The Way Of The Blood

Word Count:  3949

The Way Of The Blood

Henry Saggin stood on the porch.  He had his boy, Carl, with him.  Jonas noticed Carl cradled a shotgun in his arms.  "Why don't you wait on the path, son," Henry said without turning his head.  The boy backed up to the steps of the porch, then turned and descended as he was told.

"A friendly call, neighbor?"  Jonas stood in his doorway.  He shaded his brow with his hand as half the evening sun peeked over the horizon.

Saggin, dressed still in his dirty overalls from working his ranch that day, responded, "Why wouldn't it be?"  Henry smiled.  "Oh, that," he said referring to his son's twelve gauge.  "Some of my cattle been attacked lately.  Carl brought the gun case we can get a shot off on the way here or home.  Where's that lovely wife of yours?"

"Out in the barn.  Nice of you to drop on by, Henry.  Should I git her?"

"No, that's fine.  Came to talk to you anyhow.  For pig farmers, all of you sure keep the hours, don't you." 

Young Wyatt looked out from behind Jonas's leg.  Ten years old and looking more and more like his mother each day, the boy maintained a death grip on his father thigh.  Known in town by the older folks as "The Quiet One", the boy barely made a peep ever.  Other town folks just thought him strange.

"Well, hello there, little buddy."  Henry knelt down to Wyatt's level. 

The boy remained silent and glanced up at this father for reassurance that things would be all right.  Jonas reached down and brushed his dark brown hair with his heavily callused hand.  "Answer Mr. Saggin, son."

Wyatt made eye contact, but that was all he would do.

"That's ok, Jonas.  Boy's coming along fine.  Fine."

Jonas and the youngster attached to his leg stepped aside to let Henry in.  "Please come sit down in the kitchen.  I think we still have some coffee on."

"Don't mind if I do, neighbor.  Don't mind if I do."

Done in a country peach color with white on the trim, the small kitchen was neatly decorated but cluttered.  Barely enough room for the two adults, a third chair sat in the corner by the cupboard.

Jonas set a steaming cup of coffee on the table in front of Henry.  The man regarded it pleasantly and placed his hand by the cup, but did not pick it up.  "Ben and Luke Gibson came by my place looking for work," the visitor stated.  "Seems they don't like you and the Mrs. much.  Heard some stories."

Jonas wiped his hands with a dish towel.  "Well, can't say I's interested in hearing what it's about.  Can't follow rules, I don't need ‘em around.  Sure it's the same way at your place."

"It is."  Henry watched his coffee cool for another second.  "Heard about Julia being sickly all the time too.  She ok, Jonas?"

The question caught Thatcher off guard.  He had always known the Gibson boys would be trouble sooner or later, but with Julia's health and Wyatt being so small, they needed the help.  "She's just battling something.  It's been ongoing.  We're planning on seeing doctors soon."

Henry tilted his head.  "Sunday, at the church, we can put her on prayer request.  You all come down.  You don't need no fancy doctors.  No sir!"  He raised his hands like he was signaling a touchdown.  "Let the Lord cleanse her soul!"

"That's mighty kind of you and the good folks here in town, but no thank you."

"It's nothing special.  Just regular town folk enjoy the word of . . . "

"No."  He cut him off.  "But thank you," he added again.

"Very well."  Henry Saggin sighed into his coffee cup.  He watched the hot brown liquid steam some more without saying a word.  He fidgeted and glanced around the kitchen.

"What?  Just say it, Henry."  Thatcher crossed his arms and leaned against the peach counter top.

"Well, it's like this, Jonas.  I'll just say it.  Me and most other town folk heard those boys jabbering on about secret rooms in that there barn.  About dead pigs."

"Idle chatter, Henry.  Like you said, they don't think much of us here.  Seems they don't more than I thought.  Glad they're gone.  You should steer clear too."

"Either way, Jonas, I suppose we better get a look at that barn now."

"Pardon?"

