Tales of the Blood Moon

Out With The Old

Kristen standsnext to ten year old Luke and seven year old Alex, waving at theparents of the boys, Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly, as they back out of theirdriveway. She glances into the street where a teenage boy, driving acar with a pizza delivery sign on the roof, is so distracted by herthat he almost hits a mailbox. He manages to narrowly avoid it, forwhich Kristen is thankful. She doesn't need to have anything out ofthe ordinary happen before she's ready to make her move; she's inenough trouble as it is.

The little boy atthe last place made a run for it and Kristen felt she had to try tostop him. She hadn't intended to be as rough as she was and, whenshe realized that there was no saving him, she had to try to protectherself. Trashing the house, ditching the kid's corpse in the woodsand getting out of town as fast as she could bought her some time,but now the police have found the kid's body and they've stepped uptheir efforts to find her. Kristen has plenty of experienceswitching identities, so she's pretty confident it'll be awhilebefore they track her down. Fortunately, a babysitting companycalled her unexpectedly for a last-minute job. She has no plans ofgoing back to the agency to collect a check, but she does intend touse this job to make a deposit to her business associate. Kristenwonders if, after that, maybe she'll move to another country andstart over? She's always wanted to visit France.

Kristen brushes astrand of her long, brown hair from her face and leads the boys backinto the house as Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly drive away. She's not surehow long she wants to hang around, especially since she doesn't knowthis area. As far as she's concerned, the sooner she's on a plane toParis, the better. All she needs to do now is figure out which boywill be the candidate.

"Who wants toplay a game?" Kristen asks, smiling.

"Sure," Lukesays, narrowing his eyes.

"How about you,Alex?" Kristen asks, never dropping her smile, but making a mentalnote that there is something odd about Luke. "Do you want to playwith us?"

Alex glances atLuke. Luke stands, arms folded across his chest, nodding his head.

"Okay," Alexsays hesitatingly, "I'll play with you."

"Good,"Kristen says as she walks toward the stairs. "I have just the gameto play."

Followed by theboys, Kristen ascends the stairs, scanning left and right. She turnsleft and walks into the master bedroom. The bedroom is tastefullydecorated in colonial fashion, but the only thing that truly concernsher is the four poster bed.

"Hop up on thebed, guys," Kristen says while walking toward a large, woodendresser.

Alex makes arunning leap onto the bed and then sits with his legs folded beneathhim. Luke, meanwhile, walks slowly to the bed, climbs onto it andstands up. Kristin looks over her shoulder at the pair and resiststhe urge to ask Luke why he's acting so strange. She removes fromher purse a candle holder and a metal case containing a thin candle. Removing the candle from the case, she inserts it into the holder,lights it and turns to face the boys.

"Now," sheexplains, bending down and pretending to tighten her shoelace. "Theway we play this game, is that one of you crawls under the bed andsticks his head out. The people on the top try to guess out of whichside you're going to stick your head. The winner is the person whoguesses correctly the most times. Understand?"

"Yeah," Lukesays, his gaze withering.

"Yup," Alexquips, seemingly oblivious to how odd his brother is acting.

"Good,"Kristen says as she pulls at her shoelace and glances at the thingwatching her from under the bed. She's not surprised to see it but,whenever it first appears, it's always sort of unsettling.

She and her"business associate" have been working together since she wasnine, but she's never gotten used to seeing it. The thing clothesitself in darkness, so she's only ever seen momentary flashes of itsbody. It appears roughly human, with pale skin that is crisscrossedwith bulging, purplish veins. Its fingers, clearly too long for itshands, end in black, claw-like nails. Worst of all is its face, withall-black eyes too large for its head, and a mouth filled with rowsof sharp, jagged teeth in a haphazard arrangement.

The thing underthe bed has only wanted one thing, and that thing has been childrenor, more specifically, the innocence of children. Sweet, kindchildren go under the bed and, after a brief struggle, cold,dispassionate children emerge. The sight of a newly-hardened childcrawling out from under the bed is seriously creepy, but the thingalways provides lots of cash, so Kristen ignores it. She wouldprobably have amassed a small fortune by now if she didn't like toparty so much.

"Okay,"Kristen says as she stands, "who wants to go first?" She'sconvinced the thing under the bed will want Alex, so she's hopinghe'll volunteer.

"You," Lukesays flatly.

"What?"Kristen asks, caught completely by surprise.

"You should go,Kristen," Luke says, stunning Kristen, who was unaware Luke knewher real name. "I think it's your turn."

"Uh, my name isJenna," she lies to a completely unconvinced Luke. Confused aboutwhat's happening, she bends down and stares under the bed. Drummingits clawed fingers against the hardwood floor, the thing leers ather, wiping a saliva-covered tongue across its lipless mouth.

"Shit,"Kristen mumbles as the truth of the situation descends upon her.

"I heard youmessed up real bad," Luke says, pulling a small, sharp knife fromhis pocket. "You're out and I'm up. Time for you to go!" heshouts, lunging off the bed at her.

Kristen twists tothe side and pushes back against Luke, knocking the knife from hishand, but failing to prevent him from latching onto her. He wrapshis legs around her back and, laughing, repeatedly punches the backof the head. Enraged, Kristen reaches back, grabs his wrists andcharges forward. Just as she nears a wall, she stops suddenly andbends forward, smashing Luke's face against the wall. Luke slumpsoff her back to the floor, and struggles to his hands and knees. Biting her lower lip and placing both her hands against the wallabove Luke to brace herself, Kristen pulls back her right foot andswiftly kicks Luke in the ribs, slamming him against the wall. Shedoesn't stop kicking him.

"Oh, you're inthe shit now, motherfucker! I've got something for your little ass!"she screams, almost leaping off the floor every time her foot drawsback for a kick.

Alex, stunned atfirst, suddenly finds his courage and charges off the bed, wrappinghis arms around Kristen's waist.

"What?"Kristen snarls. "You want some of what he's getting? I'll kickboth your asses!"

Dazed, butdesperate to press any advantage, Luke grabs Kristen by the anklesand pushes, unbalancing Kristen and sending everyone to the floor. She is about to lash out at the pair, but they scramble backward awayfrom her, staring at something just past her head. Flat on her back,she twists her neck and finds she's face-to-face with the thing underthe bed. Her chocolate locks are partially under the bed and thething is swift to snatch her by the hair and pull with amazing force. Cursing, Kristen resists, grabbing a bedpost with her right hand andand the foot board with her left. Realizing the thing under the bedis too powerful, Kristen rolls over and notices she's within reach ofthe pocket knife Luke dropped. With a swift motion she grabs theknife and, with one swipe, cuts off the hair to which the thing isattached. She and the thing glare at each other as it tosses awayher hair.

"Been makingdeals behind my back, huh? Well, you know you fucked up, right?"Kristen sneers at the thing as she springs to her feet, snatches thecandle from its holder and snaps it cleanly in half. With anunearthly howl and a gust of near-freezing wind, the thing under thebed is no more.

Kristen,absolutely furious, looks up to see the boys standing in front of thecloset, an empty shoebox near Luke's feet. Luke's arms are extendedtoward her and he's clutching a gun in his shaking hands. Kristenstrides confidently toward him and, panicked, he fires a shot thatflies harmlessly past her shoulder and into the wall. She snatchesthe gun from Luke and empties the clip into the fleeing pair. Kristen returns to the master bedroom, steals a fistful of jewelryand heads to a pawn shop. A haggard-looking woman in her earlythirties stands behind the counter and looks up as she enters.

"I need to sellsome stuff," Kristen says, plopping down her ill-gotten goods. "Also, do you have a phone I can borrow? I need to call theairport."