The Twins of Noremway Parish by Eric R. Johnston Read Free Book Online Page A

materialized out of the shadows all around them. This was the first time Decon had ever seen a wolf appear out of thin air. According to myth they did so every night; how else could they enter the parish? But to actually see it happen before his very eyes was a sight entirely unexpected.
    He stood transfixed, the howl of these new wolves paralyzing him. They circled and stalked, howling, barking, and drooling. He and Plague stood motionless, not wanting to continue their search for the Watermans for fear that it would provoke an attack. “Decon, there are wolves everywhere.”
    The wolves, large, grey, and dirty, baring their teeth, blocked the path from which they’d come, as well as blocking any path they could use to escape. He fought the urge to scream.
    Plague said, “Feel the need to curse now?” They both had their weapons drawn and ready to use.
    “ No, just…run!”
    They ran forward, each waving their large knives in front of them. Despite their hostile temperaments, the wolves moved out of the way, as if letting them through. They ran further into the field, following the blood trail. If they were to find Tomias’s and Lynn’s bodies, what then? They couldn’t carry them back to the parish-proper without being eaten by the wolves. Surely they’d only let them through in order to ensure there would be no escape.
    As they reached the end of the entrails, they stopped dead in their tracks. Three vicious creatures stood in front of them silently licking their teeth. These were not wolves like those now behind them, but large, humanoid beings with bright yellow eyes, long pointed noses, and fangs reaching down the length of the necks. Sloped shoulders and long muscular arms that reached down to the ground gave the creatures the appearance of a severely mutated human. Drool dripped from their curled lips. Their faces painted a portrait of growling monsters, yet they made not a solitary sound, not an auditory hint of carnivorous intent. But those faces—the horrible, monstrous faces––gnashing teeth, flinging spittle, the glaring, glowing eyes. The three of them stood in front of the men, each angled in to a center point, forming an arrow of man-eating beast. Blood dripped from their long fangs.
    “ Fresh,” Decon said in a low voice.
    “ Fresh isn’t the f-word I’m thinking right now,” Plague replied.
    “ The blood on their fangs, it’s fresh…still wet.” Decon didn’t need to explain further. Plague saw exactly what he meant. The blood was especially thick on their faces—around their mouths. Their teeth were stained red with pieces of flesh hanging between them. Being a physician and a surgeon, he was used to the sight of blood; children with deep cuts and scrapes from jumping off a barn balcony and missing the hay pile; men kicked by horses, sometimes in the face; accidents with farm equipment—cutting an arm or a leg with the blade of a scythe. But he hadn’t seen anything like this: human flesh and blood hanging from the teeth of a demon.
    Plague could feel it start in his throat. The urge to vomit travelled to his stomach, and before he knew what was happening, the roast that he had eaten before the harvest gathering exploded into the air in front of him.
    The three figures advanced and threw off their pact of silence. They growled, gnashed, and spoke to each other in a language completely foreign to the humans’ ears. The wolves behind them stayed where they were.
    “ By the teachings of Ragas, and those of the man Jesus, I command thee to step aside!” Decon shouted, standing firm, and ignoring Plague’s lost supper. The creatures didn’t budge. “We will be walking through now, demons, and you will let us pass. We have no business with you. We are here to collect the bodies of our mayor and his wife if it pleases ya, or even if it doesn’t. You will move aside now! ”
    To Plague’s amazement, the creatures did just that. In fact, not only did they move aside, they walked