Vintage Misery: Part Four (complete)

Neil sat beside me in the cell, and that was the only thing I was registering. I had pretty much shut off everything else. There was no point in wasting energy. I was here, I’d stay here, and I’d probably rot here. “I’m sad to think that I may never have a burrito again,” Neil sighed. He slouched against the wall and slid down on the seat. “That last one was so good. They really had something special with that salsa.” He kicked his feet back and forth. “This would have really been something to tell your parents, too.”

I started to grimace.

“Vampires?” Neil scoffed. “That would have blown their minds. You think they would have believed that?”

I sat up straighter on the bench seat and continued to scowl.

“I still don’t even believe it, and I was put onto a cross with so much peyote in my system that I…” Someone walked into the room just then, stood in front of the bars and placed his hands on their hips. “Al,” Neil said urgently.

“What do you want?” I grumbled, thinking it was Officer Pitbull.

“You were under my house,” a man said. His voice was wheezy and hoarse.

I furrowed my brow and looked up as the man came through the bars. “Who are you?” I asked.

The ghost had thick arms, a barrel chest, and a noose around his neck. “Louis Hervé, ma’am.”

“Oh! You’re that butcher guy!” Neil announced loudly.

I shushed Neil and stood, approaching the domineering ghost of Louis Hervé. “I was under what used to be your house, that’s correct. How did you know?”

“I heard the commotion.” He turned and pointed down the hallway. “This place was built over the old holding cells and gallows where I died.”

I hadn’t been paying attention either time I came to the station. I wasn’t surprised I missed feeling any ghosts here. “What made you stay here?”

“I was innocent.” Louis’ voice grew strained. “I never killed anything except livestock. I was just as shocked by what happened under my house as you are.”

“If you didn’t murder those people, then who did?” Neil asked.

“My sisters-in-law,” Louis answered timidly. “They controlled everything about the house, my wife, my business. All I did was work and do as they asked. I never knew that what they had me selling was…” He stopped, his breath coming out more strained than before.

“It’s okay, Louis, calm down.” I reached out, taking the ghostly rope off his neck. The bruising there began to vanish as the rope dissolved in my hand. “Go ahead.”

Louis touched his neck, then nodded at me. “Thank you,” he said clearly. “My sisters-in-law moved in almost immediately after the wedding, claiming my wife’s illness required their care. But they were like a swarm of locusts, and they devoured everything I held dear. I barely saw my wife; they often made me stay down in the shop, working.”

“How did you find out what they were doing?” I asked.

“I went home one day, just to see her. I missed her so much, and we’d barely spent any time together since her sisters came. But when I got into the house, I saw…” He stopped and shook his head. “Next thing I knew, I was being called a murderer.”

“But what did you see, man?” Neil’s voice quivered.

“They were eating someone.” Louis croaked.

“Ew,” Neil whispered.

I sat back down on the bench and pressed my hands together. “So it was vampires.”

“You doubted that? After what I said?” Neil snapped at me.

“You died high, so your judgment is always going to be a touch impaired,” I grumbled. “I wasn’t sure, but…” I pressed my mouth into a firm line.

Neil lifted his chin and grinned. “Say I’m right!”

I glared at him, but just as I was about to say something, a commotion started. I heard screaming, radios buzzing all over. Outside, sirens were blasting as most of the station took off. I went to the bars of the cell, looking out as best I could. “What’s happening out there?” I asked.

Neil went through the cell wall, wading into the chaos as more officers began speeding away in their cars. Neil returned a moment later with a confused look on his face. “Something happened at that house again.”

“Shit. Well, I’m here. That’s at least good.” I plopped back down on the bench. “Although I wouldn’t put it past Officer Pitbull to blame it on me somehow. Say I’m a witch and summoned a demon or some shit.” I chewed on my bottom lip while I tried to think.

“Officer Pitbull?” Louis asked.

“Gradings,” I scoffed. “The guy who threw me in here.”

Louis nodded slowly. “I never had a good feeling about him. He took over after the last sheriff had an accident.”

“I’m not surprised,” I grunted. “Neil, is there anyone here at all? Or is everyone gone?”

“There’s someone still at the front answering phones,” he said. “Should I go and watch them?”

“Just try to find out what’s going on. See if you can get anything at all. I’d like to know what’s up.”

Neil shrugged. “Alright.” He went through the wall.

I looked back at Louis. “Tell me more about your sisters-in-law, if you can.”

Louis sighed. “Strange women. My wife’s family wasn't from here, mind you, but even my wife seemed normal compared to them. The three of them seemed like they only worked together. Like one mind in three bodies.”

“There were three of them,” I murmured.

