Dust Thou Art
by Jeanne Rose
Part 5
Detective Kate Lockely stood on the landing of Angel's Gate Lighthouse, watching the uniformed officers at work around the remains of the latest victim of whatever was menacing the waters of San Pedro's harbor. The body parts were piling up fast, and so far no one had been able to come up with a workable theory about what had happened to them. None of the forensic biologists had been able to account for the teeth marks.
But perhaps they weren't considering all of the possibilities. Kate knew if she voiced her thoughts to anyone, she'd be laughed out of the precinct, but if demons existed, if vampires were real . . . why not sea monsters?
A mist sat on the water, obscuring the horizon. What might be hidden in it? She stared out at the vast ocean, half-expecting a Nessie-like shape to poke out of the waves beyond the breakwater. What a strange, unpredictable place the world had become since that day when Angel had shown his true face.
"Kate, don't go out there."
She jumped. He was standing right behind her in the shadow of the lighthouse that incidentally bore his name. He didn't look well, and she wondered momentarily if vampires got sick. Then again, all the better if they did.
"Why? What don't you think I'm ready to see now?" she asked.
"It's not about that. It's about you not getting killed. Aren't you a little out of your jurisdiction?" he asked suddenly.
"Aren't you a little out of yours?"
"Kate, it's a demon," he said tiredly. "A really big one. There's nothing you can do to stop it."
"I can call out the Coast Guard. The marine biologists from the university. Find a really big harpoon, if I have to."
He looked momentarily taken by this idea, but then he shook his head. "You'll never catch it. It's very old and probably pretty smart."
"But you can handle it all by yourself."
He ducked his head as if hurt by her sarcasm. "I'm working on it."
"Well, while you're working on it, people are dying. Real people. So if you think I'm going to walk away on your say-so, think again."
At least now she knew for sure. She turned to find an officer who could get her a boat.
* * *
"I don't think I convinced her," Angel said. "In fact, maybe just the opposite."
"What are we going to do?" Wesley asked.
Angel looked around. "Steal a boat." Wesley stared at him. "Temporarily, of course," he ammended.
Wesley nodded dubiously. "Of course."
* * *
Kate stared hard at the water as the officer drove the patrol boat back and forth across the harbor in a search pattern. The fog limited visibility substantially. She had told them that she wanted to look for debris, since the victim found at the lighthouse had been reported missing from a motorboat. But now she felt a little foolish, like a tourist hoping for a glimpse of the Loch Ness monster. Still, if Angel said this was a demon, well, it took one to know one.
She heard the sound of another boat and looked up to see one of Angel's employees coming up behind her with idiotic determination. Hadn't she made it clear to the officers on shore that no one else was to come out here?
Her boat rocked suddenly, and she looked at the officer to see what had happened. He was equally surprised. "What was that?" she asked.
He cut the motor, and they drifted in silence. The other boat stopped several yards behind them. Gripping the railing, Kate stared out across the waves. For a moment she thought she saw a huge ridged shape rise briefly from the water, then disappear again. "Did you see that?" she asked the officer.
Before he could answer the boat rocked violently, nearly overturning. Kate clung to the railing, but heard the officer cry out as he went overboard.
As soon as the boat righted itself she leaned over the edge, looking for him. Angel's employee aimed a crossbow at the water.
"No!" she cried, but he fired anyway. "You idiot! Are you trying to kill him?" She unbuckled her life jacket and prepared to dive in after him.
"Trying to save him, actually," was the response. And suddenly the officer surfaced. She threw him a life preserver, and once he'd grabbed hold she pulled him in and helped him aboard. He was bleeding from a huge gash in his leg. It had obviously not been made by a crossbow bolt.
"There's something down there," he gasped as she ripped open his uniform pant leg to look at the wound. It did not look good. "Something big." His face was gray with shock.
The boat rocked violently again, and she had a sudden horrifying vision of a huge creature bumping it from underneath. The injured officer groaned as they slid together across the deck, leaving it smeared with blood. This was no good. Kate leaped up and turned the key to start the engine.
But no sooner had the boat begun to move than a huge shape arose from the water, blocking her way. Her brain refused to identify it as a head, though it had golden luminescent eyes and dripping streamers hanging from its blunt jaws. Fog curled around it.
Suddenly her view was blocked by the other boat cutting between them. "Kate, get out of here!" Angel called tightly. He had apparently been hidden in the cabin and was now wrapped in a blanket to protect him from the sunlight peeking through the mist. He had a long sword in one hand. His employee stood determinedly behind the wheel, and together they plowed forward into the fog.
Kate lost no time in turning a tight circle and hitting the gas. They hadn't gone far when the air was filled with a moan that sounded like a whale in labor. She looked back but could see nothing. Then the other boat came speeding out of the mist. It followed her until they reached the shore. Her first priority was the injured officer, but as soon as she had called the paramedics, she turned to deal with her rescuers.
The other boat was already empty.