Chapter 5

Chupacabra

I usually had the luxury of working from home it was only once or maybe twice a week if I was completely unlucky that I got called into the office by my boss, I didn't particularly like him too much. The thing with George Davies is that he doesn't understand my way of working and he tends not to like what he doesn't understand, although he can never complain about the end results seeing as though I am his senior journalist on the North Kitsap Journal.

I strode confidently to George's door as his PA waved me on; I knocked lightly and went in. George was sat behind his desk with his laptop open and lined up were his collection of every other gadget available – many of which did exactly the same as the next one but still he displayed them like trophies in his office.

"Ah at last, Lacey!" He always addressed his journalists by their surnames and it made me cringe every time he did it.

"Hello Sir, so what's the new story you want me to work on?"

"Yes, yes well it's the killings of course, big news big news!" he had stood up and was pacing around his office with his hands flying in the air to emphasize the 'big'.

"I thought the Herald was covering all the major news?" I asked

"Well yes that's usually the case of course especially as the first incidents were in Kingston but they seem to be moving closer to our front door now." I stared back at him blankly. "Are you a reporter or what? Have you not heard? The young Fisher boy was found down by the harbour the early hours of this morning, still on his boat the poor mite. Whoever it was must have got him as he moored up, his poor parents are hysterical god knows how they will cope, he was their only son you know, good looking boy too, what was his name again?" George stared up at the ceiling trying to gain inspiration to find the boys name.

"Matty" I replied immediately "His name is, was Matty"

"Ah yes that's right little Matty Fisher, lovely boy did you know him he was about your age?"

"uhm yeah, we were friends..." I felt in complete shock and my legs began to wobble and my body suddenly felt like it hadn't had any sugar – all unsteady and shaky.

"Well I want you on the story Lacey you are the best one for the job; you need to find out what's going off especially as the police and the hospital are being a bit cagey about the whole terrible mess"

"You mean you want me to find out from Ben if he knows anything! You know I can't do that, besides he won't tell me anything either it's more than his job is worth."

"I know you can do it Lacey, now what are you waiting for? go get the story before the Herald gets it!" That was my cue to leave and I did so still dazed and unsteady.

The fresh air hit me hard and I lent heavily against the wall of the building trying to control my breathing so I didn't start to hyperventilate. Poor Matty, we had been good friends in high school; best friends even for a while. We were not as close these days but I still held a fondness of him from all the time we had spent together while growing up through all our awkward teenage stages. I smiled when I thought about the time we had kissed, not because we had liked each other in that way but we just wanted to know what it would be like seeing as though neither of us had ever kissed anybody before and we felt safe to practise on each other. George had been right though, he was a lovely boy and didn't deserve to die but I had no idea how I was going to report on a story I would hold close to my heart.

I went to the police station to get a statement but they wouldn't comment at this time all they said was 'it looks like an animal attack'. I couldn't face talking to Mr and Mrs Fisher just yet, seeing their pain would be too much for me and I'm not sure how I would hold up.

I decided that heading home was probably for the best and maybe trusty Google would hold some answers for me and even somewhere to start would be a help. If the police didn't have a clue what hope did I have – a local newspaper reporter.

My first port of call was to look over the previous reports made on the other killings nearby in the last six months but they all said exactly the same 'suspected animal attacks' or 'serial killer'. Uhm not much different then! I looked over the victims a married woman in her 40's, a drug addict – male 30's, a teenage boy and now Matty Fisher; it didn't really seem like the work of a serial killer, there didn't seem to be a pattern or anything linking the victims it just didn't make sense. What would be the point in random killings? Don't serial killers usually like to be making a statement?

I was slumped over my computer exhausted and frustrated from finding out anything new for the story when there was a knock on my apartment door. My heart started beating fast; I hadn't been expecting anyone to come round and nobody ever called round unexpectedly. The knock came again, louder this time and I slowly moved towards the door unsure whether I would actually open it or not. Adrenaline pumped round my body and I began to look round quickly for a weapon, I picked up the nearest thing to me and went up to the door more confidently.

"Cara are you in there?" A voice shouted from the other side of the door which I instantly recognised to be Ben. I unlocked the door and open it quickly and fell into his arms with relief.

"Hey good to see you too" he laughed.

"I'm sorry you got me scared, I wasn't expecting anybody and what with these strange killings...I guess my imagination went into overdrive." I smiled sheepishly as we walked back into my apartment.

