CHAPTER ONE
Somewhere, in the deepest, darkest, most primal part of his brain, Marius Grey knew this was a bad idea.
Electricity rippled the dust beneath his feet like a pebble thrown into a still bit of water. Tiny sparks fired in his periphery on the edges of the stone grave. The dry Texas air evaporated all moisture, forcing him to smack his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he struggled to wet it.
Suddenly, he heard another noise as well. One that made him move faster. The unmistakable whine of a goat.
Marius hid behind a larger tomb when he got close enough to see the beast. He managed several looks over his shoulder to take it all in. It wasn’t quite sunset, so the ghostly inhabitants of the Old City Cemetery had not emerged from their graves.
The chupacabra was about twice his size with a lean body. Pocked, rough hide covered most of it, with patches of fur on his back, crown, and haunches. Each patch had long, protruding spikes like a porcupine. Flea-bitten ears topped its doglike head, and its mouth ended in a mass of terrifying fangs.
Marius took in a big whiff of rotten flesh and canine drool. He briefly wondered why he’d decided to come here. When he locked eyes with the beast’s intended victim, he knew he needed to act soon.
“Not yet,” he whispered to himself. “Wait for it.”
The monster was herding some unwilling goats into the cemetery. Marius checked the area. There was a farmhouse nearby, but not much else. No tree line. No cover. That is, until you got to the cemetery. The chupacabra directed the animals into the only place it could hide its meal.
Several of the goats managed to get away. One unfortunate goat remained. The poor thing had a leather leash with a metal buckle around its neck. Every time the animal tried to make a break for it, the buckle dragged against the dirt, collecting grass and slowing it down. The monster cut off its escape, intent on sucking its blood. That’s what chupacabras did.
The goat brayed loudly, and the beast grunted. Drool ran down its fangs, wetting the ground beneath it. Marius took a deep, ragged breath.
Where is the signal, he thought, wondering how much more time they had. I can’t make a move without her.
“Let it go!” cried Kelly Stone.
His mother appeared from behind a large tomb, salt flask in one hand and brick dust in the other. The chupacabra didn’t have time to react. Kelly Stone threw the fistful of brick dust in the monster’s face. The beast barked in pain as it furiously scratched at its eyes.
Marius meant to go for his book. That was the plan. They followed the intel to the Texas cemetery, they split up to scope it out, and if they found the monster, they’d set a trap. His mom would distract the monster, and he would trap it in the book. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the poor goat, who was frozen in fear. Grass and twigs tangled hopelessly in the buckle.
Marius bolted for the goat and untied the leash.
“Go home!” he cried, smacking the animal on the rump.
The slap knocked some sense loose, and the goat ran away toward the farm.
When Marius turned around, he found his mother drawing a salt circle. The chupacabra ran blindly toward her, even with the brick dust in its eyes. She finished the circle just in time, and the chupacabra bounced off the protective wall.
Now was his chance. Marius opened his monster book to the chupacabra page and pointed it at the beast.
“Grab the arm, grab the crook. Stomp the ground until it’s shook. Invisible line, invisible hook. Get the monster inside this book!”
The book’s power shot toward the monster, sucking it toward Marius. He held firm against the force of it. Unfortunately, the chupacabra didn’t submit. The book didn’t suck it inside. Instead, the monster charged Marius, breaking free from the spell. The monster hunter had to dodge the incoming attack like a matador with a bull.
“Marius! This way!” his mother screamed.
He headed toward her. His legs pumped hard with the monster close behind him. Marius leaped into the salt circle with only feet to spare.
The creature slammed against the barrier and growled menacingly at the monster hunters. Even though it was September and hot in Texas, steam rose from its stinking mouth as though there were a fire inside its belly. Two sets of claws dug into the earth as it howled at them.
“Well, plan A didn’t work,” his mother said, panting. “I don’t remember chupacabras being this tough. I guess we need to wound it first.”
