Secrets and Lies

"You mentioned a half dozen victims," Smith began. "The actual number is twice that. The first confirmed case was May twenty-fourth, in Oxford. Its next victim was June seventh, in Northampton. Then the twenty-second, in Leicester. July third it was in Nottingham, and by the twenty-first it was in Doncaster. From there it moved on to York, August sixth. Then -"

"August twenty-third in Westerdale," Carter interjected. "The first victim in my jurisdiction."

Campbell nodded, "First one on your radar, but its seventh kill overall."

I spoke up at that point, "You keep saying 'it', rather than he or she. What exactly do you think is responsible for these deaths?"

The Scotsman looked at me then shrugged, "In a word? It's a monster. Best way to describe it."

His colleague added, "We don't even know what it looks like yet, but we'll find out for sure tonight. We almost had it on Monday, when we found and destroyed its nest. After that we also got enough intel to know it's not intelligent, or even sentient."

"Monday?" Carter asked with a frown. "I assume that's the house fire we attended? You sent two firefighters to hospital, and ran up about a two million pound bill in property damages."

Campbell made a face, "There were almost a dozen eggs in there. You think one of these buggers is bad, imagine what you'd be facing if those damned things hatched."

I immediately thought back to the report I was reading earlier, about the lumps of unidentifiable organic matter they found after the fire, and had to suppress a shudder. On the one hand it was almost impossible to believe that those were some kind of monstrous eggs. But on the other hand Campbell and Smith seemed deadly serious, and we had six victims in the morgue who weren't laughing either.

Meanwhile the inspector remained focused on our persons of interest, "So if we accept that this is an actual 'monster' we're dealing with, what the hell is it? What's it doing to these people, and why? And where did it come from?"

"Is this something your firm imported?" I asked. "That's why you're here trying to catch it, because your boss brought it into the country then let it escape?"

Campbell rolled his eyes then had a swig of his ale, so Smith handled my questions.

"Our group only came together two months ago," he explained, "And like Colin said earlier we're all on the same side. Our mandate is public safety, that's why we're here. We want to stop this thing. As for where it came from, let's start at the beginning."

His voice was somewhat hushed as he explained, "Last November a massive supernatural incident took place on a private estate outside a market town in Oxfordshire. The fabric of reality itself was damaged, and a hole or portal appeared. The government moved in immediately, the army cordoned off the entire property and the whole thing was covered up. The Anomaly as they called it remained open from last November until it was finally closed in August of this year. And while it was open, it acted like a doorway, through which things were able to enter our world."

Colin took up the story there, "For at least the last six months the army had kill-on-sight orders in effect, nothing was supposed to get into or out of the restricted zone. They destroyed a number of unnatural things, along with a handful of overly curious British citizens and a couple stubborn investigative reporters. But despite the best efforts of our military, some things got past them. We don't know how many, best guess is a few dozen. And that includes your killer."

"We believe it entered our world in mid-May," Martin added. "Based on the timing and location of its first victim. From Oxford it made its way north-east, until it decided to settle down here in your corner of the North York Moors National Park."

From the look on his face I could tell Inspector Carter wasn't quite ready to believe their story just yet. He asked, "And you're going to tell me this so-called monster is transforming men into women, then killing them? Why? And how? What could it possibly gain from that?!"

"You two might want to order something stronger for this part of the story," Campbell suggested, before having another swig of his ale.

Carter had a cup of coffee in front of him, while I had a glass of cola. Neither of us had touched our drinks though, and I knew the inspector wasn't going to order anything else.

Smith had a sip of his lager before continuing their tall tale, "Understand that this creature is not from our world. Call it fae or demon, hell you could even call it an alien if you like. The point is you can't think of it in terms you're familiar with. So while this thing is definitely feeding on people, it's not taking anything tangible from them. It's not after their flesh or their blood, or anything like that. For the lack of a better term what it consumes is their masculine vitality."

"Call it animus, or yang energy, whatever words you like," the Londoner continued, "The point is that's what this thing feeds on. The physical transformations are a side-effect of the way it eats. And the victims die because it completely drains them of this vitality, it takes it all until there's nothing left."

Colin added, "That's why it's only hunting men, because we're the best source of that male life force. It could live off women if it had to, all women have some male energy in them just like every man has some feminine energy. But why waste time with salad when there's plenty of steak to be had, right?"

"So that's why the victims bodies look feminine when it's finished with them?" I asked, "It drains all the 'yang' out of them, so there's nothing left but 'yin'?"

Martin replied, "That, and the shock to their system can't be very good for them either."

"Obviously it's more complicated than that," he continued, "Words like yin and yang, animus and anima, these are all just approximations. We're talking about a supernatural creature from another world, possibly even another dimension. It's not supposed to be here, and it's doing what it can to survive in a strange place. Unfortunately that survival has it killing humans, which is why we're here to put a stop to it."

Carter and I exchanged a quiet look, then he finally took a long sip of his coffee. He set the cup back down and after a deep breath he asked, "Fine. How do we kill it? Are we talking silver bullets? Stake through the heart? Some sort of arcane ritual?"

Despite his serious tone it was clear he was being a little facetious. He obviously didn't entirely believe their story, but with nothing else to go on it seemed like the inspector was prepared to go along with it.

"Nah nothing so dramatic," Colin replied. "This thing is organic, even if its biology doesn't follow any of the rules we're familiar with. We smashed the eggs before we torched them, so we know blunt force works just as well as fire. Although we do have a few other tricks up our sleeve, in case things get dicey."

