Between Dusk and Dawn (34 page)

“
Pete would have a fit if
he knew I was touching the paper without using cotton gloves,”
LaShaun murmured to herself, and then smiled. “And Chase would have
a fit knowing I’m here talking to myself.”

She laughed softly, and continued to
read. LaShaun knew the oils from her skin might damage the paper
made of cotton, but she at least followed his advice and stored the
collection properly. The florid handwriting alternated between
Louisiana Creole French and English. Accounts of routine daily life
were mixed in with references to strange happenings in early
nineteenth century Vermillion Parish. Her great grandparents
travelled to nearby Lafayette Parish and St. Martin Parish to help
solve problems. Without realizing it, LaShaun’s eyes closed. She
suddenly jerked awake. It was three o’clock in the morning. She
stretched to ease the stiffness in her shoulders and stood. A loud
thump against the house rattled her bedroom window. Then a low
growl seemed to start at the southwest corner of the house and
spread out to surround it.

“
Damn.”

Two yelps from an animal seemed to
answer her. LaShaun quickly pulled on jeans lined in flannel,
weatherproof thick leather boots and a jacket. She found the short
silver dagger and put it in one sleeve pocket of her jacket. In
minutes she retrieved the custom made long knife her old teacher,
Jean Paul, had given her years before. Carved with her initials in
the blade, it looked like instrument used to hack thick stalks of
sugar cane in the fields of Louisiana, a can knife with a slight
hook on the end. But this knife of pure silver had never seen
agricultural duty.

“
Here we go,” LaShaun said
softly. Chase would be beyond freaked out at what she was about to
do.

She punched the code of her security
system, checking to make sure the remote with the panic button was
in the front pouch pocket of her jacket. The growling stopped when
she pushed open her back door and stepped out on the porch. A
denser patch of darkness moved to her left, then to her right.
LaShaun sniffed the air and tilted her head to one side. Three were
near. Her sixth sense told her the leader hovered back in the woods
to watch. He’d approach only when it was time to finish her off. He
planned to let his minions have fun. Or so they thought.

“
Come out to play, Orin
Young,” LaShaun shouted. “Or are you too much of a coward to handle
a real woman?” This brought surprised silence from those circling
her property. She heard a nervous grunt to her left as two heavy
bodies bumped into each other. “Can you even still get it up old
man? I’ve got something you’ve never had. I’ll take on every inch
of that supernatural joystick you’ve got.”

LaShaun could sense the sexual
excitement her words brought. The other males gave off the musky
odor of going into heat at the prospect. One female let out a yelp
to attract one of the males, but the leader barked a command.
LaShaun didn’t quite make out the words. The book from her
ancestors said they sometimes developed a vocal language only they
understood. His followers grumbled in protest, but
complied.

“
Only four of you, huh?
First come, first serve. You’ll get a bigger turn on if I cooperate
up until the end. I want the thrill.” LaShaun lifted the jacket to
reveal her skin beneath. She rubbed her stomach slowly with one
hand, and heard panting.

Despite a growl from the leader, an
excited pack member bounded into the circle of light. The man wore
a torn dark flannel shirt and ragged pants. A huge erection made a
lump in the button fly of slacks. He reached into the pants trying
to free it, moaning. Thick hair covered his neck, face and harms.
LaShaun shivered with fear at the outcome if her precautions didn’t
work. She prayed the words of her ancestors were true, and that
she’d translated the old French correctly.

“
It’s my turn to go first,”
a deep throated half-animal voice rang out. “You got the last
one.”

“
Step back. This one is
special,” another deep voice reverberated in the air.

The sound shook LaShaun to the core.
The force in the leader seemed to make the darkness deepen, as
though he had more malevolence in him than any other she’d faced.
Her huge security light dimmed as if on his command.

“
To hell with that. I want
this fine bitch.” The rebel bounded forward.

“
Stop him,” the leader
growled. “We’ll have this one soon enough.”