"Jonas, those boys tell stories that, to be honest, bother the members of this community.  Now, we are here to find the truth."  Saggin rose from the table.  "That's all we want."

"Who's we?"

Henry ignored him and opened the back door.  Through the doorway, Jonas could see the gathering of his neighbors by his barn.  He could see Jess and Helen Crockett, Martin Cobb and his two sons, the Tomlinson clan, and some others that he did not know so well.

"Bring the boy," Henry called over his shoulder.

"Saggin!  What is this?"  Before he could grab him, Wyatt shot through the doorway down the path, passing Mr. Saggin without breaking stride.  "Wyatt!"

As Jonas followed, he watched the boy burrow through the crowd into the barn, like a mouse into a tiny crevice in a wall.  He saw the anger in the eyes of the people.  With clenched fists and scowls, the mob parted to provide him passage into the building.  Some carried firearms.  Some waved torches.

Inside, he found his son now hugging the leg of his wife.  Trembling in complete terror with a bloody face, she was bound tightly to a wooden post that supported the hayloft.  "Jonas!" she cried.  Strands of her long black hair were pasted to her face by her tears.  "Get Wyatt out of here!"

The boy sobbed at her feet.

Jonas rushed to his wife's side only to be pulled back violently and thrown to the floor of his own barn.  He looked up and saw Ben and Luke Gibson smiling down on him, surely hoping to throw down an old fashion country whoopin' on their previous employer.  The crowd roared.

Henry Saggin shooed the boys back to the sidelines.  "Now, Jonas.  I know what this looks like, but nobody here laid a hand on her besides to tie her up.  We need an explanation."

"I need to get Wyatt out of here," he shouted from the barn floor.

"Sorry, the boy stays."

"You people are crazy!  Leave us alone!" Jonas spat.  "You have no right!"

"Jonas, we can call the police.  I am sure they would be very interested in the room with no windows that you have constructed in the back there.  And the adjoining room with the blood-spattered walls."

"I run a pig farm!"  Jonas got to his feet.  "So we slaughtered a few pigs.  Big deal!  Let her go and leave. Now!  We aren't hurting anyone here!"

"The people here are not so sure of that, friend.  Jess Crockett looked at the set-up and thinks your wife is some kinda bloodsucker or something.  Like Dracula on the late shows.  Only seems with pigs."  Saggin stood eye to eye with Jonas as the volume of the crowd rose only to be accompanied by the herd of snorting pigs.  "He right?  She bite people?"

Jonas looked at his wife.  Despite being bound like one of their sows for slaughter,  she mouthed I love you with her blood-smeared lips.  The picture of grace.

Even though he was raised to be a tough farm boy, willing to work hard long hours everyday of the week if need be, he would eternally be in awe of her strength, because, despite what she really was, she possessed a mother's resolve.  It was her idea to abstain from consuming human blood in favor of pig blood, which sapped her of nearly all her strength and special abilities.  The pigs served as her only nourishment, but she stoically accepted the pain and risks of her choice so that she could be a mother to Wyatt and Jonas could be a father.  She changed for them.

As a fair-skinned girl born to a family of gypsies with a taste for blood, Julia traveled the countryside in the dark as a child.  Her father and brothers would venture out and snatch humans, kicking and screaming, from their homes and drag them back to camp.  Then they would feast by campfire light before the body fluids ran cold.

Once in a while, Julia would tell Jonas the grim stories of her childhood, though not to scare him; it was more of a confession.  With the endless episodes of bloodshed and the intense lust for survival that her family handed down to her, she freed the demons by sharing her regret with the one she loved most.  She wanted, in time, to be as open with Wyatt, but he was much too young for that then.

Now, with her strapped to a post, Jonas feared that her great sacrifice would amount to nothing.

"He right?!" the older man roared at Jonas above the mob and the chorus of pigs.  Henry grabbed his shoulders to get his attention.  "You know, we've had town folk disappear in these parts.  Started just around the time she moved in.  Don't think we don't know that."

