The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 20

Black butterflies

Liz was in thought for a moment, but a strange sound from outside the cabin caught everyone's attention. It was a set of tapping sounds similar to light clapping that spread with increasing frequency until it ceased at a point where the agents looked at all points of entry to the house in astonishment. They did not consider that the magnitude of such a noise could imply the presence of any major threat, especially in a spot that, according to Chris's report, was a safe place. Liz braced herself to draw her gun as she tiptoed towards the door, remembering that typical childhood sensation where any unknown noise at night was associated with some paranormal presence, with the difference that on this occasion it was not something that exceeded the limit of the rational.

After the sound was uttered again, its source was identified. To their relief, it was nothing more than a pair of butterflies, although their presence was abnormal. After the flying insects landed on the ceiling, their figure was more sharply detailed, revealing a pair of black wings with dark red stripes along their wingspan, but most disturbing were extensions from the wings that resembled some kind of needles, as well as the size of their legs.

Bernard recoiled in terror as he watched the bugs enter the hut, his adrenaline level spiking even more as he saw one of them land directly on his arm where he had been bitten by a wolf. The man watched the butterfly in disgust; being an insect with an appearance similar to a parasite from the underworld, it was conceivable to the agents that it represented the annunciation of another dreadful event, even if that did not obey anything other than superstition.

The insect sniffed Bernard's wound closely, it was evident that it was the smell of blood that triggered its unusual behavior. Within seconds, another pair of the flamboyant butterflies landed on Bernard's arm, who, feeling unfounded despair, jerked his arm sharply. The insects flew in coordinated circular patterns outward.

"Calm down," Chris suggested after watching Bernard check his injured arm, "They're just butterflies".

"You know, when I was a kid I used to enjoy catching butterflies in Mom's garden," Liz mentioned, folding her arms, "But if I had seen one like that, I would have jumped over the fence for sure. Look, they cover your whole hand, are you sure they're insignificant insects?"

Chris pursed his lips. Soon after, the sound of fluttering butterflies was heard again outside the cabin, although this time it was from a larger group of them. In response, Chris waved his hand and asked the agents to follow him to investigate.

At the exit of the hut, where once again the stifling macabre atmosphere of the graveyard was in the air, the sound of flapping came again. After heading towards the spot, there was indeed a group of black butterflies flying in circles around a pool of blood gushing from the fresh carcass of a rodent of mammoth dimensions, well over the size of an average hare and with its entire body mostly mutilated. Its presence was grotesque and horrifying; the butterflies drank its blood like a school of piranhas fighting for a piece of meat.

It was hard to understand how such a creature could have made its way into the garden as it was a restricted area, according to Chris's comments. The scene represented nothing more than the presence of bloodthirsty death in search of more victims to collect. Without realizing it, the horrific images began to affect Bernard's mental health and he was gradually consumed by a series of horrifying premonitions of what awaited them outside. Liz, also horrified, became aware of the schizophrenic gestures of her companion, who, in a sudden fit of frustration and despair, fell to the ground on his knees clutching his face tightly in an attempt to repress his feelings. Liz ran to him trying to calm him down.

"We're going to die!" Bernard wavered, trembling on the floor. Liz had long felt that the mission was severely afflicting him, but those words were not very common from him; pessimism was not exactly one of the aspects usually seen in him "We are doomed!"

"Bernard, listen to me!" Liz begged him, trying to make him see reason, an argument that Chris joined after a few seconds. "We're going to get through, we just have to stick together until the end. Our work is on the right track."

"Don't you know how to interpret the signs?" mused the man, referring to the butterflies licking the rodent's blood "that Mr. Holzmann must be on our heels. Sooner or later he'll find us. They'll make mincemeat of us."

Liz didn't understand where her companion was getting such ideas from, that is until she realized that, on the corpse, the red stripes of the butterflies began to glow creating the effect of an infernal whirlpool that in a few seconds captured her attention as well. She felt herself caught in a sudden trance that she resisted without much success; an effect that stopped on the spot only after Chris abruptly removed her from the scene with a sudden tug of the hand. It was thus that the agents came to link the effect of the extravagant insects to such irrational behavior. In a show of concern for her companion, Liz ran to him to withdraw his attention from the fearful sight, though to her surprise, he anticipated by standing up and pushing the girl in such an abrupt manner that she could never have expected from him.

"Leave me alone, leave me alone!" Bernard shouted, losing his sanity, and then rushed out of the garden in terror, but not without his companion, still worried about him, running to stop him.

"No, it's dangerous!" Liz pleaded, grabbing him by the arm, but her attempt was tantamount to talking to deaf ears; Bernard ended up breaking free and shouting into the air.

"What's gonna happen, what could be worse, there are only butterflies here?

His last sentences showed that he was already out of his mind, although a sudden jerk in the bushes stopped him in his tracks; his common sense had not been completely obliterated. Both Chris and Liz drew their weapons in anticipation of a new demonic apparition, which was not long in coming. Less than ten meters from the garden, some kind of feline jumped over Bernard's shoulder displaying incredible agility and making frightening sounds that combined a meow and a hellish roar. The creature attacked the agent being already in the back of his neck, although the man resisted the attack and after a few seconds of struggle, managed to throw the beast to the ground, which stood up to execute a second charge after adopting an intimidating attack position. Before this was possible, the feline collapsed to the ground as a result of Liz's shots.

"BACK TO THE GARDEN!" Chris shouted wildly while pointing a small submachine gun at the feline, although Bernard was still in a state of disorientation. A situation that was taken advantage of by two more of the frightful felines who jumped onto the scene and ran towards the agent.

After the pleas of his companions, Bernard began to flee from the beasts little larger than a common house cat; they outnumbered him in agility, it didn't take long for them to catch up with him. Chris managed to shoot one of them before it could effect a bite or a scratch, but the other animal managed to knock Bernard down with a force that was not to be expected from a creature of such dimensions, yet shortly before Liz or Chris responded to the situation, the agent showed a sudden burst of determination, punched the monster hard in the face and took his pistol to shoot it, leaving it dead on the spot.

Bernard sighed agitatedly, still holding his gun that was releasing a white smoke. Liz rushed over to him again, thinking that his action was proof of his return to a normal consciousness.

"For God's sake," said the man with deep calm, as he observed the feline bodies slumped on the pavement, and how within seconds a second group of black butterflies flew over them to feed on their blood.