Hallowed Horror

by Mark Tufo

  "Maybe you ought to talk to him Reece and find out these answers from him. I can't help you, I don't know what was going on in his head. He can tell you though. We're covered here, I'll call you the second we get anything. Go ask your jaguar fellow all these questions. I love you Sam and I want you to be happy. Having someone to run with might just do that for you. If it does, then I'm thrilled."

  "I don't want to be alone with him, Quinn. He scares me."

  "Is it him that scares you, or is it what he represents that you fear?"

  "What do you mean by that swami O'Reilly?"

  "Maybe you're actually afraid this guy could be your soul mate."

  "Yeah, because I want a man who'd bite a poor defenseless woman who was already crying. A man who'd leave her in the park with no help or idea of what pain and fear she will endure." The growl was back in my voice and I could tell by the scent of fear to Quinn that my eyes had changed again. "I'm going home to chase rabbits. Call me if you hear anything." I growled a tiny bit more and stalked off toward the garage.

  I didn't realize it until I climbed in my car but at some point I had taken Shaun's card out and held it in my hand rubbing it with my thumb. It was at the point when I tried to rub it on my face like a cat that I growled for real and tossed it down to the passenger seat. I peeled out of the garage and headed for home and room to run. I needed to have a little talk with my beast. Her rolling over like she had been for Shaun was not going to work for me; I had to tell her that. I hadn't planned on it, but five minutes later I had my cellphone in my hand and it was ringing.

  "Hello, beauty."

  "You know where I run. Be there." I snarled and hung up. I don't know exactly what possessed me to call him but I couldn't deny there was something wild and almost instinctive between us. I couldn't ignore it, but maybe I could try to control it. I'd give my jaguar what she wanted and maybe she would be sated and leave me alone for awhile. If I gave her a quick run with him then maybe I could concentrate on my life again. I'd show her that he wasn't compatible with us and that she should swat him right the hell out of the way. We were better off alone, she and I.

  I pulled into my gravel driveway spraying quartz stones all over the grass in my haste. I ripped off my seatbelt, got out of the car, closed the door, and stalked to my home. I opened the door to my house and once in the foyer I started removing my clothes one piece at a time. I carried my gun and hid it in a potted plant right near the back door to my house. I walked outside completely naked and shifted. This was my third shift today and as such, it didn't hurt as badly. Once in panther form I stalked to the side yard and waited. I could see him pull in but neighbors wouldn't be able to see me if they happened to drive by.

  He left his car, locked it, and moved toward me as if on a rail. I knew he couldn't see me and I had deliberately stationed myself downwind, so he couldn't smell me. What moved him toward me was something I could not attribute to the jaguar. Even she was puzzled that he found us so quickly. Unlike me however, she was glad he was here. She was leaping and chuffing like a little hussy. It was harder to control her in my jaguar form but I had to try. He came to me as a human and looked down into my eyes. My beast melted and I hated her for it. I held his gaze even though she submitted easily.

  "I changed you because I felt something for you and I wanted you for myself. I know there's a part of you that will always hate me for it but this connection we feel was there before you were a Were." He spoke softly and stared me directly in the eyes, showing me that he spoke the truth "I saw you every day, beauty. I worked across the street from you at the newspaper. Each day, I watched you walk down to the coffee cart in front, usually by yourself, sometimes with your partner. I watched you and fell in love with that sad smile of yours. I watched as you walked home to your tiny apartment right down the street. No dear, I wasn't stalking you. I watched you from afar only because that was the view from my office. But one day..."

  "We shared a cab." It hit me, something so innocuous I had blocked it out. I remembered now, getting into the cab with the good-looking fellow. I went to hand the driver my money at the same time he did, our hands touched and I felt a jolt. I'd looked for him for a few weeks to no avail. "I looked for you." My voice broke. I felt broken.

  "I was afraid you would hate my cat." He smiled sardonically.

  "So you gave me one of my own?" I backed up a bit.

  "I wanted someone to run with. Someone I could be with in all ways. I almost didn't do it. But I watched you sob for hours over that jerk and I wanted you to smile at me. I knew if I came to you as me you'd push me over on your way out of the park so I did the most drastic thing I could think of."

  "You bit me." It was hard to hear my own wants thrown back in my face as the same things he wanted.

  "I love you."

  "You changed my entire life and being. You had no right!"

  "I love you. Just in case you didn't hear my excuse earlier."

  I was pissed and jumped on him snarling, growling, and ripping. He changed and bore the brunt of my anger for nearly an hour. As I grew tired, he looked at me, both of us in jaguar form, and said it again, "I love you."

  "I don't even know you." I told him tiredly. I yawned and curled up into a ball with the feeling that everything would finally be okay. I slept so deeply in a way I never had before, and when I awoke, he was entwined with me, both of us black panthers, my head lying on his flank. It was nice until the growling started. It wasn't Shaun and it sure as hell wasn't me. I lifted my head, half expecting to see some pissed off female jaguar come to lay claim to her mate. Instead I saw a bear. Not some adorable little black bear but a giant shaggy Kodiak. "Aw, hell."

