McCoy knew that he was not giving Amanda enough credit by thinking this way. She was one of the strongest and smartest people he had ever met. A lot smarter than McCoy himself, apparently. He had been so busy patting himself on the back for figuring out the girl’s role in the disappearances that he had overlooked the connection between the girl he’d seen and the image the demon had taken. And he had a feeling that it might be an important, if not critical, piece of the puzzle.
He knew that he was missing something. He hoped that things might make more sense in the morning when they went back to Shallow Springs. Maybe Amanda might find something useful in the newspaper archives.
He didn’t want to disturb her, but he had to pee. He was convinced that his bladder was shrinking by half every year. At the rate he was falling apart, he probably didn’t need to worry about the Fey or demons or anything else getting him. He would simply whittle away to nothing.
McCoy crept out of the bed as quietly as he could and padded to the bathroom. He lifted the toilet seat and made a mental note to put it back down when he was finished. It was nice to think that he might have to get used to doing that.
When he finished his business, he tiptoed back into the bedroom. He was about to crawl back under the covers when he heard something. He froze and listened. It came again—a buzzing sound, something like a pissed-off bumble bee might make. He looked around but saw nothing. It sounded like it was coming from beneath the bed. He squatted slowly, ready for something horrible to erupt from the darkness, and realized that it was coming from his shirt, which he had discarded on the floor earlier. His cell phone was in the pocket of the shirt. He had set the phone to vibrate earlier in the evening.
McCoy snatched the phone from the pocket and trotted into the kitchen; he didn’t want to disturb Amanda. He looked at the phone’s display, but didn’t recognize the number. With a bad feeling, he answered.
“McCoy.”
“Finn McCoy?” came the deep voice, which McCoy couldn’t place.
“That’s right. Who is this?”
“My name’s John Talbot, Mr. McCoy. I’m a deputy with the Meade County Sheriff’s Department.”
McCoy was able to put a face to the voice. “Yeah. You’re the big guy. I’ve seen you around, but we’ve never been introduced.”
“Yes, sir.” Talbot sounded every bit the cop. McCoy wondered whether or not this was an official call. “I got your number from Deidre Pratt at the office. I hope you don’t mind me calling so late.”
“No. That’s fine. Has something happened in the Springs?”
“You might say that.” There was a pause, as if Talbot were unsure how to continue. Or if he should. “I saw something tonight, Mr. McCoy,” he said finally.
“Call me Finn. Please. What was it that you saw, John?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I got a good look at it and all, but I still couldn’t tell you what the hell it was.”
“Let me guess. It was about three feet tall and looked like the ugliest kid you’d ever laid eyes on.”
“How’d you know that?” Talbot sounded shocked.
“It was either that or a really hot naked chick,” McCoy said. “I figured you wouldn’t be calling me in the middle of the night about her.”
“Naked chick?” Talbot was confused.
“Never mind. I take it Lyle hasn’t given you guys many details about what’s going on.”
Another pause, this one not quite as long. “No sir, he hasn’t. I need to ask you a few things, Finn, but first, I need for you to understand something. I’ve always done my best to be a good cop.”
“I’m sure you have,” McCoy said.
“I thought long and hard before making this call,” Talbot said. “I struggled with it. It’s not in my nature to go behind my boss’ back. But I’ve come to believe that the situation is more serious than he’s led us to believe.”
“You hit that nail on the head.”
“Sheriff Lyle is dead set against calling in the state boys. I’m…not so sure. Do you think he’s making the right call?”
It was McCoy’s turn to pause. He knew very well Lyle’s reason for wanting to keep the outside help outside, and it had nothing to do with the safety of the citizens of Shallow Springs. Be that as it may, McCoy had always gone along with it because he had a better chance of dealing with the Fey without the interference that the state police or feds would have provided.
“For the time being,” he said, “it’s a good call. You’ve probably heard that I was in town today. I met with the sheriff, and we came up with a game plan. I’ll be back first thing in the morning, and I’m going to try to put an end to this before anyone else gets hurt.”
“Yeah, I heard you were some kind of ghost talker. Do you think you can do it? The truth.”
“I think I can, yeah. I’ve had experience with things like you saw earlier.”
“What the hell was it?” Talbot asked.
McCoy sighed. “Well, John, now that you’re in the loop, so to speak, you’re going to need to be filled in on a lot of things. That’s something best done in person, and it would be better if Lyle didn’t know. We can meet up tomorrow, if you want.”
Talbot considered this. “Okay. But just so you know, if anyone else turns up missing, I’m going to make that call.”
“Fair enough.”
“What time are you…what the…” Talbot broke off.
“John? Are you still there?”
Talbot did not reply. McCoy could hear what sounded like footsteps and low, heavy breathing.
“John, what’s going on?”
“I just saw one of them,” came the whispered reply.
“What? Where are you?”
“In the middle of town. It ran into the alley between the hair salon and the drugstore.”
“Town?” McCoy was at a loss. None of the Fey had ever been so brazen before. If the Sluagh were actually in the town itself…
“McCoy?”
“Yeah.”
