Return to Red Creek Nathan Hystad (e books free to read .txt) 📖

“What are you saying?” Tyler asked.

“I’m saying someone set him up. They wanted to divert attention to Carl to take the heat off themselves,” Tom said.

“Who?”

“Someone at the condo. It has to be,” Tom said, walking to the front and grabbing his keys.

“Wait. You can’t go back alone. Take Rich. Watch first. There are things in Red Creek you don’t understand,” Tyler said, and Tom recalled the call earlier, where Tyler said he wanted to talk to him about something face-to-face. They never did have that conversation.

“Gotcha. Stakeout first.” Tom was okay with that. He had a good feeling they’d find something tonight. “Come on, Rich. Bring the food.”

Sixteen

Emma Jeanne sat on her couch, head cradled in her hands. Agony twisted over her face as she struggled with the voice pounding in her mind. It needed more. She was sure two children back to back would have been enough to bring it out from its state of hibernation. All the bodies had done was make its voice more powerful; its pull over her already fragile will became stronger.

It wanted more, and it knew exactly which one. She’d felt the disturbance earlier in the day, around the time the police had arrived. It had taken all her strength not to buckle under the overwhelming pressure of the Anbieter. The Provider. That was the name her father Conway had used for the monster. She remembered seeing it around the orchard as a young girl. It would hover over in the night, stay back at least fifty feet, and watch her.

She’d stand there, stark blonde hair in ponytails, a plush toy under her arm, hypnotized. Dark mist dripped toward the sky from its crude shape. She never did tell anyone about it, because her father was mean. He’d beaten her bottom so hard the one time she questioned the monster, and that had taught her to keep her mouth shut.

Emma grabbed a photo from beside her: she and her husband on their wedding day. It had been so wonderful, so far away from Red Creek. As soon as she was old enough, she’d run away, never to return – or so she thought. Now, sitting in her suite as a seventy-year-old woman, she just wanted the pain and suffering to stop. She cursed her ancestors for bargaining with the creature. They should have cut their losses and left the logging town where they’d uncovered the dormant entity.

She still didn’t really know what it was. A demon, perhaps? The only one of its kind, maybe? Either way, she was compelled to help it now, as her family had been for generations. Maybe she could end it. Cut the source off. Maybe find explosives and destroy the entire nest once and for all. Would that even work? Burning the old nest hadn’t. She wasn’t even sure how much control she had over her own body any longer.

She often woke to find things moved around her apartment. There were sketches spread across her table, red eyes and black shapes that she had no recollection of drawing. She was cursed now, just as much as the people of Red Creek were, because of her family; more, even.

If only Paul Alenn had been sacrificed so long ago. The family had broken the pact, the bargain sealed in blood so many years earlier in northern Germany. Twice a century, they made a sacrifice. It was the deal. Timothy Caldwell had been one sacrifice, then Paul was next, only they’d let him get away. Someone stuck their nose into the business, and when the Alenn kid came back to town, he’d destroyed the Smiths. They were his family too, but they were Emma’s father and daughter. Emma would be lying if she said she hadn’t cried tears of joy upon hearing of her father’s death.

Katherine should never have come back here. She’d always been drawn to the prosperity part of the bargain. When Emma had first told her daughter about Red Creek and the orchard’s power, her daughter had only nodded along, curious how the creature provided wealth. Emma didn’t know, but that was how she knew the monster was otherworldly. It had powers beyond human understanding.

Fütter mich.

The words came to her head unbidden. It said, “Feed me,” and she knew what that meant. A child of their blood had entered the area that day, and it had sent the creature into a frenzy in his nest below. He was almost replenished, nearly strong enough to fend for himself, but not quite.

Emma closed her eyes, gripping the picture frame tightly. She saw the memory of dragging Brittany Tremblay through the mud, the power of the Anbieter coursing through her as she carried part of it with her. She’d felt it take over her body, and when the lightning had flashed that night, she’d seen its arm in place of hers, pulling the girl by the arm so hard, it had torn from the socket. She could still hear the screams.

Fütter mich. It said the words again in her mind. Always in German, but never more than a couple of words at a time. She opened her eyes and saw blood dripping from her nose onto the picture. It covered her husband’s image, and she cried for the loss of that good man. He’d always taken care of her, and when he passed in bed at their Florida home, the pull from Red Creek grew. It was stronger each and every day, until Emma knew she had to either end herself or made the trip back to her old hometown. Here she was, helping it kill now, just like her father, the man she’d always hated and resented. She was no better than Conway Smith.

Maybe she finally understood him. He didn’t have a choice in the matter. That had been decided long ago by their ancestors at the logging camp.

Emma got up, staring out the window.