in Elena’s hand and the death card in the other.
“Isn’t that a bitch?” Rodriguez cried out.
“What is it, Inspector?” Talley asked.
“I’m willing to bet my life that whoever did this is the same damn person that’s been doing all the killing.”
“It can’t be. This one’s different, Rodriguez,” Officer Talley replied.
“This guy has the same sense of humor, Talley.”
“Sense of humor?” Talley asked.
“Back at the park the couple that was murdered, their heads were removed and placed under the feet of the cupid back at the fountain. You got to think what is going through the heads of these nutcases. Since they were lovers the killer placed their heads under the cupid, the Angel of Love. It’s the killer’s way of poking fun at what he is doing,” Rodriguez told Talley.
The younger officer answered his radio. “Okay, I’ll tell him. What you got?” Talley asked.
“The DNA tests on all the bodies are all a match. There were K-9 traces in all the blood.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Rodriguez told the officer, spitting his cigar out of his mouth.
CHAPTER 11
Arnie’s Journal Febuary 14,1993
I’m done thinking things will get better. Just as it seems like things are looking up, things get worse. Elena was killed today. Inspector Shithead says he thinks it has something to do with what she was going to tell me. That’s just his hunch. I think he thinks I’m the killer. All he’s waiting for is the right moment to pin it all on me. I’m just tired of all this shit. I really don’t know what to do anymore. If somebody is after me, I wish they would just hurry up and get it over with. I’m tired of seeing people die. If I’m next on this killer’s list, I just hope he kills me and no one that I love. The thing that gets to me if this killer is after me is, why doesn’t he just kill me and stop toying with me? Instead it insists on making my life a torment. I can’t think of anyone who might have anything against me. Then there’s the question that makes me wonder what the hell Elena wanted to talk to me about. I never really believed in any of that witchcraft stuff but something inside keeps telling me that she saw something that day. I think that’s what she was going to tell me but before she could she was killed. There are so many questions I have unanswered. It’s pathetic. Who knows? Who ever really knows? For now I got to go. I’m going to stay the night at Jay’s. Need to get my mind off things.
CHAPTER 12
“The 30, the 20, the 10, touchdown! Dallas 21, San Francisco 3. I tell you, Arnie, I’m the best at this damn video game. You may be hot shit on the pool table, but in the electronic world, I’m all that. C’mon, Arnie, don’t let everything that’s been happening get you down; you gotta roll with the punches, man. Be suavisito like me. You see, that’s why, my friend, I get all the chicks and you get one. You’re not smooth or good-looking,” Jay said, looking at himself, flexing his muscles in front of the mirror.
“Maybe this will get your mind off everything or at least loosen you up,” Jay added,
throwing a little plastic bag filled with marijuana.
“I’m not in the mood,” Arnie replied.
“Well, get in the mood. I didn’t buy that shit to get all Chinese eyes by myself. Forget about everything, at least for one night ’cause believe me, if I have to, I know a couple of chicks that will wake you up. Of course, after I’m done with them,” Jay said jokingly. “Look, we’re going to smoke a joint, but you’ll have to wait because nature calls. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must leave you with the herb of life. Guard it well, my friend, for when I return, we shall smoke,” Jay continued in a playful tone as he walked out of the room.
Good old Jay, always trying to cheer me up, he thought tossing the sack Jay had given him to Jay’s bed. Arnie knew why Jay was acting so goofy; he had been his friend for too long not to know.
He also knew Jay was trying to avoid talking about Danny, especially because the funeral was moved to Austin, Texas, where Danny and half his family were from. Neither of them would get to say their final goodbyes to their friend who was almost like a brother, Arnie thought. Suddenly his body filled with extreme pain as the temperature in his body began to rise. His bones then started to crack and pop, and his body once again began to change. He felt his last bit of consciousness leaving him, and as it did, he crashed through Jay’s window, screaming in horrific agony. Jay ran out of the rest room after hearing the commotion to see what was wrong, and as he entered his room, he stood in shock as shattered glass lay scattered all across his floor. He looked out the window in disbelief as a vicious-looking creature he had only read about in stories scampered off into the woods.
“What the hell’s going on around here?” Jay’s father yelled angrily, entering the
room.
“Nothing, Dad.”
“Don’t give me this ‘nothing Dad’ shit. Your windows all shot to hell and you tell me nothing?”
“Arnie and I got in a little fight.”
“I really don’t care; that window is coming out of your allowance, and I’m calling Arnie’s mother ’cause he’s going help you pay for that window,” Jay’s father said and slammed the door furiously, stomping away.
Jay then picked up a shirt that lay ripped to shreds. He held it in his hands as he looked out the window. It was Arnie’s AC/DC shirt – the same shirt Arnie was wearing just before he disappeared. A howling in the distance filled the air. Chills filled Jay’s body as he realized just what it was that had attacked Arnie in the woods.
