Merritt moaned and stumbled forward; the creature remained firmly attached to him.
“Wait—fire,” said Mike, regaining some control of his body and trying to stand. Roland glanced back at Mike, but continued to pull the thing from his brother. Mike didn’t wait for him to understand, but stumbled over to Gary and fished the lighter out of Gary’s shirt pocket. He registered that Gary was still breathing as he stood and struck the lighter.
Once he had a flame, he shoved it under the creature’s right ear. The effect was immediate—Mike heard a pop and the creature pushed away from Merritt. It turned to Mike, showing him huge eyes with sideways slits of pupils and a mouth full of neddle-sharp teeth. Repulsed, Roland let go of its neck. With a wide swipe, the creature knocked the lighter from Mike’s hand and tore a deep gash in his forearm.
“Hey,” they heard from the van. Katie’s camera flash lit the scene, but the pale creature didn’t seem to react.
Free from the thing’s bite, Merritt released his grip and the creature dropped to the ground, falling into a low crouch. Roland mastered his revulsion and tried to fall on the nimble parasite, but it scurried after Mike as he retreated. It followed Mike as he backed up against the van. Roland scrambled after the bloodsucker and stretched out to grab it, but it was too quick. Instead of attacking Mike, the creature fled off to the right and disappeared out of the circle of light at the back of the van and into the woods.
“Holy Fuck,” said Roland.
“Call nine-one-one,” Mike yelled to Katie as he pushed away from the van and stumbled towards Gary.
“Hold on,” said Roland. “Don’t call anyone until we check this out a little.”
Mike stopped and turned towards Roland, ready to counter his order until he saw the resolution written on Roland’s face. He carefully crouched next to Gary and lifted his limp arm to check his pulse. When he found a strong beat, he leaned in to listen for Gary’s breathing. Mike looked up to see Roland performing roughly the same diagnostics on Merritt.
“Get off me,” said Merritt, “I’m fine." Merritt sat up with one hand clutched to the side of his neck.
“You’re not fine,” said Roland. “You’ve got a giant fucking bite on your neck.”
“It’s totally cool,” said Merritt. “Hey, splash some water on his face,” he said to Mike.
Mike was busy probing Gary’s neck for possible trauma and ignored Merritt’s suggestion. He turned back to Roland to plead his case again: “Look, I’m not sure what’s wrong with Gary, but I’ve got to get him to a hospital. He might have a concussion or a spinal injury or something.”
“Who does?” asked Gary.
Mike whipped around to see Gary rising to a sitting position. “Take it easy, Gary,” said Mike. “We don’t know what’s wrong with you.”
“She put a spell on me,” said Gary.
“That’s right,” agreed Merritt.
“She snuck up and put a spell on me so she could go after Merritt,” continued Gary.
“How do you know?” asked Mike.
“She told me,” said Gary, tapping his forehead. He turned to his side so he could climb to his feet. “I’m fine now that she’s gone. It was a weird state—I could hear everything and I could see the whole thing, but like from ten feet up, looking down.”
“We’ve got to get Merritt some medical attention for that bite though,” said Mike.
“Nah, I’m fine,” said Merritt. “Don’t worry about me. She won’t be back until next week and I’m going to be ready for her then.”
“This is crazy,” said Mike. “You’ve got to treat that thing like a dangerous animal. We should be looking for some way to defend ourselves and laying in heavy ammunition for the next time.”
“I tell you what,” said Merritt. “You guys get the fuck out of here, and Roland and I will do whatever the fuck we want. We found her, and maybe she’ll be strong enough to come back without your little machine next time.”
“Perhaps we should just get out of here,” said Gary.
Katie moved to start tearing down the equipment.
“I’m not giving up that easy,” said Mike. “This is a major discovery.”
Roland grabbed the rifle that had been leaning against the side of the van. He walked up to Mike and put his arm casually around his shoulders. “You’re just not welcome here anymore, buddy,” he said to Mike. The barrel of the rifle was pointing loosely at Mike’s chin.
“Fine,” said Mike, ducking from under Roland’s arm.
The three researchers tore down and had their equipment packed within thirty minutes. They were on the road moments after. Mike drove so Gary could rest.
“He’s not going to try to capture it,” said Gary. “I think he’s addicted to her already.”
“How do you know that?” asked Mike.
“I could sense it when I was out. It was really weird, like being aware or something. I could tell what she was thinking and what Merritt was thinking too. It was like watching a movie with a constant stream of narration.”
“So what do you mean, addicted?” asked Katie.
“You ever read one of those vampire stories where the victim becomes entranced or whatever?” asked Gary.
Katie nodded.
“It’s almost like that. I even felt that way about the coma she put me in. It must be the magic she gets from the devil or something. Merritt just wanted to be drained. I could feel it. And I wanted to stay out. Don’t vampire bats have some kind of anesthetic in their saliva or something? I think it’s like that, but mental.”
“That’s a myth,” said Mike. “They have anticoagulants in their saliva, but not anesthetic.
“Well anyway,” said Gary. “I wouldn’t have minded if she had bitten me next. I wanted her to do it.”
“You’re not going to try to sneak back there, are you?” asked Mike.
“No way,” said Gary. “I think that Merritt would have killed us if we stuck around. He became a junkie with that first bite.”
“What did we get on video?” asked Mike.
Katie sat in back with the footage. “Nothing,” she said. “It moved around the perimeter and never crossed any of the camera angles. I’ve got one still photo though.”
“Any good?” asked Mike.
“Not really,” Katie answered. “You and Roland were mostly in the way while it was on Merritt. You can see a pale arm and the back of her head. That’s about it.”
“Next time we work one of these cases we’re going to make sure to chase away the civilians first,” said Mike.
CHAPTER SIX
Crooked Tree
AS RUNNING DEER WHOOPED, he surprised Crooked Tree by reaching out for him. Falling at such a close proximity, Running Deer was able to throw out both hands and push Crooked Tree’s chest. Crooked Tree’s mouth fell open in shock as he and his brother were flung apart.
Crooked Tree flipped backwards in his descent and flailed his limbs, trying to control his fall. His shoulder hit first, bouncing back against the cliff wall. His backward rotation was immediately countered when he hit. His head spun down as his legs tucked under and scraped against a different rock. He caught a brief glimpse of Running Deer and saw that his brother was gaining speed faster, and had somehow managed to point himself headfirst towards the ground.
For a fraction of a second, Crooked Tree thought he had arrested his spin, but his head continued rolling forward until he faced the cliff wall, watching it streak past him upside-down. He wrapped his long arms around his head as he spun towards another set of rocks. His brother was brave and welcomed death. Crooked Tree couldn’t suppress his survival instinct.