“Still think you can stop them?”
“I hope so.”
“Then you’d better get your ass over here. Right now.”
The call ended.
***
“I’m going,” Amanda said. “Just like we’d planned.”
“That was before little nasty uglies started showing up on Main Street,” McCoy argued.
“All the more reason I need to go. Do you think Lyle is going to have your back on this?”
“I can watch my own back.”
“Yeah. Like you did with the water hound?”
“Are you ever going to let me live that down?” McCoy shook his head in exasperation.
“Probably not.” Amanda finished tying her shoe and grabbed her jacket. “Are you ready?”
McCoy was beaten, and he knew it. He didn’t have time to argue. If the Sluagh were slinking around in the town proper, it was only a matter of time before something really bad happened. If they dallied much longer, there might not be a town left by the time they arrived.
“Okay. But you stick to me like glue, got it?”
“Your own shadow won’t be able to get between us.”
“Good. Grab my knapsack. I’ll get the guns.”
McCoy carried two shotguns loaded with iron slugs. He also had a walking stick made from black rowan, which he had used to kill the water hound at Amanda’s lake house. Black rowan was also called fairy wood, and it could hurt the Fey like no normal wood could.
He insisted on taking Boo, citing the possible need of its four wheel-drive capabilities. Amanda, though not happy, relented, and they loaded up the truck. It was nearly two AM when they left McCoy’s house; driving at the truck’s top speed, they couldn’t hope to make the trip in less than an hour.
McCoy wasn’t overly concerned about obeying the speed limit, but he didn’t want to drive recklessly, either. There was little traffic at this time of night, and the weather and road conditions were good, but he still slowed when he saw t
he occasional pair of headlights approaching from the opposite direction. He didn’t want to get pulled over by the cops. A quick call to Lyle would probably get him out of a ticket, but he couldn’t afford the delay.
“Shouldn’t you call ahead to Lyle?” Amanda asked as they sped through the darkness. “He may not even know what’s going on.”
“I’ve been debating that,” McCoy answered. “I’d think Talbot would have already alerted him. If not, and I call, I’m going to have to explain why I was on the phone with one of his deputies, and that’s going to cause tension between all of us. If things are about to get bad, we won’t be able to afford the distraction.”
“How bad will things get?”
McCoy shrugged. “I have no idea, to be honest. None of the Fey have ever had the balls to show up in the middle of town. Talbot said he’d seen one. Hopefully, it was just a scout. Even that would be bad, but at least it would be better than a whole pack of them.”
“And if it is a whole pack?” Amanda asked. “How is word of this not going to get out”?
“It probably will, at least for as long as it takes for the government to get involved. Then it’s anybody’s guess. My bet would be they’d quarantine the area while they attempted to deal with the Fey. Afterwards, people who saw anything at all would be reconditioned, or else they’d just disappear.”
“The government would do that?” Amanda sounded unconvinced.
“You have no idea.”
“Yeah, and I probably don’t want to. It’s enough that I already know about ghosts and ghoulies and evil fairies.”
“Yes, it is,” McCoy agreed.
They grew silent, each lost in their own thoughts as they drove through the night.
***
The Sluagh stood at the base of the cell tower, looking up into the night sky toward the top of the structure. The tower stood at over two hundred feet, but the agile creatures had no fear of heights, for even falling from the top, though it might be painful, could not kill them.
There were a dozen of them, and they had a single objective: to inflict as much damage on the tower’s delicate antennae array as possible. Through their Queen, they had learned that, by disabling the tower’s equipment, they would ensure that the raid on the town would not be hindered by outside forces. How the Queen knew this, they did not know, and it was not their concern. She often went out alone to watch the humans and gather information. She was intelligent, and she knew the ways of the humans.
Miles away, another group was poised to take down the telephone lines which ran into the town. This, the Queen had assured them, would totally isolate the people of the town from the outside world. When the siege began, they would not be able to call upon other humans for aid.
Soon, they would have their run over the town. The only demand that the Queen had made was that the children were not to be touched. While this ran contradictory to the nature of the Sluagh, it was an acceptable arrangement due to the sheer number of victims that would be available. Also, a successful assault on the town itself would assure that the Sluagh would attain the dominant rank in the hierarchy of the Fey.
The Sluagh checked the position of the stars. It was time.
They began to ascend the tower.
Chapter Eight
Moonlight glistened off the old-style barber pole which hung above the entrance of Tyler’s Barber Shop. A few doors down, a gentle breeze stirred the colorful flag which hung outside Kustom Krafts. The flag depicted a seasonal theme: fat, orange pumpkins and crisp, fallen leaves. Across the street, the display window of Elaine’s Discount featured a plethora of Halloween decorations and costumes.
John Talbot was crouched low behind a cotoneaster hedge which formed the borders of Veteran’s Park. The small park was situated on the northeast corner of the town square, and it offered John an unobstructed view of much of Main Street in either direction. For the last half hour, all had been still and quiet.
John took his cell phone from his shirt pocket and hit the speed dial. After a few rings, Lyle answered.
“What’s it look like?” the sheriff asked.