"Such as?" I asked.

Martin shook his head, "That's on a need to know basis. And right now you don't need to know about it."

The inspector frowned, "Who exactly do you work for? Special Branch? The Security Service? Or some other government office?"

"Your import company is obviously a cover for something else," he added. "You said yourselves that Owen Powell is just a manager, despite being listed as president of the firm. Who's really in charge, and how do you two know about all this supernatural nonsense?"

"Nope," Campbell stated. "Our 'secret organization' might not be as secret as it used to be, or as organized as it once was. But I'm not saying another word on the subject."

Smith agreed, "If Owen or the boss want you to know more, it'll be up to them to tell you. We're just here to do a job. And we've likely already said too much as it is."

I glanced at Carter then asked, "All right then, let's talk about the job. You said you're going to try and put a stop to this thing tonight. You're not going without us, so where is it? And what's the plan?"

The two men looked at each other, then Colin grudgingly replied "It's holed up in a secondary lair nearby. Some abandoned building just off Danby Lane, in between the train tracks and the river. We have it on good authority it'll be there until at least nine tonight. Then it's probably going off to do a little hunting of its own."

"I'm not going to let that happen," the inspector stated grimly. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get this thing before it strikes again."

Martin replied, "We were waiting for it to get a little darker out. You know, the whole clandestine thing? So curious locals wouldn't see us skulking about and end up getting the police involved."

Carter just scowled slightly before standing up, "Come on. We'll take my Rover. Now let's get moving."

Campbell and Smith exchanged one more glance then they both shrugged. They left enough cash on the table to pay for their meals and all the drinks, then the four of us finally headed outside together. It was around half past six by that point, and already fairly dark out. I led the way, with the two men following me while Carter was at the back so he could keep an eye on them.

Constable Goodland was still waiting across the road in his squad car, but the inspector gestured and gave him a nodd to let him know things were ok. Nigel nodded back but didn't leave just yet, it looked like he was going to keep an eye on us for a while longer. Meanwhile we got the seating sorted out, with Campbell in the passenger seat next to Carter while Smith was to my left in the back. I was behind the inspector, so I could keep an eye on both men and Carter could see the stocky redhead next to him.

"Alright," the inspector stated as he started up the old engine, "Let's go put an end to this thing once and for all."

We set off north from the pub, following the road towards Danby. We'd only gone less than a kilometre though when Martin indicated a turn to the right, just after we crossed over the Esk.

"And kill the headlamps," Colin added. "No point letting the thing know we're coming."

With the moon nearly full we were still able to see the dirt road ahead of us, even without the Rover's lights. We followed it east as it ran just south of the railroad tracks for a couple hundred meters, before finally coming to an end at a thick copse of trees. We had the Esk Valley rail line on our left and an empty field to our right. The River Esk meandered around the field such that it was behind us as well as further to our right past the field, and finally it came back up and disappeared somewhere behind those trees in front of us.

"Our target should be in there," Smith stated. "We're looking for some sort of derelict structure, possibly a barn or shed."

Carter asked, "How can you be sure its there? It sounds as though you've never even seen the place before."

"Trade secret," Colin replied with a shrug.

I followed a hunch and asked, "I'm guessing you used some sort of scrying magic? Is that why you collected fingernail and hair samples from the latest victim? To provide a kind magical link between the body and the thing that killed her? Or him I mean."

"You probably took samples from the eggs too," I added. "I imagine that would offer an even stronger link to the creature."

Both men turned to look at me, and from their expressions I could tell I was right even though they tried to deny it.

"Like Colin said it's a trade secret," Martin stated. "Anyways we're here, so let's just go deal with this."

Carter agreed, "The sooner the better."

The four of us tried to be somewhat quiet as we emerged from the vehicle, then Carter paused to get a large heavy electric torch from the cargo area at the back. He didn't turn it on yet, but held it at the ready as he set off into the trees. Campbell moved up front as well, just to Carter's left, while Martin and I followed a couple paces behind.

What looked from the outside to be a copse turned out to be more like a thin dense row, with more open space beyond. There we found an area of flat ground the size of a large yard, that stretched right up to the bank of the Esk as it curved past near the rail line. In the centre of that clearing stood an old wooden shed, just like our new associates predicted.

From what I could tell it was no more than four meters by three, and only about two meters high. There was an open doorway on the side facing us, but the interior was too dark for us to see anything in there. It was hard to tell how solidly built the thing was, but the exterior looked to have endured a couple decades of weathering.

"Could be an old duck stand," Inspector Carter whispered. "The way it's overlooking the river, I'll bet someone set this up to take waterfowl without being seen."

Colin replied softly, "That doorway's a pinch point. If it knows we're coming it'll have the drop on us when we enter."

The inspector set his shoulders, then brandishing his torch like a club he stated, "I'll go in first."

"Right behind you," Colin added.

Martin nodded, "Same."

That left me at the very back, as though the three men all wanted to protect me from whatever was inside. Which honestly didn't make any sense, considering out of the four of us I was the only one the thing probably wasn't interested in eating.

There wasn't any time to make that argument though, as the others were already moving forward. Inspector Carter remained in the lead, followed closely by Campbell. And Smith kept just a pace or two behind his friend. As a result I had no chance of seeing what was going on when Carter stepped in through the doorway, but I did hear him mutter a quiet curse the moment he was inside.

"Damn it we're too late," the inspector swore as he clicked on his torch. "There's another victim in here, but no killer."