A cold wind blew across the valley from the west, and directly into Stewart Hollow. The wind chimes rung in the breeze and some of the residents walking up and down Main Street held tightly onto their hats. It was a very cold October.
The clouds to the west were becoming dark and ominous – a storm was approaching.
Tom Parsons grabbed his coat from his pick-up truck and put it on. He rubbed his hands together, trying to generate warmth for his body.
“Hey, Tom!” a voice called out from a bulldozer near the edge of the tree line. Tom glanced over at Brian Burnside – his boss – climbing down from the 17-ton vehicle.
“What’s up, Mr. Burnside?” Tom asked.
“I just got a call from headquarters. Were in for a huge storm. I’m going to try to wrap everything up here at the site and send the boys home. Were expecting heavy rains for the next few days. We’ll pick up on Friday or Saturday. Can you help me clear these men out?” Brain, a forty-something with a dark gray beard said before taking off his hard hat.
“I’m sure I can assist with that.” Tom said, smirking at the thought of having some unexpected time off.
“Thank you, sir!” Brian said enthusiastically before walking off, yelling at his crew to pack it up.
2:15 PM
Officer Dawn Coldwell sat in an interrogation room at the station with Sharon Ferguson, a rough-looking woman in her mid-forties. It was fairly quiet between them.
“How much longer is he going to be?” Sharon asked, starting to get impatient.
“It’s been a busy day here, Mrs. Ferguson. The Deputy will be here as soon as he can,” Dawn said, understanding of her frustration. Dawn wasn’t allowed to tell her anything about why she was there.
There was a quick knock on the door before Deputy Dart opened it. “Sorry I’m late. Dawn, I can take it from here. Thank you.”
Dawn stood up and left the room, closing the door behind her. Dart sat down across from Sharon.
“Deputy, have I done something wrong here?” Sharon asked.
“Not a single thing, Mrs. Ferguson. You’re here for your own protection. I’m sure you’ve heard, but late last night, a woman was murdered – Carol Lindon. Then, this morning, a woman by the name of Vivian Lowder went missing. Now, these two women have something in common with you.”
“The Blood Coven, I know,” Sharon said.
Dart stared at her. “If one’s dead and one’s missing, that means whoever is responsible may come for you next. We wanted to make sure you were safe.” Dart shuffled through a couple papers on his desk. “You have a husband, Jeff, and two little girls, is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to place your family in protective custody for the rest of the week, or until we find whoever is responsible.”
“Where are you taking us?”
“I cannot disclose that information right now. It’ll be somewhere outside of Stewart Hollow, that’s all I can tell you.”
“I can’t believe something like this is happening,” Sharon said, shaking her head.
“We’re going to do everything we can to keep you and your family safe. If you share a family connection to the Blood Coven, that means your daughters do to. We want you all to be safe and accounted for,” Dart said.
A tear trickled down Sharon’s face. “Where’s my family now?”
“They’re being briefed just like you are. I just wanted to talk to you separately since you would have been the initial target.”
“Thank you, Deputy.”
Dart smiled. “I’ll have Officer Coldwell escort you and your family back to your house. You’ll collect the essentials that you’ll want to bring and then I have someone who will take you to the safe house.”
“Okay.”
“You’re going to be fine,” Dart said, standing up. He left the room, and sent Dawn back in.
Dart walked down the hallway to his office. Agent Boyd was there.
“What do you have for me, agent?” Dart asked.
“The initial tests proved that the burns to Carol Lindon were made postmortem, and possibly with a blow torch. Her neck was slashed too – that’s what killed her.”
“Let me guess, no fingerprints or any other witnesses.”
Boyd shook his head. “Nope. The house is clean, and Bob Bowers is the only witness we have. I talked to all of the neighbors and no one else heard or saw anything.”
“Perfect,” Dart sighed, feeling tentatively defeated, and sat down at his desk. “Still no word on Vivian Lowder?”
“No. We have some officers going door to door in the area, but so far nothing.”
“Let me know the second you find something. We need to put a stop to all of this before it gets worse,” Dart said. He looked into Boyd’s eyes, “and it will get worse.”
Dusk loomed over Stewart Hollow, and with it brought a cold steady drizzle of rain and sporadic rumbles of thunder. The dead oak trees outside of Renee Black’s home on the edge of town hovered over the land like long skeletal fingers.
A truck pulled up in front of her house and Tom Parsons climbed out, pulling his coat over his head as he dashed for the front door. He knocked and Renee opened the door.
“Come in, Tom. You’re soaked!” Renee laughed. She was dressed for a nice occasion; a short black dress with a white shawl draped over her shoulders.
Tom closed the door behind him. “You look nice.”
