This is longer than I expected, and I'm still not done. This part is horrific; skip it if you're at all squeamish. For those with strong stomachs, however, I do reveal the answer to a question asked long ago.
Chapter Six: The Book of Garrett, Part 2
Then, as if in answer to all our prayers, in November of last year, Miss Naomi Mc_____ came to town.
Though she arrived unescorted, no one could find any other fault with this young lady. She dressed elegantly, but with absolute propriety and decorum; took up rooms at Mrs. B____’s boarding house, an impeccable establishment; was never seen within bowshot of a tavern; and was in every way polite, courteous, and proper. I confess that at first I suspected her (purely on the basis of her name and dark red hair) of harboring Papist tendencies; but these suspicions were laid to rest when she came to my church and, during the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, did not hesitate before saying the Doxology, as a Catholic would. She also came to the very earliest service, well before sunrise at that time of year, which I have found to be, if not a sure indicator of virtue, at least a sign of disinclination to keep late hours on Saturday night!
So it was with some distress that we observed her keeping company with the dissolute young man. We felt it could only lead either to her corruption, or at the very least to great damage to her reputation. But in fact it seemed our fears were groundless; indeed, that Beauty had at last succeeded in taming the Beast where all Wisdom had failed. For he soon ceased to frequent the tavern, and began to reform in other ways as well. The young wastrels ceased coming to his house; in fact most of them left town, some openly, others stealing away in the dead of night with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Though some gossiped about this, in truth the town was too relieved at their departure to look that given horse in the mouth.
Our young man was now as often seen on errands for Miss Mc_____ as he had formerly been for his late aunt, and he was most particular about the fashion in which he did them. When she had apparently asked him to bespeak a new hat for her, he spent hours comparing an array of fabrics, styles, and ribbons that would have crossed the eyes of any man; it was clear that his whole being was now dedicated to pleasing her, and that only the very best would do. After some months of this, we naturally began to expect the announcement of an engagement to follow; I quite expected the smitten couple to come to me hand in hand, and ask me to bind them together in Holy Matrimony.
Instead, the news came out that the young man had fallen gravely ill.
At first Dr. H_____ diagnosed him with simple exhaustion, and prescribed strict bed rest; but while the young man complied, leaving the house only to attend services on Sunday (always with Miss Mc_____ on his arm) and sending his servants on all other errands, he did not improve; in fact as Winter gave way to Spring he sickened more and more, losing weight rapidly and becoming nearly as pale as the sheets on which he lay. When he entirely failed to attend services on Easter Sunday, I became alarmed and called upon Miss Mc_____ at Mrs. B______’s boarding house.
But she was not there. The landlady (no longer the original Mrs. B_____, who had retired some years earlier) informed me that Miss Mc_____ had packed her things, paid her final rent (and a bit more “for the trouble my abrupt departure must cause you”), and moved to the manor to provide full-time personal care to the young man!
Now you may suppose that this in itself would be a scandal, but in fact the townspeople, myself included, were touched by this action of Miss Mc_____’s. She was held in such high esteem that no one considered any but the purest of motives. Discreet enquiries among the servants at the manor confirmed that her rooms were quite distant from his, though she did have a special bell-string put in, so that he could alert her at any hour should he need her. The staff allowed that most often the young man summoned them, rather than put her to any trouble, and that she spent her days at his bedside, reading (to him, or silently as he slept) and at intervals mopping his brow.
And indeed he seemed to improve for a time. Oddly, it seemed she dismissed his servants one by one; they were no longer seen in the town. I myself encountered Mrs. L_____, his cook, as she departed; but if any reason had been given for her dismissal she was not inclined to speak of it. She seemed deeply troubled, but expressed a wish to leave the town behind as quickly as possible.
It was at this time (late June) that the Dutch professor came to town. I was not present at his initial closed-door meeting with the Town Council, so I cannot report what was said there, but I am informed that his statements were met with the greatest skepticism, and that they offered him no assistance. He soon made his own enquiries, however, and began to view the manor with great suspicion. After his meeting with me, wherein my every description of an innocent event seemed to be met with gathering grimness and determination, I asked him whatever he might be seeking in our little town.
