Call of the Dark (Dark Paranormal Steamy Monster Encounter) (4 page)

     Natasha woke up with a start.  It was dark, and she had to think for a moment where she was.  She was still in the church on the top floor.  She realized she must have dozed off after her ordeal.  Picking herself up, she scanned the dark room for the camera equipment and stuffed it back in the bag.  She dug around the bag and cleaned herself with a package of wetwipes she always carried in her purse.  After the deluge she experienced, Natasha was a mess.  Quickly dressing herself, and tossing her useless belt to the corner, she wasn’t about to stick around in case the demon/gargoyle-type things came back.  She was sore and exhausted.  Although it was the most intense booty bang she ever had, her body endured enough for one night.  Natasha walked down the stairs and attempted a quiet broken sprint to her car.  It was too dark for safe driving, but she would spend the rest of the night sleeping in the car.  She didn't need to run into what ever else was lurking in the woods.  She laid her tired body across the back seat, ensured the doors were securely locked, and curled up to sleep the rest of the night in peace.

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     Natasha lifted her head and squinted in the light.  She groggily sat upright, and rubbed her eyes to wake herself up.  She felt a little dizzy, and she still had that hot, flushed feeling from the day before.  Other than feeling like she had just ran a relay race with the baton stuck up in her the whole way, she felt ok.  Her system still retained a weak, buzzy feeling as a result from the incident in the church.  Stretching, and taking a big yawn, she was ready to drive back to the town. 

     The way back to civilization did not seem as intimidating to Natasha as the way there.  The lack of road barriers so high up the mountain still unnerved her, but the route was no longer an unknown to her.  In the early hours of the morning, traffic was sparse, although she did pass the occasional cart along the way.  Finally she entered into the main roads and headed back to the hotel to meet with Tom.

     She knocked on the door to his room.  “Tom, you in? I’m finally back.  Are you awake?”

     She heard a mumbled groan from inside and heard footsteps to the door.  He opened it, and looked at her with a look of exhausted relief.

     “Nat!  I’m so glad you’re back.  I tried calling you tons of times.  You didn’t answer.  What happened?”  He scanned her up and down.  He added, “You also look a little rough.  Are
you
ok?”

     Nat sheepishly constructed an explanation of half-truths. “Yeah, sorry about that.  There was no signal at all by the church site.  It took a while for me to drive up there.  I’m not used to those high mountain roads.  I get all paranoid. I did the granny drive most of the way there, so the drive took a lot longer than I expected.  But I took a lot of pictures.  Matt was right, the place is really creepy.  By the time I was done, it was getting dark and I didn’t want to drive down that road at night.  So I slept in the back of the car.  I’m still sore from the cramped sleeping quarters.”

     Tom frowned as he critically examined her.  He looked as though he wasn’t fully buying it.  “Ok, but you don’t look all that well.  You kinda look like you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet.”

     Natasha tried to hide the stunned reaction within her.  Did he have some sort of perverted sixth sense?  She reassured him, “No, Tom, I’m fine.  I hope I’m not getting that flu thing you had.  Are you recovering?  Your color seems to be coming back to normal.”

     He replied, “Yeah, I stopped puking a few hours ago.  I feel like eating again.  Maybe after breakfast we can go over your shots and plan what still needs to be crossed off the agenda.”

     Natasha smiled.  “Sounds good.  I’ll go to my room and take a shower.  I could use one after being in that stuffy church. I’ll join you downstairs for breakfast in a bit.”

     “No problem.  You do smell a little funky.  Is it sandalwood?  Chicks know this kind of shit.  Did they have some weird hippie incense burning in that church?”

     “Maybe,” Natasha deflected, “I hadn’t really noticed.”

     “Well, better hope not.  The whole thing is made out of old wood.  By the way, did you give back the key yet?”

     A stone dropped in her stomach.  It completely slipped her mind.  “Oh, crap, no not yet.  I totally forgot.  I guess she’s going to get pissed with us.  Didn’t we promise to have it back the same day?”

     “Yeah.  Hopefully the old witch won’t put a hex on us.  Better give it back to her ASAP.  With a ton of sorries and excuses,” Tom replied.

     “Right after I get ready.  Is it not too early in the morning to drop it off?”

     Tom smiled.  “Are you kidding?  All these people are up by dawn.  She’ll be by the door waiting to greet you.”