But the first pack member seemed in no
mood to listen. Animal lust clouded his thick brain when LaShaun
tossed her hair and nodded for him to come closer. Soon three
others surrounded her muttering at the first to back off. LaShaun
knew he wanted more than a first turn. This one wanted to be
leader, and to have her all to himself.

“
You got something sweet
for me big boy?” LaShaun purred.

With a yelp he tore open the front of
his pants and raced toward her. His companions closed in. With a
prayer for strength LaShaun swung the huge silver cane knife and
sliced into his mid-section. Using both hands she landed a second
blow. Her arms felt the impact. Canine screams of pain filled the
air and she swung again. The eager, rebellious creature writhed on
the ground whimpering. Even suffering, his craving for sex
continued. He pumped a hand up and down over his erection moaning
in pleasure and pain. Disgusted at the sight, LaShaun felt
nauseous. That second of distraction allowed the other three to
throw her to the ground. The stench from a heavy body on top of her
made LaShaun choke, and her eyes watered. Sharp claws raked the
thick denim shirt jacket she wore as the animal tried to grab her
breast. Other claws pulled at her pants. LaShaun fought back in
panic that she would be infected. A face that looked vaguely female
came so close to hers LaShaun could smell its breath. LaShaun
fought against the urge to vomit as bared long teeth loomed over
her. To her horror another figure appeared, and the spray can in
her sleeve fell out when she swung her arm. One of the males
snatched it up and grinned at her.

“
Look, she’s carrying
perfume so she can smell pretty for me.”

The other male laughed at his antics,
while the female continued to stare at LaShaun. Saliva dripped from
the right side of her mouth. Her long teeth seemed to make it hard
for her to close her lips.

“
You won’t be so cute when
I finish,” the animal like female mumbled. “They won’t care about
your face. Not when I flip you on your stomach and watch them rape
you.”

“
We’re going to at least
smell sweet for you hot stuff,” the male said.

“
Yeah, but she ain’t gonna
notice when we’re going at it,” his companion said and huffed a
sickening laugh.

His friend responded with his own
gruff laugh as he sprayed first his friend, and then himself on the
neck. After a few seconds the second man rubbed his skin where the
liquid hit, his wide mouth moved but no sound came out. Then the
man holding the spray can rubbed his neck. First he grunted a few
times, but then his groans turned to howls.

“
What the hell is happening
to me?” He spun around panting hard.

“
Stop messing around and
help me get her so we can all have some fun,” the female started to
go on, but then she stared at the other two in surprise.

Clumps of flesh fell from both men as
they stumbled around. One fell over the first man who lay still in
a pool of blood with his eyes open. LaShaun jammed her elbow into
the throat of the female. The woman gagged and fell back. With her
right arm suddenly free LaShaun slashed at her face.

“
No, get away!” The filthy
female lept away from the blade. Her terrified glance darted to
LaShaun’s first casualty lying in his own blood.

“
I’m burning up. Make it
stop.” The man flung the small spray bottle away from
him.

LaShaun jumped to her feet and caught
the container in mid air. “Father, I pray that you give me the
strength to fight and win, and if it be your will give these lost
souls a chance to be delivered from this evil. Have mercy on us
all. Amen.”

As she spoke LaShaun hit the spray
coating the three still on their feet. All of them screamed in
unison for help from their leader, and then begged for relief from
any source. Their howls continued until they were all on their
knees. LaShaun saw the light reflecting from the long blade on the
ground and picked it up. She stood with the big silver knife in one
hand. Ignoring the sounds of agony around her, LaShaun tucked the
smaller the spray bottle in her pocket. With her legs apart and the
long knife in one hand, she assumed a battle stance. LaShaun stood
ready to take on the bigger threat; their leader. Two big red eyes
moved away and then winked out as the being turned to leave.
LaShaun let out a slow breath but didn’t relax. Her work wasn’t
done.