CHAPTER 13
“Hello, is Arnie there?” Jay said over the phone.
“Yeah, this is he,” Arnie said, noticing he was no longer in Jay’s room.
“Listen, this is Jay,” Jay said.
“I know, butt face. I’ve heard your voice for thirteen years. Wouldn’t you think I’d know that? Hey, did we smoke that shit last night? Because if we did, it was good because I don’t remember ever coming home.”
“You don’t,” Jay said suspiciously.
“No, I don’t,” Arnie answered.
“Listen, Arnie, my dad’s calling me. I’ll call you back,” Jay hung up. Jay rubbed his eyes, thinking back to an old horror film he had seen. He couldn’t remember who said it or exactly how it went, but he did remember part of the saying, ‘Even a man that’s pure of heart shall become a werewolf when the wolf bane blooms . . .’ That line used to sound so corny to him, but now the line made perfect sense. Jay thought lifting his mattress, reaching underneath it and pulling out a small .22 revolver. Jay just looked at it knowing he could not, would not, allow himself to do anything to Arnie unless it was a matter of life and death. He knew if he was going to try and help Arnie, he’d have to prove it to him. How to do that was another question. Maybe he could videotape Arnie changing into this monster. Even if he did that, how the hell was he going to accomplish that without getting himself killed? Suddenly he was struck with an idea. It was crazy, but it had to work, he thought, as he picked up the phone and called Arnie.
“Hey, Arnie, come over about five thirty.”
“Why?” Arnie asked.
“Just come and don’t ask stupid questions,” Jay said as he hung up the phone, hurrying out of his house, jumping in his Chevrolet, driving off. Jay was about to do something that was totally insane, and he wasn’t sure he’d live through it.
CHAPTER 14
Rodriguez looked at the blood on the walls as officers dusted the house for prints. First the gypsy lady, and now this, he thought as he made his way through Manuel Ganson’s house.
He knew Ganson. He had gone to high school with Ganson. Rodriguez looked at the pictures on the walls through the hallway of the house.
“Good-looking family,” he mumbled aloud, noticing Ganson’s three beautiful brunette daughters. He would have never thought he would wind up with Gwendolyn Chase, but he did. Now his entire family, including Ganson, was dead.
Rodriguez stepp
ed into the daughters’ room, covering his mouth with his hand, putting his arm against the side of his door to brace himself as the revulsion of the pure hideousness of the scene unsettled his stomach.
The first daughter’s left side of the head had been bitten completely off, along with her skull. Her arm looked completely gnawed off. Blood stained the bed sheets, and the smell of it reminded him of the liver he would use to go fishing.
The second daughter’s body had been driven through the window of the room as the point of the broken glass pierced her privates. Blood trickled down the broken window as the flesh in her back split open. The abrasions were so profound that the bones in her spine could be seen.
The final daughter’s carcass had been entirely gorged, stripped of all the meat as only organs and bones remained when she was found in the tub, where bloodred handprints stained the walls. As for Ganson and his wife, both of them had been mutilated beyond identification in the living room.
Rodriguez walked into the room, looking around for anything that would give him a clue on who the killer was. Then he noticed the bullet shells on the floor. Seven shells, he thought, as he put on a rubber glove and picked one up from the bloody floor. Rodriguez looked at it curiously as paramedics gathered up the pieces of human tissue that had been scattered through the house.
Rodriguez looked at Ganson’s dead body, which still clasped the gun he had used to try and protect his family.
He used to go hunting with Ganson when he was a kid. Ganson was the best shot he had ever seen. There’s no way he could have missed anything if he was shooting at
close range; the same goes for those two officers found dead in the city, Rodriguez thought, dropping the bullet angrily, taking off his glove and reaching for his trusty cigar.
CHAPTER 15
“Jay!” Arnie yelled, knocking on the door.
“Shit!” Jay said, stumbling off his bed over to the door, letting Arnie in.
“What took you so long to answer the door?” Arnie asked impatiently.
“Shit, man, you know me when I fall asleep.”
“So, what do you want?”
“I wanted to show you something, Arnie.”
“Well, show me. What is it?”
“You’ll see,” Jay said, getting his keys, walking out of his house and over to his truck.
“Why can’t you just show me right now?”
“Just chill out and get in the truck,” Jay said, starting the engine, opening the door for Arnie. “We got to hurry up,” Jay said as Arnie got in.
Jay looked at his friend with an uneasy smile and drove off toward the Littadore woods.
“Why are you going so fast?” Arnie asked as Jay turned on to a rocky road, pushing his truck to its limits and looking up at the darkening sky.
“If we don’t hurry, it will be too dark to show you.”
“Show me what? Why can’t you just tell me?”
“That would spoil it,” Jay said, trying to smile because he knew if he was right about his friend and didn’t get him where he was taking him on time, he’d be as good as dead.
