WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES Chapter Fifty-One

 WALKÜREN - THE THREE MARIES

Chapter Fifty-One

Juvêncio and his group followed the trails of his hunt. Despite the Lizard's lead over them, his animals managed to maintain a reasonable pace, and were gradually closing the gap. Just over an hour's ride and they spotted their target, who by the way was preparing to attack his victim. Juvêncio breathed a sigh of relief... he would be able to stop Anhangá from enjoying his dinner...

When the beast was about to launch its attack, the group began to fire, first into the air. The beast quickly turned towards him. His eyes shone even brighter, such was the anger he felt at having his attack interrupted. When the first silver bullet whizzed past him, he gave a shrill screech and tried to shove his mount forward. Santana and Carneiro approached the almost victim, a stray cowboy who was trying to get to the farm and got lost along the way...

- How are you, friend?

- He's still in shock, Santana...

- See if everything is in order with him...

While the two provided care to the almost victim, Juvêncio and the rest of the gang continued the pursuit of the Lizard. They began to shoot towards the beast and realized that one of the shots hit the "rider"... upon feeling the impact, it caused his "mount" to accelerate in such a way that they soon disappeared in the middle of the night. When they arrived at the place where the beast was hit, Juvêncio dismounted and began to check the place. Soon he found a slug just like the one he had seen previously...

- Girls, those aren't feathers... they're slugs...

Matilde was astonished... she never thought she would witness such an event. Juvêncio approached the strange being with great caution. He noticed that the small gastropod, upon sensing his approach, withdrew completely, as a sign of defense. It was a living, autonomous being. Therefore, what they saw covering the body of the strange being was a colony of gastropods... how was that possible?

Santana and Dr. Carneiro arrived at the group, accompanied by the cowboy. This one had already recovered. He hadn't quite understood what had happened, but he was aware that he had narrowly escaped death...

- This is the...?!!!

- Yes, doctor... it's the parasite of our strange vampire!

The doctor reached into his pocket and took out a bottle with tweezers...

- Can I capture him?

- I don't know, doctor... the other time he simply disintegrated...

Carneiro captured the small mollusk with his tweezers and placed it inside the glass, which he carefully closed. It seemed like an easy catch. Very cautiously, he put the glass in his pocket. Well, it wasn't the dinosaur, but it served as a consolation prize... after all, he had managed to capture one of the diners of the fantastic being they were hunting...

- And now, delegate? What will we do?

- Well, I believe that today our friend will fast... unless there are others walking around, there will be no deaths around... not caused by him...

- This means...?

- I think we can return to the city... it won't take long and the day will dawn...

- Are you sure, deputy? I think...

- Santana, if there are any more of these animals lying around, we'll find out first thing in the morning. What we could do, we have already done. It's time to go back and evaluate what we discovered tonight.

And so, the group began their return to the city. Matilde wasn't very satisfied with the outcome of the excursion... for her, the police chief should have shot that monster when he had the chance...

The sun was already rising when the group finally arrived in the city. They left their animals at the stable and went to the guesthouse, to have breakfast and rest a little... I mean, Santana would go straight to the police station, since he was the city's Chief Police Officer. Torquato would replace him in the afternoon, and that way the two would be able to rest a little. Juvêncio would go straight to bed, as he was broke... as he himself said, the years took their toll. Dona Matilde would go to school, as she insisted on opening it every day. Then she would go home to rest a little, and return in the afternoon to see how things were going at the institution. The three Marias would also rest. The only one who was euphoric, who couldn't wait to get into his laboratory, was Dr. Carneiro. He wanted to do some tests on the animal he had captured in the field...

Around noon, after a good nap, Juvêncio appeared at the police station. Doctor Santana looked sleepy, but resisted bravely at his post. Juvêncio offered to take his place, an offer that was immediately accepted. After Santana went to rest, Juvêncio decided to take a look at the laboratory. And he found a discouraged Doctor Carneiro. Upon seeing the good doctor in that state, he asked him what had happened...

- Ah, police officer... I won't even tell you...

- The animal turned into smoke...

Carneiro looked at him, amazed...

- How did you guess?

- Well, if you haven't understood yet, we are fighting a vampire... and vampires simply die in contact with sunlight...

- In that case, it's more than a vampire, isn't it?

- Unfortunately, yes... and there is one more problem related to that...

- What would it be?

- Did you ever get the slug out of the glass?

- No... as soon as I took it out of my pocket and placed it on the table, I opened the window. The sun came out and...

-And his pet went up in smoke...

- That's right...

Juvêncio closed the window and the door, lighting the lamp. The room was in darkness.

- Why don't you turn on the electric light?

- You'll understand, doctor... a little patience, please...

Juvêncio looked inside the container. He called the doctor.

- Look inside... do you see anything?

- It looks like there's a little dirt... it looks like dust. But this is impossible. I sterilized this container before using it...

- I believe. Now, pay attention...

Juvêncio opened the lid of the bottle and, with a needle, made a small hole in his finger. He let a drop of blood fall into the glass. Smoke rose and, as if by magic, the mollusk resurfaced again...

- But how....

- And that's not our biggest problem, doctor...

- But how so?

- To destroy these things, we need to burn them with fire... or they resurrect and continue to attack...

- But...

- They are vampires, doctor... have you never encountered any during your career?

The initial astonishment turned into terror. Yes, the doctor had already heard several stories about these monsters. But he never thought of facing anyone in his life...