A Lunar Ice Cover

Sage and Angelic part 2

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It's not natural: A Sunset Coven Omake - Episode 2 (Part I)

(Opening Song: Carry on my way ward son by Kansas)

THEN

‘[…]Riding from Miami to Wisconsin is just a bad idea.’

TWO BROTHERS

‘Lake monster? […]’

‘[…]It’s a nøkken, a Scandinavian shapeshifting water spirit […]’

ON A QUEST TO HUNT EVIL DOWN

The yellow-eyed creature ceased playing the happy tune on his violin and flashed a smile towards the girl. His violin disappeared from his hand and he came forward with big strides toward her.

‘Nooooo!’

MEET A MYSTERIOUS VAMPIRE

The sight of the blood trickling down Hiroki’s face made her head pound. ‘Dammit,’ she hissed, showing a fang out and instead of losing grip, she clutched even harder to the monster’s head. ‘Get the fuck out of here!’

‘Dude, she broke my wrist,’ Eliot dissed.

‘I don’t get it,’ he said. ‘Why is a vampire after a nøkken?’

ON A MISSION TO RETRIEVE HER PET

‘Hey! You son of a bitch!’ a voice rang. ‘Eat this.’ She extended her arm out from the side of her body and slammed it into against his throat.

‘Concipe hoc spurius.’

A white light poured out of the bottle, enveloping the creature. He disappeared into the light and it drew back in right into the bottle. ‘This is better stuff than pokeballs.’

WHO ENDS UP LOSING IT FOR GOOD

She smiled at the recognition of the path and was rather excited to see her home, but she was greeted by only leftovers of her cabin, as it had been torched to the ground.

Everywhere she’d go they’d be after her.

She was so sick and tired of this game. Perhaps she just had to end it by tearing off her limbs, spread them and let the sun turn her into bacon. ‘Līberā hoc sterculus.’

Kristian kicked more waste away to reveal a trap to an underground. He crouched down, opened it and dumped his master in it. To prevent her to open it back up he sat on it, waiting for her to fall unconscious since daytime was breaking.

‘Dammit! Kristian! Get off, get off now!’

However too late for Kristian, the sun was already consuming his water body […]

NOW

‘Here, I had it fixed for you,’ she said as she handed the Orc its axe back. The Orc grunted. ‘So, next time you try to bounce someone out, try not to pick a fight with the owner… a.k.a. me, or it’ll be your face I’ll be breaking. ‘Kay, hun?’ The Orc grunted again. ‘Anyway, let’s see…’ She hopped on the bar and clapped in her hands. ‘Okay, people, people. Today’s rule will be…’ She rubbed her hands together and flashed a smile. ‘Okay, today’s rule will be that you cannot stay inside if you don’t talk in lolcat for at least 5 minutes straight.’

The staff cheered and yelled. ‘Teh ownr rulez! YOLO rockz!’

The vampire flashed a smile and told to herself, ‘I luv mah lill puppiez.’ She jumped down and walked through the pub, surveyed everyone’s job, before going back to the bar and order a beer. The sexy bartender gave her a glass and she stared into it for a long time without drinking it.

‘Ownr, u k?’ the bartender asked. She looked up and grinned. The bartender knew that she wouldn’t answer, but every time he caught her staring off, he’d ask, since that was part of his bartender instincts. Knowing when something was wrong, ask about it, and let the person spill out his heart. However the owner never did and so he never pushed through.

She was about to take a sip from her beer when her phone started to buzz and “The Final Countdown” by Europe started to play. While she didn’t recognize the number on her smartphone, she still picked up, ‘Zup.’ When the other line replied with one of her old names, she asked, ‘Who diz? Eh? Jime? Jime?! U bitch! Iz kill you if Iz didn’t want to kiss U right nao! Where U at?’ Her fingers tunnelled her hair and gripped at a lock of hair at the news she wanted to come. ‘Yeah! ees a’ight! Come!’ It would be okay for her to visit, hiding had been not very useful. So new plan was being out in the open under another name, well, more or less. The bar she owned was safe. ‘Go to a town called Wherwell, in England. There’s a pub there that connects with a pub in the Undergound, I’m at that pub. Just go through the out-of-service stall in the restroom.’

When the call was over with, she pushed the phone back into the back-pocket of her jeans, she took her glass of beer, finished it in a go and told the bartender, ‘I’ll be back in five minutes.’

She dashed into the backroom of the pub, opened a trapdoor to the basement and ran down the stairs, fell on her knees and dug out a blue cooler splattered with Latin inscriptions from the ground with her bare hands. ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ She sighed as she sat down, put the cooler on her legs and opened it. She took out her phone again and called. ‘Hey, it’s me. I need some… Yeah, yeah, I know, I’ll visit you in Italy someday. How much? Hmmm…Three bags will do.’ From the cracks of the cooler a light flashed out. She waited for it to dissipate to finally open the box. ‘You’re the best smuggling witch I know. Love you, see ya later.’ She finished the conversation and picked up a pack of blood. ‘Time to get a face lift.’

It’s (still) not natural!

Another Sunset Coven Omake: E2-P1

Based on the web-novel Sunset Coven and CW-series Supernatural

Starring characters from Sunset Coven and The Launderette

Written by Trice, known as the writer of The Launderette (a.k.a. Laundro), who has been coaxed into writing more omakes*

(*Write a Laundro omake and get one in return! For more information and conditions, contact Trice)

A frowned formed on Sexy bartender’s face as she sat back at the bar and ordered a beer. He drafted one and placed a glass in front of her. He opened his mouth as to ask, however he just gave up, knowing it was useless.

It made her smile again. He was always the most observant one of her staff, the others hadn’t noticed the change she had gone through. Probably because it was rather dark. She grabbed her beer and finished it at once. ‘Anothr wan.’ And so the bartender served her another draft.

She picked up her new glass, and picked up a familiar voice. ‘U haz no sense of humour!’ She guzzled down her beer, then turned around and squealed, to run into her lost love’s arms.

‘Mah love!’

‘Mah cheeseburger!’