A rock slammed into the wooden post just above Julia's head.  The impact startled her and a wave of panic washed over her face.  Suddenly, Jonas heard the sound of metal pulled across leather as machetes were unsheathed and raised in the air.  A singular female voice shouted from the crowd, "Just kill her!"  Others groaned seemingly in agreement.

Wyatt screamed at the crowd and squeezed his mother's leg even tighter.

Jonas wanted to go to them, but Saggin stood in his way.

"What about the boy?" Henry asked. "He like her?"  With a piercing stare, he said, "We fear it gets handed down like those diseases."

Up to this point, Wyatt had not shown a desire to join his mother in barn to feed.  If he had shown interest, they vowed that they would not keep it from him, but he was still young.  She knew that it happened later with boys.  What he did share with his mother was an aversion to direct sunlight.  Logically, this condition was not as intense as her's, due to his mixed blood.

Jonas grabbed his skull with both hands and pulled them down over his cheeks.  Another rock skidded across the barn floor, stopping at his wife's feet.  Someone waved a flaming torch and yelled, "Burn em!"

"Oh dear god!  Get these people out of here!" he shouted at Henry.

"Nobody is leaving til we know, Jonas.  In fact, we have a plan.  Mr. Cobb, other there, says he knows that bloodsuckers can't stand daylight."  Henry added, "Kills them."

Jonas pleaded, "Please, just . . ."

Henry interrupted, "Now, maybe we'll just wait here til sun up.  See what happens to them both.  Or I could just let them decide," he motioned to the mob, "and be in our warm beds tonight.  You pick."

Mentally exhausted, Thatcher breathed, "Sun up."  Knowing that exposure to the morning sun would mean certain death for his wife and, maybe, child, Jonas agreed in order to buy precious time.

"Very well."  Saggin almost looked disappointed, but the mob was visibly irritated with the decision.  He addressed the crowd.  "We need volunteers to keep watch tonight."

Saggin pointed to the Gibson boys.  Martin Cobb stepped forward with his sons, each armed with machetes.  Mrs. Applegate volunteered.  The wrinkle-faced woman carried her dead husband's rifle.  And Henry announced that he and his boy would stay as well.

Little by little, the group cleared out.  Some mumbled threats under their breath.  Some did not mumble at all and were very clear on how they hoped the night would turn out.  Brutally so.

As the crowded thinned out, Jonas ponder how it came to that he and his family had forgotten who they were.  We were fools.  The life they were to lead did not include a 50th wedding anniversary celebration with he and Julia surrounded by their children and grandchildren with acknowledgments in the town paper.  It could not lead to a blossoming pig farm business with a larger work force and an eventual retirement.  Their secret would simply lead to more and more secrets.  All he really had was the strong belief that they could love each other until tragedy finally struck.

It only took an hour for the group holding his wife hostage to settle in for the night.  Each of them found a spot to sit or lean.  Mr. Cobb and his two teenage boys found a dusty corner and sat down.  The boys played with their machetes.  Mrs. Applegate plopped down on a bail of straw; her rifle rested on her lap.  She crossed her arms and held her stern stare on Julia and Wyatt.  Henry stayed close to Jonas.  The others huddled in a tight cluster and muttered to each other.  Ben and Luke were lost in horseplay, punching each other in the arm until a shoving match ensued.  "Boys, knock it off," Henry hollered.  "Dern fools."

Henry finally announced, "It does none of us any good to all stay up.  I say we do a rotation.  Each one of us goes on watch for an hour.  Nine hours left, that should work out.  I'll take first watch.  Carl, run home and get the rest some blankets."  The boy quickly got up and handed his father the shotgun, then left the barn.

Without any complaints, folks just fell in line, found a comfy looking spot, and rested.

