Saint Clair CH 2.5 Succubus: Night shift on a full moon

{He walked carefully up to the back of the house. He’d “visited” earlier, long before nightfall when the house was deserted and quietly oiled the hinges on the gate and the back door. He knew she always left the back door unlocked. He watched her for a second through the window from the darkness. She was scrubbing dishes like she always did this time of night. Like he watched her do so often. He pulled the ski mask down over his face and slid the long hunting knife from his belt ... This had to be perfect.}

Deputy Tina James - TJ - rubbed her thumb along the edge of her eyepatch, chasing a persistent itch. Nightshift had barely started and she already had that just-under-the-scalp headache from not enough sleep and too much coffee. She’d set up in the open, more to encourage people to slow down than actually catch them for speeding. The police-modified crew cab F250 – the Beast – was clearly visible and clearly what it was; if anyone was still speeding by the time they got close, it was probably best to at least give them a warning. The Sheriff wanted to try to slow everyone down a bit, three one-car accidents in the last two weeks had been a bit much.

Still, she was hoping for a slow night. Pulling night shift on a full moon was always a pain in the ass.

She stretched, flexing the stump of her leg to ease the angle of the new prosthetic leg. She still wasn’t quite used to this one, still adjusting after losing the old “peg” in that fiasco on the dam with Angie.

Damn lucky that was all she’d lost all things considered.

The radio suddenly blasted and she reached over to turn it down, picking up the mike.

“253 253 this is Dispatch”

“This is 253 go Dispatch”

“D&D off on T Highway near Big Blue station. Nude woman reported walking in the middle of the highway”

“Roger D&D on T Highway near Big Blue station”

TJ hung the mike back on the mount in shock.

What the holy fuck? A Jenny call?

The only drunk exhibitionist they had in the county was Jenny, and Jenny had been doing fine since she’d started seeing Swede. Hell, TJ’d just talked to Swede. The big blonde deputy had just come on shift after dropping Jenny off at her place.

Besides, Jenny only went her rum-fueled naked benders after a break up. Everybody knew that.

Especially Jenny.

TJ just had time to drop the Beast in gear to head back toward T Highway when the radio snapped to life again.

“Dispatch Dispatch this is 246”

The grim voice was about half a degree above absolute zero. Swede. A very, very, unhappy Swede.

“This is Dispatch go 246”

“246 responding to D&D on T Highway”

There was a moment of hesitation. Melanie at Dispatch knew damn good and well that Swede shouldn’t technically be responding to a call on his own girlfriend.

But she also knew Swede was about as far from being an asshole as a guy could get. TJ decided to let the dispatcher off the hook.

“Dispatch Dispatch this is 253 I Just had an engine light kick on unable to respond to call at this time”

“Roger 246 is already responding he WILL notify if he requires back up” The relief in Melanie’s voice was pretty obvious, but so was the warning to Swede.

TJ pulled off the side of the road. On the log she’d report the gas cap as loose, prompting the engine light.

{Her clothes lay in a shredded heap on the floor. He’d caught her so easily – her struggles had been almost useless against him. Gagging her had been the hardest part, as he’d expected. She’d managed to nip him once on the hand before he’d forced the ball gag in. She really struggled as he sliced her clothes off her and shredded them in front of her wide eyes. She still struggled as he tied her up even more securely, especially when he paused to fondle her. As he secured the black cloth hood over her head, he glanced out the back window checking for cars in the alley. Cars other than his, of course.}

“All Units All Units this is 246 require assistance at base immediate”

Swede sounded decidedly distressed. And given the massive deputy’s recent run of luck that was a bad sign.

TJ flipped the lights and sirens and blasted toward the station, the Beast’s engine roaring.

“All Units this is 253 inbound ETA three minutes on North County Road”

A second later Unit 229 called in. That was Don, heading in from the south and running just a little slower than TJ.

They practically arrived at the same time, finding Swede’s car parked askew in the vehicle bay almost right next to the entrance to the station. Swede and Melanie were staring incredulously at the back seat as a loud keening swelled louder and louder in the bay accompanied by almost-manic thumping sounds.

TJ and Don padded over to them.

“Well, she’s a little too white to be Jenny,” Don observed laconically.

A flash of long blonde hair and pale skin showed through the window for a second.

Swede scowled at him. “Ya think?”

For a second a howling rage-twisted face with reddened eyes glared out at them, then pulled back into the car.

TJ looked into the car noting chunks of seat foam scattered through the back of the car, “Any idea who she is?”

Don and Melanie shook their heads.

“No idea. Stark naked, just walking calmly along T Highway. Got in the car with no trouble then totally lost it about a mile out. Screamed she was one of the Vampires of Atlantea, whatever the hell that means, and began pounding the shit out of my cruiser from the inside.”