***

FOUR DAYS EARLIER

‘Come on, you’re not even trying,’ complained Eliot as he stuffed his second hamburger in his mouth.

A disapproving frown formed on Rian’s face. While he also enjoyed fast-food once and a while, he could never get accustomed to what had become Eliot’s life motto since they had become hunters : “one hamburger, beer and shag a day keeps regrets about life away”. Rian sighed and turned the next page of the journal. ‘Woman drowns in bathtub. Apparently it happened for a fifth time this week in Havre, Montana. They’re wondering if it’s actually a serial killer on the prowl. Although there’s been no evidence of breaking and entering…’

‘Pass, again. I don’t feel like going to Montana. That’s a day’s drive from Ohio. Find something closer.’

Again, Rian turned a page, ‘Sex play gone wrong: Granny gauges eyeballs from her much younger boyfriend R. Happened in New York City.’

‘Ew, no!’ Eliot shouted as he grabbed a fistful of fries. ‘I said “weird” not “kinky and nasty”. Next!’

‘The Mothman back? Woman claims to have seen a red-eyed flying creature near the Silver Memorial Bridge . Point pleasant, West Virginia.’

‘Meh,’ Eliot uttered and grabbed his coke.

‘Crop circles in-‘

‘Hold on!’ Eliot shouted as he slammed his paper cup on the table, causing everything to spill over. ‘You said red-flying creature?’

‘Yes, Mothman,’ Rian confirmed. ‘Why?’

‘Mothman, my foot. That’s so… X-files.’

‘Season five, episode four called “Detour”, I believe,’ said Rian without looking up from the papers he studied from front page till the last one.

Eliot’s eyelids narrowed into slits. ‘When did you have ever the time to watch all this?’ Without waiting for his little brother to explain, he said, ‘Anyway, I don’t think it’s a Mothman. I’m thinking vampire.’

‘Vampire?’ Rian asked. ‘I don’t remember vampires having ten foot long wings.’

‘How many vampires did we see? Only one, right? Who knows what those freaky creatures can do.’

Rian pursed his lips. Ever since the incident in Winneconne, 5 months ago, Eliot had been moody. Since the Vamp had snapped his wrist, he had to go round with a cast for 6 weeks. While Eliot had been lucky the break had been so clean and easy to put back without surgery, he had been sulking the whole time during the recovery. Well, it could also be blamed on the lack of good cases. The few cases they worked on were on the majority flukes (water monster in the Mississippi river which turned to be an alligator in St Louis, fake wizard in Wichita Kansas or the Zombie from Iowa who just turned to be a man who had run away psychiatric ward and bit his own thumb off). The only exception being the one they had worked on here in Ohio. In any case, between messy hunter jobs and working some actual temp jobs to earn something to make the ends meet, didn’t help with Eliot’s mood. ‘We can always go and have a look,’ said Rian, eyeing his brother’s expression carefully.

Finally, some colour rose to Eliot’s cheeks and his eyes twinkled in excitement. ‘Good. Let’s go and gank that bastard.’

***

“Welcome to West Virginia – Wild and Wonderful” the sign hung on the Silver Memorial Bridge said. The green that stretched along Ohio and Kanawha river, was able to bring a shimmer in Rian’s eyes. It was almost too bad they had come here on a hunt on what Eliot hoped to be a vampire.

During their drive in Henderson, Eliot had asked about a certain hotel to a local. They were told to go over the Bartow Jones Bridge, on the other side of Kanawha river, where was Point Pleasant.

‘Shouldn’t we look for a motel alongside some road instead of picking hotel in town?’ Rian asked, fearing they weren’t being cautious enough.

‘The nearest motel is in Gallipolis. I don’t feel like going back and forth each time for the job,’ complained Eliot.

‘It’s only a ten minute drive,’ muttered Rian, not understanding how this could be already so unbearable to Eliot. ‘

As Eliot steered the Minty VW Camper into a parking spot, he said with glee, ‘I heard that the hotel we’re going to has a jacuzzi. Finally a real bath after 6 weeks of washing at the sink.’ He wiggled his brow. ‘Bubbles.’ Nicely parked, he stopped the motor, took out the keys and opened the door. ‘Coming?’

Not that Rian had much of a choice since Eliot was already out, waiting for Rian to come out so he could lock the car.

***

‘This is not what I signed up for,’ Eliot complained under his breath as they stepped into the hotel built in 1901. He had imagined something way fancier. Then again, the with lobby with its deep chocolate brown wooden furniture didn’t look half-bad and there were Jacuzzis. The rooms had to be nice.

‘Good evening ma’am. Do you still have rooms available for two persons? We’d like to book for three nights,’ Rian asked politely to the lady of the lobby.

The lady looked op and opened her mouth, but Eliot already foreshadowed her question, ‘Twin beds. Twin. Jacuzzi suite.’

‘Our Jacuzzi suites don’t have twin beds available. Only double beds.’

‘A normal room with twin beds will do,’ Rian said, ignoring Eliot’s glare. He was ready to leave, but Rian didn’t think so. It was already late and looking for another hotel while putting up with Eliot’s rant on how all this was such a disaster was something he wasn’t looking forward to.

‘Okidoki,’ the lady said as she joyfully tapped the information from the (falsified) papers Eliot had presented to her. In the meantime Rian read over a sheet that presented the history of the building with interest and Eliot surveyed the lobby. When the lady was done, she asked, ‘Now, do you have certain preferences? View on Ohio river, first, second or third floor?’

‘What’s the difference between the floors?’ Eliot asked.

‘Well, nothing special about the first floor, but on the second and third floor, ghosts have been-‘

‘Is room 316 still available?’ Rian asked and took notice of a hole in the long-sleeved shirt of the lady.

‘The Captain Jim haunted room is booked for this night, moreover it’s a double,’ she informed. ‘However, room 314 is available. Twin beds.’

‘We’ll take it.’ Rian accepted the key while Eliot – with a sour face – took out some cash to pay the lady.

As they went up the stairs, the lady shouted, ‘Look out for the mezzanine between the first and the second floor. There’s a ghost there too! Good night!’

