And Blue Skies From Pain by Stina Leicht Page B

Helpless, Liam felt his own haunches bunch, gathering energy for an attack.
    I’m here, the monster thought—its internal voice a mockery of Liam’s own. It’s all right, love.
    Mary Kate’s hand splashed into the water. Discomfort flashed across her face in response. It was clear she didn’t like the pond any more than he did, but she’d fling herself into the water if she must.
    No, Mary Kate! Don’t! It’s not safe! Liam looked at the water. The thing that had stalked him to this place was down there—he didn’t need to see it. He knew. Stop this, he thought at the monster. Please don’t hurt her.
    You let that priest put me away, the creature thought back. You’d banish me? Fuck you. I’ll have my fun. And there’s not a fucking thing you can do about it.
    A splash drew his attention again to the pond. A sickly grey-green shape neared the surface and then vanished. Whatever it was, its shadow stretched six feet. A low animal sound halfway between a whale’s moan and an insect’s staccato vibration broke free of the water. It was joined by Mary Kate’s terrified keen.
    The other hunters had reached the fallen tree. He could hear them making their way down the broken path. Trapped between the thing in the water, the hunters and the wolfhound, Liam watched Mary Kate search for escape.
    Yes, the monster thought. Run.
    Oh, Christ. I won’t let you do this. Let her go. Liam again fought for control but knew he couldn’t without iron or steel.
    Mary Kate looked into the woods beyond the monster-Hound and screamed.
    “Hello, sweetheart. Glad to see me?”
    Liam felt a cold hand slam between his shoulders. He darted from under the hand’s grip and whirled, snarling. Detective Inspector Haddock laughed and brought up a gun.
    The monster staggered backward, slipped in the mud, and landed in the pond with a splash. As the water closed over Liam’s head, bone-deep cold smashed into him and for a moment he couldn’t think, let alone breathe. In an instant he lost all sense of direction. The water was deep, too deep to find the bottom. His lungs began their demand for air. Mary Kate’s muffled screams filtered through the painful cold. Then something slimy and sharp grasped one of his hind legs and yanked. He yelped in shock and most of his precious air supply sped to the surface in a gush of bubbles. He was pulled down deeper into the darkness. Mary Kate was in trouble. He could hear her. He fought the thing that held him, kicking and biting. He would save her. He didn’t care what he had to do. Haddock was up there. He had to—
    “Liam!”
    A bearded man dressed in red plaid flannel pajamas was shaking him. The man’s brown hair was disheveled and his horn-rimmed glasses were askew. It took a moment before recognition set in, and Liam remembered where he was.
    “Father?”
    “You were screaming. Are you all right?”
    Somewhere outside the flat an alarm shrieked, muted by thick concrete and stone. Liam sat up, rubbing his face. The beard itched. A powerful sense of relief blurred his vision. “A dream. Was only a dream.” He blinked back raw emotions, suddenly remembering the cameras mounted in the ceiling.
    Father Murray whispered, “You were calling out for Mary Kate. That’s the fifth time this week.”
    Same dream for weeks. That thing in the water. Mary Kate. Was all so real. Never saw Haddock before. What does it mean? Or is it only a nightmare? It wasn’t all that unusual, having the bad dreams. Liam had had them from the time he was a child. Now that he was an adult, he had nightmares so often that he’d become immune to their well-worn horrors. Occasionally, he’d have the bad night—maybe once or twice a week, but this—
    Someone in heavy boots was running in the hall outside, several someones to be exact. Guards, he assumed. The alarm was still whooping on the other side of the thick cinderblock wall. Father Murray didn’t seem to hear it.
    “You should talk to someone about this. If