A bare heel slammed into the window, webbing it with cracks. Melanie jumped back.

“I’m going to see what’s holding Kathy up with that restraint chair.”

She bolted inside.

A second heel strike bulged the window out dangerously.

Don nodded. “Be safest to Taser her.”

“Did that already, just managed to shove her back inside the cruiser and get the door shut while she was laughing at me.”

“Damn. This is gonna suck.”

Kathy – one of the jailers - and Melanie pushed the restraint chair out the door and ran it to them just as a third heel strike split the window partway. A blood red eye peered out the crack for a second as the keening scream changed abruptly to an unhinged, throaty laugh.

“Door!”

Swede yanked the door open and a streak of maniacally laughing blonde madness slammed into Don like a wrecking ball.

The next forty-five seconds were absolute insanity as the three deputies and the jailer fought to control the demonic blonde.

At last she bit down on Don’s chest and held on like a pit bull, shaking savagely, finally allowing the heavy deputy to pin her into the chair with his weight.

Swede, Kathy and TJ captured limbs one by one then managed to fasten the head and body straps onto the raging woman.

Don pulled away, long strands of Kevlar fiber hanging from the body armor on his chest.

“Another few seconds and I think she’d have been through.”

The keening scream began again.

{He pressed the accelerator to push the car faster up the road, a creeping sense of urgency growing. The flash of headlights from oncoming vehicles was eerily strobe-like and disorienting. The muffled voice of the woman in the back seat was getting louder, a little more persistent. He caught a glimpse of his own eyes in the mirror. He looked so normal, so plain. Nobody would ever think he was capable of ... this. A glance in the mirror, he could barely see the hooded, naked form of the woman – there was no chance she’d get free of the ropes, he’d been so careful, so cautious.}

TJ leaned back in her seat just glad to be away from the screaming. She had almost five minutes of peace before the radio erupted again.

“253 253 this is Dispatch”

“This is 253 go Dispatch”

“Trucker reported suspicious activity at truck stop near Benton off-ramp. Possible abduction. Black four door, possibly older model Ford with woman tied up in back seat. Possibly heading toward Saint Clair Highway. Highway Patrol is covering the Interstate.”

“Good copy Dispatch. Moving to Intersection where Saint Clair Highway and Route W split.”

TJ listened to Melanie direct Don and Swede to other possible intercept locations while she pulled out of the turnaround where she’d been sitting and headed toward the intersection as fast as she could safely push the Beast. It took ten tense minutes to reach her goal.

Just as she pulled off the road, a black car slid past, running right at the speed limit up the curve toward Route W.

She slammed the Beast into gear and grabbed the mike.

“Dispatch Dispatch this is 253. I need a unit to block W at Big Bend immediately. In pursuit of suspect vehicle, running silent until we have a blocking unit in place.”

If they missed the stop at Big Bend it would be exponentially harder to trap the car in the back roads. She’d wait to light the lights because she didn’t want to push him faster toward their best hope for clean stop.

“Dispatch Dispatch this is 229”

“This is Dispatch go 229”

“Cutting through Big Bend frontage road should reach Big Bend in less than five”

“Roger 229” Melanie’s voice paused “frontage road is pretty bad right now be safe and stay out of the river”

Swede called in a second later, confirming he was en route to act as backstop if something went wrong.

TJ tried to hang back as far as she could to give them time.

{The night suddenly blazed with lights ahead of him, a nightmare collage of brilliant white and flashing red and blue. He frantically looked for a way out. Brilliant arc-white light tore the night open behind him where only a distant set of headlights had been. There was no heading back. Nowhere to go.

He couldn’t let them see her. Not like this. If he got to her first, he could do ... something.

He slammed the brakes on and stopped just short of the police SUV, reaching for the door handle.}

TJ stopped the Beast and slid out, stepping quickly around the front, drawing her weapon and leveling it. Using the nose of the F250 as cover. She could see Don moving up.

“Freeze. Hands in the air!”

The black clothed man pivoted wild-eyed toward her from the front seat, stepped and spun toward the back door of the car.

TJ felt the icy calm hit her and cleared the sight picture in her mind, feeling the tip of her finger tension on the trigger. If there was a hostage back there, TJ couldn’t let him get to her.

The snap and stutter of Don’s Taser sounded like music to her. The man stiffened, board-like with an animal howl that cut off as he fell rigidly forward. A second electric chatter as Don hit him with another dose of current while they closed, just in case.

He was obviously out when they reached him. Swede pounded up from behind Don’s SUV.

TJ nodded over to the back door of the car. “Let me check.”

She yanked open the door to find a small woman with a black hood over her head struggling desperately against what looked like a mile of intricately tied rope. TJ pulled her to sitting and yanked the hood off. Tear filled green eyes flared through a cascade of red hair as the woman fought to talk through a red and black ball gag.