‘Way to sell your hotel,’ Eliot said to Rian as they climbed up the stairs. That night, no ghost showed up, not on the mezzanine, not in room 314.

***

‘Damn, it’s stuffy in here. Doesn’t the A/C work? You ought to open the window. Anyway, just met with the woman who saw the red-eyed thing. She claims that it was 8-feet tall, had glowing red eyes and 10-feet long wings,’ Eliot said as he loosened his tie from his FBI-costume and sat down across Rian who was doing some research on his laptop and some books he picked up in the nearest library. ‘I sniffed around a bit in town. All believe it’s the Mothman, so that wasn’t really helpful.’ Since Rian was totally lost in his thoughts, Eliot went on, ‘You know, I wonder if Georges we’ve met in Ohio was telling the truth about there being some sort of underground. Although I guess you can’t really trust a Brownie that’s gone heavy on the vodka.’ Which was why they were needed last week in New London. The Brownie was so hammered that instead of giving a hand in households, he totally messed everything up (and they weren’t all too handy with the modern appliances to begin with). Some people in Ohio had to be glad it was only their kitchen that was burned down. ‘Anyway, you think the “underground”, as he calls it, is real? That there is a secret world for the supernatural we don’t know about?’ Rian’s constructive feedback was to be resumed by a “hmm” (which was not even meant for Eliot). ‘Thanks, that was helpful… Anyway, I’m thinking we should research that. Perhaps there’s some door connected to this underground. Maybe there are even secret knocks and cool handshakes we have to learn before we can go in and hunt down that vampire.’

Finally, Rian shut the book he was reading and said, ‘I don’t think it’s a vampire. Or at least, the vampire you want it to be.’

‘You’re not buying that Mothman crap, do you?’

‘I’m just sceptic about a vampire with ten-feet long wings,’ Rian argued. He picked up his laptop and turned it to Eliot for him to see. ‘Moreover, I have looked up the records to see if there has been victims of strange murders the past two week and possibility of missing blood in blood banks and hospitals in the area. Nothing has shown up. When I widened my search, for other crimes, the only one I could find was a recent burglary at a Bridal store. No suspects found yet.’

‘Widen the area for your search again. Something will turn up,’ Eliot argued.

‘Eliot, why do you want to find that vampire so badly? It can’t be just because she broke your wrist.’ Eliot gotten up, undid his coat and threw it on his bed. He then went over to his bag and grabbed a beer. Rian trailed him with his gaze and said, ‘Even though she must have angered you, I cannot imagine you’d get off track to reach our goal.’

Eliot turned around sharply and shouted, ‘Of course I haven’t forgotten about mom, dad and…’ His voice broke off at the end, he made his back face Rian again and opened his can. ‘It’s really stuffy here. I’m going out.’

***

When he had arrived at the Laundromat, he had not expected to see Eliot there with tears filling his blank eyes. Dorian tried to talk to him, he shook him several times by the shoulders, however he could get no sound out of him. It was when he looked inside that he understood. The Laundromat had now become a scene of crime in which lied a mutilated body, drowning in a pool of blood.

The body was hardly recognisable. It looked like a hound had feasted and shred it apart. If it hadn’t been for the face, save from a head wound, to have been remained intact, It would have been impossible for Rian and Eliot to confirm the identity.

It was hard to confront themselves the reality that another loved one had left them after their parents had been brutalised four years before. It was even harder to deal with the fact that the deaths had been so similar.

***

Rian woke up with his face buried in books. He stirred up and looked at the time showing on his laptop. It was around 3 am. He surveyed the room and as he had suspected, he was alone. Eliot was probably out picking up lady friends or spending time with one.

He rubbed his face and as he stretched his arms, his gaze fell upon the article about the burglary at the Bridal store. ‘Oh,’ he uttered, having a sudden realisation. ‘I’m stupid… Of course!’ He shoved the books away and slid his laptop closer for new research.

When it was about 5 am and Eliot still didn’t show, he went to bed.

***

‘Haven’t we been already over this?’ Eliot asked as he applied the shaving cream on his jaw. ‘I mean, really, Mothman?’

‘It makes sense,’ Rian said as he paced up and from the room. ‘I didn’t think much of it as first because when I found the article I was looking at everything from the Vampire-angle. However, then suddenly it hits me that it really could be the Mothman. There’s a Family Dollar not so far from here. Why not go there and steal clothes if you’re in need of it?’

‘Cause selling bridal gowns makes more money?’ Eliot guessed, as he rinsed his hands.

However his interference didn’t bother Rian. ‘The clothes we have these days are often made from fabrics with artificial fibres or at least mixed with it. Moth caterpillars don’t eat that, they eat what’s made of natural proteinaceous fibres.’

He picked up his blade. ‘Prote-what?’

‘Proteinaceous fibres. Like you can find in wool or silk. And this morning I’ve gone to the lady from the store that was robbed and she confirmed me that every gown that had been stolen was made of silk.’ He had been nervous about deceiving her that he was part of the police, however he didn’t have too. She was so chatty and sad that she spilled everything after crying on his stiff shoulder for an hour.

‘So, Mothman, huh,’ Eliot whispered as he ran the blade over his skin.

‘Well, we could be dealing with a Mothwoman,’ Rian pointed out, ‘Who has laid eggs somewhere and now feeding it.’

Eliot dropped his blade and craned his neck towards Rian. ‘Wait a second. Are you saying she laid eggs and that we’ll have more of these fuckers soon? They’re 6 feet tall, for fucks sake!’

‘Yes, and it can be hundreds of them.’ Rian brought his index to his jaw. ‘You’re bleeding by the way.’

‘Oh fuck!’

***

After having fetched some pesticide and a flamethrower, Rian and Eliot were good to go again. Before he started the motor, Eliot slipped a fistful of mothballs into the pocket of his jacket.

‘I don’t think it’s going to help again human-sized moths,’ Rian dead-panned

‘Shut it,’ he snapped and turned the key. ‘So, where do we go?’

‘Let’s check for empty houses or storage places. The Mothwoman is more likely to find a more sheltered place to keep her young. Their chances of survival will be bigger then.’ He pulled up his laptop from the bag that was at his feet.

