The Chronicles of Beast and Man (21 page)

Freddy looked over the kitchen table full of weapons, he slowly placed his hand upon a shotgun.

“That would be a good choice; it would definitely be enough to stop the creature, than you could finish the job. These beasts have a healing factor like nothing I have ever seen before. The removal of the head is completely essential.”

Freddy understood what Xerxes was telling him, he only hoped that if he had to do it, he would be able to kill.

“After the beast is beheaded it will return to its human form, if the beast has created a spawn, the spawn will need to be ended as well.”

Freddy heard Xerxes’ words, but hoped that maybe he was mistaken.

“Wait, so if this thing has children, we will have to kill the children as well?”

“It is the only way. If the spawn were to grow old it could be more powerful and more dangerous than the first.”

Freddy thought about what Xerxes had said. He was not sure what to think of this, had it meant what he thought?

“You don’t mean that you have executed a child?”

Xerxes turned toward him with a harsh look of discontent. Freddy would not ask again, it was obvious that Xerxes had and he had with good reason. Xerxes’s silence had said everything.

“How will you find it?” Freddy asked with great interest.

“Everything is alive, the earth is our mold, we rise up from nothing and eventually fade away back into nothingness. When the lunar cycle summons the man who is possessed by the creature he changes. His chemistry and aura changes completely and he becomes the lycanthrope. I can sense his every movement, he will not be able to escape me.”

“I am sorry, but if this is true, why have you not killed it yet?”

“It would disturb the balance, you will understand soon.”

Freddy did not understand Xerxes’s obscure words. To him it was just more mystery stacked upon his already enigmatic persona.

There was a knock on the door, Xerxes excused himself and walked over. To both Freddy and Xerxes’s surprise, the man standing behind the door was Rod Truex.

“I do not know why you seem so surprised. With a name like Xerxes, it wasn’t hard to find you in this town.” It was then that Rod saw Freddy Alexander sitting
on the couch.

Rod could not help but comment on Freddy’s being there. Xerxes then expressed that he and Freddy seemed to have a common interest.

Despite being confused with Freddy’s presence, Rod asked if he could have a moment to speak with Xerxes outside. Xerxes nodded and followed Rod outside of the motel room.

“I don’t know exactly what your relationship is with that young man, but I certainly don’t understand.”

“He is willing to help us stop the creature.” Xerxes said with a serious gaze.

“He is just a kid, what in the world could he offer to your operation?”

“I feel that you are not giving the young man enough credit. He has shown me that what he might lack in experience he makes up for in energy and intelligence.”

Rod was becoming increasingly bewildered, he had sought out to find Xerxes to ask for his assistance. Now that he had found him, he was shocked to learn that he had begun preparing for battle with the aid of an individual he considered no more than a child.

“I would be lying if I said that I understand, so I will get straight to the point. I want your help in getting rid of this problem. You claim you know how…it is time to prove it”

“Five.”

“Five, what?” Rod asked confused by the random number that Xerxes requested.

“Five thousand dollars and I will kill the creature.”

“You can’t be serious?” Rod snapped back at the request.

“You want the pain and suffering to end. That is what I need to promise you that it will all end, and I want it in full the night of the next full moon.”

“I am not going to give you five thousand dollars and send you walking in the woods.”

“Oh, but aren’t you coming along as well?”

“Yes, I intend to do so.”

“Then there should be no problem, you will watch as I execute the creature.”

“Yes, but if I kill this thing before you do, there will be no five thousand.”

Xerxes smiled, it was the first time Rod had seen the man smile. It was the first time he had seen him make any facial expression other than a blank death stare.

“I have said my peace, if you do not give me what I want, the beast will remain to torment.”

“You have a deal, okay?”

“If you would just step inside I can begin teaching you how to stop the creature and how to understand it as well.”

Rod laughed at Xerxes’s words.

“That sounds very nice, but I do not need a training course in hunting werewolves. You just let me know where we’ll be meeting on the next full moon and take care of this.” Rod said and walked away shaking his head.

Money, it always comes down to stupid ass money, the root of all evil as they say. Rod hadn’t known what to make of Xerxes this entire time, but now the puzzle made a bit more sense. He was still human, no matter what he needed money for goods and services just like anyone else.

J
ulie Lovett arrived at the police station at a quarter till five in the afternoon. She had parked around the corner in an attempt to not attract the attention of on lookers. She had already been visited by them on three separate occasions, but had said nothing. Somehow she was able to sneak past their news vans without being noticed.

“Julie, what are you doing here?” Rod asked as soon as she stepped inside.

Deputy Dolgen and Arnold Omaha were both surprised at her random visit as well.

“I would like a word with you.” She said directly to Rod.

“Sure…”

“In private?” She asked as she looked over to Deputy Dolgen and Arnold Omaha.

Both men stood up and excused themselves. While leaving, Arnold gave her a nod and a sympathetic look, hoping she understood how sad he was for the loss of her husband, and his good friend. They then exited through the back door, where no media would be to ask them annoying questions. Rod had let the reporters know that the investigation was now under control of the FBI but they did not seem to care. The news reports had continued to pressure his men for answers that they simply did not have.

