Excerpt from Darkness, Oklahoma

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. You may not copy, print or use this in any form. You can read it, but read it real fast so that it doesn't stay stuck on your eyeballs. Otherwise two men in gray suits will visit you and break your knees ...

DARKNESS, OKLAHOMA

      As soon as he got out of his Ford F-250, Police Chief Luke Jacobi sensed the vampire. His nose flared, and he spat to the side. Early morning dew glistened on the weeds and grass, and the air was misty. He smelled the vibrant growing life of the woods. Overlaying all that, the faint metallic tang of blood lingered. He sighed. Dealing with a dead body was a rotten way to start a day. Dealing with the vampire would make it worse.
      He walked past the coroner's wagon toward the clearing where a couple of deputies were unrolling yellow tape to protect the crime scene and another one was on his knees, throwing up.
      "It's weird, Chief," said Sergeant Shelia Vaughn with obvious relish. "We've not seen one like this before."
      Luke nodded. Shelia's interest in the unusual and gruesome made her perfect for the police department of Darkness, Oklahoma, but it was tiresome at times. He looked at the kneeling deputy. "Pake, watch where you're throwing up."
      "I made sure the ground was clear," Pake said in a weak voice.
      Shelia rolled her eyes. Stan Houseman, the other deputy, grinned. New to the force, Pake had yet to develop the stomach needed. He would, or he wouldn't last long. Darkness had its share of car wrecks and domestic assaults. Not to mention the other problems that arose sometimes.
      "So?" Luke asked Shelia.
      "Fay Purcell was walking her dog," Shelia said, pulling out her notebook. "He got away from her. When she went to catch him, she found the body. She called it in on her cell phone at 6:17 this morning."
      "Purcell?" Luke asked.
      "She owns that tea shop downtown," Shelia said. "The Crumpet and Cuppa. She went on to work. I told her you would stop by later. She didn't freak, but she was shook up. Kept saying a good cup of tea was all she needed. Pake, Stan and I arrived and secured the area. Not that it took much securing. We haven't found anything."
      Luke walked to where the county coroner was taking photos of the body.
      "Morning, Richard," Luke said, pulling out a pack of Camels and lighting one up.
      "That's a nasty habit," Richard Pickerton said. "You should quit."
      Pickerton had quit several months ago and had started annoying other people about it. Luke toyed with offering the coroner one, but decided to just ignore him. He could lay odds that cancer wasn't going to be what killed him. He took a deep draw on the cigarette.
      Pickerton took another photo and then looked at the chief with somber, mismatched eyes. "I've got a bad feeling about this one, Luke."
      "You always have a bad feeling," Luke said. He knelt and studied the crumpled body on the ground. It -- the dead man -- looked strangely flat, like he had been crushed by a huge weight. He was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans with beat-up cowboy boots. Blood had dripped from the man's eyes, and his purpled tongue protruded from his slack mouth. Luke didn’t recognize him, but being near Interstate 35 meant that strangers sometimes drifted into Darkness. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they got to drift out.
      "I'm usually right," Pickerton said. He indicated the man. "I can't even tell you how this was done."
      "How what was done?" Luke snapped. "Get to the point, damn it."
      Pickerton's eyebrows rose. "Miss your morning coffee?"
      Luke shrugged and said levelly, "My time of the month."
      Pickerton turned back to the body."Okay. He's a white male in his twenties, I'd think. No ID on his body. Pockets are empty other than lint. I doubt he was killed here. He was killed fairly recently, maybe last night or early morning, but it's hard to know for sure. Not much blood around. None, in fact, and that's not the only thing that missing." Pickerton looked at Luke and grinned. "In fact, he's half the man he used to be. Someone scooped him out. He's missing all of his viscera, his ribs and all of his bones from neck down up to his legs." Reaching out a gloved hand, Pickerton squeezed one of the dead man's legs. His hand left an obvious indention. "And there's something strange."
      "There's a strange part?" Luke asked dryly. "You mean stranger than someone having all their bones removed?"
      "Yeah, it was all done through here." Pickerton opened the man's shirt to reveal a small oval-shaped wound on the man's stomach.
      "No way," Luke said.
      "He doesn't have any other wounds that I can find," Pickerton said. "So far, that's it. I'll know more when I get him to the morgue."
      "What's that?" Luke asked, pointing.
      Pickerton opened the man's shirt further. "A tattoo of some sort."
      The tattoo surrounded the man's navel. It looked like a stylized eye, an oval with a wavy line above it and a straight line below it. Luke frowned. The tattoo seemed to squirm in the daylight.
      "Might make him easier to ID," Pickerton said. "I've not seen one like that before."
      "Anything else?" Luke asked.
      "There was dew under the body," Pickerton said. "Another indicator that he was killed somewhere else."
      Ignoring the vampire, Luke looked around the small clearing. It lay fifty or so yards off the road. The trees of Watts Woods surrounded it like a fence. Old man Watts had died before completely clearing his land of the old growth forest, and his son lived in California and seemed content to let the woods take back the land. The city council had made noises about making a nature preserve a few years ago, but the son didn't want to give it away or sell it.
      "Well, a few more pictures and I'm finished here," Pickerton said. "Stop by later. I'll see what he tells us."
      Luke nodded and rose. He took another draw of his cigarette. Might as well get it over with, he thought. He walked toward the woods. Shelia started to follow him, but he waved her off. "Have to take a leak," he said. Shelia didn't know of the vampire, and he intended for it to stay that way. Luke didn't and couldn't trust the vampire. An inherent killer, the vampire would eventually murder again, and then Luke would kill him.