‘Mothwoman got some mother instincts.’

‘However if she doesn’t,’ Rian said as he looked for the list he had made of empty places in the area. ‘then we might have a problem. We can’t search the woods of the region…’

‘I really hope you’re wrong and this is a vampire,’ Eliot said as they drove through the streets of Point Pleasant in search of the Mothmother’s lair, or something.

When they were through with Point Pleasant, Eliot suggested they widen the area of their search with Henderson. However with only roughly 150 households, there was not a lot to search.

‘What if it is no Mothwoman, no vampire, but another beast of the Native American Lore. After all there’s been tribes, battles and all here,’ Eliot hypothesized as they drove along the Fort Randolph. ‘Not that we’ve been lucky last time, but it could be this time.’

‘Some said that the Mothman that had been spotted during the 60’s was due to the Cornstalk curse. As well as the collapse of the Silver bridge and other disasters,’ Rian muttered, but then pressed his lips together.

Eliot sighed. His little brother was set on the Mothwoman-theory. Such a stubborn boy. He glanced to the clock from the VW Camper. It was almost 11 pm ‘Okay, I think we better go back for today.’

They gone back to the hotel and as soon they arrived, Eliot said he was going out for a bit. Which meant that he would be doing what he was doing best. Rian didn’t let it bother him and gone back to their room. For a long time he laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. Perhaps Eliot was right, perhaps it was some creature from the lore. After all the Cornstalk curse and the history of the Native American tribes was a rich with folktales and others. However right now he would be unable to do proper research. He was still knee-deep into his Mothwoman-theory.

To change ideas, he got up and grabbed the EMF-meter to hunt for potential ghosts in the hotel. He had been intrigued by what the information sheet at the lobby said about this being a haunted place. So he had looked up and read a bit more about it.

Apparently, the third floor where they were presently was the floor with the most ghost activity. Their room was supposed to be haunted by a man with a beard, which gave rise a lot of theories around his identity. The room he wanted to take, 316, had been visited by the legless Captain Jim.  There was also the spirit of some maid said to be haunting the premises. Rian turned on the EMF-meter did the tour of his room. When nothing was found he strolled around the third floor.

‘I see you’re looking for ghosts,’ a lady he recognised as the one who had registered their stay said. ‘Found anything?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ Rian replied.

‘Be sure to check the second floor. There’s been sightings of a small child riding a tricycle. And if you’re not lucky, then go to the mezzanine. If you lay a single long-stemmed rose there, you might draw out the dancing woman. Good luck!’ she said as she walked on.

Rian scanned the woman’s back and said, ‘Excuse me. But you have a hole in your shirt.’

The woman stood still and checked her arms. ‘Again? Oh no, and this is a new shirt. Second one that’s been ruined!’ she exclaimed. ‘Thank you for telling me. Must be my cat or something.’ And off was she.

A cat? Rian was rather sceptical about that. From the damage of the fabric, he could tell it hadn’t been ripped by the claws of an animal. More likely to have been eaten? It could be moths. The idea made him shake his head. He wanted his mind to be taken off this matter as soon as possible. There was the Shawnee and Mingo folktales to study.

When the second floor turned out clean as well, he went to the mezzanine as he was recommended to. There was no surprise there either. No EMF activity. He sighed and thought of going back when something that fluttered in the corner in his eye caught his attention. He cocked his head up and saw two moths buzzing around the ceiling lamps. After all, he might have had caught the culprit that had eaten the lady’s clothes. Rian examined the ceiling and walls, finding three more moths. When in the corner of the walls, just under the grid of the air duct, he believed he saw white speckle move, he gotten a chair and stood on it after having kicked of his shoes in a hurry. He dipped his fingers into the back pocket of his jeans for a mini flashlight and examined the duct. As he suspected, there was probably a handful of larvae wriggling its way out.

‘Oh my, what are you doing?’ the lady asked. ‘If it’s about the A/C being broken, the handy man will come tomorrow.’

‘How long has it been this way? And this duct, where does it lead to?’

‘Uhm, about 5 days and to the roof… Why?’

***

As the woman grazed his lips, Eliot unzipped the back of her dress. Making out in a car, with a view on the Ohio river wasn’t bad. Even though they didn’t do much river watching.

The woman flipped her long brown locks to the side and Eliot worked his way from her lips to her neck down to her breasts with his mouth. He hardly arrived to her collar bone when she shrieked.

Eliot stirred up, figuring that wasn’t his doing at all. ‘What’s wrong?’

She pointed outside and stammered, ‘So-something there! M-mo-monster!’

‘What?’ Eliot drudged through the two front seats to sit on front and look out of the window. Out there was a large winged and hairy creature stomping in front of the car going towards the Silver Memorial Bridge. ‘That’s indeed a bit too big for a bird.’ Since he couldn’t see it clearly in the dark, he started the motor to put the headlights on, but it was already too late as it had stretched its wings and flapped up. Eliot whipped up his smartphone. Apparently, he had missed several calls from Rian. He called back, put it on speaker, tossed it on the passenger’s seat and drove after the creature which was flying low. With his left hand he sought for his gun in his shoulder holster. Good thing he hadn’t taken off his clothes yet.

‘Hey, what are you doing with my car?’

‘Sorry, this is a bit of an emergency here,’ he said as he drove out of the dead-end path along the highway. ‘I have to get closer.’ When Rian’s side picked up. ‘Hey, guess what I found. Big flying hairball. What’s up?’

***

‘I found a container buckets of larvae and caterpillars in the airduct on the roof of our hotel. Someone did not only place it there, but also fed it some silk,’ he said as he pulled a shred of what had to be the bridal dress out from the slimy, squirmy bunch.

The lady looked at the scene in horror. How could he even plunge one finger in this. She could never understand. Actually, she didn’t want to, what she did want to do however, was to throw up. ‘I’m going to call the exterminators,’ she said as she ran off.

Rian followed the lady downstairs, but instead of waiting in the lobby, he gotten into the VW Camper. ‘You were near the bridge? According to what I read, the Mothman disappeared after the Silver bridge collapsed. Perhaps there’s some tie.’ He heard several gun shots on the other side of the line. ‘Eliot, what are you doing?’ he asked. However Eliot did not reply and all Rian could hear was some shrieking noise, he suspected it being from brakes. ‘I should hurry,’ Rian told to himself and stepped on it. ‘Eliot? Eliot, you hear me? What’s going on?’ Finally, Eliot was answering. “Since it was flying pretty low, I shot it. It’s falling down I think. What do I do?”  Rian bit his lower lip and thought. ‘Keep it busy till I come with the supplies? I’m there in a minute.’

***

‘My brother is funny,’ Eliot said to the girl who shot him a dark glare. Well, he couldn’t blame her. She didn’t know his brother drove like a granny and that one minute meant at least ten by his book. He noticed her exposed bra with the rear-view mirror. ‘Is this silk. Can I use it?’

‘Leave!’ she barked.

Eliot shrugged. He stopped the car, opened the door and ran out, gun in hand. Good thing he always carried one, even when picking girls. Now he wasn’t very good at it (still better than Rian) and driving while shooting was even harder. Getting the monster’s wing was probably a lucky shot. However he’d take that any time.

He headed where he saw the creature crash down towards to. If he saw correctly, instead of going to the Silver Memorial Bridge, it had gone the opposite side. Towards the woods. As he ran, he said to Rian, as the call was still ongoing, ‘Take that road we took this morning, the one leading to the cemetery. It’s fleeing to the woods. Hanging up for now.’ When the road became too dark, he took out his flashlight and turn it on.

As expected, it seemed an eternity for Rian to arrive. However he wasn’t on the road right now. Perhaps he had to go back on Redmond Ridge road, since that was the one Rian would drive on as he had instructed. Eliot eased his run into a walk.

When he thought he saw the road lying ahead, a bush ruffled. ‘Oh dear god,’ he muttered to himself. 50 dollars that he will turn around and the monster was there. He swallowed hard, rose his gun and turned around…

No monster.

Oh well, he didn’t mind losing a bet with himself. He breathed out of relief, but again sucked air in sharply upon viewing on two small red lights at least than 300 yards from him. ‘Oh shit…’ He rose his flashlight towards it. He held in an upcoming yell when the light hit the hairy, moldy dark creature that limped his way. If one thing did actually relieved him aside the bad limp, was that it was no way near being 6 feet tall. But still, scary as hell. Eliot tried to fire shots, but he had emptied his gun earlier. ‘Dammit.’ While the distance between him and the monster lessened, Eliot patted frantically his pockets for another weapon. ‘Dammit, dammit.’ When he found the mothballs, he threw it into the red eyes of the creature.

The big Moth made a leap back and closed its wounded wings over its eyes. Eliot took advantage of this moment to run off towards the road. While doing so, he grabbed his cellphone and rang to his brother. ‘Pick up, pick up, pick up.’ However no avail. The call gotten directed to his voicemail. ‘Damn youuuuuu.’

Finally, he was on the road, but the Moth was still after him. He could hear its steps following him. He didn’t have a lot of possibilities. He’d just run up the road, towards Henderson. Perhaps a little civilization will scare the critter.  He stole a last glance from the red-eyed monster over his shoulder before setting off full speed ahead.

After a sprint of 500 yards, Eliot decided that he needed to stop the junk-food for a while or his heart might burst. Thankfully for him, headlights from the VW Camper finally showed, driving at the pace of a bike pedaled by a 7 year old. Eliot stood still and waved with his hands. ‘I’m here!’ Instead of slowing down, the VW Camper picked up some speed. ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ His eyelids widened as the roar from the car grew louder and it came faster and faster towards him. ‘That’s over 60, bastard! Fuuuuck!’ he yelled and jumped to the side of the road, fell on his side and rolled away.

A loud thud followed and the motor gotten cut.

‘You didn’t… Oh no!’ Eliot shouted as he pushed himself off the ground. He hobbled towards the front of his car, under which was the disgusting hair ball, and on it, his probably blood and bits of him. ‘My car! You’ve ruined my fucking car!’

At last Rian opened the door and got out. ‘Are you doing fine?’

‘Fine? You’re asking if I’m fine? Not only am I hurt, but my baby here gotten messed up by some black goo and monster leftovers. There better be no dents or you’re finished.’

Rian didn’t reply. If his brother was able to yell this loud, it meant he was fine. That was all he needed to know.

While Eliot moved the car away a bit, Rian put gloves on and inspected the body. He had it to lie flat on its back. ‘Odd,’ he said noticing that it looked like it was wearing some coat or rather the remnants moldy of it that had gotten stuck to his hairy body.

‘We better burn this thing, right?’ Eliot said, dragging the fire thrower out of the car.

‘Hhmmm… Yes, I suppose so,’ Rian said. He took out a knife and made an incision from the throat of the monster down to its abdomen.

‘Hey, we don’t have the time for this. We have to clean this up quick.’ Eliot put the fire thrower down and put some rubber gloves on his turn. ‘What are you looking for anyway? You were right. It’s a moth something. Can’t you be happy just with that? I hate it when you’re right.’

‘The larvae and caterpillars I found were all regular insect size,’ Rian said. ‘They were not his. I have no idea how he has managed to gather it and put there. He has no arms, only wings.’

‘He? Not she?’

‘He,’ Rian confirmed, hands digging the organs out of the monster. ‘It’s male. Actually, I even suspect it was human once.’

‘You’re kidding, right?’ Eliot asked with a grin, which faded quickly as he realized that he wasn’t. Rian was being serious. ‘How on earth?’

‘Hold up a flashlight, please. The headlights of the car aren’t enough,’ Rian requested. Eliot did as asked, which enabled his little brother to inspect every organ he had been able to dig out. ‘Fascinating. At least we can be at peace that it was impossible for him to reproduce.’ He put back the organs into the body and tried shove some hairs off the face of the monster. ‘Hhmmm’ He tugged at the hairs. Since he was able to tear some of it off, he attempted to pluck most of it away without tearing off some of the black-green skin that was in state of decomposition. It couldn’t be from just being killed now. ‘The decomposition must have started when it was alive,’ Rian concluded with a frown. All this turned Eliot’s stomach, but didn’t do a thing to his little brother who just leaned over the face of the Moth without hesitation. ‘Does this face look familiar to you?’