“A beast,” he replied. “A vicious, murderous creature that must be put down as soon as may be, as a danger to all human life.” I informed him that he would find no such being here, and (rather stiffly, at his inquiry) that I could not supply him with “holy water”—I directed him to the nearest town with a Catholic church. The entire town was somewhat relieved that he departed soon after; but he returned a few days later, indeed with scarcely time to have traveled to that town and back.
Then, in early July, a young man was found murdered. And this was no wastrel, but a respectable young man on his way to the early Sunday service. No one knew that anything was wrong until his sister became alarmed when he did not return home, and his chores were left undone. A brief search swiftly located his body: a terrible scene. It appeared he had been mauled by some animal, but we well knew there were no animals in our area powerful enough to produce the wounds we saw.
Dr. H_____ was particularly disturbed at one thing: he said there wasn’t enough blood at the scene. I was quite startled by this and remarked that it seemed quite sufficient to me, indeed rather excessive; I was feeling rather ill, as a matter of fact. At this, Dr. H_____ looked at me as one does a child, and commented that as both of the great arteries in the neck had been severed, and this was a full-grown and healthy man, there ought to have been a great deal more blood. I asked him what, then, we should do.
“I know what I intend to do,” he replied. “I intend to go to”—and here he named the Dutch professor—“with my hat in my hand, and beg him to help us.” I did not know what to make of this, until I realized that Dr. H_____ was on the Town Council. Later I heard that they had organized small groups of men into armed patrols, to walk the streets and fields at night. Nothing happened for nearly two weeks; I asked Dr. H_____ about this, to be told that the professor had informed him that “desperate hunger” would soon bring “the creature” out of hiding. I asked him to keep me informed of events, as I had the town’s spiritual wellbeing to consider, and he agreed.
Some nights later I was awakened by a boy pounding on my door, and informing me that “Dr. H_____ says come now if you want to know anything.” I dressed in haste and followed him; he led me to another murder scene! Dr. H_____ informed me tersely that the patrol had arrived too late to save this latest victim (a married man with children), but that the murderer had been caught, and waved me away. Following his directions, I soon came to a place where a group of armed men ringed…Miss Naomi Mc_____!
“Thank God you’re here,” she said, in great relief to see me. “That…that creature attacked me, and that poor man gave his life saving mine!” The circle of men was quite unmoved by this utterance and stood glaring. The evidence for it was plain, however: the bodice and skirt of her gown were completely soaked in blood.
I looked at the professor (who stood holding a large pistol pointed at Miss Mc_____), and said, with some incredulity, “Professor, surely you can’t think…no woman could possibly have committed these murders!”
“She is no woman,” said the professor, “but a beast of Hell itself. Go on, examine her as you wish.” .
“Please, please tell them,” she implored me as I drew closer, “please tell them that you know me and I could not have done this. I have not the strength! You’re a man of God, they’ll believe you…” but then I caught a glimpse inside her mouth as she spoke, and recoiled in horror: her teeth were stained with blood. She grasped at my hand, but I pulled it back. “Please,” she gasped, “his blood splashed into my mouth as he fought the creature! It was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me! Please don’t let them kill me!”
“Kill you? Good heavens, child, no one is going to…” but looking at the ring of faces surrounding us, I trailed off. I stared at the Dutch professor, aghast.
“We will not kill her,” he said, to my relief. “It will be dawn soon. We will stay here, all of us, until the sun shines full upon this field. Then we shall see what we shall see.”
At this, Miss Mc_____ slumped in relief; but then, as the men in the circle began to relax in anticipation of the wait, she suddenly sprang with astonishing speed and force at one of them (opposite the professor on the circle), knocked him down, and fled. A more quick-witted man hurled a pitchfork after her, and I gasped as it embedded itself deeply into her back, and she fell prone from the force of the blow. She stood quickly and grasped the pitchfork, swiftly pulling it from her body with no apparent pain or hesitation; but they were upon her.
