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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 143: Brown 333
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Cooper 46
The rain slackened some but continued. Word from the harbor was that there was a storm, some said a hurricane, over the Gulf, but that it seemed to be headed for Mexico so the city wouldn’t get more than a severe drenching.
Word also came of the mysterious death of a debutante in the French quarter. Police were keeping the details hushed, but rumors claimed she had been drained of blood, and more than one person whispered of vampires and of John and Wayne Carter.
Over lunch Pierre said, “I thought vampires couldn’t cross running water. With all the flooding, how could they get to the city?”
That was a point, but Derek had already considered it. “One of the problems with lore,” he said, “is that you can never be sure what’s true. Maybe these vampires can cross running water--but I don’t think so. Following the path back to the city, I crossed many small bridges and culverts, so it looks like they’ve built a dry path for themselves. Of course, with the recent rains that wouldn’t have made much difference, but there’s another possibility.”
“Which is?” Lei asked.
“Our vampires can become bats. They fly into the city, turn into men--well, humanoids--and then turn back into bats to return before daybreak.”
“So they could have killed Antoinette,” Pierre said, and it struck Derek that this was personal for him, that Pierre knew the girl.
“I would say it’s possible, even likely. The alternative is that someone hated her enough to kill her and try to make it look like vampires.”
“Not likely, I think,” Pierre responded.
“Anyone catch the weather forecast?” Derek joked.
“The what?” Maurice said.
“Oh, probably by now the study of meteorology has developed far enough that people are trying to track storms and predict rain and such, but maybe not around here. I just wondered when we’re going to get out of this rain.”
That evening the rain stopped, and the river still rose, but later that night began to recede.
At sunrise the next morning there was a knock on the door; Derek went to answer it. He was surprised.
“You’re one of the Malcolm boys, right?” he guessed.
“Yeah, ah’m Marlon. Is Marion heah?”
“No, we haven’t seen Marion for a while. Is he missing?”
“Yeah, he disappeahed las’ night. Mama say don’ worry ‘bout him, like she knew he would be gone, and Morgan, he afraid to go agains’ Mama, but I’z worried.”
And you probably should be, Derek thought, but decided not to say it.
“Well, keep looking, and we’ll look, too,” he said.
“Uh--thanks. An’ sorry ‘bout b’faw.”
Derek waved that away and with cursory good-byes closed the door. He was worried. Marion missing and his less than concerned mother seemingly allied with Scratch could be more serious than it seems.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #516: Versers Stymied. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