‘Hard to say, it’s pretty messed up,’ Eliot said, trying to gasp for breathable air. ‘We should seriously clean this up. It’s almost daybreak.’

‘Rian peered intently to the monster until he said, ‘I stumbled on this face during my research… He looks slightly like Sid Hatfield.’

‘Hatfield? Like in Hatfield–McCoy feud? I don’t know how you can tell it’s been human once, but this really sounds insane.?’

‘The lady from the hotel said that our room was haunted so I looked into it. It’s been said that Sid Hatfield had been shot by detectives from Baldwin-Felts in the hotel.’

‘Wasn’t it in like 1920? I’ve seen the movie Matewan, you know.’ He glanced at the face again. ‘I don’t know. It just looks like a giant bug been run over by a car. Rian, let’s just burn this. Hatfield or no Hatfield.’

‘Okay. You’re right. I apologise, I’ve gotten carried away.’

‘Good. Let’s move that thing to the side and make a big camp fire.’ He slid his hands under the shoulder pits of the monster and pulled it away. ‘We can even sing songs and all.’

***

‘I wonder why he cultivated those moths,’ Rian said.

Eliot batted his eyelashes. He had a hard time to keep awake after the events of last night, he hadn’t been able to sleep in the morning at all (although the owners let them sleep in till 3 pm, instead of forcing them out by noon, cause they were cuties). This was not a good thing since they were already back on the road, heading to Louisiana. He hoped they’d find a motel soon, for him to crash. He couldn’t believe he was considering this while the sun hard barely set. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You think he wanted company?’

‘Company? Seriously? Like friends?’

‘Well, honestly, the body we’ve found was quite old. I wonder if overtime, he had become lonely.’

‘You know. I don’t really care,’ Eliot said. ‘However that’s not a way to make friends.’

Rian cast a glance towards his brother and a subtle smile formed on his lips. He was being right. And Eliot knew everything about being friends.

‘Anyway, about the vampire thing,’ Eliot brought up and gripped at the steering wheel. ‘It’s not as if I’ve forgotten about what happened or why we’re hunting. It’s just that I wonder, what if it was a vampire who did that?’

‘A vampire?’ Rian repeated and thought about it. ‘I don’t know. I honestly don’t …’ He opened the his leather bound notebook he had in his lap. It was his notes on all creatures they had come across so far. Since they had quite a road ahead them, he had been completing his notes on the Mothman they had met. Or the flying “Uncle It”, like Eliot had started calling the creature. He flipped through the pages and landed on the one he had written “Vampire” on. There was not much information he had gathered. Only where they had met one. He had written some random notes on a post-it he had stuck on these pages, but he didn’t know what to do with all this information. To record them officially yes or no? The post-it read as: “Appears to be able to use magic, tall and toned, no pulse, no breathing, red eyes?, fangs?” and finally “knows about nøkken or is associated with one”. When he looked up, he noticed Eliot had stopped at some market along the road.

‘I’m going to get some coffee. You want something?’

‘Uhm, well. Actually, I’ll go,’ he said. ‘Do you want anything else?’

‘Pie. I want pie.’

Rian hopped off and made his way to the market. Eliot went through his music list on his ipod that was connected to the car and picked a Kylie Minogue song, “Can’t get you out of my head”.  Just when he was turning up the music, he laid his eyes on a mustang that was parked not far from their ride. It was sure a nice car. He marveled for some time, before it struck him. ‘I’ve seen this car before…’ Curious, he got out and circled the car. If this was the car he thought it was, that meant…

‘Great car, right?’ a voice said, which made him smile already. ‘Is yours that a minty VW Camper I see?’

‘It is,’ he replied and turned around. There she was, the girl he had met just after he had his wrist broken by the vampire. ‘Now that’s a pleasant surprise.’

The girl didn’t seem to recognize him at first. He gave her some time to remember and just smiled adorably at her in the meantime. When it finally struck her as well, she said, ‘I see your cast is off.’ And looked to his lovely face. ‘You’ve gotten hurt elsewhere though.’

He rubbed his cheek and closed in. ‘If we meet a second time, this must mean something, right?’

She brought her hand to his face and ran her finger over his cut. ‘Probably,’ she replied, licking her lips. ‘What do we do now?’

‘What do you have in mind?’ he asked, as his eyed her mouth.

She came closer, their bodies only an inch apart. ‘You tell me,’ she replied, heavy-lidded.

He wrapped his arm around her middle and had his fingers run up and down her spine slowly. ‘Nothing your white-haired boyfriend will like.’

‘Hmmm,’ she moaned, ‘Who?’

‘The guy behind you who looks like he’s boiling over.’

‘Baby,’ the white-haired guy called. ‘Is that hairless monkey bothering you?’

Jime finally sighed in exasperation, turned round and snapped under her breath, ‘I said, don’t call me baby.’ She faced Eliot again and smiled sweetly at him. ‘Sorry. My uncle is so exasperating. It’s unbearable.’

Uncle huh? There more believable lies than this one. ‘That’s okay,’ he replied and pressed his cheek on her temple as he whispered, ‘Perhaps third time will be a charm?’

‘No interruptions next time,’ she promised him.

When the white haired man made a step forward with gnashing teeth, Eliot pulled away and walked back to the car. The woman watched him go and let out a deep sigh. She felt like she was going to melt in a puddle of sexual frustration. ‘Can I has him?’ she muttered, pouting.

‘I’m going to-‘

‘If you dare to lay one finger of him, I’ll skin you and turn you into shoes,’ she said, making the man sigh. She watched Sherlock way too many times.

‘You done?’ Rian asked, as he put groceries into the car.

‘Not really, but I don’t have a choice, don’t I?’ Eliot replied.

‘There’s a motel 15 miles from here.’

‘Good, let’s go!’

