Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter

by David Raymond II

  One forty seven in the morning on Tuesday December Sixth, Dan Gallugan has just spent a couple hours drinking with his well earned pan handling money. He is one of Albern New Mexico's unemployed homeless, a bum who spends his days earning what little money he can to buy food and then waste what's left on it on cheap booze. Normally by now he would be back at his dwelling, the basement of an abandoned house on Roades St. Normally he is out of money by eleven pm and but last night as he was returning to his dwelling he found a ten on the ground and bought a couple more drinks. So now an even drunker then usual Dan is wondering aimlessly though the back allies of Albern trying to find his safe dwelling.

  Dan watches for landmarks, mainly the markings of his fellow squatters so that he does not wonder into one of their homes. Some of the other homeless are mean bastards who would pick a fight and even try to kill someone who enters their territory. The homeless can be very territorial like animals. Dan sees himself as a peaceful person, bur he knows we would protect his land if he had to. He does not have much left in life.

  Dan walks into a dark alley, he believes it's a short cut to his dwelling. He notices that one of the lights is out but does not know why. Even if he was looking right at the light pole he probably would not recognize that the controls have been ripped out. He takes a few steps forward and tumbles over a rock, “Wha now.” He says with a slurred voice.

  While he stumbles to get back up he hears a rumbling over by a trash can, “Is um sumone ere?” There is no response just the trash can shaking even harder. Dan decides it is some animal and just ignores it. As he gets back up and stumbles forward, something or someone by the trashcan throws a rotten apple at his head. The apple whacks Dan on the back of the head knocking him to his knees. “Who dare?” he demands.

  There are over from the garbage can that sounds vaguely like laughing. Dan forces himself back up and looks over to see what seems to be the shadow of a man. The man lifts up the can as he laughs and hurls it at Dan. Dan stumbles and jumps, having missed the round can by inches. The drunk feels good about that, “Am I trespasin? Sori, let me 'uUURRP' get out of here.” He waves at the man.

  Dan walks further into the alley, “sees I'ma living.” He hopes that when he leaves that man's territory he will be safe. After a while Dan gets a feeling that the man is following him. Dan does not like it. “Akay so am almost out of here I just turn righ? What?” As Dan turns he realizes the alley ends in a dead end. This is not an alley he normally uses. He looks around sees that in three directions the ally ends and he can only go back. As he tries to go back he sees the form of a man, the laughing man is moving toward him. “Sori?”

  The man walks toward Dan, his features become clear to Dan as the man comes closer and Dan's eyes adjust to the darkness. The man is large with wild hair and an unshaven face, he has eyes that seem to glow in the night. They almost look like an animal's eyes. The man is not wearing a shirt and only has on a ripped pair of jeans. He is no longer laughing but is smiling at Dan, showing him some teeth that are too sharp for a human.

  “What? What are you?” Dan says but somewhere a more logical part of the drunks mind is telling him that he is hallucinating and the man before him is not as bestial as he looks.

  The man opens his mouth as if he is going to speak but no normal words come out, “AARRRROOOWWW.” The man scream turns into a laugh and he shows Dan his hands. There is a sharp knife in each one.

  “You, you?” Dan is at a loss for words he can feel that he is peeing himself as the strange man moves even closer to him. Dan has not felt this much fear since a year and a half ago when he crashed his car that night returning home from Vegas with his wife and two children. The night he killed them. “Death.” Dan is not ready to die, he thought he drank to kill himself but that's not true. “Is that you death?

  The man smiles, he can smell Dan's fear and he seems to be feeding off it. He slashes at Dan in the arm and laughs.

  Because the man is right in front of him Dan can smell rotten meat in the guy's breath, rotten raw meat. Dan thinks this man might be a cannibal, and might want to eat him, “No, no.”

  The man slashes Dan across the face with knife and then drops both knives and smiles. The man then grabs Dan by the neck and suddenly Dan realizes that the knifes would be a too impersonal way to kill for this monster. This monster wants to feel Dan's life end as he kills him. Dan was right and his final thought as the man snaps his neck is wondering if his wife and twin daughters forgive him in heaven.

  Thanatos drops the dead body of the drunk hobo, he does not care at all about this man, he just wanted to kill, to feel the life of someone end in his hand. Too bad he's full otherwise he would probably eat this man, but Tarque gave him lots of food before this hunt, to make sure things happened the way he wanted. The bestial Thanatos trembles slightly and then stops moving, a presence invades his body and someone or something takes control of him. Thanatos looks at the dead body and suddenly his body begins to move on it's own.

  Thanatos or what ever is controlling him picks up the knives and quickly cuts open Dan's stomach while the blood is still flowing out of his quickly dying corpse. Blood spills out of the mans stomach and Vargas taking the knife covers the blade in blood and then writes on the wall.

  “SHARP I AM COMING FOR YOU. I WILL KILL EVREY THREE DAYS UNTIL I FIND YOU. VARGAS.”