      The chief stopped in the sunlight and pinched out his cigarette before putting back into the pack. He knew it annoyed the vampire to have to wait, and Luke was in the mood to annoy him. Luke stepped into the woods.
      "Good morning, Chief," the vampire said, his voice low.
      "Is this one of yours?" Luke asked brusquely.
      The vampire frowned. "Of course not, and you know it. Don't be rude. That was uncalled for."
      Luke felt a snarl building and forced it back down. "Maybe so, but what are you doing here if he's not one of yours?"
      "I ran into Mrs. Purcell as I was going in," the vampire said. "Naturally she told me so I came to see if I could help."
      "Very civic minded of you," Luke said. "Would you like a medal?"
      The vampire stared at him angrily, his fangs flashing. Luke tensed, his body feeling the need for violence.
      After a long moment, the vampire visibly relaxed. "Oh, I understand your mood now. I had forgot the date. You do such a good job that I sometimes forget … the pressure you operate under."
      "Watch it," Luke snapped. But the vampire did have a point. He couldn't allow his personal distaste interfere with his job. He swallowed his ire. "Do you know anything?"
      "No, but this disturbs me," the vampire said. "I know many of the creatures who prey on humans. None of them do what was done to this man. None of them can. This is something … darker. Perhaps older. Or newer." He shrugged. "It's impossible to say. I will learn what I can and let you know if I find anything." The vampire paused and looked at the chief. The silence grew.
      Luke felt the pressure. "Thank you," Luke said shortly.
      The vampire's eyes glittered. "You're welcome. See how delightful common courtesy is? We should all practice it more. Now I am fatigued and need to rest before I have to go to work. Good day." He turned and darted into the woods with that incredible speed that always made Luke worry about that day when he and the vampire would finally have to have it out once and for all. Well, no use borrowing trouble from the future, Luke thought. Got plenty now.
      He walked back to the others, his eyes scanning the ground for anything the deputies might have missed. A strange scent hung in the air, one that he couldn't place. Musty with a bit of rot. He paused and took a deeper breath, tasting the air. Something else lurked in the scent. Animal? It certainly wasn't human. He frowned.
      The deputies brought out a stretcher. Pickerton and Shelia put the body on it, and the deputies loaded it into the coroner's wagon. Pickerton drove off, giving Luke a quick wave.
      "What's the plan?" Shelia asked as the others walked to their cars.
      "The usual," Luke said. "Report it to the state. Ask around and see if anyone saw him before he was killed. See if his fingerprints show up on any database."
      "Someone dumped him here," Shelia said. "Maybe a mob hit."
      "Yeah, the mob usually de-bones their victims," Luke said dryly.
      "Maybe they're doing that just to throw the FBI off their trail," Shelia said.
      Luke didn't reply. Anything he said would just encourage her. He headed for his Ford, even in his mood appreciating the clean lines of the new truck and its dark maroon metallic paint. He stopped to touch its hood. He'd better like it, he thought. He'd be paying for it for the next seven years.
      "Chief," Stan called out from beside a patrol car, holding the microphone to the radio. "Minnie says the Blyman sisters are acting up again. Their neighbors are asking to you come by quick."
      Luke swore. Just what he didn't need, to spend his morning acting as referee to the quarreling old biddies.
      "Tell Minnie I'll go by later," Luke said.
      "Chief, Minnie says it's real bad," Stan said. "Trees and bushes are catching fire all over the neighborhood. Nothing major, but folks are worried."
      Luke sighed. "Tell her I'm on the way. I hope they don't burn down the town before I get there."
      He slammed the truck door, a part of him wincing as he did so. He jammed the gas to the floor and roared down the road. It was childish, but it made him feel better.
*
      In the woods, a creature watched. Only its eyes swiveled to watch the chief and then the deputies drive away. Only then did it move, slowly stretching its new, strange body, stepping away from the tree trunk that it had changed its body to resemble. It took a few hesitant steps. It found the new form unwieldy with strange bumps and only four limbs. It had been difficult for it to fold its true shape into this form, but it would adapt quickly. It had been made for such things.
      But it needed more strength, it decided. It would have to kill a few more humans for the raw materials. This was agreeable since it hated all humans equally, but its true hatred focused on the vampire and its miserable kind. They played at evil and rejoiced in their little victories while ignoring the true Master. The creature vowed to kill the vampire if the opportunity arose as long as the killing didn't interfere with its Purpose.
      The thought of its Purpose sent a rapturous thrill through the creature's body. To be chosen for this task showed that the Servants had recognized its power. Slowly from the depths of its being, its name rose. Senkarn, the Bone Queen. It smiled, revealing narrow, triple rows of gleaming white teeth. It hissed the name, its long tongue rolling over the sounds. With its name came memories
      And puzzlement. There should have been attendants on its birth. Had it already been betrayed? Had the followers of Substance somehow interfered? Why then had they allowed it to be born?
       No matter. It had been birthed from blood and pain, called back from the depths to battle once again those who fouled the purity of the Void. If its attendants had fallen, it would Mark new slaves. It would not be defeated this time. It would not.
      Senkarn clothed itself in mist and floated through the woods, heading for the town of Darkness, Oklahoma. Sweet suffering and pain called to it. And there would be a glorious, unending river of death when its Purpose was accomplished ...

To be continued in Darkness, Oklahoma.