The Prowler
by Larry Sells

   It was in the middle of the day and Frank Crow was sound asleep. He had been patrolling all night long and drove a couple of wooden stakes in two vampires. The phone rang bringing him out of his light coma.

   Sleepily, Frank pickup the receiver, "Hello." He glanced at his Caller ID. "Jake, how have you been?"

   "Not too good, I’m afraid. You better come to my office."

   "Let me grab a bite to eat and I’ll be right over."

   "That will be good. See you then."

   Silence took over the phone line and Frank Crow hung up the phone. He placed a couple of Microwave macaroni and cheese packages in a bowl and heated it. Five minutes later, he emptied the powder cheese, stirred it up, and sat down on his rocking chair. It was a gift from the woman, Stephanie Rings; he was seeing when he was not patrolling. She lived with her mother and her only child, Trace Rings.

   As Frank watched the local news, he smiled when the announcer mentioned. "A couple of males were found at an abandoned house in a state of decay. There were wooden stakes driven deep into their chests. The police department and Sheriff Stake had no comment when we seek to interview them."

   He listened closer when the announcer said, "We have a family, who died in mysterious circumstances. The names are being withheld until loved ones are notified."

   Could this be the reason Jake wanted to talk to me? Anyway, I wouldn’t know unless I leave and get there to talk with him.

   Frank drove his silver Trans Am to the police station.

  Sheriff Stake had a worried look when he saw Frank walk in his office closing the door behind him. Jake cleared his throat. "I have bad news for you, Stephanie and her entire family were found died this morning."

   Frank could not believe his ears, for he had seen them and eaten supper with them a couple of nights ago. They all looked healthy and strong. "What did you say?"

   In a clearer voice, Jake said, "The Ring family was found dead this morning when her employer came over to their house to pickup some papers Stephanie had been working on and found them dead in their beds."

   "How did they die?"

   "Not sure, Russ Temp, and Ron Scamp didn’t find the exact cause of death. They are listing it death due to mysterious circumstances."

   Frank battled tears, but years of practice told him to continue. "Are the bodies still at the morgue?"

   "Yep, waiting for you to look at them and see what you can find."

   Sheriff Stake drove Jake to the morgue.

   The coroner, Russ Temp and Ron Scamp, the head forensic technician greeted them with handshakes.

   "So what did they die of?" Frank looked them directly in the eyes.

   Russ shrugged. "Not sure it looks like their hearts just stopped beating. We can’t find any reason why everyone’s heart stopped beating almost at the same time. Their time of deaths were about ten minutes with Mrs. Ring dying last, twenty minutes later than the first." Russ stopped talking to check his notes. "Stephanie Rings."

   Ron looked at Frank. "Both of us are completely puzzled at why they died. They were no reason for them to die, in fact, they should still be alive."

   Frank ran his right hand across his face to wipe away some tears. "May I see the bodies?"

   Ron looked at Sheriff Stake.

   Sheriff Stake nodded his head.

   "Yes, you can." Ron pulled out the stretcher carrying the first body, Mrs. Ring.

   Frank walked to the body and touched the cold lifeless flesh. Immediately, he was there in her bedroom with her sleeping on her bed. A shadow creature appeared and touched her on the face. Frank saw the life of her being drained from her face. After the shadowy creature left, Frank removed his hand from Mrs. Ring’s dead body. With a shudder, he walked to the next body, Stephanie Ring.

   Tears threatened to flow from Frank’s face. He cleared his throat to fight the urge to cry. When Frank was sure he was in control of his emotions, he placed his right hand on Stephanie’s face. He was taken there by his telepathic link to Stephanie. Frank watched helplessly when a shadowy creature appeared at her bedside. The shadow creature touched her face, and Frank saw her life force drained from her face. When she died, the shadowy creature was gone, and Frank removed his hand from Stephanie’s face.

   Frank walked slowly to Trace Ring’s dead body. He was still shaken from what he saw from the other two, and he did not want to see that shadowy creature steal Trace’s life force, but he knew that he must. Reluctantly, Frank placed his right hand on Trace’s face. His second sight took him to Trace’s room. Trace was lying in bed with his nightlight lighting his bed when a strange almost hypnotic voice came from the dark hall. "Turn off your light."

   Without thinking or resistance Trace rose, so he could touch the light switch and turned it off. Seconds later, the creature was next to him and started draining his life away from him. When Trace was dead, the shadow creature removed his hand from Trace’s face and disappeared.

   After the creature disappeared, Frank lifted his hand from Trace’s dead body and looked at Ron and Sheriff Stake.

   He tried to speak, but found that he could not. He tried again. "A shadow creature of some sort killed them. It drained them of their life force causing them to die. I never saw anything like it. The creature emitted a coldness." Frank shuddered. "Of death."

   "Good, at least we know what killed them," Sheriff Stake said.

