clung to the roof by its claws. Ellie bolted toward the barn, only this time she was the hunted and not the hunter. The monster jumped from the roof and bounded toward her. If Matt was alive, at least distracting the werewolf would give him time to find Mrs. Wells’ car keys. If not…Ellie couldn’t think about that, not with the werewolf hot on her trail.

  She fired blindly. Once inside, she pressed herself against the wall and waited. Ellie expected Winston to come charging after her, but he didn’t. Maybe the bullets scared him away. She would have to make her remaining shots count.

  She tiptoed across the dirt floor and wondered if the werewolf’s senses were acute enough to detect her racing heart. Ellie heard the werewolf crawling along the barn’s roof. Its head appeared, hanging upside down from the roof, and it dropped and landed inside. Ellie prayed it hadn’t seen her and lowered herself into a crouching position. Hopefully, the panicked horses would mask her scent. As the werewolf searched for her, she quietly made her way toward the entrance and waited for an opportunity to slip past it. Finally, it wandered past her.

  This is it. She took in a deep breath and made a run for it.