Three Truths and Other Unsettling Tales Read online

  Antonio brushed off the suggestion that he was leading them down the wrong path. “I think you might be losing your eyesight.” He pointed to a freshly broken branch that straddled the pathway. “The signs are clear.”

  “The creature wants to trick us. If I was him, I would double-back the other way,” the older man said.

  Antonio paused for a moment and stroked the stubble on his chin. “No. I’ve tracked this thing too long. I already know what it’s going to do.” He started walking again. “You’re giving it too much credit.”

  “I suppose,” Magnus said with a defeated sigh.

  Antonio led them further into the valley, scanning the tree-lines and keeping his senses alert. Stopping suddenly, he held his arm out to signal the others to do the same. His head shifted to one side. “Do you hear that?” he asked. It’s coming from that direction!” He pointed ahead of them.

  Off in the distance, they saw a homestead illuminated in the moonlight. “Let’s go!” Antonio said as he ran off toward the farmhouse with the other two following him. As they approached the structure, the three men drew their revolvers. Wordlessly, Antonio directed Edmond and Billy to go around to the backside of the two-room hovel. He nodded to Magnus, then pushed the door open with his foot. Inside, they could hear a raspy breath begging for air. Antonio increased the light from his lantern, and as he stepped in, the receding shadows revealed a bloody woman on the floor.

  Magnus knelt down and tended to the woman while Antonio’s gaze swept over the room. From his position, he was able to see into the back room. “There’s a broken window back there. It must have left that way,” Antonio said as he turned his attention to the woman on the ground. “Are her wounds fatal?”

  “No,” Magnus said. “These claw marks are deep, but he avoided her throat.”

  “That was intentional. This thing is trying to slow us down.” From outside they could hear horses whinnying in the barn. Antonio knelt next to the woman and looked into her eyes. She was confused and delirious. Her black hair was pasted to her face with sweat. “I’m going to help you,” he said as he grabbed her hand. With his other hand he compassionately stroked her face. The woman seemed to find solace in his words. “Be at peace,” he said before abruptly withdrawing his silver tipped dagger from its sheath. The pace of the woman’s breath quickened as she saw the weapon glint in the light of the lantern. Antonio held it above the woman and then quickly plunged it through her breastbone. She convulsed as the dagger sank deep into her chest. Antonio held the instrument firmly until she stopped moving.

  Outside, Billy yelped frantically as the smell of his desperate quarry wafted from the barn. “Stand down, Billy!” Edmond ordered. Billy, anxious, mad, and unwilling to hold back any longer, ran off to the barn. Edmond attempted to follow him, but stopped as Billy entered the rickety building. The sound of Billy’s growling was suddenly eclipsed by a much more menacing snarl. The barn door slammed shut as Billy yelped out in pain. He was quickly silenced with a nauseating crunch.

  As Antonio and Magnus joined him outside, Edmond shook his head in sorrow.

  Antonio sought to reassure his friend. “He’s the last sacrifice we’ll have to make.”

  Edmond nodded his agreement. “It will end tonight, but what I don’t understand is why it’s choosing to hide.”

  “It’s the last stand of a desperate creature,” Magnus responded. “It’s tired of running. It means to lure us in.”

  “A desperate creature is the most dangerous,” Antonio stated. “We will be careful, but we must press forward.”

  Antonio walked assuredly toward the barn, but Magnus stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Antonio, there will be no coming back from this.”

  Antonio turned to his mentor. “I’ve spent too many years getting to this point. After all my sacrifices - this is the last one!”

  Edmond stared at the two other men, unsure why Magnus seemed so hesitant, but whatever it was, neither man elaborated on it further.

  They continued their approach toward the barn. Their revolvers, each loaded with silver bullets, were at the ready. Antonio leveled his gun at the door and motioned to Edmond to open it. The door creaked as Edmond pushed on it. Blackness – the men could see nothing within the barn.