   Ron just looked at them as if they were crazy. With a blank look on his face, he shook his head and nodded.

   "I’m going to go home and do some research to find what kind of creature we are dealing with." Frank shook hands with Sheriff Stake and Ron, then left.

   It was night and dark outside. Frank stretched and put away his books. He had found three types of shadow creatures with different ways to kill them. In all types, their victims’ souls were drained from them while they slept. One type, the kyra, was killed by hanging during the daylight hours. The second type, chirea, to kill it the hunter would behead it with a silver ax. The third type, seore, was killed with direct light.

   Frank’s eyes felt like they were heavy and bathed in acid. He had been reading all day looking for the shadow creature that killed Stephanie and her family. Revenge tasted sweet on his lips, for he wanted to kill this creature in the worst way.

   Knowing that he should be going to bed to rest, but Frank knew that he must patrol tonight, so he could fight the darkness that threatened him and his friends’ lives. Since childhood, he was trained to hunt and kill these beings of darkness.

   Frank cooked himself some microwaved pasta and his mind slipped back to when he was a child. His father’s voice echoed within his head. "Our forefathers throughout time have been ramblers or hunters of these supernatural beings that killed human beings or worse yet converted them with their disease. They had collected and documented information of these beings and how to destroy them." His father held a book in his hand. "See this person’s name?"

   Young Frank looked at the author’s name it was Lionel Crow.

   Frank nodded his head.

   "He’s my great grandfather. As far as time can be documented, our family took the name Crow, because the Crow is a spirited being or bird that prepares the wronged dead for revenge. So you can see it’s our family’s mission to right the wrongs that these evil monsters cause."

   The telephone brought Frank back to reality. He looked at his Caller Id. "Yes, Sheriff, what can I do for you?"

   "There has been another family hit, and the attack followed the MO of the Rings."

   "Want me to come to the police station or morgue?"

   "Neither, go to the Seers’ place, 820 Windwill Ave."

   "Okay be there in a few." Frank’s mind made a connection. The Rings and Seers’ houses were located on darkened streets. This fitted the MO, information, of all three of the shadow creatures. Frank smiled.

   When Frank arrived, Sheriff Stake was there to greet him. "Good to see you again. We have a survivor this time. A boy of five named Pete. He had a night light on. He’s being questioned, by one of our old friends, Stan Lee Stoker. And Tom Wilson is questioning the neighbors."

   Frank smiled. "Glad we have the best detectives working on this. And old friends, as well."

   "They will want to talk with you about this shadow creature." Sheriff Stake cleared his throat. "Make yourself at home, the bodies of Susan and Samson Seers are still in their bedroom."

   On his way to the parents’ room, Frank passed Pete’s room. He hesitated for a second when he heard the crying voice of Pete. "A growl voice told me to turn my night light off. I looked over to the door to look for what said it. And it was the boogeyman, and he was going to get me. So, I hid underneath my covers, and screamed for my mother and father to rescue me. But no one came."

   Frank continued down the hall thinking. Thinking about the type of shadow creatures. Okay, the kyra would have been weakened by the light not killed, so it would have entered the room to take the boy’s soul and left. Chirea would be weakened to the point of collapsing and it would still be there when the cops arrive. That is if it entered the room, so chances are it wouldn’t have. Seore would have been killed by the light inside the room, so it wouldn’t have entered the room either, and a dark liquid would have been found on the floor marking the place where it died. So, there were two types still in the running.

   Frank stood at the bed looking down at the couple. He took a deep breath and touched Susan. Seconds later, he saw the shadow creature touching her face and watched helplessly as the creature took her life force from her body. Swallowing hard, he walked to the other side of the bed. Frank looked hard at Samson’s lifeless body then gently touched his face. Within seconds, Frank saw the shadow creature appearing and touching Samson’s face and the creature disappearing after it killed Samson. After the vision was done, Frank joined the others and found Sheriff Stake. "Just like the others. A shadow creature killed them."

   Sheriff Stake nodded his head.

   "Anything you need me for? If not, I’m going to walk around to see if I can find something."

   "No, go ahead and good luck."

   Seconds later, Frank with a nine-volt flashlight walked outside to look around. He heard a noise near the neighbors’ house, and flashed the light in the general direction of the side of the house. The light hit the shadow creature in the back. It started to howl and writhe in pain. Slowly, it started to dissolve. Frank stood his ground and kept the light on the creature. A few minutes later, all that was left of the shadow creature was just a black tar-like liquid.

   Stan Lee and Tom ran to Frank to see what caused the howling.

   Frank pointed at the black liquid, "I just killed the shadow creature. I feel it was the only one that was causing the deaths in our neighborhood."

   They nodded their heads and watched the sun rise in the horizon. "Looks like it’s going to be a great day," Tom said as he smiled.

   Frank turned off the flashlight, shook hands with his friends, and left for home.

©2004 Larry Sells

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