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

change, and the girl realized her fate. There hadn’t been a shadow monster like she’d seen. It had been a trick of her eyes, caused by the streetlights. This old lady had taken her, and now she was about to die. Emma could see all of this reel through the girl’s mind, and she began shrieking loudly.

Emma stuck the worn tape back in place over her mouth and dropped her to the ground. “I told you to be quiet.” She kicked the girl in the ribs, angry that she’d betrayed her promise to be silent. The shoe thudded into the young girl’s side, and Emma felt something break inside her own chest. What was she doing? This was an innocent girl. This wasn’t the real Emma any longer. She knew that.

The little girl who’d seen this very shadow in the orchards as she played with her dolls, so many years ago, was dead, slowly destroyed by the one her family called the Anbieter, the Provider. Sure, the family had become wealthy beyond their previous beliefs, but what had it ever gotten anyone? Emma was seventy, broke and shattered.

She tried to tell herself that she’d be moving to Colorado with the Anbieter, where she’d open a hotel. She would live out her days on an oasis, finally having wealth. She’d hire staff to run the business, and she could spend her remaining days beside a wood-burning fireplace. She tried to think about that as she watched the girl squirming on the ground. Most of her mind accepted this future, but a buried part dreaded the idea of starting over again at seventy. She couldn’t work a business from the ground up. It was all too much… then that part of her pushed back inside, an invisible hand plucking her concerns away.

As the dark became easier to see in, Emma noticed the stark white bones scattered into piles along the walls. Brittany Tremblay, Fredrik Karlsson, and now a girl whose name she didn’t know. She’d gone to that street in hopes of picking up the Alenn kid that had come to town, but the Anbieter had other plans. Why, she didn’t know. Emma had assumed the final feed with the child of their blood was necessary, but it didn’t seem to think so.

One more body, and it was ready to walk on its own once again. Emma could return to her apartment and let the creature feed itself from now on, and that suited her just fine. She wasn’t sure she could stomach another abduction.

A shadowy form stretched across the floor, its dark red eyes hardly visible, but Emma knew they watched her from the edge of the cavern. The girl wriggled, hand reaching for Emma’s leg, but Emma stepped away as the black misty form dragged the child across the floor.

_______________

The rain had slowed by the time they emerged back onto Wood Street, the pathway having led them to nothing but an empty barn. Paul had been so sure the creature was going to greet him out there, but they’d encountered nothing.

Detective Tom Bartlett seemed like a solid man, both in physical stature and in character, and Paul found himself liking the Gilden police officer. He was sure the detective thought they were all nuts, going on about ancient blood bargains and German shadow monsters, but he’d taken it all with a grain of salt. He wanted this all to end as badly as Paul and the others did, so at least they had the local enforcement on their side.

“We’re going to Gilden. I need to see this car dealership,” Tom said as his foot plodded down on the first sidewalk. Paul was glad to be immersed in civilization after spending the last couple hours tramping through a muddy forest and field.

It was almost eleven at night, and Paul was anxious to get back to his wife and son, but he couldn’t; not yet. “It’s a dead end, Bartlett,” Paul said. “It has to be at the condo. You must have missed something.”

Tyler and Darrel both said the same thing, that the nest wasn’t here, but Paul could almost feel it calling for him, drawing him. Taylor nodded with him, hands on her hips. “Dad’s right. It’s got to be at the orchard.”

Paul wondered if she was connected to it like he was. The Alenns were bound up with the Smiths, whether they liked it or not. Isabelle didn’t have anything to say about it one way or another, and Paul had the sense that Beth and her daughter were missing the same link. They never seemed in danger from the lurking monster, and he was glad for small miracles.

Stevie would be a strong draw for it, and this made Paul want to get to the creature before it was fed again, resilient enough to kill with liberty. He almost called Terri to tell her to leave town and not look back until this was dealt with, but he couldn’t. Her being on the road might be more of a risk.

Detective Bartlett stopped at Darrel’s truck and motioned to the driver’s door. “Watson, take Alenn and the deputy to the orchard. See what you can find. I’ll drop the girls and the boyfriend off at your house, then head out to Gilden.”

Paul wanted to argue and knew that Taylor wouldn’t let that happen. To his surprise, Taylor nodded along with the cop. “Dad, give me your keys. I’ll drive us to Aunt Beth’s house.”

Brent cut her off. “Seriously? We can’t…”

Taylor gave him a look that meant “keep your mouth shut” and Brent clammed up, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

Paul knew what Taylor was thinking, and didn’t want her coming along to the orchard. He had a bad feeling and didn’t want to drag his daughter into the mess with Darrel and himself. What had he been thinking, even letting the kids scour the path with him? He wasn’t in his right mind out here in Red Creek,