  "Friend of yours, love?" Shaun asked me, his hackles raised. Slowly we rose to our feet...well, paws technically.

  "Nope, but he sure is making himself an enemy, and I am not a good enemy to have." I then turned to the bear. "FBI Special Agent Samantha Reece. State your name and stand down." I was very firm. He laughed at me, a low growling sound. A cloud of hate and rage roiled around him and it caused me to bare my fangs at him. Still in animal form, I had the slight advantage of speed and climbing over him. He had brute force over me as well as the fact I was swamped by his anger. He was overwhelming my sense of empathy. Somehow though I just knew that if I could count on Shaun to stand by my side the both of us could take down the bear that wasn't a bear.

  "I suggest you leave peacefully my ursine friend." Shaun's voice was hard. The bear sniffed once and trotted away having never spoken a word. An idea hit me and I whipped around, running for the house. I changed halfway there while running. Luckily, when I bit the concrete it was on the floor near the plant where I had stashed my gun. In a few seconds I managed to grab it and head into the house for my cell phone. When I found it on the kitchen counter, I grabbed it and called Quinn. "Dude, Grisly is a bear. A bear shifter. I think he was just in my yard; grab the crime scene guys and get over here." I didn't wait for his reply, just hung up the phone. Then I changed back, leaving the gun in my bedroom I ran outside. My gun wouldn't do a damn thing to that bear except piss him off. I had to smell the area where he had been standing. There ought to be a trace of Grisly in the scent if he was the same fellow who'd just visited.

  "Hey, wait." Shaun loped after me while I snuffled the ground and plants.

  "I can't. I think that bear was a killer."

  "Aren't all bears?"

  "No. Some are peaceful and only kill fish and bunnies. This one kills hookers, shifter ones at that. Leaves them in bloody pieces in a motel bathtub."

  "And now he knows where you live."

  "Yeah, guess he does." I was pissed at myself for letting that happen. I should have been more careful. What about my neighbors? If he went on some sort of deranged spree... I had to hunt him down. I caught the musty, almost moldy scent of bear and along with it I smelled that same odor I had equated with the owner of the backpack. Confirmation for me, but not the lab boys. No, they'd have to run some of the fu
r that had been snagged by the wild raspberries the bear had walked through. I had no doubt it would come back as a match to my killer. This explained why he exhibited so much rage during the kills; his instinct took over and his beast emerged.

  It also explained why he was hunting shifters. He hated himself for being one, but why kill a cop and why come to me? I set all of these questions aside and followed my nose and that smell. I ran until I came to a clearing. There was a deep menacing growl from the other side.

  "You're not alone. I didn't want to be a beast, and like you, I wasn't given a choice in the matter." I told him.

  "You know nothing!" He snarled. His fangs glistened with saliva. They were about three inches long and strong as steel. His lips were pulled back in a growl and he continued: "You have no idea what it's like for me. What it's always been like! They never love you, no one does, you know. They just want to use and hurt you. Whores. All of them. They deserved it, each and everyone of them. So. Do. You!" He bellowed and charged me. I raced forward to meet him hoping I could flip the hold and get to his neck. I had fangs of my own and his carotid was close enough to the surface I could very well grab it. My jaguar perked up at the idea of a chance to drink his blood.

  I didn't get that far. A furry black mass got in between me and the bear. One dangerously clawed paw raked at the big Kodiak's eyes. Grisly answered back with a swipe of his own that tossed Shaun against a tree with a loud booming thwack. Sounded like a couple broken ribs to me. "Stay down." I growled at him as I leapt toward the bear.

  "Sam! Drop!" I heard Quinn's voice and dove to the side away from the bear and the bullets. I hugged ground until the all clear sounded, at which point I screamed for a medic and hurried to Shaun's side. He'd changed back and was lying there; his whole left flank was black. It scared me; I worried immediately about internal bleeding, and the very wisp of a thought that I might lose him pissed me off.

  "Hey. You can't die. You owe me some answers beyond that stupid 'I love you' crap."

  "What can I say?" He coughed and wheezed and I knew a rib had punctured his lung. I could smell the blood on his breath. "You're still a panther, you know." He passed out from the pain and the EMS arrived.

  I realized he had been talking about the fact that I hadn't changed back and so I slipped into my bedroom, changed, and put on some sweats. I came out in human form and answered questions. A few of my coworkers had seen me and heard me in my jaguar form and they had some questions of their own. I did my best to answer them and the questions my bosses and his bosses had. After I answered questions for an hour I was allowed to go to the hospital. Quinn drove me. Chad wouldn't even meet my eyes. I knew one day he'd lose interest but I don't think he ever really thought he would. I knew he wasn't able to handle my beast. I never meant to hurt the poor guy, but I didn't love him, and I told him that on many occasions. Still, I suppose hearing it and seeing it are two different things. A weird thought hit me and I chuckled when we turned onto the main road.

