Howls of Chaos. Gabrielle Boyd

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СКАЧАТЬ left the office a few minutes later, headed back to the house, and did a little straightening up. I put some old paintings of Carlos and me on the living room wall and dusted them off since they had been in storage for ages. One was an antique oil painting of Carlos and me when we lived in Paris during the late eighteen hundreds. I remember having this painting done, I thought. Carlos was wearing one of his finest tuxedos, and I had on a beautiful Victorian gown that was blue with some white accents. My hair was pinned up with curls, and Carlos had a mustache. After having that picture painted of us, we went wine tasting and then hunting. That was back when we were primitive.

      I finally snapped out of my gaze and began digging through some more boxes. I hid most of the stuff in the basement because it was mostly pictures and old books on werewolves, vampires, and other immortals. I didn’t want anyone to come over and think we were weird, with that stuff in the middle of the floor.

      After straightening up some, I began to cook dinner and watch television. When I turned on the television, the local news was on. The news anchor was talking about how a man had been torn to pieces and killed after being attacked by an unknown wild animal. They also showed several people standing a few feet away from the crime scene.

      I stood there in shock because Carlos and I had just moved here. Plus, we hadn’t been doing any hunting lately. I continued to watch the news and cook the leftover rare lamb into a stir fry. While I was cooking, the front door opened and then slammed. I heard Carlos yell, “Alexsys, turn on the news quickly!”

      “It’s on! What’s going on?” I yelled. Carlos threw his briefcase down and started checking the caller ID.

      “Has anyone called here or come by?” asked Carlos.

      “No. I thought you weren’t getting off until five, and then you were going to the shop,” I said. Carlos did not say anything. He looked out the windows, and then shut the curtains. “What’s going on?” I asked again.

      Carlos grabbed me by my shoulders and said, “There is another werewolf in this area. I don’t know who, but I got off early and on my way back, I passed the scene where the attack must have taken place,” said Carlos, who was kind of hysterical.

      “Well, did you get out?” I asked.

      “No, but I let my windows down to try and pick up on the scent,” replied Carlos.

      “Well, who was it?” I asked.

      “Couldn’t exactly catch it,” said Carlos pacing back in forth, somewhat frustrated.

      “Well calm down; we’ll figure it out,” I said, but before I could finish my sentence, the doorbell rang. Carlos jumped then slowly walked over to the door. I followed him closely.

      “Who is it?” asked Carlos.

      A voice said, “Sheriff Collinbelle.” Carlos and I looked at each other and then smiled. Carlos opened the door.

      “Well, hi there, Sheriff,” said Carlos.

      “How are you doing son? And please, call me Wesley,” said the Sheriff, while shaking Carlos’s hand.

      “Come on in, and please, take a seat. We were just about to have some dessert. Can we get you something?” said Carlos.

      “Well all right, I guess I can come in for a minute,” he said.

      “By the way, this is my fiancée Alexsys,” said Carlos, introducing me to the Sheriff.

      “Well, hello, Alexsys. It’s nice to finally meet you. Aren’t you beautiful! I can see now why Carlos is always talking about his girl,” he said, shaking my hand and making his way into the living room.

      I grinned and said, “Well thank you, Sheriff.”

      He and Carlos both took a seat while I went and turned off the stove. I then went back into the living room with them. Sheriff Collinbelle was a short, muscular man in his late thirties. He really didn’t look like he would be a sheriff; he looked more like a bodybuilder or a wrestler. He was nice looking and clean-cut, like most military men. He had pretty, baby blue eyes and a dimple in each cheek when he smiled. I sensed he was a pretty outgoing person as well.

      “Sweetie, will you go and whip up that dessert?” asked Carlos. I looked at him curiously because we were eating rare lamb stir fry. Then he gave me a look and nodded his head toward the kitchen. So I headed toward the kitchen and prepared a snack. The two men sat down in the living room and began to talk.

      “So what brings you out this way?” asked Carlos.

      “Well, actually there has been an attack, and we believe it’s some kind of wild animal. There have been a couple of other animal attacks in the surrounding counties as well. So, I’m just warning people out this way and in the rest of the county to stay alert and be careful,” replied the sheriff.

      “Well, I appreciate you giving us a heads up on that,” said Carlos.

      “No problem! Oh and I wanted to invite you and your fiancée to the fish fry that the Chaosville Fire Department is hosting for the city. It’s a pretty big event here in town. There’s going to be a band and a lot of dancing and food,” said Sheriff Collinbelle.

      He and Carlos continued their conversation, and I brought out one of my favorite homemade desserts.

      “So, what kind of animal do you think is on the loose?” I asked, butting into the conversation.

      “My deputies and I think it’s a bear. Then again, it could possibly be a mountain lion. Those are the only two animals that could have done that much damage. Coyotes are also scary animals, but they rarely attack unless they are in a pack,” he replied, indulging in the ice cream sundae pie.

      We chitchatted for a while until the sheriff finished his dessert and left.

      Carlos and I stayed up late that night talking about what had happened. It was around one thirty in the morning when we decided to go to bed. We turned out all the lights while walking to our bedroom.

      We had reached our bedroom door when all of a sudden we heard a loud crash! It sounded like something had been thrown through the living room window and the glass had been shattered.

      “What was that?” I yelled.

      “Sounds like someone is trying to break in,” said Carlos.

      Carlos grabbed a bat and quietly ran down the hall into the living room. I followed him. As soon as he entered the living room, Carlos dropped the bat, and it fell on the floor. Why did he drop the bat? I thought.

      When I made it to where Carlos was standing, I noticed he was staring at something. Then I saw pieces of glass on the floor. I was right, someone had thrown something and the glass was shattered. But what? I thought. I gazed over at Carlos who seemed to be staring at something right in front of him. The way he was standing, it was like he was in shock. I followed his gaze. When I realized what he was staring at, I could not help but stare too. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

      There in front of us stood a big, tall, hairy, wolf-like creature on its hind legs. It stood about six foot four with dirty claws about five inches long. СКАЧАТЬ