"Soooo you decided to arm yourself with a...feather duster?"

I blushed wildly as I looked at the dusted in my hand.

"What were you going to do Cara? Tickle him to death?" we both laughed hard.

"I didn't think you would be round tonight though, is everything okay or did you just miss me too much?" We sat on my comfy sofa, sinking into the deep spongy cushions.

"I've just had a real bad day and I really needed to see you so you could brighten it for me" he smiled but it wasn't real, his eyes looked tired and his brow creased from whatever strain he was feeling.

"Do you want to talk about it, a problem shared is a problem halved after all" I encouraged.

"I can't really but I'm actually totally spooked and I want you to be careful, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you it's just so..." The words came out of his so fast I struggled to understand what he was saying.

"Hey its okay, nothing is going to happen to me."

"No! Cara you don't understand there is someone or something out there and I..."

"Is this something to do with Matty Fishers' death?"

"No, yes well kind of" he said shaking his head almost like he was having an internal battle with himself.

"Which one is it? I have never seen you like this before please tell me you are really worrying me now" I touched his arm to comfort him and he turned to face me and put his hands on my shoulders, holding me where I sat.

"Cara I had to examine Matty's body when it came in and it wasn't right"

"What wasn't right?" I felt truly scared of what he might tell me.

"There were bite marks on his arms and that was the only evidence that he was attacked, no sign of a struggle or other injuries".

"Surely you can't die from bite marks unless whatever bit you were poisonous, right?" I asked

"That's just it Cara it wasn't the bite marks that killed him, it was the fact that whatever bit him also drained him of every ounce of blood in his body! He was completely dry! I have never seen anything like this in my life and they definitely don't teach you this stuff at med school!" he placed his head in his hands with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Whatever bit him, did it may be severe an artery or something, did he just bleed to death?" I was hoping to make some sense out of what he was telling me.

"Do you not think I checked that?" Ben snapped "There was no blood anywhere not on the floor or on the boat, on his body or in his body! Whatever bit him also drank him!" I stared at him in disbelief; he never spoke to me like that.

"Look I shouldn't have come, I just need to go and clear my head for a bit like I said I have had a really bad day" He got up and walked over to the door and opened it without looking back and I think I heard him say 'sorry' as the door clicked shut behind him.

I'm not sure how long I sat there for but dusk had fallen by the time I felt able to move, I had sat mulling things over for a while, everything that Ben had told me and the way he had spoken to me and then left. I had half expected him to ring me or at least send me a message to say sorry and then I would have asked him to come back to my place and we would fall into each other's arms and everything would be okay but he didn't. So we didn't.

I decided that the internet was needed again because despite everything Ben had given me some vital information for my story and I still had a job to do.

I sat looking at the search engine for a while wondering what I should type in and felt foolish as I typed 'blood drinker' and was even more surprised to find 250,000 results come back.

I began sifting through the endless websites relating to vampires and people believing they are vampires. Ridiculous! I had nearly given up hope of finding anything when something caught my eye; it was an old news story so I clicked the link. It was a report on some farmer finding his animals dead and completely drained of blood the suspected creature responsible was called Chupacabra. Wanting to find out more I typed in Chupacabra into the search engine.

"Though some argue that the chupacabras may be real creatures, mainstream scientists and experts generally contend that the chupacabra is a legendary creature, or a type of urban legend. It is supposedly a heavy creature, about the size of a small bear with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.

The legend of cipi chupacabra began approximately in 1987, when Puerto Rican newspapers El Vocero and El Nuevo Dia began reporting the killings of many different types of animals, such as birds, horses, and, goats. However, it is predated by El Vampiro de Moca (The Vampire of Moca), a creature blamed for similar killings that occurred in the large town of Moca in the 1970s. While at first it was suspected that the killings were done randomly by some members of a satanic cult, eventually these killings spread around the island, and many farms reported loss of animal life. The killings had one pattern in common: Each of the animals found dead had two punctured holes around its neck."

I continued to search out any information I could find about this creaturebut it looked like it only seemed to kill animals, no reports of any human deaths caused by this thing except around 50 years ago in a small town called Forks when some hikers went missing and it was reported as bear attacks but some believed it was the cause of Chupacabra although nothing was ever proven.

I began to mull over the idea of a trip to Forks, it wasn't far and I might be able to talk to some of the locals about what happened to the hikers as I'm sure somebody will remember. This could actually turn into a good story after all especially if I could make the link that the police were missing.