At first one man stood up and clutched his chest. He made a gurgling sound and fell to the ground stone dead. Then all of a sudden Antiochus stepped over and smiled.
"Next?" he asked with an evil grin.
At least 15 men were found poisoned and gutted the next day. A young serving boy, who had been hiding in the back, He shared the story with a local writer when he moved out to the western part of Pennsylvania far away from Hudson Valley.
***
"So he was responsible for the Tavern Massacre?" she said. “I remember hearing about this at some local historical event I attended with the rotary.”
Thrillscarlet nodded. "Yeah," he said. "He then managed to manipulate the legalities to owning their properties and it established him as the richest man in the county. Ultimately he ended up purchasing the Crane house.”
"It is true," a voice said from behind them.
Adler and Thrillscarlet turned to see a man standing there in a long white coat. Before he reacted, Antiochus stepped over and grabbed Thrillscarlet by the throat.
"I have walked among men and gods and you think you can destroy me with a simple saber?" Antiochus snarled. "I took on the British, the Colonial and Lenape armies and sat on their corpses like a throne!"
He flung Thrillscarlet across the room into several old pews. The man in red yelped and moaned in pain. He was able to pull himself up.
"H-how..." he said. "I-it's a church..."
"It's my church," Antiochus said as he stepped over to the front of the church and tore off a panel. An upside down crucifix had been painted on to a wall. "This is where I worship!"
Thrillscarlet looked over at Miss Adler. "I-I'm sorry..." he sputtered. "S-sorry.."
Antiochus stepped over to him and he quickly threw Thrillscarlet’s cape over his head.
"You came close to giving me a sporting challenge," Antiochus said as he knelt down. "But, this is your end." Antiochus reached to the top of the cape and gripped where Thrillscarlet's neck would be. And with a grab of his hand, Adler heard a sickening crunch.
Antiochus stood up and walked over to Miss Adler.
"My dear," he said. "This does not have to be unpleasant."
"Please," she said taking a step back against the wall.
"It will be," he said with a smile. "Pleasing."
And before she knew what was happening, he put his lips on her neck and her eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out.
As Antiochus kissed further up her neck, he stopped with a sudden scream of pain, which broke his spell over Bobbi.
As Bobbi Adler came to, Antiochus fell back on the ground in pain. He rolled and contorted on a stomach and she saw a dagger sticking out of his back.
He tried to reach for it, but the dagger was sunk in deep. As he reached for it, she heard something move from the rubble.
Standing there was Thrillscarlet.
His cape and his hood were gone and hanging in his eyes was his black hair. His mask was gone and Adler thought she recognized the face.
"For a being who has walked with gods and men, you can't tell the difference between snapping a neck and a piece of wood," he said.
He held up part of a piece of wood that had been snapped at its center.
"Two birds..." and with a great leap, he sailed through the air breaking the piece of wood in two at points. He held the pointed ends like spears.
He landed and plunged both wooden points into Antiochus's chest. "...one stone!"
Antiochus shouted with scream. It was an unearthly yell that brought tears to Bobbi's eyes and Thrillscarlet looked down with determination.
"For too many years you have harmed the citizens of this county," he said. "And now I am finally able to do something about it..."
And then he knelt down on one knee.
"...dad," he said with a hiss.
Antiochus looked up with a twisted sense of glee.
"Charles," he hissed. "You found me."
"I did," he said reaching for his sword. "And this one's for my mother!" With one fell swoop, he brought the saber down on to Antiochus's throat. There was an explosion of blood and air and both Bobbi and Thrillscarlet dove for cover.
For several long moments, the inside of the church was engulfed in a whirlwind of evil. It seemed as if the very wind howled over his destruction and it would not let the world forget.
After several moments of it, it finally died down and eventually the two of them stood up.
***
After several minutes in the woods, they stood outside the church. Thrillscarlet looked around and saw several smoking husks of the demonic wolves on the ground and he just shook his head.
"Damn it all," he said. "Damn the whole thing to hell!"
Bobbi stepped over to him and placed a hand on his back. "I-I don't know how I can thank you."
He turned and regarded her and nodded.
"C'mon," he said tired with the slightest bite in his voice. "Let's go."
She stopped.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
"I'd rather not say," he said. "C'mon." He turned to move and she stood her ground. After he took several steps she closed her eyes took in a deep breath and sighed.
"Fine," she said, but as she walked a few yards, the ground beneath them began to shake. While Thrillscarlet was able to hold his ground, the ground shifted and she fell to her knees.
She let out a cry as she fell.
He walked over and helped her up.
Without further explanation he led her through the forest. As the continued another few paces, the ground rumbled again. This time she braced herself against a tree.