A Bet Like No Other 1

After a long night of roaming the city, lurking in dark corners, slinking through the shadows the high rise buildings provided in search of a tasty blood, repugnant soul human to feast upon, The Vampire returned the hotel she and her niece bunked in for the past three nights in lieu of the trunk and the backseat of the car.

She shifted into a bat and slipped through the partially opened hotel window, a small biddy eyed creature forming in one solid form on the other side. She shook her long hair out, flicking it over one shoulder, then proceeded to kick off one boot followed by its twin.

BANG!

A gun shot fired, shattering a small whole into the wall plaster just left of her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" The Vampire snapped at her baby witch niece who stood in the middle of the room with a gun pointed before her.

"Bored," The Little Witch replied.

"What?"

"BORED!" She shot again hitting the wall two inches from her previous mark.

The Vampire shrugged, tossing the lovely soft peach cashmere sweater to the side. She wore it because it was pretty, not to protect her from the chilly late Spring weather, the tank top she wore was sufficient enough. "Don't think playing Sherlock is the best way to cure boredom, you know, with all the noise and such."

"I spelled the room. Duh."

"Still." The Vampire sat in the center of the bed, legs crossed. "I'm sure there's something else you could do."

Little Witch sighed dramatically, tossing the gun up in the air where it vanished. "Fine." The next hour passed with The Vampire catching up on all the books she let pile up over the last three months on the E-reader she borrowed without asking with no intention to return. Little Witch stood at the window, a spell written on the glass by smudging her finger, using it as a portal of sorts to her private solarium where she kept all her ingredients and potions ready stocked for easy access. As long as the item was in stock and where she left it, she could summon the item for spells and charms without ever having to physically retrieve it. It made working magic instantly and remotely all the more easy.

But not even the ever growing pile of commissions was enough to occupy the young witch, and she stood at the window gazing at the residential houses, office building, and other stores and business 5 stories below her Brooklyn hotel room.

She flicked a hand, ever the good witch, and turned on the lights of a darkened building for a lady with two small children. But being bad was also fun, so she tampered with the traffic lights causing them to from green to red every ten seconds, but her magic was too much for the old wires and electricity.

POP! BOW!

A transformer blew, and all the lights on her side of the street went out, spreading two blocks to her left and three behind her.

The Vampire rolled her eyes and glanced over the book. “Nice.”

“Oops.”

“Think you can manage to produce some sort of light so I can continue my book? Without sitting anything on fire.”

Little Witch turned to face her aunt. “If you were reading something…good, I’d consider it.”

“Hey!” The Vampire said defensively, “this book isn’t that bad.”

“That book sucked ass.”  She snorted.

“No it doesn’t.”

“It’s the same for all those regency romances. Some female from the present somehow ends up in the past because she’s destined to be the great love of the super hot and muscled Highlander with long dark hair and a kilt, or the overly attractive, stuffed shirt Darcy-type Earl or Duke.”

“Or Rake. Can’t forget the Rake’s,” The Vampire said. She sat the E-reader to the side.

“And it’s always the same,” Little Witch droned on. “They take some liberated, educated, intelligent, pretty woman who, more often than not, has no friends or close-living family and you thrust her back into the past by way of a magic book, or mirror, fall, a nap in the park where she wake up and finds herself 200-1000 years in the past where the first person who stumbled across her is usually some prick who attempts to rape her after noticing her state of undress—“

“You mean shorts, or tee shirt. Hair uncovered, hands exposed, ankles all the way.” The Vampire stuck out a perfectly exposed ankle that in the past was completely unacceptable for a woman to show.

“You Strumpet,” Little Witch teased. “Then the big man shows up with his misconstrued impressions based on the five minutes he’s known you and has determined you’re the most obstinate woman ever.”

The Vampire held up her hand. “You forgot something?”

“What?”

“The Swoon-Snarl at first sight. They see each other, both thinks the other is  the most gorgeous and handsome person they’ve ever laid eyes upon. Then they speak and piss each other off.” She batted her lashes.

“I said that.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Uh...Super hot Highlander in a kilt? Obstinate woman? Remember?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Anyway, the part that bothers me—“

“You’re just going to skip ahead? No. Keep going in order. This is entertaining.”

“—Is that they take this woman who has every right to be upset, and distraught, who wants to go home and they make her okay with the situation. A week— Sorry, a sennigh later and though she still desperately wants to return home, she’s no longer trying, she’s so involved trying to revolutionize their this backwards century she’s stumbled upon that has no indoor plumbing, or cable TV, internet, not even a damn Starbucks, and let me tell you, Starbucks would definitely be needed in this situation.”

“Coffee didn’t become mainstream until a few centuries ago. Back then they drank tea.”

Little Witch rolled her eyes. “Now she either as played along, pretended to be from the time, maybe a runaway daughter of sorts who is taking in and giving protection, so she alters her speech to keep from sounding like the alien she really is, or she tries to prove her story, that she’s from the future where blah, blah, equal rights, blah blah, women make their own decisions, blah blah, here! Let me prove it by showing you my cell phone. Which. Should. Not. Work! The technology did not exist by then. The moment you travel into the past that cell phones should die. Immediately. There’s no electricity. And she should probably be swinging from a gallows by her neck if she manages to get that contraption to work. Or because she will almost always be stubborn and smart mouth.”

The vampire glanced around the room, refraining from informing her niece that they currently had no electricity either, and it had nothing to do with time travel.

“And the worst part is, they take this otherwise intelligent, strong, beautiful lady and turn her into a mediocre, DUMB, watered down, sad excuse of a person, who despite being beaten, kidnapped, poisoned, tortured, in some cases raped, is oh-so happy because she’s with the man she loves. Who is just as bad and bland as she. And you know what else? Her real family or friends, if she has them are oh-so accepting of this, because she always manages to make it back to the present at least once more before she resides in the past forever. And if she has no family or friends, her coworkers or landlord never noticed she disappeared.”

“It doesn’t always end that way,” The Vampire countered. “Sometimes they end up in the present, where the guy returns to her time.”

“And is totally useless!” Little Witch said. “He has no birth certificate, no social security number, no passport, no ID, no real life job skills, he can’t do shit. All he can do is look good in a skirt or stuffy in a shirt. He is of no value. It’s total bull. It’s all fake and dumb, and as much as I love historical novels, I can’t get with the shitty travel to the past stories.”