  "What?" Quinn looked at me. He'd noticed the hurt in his brother too, and he was a bit angry at me for laughing right afterwards.

  "Well, I just faced down a Grisly bear and now I'm going to meet my maker. Not exactly the way I thought I would be."

  "Well, when you put it like that." He gave a half hearted chuckle himself.

  "Sorry, Quinn."

  "Nothing to be sorry about, Sam. You made it clear that you didn't love Chad and no one can fault you for his being heartbroken. You never tried to encourage him."

  "No. I didn't." I sat very still. I was worried about losing that sibling sort of bond we shared.

  "Good. Well, I'm glad you're alive, and I hope your maker treats you right, kid. At least we don't have to worry about the wolf cop. All three were tracked down and are okay."

  "That's great news. Thanks Quinn." I said quietly and I stared out the window as we pulled up to the Emergency room entrance. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek then I got out of the car. Taking a deep breath I entered the hospital and went looking for Shaun.

  I found him in a bed by the nurses' station. He was charming the nurses with some poetry. I grinned when I recognized Poe's 'The Bells' and stopped to listen. "'Hear the mellow wedding bells Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night. How they ring out their delight! From the molten golden notes, And all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats. To the turtle dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells

  Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!' Thank you Mr. Poe.” I grinned and stepped forward into the curtained off room swarming with people.

  "I see they have you on the good stuff." I smiled at him and he gave me a dopey grin back.

  "Yes. You." His eyes caught mine and my jaguar purred, I fought the urge to kick her and went with it. It was bad enough that I blushed.

  "Since you're quoting Poe, I'll assume it's morphine. That stuff always makes me feel a bit mad myself."

  "I don't know what it is, but I'm floating." He coughed and I was a bit frightened to scent even more blood on his breath.

  "What do they say about your side?" I was scared for him, and for me. There was a part of me that realized no matter why or how he turned me he was the only other panther I knew. I wanted to spend more time with him even if it bothered me that he took my life into his hands by turning me.

  "X-rays show four broken ribs, one punctured lung, a ruptured muscle of some sort and severe contusions which I think is really just fancy doctor speak for bruises. I'll be going in for surgery soon. They're actually surprised I'm still conscious. How about you, how are you? How's your partner? He shot the guy like four times before he fell. I guess I'm lucky my damage wasn't more severe."

  "It's severe enough." I said quietly.

  "I heard the nurses chattering. That guy really killed eight women?"

  "Six; the public always rounds up. Yeah, he killed them in a horrific way too. Nothing you ever want to see. Why were you in my building? You never explained that."

  "I had business there."

  "What sort of business?"

  "None of yours." He winked at me and won himself a reprieve on the grilling when the nurses came in to take him to pre-op.

  "Hang in there. You have a lot of explaining to do."

  "I'm not going anywhere, beauty. The rest is up to you." He was grinning when they rolled him down the hall and I realized I was too. I barely knew the guy but somehow I took comfort in the fact that I had time to get there. My jaguar smiled and I rolled my eyes. Life isn't easy, especially for a cat in a town full of wolves, but it was nice having someone I could count on to watch my back.

  BIOGRAPHY

  A mother of two, wife, and zoologist, Jaime spent thirteen years as a zookeeper until an illness hit her. When it caused her to have to retire from zookeeping for good she started writing full time. Since then, she has written four novels, three novellas, and scores of short stories.

  What people are saying

  I love short story compilation novels. That being said, I loved this novel. Jaime, has a true gift for the macabre and I would reccommend this to anyone. She can develop a character and a scene so that you feel their pain, their discomfort, and their triumph. I can't wait for the next book. AWESOME!!!!!!! – Kathleen

  Oh, The Horror was a change of pace for me. I'm not usually a fan of short stories, not ones that short at least. That was not the case here. They were quick, to the point, and well-written. I really enjoyed the twists and turns thrown into the life of a banker, a waitress, and a couple of lotto winners. From start to finish this was not what I expected- I will be looking for more from this author. – Kimberley

  BLOODY FANTASTIC STORIES

  What a really gre
at book this was.

  Ive not read many great short story compilations but this one certainly was worth the read. Each story was shorter than some i have read before but they gripped you and it got you to the point of the story with fantastic description and thought into the writing. Every story in the book drags you into the minds of the characters straight away which i really enjoyed unlike books ive read where you dont feel any connection with the people in the book at all.

  I cant praise these stories more highly and hope this author brings out lots more work to this high standard as it would keep me buying them time and time again. 5 stars deffo well deserved – Dean S.

  THANK YOU FOR READING

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  Tool Shed

  By Armand Rosamilia

  Copyright 2014 by Armand Rosamilia

  Original version released by Angelic Knight Press

  Special Thanks to Stacey Turner for her excellent editing

  Always, Extra Special Thanks to Mom, for sharing her love of horror paperbacks

  Look for the prequel, Tool Shed Murders, coming in late 2015

  For more information about Armand Rosamilia, visit http://armandrosamilia.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and every other social media spot you can think of…

  Tool Shed

  Chapter One