About an hour after young Carl returned with the blankets, the group got drowsy.  Some went right to sleep.  Some propped themselves up to fight the urge.  Martin Cobb and his boys took watch.  Henry stayed up.  He sat down next to Jonas and buzzed around his ear.

"You can make this easier, Jonas," he whispered.  He rubbed his hands together to battle the emerging chill in the air.  "You need to pick a side here.  How you think this will work out, boy?  Just answer.  Is that a soldier of Satan is our midst?"

Jonas would not answer.

"You understand why this is happening, right?  We are facing a demon here.  Staring evil square in the face.  And you know it.  You are protecting evil," he stated incredulously.

Jonas would not look in his direction.  His voice was cold and firm. "You are facing a mother and a child, Henry.  End this." 

Henry picked up his thermos, another item his boy brought back with the blankets.  He poured himself some coffee and scanned the faces of his group of saints.  "One thing, over the years, I've learned is that sometimes the devil isn't always a serpent."

"Can't agree more with that, Mr. Saggin."  Jonas stood up.  "I want to talk to my wife."

Henry sipped from his mug.  "You do that, son.  You do that.  Just be careful.  Ol' Martin and his boy's look bored," he said with a half grin.  "Cobb, let him go over there."

Old man Cobb waved Jonas on.  His sons tightened their grips on their weapons.

Jonas dragged his feet along as he approached his wife and son.  The weight of the world rocked on his shoulders.  Julia's face, a smeared mask of blood and tears, told him all he needed to know about her hopes for survival.  He reached out and wiped a smudge from her cheek.

"Can he be spared, Jonas?  Can they let our son live?" she pleaded in a raspy whisper.  She chewed on her bottom lip as she waited for him to answer. 

His eyes welled up for the first time of the night.  Without a word, he shook his head slowly.  "They want blood, dear."

Julia and Jonas did not need words.  They had always been completely in tune with each other.  In the early years of their marriage, they had talked at length about what he wanted for his family and the impact of her many sacrifices.  That is why when Jonas said, "I want you and Wyatt to live", she knew exactly what he meant.

"No," she said immediately.  "No.  We've worked too hard at this.  I can‘t!  I won't!"

"Honey . ."

Julia could be rock stubborn when she wanted.  Tearfully, she said, "Let the day come.  I feel strong, Jonas.  We will be fine.  Wyatt doesn't have the taste yet.  He can survive the day too."

"I know you aren't strong, dear, and we don't know what will happen to Wyatt.  I won't risk you two.  It is the only way this should end."  Before she could say another word, Jonas put his hands on her cheeks and lightly kissed her forehead.

"Take it easy, there, pardner," someone bellowed and laughter followed.  Another shouted, "Get a room!"

Ignoring the audience, Jonas said, "I think it's the only way."  They exchanged looks again and he knew she understood.  "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you."

Wyatt grabbed his pant leg now.  Jonas bent down and rubbed his son's back.  "Son, I need you to back up a bit.  Turn your head, ok."

The boy sniffed and slowly complied.

Jonas hugged Julia and set his head down on her shoulder.  Immediately, he reached around with this right hand to grip his left wrist.  When he had a firm hold, he said, "Ok."

That was when she flashed a shiny set of fangs and violently chomped down on her husband's neck.

The pain was excruciating but he welcomed it.  He felt his skin open up and warm blood erupt from his jugular, soaking the shoulder of his flannel shirt.  When his legs began to give out from the blood loss, he wisely tightened his grip to keep himself in her jaws.  His body shook as he groaned, "Get it all!"

Henry Saggin screamed for help, awakening the dozing townspeople.  He grabbed at Jonas's free shoulder and tried to pry him off her, but he was strong and determined.  Jonas's grip finally broke from the impact of Carl Saggin's shotgun butt swung against his skull.  Jonas dropped like a sack of flour, hitting the dirt floor of the barn with a dusty thud. A crimson geyser shot from the wound in his punctured neck.