“You make some valid points, although your view is obviously slanted towards the negative, but that’s not the say it would never happen that way.”

“Almost never.”

“I’m pretty sure it would.”

“Nope.”

“If you threw 5 people in the past, I’m sure you would see all those traits happened, if not in one person, bits and pieces in them all.”

Little Witch slanted her head, surveying her aunt. “Bet you wouldn’t.”

The Vampire’s eyes began to glow. “Bet?” She could never turn down a good bet. “Bet what?”

“You’re Psy-Changeling ARC? If I win, and by win that means if five people go into the past and one of them behaves in a ‘not dumb’ way, I win and you hand it over. If they all are idiots in the slightest, you win and you can have…?”

The Vampire smiled. “Oh. I’ll state my claim later. If I win. But there’s a problem.”

“Huh?”

“We need five people.”

Little Witch skunked against the wall. “True.”

The Vampire walked over to her niece and looked out the window, lamenting at a missed opportunity that would be so much fun. She pressed her forehead to the window, looking down across the street that wasn’t drenched in darkness, watching people bustling down the street, in and out of buildings and the big laundromat with all the huge glass window where she could see people loading washers and folding clothes, a group of people sitting at a table talking. Four boys. Four girls, all different in appearance, and possibility personality and temperament.

A slow, wicked grin spread her face. “We could use them.”

“Them who?”

Little Witch looked to where her aunt pointed.

“Them in the laundromat at the table. That’s a pretty diverse set of people. I’m sure one of them is bound to be smart.”

“We’re not throwing random people into the past Tia.”

“Why not?” The Vampire asked, genuinely curious. “It’s not like you can’t protect them.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Asks the girl who was shooting at the wall.”

The Witch flicked her hand, the bullet holes vanished, the wall as good a new.

“Why can’t you do that with them? Make it like a video game. Send them on a quest, make them solve missions or something, like they have to stop the evil Queen from taking over--“

“Why is it always an evil queen?”

“—And if they die, they return home, safe and unharmed, and maybe think it’s just a dream.”

“You’re insane,” Little Witch countered weakly, as she began to like the idea of the game. She loved games as much as her aunt loved bets.

“They could have like, this five lives…five stupidities, and when they run out of all the stupidities they could use, they lose the game, instant death, and return home. If one remains in the game when all is solved, you win. If they all die and return home. I win.” She tugged on her niece’s arm. “Come on Sobrina. For just this once do something really fun.”

Little Witch sighed. “Fine. Fine. But they only get three Stupidities. And there's no evil queen. We'll stick with the topic of romance and intelligence.”  Her eyes suddenly widened. “And to make it more interesting, we both will also play. Good Angel, Bad Angel. Your job is to get them to make a stupid decision, mine is to get them to make a smart one. But we can only interfere twice. Each.”

The Vampire’s eyes glowed even brighter, her smile growing larger. She rubbed her hands together eagerly. “And the rules?”

“So this is how it’s going to go.” As Little Witch talked, telling her the mission, The Vampire squealed in joy.

ddddd

Down at the Laundromat, Trice stood up from the table. “I think my dryer just went out.” She walked down the row of dryer’s and opened what should have been her dryer. She glanced at the number in the upper left hand corner. #69. Yep. Was her dryer, but that wasn’t her stuff. With her index finger and thumb, she lifted a garment out of the dryer. Knickers. There was no other way to describe the linen underwear that would start at her waist and come down to her knees. “The hell is this?”

“Ugh. Trice, I knew you were a hard cotton, period panties sort of girl, but even that’s going too far,” Suri said from her seat beside Rian who blushed profusely.

These were certainly period clothing’s, but not how Suri meant it. “They’re not mine.”

“ Wife?” Jime stood behind Trice, peeking over her shoulder into the dryer. “You’d go to a Renaissance fest lately and didn’t tell me? I wanted one of those big turkey legs.”

“As if I have time to go anywhere.”

“You just went to Chicago,” Jolene reminded her without looking up from the drama she watched on her tablet.

“After three years,” Kri added.

Trice shifted the laundry in the dryer, more confused than ever. Eliot saddled up beside her and Jime. “What’s that?” he reached into the dryer for what looked like a gold coin.

“A silver dollar?” Hiroki suggested. “Maybe you left change in your clothes.”

“Not my clothes,” Trice replied.

Eliot held up the coin turning it back and forth. One side was gold, a mysterious woman with long hair lounged along the right side of the coin, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d swear she winked. The other side was silver, a different woman leaning against the left side of the coin, three halo’s above her head.

The others got up from the table, crowding around to see the coin and the contents of the dryer.

“Let me see,” Jime held her hand out. Her fingers brushed against Eliot’s as he handed over the coin. It slipped from their hands, falling to the ground with a cling where it spun and spun and spun picking up more speed and stability instead of losing momentum and toppling over. A gust rose, swirling around their legs, their upper bodies, a thick wall of wind that blocked their view from everything. The laundromat, the washers and dryer’s behind them, even each other.

What’s going on?”

“What the hell is this?”

“Is this Jumunji?”

“Uh! Don’t say that. I hate that movie.”

“Somebody call my mommy.”

“Am I high? Did one of you spike my juice?”

And that was the last thing any of them heard before the ground opened up in a rush and swallowed them whole.

ddddd

Eliot sucked in a deep breath, his lungs taxed, his backside hurting from where he crash landed onto the floor. Eyes shut tight, they slowly fluttered open, when he was sure he wouldn’t vomit from the sudden onslaught of dizziness. White clouds floated by slowly. Blinking rapidly, he sat up, and looked around for everyone else.

No one. He was alone.

He twisted and looked behind him. His jaw slackened. To no one in particular, he said, “I don’t think we’re in Kanas anymore, Toto.”

A BET LIKE NO OTHER

A Launderette Extra

Where a bored witch and vampire from Sunset Coven decided to entertain themselves and test human intelligences at the same time by throwing cast of Laundro into the past for shits and giggles.