     Natasha hurried Tom a quick goodbye and took a quick shower.  If Tom had slyly suspected something, who knows what the old lady would be thinking seeing her in this state.  With the local superstitions about the church flying around, she didn’t want anyone accusing her of being a vampire or anything.  Or whatever these people believed in.

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     She walked up to the woman’s small house and knocked sharply at the door.  She heard shuffling from behind the door as the woman approached and unlocked it and swung it open.

     “Here,” Natasha said as she handed the key back to the woman with a guilty face, “I’m so sorry I was late in returning it to you.  The drive was more than I expected.”  She gave the old lady a weak smile.

     The old woman glanced at her, and her eyes widened with fear.  She made a cross in front of herself as she snatched the key from her.  “Martolea!” she shouted as she retreated back into her home and shut the door in Natasha’s face.

     “You’re welcome!” Natasha yelled at her from behind the door.  She grumbled as she headed back to her car.  Kindly grandma with a batch full of fresh chocolate chip cookies, I think not.  This miserable old bag was a thousand light years from that.

     She drove back to the hotel and lifted the camera equipment from the trunk.  She found Tom in the dining area with a mouth full of pancakes.

     “How’d it go with Maria?” Tom asked.

     “I think she just called me the Romanian word for bitch,” Natasha replied, “Better add a few extra goats into the deal.”

     “Oh well,” Tom dismissed, “I’ll be done eating soon.  Then we’ll take a peek at your work.”

     Tom quickly ended his meal and looked over the camera while Natasha grabbed something to eat.

     He looked at her approvingly.  “These are pretty good.  You did a thorough job on the church.  You captured a lot of detail in The Last Judgement shots.  And your shots of the forest.  Really ethereal looking.  Like another world.  But we can retake some of the photos of the cemetery at dusk.  That will be easy.” 

     Natasha replied, “So we don’t need to reshoot any of the church then?”

     “No, I don’t think we’ll have enough time.  It sounds like it took you most of the day to complete that one.  I think you have it covered.  We have other projects in the pipeline,” Tom answered.

     Natasha felt relieved.  And also, a little sad.  Some part of her wanted to return there.  She absently scratched her arm as she thought about it.

     “Ok.  Cool.”

     The next few days went by in a daze for Natasha.  Tom would ask several times during the various shoots if she was feeling ok.  She half dragged herself to each location and would take small naps in the passenger side of the car while Tom drove to each new destination.  Natasha still felt pinpricks of fever under her skin, with the odd cold chill going through her.  She even admitted to Tom that she didn’t feel ‘all quite there’, and blamed it on being tired from the day before. 

     Methodically, they checked off the last sites on Matt’s agenda.  They took pictures of some of the cultural folklore-type scenes of the village and the people in it, as well as some of the elaborate carved wooden arches that dotted the area.  Some of the minor wooden churches were also included, however due to increased tourist traffic, none were as picturesque or atmospheric as the one Natasha had visited on her own.  They captured some beautiful images of the mountains, and trekked through what was purported to be a haunted forest.  Natasha observed that some of the trees in the forest were of the same distorted and unnatural shapes as the ones by the church.  However, in this forest, she could hear the hum of animal and insect activity residing within.  They returned to the Happy Cemetery where Natasha tackled her first shoot to take some pictures of the monuments while the sun set in the distance.

     With one day left, the only shoot that remained was the bonfire festival that was to happen that evening.  The next morning they would fly out and spend the next few days working on the article for publishing.  Natasha couldn’t wait to return home, as she really needed some days relaxing in her own condo to recover.  She didn’t know whether the constant exhaustion was from the traditional European fare she wasn't used to eating for the past few days, or whether she was getting an extreme form of traveller’s fatigue from all the running around.

     After the cemetery, they arrived at the site where the bonfire was to take place.  Piled into a tall tower, old furniture, trunks of trees and other random wooden objects were stacked in a complex solid structure.  Natasha and Tom gazed upon it with awe.

     “How did they pile all of it so high?  They must have used a crane,” Tom remarked as he answered his own question.

     Natasha replied, “Don’t know.  Remind me again.  So what are they celebrating with this ‘burn the living shit out of this town’ epic campfire?”

     “The Burning of the Witches.  They only do it here.  I’m expecting a hell of a party,” Tom said as he rubbed his hands together. 

