Cruel and Unusual - serialised novel EXCLUSIVE to Steemit Part 29

Exclusive for Steemit - serialisation of Cruel and Unusual – my second novel

Images for this excerpt are from Google Images or Pixabay

Episodes:
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She paused to think for a moment.

“In that case, I am pleased. You have done well, but come with me. I hear footfalls and I do not think that you would hold up to much scrutiny. Your teeth are again murderously long and sharp, and you are beginning to salivate. The smell of this is invigorating, is it not?”

Without waiting for his answer, she turned and melted into the shadows. He took her lead and stood beside her as they watched in silence.

A man approached and noticed the murdered woman’s body, but he did not seem to be shocked. Could this be the murderer returning to the crime? They watched with growing curiosity.

The man got closer and she realised he did not yet know it was a body, he could not see as well as they could.

The moment he realised what he had discovered, he leaped back with a horrified exclamation and then he looked about him in fear.

From the same direction he had arrived, another man approached. The first man called to him, “Come and look over here! There’s a woman lying on the pavement.”

Together, both men bent to take stock of the woman. She lay on her back, her skirts pulled up indecently high, almost baring the full length of her legs.

The first man whispered to his companion. “I believe she is dead.”

The other had bent his head to her chest and was trying to hear if she was breathing; he waved a hand for his companion to be quiet.

“I cannot hear her breathing,” the first said after a moment’s concentration. “But I think that I can feel her breathing, but very little if she is.”

He lifted his head from her chest. “We should sit her up.”

“No, I don’t think we should. She has been assaulted. We should get along to work, I’m already late and we will inform the police on our way.”

As they left, the second man glanced back as though to reassure himself, but the two watching saw that he was not reassured at all. Instead he turned back to his journey and made a swift exit from the bloody scene.

Had the workman seen something in the shadows? The hidden observers both looked but neither saw anything, although she felt a little uneasy.

“Madam,” the young man whispered. “He saw something.”

“Yes, I thought so too.”

“I am beginning to wonder if this kill is an ordinary murder after all.”

“Exactly my thought; continue.”

“I begin to think that perhaps this is a Wolf kill, but how can that be? We are more than a whole week past Full Moon.”

“I am puzzled also, but lower your voice still further. If this is a Wolf kill then he must be an Ancient to have the power to change without the Moon’s influence and therefore, it is quite likely that he can hear our conversation as clearly as we can.”

He nodded, and then stiffened as he heard something else. “Another approaches.”

The newcomer proved to be a policeman with a lantern. They again watched in silence as he approached with obvious caution. He held out his lantern at arm’s length as he got closer to the body, so that he may perhaps see a further extent of the woman’s injuries.

The light from his lantern glistened on the blood and upon the open eyes of the victim. He bent down to touch the woman. He felt her hand, then upwards, higher up her right arm, which was closest to him.

He straightened as he too heard yet another set of footfalls close by. Signalling by waving his lantern, the two watching in the shadows realised that he signalled to a colleague, another policeman.

“Here’s a woman with her throat cut. Run at once for Dr. Llewellyn,” the kneeling policemen said with urgency.

As the policeman ran to do the first one’s bidding, yet another arrived, he was hurrying, either because he had heard the call for the doctor or because the two men that had first found the body had informed him.

As he approached, the first said, “See if you can’t find an ambulance will you?”

The watchers found that they could now not move from their observation point without being seen, so they continued to watch as this depiction of human tragedy unfolded before their eyes.

The doctor arrived at the same time as the ambulance. He bent to examine the woman but did not have to spend a great deal of time before he concluded that she was beyond help in this mortal realm.

“Move her to the mortuary. She is dead. I will make a thorough examination there.”

Two officers lifted the body onto the ambulance, which was no more than a coffin sized box mounted on carriage wheels.

The procession of police, doctor and a few curious passers-by followed the push-cart-cum-ambulance and at last, the two that had been observing it all could move from their hiding place. But they moved with caution. They were cautious that the murderer could be still in the vicinity, watching just as they had.

They did not speak again until they were back at the dockyard. The sun was just beginning to rise, giving a slight glow to the dark and chilly sky, highlighting the underside of the pall of smoke that furled from the wreckage of the warehouse.

After looking out over the slimy water for a time, she turned to her pupil.

“I do not give compliments lightly. I meant what I said back there. You did extremely well to retain your composure and resist the urge to change in the face of that blood and gore.”

“Thank you, Madam Hazel. I appreciate your guidance as much as the compliment you paid me.”

She chuckled. “You do realise that the woman had been disembowelled as well as having her throat cut?”

“No, I did not, but is that detail important?”

She nodded and her smile widened.

“You did better than even you think, then. Your instinct to change would have been very powerful, almost irresistible even without the Moon’s influence, and yet you did not fully change. By disembowelling the body, new scents are released. The scent of organs, glands and other juices all force your instincts to overcome your will. These are all tools of the Hunter. I will explain more fully another time. You have passed a test that I did not set for you, one that is more advanced than I thought you to be. Well done.”

“So you have changed your mind about not wishing to tutor me?” he said, with hope and eagerness in his tone.

“Hmm, we shall see.”