My E-Book Prologue "Night Crawler"

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PROLOGUE: Saturday, January 22nd

 

Darkness descends upon the small town, casting shadows onto houses, shut tight for the night. The rain slashed down in small rivers, causing streams of water to run swiftly through gutters. Street lamps flooded the darkened corners with illuminating light for those still lingering out in the storm seeking their sanctuaries. Safe there, they close out the impending night, with blinds drawn and doors barred, the wind howls louder to welcome the incoming storm as lightning flashes across the shadowy sky.

 

The town priest, John Francis stares out the window of his office and eyes the swaying trees with swooping gusts releasing what was left of their leaves. Beneath his godly demeanor, muscles rippled, turning his immaculate white shirt into a visible six-pack. Turning, he narrowed his green eyes at the man relaxing in the chair before his expansive desk.

 

"How do you propose we handle this, Stephen?" The average looking, dark-haired man of God stared down the older heavy-set man. He slipped into the high-back, black leather chair in front of the darkened window. "I am unsure of how to deal with two reckless teenagers who choose to disobey the law or any other authority for that matter."

 

Blowing his nose into a red handkerchief, Stephen replied, "They are a chaotic bunch of hoodlums." He then shoved the sticky cloth into his pants' pocket.

 

Grimacing slightly, John shook his head and implored, "Youngsters nowadays need discipline, Stephen."

 

"Like you had, John. We cannot do that today," he leaned forward with raised eyebrows and preached, "And you know that." Stephen examined the wood-grained desk before him. His hand ran over it and felt every uneven bump, "Oak?" He asked.

 

"You do know your wood." The confidant priest responded with a lowered chin.

 

"I should, my furniture is the best this side of the Mississippi." Smiling, he pulled his working-man's hand back onto his lap.

 

"These boys should be doing community service for their baseball practice on mailboxes. Wouldn't you agree?"

 

"Good idea! I'll get in touch with the boy's parents in the morning." Stephen stood and threw his yellow rain jacket on. "Better get home before this storm becomes any worse. I also do not need the wife bitching at me because I'm late." His eyes met the priests' then fell to the floor. "Sorry for that, John."

 

"Don't worry about the language. Sometimes a priest allows a word to slip every now and again." He winked with dancing eyes.

 

Stephen strolled toward the door with John following behind the overweight man through the lit hallway and into the expansive cathedral. He made his way toward the entrance with its tall, wooden doors standing like sentinels, guarding against any intruders. Creaking floors under foot told of elderly wood that was laid before either were born. The darkness all around seemed to swallow them whole when the door was pulled open.

 

"You be careful going home, John Francis." With an inclined head, his hand flipped the hood over his short, salt and pepper hair and stepped out into the night.

 

John watched him hobble upon his bad leg and disappear within the pouring rain. Lightning crashed overhead as the priest shut the large wooden door, locked it, then walked back through the hallway, leading to his office. His arm reached out and clicked off the lights along the way.

 

The preacher entered his small cramped duty, sat down and began shuffling through papers upon his desk by the dim glow of his desk lamp. With his right hand, he signed his John Hancock along the dotted lines and clenched his brow together.

 

This is what I hate the most, paperwork, he told himself.

 

Outside, the wind and driving rain rushed at the window glass behind him which drew his attention to it. He swivelled in his chair and stared out at the raindrops emitting down the glass in tiny streams. Movement in the shadows caught his attention as he leaped to his feet for a better view of the yard outside.

 

Thoughts of the nun entered his mind and overrode any other. He knew that her visit with him later would invite everything that he had within his body to emerge then be released in one giant orgasm.

 

Outside, the faint light of the street lantern played with the trees' shadows that surrounded the taller than usual square-shaped lawn. Turning, John reached for his coat hanging on the rack near the gray file cabinet, tossed it over his shoulders and leaned over to flick off the interior light of the desk lamp. Once encased in darkness, John gazed out the window to see two dark-red eyes glaring back at him from the bushes near the church wall. They moved with swiftness as the dark beast came into his view. It spun its large head and loped across the road with lightning speed, then evaporated into the treed park across the street. Its long, hairless tail spun around behind it in a twisting fashion.

 

Shaking his head with blurred vision, John whispered to himself, "I need to quit drinking." With keys in hand, he left through the office door and locked it behind him. He wanted to shake the vision of that thing when he turned and found the lawn empty and released a small laugh.

 

A woman's scream suddenly filled his ears and startled him into darting for the sidewalk to search around for the source of the shrieking. Upon finding no one, he slowly trotted along the sidewalk through the darkness. The silence was broken once again by the cry of a piercing sub-human howl.

 

 

If you are interested in reading this free e-book just shoot me over you e-mail address and I will e-mail it to you in its entirety.  It is 62,000 words in length.