     “They must have had a lot of witches here back then,” Natasha commented dryly.

     The pair set to work taking panoramic shots of the set up and scale of the structure.  As the celebration began and the speeches ended with the fire lighting, they worked through the last hours of light to capture the best magic hour photos they could scramble around the growing horde of people forming around the bonfire.  As the inferno increased in intensity, Natasha fell back away from the crowd and chose a log to sit down on.  Tom glanced at her and nodded in her direction.

     “I think it’s getting too hot.  We have enough pics for now.  Maybe I’ll take a few more once the festivities really get going.  You still tired?” Tom asked her, with a worried glance.

     Natasha still felt flushed and heated over the last few days.  The bonfire was only adding to her discomfort.  “I’ll be ok,” she responded, “You go have fun.  I’ll just be here when you get back.”

     “Ok,” Tom replied, as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, “I’ll check on you a bit later.  Phone me if you need anything.  I’ll have it on vibrate.”

     “Ok, thanks,” said Natasha.

     As the night wore on, Natasha felt overly warm and woozy.  She observed the revelry taking place.  It looked like great fun.  Hot bodies danced and ran around her, boozing, laughing and singing American and Romanian songs. If she didn’t feel so exhausted, she would have joined Tom.  She had a feeling close to envy that Tom would be chasing some serious tail tonight and she didn’t have the energy to be doing the same.  After an hour, Tom came back to her.  He was shirtless, pantless and his shoes were missing.  He had a drink in his hand and a wild look in his eyes.

     “Whooo!” he shouted at her as he raised his drink in the air, “Fuckin A!  How you hangin in Nat?”

     “Fine,” she responded, “Time of your life?”

     “Best party I’ve ever been to in Romania, anyway,” he replied.  “I’m going to get a few more shots. Take some personal souvenir photos of some nice T &A. Then it’s total happy hour for the rest of the night.”

     “Good for you,” she said with mild condescension.  “You need me to set up?”

     “No, you look wiped.  I’ll take care of everything.  I’ll be back soon and drive you back if you want,” Tom offered.

     “Thanks.  I really need a break from this trip once it’s over.  I don’t know what it is with me lately.  Maybe a mild version of what you had.  Sorry to be such a downer. I’ll still stick around and check out the scene.  I can enjoy this experience vicariously through the observation of others,” Natasha said with a hint of regret.

     “Game on,” Tom retorted as he fled into the crowd with the camera.

     As the night continued, Natasha watched with mild disinterest as the activities became rowdier and more risqué.  She started seeing that people were now having open sex in plain view.  Scanning the crowd, she realized Tom was now one of them.  Normally she would have been disgusted by the sight of him rutting on some local skank, but tonight, she didn’t have the fortitude to care.  She viewed the entire event with detached apathy. Inwardly, she noted he didn’t have much to brag about.  As he crudely humped his conquest in clumsy strokes, she thought to herself with indifference that she had something to add to the top ten list back at work. 

     After sitting for an hour, Tom came back with the camera to collect her.  “Ready to go back yet partner?  Or you still want to stay?”

     “I think I’ve seen enough,” Natasha responded.

     Tom nodded and they headed back to the hotel.  Natasha tried to catch a few hours of sleep before the flight out the next morning.

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     Natasha felt restless during the entire flight.  She caught some ragged sleep here and there, but left the plane not feeling rested.  Tom, nursing a hangover, fell into his chair and slept like a log for most of the flight.  After a day at home to rest, it was back to reality again.  The next few days at work were just as exhausting as the trip itself.  Natasha worked tirelessly putting together the article and collaborating with the team to discuss which shots to include and which bits to cut.  They only had a few days before the next issue and it was crunch time. She started to feel the effects of a serious migraine when the intense workload and lack of sleep caught up to her. Her head thumped as she squinted at the text on her computer.  The growing medicine cabinet in her desk was not helping at all.  Her eyes were growing more sensitive to the bright office lighting. During the next few days she had started to develop a nervous habit of scratching at her arms, legs and stomach where she would suddenly feel a warm vibrating pin-prickly type sensation.  She wondered if there was an antibiotic cream she could take for it.  Finally, after days of relentless perfectionism, their article was submitted and published.  Natasha had never looked forward to a nice holiday at home so much before in her life.