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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