The Scottsville Vampire Invasion

Chapter 30

Chapter 30 

"Missing Persons Multiply!!! 

"Two of the most prominent citizens of the town have disappeared without a trace. Dr. Downey and his wife Theresa were reported missing yesterday. Sheriff Taylor and his sycophantic deputy Josh Freeman were seen searching the couple's house but refused comment. The pair's son Bobby was killed more than a month ago. Whether these two events are linked is currently unclear. 

"In other news, three more citizens were also repeated missing, two from the trailer park and the other, John Schoof, the owner of the popular bar in town The Corner.  

The wife of one of the missing people from the trailer park said, 'Wade goes on binges all the time where he disappears for a few days, so I'm hoping that this is just another one of those cases.'  

"At this point, what that is left of this community has virtually lost all hope of stopping these crimes since the police department has shown throughout this ordeal that it is not up to the task." 

I drop the paper on my desk and put my head in my hands. This is accelerating faster than it was before. Just like Victor said it's growing exponentially. I thought I could hold things together while I gathered evidence against Glen. I wanted everything lined up so he wouldn't be able to hit me back, but I can't wait anymore. I have to go after him hard and get this to all come to a close. 

What do I have on Glenn right now that I could nail him with? I could go after him for disrupting the investigation by reporting some of the details that should have been kept secret. No, that won't work. He'll moan about freedom of speech and have his audience on me for that. What I need to do is go on the offensive against him, so I'm not always backpedaling. I need to be aggressive and not worry about what he could write or say about me. That's the way I'll have to bring him down. Make him feel some pressure. 

Josh sticks his head in. "Sorry to interrupt, but we just got a call that there are two more disappearances." 

I rub my temples. "Two more than the ones we had from last night?" 

"Yeah, one's the dishwasher from the pub and the other is an EMT. They were both working last night and just disappeared." 

"We have to do something, Clark. We have to make some progress on this. All we are doing is showing up at crime scenes and writing reports. We're not doing anything to slow this down." Josh says. 

"You're right. We've had such a rush of cases the last several days we haven't been able to do anything about the actual investigation. We need to go out with Victor and take some of these things out and put pressure on our main suspect," I say. 

"Glen might be your main suspect, but not our main suspect." 

"We've been through this before Josh, and we are going after Glen. There just isn't anyone else to even consider at this point." 

"Flailing away at a person just to have a suspect is not the way to go. We should go through all of this again and start fresh. We've already been through one wrong lead with Dr. Albert. We just can't miss this time," Josh says. 

"We don't have time for that. I've already gone through all of the possibilities, and he is the only one that makes any sense. He has the motive and the information to be the guy. We just have to prove it." 

"Okay, how do you plan on doing that?" 

"We get the word out on the street we're onto him, and we make ourselves visible. We sit outside his house, we go through his garbage, push him around a little and see how he responds." 

"He's going to respond by dragging us through the mud in the paper," Josh says. 

"We're going have to be ready for that. We get on him right away. Tonight we start hitting back at these vampires the same as they have been going after us. They've started a war, and we're going to respond. Get Bear, we're going to the hotel to meet with Victor." 

****

"So you sissies finally want to rumble with the undead? I didn't think you guys had it in you," Victor says as Josh, Bear and I talk to him in the lobby of the motel he is staying at. The place is a total dump. Ugly dark blue carpet, pealing wallpaper with cheap boating pictures hanging from it. The place has a nautical theme despite the fact that the name of the place is The White Stag Hotel and has nothing to do with the ocean. Probably found all of it in a flea market.  

"You were right. The vampires have really stepped up. We can't keep up with their pace. We have to start taking these guys down and fast. Otherwise we're not going to have a town left," I say. 

"It's the same story everywhere I go. Denial, denial, denial. I'm glad you finally got your head on straight, and you're ready to kick some ass." He stands up, picks up his stake and throws his bag over his shoulder. We follow him out the front door. 

The night is cold and clear. I look down Main Street. Six months ago this place would have been full of people walking up and down the strip, stepping into restaurants to catch a quick bite and heading back outside holding hands or running into the theatre to see a movie. Now, it's empty. It looks just like Sharpsburg. There are no people in the streets, and everyone is hiding in the dark. 

"Okay, what do we do?" I ask Victor. 

"We find them and we take them out. There are enough of them that they're running in packs. Always remember, no matter how powerful the vampires get, they always have one profound weakness that we can exploit and that is they can't resist blood. Once these bastards think they may get some, they'll do anything to get it, and they'll expose themselves." 

"Okay, so what's our move?" I say. 

"We'll need someone to act as bait," Victor says. 

Josh, Bear and I all look at our feet.  

"Come on, guys, this is how it works. If you want to get these monsters, you need to get with the program and do what I tell you to." 

Bear sticks his head up. "I'll do it, but I have an idea on how we take them out once we corner them."  

"Forget it. I call the shots," Victor says. 

"Once you see what I have in mind, you'll be glad you listened to me." Bear says.