In the world of monster hunting, the monster hunter’s book was the greatest weapon around. However, when faced with the really tough monsters, just saying the chant wasn’t always enough. Marius rarely ran into that problem since most of his early hunts were small fry like boogeymen. But when he took down the rougarou, he’d had to fully incapacitate the beast in order to capture it.
“Watch out!”
Kelly flinched as the chupacabra threw itself against the invisible barrier of the salt circle. The force was so great, the ground beneath their feet trembled. It got up and charged them again and again. Each time, the impact of it shook Marius down into his bones.
The monster hunters watched in horror as the dirt vibrated, mixing with the salt. A few more bangs like that and the circle’s integrity would fade.
“It’s gonna shake the circle apart,” Marius said.
“Stay in the salt. I’ve got this! You get ready to capture it.”
Before he could object, his mother dashed out of the circle. Kelly turned and bolted toward the tallest graves. Her pack was there with all her tools, including her magical explosives. Most of them were simple magical concoctions. Rock salt coated in holy oil and brick dust wrapped tightly inside dried sage. They were tricks Marius desperately wanted her to teach him. At the same time, he wondered how she could be so forgetful as to leave her pack instead of carrying it with her.
His mother’s black hair whipped behind her in a wavy curtain, having come loose from its knot. The pack was only a few yards away, but the chupacabra saw her. She pumped her legs hard in her old work jeans, but Marius could see it wasn’t going to be enough. The beast was faster. She was not going to make it.
All the nerves in his legs begged to chase her. He had to do something, but there was no catching them at this point. Not physically, anyway.
Marius grabbed the raven pendant from around his neck, snapping the chain. He raced toward his mother, who had made it to her pack, but only had seconds before the chupacabra was upon her.
“Mom!”
Marius dug his heels in the ground and held his pendant toward the beast. A blast of power shot from the moonstone, lighting the world up like a white, hot star. His rear impacted the cemetery’s hard-packed dirt.
When the static in Marius’s vision cleared, he spotted his mother on the ground, dazed and blinking at him. The chupacabra lay on the ground in between them with a charred mark on its rump.
At first, Marius thought he had killed the beast. Then he saw its hot breath shoot from its nostrils, blowing dirt in every direction. There was a low grunt that turned into a growl. By the time it turned to face him, Marius knew he was in trouble.
The raven’s power had once taken down a full-grown rougarou, rendering it into a monstrous, broken heap, ready for Marius to capture in a book. He figured the same would’ve happened here. But as it was, all the amulet managed to do was knock the thing down and make it terribly, horribly, regretfully angry. All that rage was now directed at Marius Grey.
The chupacabra charged at him. He reached for the amulet, but found it missing. It wasn’t in his hand.
Marius turned and ran toward the salt circle. With all the struggle and blast of power, the salt was all over the place, but he did spot his book a few feet away. He must have dropped it in all the commotion. Marius scooped it up and shoved the book into his pocket.
The monster lunged at him. It was all Marius could do to duck out of the way. He turned just as the beast was coming for another charge. He rolled on the ground, narrowly missing fangs and claws.
There was no time to do much fighting. If Marius could have reached for his book in time, he would have. All he could manage was running and dodging the beast’s attempts to snag him.
Then an idea came to his mind. He spotted the leash on the ground, right where he’d freed the goat. Marius bolted for the strip of rope, leaping over a large tombstone to do so. The monster had been snapping at his legs and did not adjust in time. It slammed into the tombstone hard and crumpled to the ground.
Marius knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Now was his big chance.
He skidded in the dirt like a baseball player sliding into home, grabbing the leash in the process. He raced back to the monster heaving and growling on the ground. Before the beast could react, Marius tossed the rope around its neck and pulled it taut. Feeling the sudden squeeze on its throat, the chupacabra roared in his face.
The monster hunter yanked hard as he started running, leash still in hand. The beast was hot on his heels, snapping at his feet. Each breath came ragged. His heart pumped so hard, he could hear it inside his ears.
Marius could see the final destination at the end of the cemetery. It was the open grave they had used to get here. A newly dug plot set to be occupied the next morning.
