Hunter's Moon

Chapter 6

            Taylor wondered why she was even bothering with all this. Yes, the fact that Matthew had been practically comatose for a full thirty-six hours was kinda scary, but he looked like he was fine now, all six foot four, blonde haired, blue eyed bohunk of him. She should just get back to her own studies. Hell, she had an article due to her editor by the next morning, and what was she doing right now?

            “Taylor, you know I appreciate this, right?” Matthew said from the passenger seat of her Bug. “You having my back and helping me with this?”

            “'Course, you know I'm here for you,” she replied, I'm always here, you oblivious fool.

            They drove to the church of the Finch family, where the vigil was being held. The parking lot for the place was packed and so she parked as close as she could and the two got out and walked to the front doors.

            “Don't do anything that'll bring too much attention to us,” Taylor warned as they walked. “Just watch and listen. Even if you were probably the last person to see her, we shouldn't broadcast that. Aside from all the looky loos, which is what we would qualify as, there are people here who actually know her. They're in pain, they're worried, and we don't need to throw salt in their wounds.”

            Matthew nodded and pulled the front door open with his left hand, offering the entry gallantly to Taylor. She rolled her eyes at him for his over-the-top chivalry. And that is why I love you Matthew Westerna. All the small little things.

            The chapel was filled to standing room only. Taylor and Matthew kept to the back wall and looked over the crowd of people speaking quietly with each other before the service actually began. Near as they could tell, Simone's entire high school was present as were a good number of parents of students. Most likely there for PR reasons, a few local officials were scattered about. Matthew nudged Taylor's arm and she looked over to where he was pointing. Along the west wall of the chapel there was a man in a pin stripe suit.

            “That's the guy on the motorcycle from the other night. How much you want to bet he saw her after I did?” Matthew whispered.

            Taylor nodded and followed Matthew over to the man. Hopefully Matthew wouldn't make too much of a scene. She watched as he tapped the man on the shoulder and cleared his throat.

            “Excuse me, do you mind stepping outside with me for a minute? I'd like to talk to you about the other night.”

            The man turned, slightly surprised to see Matthew, and nodded, “Hmm, apparently you didn't block everything out. Now, even with that, you want to learn more? Well, all right.”

            The trio walked out of the chapel and entered one of the small rooms off to the side, it had a few collapsible chairs and a chalkboard in it. The man closed the door behind them and then turned to face Matthew, “So . . . you fought one of the nasties that are supposed to only exist in stories and you're trying to make sense of it, right?”

            Matthew scowled slightly. “No. I want you to talk about Simone. I get the feeling that she didn't go missing until after that vampire was dead. Where is she and what did you do with her?”

            “Really?” the man smiled, surprised at Matthew's clarity, “You're worried about the girl? Everything else makes sense to you? Well, okay.” He leaned in so only Matthew and Taylor could hear his whisper. “I've got her locked away someplace safe.”

            “What?!” Taylor said shocked. There was nothing right about this man abducting and locking away a girl who had just been the victim of an attack and potentially worse, “Why shouldn't we just call the cops on you right now you freak?”

            “Whoa there . . . slow down, girly. I said she was safe, at least right now, where she is. She didn't fare too well from Wednesday.” He looked at Matthew directly. “You came through unscathed, or that holy water I gave you to drink woulda been like napalm going down your throat.”

            Taylor, not believing any of this, reached into her purse for her cell phone, Matthew grabbed her hand, quietly shook his head at her. He then looked back to the older man, waiting for more information.

            “So, when you say she didn't come out of it well, she's what? Infected? Cursed? Embraced? Well, if that's the case, then aren't you a hunter of that type of thing? Why not dispose of her if she's turned into one of them now?”

            “Well now, you're pretty quick putting things together like that. Name's Robert, by the way,” he said, extending a hand, and then dropping it after a few seconds of receiving glares from both Matthew and Taylor, “Here's the thing. As near as I can tell, she still has a chance to have a normal life. Normal life with thousands of therapy bills, but a normal life nonetheless. You'd be surprised at how close Hollywood gets the vampire myths right. She hasn't fed yet so the Hunger she feels is all psychological instead of physical. If we can find and kill the vampire that Turned Simone, the process will be reversed.”

            Taylor was amazed at how crazy that sounded. “According to Matthew, that one died when you applied a shotgun to its head. Shouldn't she be normal now?”

            “No,” Matthew replied. Taylor looked at her friend confused. Robert looked at Matthew with a slight smile and glint of hope in his eyes. Matthew continued, “Because that feral creature . . .” Matthew paused, as if trying to piece things together in his mind, “wasn't the one who . . . Turned? Simone. It wasn't smart enough to do anything but kill when it ate. There's another one out there. One with brains and strength enough to make mindless thralls.”

            “Give the kid a medal. You sure you ain't in the trade already? You're putting things together fairly quick.” Robert said clapping Matthew's shoulder.

            “Too many fantasy novels, maybe. What are you doing here?” Matthew asked.

            “Surveillance. If this vampire is wanting to either feed or recruit, large gatherings of people are exactly what he or she would be looking for. I was in there looking for anyone who was trying to separate one or two people away from the rest.”

            Taylor thought she’d finally found a loophole in this psycho's story. Although she didn't know what was worse, how nearly plausible this guy explained things (assuming you believed, vampires are actually real, that is), or that Matthew was so accepting of the explanation. “Yeah? Vampires, here in church? On holy ground? And don't try to backtrack and say that holiness isn't supposed to work. You claimed that holy water was used to determine your captive was a creature of the night.”

            Robert grinned. “You're pretty quick there too. But honestly, I never said that the holy water came from a church like this. I also never said that this church was holy. There's nothing holy that occurs in most churches in this day and age. Everyone out there is too enthralled with selfishness and instant gratification to let anything they go near be holy. Trust me, I wish it weren't so. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back on the lookout.”

            Robert then pushed his way between them and went back into the service.