  Behind them, Magnus reached into his pocket and removed a cyanide pill which he placed in his mouth, adjusting it so that it was securely in the pocket of his cheek and at-the-ready if he needed it. “It’s not in there anymore. It must’ve run into the woods,” he said.

  Antonio shook his head and shushed the older man, all while feeling guilty at the disrespect he was showing his mentor. “It’s in there!” he insisted. He motioned for Edmond to place his lantern on the ground. Once he did so, Antonio grabbed a nearby hoe and pushed the lantern inside, illuminating the interior.

  “Well then just burn the barn down and we’ll shoot it when it runs out,” Magnus said.

  Antonio’s annoyance flared, but he quickly found his respect again. “Not likely to work,” he whispered to Magnus. “Waiting for it to smash through a wall of flame won’t be to our advantage.” He sighed at what he knew he had to say next. “Perhaps Magnus, it would be better if you waited out here.” It emotionally wrecked him to suggest that his mentor stay back.

  The older man stood motionless while the other two men stepped toward the barn and left him behind. “Lord, give me the strength to do what I must,” Magnus whispered to himself. He raised his gun up in the direction of the other two, then, after a moment’s contemplation, lowered it with a defeated sigh.

  Oblivious to the crisis of conscience that was going on behind them, Antonio and Edmond peered inside the structure. Most of the light from Edmond’s lantern was absorbed by its immediate surroundings, leaving a darkened periphery, but at least the men knew the creature wasn’t waiting for them in the doorway. Each man took another step into the barn. A low growl from beyond the arc of light sounded out. Edmond pointed his gun at its source, but a moment later the same growling sound came from a different spot. The creature had moved quickly.

  Antonio made a motion with his hand instructing Edmond to move further into the barn. Edmond did so, leaving the relative safety of the lighted area. In the darkness, Edmond heard the growl again. He raised his gun and fired. The ignition of the gunpowder gave him a brief glimpse of the creature as it darted away. Edmond hadn’t even come close to striking it. He started to step back.

  “Stay there,” came Antonio’s firm command.

  The growl pitched lower, then ceased completely.

  Here it comes, Antonio thought. The creature would be smart enough to avoid the obvious temptation, and Antonio knew that it was he, not Edmond, who would be the monster’s target - and that was the trap Antonio was setting. The only question, would it approach him from the left side or the right? In a fraction of a second, Antonio remembered the creature’s injured right eye. By approaching from the left, it would be able to keep more of the barn within its view. He quickly turned to his left, and a split second later, a snarl could be heard coming toward him. Antonio fired his gun.

  The bullet, well-aimed, tore through the creature’s chest. Antonio ducked down as the beast careened over his head and landed with a thud behind him.

  Edmond darted over and picked up his lantern. On the ground, the defeated beast could be seen taking heavy breaths. It tried to stand up but fell back down. It was done for.

  Antonio took a brief moment to enjoy his triumph. He wasn’t typically the type of person to savor victories, but this was the final one. It was a moment of pride for him. He turned to Magnus as the older man stepped into the barn. “We did it!” he said.

  “It’s a magnificent victory,” Magnus replied, almost solemnly.

  Antonio kept his gun held on the beast. “Go finish him off, Edmond,” he said to his friend.

  “No, the privilege should be yours,” Edmond said with deference.

  “Okay then,” Antonio said. “This will be it.” He
holstered his gun and removed his dagger as he moved toward his fallen foe.

  Before he could take a step, the sorrowful voice of Magnus sounded out from behind him. “I wish you had listened to me just once tonight, Antonio. Know that I love you like a son.”

  Antonio had only a second to ponder the meaning of what Magnus had said before he felt a sturdy hand land on his shoulder and pull him backwards. A strong, stinging sensation moved from his back all the way through to his front side. Looking down, he could see the silver tip of Magnus’s dagger erupting from his chest. A crimson stain formed on his shirt as the blood spurted forth.

  “Traitor!” Edmond screamed as he rushed toward Magnus.