  It is the same type of message that Vargas Thanatos made during his original killing spree and in his pattern too. The only real difference is this time he has a personal target and he it too mindless to do this on his own. Good thing his bestial state makes him a perfect mind slave for Tarque who can control the wolf man with ease. The only time the voodoo priest's magic was not affecting the wolf man was when he was actually stalking and killing the drunk. The lycanthrop was controlled all the way to the alley because he was only suppose to kill one person and send a message, a wild rampage is not part of Tarque's plan. When Thanatos is done playing his part the wold man returns to the back door of Tarque's shop, again under control so he does not kill everything that moves.

  At five thirty in the morning Valmont Sharp is woken as the private line that only does to his bed room and office. This private line is known only to the top people with in the Sharp organization as well as his contact with in different law informant agencies as well as the current police chief of Albern New Mexico. Sharp gave the chief of Albern his number once his show became legitimate and he learned of the threat on the lives of people close to him. He did this as a precaution but never expected any of his enemies to actually come to Albern. Valmont answers the phone, “Hello?”

  “Sharp it's chief Victor Randal of the Albern police department. I hope I did not wake you but we have a problem and it has your name written all over it.”

  “What?” Valmont jumps out of bed his eyes wide open, the day he feared has arrived. His work has followed him home. “What is it chief?”

  “It's what I said, your name is literally all over it. There was a murder in town at around two in the morning and the killer left a message for you. I'm pulling up at your home right now sharp so let me in.”

  Valmont turns off the phone and calls for the early morning guard though the intercom, “Please see chief Randal to the study, I will be there in ten minutes I have to get ready.”

  “Understood.”

  Valmont gets out of bet and changes out of his pajamas and into a pair of black jeans and a nice shirt. He then goes into the bathroom and quickly washes his face he can tell what's happening is important and he has to look his best. Valmont thinks back to six years ago when he had the Sharp Monster Manor built, and how he had to do a lot of convincing to Albern's city congress that he would be a benefit to the town. One of his major critics from the start was chief Randal. Randal always feared that the type of attention sharp would bring to Albern would be the wrong kind. Now he might be right. “Damn it” Valmont says as he dries his face off.

  Valmont walks out of his room quietly in hopes that
he does not wake up Chris. Making it over to study he walks in and sees Victor Randal at the center table with pictures and a police file spreed out. “Hey chief whats up.”

  Randal glares at Valmont, “Like I said Sharp bad news for you. You brought a freak here to my town. This better not be one of your shows.”

  “A freak?” Valmont walks over to the table. “You have me at a loss chief.”

  “Maybe this will clear things up, 'Sharp I am coming for you, Vargas.' That is what was signed in blood at the murder of a man named Dan Gallugan. In the victim’s blood.” Randal slams his fist on the table. “You brought that crazed killer here. To my town.”

  “Vargas! here?” Valmont walks over to the table and looks at the pictures, three of them are from the case in Glacier Falls and the other two are from the Gallugan murder.

  “I don't know what deal you had with the Glacier Falls police department or why they put up with playing a serial killer up as a werewolf for the enjoyment of millions but I will not put up with it in my town.”

  Valmont ignores him still shocked by the pictures, “This looks like Vargas's work but that's impossible. Vargas is not capable of real intelligent anymore. The man pretty much is a wild beast. You looked at the case right?” He looks at Randal.

  “Yeah yeah maybe he was faking it, these serial killer types are crafty. Look at the facts Sharp Vargas is in town and he is after you. I knew you would bring something like this to my town.”

  “Any way I can help?” Valmont asks honestly.

  “Yeah hope that I don't find out this is part of your latest show. If this turns into a Sharp show I will jump all over you and arrest you in a second. I will not put up with any of your crap. The way things look to me you brought a serial killer into my town. Do you deny that?”

  “No I don't.” Valmont shakes his head in disbelief, “And I didn't. I didn't bring him here. I did not know he was here and I don't know how he got here. I will help in any way to stop him and no I will not turn this into a show. Let my team help. I have a contact in the FBI.”

  “I will think about it Sharp. I just wanted to give you the heads up.” Randal start's piling up the papers, “I will be keeping my eye on you and on your organization. Don't step out of line Sharp. Oh and every murder this Vargas fellow causes I'm blaming on you. You brought him here, even if not directly.” He puts the files into his suitcase and then walks over to Sharp. “Now here is a copy of that picture and the file. Give it to that Wayte fellow of yours, your not as retired as he seems FBI friend.” Randal then leaves the Study and the Sharp manor.

  Carter Fogal is standing at the study door as Randal leaves, he bows to the police chief and then looks at Sharp, “Sir?”

  “Fogal contact everyone please, Wayte, Jocasta, Francois, Alfred and his son, anyone else from the show in town. We should get the whole team together ASAP..” Valmont tells him.

  “Understood sir. Now what about your son and miss Charlotte? Should they be invited to this meeting too?”

  Valmont thinks about that for a second, he should not let Chris and Charlotte in on this meeting but they will find out soon enough, the report will be on TV along with the message to Valmont, as well as in the news papers and all around time. There is no point hiding it from them. “That would be for the best Fogal. So yes make sure my son and miss Luminare knows too. If Francois has a problem with that he can bring it up with me.”

  “Understood sir.” And Fogal walks out of the study and closes the door behind him.

  Valmont sits down at the head chair of the center table in the study and looks down at the copy of the police report, “Damn it, damn it, this sucks, this really sucks.”

  Chapter Nineteen