Misery County

Chapter 9 - Part 4

"No, there was something here."

"Maybe it left."

"I doubt it. It was very much dead. It was beyond dead – burnt to a crisp, in fact. And it was wrapped in chains too."

"Perhaps it's taken them with it."

"No, they were coming out of the floorboards. The ghost controlled them."

"Cassie, I don't mean to poke holes in your story, but there's no sign anywhere in this room of anything burning. The wallpaper and the floor all look untouched. Well, 'untouched' is a bit generous – this house is a dump – but there's no signs of anything being touched by fire."

"I noticed that too," Cassie said, but she realized how it sounded. "Maybe someone came in to move it away."

"You think? You mean in the time it took you to come and pick me up?"

"Yeah."

"That's pretty fast moving, I've got to say."

"Eric, I think it was a –"

"Don't say vampire."

"It's just that –"

"Don't you fucking say vampire."

"Vampire."

"This shit again? Really?"

"I wanted to show you," Cassie stuttered. "I thought you'd believe me if you could see it yourself."

"I would have, but there's just one tiny problem there."

"Yes, it's gone, but listen to me, Eric. It had fangs!"

"Fangs! Yes, it must be a vampire! Nothing else has fangs!" Eric had turned the mockery up to eleven, flapping his arms in the air as he chided her.

"It had human teeth, though."

"You just said it had fangs."

"Human teeth with fangs."

"And?"

"How many incisors do werewolves have?"

"The fuck should I know?"

"Fine, how many incisors do dogs have?"

"Sorry, I skipped my canine dentition classes in school."

"Three pairs on each jaw," Cassie said, her confidence building up.

"And this one had a different amount?"

"Yeah, the same as a human."

Eric started counting his incisors with his tongue.

"For fuck's sake, Eric, it's two pairs on each jaw. That's how many the corpse had – eight incisors in total, surrounded by long fangs. Can you think of any monster that matches that description?"

"Not off hand, no. Any other identifying traits?"

"Hard to tell. Like I said, it was –"

"Burnt to a crisp, you said," Eric finished. "Hey, did you say it was chained in place?"

"Yeah. Why? What're you thinking?"

"I'd hate to give credence to your wild ideas..."

"Go on."

"Well, it's just, the window in this room is very big."

"It is."

"And it's facing east."

"Yes."

"And it has no curtains."

"I think I see where you're going with this."

"Do you?"

"No."

"Well, what I'm getting at is – let's say your corpse was a vampire," Eric started carefully. "Now let's say he could only operate at night, and let's say he came to this house to do something at night and got chained by your ghost or whatever."

"This time I actually do see where you're going with this."

"You do?"

"No."

"What kills vampires? In stories, I mean."

"Garlic, crosses and –"

A realization seemed to dawn on Cassie.

"Sunlight," Eric completed her thought. "If he was chained in this room at night, the morning sun would have roasted him. I mean, I'm not saying that vampires exist, but if we're going to go by what you're saying, it seems like he met his end in a very traditional way."

"So you believe me that Nirvana is a vampire now?"

The levity in the room was gone. "Listen, Cassie, you're really starting to piss me off now. Why can't you just let this go?"

"Eric, I –" Cassie began to protest, but if the look on her face was any indication, she seemed to deflate and lose interest in her part of the budding argument. "Come on. Let's just get out of here," she mumbled.