“Nothing since the one I saw earlier,” John replied. While he had recounted the account of his encounter on Duncan Road, he hadn’t spoken to Lyle of his conversation with Finn McCoy. “Maybe it was a one-time deal.”
“Don’t bet on it, son,” Lyle said. “Just keep your eyes peeled and let me know if anything moves. I’ve got men set up all over town, just so you know you’re not alone out there.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good man. We’ll get through this, John. I’ll get some help in here come daylight. Just sit tight, and…”
John looked at his phone. The display read call lost. He checked his signal strength. No bars. That couldn’t be right. There was always a good signal here in town.
He caught a furtive movement from the corner of his eye and turned to look across the street. Something darted into the shadows between two buildings, but he didn’t get a clear look at whatever it was. It could have been a dog. He tried to tell himself that.
John really hoped that Finn McCoy was on his way.
***
McCoy took the exit into Shallow Springs a little faster than he should have, causing Amanda to take a sharp breath and grab the truck’s dash in an effort to steady herself.
“We won’t be much help if we’re dead,” she reminded him for what had to be the tenth time since they’d set out.
“Sorry. The steering’s not as tight as it used to be”
“The only thing holding this truck together is your stubborn love for it.”
“Then there’s a lot to be said for stubborn love.”
Amanda had no argument for that, but she was too nervous and excited to sit still and remain silent. She pulled out her phone to check the time and noticed something strange.
“That’s weird. I don’t remember any dead zones right through here,” she remarked.
“What do you mean?” McCoy asked.
“I don’t have any signal. I could’ve sworn it was always maxed out through here.”
McCoy slowed and dug his phone out of his pocket. He checked for a signal. Nothing.
“Maybe something’s wrong with the tower,” Amanda said.
“Well, if it is, it’s probably no accident.”
“The Fey, you mean?”
“The Sluagh, to be more specific. It just doesn’t make sense, though. They’ve never been this coordinated in their actions. Someone or something has to be leading them.”
“Do you think it’s the girl?”
“I think she has something to do with it. I’m just not sure what. I’m positive she’s not Fey, but I don’t see how a human could get in with the Sluagh without getting butchered, much less manage to become their leader.”
“Not even a theory?” Amanda asked.
McCoy shot her a glance. “Yeah, I’ve got a theory, but it would bend the rules of everything I know about the Sluagh, if not totally break them.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Okay, here goes. It’s possible the Sluagh kidnapped her when she was a young child. I think most of the abducted children are sent back through the portal, to wherever it is the Fey call home. I don’t know what happens to them once they get there, and I don’t think I want to. But for some reason, this child stayed behind and was actually assimilated into the Sluagh horde.”
Amanda wrinkled her nose as she considered the fate that befell those unlucky children. She also had no idea what had awaited them on the other side of the portal, but she was willing to bet money that death would have been preferable.
“As the child grew,” McCoy continued, “she would have started to dwarf the other members of the horde. Also, though the Slough are intelligent, she probably would have begun to outshine them in that area, too.”
“And her soul wouldn’t have been corrupted like those of the Sluagh.”
“There’s that, too. You catch on quick.”
“I’ve got a good teacher.”
They topped a hill and the lights of town came into view. McCoy slowed considerably, not wanting to run blindly into a felled tree or other trap set by the Sluagh. The road, however, was clear, and soon they turned onto Main Street. The town looked deserted, but that was to be expected at such an early hour. The town housed no factories or large businesses, and it was too early for the coal miners to be changing shifts.
“I’ve never seen the town at this hour,” Amanda said. “It looks creepy.”
“In this case, looks probably aren’t deceiving,” McCoy commented. “Let’s head for Lyle’s office and hope he’s there.”
“Let’s do. On both counts.”
McCoy pulled up to the traffic light at the town square. The light was red. He started to pull on through; there was no other traffic, and who was going to give him a ticket, anyway? But something caught his eye over near the park. That something was John Talbot, who was presently trying to hide his massive frame behind a short, skinny hedge. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
Talbot saw that McCoy had spotted him. He stood and motioned them over. McCoy wheeled Boo to the curb, and Talbot came up to the driver’s side window.
“Jeez. I’m glad you came,” the deputy said.
“Don’t mention it. I’d already seen all the infomercials on TV, anyway.”
“I might have spotted a couple more since we talked, but it’s hard to tell. They’re so damn quick.” His expression turned sheepish. “Maybe I’m just being paranoid.”
“You’re not. They’re here. I can feel them.”
Talbot looked at McCoy to see if he was being bullshitted, and decided he wasn’t. Then he looked past McCoy and noticed Amanda.
“This is Amanda Porter,” McCoy said. “She’s…with me.”
“Ma’am,” Talbot said, dipping his head. Amanda smiled in return.
“Have you brought Lyle up to speed?” McCoy asked.
“Yeah. As far as those ugly critters go, anyhow. I didn’t mention our conversation.”
“That’s good. We don’t need to be second-guessing each other. By the way, is your cell phone working?”
Homecoming (A Finn McCoy Paranormal Thriller Book 1) Page 7