Thursday, August 17, 2017

Smoke and Mirrors - 58



That piqued the partners’ interest and Daniel quickly finished making his sandwich and came back to the table, asking his brother as he sat down, “How small?”

“There’s a Chupacabra running loose in the wilderness near where I’ve been living.”

“Hardly a ‘small’ problem,” Jared stated, recalling what he knew about the elusive creatures. They were bipedal, standing somewhere between four to five feet tall. One description compared their bodies to those of an erect dinosaur having small arms and hands with three claws each. Their legs were almost reptilian, again with three claws on each foot and there were spinal quills down their backs which they used for flying. The head was somewhat bird-like with red eyes and an elongated jaw with fangs. “How long has it been there?”

“As far as I can tell,” Norris replied, “it showed up about six months ago. I found the remains of a deer with strange bite marks on its body, primarily the stomach area. Then, a few days later I came upon the body of a puma. There were puncture holes straight into the brain that must have killed it instantly, and then some of its internal organs were removed.”

“Why do you think a Chupacabra is involved?

“Because in both cases what blood that had been left in the bodies hadn’t clotted or coagulated. That told me they weren’t killed by any normal predator. And then,” Norris leaned back, smiling almost gleefully at them, “I actually saw it. Only briefly but long enough that I knew it was a Supe. Once I had, I made a trip into town, to the local library, and did a bit of on-line research.”

Jared nodded, his forehead creasing in a frown. “Is it still in the area?”

“It was two days ago. I found the fresh corpse of another deer. It was the fifth in the last month. It might not have bothered me, but that one was much closer to inhabited areas than any of the rest had been.”

“That’s not good,” Daniel stated as he picked up what was left of his sandwich and headed to the computer in the living room.

Norris watched him leave, cocking an eyebrow in question.

“I suspect he’s letting the Council know and telling them we’ll be handling it.”

“What if they want to send someone else besides the two of you?”

“They won’t,” Jared told him with certainty.

He was correct. Daniel returned almost immediately with the news that they were to leave as soon as possible, with the Council’s blessing.

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