“Miltrud, Adelgunde, and Yvonne,” he sighed. “Had I known about them before I married my wife, I still would have married her. She was an angel. I knew she was sick, enough that we could never have children, but I just wanted her. It didn’t matter what happened. I wanted to make her happy and give her a good life while I could.”

“That’s very admirable, Louis. I’m sorry they ruined it for you.” For some reason, I thought of Beth. I hoped she was alright, and that Mercy was safe too. Those ‘sisters’ of Beth could very well be the ‘sisters’ of Louis’ wife.

Neil came back with a strange expression. “Okay, so they found the cavern.”

I rolled my eyes. “And?”

“And of course it’s bad,” he said with a shrug. “But then that officer Martin guy got snatched.”

“Snatched?”

“Right up into the air,” Neil pointed to the ceiling. “And then only his legs came back down.”

“Not again,” Louis shuddered.

“Not much was left of Perkins when they arrived, either. They’re closing off roads and stuff right now.” Neil held up the keys to the cell. “You sure you don’t want me getting you out of here?”

“They’re closing off the roads, Neil. Where would I go? I’m staying right here. Pitbull won’t be able to blame this on me, since there are witnesses now. He’ll have to give it up.” I settled back and crossed my arms. “I just have to wait, that’s all.”

“Aren’t you worried about Mercy? He should have been back by now,” Neil argued.

“He’s probably responded to the same call as all the other officers.” I didn’t sound convinced.

“I don’t think you’d want to be alone with Gradings.” Louis’ voice was becoming a whisper, and he was starting to fade away. He probably couldn’t be too far from his resting place for too long. “I don’t think he cares for…” He vanished.

“Damn, I remember when I couldn’t last that long,” Neil sighed.

“Go put those keys back,” I told him.

“But you heard Louis,” Neil tried to argue.

I gave him a look. “I’m not getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar. Go put the keys back this instant.”

Neil frowned, but did as he was told. I looked at my hands. Once, when I was fifteen, I was locked inside a room by some ghostly nanny who had drowned the two children in her care in hopes of luring away their father. Instead, he shot her and left the house untouched. At least, at the time I thought it was the nanny who trapped me, but it turned out to be the two children. I had tried escaping the room, but they stabbed my hand with the key, leaving a nasty scar. My mother told me not to try and leave a locked room again, and that she would always find me. I didn’t think anyone would be coming to find me now. It was getting late, and barely anybody had returned to the station except a handful that passed through intermittently.

I was nearly asleep in the cell when someone came into the room. “Ms. Young, are you okay?”

I blinked through my sleepiness, sitting up to see a small figure in the dark. “Beth?” I murmured. “What are you doing here?”

“Officer Mercy came and told me what had happened. I couldn’t get away until now. I’m so sorry! I never intended such a thing to happen.” Beth sounded near tears.

“You didn’t need to come here,” I huffed as I sat up. “It’s fine. I just have to wait this out. Once the officers all get back, I’m sure I’ll be let out of this cell.”

“It’s not safe,” Beth whispered. “Not now that you know.”

I stood up and walked towards the bars to face her. “You should leave. Get out of this town, and away from your sisters. If they even are your sisters.”

“But this is all my fault,” Beth whimpered. “Had I just let you go when you wanted, none of this would have happened.”

“No, but all the disappearances and murders would have kept happening. And maybe it’s a good thing people know about it now.”

“If I leave, will you go with me?” Beth asked pitifully. “Please. I can’t do it alone.”

I felt bad for her. She was so beautiful and so helpless. “I’m no good, Beth. I just move around from place to place. I don’t know what I could provide for…”

“Please,” she burst. “I don’t care where we go or what we do. I just want to get out of here. I just want to be with someone I know I can depend on.”

I wanted to help her, I really did. “What happened to officer Mercy?” I asked. “After he talked with you, where did he go?”

“I think he went home,” she replied.

“Young lady, no visitors.” Officer Pitbull strutted into the room, placing his hand on Beth’s shoulder. “You need to leave.”

“No,” she quavered. “She’s my friend. She’s innocent. You can’t just…”

Pitbull shoved her aside, and she almost tripped over her crutches. “Hey!” I slammed my hands into the bars. “Don’t you touch her!”

Pitbull turned back to the bars and grinned at me. “I bet you’re real happy with how things have turned out.” He closed the door, and I could hear Beth struggle with the handle, then bang on the surface. I scowled and backed away from the bars.

“Bet you’re real pleased with yourself.” Pitbull took the keys off his belt, opened the cell door and stepped inside.

“Hey buddy, fuck off!” Neil placed himself between Pitbull and me. “Leave the girl alone. You want to get in trouble?”

