One Night

September 20th 1954

7:50 pm

The man and woman drove up to the hotel. Through the downpour, they barely saw the neon sign blinking Vacancy, as well as three other cars. The man sighed at the sight of other vehicles, but he knew that on a night like this, people wouldn’t press their luck in this storm. He put the car in park as the wind picked up with a violent howl that made the car shake a little. The woman looked at the hotel and then back to the man.  

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Not really.” He replied.

“Then why not try the road again?”

“Because the officer told us the road was closed due to a mudslide”

“How do you know he wasn’t one of them, and he was lying to us?”

“Because I saw the slide behind him. I’m sorry this is our best chance.”

“What about just sleeping in the car?” She begged.

"Won't work, has to be an actual building. Besides, if they saw us in a car, they'd easily rip open the doors. At least inside we could prepare."

The woman looked back at the neon sign blinking “vacancy” then said, “Ok”.

"Our cover story is husband and wife on vacation to Colorado Springs, we are from Ohio. You are a school teacher who teaches 4th grade. I’m a history teacher at the high school.”

“Sounds like you have used this story before”

“It's dull enough no one will ask questions. You ready?”

"No, but we have no choice right?"

They pushed the doors open to her Ford truck, ducked, and ran to the door.

"Remember, you are Carely Stone, I'm your husband Jon Stone," he said close to her, like he was guarding their story from the shadows of the night that would report their location.

The door opened and everyone looked up to see a couple walking in the door. The woman had red hair and wore a tan coat and red heels to match her hair. The man with her wore a fedora and a grey trench coat. He was head and shoulders taller than the woman. His broad frame ushered the woman toward the front desk. He took his hat off and shook it to keep from spraying the clerk. He looked up and smiled,

“Hi, We’d like a room for One Night.”

A woman in her 40s smiled back at the man. She looked only a little older than him but had ten years on his ‘wife’.

“Sure! You folks get detoured from the storm?”

“Yeah, we’re on vacation. Headed to Colorado Springs when we got turned around.” Jon said.

"Uh-huh, so did they." Jon and Carly looked into the tavern the clerk had nodded toward. Four men sat around a table playing cards, occasionally sipping on a beer. They all looked to blue-collar workers, clothed in jeans and flannel shirts. They stared at the couple. Jon waved at the men. They didn't move but continued to stare. Jon looked past them to the mirror that covered the entire room and chuckled.

"Well, can I have your names?" The clerk asked bringing Jon's attention back to the front desk.

"Jon and Carly Stone" Carly answered, not to draw any more attention to themselves.

  “Alrighty, I got you in room 4, it's on the first floor…”

"Could we have a room on the second floor?" John Interrupted.

“Sure, I’ll give you Room 8. Here’s your key”.

They took the two keys and walked up the stairs. As they ascended the stairs the rain began to drum louder on the roof. Although the hallway was lit, the lightning flashed and illuminated the dark corners of the corridor. Carely inhaled sharply.

“What? What is it?” Jon asked.

“I…I thought I saw a shadow or a person when the lighting flashed.”

Jon peered down the hallway then quickly inserted the key, ushered Carely in, and closed the door behind them.

He moved across the hotel room, checking the windows to make sure their locks worked, then closing the curtains. He turned on all the lights, then twisted the dial to turn on the TV and increase the volume. He took Carely into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Ok, now I need you to give me the whole story," Jon said as he pulled a cigarette from his suit pocket and lit it. She looked at his anticipation, then looked to the right as if beyond the shower someone may be listening. "The t.v. will mask our conversation, but if I am going to help, you I need to know what is going on." He took a seat on the tub, closed the lid on the toilet, and gestured for her to sit. He offered a cigarette to her which she took. She lit it took, a long drag, and sat down.

“My brother is a real estate agent. He was offered a job by a man named Richard Blackmire. He wanted a plot of land in Virginia. My brother took the deal, secured the land and Blackmire started developing. 6 months later, my brother saw in the newspaper the nearby town was having issues with increases in missing people men, women, and children. He decides to check in on Blackmire unannounced. He finds that he constructed a church-like building. He snuck up and looked into the window and…” She paused.