“Thank you,” she said, giving him a kiss. “I’m sorry I had to cancel again, Tom. My cousin is only going to be in town for a couple nights, and this is the only night we could get together.”
“It’s no problem. I’m just glad you’re going to let me watch Milo. I’ve been looking forward to it.”
“Milo! Tom’s here!” Renee called. Milo, Renee’s ten-year-old boy, came bouncing down the stairs in torn blue jeans, a hooded sweatshirt and a sideways flat-rimmed skaters hat.
“Cool hat, man!” Tom said, looking for any kind of connection.
“Thanks.” Milo said slightly shy. “Where are we going?”
“Well, there’s an arcade just outside of town that I use to go to when I was your age. I’m thinking we’ll start there.”
Milo smiled, “Okay.”
“Tom, I have to finish putting on my make-up. If my cousin comes, can you let him in?” Renee asked.
“Sure.”
Renee smiled and headed back upstairs. Tom walked into the living room with Milo close behind him. He looked at all of the pictures of Renee and her son together and could really picture himself in them.
“So you’re a construction worker?” Milo asked.
“Sort of. I do a lot of odd jobs. Right now, I’m working as a lumberjack. We’re clearing out some of the woods up north for a shopping center that they want to build next year.”
“Oh, cool,” Milo said, showing Tom’s desired interest. A second later, there was a knock at the front door.
Tom walked over and opened it with a friendly smile. There was a man standing there. He was in his mid-thirties, had a scruffy looking face, long black hair and dressed like a biker. The man’s appearance threw Tom off, given Renee’s current appearance.
“Hi,” Tom said hesitantly. “You must be Renee’s cousin. What’s your name?” Tom extended his hand.
The man looked at Tom, and ignored his friendly gesture. “I’m not shaking your hand. Who are you, and why are you in the same house as my son?”
Tom looked back at Milo, and then back at the man. “You’re Milo’s dad?”
“Uh, yeah, I just said that,” the man said, trying to walk into the house. Tom stood boldly in front of the entrance, blocking the man.
“Let me in. I have to talk to Renee.”
“Maybe you should just stay outside,” Tom said.
“In the rain? LET ME IN!” the man yelled, becoming enraged.
Renee came running down the stairs and saw Milo backing away from the situation. “Paul?”
“Renee, honey! Tell this jerk to let me in,” Paul said.
“What are you doing here?” Renee asked, moving herself in front of Tom. Tom stepped aside, but kept a close eye on things.
“I’m here to take what’s mine. I have rights to that kid too you know!” Paul angrily yelled.
“This is not the way to do this, Paul. You need to talk to your lawyer. We can settle this some other time, in the right place.”
“Oh, shut up and let me see my son - my Milo.” Paul said, shoving Renee out of the way. She grunted as she was bumped back into the door.
“Hey!” Tom shouted, grabbing Paul by the arm. Paul swung around and slammed his fist into Tom’s face. Tom stumbled backwards, regained his composure and launched himself at Paul, tackling him to the ground. They wrestled on the floor, tossing each other around, and each of them landing punches.
Milo ran to the phone and picked it up. He dialed 911 and waited for an answer. “There’s a fight at my house and my mom was hurt!” he yelled into the receiver. “My address is 78 Willow Crest.”
Renee walked into the living room where Tom and Paul were suffering bloody noses, but still swinging their fists like madmen.
“Stop it! Stop it now!” she yelled.
The two men stood up and Tom forcefully shoved Paul in the chest. He flew backwards and crashed into a bookshelf, knocking everything over and shattering decorative glass candles. Paul lay in the rubble, dazed.
Tom turned around and wiped the blood from his nose. He walked up to Renee. “Are you okay?”
Renee slapped him across the face. She was crying and angry. “Why did you do that? Why did you act so crazy?”
Tom was stunned. “I was protecting you. He pushed you!”
“I could have handled him. I know how to handle Paul,” Renee said, rushing to Milo’s side. She hugged her son. Sirens could be heard over the pounding rain outside, and within a few seconds, a police cruiser pulled up in front of the house. Officer Dawn Coldwell got out with another officer, and they entered the house.
“What’s going on?” Dawn asked, looking at Tom. He figured Renee would want to take care of this - she made that perfectly clear. He pointed in her direction, and Dawn followed the hint.
“Miss, what’s going on? Were you hurt?”
“My ex-boyfriend came over, uninvited, and started making a scene. He pushed me and then Tom, my boyfriend, came to my aid and tried to stop Paul from hurting anyone else,” Renee explained.
Dawn instructed the other officer to detain Paul. As the officer did so, another car pulled up in front of the house. Another man, in his twenties came into the house, stunned.