Pitbull passed through him. “It’s time for you to go.” He reached for me, but I shrank back. He lunged, trying to grab me. I darted around him and almost made it to the door, but he tackled me, pinned me against the bars and slammed his forearm against my neck, making my head hit the bars. I felt dizzy, and it intensified when he started pressing on my windpipe. I croaked, clawing at his arm, kicking back against him. He just laughed.

Then something struck Pitbull from behind, dropping him like a sack of bricks. I struggled upright, gasping for breath as Neil dropped the bench he’d ripped away from the wall. I fell to my knees, holding my hand around my throat. “I got ya, Al.” Neil came closer. “I got ya.”

“You saved me,” I whimpered.

A soft smile appeared on Neil’s face, and he gave me a nonchalant shrug. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

The door opened, and Beth came rushing in as fast as she could. “Are you okay?” She cried. “No one would help me!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” I choked. I reached for her proffered hand, letting her help me off the ground. “You’re right, let's get out of here.”

Beth smiled brightly at me, but her smile faded as she touched the side of my neck. “Your poor neck. It’s bruising already.”

“It doesn’t matter, I’ll wear a scarf. I just want to get out of this place.” I led the way through the station, and that’s when I noticed the whole place was empty and quiet. Phones were hanging off the hook, dangling over desks while their dial tones droned. There was no sound of life anywhere. I looked around, knowing there had been people here just moments before.

“Al?” Neil whispered.

“What’s the matter?” Beth turned to look back at me. “Let’s get out of here while we still can!”

“No, wait…” I held my breath, hoping I could hear something, but it was like the world had come to a stop. Even Officer Pitbull didn’t have the power to force an entire police station outside. “Don’t you notice something strange about this place?” I asked Beth. “Doesn’t it feel kind of… abandoned?”

She gave me a strange stare. “Alice, let’s go. Now.” She seemed to be commanding me, rather than urging me.

I furrowed my brow as I continued to try and piece this all together. “Was it this quiet when he closed the door?” It had felt strangely sudden when Officer Pitbull tried to attack me.

“I don’t remember, I was so scared!” Beth whined. She came back close to me and took my hand. “Alice, we need to leave.” The commanding edge was getting harder to ignore.

I pulled my hand away from her. “Something here isn’t normal. I can feel it.” That included Beth. Where she had been so sweet and charming before, now I was unnerved by her.

“Alice,” Beth insisted.

Something crawled up along my skin. It made me itch all over, causing my jaw to clench and ache along the back teeth. I’d felt this feeling many times when there was something ominous afoot, in many haunted houses and graveyards. I’d felt it in the teddy bear that once belonged to me, but now sat behind a glass case. I looked at Beth, and while her face showed nothing, her eyes radiated hatred. I stepped away from her.

“Where is Mercy?” I asked again. I kept my voice even, hoping to catch her off guard this time.

Beth’s soft lips pressed into a hard, firm line. “I told you, I don’t know.”

“You said he went home. But where is he really, Beth? You know where he is, right?”

Beth scoffed as her brows lowered menacingly. “Why the sudden change of heart? Don’t you want to leave with me? Forget about him, he was just part of the problem. Right?”

I swallowed and took a step around Beth. “You’re right,” I sighed. “I just got scared after what happened. I’m nervous.” I gave her a soft smile. “Stay right here, okay? It’s at least safe here.” I motioned to a chair. “I got Officer Pitbull’s keys. Let me find his car and see what’s happening outside, and then we can go. I don’t want to run the risk of running out there and you getting hurt.”

Beth's smile returned. “Oh, yes, of course. It’s okay, Alice. I understand.”

I took a policeman’s baton from a desk. “Just in case,” I forced a laugh.

Beth’s expression relaxed a bit more. “Oh, good.” She moved to sit down while I stepped outside. Then I slid the baton through the handles of the door, and instantly, Beth was on the other side, staring out at me with sad puppy dog eyes. “Alice, what are you doing?”

“Yeah, Al, what are you doing?” Neil huffed.

I glared at Beth. “I don’t know what you want with me, but I’m not going to follow along with you. You and your sisters have done enough damage here.”

Beth tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean, Alice?”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “You’re a vampire too.”

Neil gasped. “What? Her? No!”

“You played this game before, didn’t you? With Louis Hervé. Allowing your sisters to overrun and terrorize everybody here! You helped to kill the people in the caverns below the house. You used your husband, the way you were probably going to use me! And let me guess, Officer Pitbull was under your spell, too?”

Beth slammed her shoulder against the glass. “Let me out of here!”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” I snapped.

Beth rammed herself hard enough against the glass doors to make them crack. “You ignorant little bitch!” Her eyes were malicious, almost red as she hissed at me, showing the fangs that hid beneath those perfect lips. “Let me out this instant!”

