We left Jeremy on the bed fast asleep. Unknown to him, a creature was lapping his face at leisure.
*
The scent of the trail of saliva was too bad to ignore. Jerry sat up with a start. For a split second he beheld the form of a woman, but that minuscule fracture in time was enough to engrave her appearance in his mind forever.
The beast-woman was over six feet tall. Her shoulders were broad. Muscles sculpted her all the way down to her toes. All of that seemed normal. It was her face that gave him pause. She had no eyes. Where there should have been sockets all he could make out was flesh.
Who was she? He surveyed the full expanse of his father's study. Where had she gone?
The sound of a manic scream forced him out of bed. It was his mother. He hurried to her room only to find her sitting on the floor. Her cream nightgown had been soiled. After closer inspection he discovered it was blood.
"Jerry!" She reached out to him.
Two lengthy steps led him to her side. "Mom, are you hurt?"
"Did you see her?" She shook him. "Tell me you saw her."
"What was she, Mom? Have you seen her before?"
"Only once," she said. "She's the one who took your father."
He held her at arm's length. "You said that dad was sucked into a hole. You blamed it on moles."
"The moles belong to her. She took him," she insisted.
"This is insane, Mother. What could that creature want with dad?"
"Can't you see, Jerry? Don't you understand? She wants the same thing I wanted thirty years ago. The mole queen was lonely too."
"Mole queen? Jesus, Mom, you've gone delusional on me. Stay here. I'll call the cops."
She held on to his shirt. "Jeremy, don't leave me. Please, we have to find her. She has him."
"Mom, Dad died that day. Remember? You saw his blood, his shirt remains."
"She has a cave somewhere like all other moles. She has him."
"He's dead!" he insisted.
She shook her head, frantically. "He's alive I tell you."
"How can you say that?"
"I just know." She broke into sobs. "A wife always knows."
TO BE CONTINUED....