  With his dagger still in Antonio’s back, Magnus waited for Edmond to step closer and then knocked him unconscious with a single blow to his head.

  Antonio’s vision faded. Slowly, Magnus lowered him to the earth, taking great care to cradle his head. As he neared the ground, Magnus jerked the knife clean from his back so that Antonio could lie flat. He held the stricken man’s hand while the pulse that ran through it weakened. Antonio’s final view was that of his beloved mentor staring down at him with sorrow. His world, one of monsters and their victims, faded away from his thoughts.

  “I didn’t want this,” Magnus said to the body lying before him.

  Off to the side Edmond began to stir. Magnus reached over and removed the other man’s revolver before he could regain his senses. A moment later Edmond’s eyes shot open, and with surprising quickness he pushed himself to a standing position. “What did you do?” he demanded of the older man once he was fully erect. “You’ll be accountable for this!” He reached toward his holster but found it empty.

  “Would you like this back?” Magnus asked with sincerity as he held up the firearm. Its barrel was pointed harmlessly at the ground.

  “Right now I would very much like it back,” Edmond said defiantly as he eyed the body of Antonio.

  “Then give it back to you I shall. And have your revenge on me you shall, if that’s what you desire, but first, there’s something to take care of.” He moved closer to the still-breathing creature. “Edmond, what is this creature’s name?”

  Edmond looked at him with an uncharacteristic boldness. “This creature is evil itself. It has no identity beyond that as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Its name!” Magnus ordered. “You’ve been tracking it. You know the name it uses when it walks by day. Tell me!”

  Magnus could see the struggle within Edmond, who finally mumbled an answer, barely above a whisper. “Matthew.”

  “Speak up, Edmond!”

  Edmond asserted himself. “Matthew. His name is Matthew.”

  “Thank you,” the older man said, reverting to a kindly voice. He cautiously approached the stricken beast. Its bloody wound oozed and gaped as the creature rolled over to look at him. “Matthew!” he said while staring the beast in its good eye. “Can you understand me?”

  The creature stared back at Magnus. Though it didn’t directly acknowledge the question, the look of intelligence in the creature’s eye gave Magnus enough confidence that it had at least a modicum of understanding.

  “Remain still if you’d like me to help you,” the older man said.

  The creature let out a low, rumbling growl. Its mouth opened and saliva dripped from its jowls.

  Magnus showed no fear. “You can attack me, but I won’t be able to heal you.”

  Behind them, Edmond paced in anger as he gripped his dagger, contemplating which of the two would be his first target.

  Magnus addressed Edmond without even turning around. “I must insist that you hold off on your revenge for a few more moments.”

  Edmond slipped his dagger back into its sheath, concluding he would most likely be bested by Magnus in a fight. Instead, he argued with the older man. “You’re not going to heal it!” he said in an almost whiny tone.

  “Not fully, but I won’t let this creature die tonight.”

  Magnus reached two fingers into a leather pouch tied around his waist and removed a pinch of blue powder. He moved his hand over Matthew’s wound and let a small amount of the powder fall into the hole. The wound sizzled and bubbled as Magnus stepped back from the creature.

  “You deserve an explanation for this, my friend.” Magnus said to Edmond.

  “No friend of mine would perform the acts that I’ve just seen.”

  Magnus ignored Edmond’s retort and continued, “Here’s what you must understand – there was a time long ago when these creatures didn’t exist, yet Satan felt compelled to create them. Do you know why that is?”

  Edmond shook his head. “I never asked myself that question.”

  Magnus explained, “Three hundred years ago, before these wolves were ever spawned, an entirely different type of creature roamed the land. They too were physical manifestations of evil. They multiplied – they spread death and sadness throughout the known world! I can’t tell you what they were called. I can’t even tell you what they looked like – that’s information that’s privy only to the Cardinal.”

  “I don’t see your point,” Edmond said.

  “What do you think happened to those creatures?”

  Edmond thought hard. “They were hunted down, weren’t they? Much like we hunt this creature.”

