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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 114: Brown 323
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 119
“Derek?”
Vashti’s voice came from the bedroom; Derek realized he had been dozing in the recliner in the sitting room. He pulled himself together and tried to answer.
“Hmm?”
“Any idea what this is?”
It didn’t really make sense to him that she would ask him what something she is calling ‘this’ is when he obviously can’t see it from where he is.
“What does it look like?”
“A lock. Or rather, a keyhole. In the wall.”
That was interesting. He pulled himself up and headed for the bedroom. Why hadn’t they noticed this before?
“Where is it?” he asked.
“It’s kind of behind the chiffarobe here,” she said, pointing. He looked, and indeed there was a keyhole just behind the tall portable closet.
“What do you think? Do we pull this out, or push it sideways?” he asked, indicating the cabinet.
“Out, I think.”
Fortunately the cabinet was on wheels, although they weren’t very good wheels. Derek managed to swing the one end away from the wall enough that he could stand in front of the keyhole.
He pulled the ring of keys from his pocket. He had frequently used one which fit the front door, and assumed that one of the others opened the back door, but he had never really wondered what the others would do. He looked them over, and selected one that appeared to be the right size for the opening. It slid in easily, and he turned it gently. He felt the bolt shift, and suddenly part of the wall about the size of a small medicine cabinet swung open toward him. It concealed a compartment a bit less than a foot deep in which were three file folders containing papers. He picked up the first one. Large letters on the front read “Grunch”. He knew what that was; they had killed it. The second read “Rougarou”. He looked inside the first, and there were extensive notes in pencil in a barely legible hand. The second was similar. As he picked it up he saw that the third said Carter Brothers.
He wished he had found these sooner; although it was going to be a challenge reading these notes, it might have helped to know what Mister Hunter had already learned about the monsters he had already fought. However, forewarned is forearmed, he thought someone once said, so he picked up the Carter Brothers folder and headed out to the sitting room to see whether he could read it.
A moment later, Vashti emerged from somewhere. “So, what is it?” she asked.
He thought a moment before answering. “It seems that Mister Hunter was taking notes on what he could find out about the monsters around here. There was a folder about the Rougarou, and another about the Grunch.”
“So, what are you reading?”
“It says ‘Carter Brothers’ on the front, and it seems to be about two killers named John and Wayne Carter.”
“Just killers?”
“Not clear--but it appears they might be vampires.”
As to the old stories that have long been here:
