woman. ’Tis the price ye pay when dealing with the devil.”
Chapter Nine
Emma cranked the sound louder on the television to drown out the barest hint of crashing waves pounding against the beach. Much better. With the windows shuttered, the curtains drawn and the TV blaring, she couldn’t hear the ocean at all.
Padding her way into the kitchen, she hesitated in front of the television as the screen exploded with the latest film footage of a raging fire somewhere on the island. Orange flames licked in and out of rolling black smoke streaming from a row of houses. Yellow-coated men scrambled with gray-white fire hoses snaking across the ground. Billows of steam rose from the inferno as the jets of water evaporated from the intense heat surrounding the buildings. Barely controlled chaos clamored in the background of the news announcer’s voice.
Moira’s warning echoed through her thoughts as a swirling orange ball of flames flew across the screen and exploded into a stand of already smoldering buildings. The roaring inferno definitely met her definition of disaster. Emma swallowed hard and blinked against a sense of gnawing uncertainty fueled by the carnage on the screen.
A slight movement in the upper portion of the video caught Emma’s attention. Edging closer to the TV, she bent until she stood eye level with the screen, studying the odd-looking winged form outlined against the swirling sky. As she watched, the strange figure disappeared into the roiling black smoke. Emma shivered with a strange sense of recognition at the long-tailed apparition sporting a pair of tattered, batlike wings.
Emma grabbed her cell phone off the back of the couch and punched in Moira’s speed dial number. Moira had recounted many times that she and Alfred watched the local news with religious fervor. When Moira answered, excitement stalled Emma’s words on her tongue because the demonic-looking lizard with ratty black wings had just emerged back out of the clouds. Blinking hard, Emma pressed the phone closer to her mouth as Moira’s third curt hello broke her words free. “Moira! Are you watching the news?”
“Why of course, dear. The fire is just terrible. Such a loss of property and they’ve still not found several of the occupants. I fear they’ve met a tragic end. Why do ye ask, Dr. Emma? Are ye all right?”
Moira’s sing-song voice buzzed in Emma’s ear. How could the older woman be so calm? The thing flying through those clouds looked like some evil winged lizard that the depths of hell had ejected. “Moira, look. Flying through those clouds on the right of the screen. Don’t you see it? What do you think that thing is?”
“See what, Dr. Emma? All I see is another one of those horrid fires. We seem to be plagued with a lot of them of late but no one has the gumption to admit it’s the beast because they can no’ find any substantial evidence to prove it.”
“Substantial evidence? How much more substantial evidence do they need? That’s it right there on the video, Moira! You were right. Your so-called beast is on television right now.” Dang! If only she’d rented that recorder she’d seen in the shops. That creature was freaking unbelievable. “Can’t you see it, Moira? It’s that lizard thing hovering close to the top of the screen. Look! It just belched a big mouthful of fire all over that tanker truck. What channel are you watching?” Maybe that was the problem. Moira must be watching a different channel and her viewpoint of the blaze was different. Emma clicked the info button on the remote. Channel seven flickered briefly at the bottom of the screen. “Turn your TV to channel seven.”
“We are watching channel seven, dear. ’Tis the only local news channel there is. We just saw that fire truck explode but we didn’t see anything resembling your...what did ye call it? Ah yes. Flying lizard. We didn’t see anything like that. And besides, no mortal has the ability to see the beast I spoke
Chapter Nine
Emma cranked the sound louder on the television to drown out the barest hint of crashing waves pounding against the beach. Much better. With the windows shuttered, the curtains drawn and the TV blaring, she couldn’t hear the ocean at all.
Padding her way into the kitchen, she hesitated in front of the television as the screen exploded with the latest film footage of a raging fire somewhere on the island. Orange flames licked in and out of rolling black smoke streaming from a row of houses. Yellow-coated men scrambled with gray-white fire hoses snaking across the ground. Billows of steam rose from the inferno as the jets of water evaporated from the intense heat surrounding the buildings. Barely controlled chaos clamored in the background of the news announcer’s voice.
Moira’s warning echoed through her thoughts as a swirling orange ball of flames flew across the screen and exploded into a stand of already smoldering buildings. The roaring inferno definitely met her definition of disaster. Emma swallowed hard and blinked against a sense of gnawing uncertainty fueled by the carnage on the screen.
A slight movement in the upper portion of the video caught Emma’s attention. Edging closer to the TV, she bent until she stood eye level with the screen, studying the odd-looking winged form outlined against the swirling sky. As she watched, the strange figure disappeared into the roiling black smoke. Emma shivered with a strange sense of recognition at the long-tailed apparition sporting a pair of tattered, batlike wings.
Emma grabbed her cell phone off the back of the couch and punched in Moira’s speed dial number. Moira had recounted many times that she and Alfred watched the local news with religious fervor. When Moira answered, excitement stalled Emma’s words on her tongue because the demonic-looking lizard with ratty black wings had just emerged back out of the clouds. Blinking hard, Emma pressed the phone closer to her mouth as Moira’s third curt hello broke her words free. “Moira! Are you watching the news?”
“Why of course, dear. The fire is just terrible. Such a loss of property and they’ve still not found several of the occupants. I fear they’ve met a tragic end. Why do ye ask, Dr. Emma? Are ye all right?”
Moira’s sing-song voice buzzed in Emma’s ear. How could the older woman be so calm? The thing flying through those clouds looked like some evil winged lizard that the depths of hell had ejected. “Moira, look. Flying through those clouds on the right of the screen. Don’t you see it? What do you think that thing is?”
“See what, Dr. Emma? All I see is another one of those horrid fires. We seem to be plagued with a lot of them of late but no one has the gumption to admit it’s the beast because they can no’ find any substantial evidence to prove it.”
“Substantial evidence? How much more substantial evidence do they need? That’s it right there on the video, Moira! You were right. Your so-called beast is on television right now.” Dang! If only she’d rented that recorder she’d seen in the shops. That creature was freaking unbelievable. “Can’t you see it, Moira? It’s that lizard thing hovering close to the top of the screen. Look! It just belched a big mouthful of fire all over that tanker truck. What channel are you watching?” Maybe that was the problem. Moira must be watching a different channel and her viewpoint of the blaze was different. Emma clicked the info button on the remote. Channel seven flickered briefly at the bottom of the screen. “Turn your TV to channel seven.”
“We are watching channel seven, dear. ’Tis the only local news channel there is. We just saw that fire truck explode but we didn’t see anything resembling your...what did ye call it? Ah yes. Flying lizard. We didn’t see anything like that. And besides, no mortal has the ability to see the beast I spoke
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