The Hag's Blood Incident

Chapter 14

     The bat-creature that acted as the Hag's guardian screamed a high pitched wail, causing my ears to ring and my joints to turn to jelly.

     I slipped to left of the tunnel door, trying to place myself both inside the tunnel and out of reach of the fearsome creature in front of me. Previously, the guardian had been chained, but there was no guarantee that that practice would continue.

     A high pitched, quiet, whining noise echoed off the walls around me, an undercurrent to the giant creature's loud snarls and cries, it must be using its sonar to find me. The nose of the bulbous hairy creature twitched incessantly in my general direction, scent as well.

     I reached out a flat palm toward the creature as we had before, trying to calm it. "Hey there, buddy." I whispered nervously. My hand shook as I took a tentative step toward it.

     The monstrous guardian lurched forward when I moved and let out an awesome shriek that startled me.

     I jerked the pistol out of its holster and pointed it at the bat. My hand trembled in front of me. I placed my second hand on the pistol grip, but that did not quell the tremors.

     The bat growled at me while simultaneously continuing to issue its high pitched locator noise. There was a clanking of chains that accompanied the bat's movements. It took a few moments for me to notice, in my panicked state, but I finally figured out that its lunges stopped well away from me. When it tried to reach me, it strained against the series of steel links connected to its collar, holding it to the wall.

     Realizing that I was out of its threatening area, I relaxed a little and lowered the gun down next to my leg. I didn't want to shoot this thing. It was just an animal and only doing its job. I looked to the length of taut chain holding the creature back and pushed the pistol shakily back into its holster. I fastened the top snap to keep the weapon from falling out and checked the safety like Tam had taught me. Feeling a little more secure, I looked for a way around the creature. I started circling back and forth against the back wall and the entrance of the tunnel looking for another way around that we had missed the last time when we had snuck in.

     The giant bat thumped around in a circle on its wings and tiny back feet following my movements, waiting for me to approach so it could pounce on me.

     There was a section on each side of it that I could move through to get past the large animal, but it was too narrow to pass without coming into contact with the creature. Last time, Tam had held it still while I ran around and collected the blood from the Hag in a syringe while she slept. This time I did not have that option. Tam was in the hospital and it was my fault.

     I shook my head. I didn't have time for guilt, now. I was here in the Hag's lair. I needed my wits about me. I could finally discover what she had done to Lilly to make her kill her grandmother. I needed to keep moving forward, even though I knew my death was in that room down the hall.

     Standing on my tiptoes and leaning forward as much as I dared, I looked over the giant chiropterid, down the tunnel, as it swayed back and forth waiting for me to approach. There was a light down there. I could hear voices.

     The bat cried out again.

     I stumbled down to the flat of my feet and backward into the wall cursing quietly in surprise. "It's going to scream, Oliver." I mumbled to myself. "It's what it does."

     Another voice interrupted my conversation with myself. "Go see who that is." I heard an elderly female voice snap harshly in the room beyond.

     "You were expecting company?" A high pitched masculine voice said.