I started walking away.

“You come back here!”

“Fuck you!” I hurried down the street, breaking into a run and swiftly turning a corner. I kept on, hoping to put some distance between us before she could break through the doors.

“What was that? How did you figure it out?” Neil was flabbergasted.

“No time for that.” I took the car keys that I lifted off Officer Pitbull. I located his car, ducked inside and turned the ignition. “I have a feeling Mercy is still at that house.”

“You’re going back there?” Neil demanded.

“It’s my fault he’s there. And for some reason, Beth and the others want me. If they wanted to, they could have killed me that night, and she could have killed me just now.” I drive away, speeding down the dark, empty street. I crashed through a roadblock and kept going.

“You’re crazy!”

“Probably.” I reached a twenty-four hour gas station and pulled in. I got a tank of gas, lighters, an armful of newspapers, and a couple of cans of hairspray. “You an arsonist?” the cashier chortled from behind the desk. The way he looked, he could have been Neil’s cousin.

“Sure, why not?” I paid for my things and loaded them all back into the car. In the trunk I found a flare gun and a few other interesting supplies.

“What are you going to do?” Neil asked.

“When we get to the house, I want you to search for Officer Mercy inside. Once you can confirm his whereabouts, come back and get this can of gas.”

Neil looked at me with a strange expression. “You’re burning it down?”

“Probably.” I said with a shrug. “You know a better way to kill a vampire?”

Neil shook his head. “Didn’t think so.” I drove back out of the parking lot, heading to the Harvey sister’s house.

“How did you figure it out?” Neil asked. “That Beth was a vampire and everything? I didn’t even catch on.”

“I let my guard down around her, the same thing that happened with Louis. I thought she was a victim in all this. But that’s what predators do sometimes - they make you think they’re blameless. When Officer Pitbull attacked me, I knew something was strange. Beth either wanted me unconscious, or wanted me to go along with her willingly.”

“But why?” Neil asked. “Why you? I thought vampires just ate people and didn’t care.”

“I’m not sure,” I said with a shake of my head. “For whatever reason, she and her sisters want me. Like I said, they could have killed me at any point Which is why I think they have Mercy.”

“Like a hostage?” Neil asked.

“Exactly. He’s the only one here I have any connection with, and he’s innocent, so they probably know they can hang him over my head.” I parked at the side of the street, just a little down the way from the Harvey sisters’ home. The lights were out, and there was no sign of life around the place. “Okay, you know what to do.”

“What if he’s hurt, or dead?” Neil asked.

I sighed. “Then come back for the gas.”

Neil looked shocked for a second, but he left the car. I leaned back in the seat, taking a deep, long breath. I hadn’t said my prayers since I left home, but for some reason, I felt like saying them to myself now.

“This has been the strangest few days of my life, so it makes sense I would be doing this now,” I muttered. “Ever since I left home, ever since I gave up on my family, I’ve never felt the call to do this. I used to think of you like an all-powerful imaginary friend, or at least that’s how my dad made you sound. I’m scared,” I confessed into the ether. “I am so close to just ripping out my hair and running into the woods. I need to know what to do.” My chest felt heavy. My throat ached with tightness. “I need a sign. I need something…” I clutched my hands around my face, rubbing at it while I began to cry. “I’m lost, Lord. I’m terrified! I’m in the whale. I’m in the lion’s den. I don’t know what to do.” I sniffled and stayed hunkered there, wishing my father would suddenly show up by my side and tell me it was okay. My mom said she would always find me, but where was she? Why hadn’t she found me yet?

“I’m sorry, God,” I whimpered. “I just don’t know where else to turn!” I wept into my hands, feeling the hot sting fade away into a sort of mild relief. I took a deep breath, throwing my head back and crying out. I looked out the window, into the sky where the stars were shining so brightly. How did this place have so many stars, more, it seemed, than the rest of the world?

I wiped my face off and shuddered. “You got this,” I whispered.

I heard glass shattering at the Harvey house. Looking up, I saw someone running to the car. The figure threw open the passenger door and heaved himself in. “Drive! Drive! Drive!”

I punched the car into reverse, swooping the car around and speeding off into the night, all without the headlights. I turned them on as the house faded behind us, and I saw it was Mercy in the seat beside me.

“Are you okay?” I gasped. “What happened?”

“I found him unconscious!” Neil’s voice came out of Mercy. “So I just swooped in and took him.”

“How? You shouldn’t be able to possess anybody,” I gasped.

“Well, since Mercy could kind of hear me sometimes, I figured he might be sensitive. And ta-da! He is!” Neil smacked Mercy’s lips. “Man, I forgot what being sober felt like. Can we go and get some beer?”

“No, you fucking idiot!”