Still dizzy from the blow to his head, Jonas rolled onto his back and slowed his blood loss by applying pressure to the bite with his right hand.  Slippery red oozed from between his fingers.  His vision finally cleared to witness Henry pointing the twelve gauge shotgun to his wife's head.

"Henryyyyy!" Jonas's voice gurgled.

"I am gonna do it, Jonas!"

"Look at meeee!"

"What!"  Saggin shifted his eyes from Julia to his injured neighbor.

Jonas opened his mouth to speak, but words could not make it past his red-coated lips.  He tried again.  He waved Henry closer, but the man seemed reluctant to move.  Finally, through his pink teeth, he uttered one word.  "Runnnnnn!"

Saggin turned back to Julia in time to see her break the ropes that tied her hands behind her and toss them to the side.  With lightning reflexes and brute strength gained from the fresh dose of human blood, she snatched the shotgun out of Henry's hands and snapped it in two, shattering the wooden stock.

An explosion of pig snorts and squeals nearly deafened the town folk as they struggled to make it to their feet and locate their weapons.  The herd pressed against their wooden pens and made them creak from the pressure.  They wildly stomped their dirty hooves, kicking up a cloud of dust mixed with pig shit.

One of the Cobb boys rushed Julia with his blade raised for a swift strike.  She reached out and caught his wrist with her hand and violently twisted.  The boy's arm was wrenched in a direction that it was never intended to go and he crumpled to the ground in agony.  The second Cobb boy charged her from the left.  She caught him by the neck and squeezed until he dropped his machete.  Then she continued the pressure until his throat suddenly exploded.

The rest of the mob instantly made a mad rush for the door.  Cursing and screaming, some knocked others out of the way, trampling them under their boots.  Mrs. Applegate lay on the ground holding her lower back with her hand.

Jonas let out a loud guttural moan to get his wife's attention.  He pointed at Henry as the older man ran for the barn door with young Wyatt struggling under his arm.  Wyatt squirmed, but could not break free. 

Julia dashed in his direction then left her feet.  She leaped about thirty feet and landed right behind Henry Saggin, grabbing the collar of his overalls.  "Put him down!" she ordered.  He obeyed and Wyatt quickly scrambled out of his reach.  Julia spun him around to face her.

In his right hand, Henry brandished a wooden crucifix.  He held it out to her, confident that the power of God would make her flee, burn, or send her straight to hell.  His bold glare turned to confused frustration as the cross did not seem to affect her.  If anything, he noticed a glint of delight on her face.

Julia laughed and plucked the symbol from his hand.  She examine it briefly and tossed it over her shoulder.  "You need faith for that to work.  Fear is a poor substitute."

"Oh, God."

"Too late."  Julia lunged forward and sunk her teeth in his shoulder, painfully sucking his blood out through the muscle.  Henry was completely under her control like a lion devouring a rabbit.  He howled in unthinkable pain, as she shook him from side to side like an animal, while he was trapped within her jaws.  Finally, with only her neck muscles and the strength of her fangs, she then mercilessly ripped a chunk of muscle and bone from his shoulder.  She winced at the pungent smell of urine and excrement as Saggin lost all command of his bodily functions.  Henry teetered for a few seconds on his feet before collapsing onto the barn floor with a wave of blood pouring out of his dormant torso.

Jonas watched it all as the life drained out of him.  The pain had subsided, but he felt cold.  He could not move his legs and he had difficulty maintaining any pressure on his neck, but he knew Julia and Wyatt would live.

Jonas closed his eyes and a few minutes later, when he opened them again, he noticed them standing over him.  Julia had her arm around Wyatt.  Neither one cried.  Wyatt seemed to regard him with curiosity.  Jonas noticed his wife nudge the boy forward.  The young one climbed onto his chest.  Jonas barely felt the weight.  They looked deeply into each other's eyes.  The boy said, "Daddy".  He then put his mouth on his father's wound and hungrily lapped up as much of the blood as he could.

THE END