Never before have I seen such a terrible spectacle, and I hope I never see the like again. The four wounds in her back did not bleed, in fact they seemed to close of their own accord almost immediately. She snarled and clawed and bit at the men who fought to subdue her; it took eight strong men to hold her down.
“We are lucky that she has been by long starvation weakened,” said the professor. “We interrupted her before she could fully feed, or we could not have so easily subdued her. Bring the stake.” I stared at him; surely he could not have intended burning her at the stake? But it was seven feet of oaken shaft, sharpened at one end; under his direction the men prepared to drive it through her body.
“Surely, Professor,” I began, but he waved his hand.
“It will not kill her,” he said. “Watch!” His men then drove four feet of the stake into the ground, through Miss Mc_____’s body just above her stomach. To my astonishment she showed no sign of pain. The men who had been holding her let go and stepped back.
“And now I wish to test something,” said the professor, and bringing forth a small vial marked with a cross, poured it upon her. Nothing whatever occurred, but she looked at him with contempt and hatred.
“Fool!” she snarled, “I am older than your Christ. He has no power over me! I will kill you all!” Her teeth seemed somehow to have grown larger and sharper; it was impossible to recognize the proper young lady who had arrived in our humble town some months earlier.
But more horrors yet awaited us. She grasped the stake in both hands as high as she could reach, and pulled down; her body slid up the shaft, leaving a smear of ichor below. She reached again, and pulled again. At that point one of the men realized what she intended, and with a couple of swift blows of his axe, severed both her hands at the wrists; they flew off into the grass. Then, to the amazement of all, including the professor, they raised themselves up on fingertips, and like huge deformed five-legged spiders began crawling back toward her! Two of the men swiftly staked them to the ground.
Even the stumps of her wrists did not bleed; she continued to struggle and writhe for some time. When the sun broke over the horizon, she began to scream, not as a woman would, but with a grating shriek like a crow’s. I prayed my heart out as her true form was revealed: her limbs elongated, as her face deformed into a snout with long teeth; her hair vanished; vestigial wings appeared. Its whole body was covered with powerful muscle and wrinkled grayish skin.
As the sun fell full upon it, the creature’s body began to change again, but this time the powerful muscle seemed to collapse and flow downward. The skin began to shrivel; finally it split, and rivulets of the liquefied flesh ran out and stained the ground. The skin continued to shrivel, and to darken; the creature continued shrieking, impossibly, even when it was reduced to a skeleton covered with blackened skin. When the skin began to smolder, however, its shrieks and struggles finally ceased; eventually it burst into flame, sending a plume of oily black smoke into the sky. When the fire finally went out, even the hideous skeleton had been consumed.
You must not think that we (with the exception of the Dutch professor) simply watched this with scientific detachment. I prayed as hard as I could, as I’ve said, but sometimes I had to pause and expel the lining of my empty stomach into the grass. Others were equally wretched; many could not watch at all, but formed an outer perimeter to keep ladies and children from coming up and seeing it. Yes, the town was awake long before the process was complete; it was nearly noon when the fire finally burned itself out.
“Well,” said the professor with some satisfaction when the fire was done, “that’s one. But I would wager there is one more to be disposed of.” I didn’t know what he meant, and asked him, but he ignored me. I followed him and the men to the manor, where they broke in without a thought for law or property rights, ignoring (again) my protests.
They searched the house, finding nothing for most of the afternoon. Ultimately, however, they located a locked cellar door; a search for the key having proved fruitless, they began attempting to knock it down. This took some time; it was of solid oak, bound in iron. When they finally succeeded, everyone hurried down the stairs to the cellar below.
What we found there surpassed all other horrors.
Seriously, I know what's going to happen for about the next three or four chapters, and then it gets increasingly fuzzy. We'll see how it goes. It's not going to be a neverending saga, I'll tell you that much. The events will draw to a tragic/comic/tragicomic close, and then it will be OVER. But that won't happen for a while.