She is really not going to like this, he thought as he leaped into the grave, pulling the chupacabra in with him.
CHAPTER TWO
The monster hunter tumbled out of the old grave and rolled across the grass. He drew in several gulps of warm, humid air as he looked at the broken leash in his hands. A few seconds later, the chupacabra burst forth from the same grave, leaving dust and a few broken bricks in its wake.
There was no time to waste. Marius scrambled to his feet and started for the dock. The creature tore at the earth as it ran after him. He could feel its hot, stinking breath on the back of his legs as he sprinted through his cemetery. Marius screamed as loud as he could. There was no guarantee she was nearby, but he had to try.
“Rhia! Rhia, help!”
He pumped his legs as he hit the wooden planks of the dock. There was a wild shriek behind him as he leaped off the dock and splashed into the warm bayou water.
Marius waited for a minute, allowing his oversized coat to weigh him down. He prepared for the chupacabra to fall in right after him. He braced for the second attack, but none came. Marius swam back to the surface and scanned the shore for the monster.
There, pinned to the dock with a mermaid’s spike, was the chupacabra. It roared and pulled against the barb that ran from her arm through its back paw. Rhiannon, flesh-eating mermaid and his best friend, hissed at the creature with all of her spiny teeth. Every time the monster tried to snap at her, she twisted her barb to intensify the pain.
“Marius, trap it!” Rhiannon yelled over the snarling wails.
The monster hunter pulled himself back up on the dock and fished his book from the inner pocket of his coat. Marius Grey’s Book of Monsters was stamped in grand letters on the crimson cover. He quickly opened it to the page with the title Chupacabra on the top and pointed it at the beast. A mermaid’s spike through the foot should be injury enough.
He was about to say the incantation that would draw the monster into his book, when a terrible idea occurred to him. It was one of those thoughts that made Marius shiver in the middle of summer. The type that caused his stomach to turn while eating his favorite meal.
Marius paused and lowered his book, not knowing if he should proceed.
“What are you doing?” Rhiannon screamed. The creature swiped at her with one of its claws, narrowly missing her head. She bit the back of its arm, only letting go when it twisted away from her. “Do it! I can’t hold it here much longer.”
“What if it pulls you in too!” Marius yelled back.
Technically speaking, Rhiannon was a monster. Mermaids were known to lure men to their deaths. They sang beautiful songs to trick them into drowning, devouring them with all their many teeth. His teenage mermaid friend had even taken on a rougarou, saving his life in the process.
He had been given her bounty over a year ago but couldn’t find it in his heart to trap her. His book captured monsters. Would it suck her in along with the chupacabra if she was in its path?
Rhiannon must have made the connection as well because a look of fear crossed her face. It did not last long. The mermaid was rarely frightened.
She tried to retract her spine from the beast’s hand, but it was jammed in the dock. Mermaid spines come from their wrists, a very helpful weapon when in battle. But now Rhiannon struggled to get free.
There was a sudden splash next to the mermaid. Marius’s mother appeared beside Rhiannon and reached for her arm. Kelly Stone grabbed the mermaid’s spine in between her forearm and the monster’s foot. With one hard yank, she broke the barb in half. It snapped like a dead branch. Marius winced in pain as the remnants retracted into her arm.
“Do it now, Marius!” Kelly yelled, pulling the mermaid under the water.
Luckily, a length of the spine was still pinning the chupacabra to the dock. It wouldn’t hold the creature for long. Marius took the opportunity to open his book and point it at the monster.
“Grab the arm, grab the crook. Stomp the ground until it’s shook. Invisible line, invisible hook. Get the monster inside this book!”
The chupacabra shrieked in pain as the magic of the book swirled around it. The dock glowed and the wind howled. Marius squinted against the raging magic.
With one last, mournful howl, the monster succumbed to the power of the book. It sucked the chupacabra inside. Marius shut the book tightly, trapping the beast inside the pages.
Copyright © 2024 by M.R. Fournet
