Kiva

Attempted escape

The man's name was Oswald Cobblepot. He was the after what he had seen the previous night, Oswald was afraid, more than he had ever been before in his life. The night before, he had the misfortune of finding out what had happened to all of Stone Canyon's missing people, and how Gabriel Van Hellsing spent his evenings. At first, Oswald considered telling everyone what was going on, but he knew that no one would believe him, and he would probably be locked up in Arkham or worse given to that thing.

In the end, he decided that his best choice was to simply leave Stone Canyon altogether. And that was exactly what he was about to do.

Oswald untied the rope that tethered his smallish boat to the dock, then started to work on raising the sail. Once it had been properly set up, he was on his way, letting the wind carry his vessel northeast.

If he could just make it to Angel Grove, perhaps he could be granted asylum once he told them what was going on. He was sure the Vampire Queen would believe him, he already knew firsthand about Gabriel's cowardice and greed.

Oswald stood at the ship's wheel, steering every now and then. His umbrella sat nearby; he was going to need it, if that thing he saw Hugo talking to decided to show its face on his boat.

He took a moment to look up at the night sky. It was a clear night, with the stars twinkling overhead and the crescent moon casting its light over the water. Under better circumstances, it would have been a nice, peaceful night for him.

Oswald heard sudden splashing, coming from the stern. He looked back, but didn't see anything. Still, he had to be sure he was just hearing things. Dropping anchor, he picked up the umbrella and inched over to the stern. He hesitated, unsure whether or not he wanted to see what might be down there.

Taking a deep breath for courage, Oswald raised his umbrella and quickly peered over the edge of the boat.

There was nothing there except water.

He breathed a sigh of relief, lowering his umbrella. It must have just been a small, rogue wave that caused that unusual splashing sound, as it hit against the boat.

Oswald turned around and saw a man in green pants and orange top standing only a few feet away. He didn't have any time to raise his weapon as the gloved hand grabbed him.

He didn't even have time to scream.

Just like last time, the limo sat at the top of the hill, facing away from the shore as the Mayor carried another person down to the water.

Gabriel's burden was a bit lighter, as he was carrying a woman this time. She was slim and petite, nowhere near as heavy as the man he carried last time.

That was the arrangement that Hugo had worked out with the thing from the sea; he would alternate between male and female offers to it. One night he would offer the thing a man, and the next, a woman. Although he was curious, Hugo never asked the thing why it needed both men and women from Gotham. He knew better than to do something like that.

Gabriel came to stop as a Deep One emerged from the sea. Under the darkness of night, he could only make out a few of his features, but the gills and big black eyes were very clear.

"I've brought the usual offering," said Gabriel, holding the woman out in his arms.

the deep one took the unconscious woman from him, holding her over its shoulder with its right hand. With a deep, harsh reply, as he spoke.

"Almost let one get away."

It extended its left hand out of the water. It was holding the disembodied head of Oswald, had failed to escape Stone Canyon. Gabriel jumped a little when he saw it. Judging from the neck stump, it looked as though it had been torn right off the body.

"Not supposed to let any get away. Less gold now."

Clutched in a bag were just six pieces of gold. It tossed them at Gabriel, who managed to catch fourof them, the other two tumbling from his arms and back into the ocean. He knelt down, groping about in the shallow water as he desperately tried to retrieve the lost valuables, managi to gather one.

"Only...only six pieces? I thought we...had a deal!" said Gabriel, breathing a bit heavily.

"Deal has changed."

"What do I...need to give you for more gold?"

"Little boy and girl."

Gabriel paused for a moment.

He or Joe had never had to sacrifice children to them before. Would they be able to do it?

"Thirty pieces, little boy and little girl."

Thirty pieces of their gold was the highest amount the thing had ever offered him.

"All...all right, I'll do it."

the Deep one turned away and walked a few feet further into the water, before it submerged itself completely, carrying its unconscious victim and the bloody remains of Oswald with it.

Gabriel's left hand closed around something hard, and as he lifted it out of the water, he saw that it was one of the gold pieces he had dropped. Four pieces caught, and one retrieved; there was the last one. He felt disappointed at the low amount of wealth he was walking away with tonight, but at the same time, he felt excited at the higher amount that was sure to soon follow.

He began to head back up the hill to the driver and the limo, and thought about how he might obtain what the creature wanted. And he remembered that there was a couple near the out skirts who had just had twins: a boy and a girl.

A smile played across Gabriel's face. Soon he would be richer than ever.