She was grateful that her neighbors
had not come over to investigate. What would the Marchands have
made of the macabre scene? Three human figures seemed to kneel
around a fourth who lay in a pool of black blood. Anyone would
think they were praying, maybe for him or for themselves. No longer
able to speak, all the three made desperate hacking
sounds.

“
The spray isn’t perfume,
but then you probably figured that out. I mixed liquid silver in a
suspension substance. The funny part is a lot of people are
convinced that silver has medicinal benefit.”

One pair of glassy eyes, the first man
LaShaun had stabbed and slashed, stared up at the night sky.
LaShaun continued to spray the ground. She walked around spraying a
perimeter around her house, and then returned to the four figures
trembling in silent pain. The female tried to crawl away but let
out a muffled groan from the effort. Instead she gave up and lay
whimpering.

LaShaun walked from one figure to the
other. She studied them as though she were a scientist observing
specimens. “Colloidal silver might be good for humans, but it’s not
good at all for rougarou. For us it has antibacterial properties.
What if being a werewolf is a kind of bacterial infection? That’s
an interesting thought,” she said softly.

“
Arrgh.” The female tried
to growl at her, but the effort appeared to cause her
pain.

“
Or maybe you just
think
you’re werewolves,
and the pain you feel is all in your mind as well. Your leader must
have powerful persuasive powers, almost supernatural. Unfortunately
the most deadly megalomaniacs have that ability.”

As she watched the four figures their
skins seemed to disintegrate. The first male, the one so bold as to
ignore the orders of their leader, stared up at her blinking. He
seemed beyond pain. He tried to get up but only flopped around
convulsively. His lips pulled back in what looked like an attempt
to smile at her.

“
Thank you,” he rasped,
sputtered out a few drops of blood then lay still.

“
No problem.” LaShaun
squatted down to take a closer look at him, and made sure he was
dead.

One of the other men panted, “Please.
Shoot... head.”

LaShaun walked over to him. “Gunshots
would probably make my neighbor call the sheriff’s station. I’m
sorry. I can’t do that. You won’t suffer long.”

She was right. Seconds later the man’s
mouth opened as though he tried to scream, but nothing came out.
Ten minutes later the last three were dead, their bodies
decomposing from the silver eating into them. LaShaun followed the
instructions in the leather bound book. Even though she used a
shovel, she wore thick rubber gloves that extended up to her elbows
and safety glasses. She pushed the bodies close, straining at the
hard work it took. Then she poured more liquid silver in a circle
around them and added solvent naphtha.

“
Dear Lord, I come to you
in humility asking for spiritual cleansing. Make this land a safe
place. I renounce and reject all sinful and evil acts committed by
these lost souls. I renounce and reject all evil instruments ever
used by them. I renounce all sinful things broadcast in the name of
the enemy. All this is done in your name. Amen.”

LaShaun took the electronic gas
lighter and touched it to the soaked ground. Orange and red flames
flared up. She tended the fire until five o’clock that morning,
careful to watch for any stray sparks. Acrid smoke rose above the
trees and up to the sky. The bodies gave off a strange sour scent,
not the smell of burning flesh she’d expected. Twice she poured
more solvent to keep the fire hot and destroy all traces of the
creatures she’d killed.

“
As though consumed by the
fires of hell,” she whispered, quoting the ancient instructions
written by an ancestor who had died in seventeen ninety-three. A
long howl echoed and seemed to bounce from tree trunk to tree trunk
until it reached her.

The fire died down at last. LaShaun’s
limbs felt from numb from exertion. She went inside at about four
thirty. Peeling off her clothes she examined herself for cuts. To
her relief she only found bruising. She showered, and then used an
ancient family remedy to reduce the bruising; a cold compress made
of aloe, lavender oil and witch hazel. Then she pulled on flannel
pajamas just as dawn turned the sky a grayish blue with orange
around its edges. Within minutes of crawling into bed LaShaun fell
asleep. She woke up when Chase returned at seven o’clock looking
drained of energy. Another body had been found in St. Martin
Parish.