AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The burns had stained the skin, but there was something else to be seen. On the wrist, the wordsPost Tenebrus Luxwere written in tattooed blue ink.
The hand now dug its nails into Valerie's shoulder. She felt a sharp, agonizing pain. The sound of something watery beneath her came, and she looked down in horror to see a flow of red blood quickly filling the interior of the tractor.
Valerie pounded on the windows. She shouted to Tom in the distance. But no matter how much she screamed, Tom did not turn towards her.
As the blood flowed up around her waist, a cold breath spoke into her ear.
"I can't rest, and you won't either," the voice said.
Valerie turned in a moment of panic and realized that she was staring into the glassy, dead eyes of Maggie, the murdered woman on the farm. And they were trapped together.
Valerie woke with a sharp gasp. Looking around, she saw that the motel room was bathed in an ethereal, blue glow that pulsated. She was glad to be gone from the tractor cab, to be away from that horrid nightmare.
But as she looked to the phone itself, she knew that a new, very real nightmare was upon her.
"Hello?" she said groggily as she answered the phone.
"I'm sorry for waking you so early," the grim voice of Sheriff Carter said on the other end of the line.
"No," Valerie cleared her throat. "It's okay." She looked at a nearby radio clock and saw that it was 4 AM.
"There's been another murder," Sheriff Carter said.
Valerie felt a swell of regret in her stomach. Had she arrested the killer by now, it would never have happened. But they were no closer to catching him. They needed to find out more about his profile.
"I'll be ready in fifteen minutes," she said.
"I'll come get you."
The call ended, and Valerie, exhausted, dragged herself out of bed and prepared to see yet another grisly death.
***
Valerie got out of the car and was glad to finally see the pale light of morning twilight beginning. She shivered in the cold and saw the dim outline of Kerry County Seminary before her.
Sheriff Carter got out of the driver's side of his truck and stood alongside her.
"Have you been here before?" Valerie asked.
"No," the sheriff answered. "But I know the Priest who runs the seminary. Father Bryant. A good man."
The headlights of another car beamed against the leafless trees and winter bushes surrounding the seminary building. It pulled up alongside Valerie and Sheriff Carter.
Charlie and Will got out. Valerie noticed Will holding the plaster around his forearm as he walked to her.
"Are you okay, Will?" she asked.
"Yes, Valerie," he answered. "Just a twinge ... And how are you?"
She hated that he had to check on her. But she tried not to show it.
"I'm fine."
"This place is eerie," Charlie said.
"Don't let Father Bryant hear you say that," Sheriff Carter suggested. "He's a great guy, but a tough one. He doesn't take kindly to any negativity surrounding the church. Certainly not the seminary."
"I'll keep that in mind," Charlie said, moving forward towards the grim outline of the white building.