“Julie, whatever you needed you didn’t have to come down here. If you had called I would have drove to your house.”

Julie then moved in closer to Rod and looked directly into his eyes. He had never been this close to her, he felt a bit intimidated by her strong feminine presence.

“Listen to me. I need you to find the person who is responsible!”

Rod began to explain the situation to her. He was going to tell her that the FBI was in charge now. He was going to continue on but was cut off before long.

“Oh don’t give me that, I know better. You are still investigating; I knew you wouldn’t be able to leave this alone.” Julie said cutting Rod off in mid-sentence.

Rod said nothing in reply, he felt lost in her words and her strong gaze.

“I want you to find the person responsible for these terrible crimes, and make him pay! I want you to make him bleed!”

A bit stunned, he continued to explain that he could only begin the process. The rest of it would be left to the justice system.

“I don’t want a trail, I want death. I want him to suffer and understand that when you do something like this you can’t just get away with it. I want him to know that there is a price to pay.”

Julie’s words were shocking, and ever so real. Rod could feel his legs begin to weaken as she spoke.

“Can you do that for me?”

“Yes.”

They would exchange no more words thereafter, Julie accepted Rod’s promise and left. Rod felt that she somehow knew that after the next full moon it would all be over. He of course had no way of knowing this for sure, but a look in her eyes gave him more assurance. He was haunted by the tragedy which was all around him. He wanted to hide his head and drive down below the ocean. He wanted all this but more than anything he wanted justice. This was what kept him going, giving up was not the answer. It was time to “buck up or shut up” as Rod’s father used to say.

T
he snow crunched under his large black boots as he walked across the open field surrounded by miles upon miles of timber.

“I have shot a gun before.” Freddy commented to Xerxes who was now placing a half empty bucket of paint up on a post.

“No matter, if you have shot a gun before. You need to be sure that you are able to use your weapon well. You need to understand your weapon, and know how to create the most damage. It is very important that you are as prepared as possible.”

“What about the Sheriff?” Freddy asked questioning Rod’s abilities.

“Every man chooses his own fate. I can only hope that the brave sheriff has not already chosen his.” Xerxes answered as he walked further away from the paint cans.

When Xerxes said that, Freddy noted again how different Xerxes was from other people he knew. He spoke differently, he dressed differently. Without a doubt he was indeed truly unique.

“You know, you don’t talk much?” Freddy said in the form of a question.

“Sometimes silence can be more meaningful than words.”

Freddy contemplated what he said, it made perfect sense. He could not begin to count all the conversations he had been in that had no real meaning or purpose.

“Where are you from…I mean, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I do not mind; I was born in Italy, raised in Russia and moved to South America when I was eighteen. You could say I have been all over the world for many different reasons.”

“I have never stepped foot outside of Illinois.”

“You have an entire lifetime to travel. You are still very young.”

Freddy was glad to hear someone say he was young. He knew that he had most of his life still ahead of him, but it was good to hear this because everyone else around him always seemed to be in such a hurry for him to get older. His mother, his father, aunts, uncles, teachers…everyone, they all seemed to think he needed to hurry up and finish school and get a job as fast as possible. He understood that these were important things, but why was it so important to do things that everyone else wanted to do? It felt to him as if no one cared what he might want to do.

“By training you to attack this creature, I might teach you something about life as well.”

“Like what?”

“The beast we hunt, it only comes out during the full moon, and the moon is a window to other worlds. It contains powers which most do not understand.”

Freddy himself did not understand, but he tried very hard.

“You said that you know how to shoot, I want you to learn discipline when handling your weapon.” Xerxes said with a commanding voice.

“What difference will discipline make?”

Xerxes then retrieved his crossbow, loaded back an arrow, fired it, quickly loaded another and fired, then another… once he was done Xerxes had shot off five arrows from his crossbow in less than one minute.

“Discipline will make all the difference.”

Needless to say, Freddy was impressed.

T
he day before the hunt Rod had let himself become more at ease. He kept reassuring himself that it would all be over soon. No one knew what he and his unusual posse had planned. He had handed over all the materials related to the case, and the autopsy reports were confiscated before he even had a chance to look at them. Not that that mattered anyway, he already knew what they would say. The bank teller didn’t think anything of it when he withdrew five-thousand dollars from his savings account. Besides it was his own money to do with as he pleased.

While Arnold Omaha was on his lunch break, Rod found himself alone watching a television station covering the ongoing situation in Medusa (as they put it). He suddenly felt as if he were being watched, he turned to see Xerxes standing behind him.

“My god! You could have given me a heart attack!”

“I apologize. I only wanted to speak to you about tomorrow.” Xerxes said in his cryptic, monotone voice.

“Well, what is it?” Rod asked.

“I would meet you here, but I am afraid that the attention broadcasting is giving the town might be too much for us to meet here in front of everyone. I think it would be best if we met at my motel room at ten o’clock.”

Just as Xerxes was finishing his sentence Thomas Dolgen walked in. He was immediately confused.