  “Yes,” Magnus said. “You seem to be catching on. The creatures were hunted and destroyed, every last one of them over the course of a generation.”

  “That sounds like a good thing to me.”

  “But what the church didn’t realize at the time is that these manifestations are like weeds – they can be plucked, but others will always grow back in their place.”

  Edmond’s understanding grew as he listened to the older man talk.

  Magnus continued, “This creature here is only an agent of Satan, and destroying the agent doesn’t destroy the evil that constructed it, it simply creates a void that must be filled. So you see, we can either live with the manifestation that we already know, or be faced with something entirely new – a monster that we don’t understand, and will likely be even more sinister.”

  “So by letting this creature live, we avoid the creation of something worse?” Edmond let the weight of his question sink in.

  “That’s what the Cardinal believes, yes. History has shown that Satan will craft a monster even more nefarious to take its place. Our job should be only to keep the creatures in check – to keep their numbers low. But Antonio was too good, the best hunter in two-hundred years. Tonight he nearly caused their extinction.” Magnus glanced at the stirring creature. “We should leave here, he’ll be up and walking soon.”

  Edmond ignored the warning. “Then why didn’t you have this conversation with Antonio? Why didn’t you ask him to slow down? It wasn’t necessary to kill him!”

  “You think I didn’t tell him this? I spoke to him about it many times, but he didn’t believe me. He was too motivated, too determined, and too stubborn to stop what he was doing. He would’ve gone on hunting without the permission of the Cardinal if he had to. There was no stopping him.”

  The beast began moving as its wound slowly healed. A low growl could be heard coming from deep within.

  “We should leave this area,” Magnus once again insisted.

  “No!” Edmond asserted. “I’m not yet convinced that what you say is true. Maybe the Cardinal is just afraid of losing his standing as a Holy Defender! Do you really believe him?”

  “I must believe him,” Magnus responded.

  The creature’s breathing steadied as it began to stand.

  “We still have a chance to destroy it!” Edmond shouted. He dove over to Antonio’s corpse and grabbed the dead man’s revolver.

  “Stand down!” Magnus shouted to Edmond.

  Edmond ignored the direction and popped up to a kneeling position, his gun aimed straight at the creature’s heart. But as quick as Edmond was, Magnus was quicker, and managed to raise his revolver and shoot first
, putting a bullet through Edmond’s calf. Edmond fell to the ground as he fired, his shot sailing harmlessly over the creature.

  Magnus continued to train his gun upon Edmond, moving it along the outline of his body until it was pointed straight at his head. “I don’t want to kill two men in one night.”

  The creature rose up to its full height, close enough to Magnus so that he could feel its moist breath dance across his cheek and into his ear canal. He knew if the beast moved to attack he would have only a fleeting moment with which to put a bullet between Edmond’s eyes. There could be no other way, the creature had to survive. He moved his cyanide capsule from his gums so that it rested between his molars.

  “Matthew!” Magnus said without turning away from Edmond. “Matthew, leave us!” The beast continued to cover the man with his breath, which smelled of rot. “Matthew, if you attack me this man will kill you,” he said, hoping that the beast would buy his bluff.

  Matthew lowered himself down to all fours and stepped over to Antonio’s corpse. Then, after giving a defiant look back at Magnus, he bit down on the dead man’s face. Magnus, who dared not turn from that direction, was forced to watch as Matthew’s teeth crunched through the skull of his former pupil. The creature continued to bite down, spitting out the bone shards and brain matter.

  At that moment, Magnus hated the creature more than he thought possible. He continued to watch as the beast moved toward Antonio’s belly, where his claws ripped out the intestines. The creature ate no part of Antonio, taking time only to defile his corpse. The final insult was a warm stream of piss that drenched Antonio’s remains. The beast Mathew stood up and gave a howl, then walked slowly past Magnus on two legs, rather than its typical four. “Leave now!” Magnus demanded. “You have your life.”