Finally Jay drove into a gloomy-looking meadow. He stopped and stepped out of the truck, grabbing a small metal pipe, hiding it behind his back.
Arnie proceeded out of the truck, leaning over, trying to figure out just what Jay
was planning.
“Can you get that box for me?” Jay asked, pointing to the back of his truck.
Arnie reached for the box, and as he did, Jay crept up slowly behind Arnie, smashing the pipe against the back of his friend’s head.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Arnie asked dizzily, turning around to defend himself.
“Sorry, Arnie,” Jay said, hitting his friend again with the pipe, this time whacking Arnie in the forehead, finally knocking Arnie unconscious.
Jay then pulled a pair of handcuffs from out of his back pocket, placing them tightly on Arnie’s wrists. He clumsily dragged Arnie to a nearby tree, putting him against the huge trunk. At that moment Arnie slowly began to wake up, mumbling, “Wha . . . what are you doing?”
“Nothing, Arnie. Go back to sleep,” Jay said, slamming Arnie’s head against the wood of the tree, sending him back to unconsciousness. “I hope you know I didn’t mean that,” Jay said, noticing the blood that began to drip from the top of his head. Jay then reached for the chains he had tightly fastened against the tree earlier that day, quickly wrapping each end of the numerous chains around Arnie’s arms and legs, locking each end of the chains with a steel lock. He immediately rushed over to his truck, bringing out his dad’s video camera, setting it in front of Arnie. Jay then checked the cameras lens to check that it was zoomed on Arnie and hurried back to the truck, quickly starting the engine. Jay sped out of the meadow, never once looking back.
CHAPTER 16
All I want do is get home, Jay thought.
Please, God, let me get home, he whispered to himself. The lights of his truck shone brightly on the long dark road. His body was suddenly stricken with fear as a claw came smashing through the small square window of his truck, smothering his face. He yelled in dread as the claws dug deep inside the skin of his face. But to his relief, all that was happening disappeared as he found himself frantically yelling in the safety of his room.
“Shit!” Jay said, gasping, wiping the sweat from his face. “It was only a dream,” he mumbled to himself. A terrorizing, growling sound filled the room, causing all the hairs along his back to dance in fear. “Fuck!” Jay said, looking around his room in panic, not knowing what to do.
Jay desperately searched for a weapon until he finally spotted his baseball bat lying in the corner of his room. He quickly reached for it, but just as he did, two monstrous arms tore through the fabric of his bed. Jay swung the bat at the beast, but before he knew it, the beast was already sinking its teeth deep within his shoulder. And just as it did, Jay woke up yet again in the safety of his room. His alarmed ringed loudly reminding him that he needed to go get Arnie.
Arnie slept quietly on the dirty ground as the sun beamed down on his naked body. The chains that Jay had placed on Arnie were still securely fastened on his body with the exception of the cuffs that were pulled apart from their metal supports. The sound of a vehicle driving up instantly woke Arnie from his slumber. He looked up and saw Jay stepping out of his truck and walking toward him. Arnie immediately busted out toward Jay in anger, not knowing where he was and why he was lying naked on the ground as his clothes lay ripped to shreds next to him. All he knew was Jay had something to do with it, and to his dismay and frustration, he was stopped short from hitting Jay with the metal restraints of the chains.
“Take it easy, Arnie!”
“You take it easy! How would you like it if I hit you over the head and chained you up naked as a bitch in the middle of fucking nowhere? You’d be pretty pissed off too, wouldn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, but let me explain.”
“Explain? You don’t got shit to explain!” Arnie said angrily.
“Just shut up for a minute, would you, Arnie! Look, Arnie, I know it might seem pretty hard to believe, but I’m trying to help you. You remember that night you stayed over my house?” Jay asked.
“Yea, but what has that got to do with this?” Arnie asked in return.
“Do you remember how you got home?”
“Actually, I don’t,” Arnie said, trying to think back.
“I saw something that night,” Jay answered uneasily.
“What did you see?”
“I don’t know what I saw. I have never seen anything like it in my life. Then there were the clothes, your clothes, all shredded up,” Jay said, bringing out the ripped-up shirt from out of his pocket, throwing it to Arnie.
“What are you trying to say?” Arnie asked, looking at the shirt in confusion.
“What I’m trying to say is, I think it was you I saw that night running into the woods, but then again it wasn’t. It was something else.”
/> “What are you trying to say? That this thing you saw was me? What a bunch
of crap!”
“Explain how the hell you broke through those cuffs I put on you and your shredded clothes beside you. I knew you would not believe me if I plain straight out told you. I knew I needed some kind of proof. So I knocked you out and brought you here. I chained you up and set up my dad’s video camera on you in hopes of catching the truth on tape, but by the looks of the camera, it looks like that option is out the window. Here put this on,” Jay said, reaching into his backpack, tossing Arnie a pair of clothes.
“How am I supposed to put them on? I’m in chains, remember.”
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