"I believe that is the sound of the Antiochus Manor collapsing in on itself," he said.
She almost wanted to keep quiet but she had to ask, "Why?"
"The only thing holding it up was pure evil," he said. "Now that the evil's been destroyed, there was nothing to keep it up."
She nodded understanding.
"C'mon," he said a final time. He offered his hand. She took it with a sigh and the two of them walked into the woods. She turned behind her and saw the sky was orange. He stopped and regarded it as well. "I figured this would happen," he said, nodding to the sky. "Now everything of his, is just..." and then another explosion rocked the ground. She stumbled but he held her up.
"What was that?"
"The church," he said. "One cannot fathom just how much this land was soaked with his evil and blood."
She just shook her head.
***
For the first time, since her adventure began she saw his face as the moon shown down on him and she realized she did know him.
"Charles?" she said. "He called you Charles."
He nodded. "He did."
"You're Charles York," she said. "We met at the rotary function last week!”
He nodded. "That we did."
"So, how did you...wait!"
She stopped.
"It was you that encouraged me to come out here in the first place..." She spun and pointed her finger at him. "You, son of a bitch! You better give me answers and give them to me now!"
She pulled her red hair out of her face as she spat out "now" like it were a bullet.
Charles pushed himself back into his chair and sighed.
"Yes," he said. "I do owe you an apology."
"What the hell - "
"You see two things I know about Antiochus is this - he is most vulnerable when he is about to feed, and he prefers red heads," he said.
She caught a glimpse of her red hair hanging down her shoulders. "And he feeds once every thirty days and this was his time."
"Why you..."
"Before you freak out," he said. "He had several men at the rotary event looking to scout out – if you pardon the expression – new blood. I figured I'd take the fight to him before you'd wake up one night with him standing at the foot of your bed."
She
shook her head.
She snorted. "Right. So what the heck are you? What's with the red cape and hood and..."
"As I said," he began. "Someone needed to do it."
She sat there quietly for a long moment.
"How do you know he liked red heads?" she said almost with a whisper.
Then he sat there for a long, long time.
"My mother was a red head."
And that was it. They were quiet for a long while.
"What about my car?" she asked.
“I believe it is now at the bottom of what is now a large sinkhole that swallowed Antiochus’s home,” he said. “However, I believe we can do something about it."
She nodded. "Thanks," she said. "I appreciate it."
The two of them made it to the highway and were able to flag down a passing BMW. A woman with dark hair pulled over and saw them.
“My goodness,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Costume party gone wrong,” Charles York laughed as he held his cape in front of him.
Bobbi climbed into the back seat and pushed a box out of the way.
“Oh sorry about that,” the woman with the dark hair said. “Just move the box and let’s go.”
***
Bobbi Adler woke up the next morning to a knocking at her door. She pulled herself out of bed and she ached.
As she slowly made it to the door, the knocking continued.
"Coming!" she said. "I'm coming! I'm coming!" and then she opened the door.
Standing in the door was a man with dark hair slicked back. He wore a red T-shirt and tan trousers and a black sports coat.
"Yes?" she said.
She looked at the man's face as he pulled off his glasses which hid a black eye.
"Hi," he said. His voice was the same, but he dropped it in a normal octave.
"Oh my gosh," she said. "Thrillscar - "
He quickly pushed himself into her apartment with a finger over his mouth.
"Shhhhh!" he said.
"Sorry," she said. "What're you doing here?"
"First," he said pulling out a set of car keys. "You can pick this up from the dealership on the corner of Johnston and McCullay Avenue this Friday.”
He smiled. “I got it in red for you.”
"Thank you," she said. She quickly realized she was just in a t-shirt and she found herself blushing. "Um...I can make coffee..."
"No problem," he said waving a hand. "I am just here for a moment."
"So," she asked. "Are you going back to work?"
"I am," he said. "And I wanted to see if you wanted a job with my company."
She looked at him. "Maybe," she said and looked at the keys. “Why?”
“Y'know," he said. "To be honest, it was nice being able to share my other life with someone."
"Yeah," she said. "Sometimes being alone...is well..."
He nodded. "It is."
And then he took her hand one more time and they sat down on the couch and he found himself talking.
"I decided to wear the cape and hood when I found out my dad was Antiochus..."
The two continued talking for a long time, and as they talked they found they had more things in common and they found themselves connecting on another level.
In the following weeks, friends would see them out to dinner, and they’d ask Bobbi, “When did you start dating Charles York?”
Then her face would turn a slight shade of scarlet and she said, “Well…it all started in an old stone church.”
The End
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