Page 14 of The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag

The only positive was the fact she didn’t close the hole behind her. The sound of paper tearing and food being devoured reached us and we exchanged uneasy glances.

It didn’t take her long to eat the dozen doughnuts and she didn’t offer us a single one, which was outrageous. I made a note that manners weren’t her thing. Moments later the remains of the pink bakery box came sailing out of the hole. It looked like she’d tried to take a couple of bites out of that, too, but decided it wasn’t very appetising. The doughnuts were gone, though.Every last tasty morsel, I thought mournfully.

She poked her head back out and pointed a metal-encased finger at me. ‘You. Come!’ she commanded before disappearing back into the tunnel. It was clear that I, and I alone, was meant to follow her.

Gunnar put a hand on my arm and lowered his voice. ‘Bunny, that isn’t a good idea.’

Thomas echoed him. ‘I can’t protect you if you go in there. If anything happened to you on my watch, Sidnee would never forgive me.’

I shook my head. ‘We have to know,’ I said firmly. ‘This is how we find out what really happened.’

‘We won’t find out shit if you don’t come back,’ Thomas objected.

I wanted to shrug off the comments, but the thought of following Matilda really didn’t fill me with the warm and fuzzies. I couldn’t pass through earth like her. I had a gun, but if I killed her I’d never get back through the wall again. If I offended her or said something she didn’t like, I’d be completely screwed. That didn’t feel great but bravery isn’t about not being scared; it’s about continuing even though youarescared.

In the end my sense of duty and my insatiable curiosity won. It seemed likely that my need to solve a mystery would kill me someday; I just hoped it wouldn’t be today. ‘It’s okay, I’ll be fine,’ I said out loud to reassure them and myself.

‘Bunny, please don’t go,’ Gunnar murmured, but I noted that he didn’t order me not to. He could have pulled rank but he didn’t because he wanted to know the truth as much as I did, even if his common sense told him it wasn’t a good idea. We really were peas in a pod – an idiotic, suicidal pod.

‘I’m going in,’ I said with as much bravado as I could muster. I paused. ‘If I don’t come out, take care of everyone.’ I paused again. ‘And thanks, Gunnar – for everything.’I couldn’t say more or I wouldn’t have been able to do this.

Like a curious cat, I stooped low and walked into the earthen hole after the hag. Like a cat, I hoped I had a few lives left.

Chapter 10

The scent of damp earth was all around me. I jumped and tried to suppress the jolt of panic when the ‘door’ behind me disappeared and I was plunged into total darkness.Think, Bunny!

I reached up and fumbled with my helmet to flick on my headlamp. Relief flowed through me as it came on; it was meagre and underpowered but definitelylight.I was still in a tunnel with an unknown threat, but at least now I could see her coming for me. Surely that would be better, right?

The hag’s small form shuffled in front of me. Her head was down and her back was hunched so she was an ideal size for the tunnel, but she had failed to consider her tall guest and I had to stoop low as I walked forward. I was several inches taller than my guide and my back was already protesting.

I was completely disoriented in the narrow tunnels. I was panting, but I told myself that it was from the exerciserather than from fear and being in a tight space at another creature’s mercy.

Because the darkness and being underground messed with my senses, I had no idea how long we walked. When the hag finally came to an open space, I stumbled. She had led me to her home and apparently she was willing to let me in. Huh.

Of all the things I’d expected, it wasn’t this. Old lanterns lit the cavernous space and cast a dim glow in the cave and I could see that she even had some furniture. Matilda waved me past her and I started forward. As I lifted my head, my headlamp illuminated more of the space.

Oh fuck.

The walls of the cavern were lined with skulls. Human skulls. My knees buckled. As I collapsed into the chair next to me, I heard the hag cackle. ‘You should have had sugary snack, little girl,’ she said. ‘You so weak.’

I ignored her taunts and pointed to the skulls. ‘They gave me a turn,’ I admitted honestly. My heart had given three solid beats: I was in vampire tachycardia.

She looked at the skulls and laughed harder; her wheezy bark reminded me of a seal. As she sat on another chair, I noticed the mismatched nature of the furniture. Had she stolen castoffs from places around town? She seemed to like the overstuffed type.

The hag explained, ‘Those from graves. I move out of way.’ Well, that was a relief because I’d immediately thought of cannibalism. ‘Food?’ she offered. ‘Drink?’

I blinked and tried not to let my eyes linger on the skulls. ‘No, thank you. I’ve just eaten,’ I lied.

She grunted. ‘Fine. You want talk, so talk.’

‘Sure. I’m Bunny, by the way. I’m an officer at the Nomo’s office.’

‘Why Bunny? Is it because you jump like rabbit?’ She giggled.

Great, even the non-humans were comedians. ‘I’ve always had carrots in my fridge,’ I explained, pulling out a well-worn story. ‘So everyone calls me Bunny.’

She snorted. ‘Carrots for rodents. You rodent?’

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