It turned and looked at him, blood, still fresh, dripping from its teeth. The victim’s blood. That was all it took to bring him back to reality. Tonight an innocent woman had been killed by this creature and others had died the same way. This wasn’t Ireland, and this wasn’t some damn enchanted forest. This was Chicago. This was his city. And he wasn’t going to let some oversized beast get away with murder.
“Hey, Magilla, I’m not twelve anymore,” Sean growled through gritted teeth. “I said it once and I’m only going to say it one more time. Police! Freeze!”
The creature started to lunge and Sean lifted his gun and shot it in the heart. The impact knocked it back a few feet, but it regained its footing and came at him again.
Sean shot again, and again, and again. He emptied the entire magazine into the beast, but it only slowed it down. He was out of ammunition, so he pulled out his Taser. He set at the highest possible setting and aimed at shot. The probes attached themselves to the creature’s chest and Sean shot 50,000 volts of electricity into its body.
The creature roared, grabbed the lines and ripped them from his chest, pulling the Taser out of Sean’s hands. The gun clattered to the ground.
Sean reached back and pulled out the final weapon in his arsenal, his wooden nightstick. He moved into a hand-to-hand combat position, his stick in his right hand, and faced the creature. He knew he needed to stay away from the talons, and he prayed he could find some spot of weakness before he became victim number nine.
The beast approached him slowly, its black tongue darting in and out along its elongated jawline. Its yellow eyes never blinking, staring coldly into Sean’s soul. He remembered those eyes. He remembered the last time he faced the beast clearly now. He remembered thinking he was going to die.
He lifted his right arm up and waited. He needed it to be close enough to try to get past it and attack it from the rear. It moved closer. Sean feinted to the left and dashed to the right, but the creature quickly mirrored his movement. He tried moving to the left, but the creature moved just as fast, blocking him and forcing him past the section wall and towards the corner of the garage.
Sean knew the only way out was through the beast. And he knew he was out of options. He screamed at the top of his lungs and ran toward the creature, his right arm and nightstick raised defensively. The creature bellowed back and raised its arm, talons clicking into place, to attack.
Another glimmer of light. The soft sound of air being pushed and the beast froze in its tracks. Sean jumped back and watched as the head tottered on the stump of neck that protruded from its body and then fell with a crash to the ground. It split in half and then crumbled to dust.
Sean looked up from the remains of the creature and saw her. Once again wiping the green ooze from the blade of her broadsword. But, she wasn’t a girl any longer. She was a woman. A tall, strikingly beautiful woman.
“You,” he stuttered.
“Aye, and here you are trying to fight off a Heldeofol with naught but a stick again,” she said, shaking her head. “Did you learn nothing from your last experience?”
“You weren’t a hallucination?” he asked.
She smiled brightly at him. “Aye, Sean the Brave, I’m only a dream.”
And then she disappeared.
About the author:
Terri Reid lives near Freeport, the home of the Mary O’Reilly Mystery Series, and loves a good ghost story. She lives in a hundred year-old farmhouse complete with its own ghost. She loves hearing from her readers at [email protected]
Other books by Terri Reid:
Loose Ends – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book One)
Good Tidings – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Two)
Never Forgotten - A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Three)
Final Call - A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Four)
Darkness Exposed - A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Five)
Natural Reaction – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Six)
Secret Hollows – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Seven)
Broken Promises – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Eight)
Twisted Paths – A Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book Nine)
The Ghosts Of New Orleans -A Paranormal Research and Containment Division (PRCD) Case File
Table of Contents
Copyright
Note from the author
Chapter One (20 years ago)
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six (present day)
About the author
Other books by the author