“Renee?” he said. He was dressed in a pair of dress pants and a blue button-up shirt.
Dawn stopped him at the door. “Who are you?”
“I’m Dale – Renee’s cousin. What’s going on here?”
Dale rushed to Renee and Milo’s side. Dawn looked back at Tom. “I’m going to need a statement from you. Then I think it’d be a good idea if you go home for the night.”
Bummed out, Tom looked at Renee. She nodded, agreeing with Officer Coldwell.
The rain had picked up, and the thunder began to rumble more often. A flash of lightening lit up the cloudy night sky in Stewart Hollow.
The edge of the woods was a creepy place to be – it would make for good establishing shots for the KSWS story about the haunted town. Jessica and Sean Nettle sat in their SUV on the side of the road.
“Get out and get the shots, Sean.” Jessica said.
“It’s raining hard.”
“So? This is good stuff. We want the video to be just as creepy as the stories the townsfolk are going to tell. It’s all about the atmosphere – you should know that.”
“Fine,” Sean said with a sigh. He grabbed his camera, strapped on its’ protective rain gear and climbed out of the car.
Jessica sat in the heated vehicle while Sean walked up the road a bit. He put the camera over his shoulder and began recording various shots of the sinister looking woods, and of the rain hitting the ground, forming puddles on the side of the road. The camera was rolling for a loud crash of thunder, and it made him smile. This was going to be good stuff. There could even be an Emmy in it for them.
Sean panned from one side of the road to another. Something through the lens caught his eye. There was a bright spot just inside the tree line. He zoomed into try and see what it was, but it was bright enough to blur the video. He lowered his camera and looked into the trees with his own eyes. It was a fire.
Officer Dawn Coldwell removed the handcuffs from Paul Hilton as she locked him in the holding cell. He sat down on a bench inside of it, holding his busted and bloodied nose.
It was the graveyard shift at the station. Very few officers were on duty. Deputy Dart came into the front of the station from the hallway and looked at Paul sitting miserably in the cell, and then over at Dawn.
“Good work,” Dart said to her.
“Thanks. We’ll hold him overnight, let him sober up and release him in the morning.”
“Sounds like you have everything under control.”
“I try,” Dawn joked.
With a loud crack of thunder, the lights flickered on and off in the station. Dart looked out the window and saw the rain coming down in buckets.
“It’s really coming down out there,” Dart said.
“This storm’s suppose to last through Thursday,” Dawn added.
The phone at the desk rang. Dart walked over and picked it up. “Sheriff’s office.” Dart listened to the caller. “Where?” Dart got slightly nervous. “Okay, I’ll be right over. Stay where you are.” Dart hung up.
“What is it, Deputy?” Dawn asked.
“That was a news crew from Seattle who’re in town. They said there’s something burning in the woods off of Beaker Rd. Can you watch over things here while I head out and investigate?”
“Sure. Call me if you need me though.”
The front doors to the Sheriff’s office busted open, ringing the string of bells hanging from them. Dart and Dawn turned and watched as a soaked-to-the-bone Bud Lockwood busted in, wielding a large knife – the rain pounding on the sidewalk behind him.
“Whoa!” Dart yelled as he and Dawn pulled out their guns and aimed them at Bud. “Drop the knife, Bud!”
“This isn’t how it was suppose to be!” Bud shouted, disoriented and in a frenzy.
“Drop the knife!” Dart reinforced.
“It was I, Deputy. I killed them last year. I killed Sheriff Carter with this knife!” Bud yelled, seemingly deranged.
“Bud, don’t make me shoot you!” Dart exclaimed.
“It’s all wrong! She told me everything, and it was all wrong! What have I done?” Bud said, starting to cry. He lowered the knife and dropped it to the floor. Dart and Dawn were quick to apprehend him and get him to his knees.
“Where’s Agent Boyd?” Dart asked.
“He went back to his room for the night,” Dawn explained.
“Call him. Tell him to get here ASAP and start looking into Bud’s claims. I have to get to Beaker Road.”
The night was turning out to be eventful and unsettling. Dart raced his cruiser through the pounding storm, his cars’ sirens screaming into the night. He arrived at the parked SUV off to the side on Beaker Road. He hopped out and dashed up the street to where Sean and Jessica were standing.
“Where?” Dart shouted through the rain. Sean and Jessica pointed across the street into the woods, and Dart jogged over to it, igniting his flashlight. He saw the flames shooting up from an isolated spot just within the tree line. He pushed hanging branches and wet weeds out of his way and made it to a small clearing. He stopped when he saw the eerie sight.
In the middle of a circle of large stones, was a wooden cross with a human body hanging on it, engulfed in flames.