Bones of the Demon King

Chapter 22

~HOURS EARLIER~

David had called Eva several times but she didn’t pick up her phone. He decided to call Joelynn to find out if she knew where Eva was.

“I’m sorry David. All she said was that she was going to be working on a story near Woodbridge.” Joelynn had explained. Woodbridge was the city next door to Ludwig. It was still about an hour away since the stretch of highway between the two towns was pretty long.

 “Don’t worry. She said if things ran long, she would stay at the motel out there.”

“What about you? Are you okay staying home alone?” David asked.

Joelynn laughed, “Don’t worry about me. I’m staying over at my friend Jacob’s again.”

Eva had told David about Jacob. “You sure do stay over there a lot.”

Joelyn grunted, “Since you can’t see me, I’m rolling my eyes at you right now.”

David laughed. “So neither you nor Eva will be home tonight.”

“I definitely won’t be there. I’m still not sure about Eva.”

“Alright. Thanks Joelynn.” David pressed the end button on his cellphone and looked up. Detective Jerry Gonzales was watching him from across his desk. “Everything okay Gonzales?”

Jerry smiled, “Everything’s peachy Wilson. Just peachy.”

~AT VINCENT’S HOME: CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT~

With her eyes shut, Eva was screaming for help as loud as she could. She was trying to shake her body left and right but the rope held her tightly in place. 

The laughter caused her to stop screaming. She looked up to see Vincent McDaniels sitting in a similar chair across from her. He held the knife in his hand. Eva felt the tears seeping from the corners of her eyes.

“Eva,” Vincent’s voice was soft and low. “I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”

Eva shook her head in disbelief.

“I know what you saw earlier was scary but I’m really not going to hurt you. Imagine if you were me. I’m in my cellar cutting up some deer meat, and a stranger is peeking through my window, taking pictures of me. Wouldn’t you be alarmed?”

Eva began sobbing.

“Is it the knife that’s scaring you?” Vincent held the knife up and then placed it down on the table. He picked up her cell phone and opened up her gallery. He opened one of the pictures she took of him and held it in front of her. “Look at what you took Eva. Does that look like a human to you?” Eva’s eyes were full of tears and she couldn’t focus on the image in front of her. She flinched when he came up to her and helped her wipe her eyes with a handkerchief he had in his pocket. “Look at the picture Eva.”

She looked closely at the carcass he had been chopping at with his larger knife. After a few moments, she realized that it didn’t look like a human but some kind of animal. She looked at the bones that were on the floor and realized the bones didn’t look like they belonged to humans either. She looked up at Vincent.

“Do you believe me now?” he asked.

She blinked but didn’t respond as she still didn’t know what to believe.

Vincent put her phone down and picked up his knife. She began to whimper when he said, “Don’t worry. I just want to untie the ropes. I wasn’t sure who you were until I went through your phone. Don’t you want me to untie you, Eva?”

Eva whispered, “Yes.”

He walked behind her and quickly cut the rope that held her captive. As soon as she was released, Eva began to squeeze feeling into her arms and legs. She couldn’t believe all this was happening.