Jon leaned forward, “And?...”

“He saw close to fifty people he thought were asleep. Some were sleeping on the ground. Others were hanging by their feet from the rafters. In the center of the room was a giant hole in the ground and a black substance was all around it. Then he sees Blackmire climb out of the pit. He crawls over to a woman lying on the ground and watches as the man grows fangs and then bites down on the woman's neck. One by one others began to awake and moved toward Blackmire. They had glowing eyes and long teeth.

My brother went back to his hotel not knowing what to do and got a call from Blackmire. He threatened with legal action if he said anything or broke their agreement. Instead, Jon returned to the building with a can of gas and torched the building. He said he could hear the screams, but not human screams. It was like animals. He drove home to find his house broken into and ransacked with a note left for him. “You and all your family will pay for this, starting with your sister.” He called me and explained the situation and that’s when I went to the police.”

Jon nodded and stood up. “I’ve heard of Blackmire. He’s had a lot of money but no one knows where it comes from. All the cases that come to me tend to have some kind of connection to him, but never enough to pin anything on him.”

"Can you help me?" Carly said as a tear rolled down her cheek.

“Blackmire’s network reaches far, but I think if we made our way to the coast it would be the safest.”

“Have you dealt with…I mean…”

“Vampires and Werewolves?” John said lighting another cigarette. “Yeah, being a bodyguard against monsters is not something you advertise in the newspaper. I just take the cases where the police think a person is crazy. I try to keep an open mind and suspend belief enough to listen. But you'd be surprised at what I’ve seen.”

He pulled from his trench coat a cross, a .38 revolver, and two stakes. “The first time I was scared shitless but you get used to it.” He opened the revolver, pulled a cartridge, and showed it to Carly. A silver dome capped the head of the round. “I thought I had seen monsters before when I was on the force…” He chuckled, “…boy was I wrong”.

A crash of thunder shook the hotel and the lights began to flicker.

“We might need to fight our way out of here.”

“Why? I thought you said being inside a building meant we would be safe?”

“I hoped we’d get here first and prepare but I noticed something about those guys in the bar, two of them didn’t give a reflection in the mirror.”

Another large thunderclap sounded and they were plunged into total darkness. The hotel room when silent. Carly could hear her heart pounding as loud as a drum in a parade. Jon flicked on his lighter and stepped out into the hotel room. He watched as the door knob began to turn. John raised the pistol and fired. The flash lit up the room as the slug punched a hole through the door and by the sound, through the being behind the door. With a low howl of pain, the human half-wolf bellowed its death throws.

He grabbed Carely’s hand and moved toward the door. He holstered his revolver and thrust out his crucifix. As the door opened a leering white face with glowing gold eyes and sharp fangs repulsed at the cross. Jon’s hand seemed to be holding a neon sign of red and white which glowed bright into the face of the vampire. It covered its face giving enough time for Jon to drop Carely’s hand and bring one of the stakes up from his belt into the chest of the vampire. It sheered through the red and black flannel and sunk deep into its chest cavity. Black ooze and blood spurted out as the vampire fell onto the floor writhing in pain until it dissolved into ashes.

Jon retrieved Carely's hand again and moved out into the hallway. The dark corridor was only illuminated by the momentary flashes of lightning. They descended the stairs to the foyer. One of the four men rushed at them and Jon drew his pistol enough to get a shot off from the hip into the man's chest. The man crumbled to the floor and began to howl like a dog as he changed into a large grey wolf.

As the werewolf completed his death throws, Jon was thrown from the stairs. Carly saw someone or something was on top of him wrestling with Jon. She looked around for a weapon. She saw a broom lying against the corner in the flash of lighting. She grabbed and snapped the brush end off. The broom handle now became a spear. The brush fell by the glazed eyes of the clerk. Blood pooled around her. Carely ran over to Jon, and like a Roman solder, ran the attacker through the back with the broom. The vampire arched its back and let out a banshee-like scream which turned to a wet gargle as it writhed and turned to dust.

Carly reached down and helped Jon to his feet. "Are you ok? Are you bit?"

“No, I’m fine. Let's go.”

They ran out to their car, piled in, and drove off into the night.

The End