Graveyard Shift by Angela Roquet

Author:Angela Roquet
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: speculative fiction
ISBN: 1480004189
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
Published: 2009-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

“God enters by a private door

into every individual.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joy Henderson lived by herself in a big two story house across from Liberty Park. It was mid-autumn, so she was outside, bent over flowerbeds of bright blooms and sculpted hedges. A few hummingbirds buzzed around a feeder while a small herd of cats lazily watched from the lawn.

There are some things I’ll never understand about humans. Like how old ladies decide to feed all the neighborhood felines once their spouses die.

“Let’s keep an eye on her from the park for now,” I suggested.

Josie secured her quiver over her shoulder. “I’ll take a look around and see if there are any demon’s lurking about. I don’t know how they found us last time, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they show up here too.” She strung an arrow in her bow before taking off around the block.

Saul tilted his head back and gave the air above a sniff. The hair along his back sprang up into a shaggy Mohawk as he let out a warning growl and turned to rush deeper into the park.

“Keep an eye on our catch,” I ordered Kevin before running after Saul.

Coreen looked back at the woman and whimpered before following me into the park. When we finally caught up to Saul, he was standing under a tree, sniffing the ground. I scanned the branches for what had caught his attention, but there was nothing to see. Behind the tree stretched an old bridge leading to an island where two little boys sat fishing. A wooden cross dangled from one’s neck. They were safe.

Saul nudged my thigh with his nose, a piece of crumpled paper clenched between his teeth. I unfolded it and found it was an envelope. There were several more littering the ground. I gathered them up and quickly read who they were addressed to. None of the names were the same, but all the addresses were on Third Street, the street running between Mrs. Henderson’s house and the park. Not sure what it meant, I turned around and headed back towards Kevin.

“Demons?” he asked as I approached.

“I don’t think so.”

Saul periodically tilted his nose up, trying to grasp a smell that might prove more useful, while Coreen’s eyes never left our catch.

“Nothing,” Josie reported as she joined us.

Our catch hadn’t moved from her garden. I grabbed Josie’s wrist and flipped it around to look at her watch. Nine-twenty. Ten minutes until the fatal heart attack. Everything was going smoothly, and then the mailman rounded the corner.

Saul let out a soft growl. The man paused, only for a second, and then continued down the sidewalk. Had he heard Saul? A human wouldn’t have heard a hellhound. And then I noticed he wasn’t stopping at any of the other houses. Something was off. He turned and made his way up Mrs. Henderson’s sidewalk.

“Good morning,” he called out to her.

“Oh, good morning to you,” she answered and went back to her flowers.

“I just love this weather. Don’t you?”

Mrs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.