Poe the Hunter- Bedlam in Baltimore Read online

  The hunter wanted to introduce himself to the lady, but he was too shy and feared a jaunty approach would only perturb the dame, so he decided it was best to write her a letter instead. However, this technique proved problematic as well because he didn’t know her name. He cringed at the thought of addressing her in the letter as ‘miss’ or ‘ma’am’, and even ‘madam’, but none of these titles seemed to be proper for her level of beauty and class. As he gazed at the bachelorette in awe while pondering the idea of beginning the letter with ‘Dear mademoiselle’, a sudden moment of luck or divine intervention revealed the answer he sought.

  “Ms. Osgood!” shouted a man wearing dirty overalls as he jogged over to the lady while waving one of his hands in the air. He was one of the movers who had helped Ms. Osgood transport all her belongings into her new humble abode. “Your possessions and effects are all safely inside. You are welcome to enter the house and enjoy all that it has to offer.”

  Upon learning this information, she thanked him and his crew and tipped them for their labor, then proceeded to enter her domain. She closed the door behind her, and Poe’s heart ached as he lost sight of her. Although, his spirits were immediately lifted upon remembering that he now knew how to address the letter. “Dear Ms. Osgood,” he whispered to himself with a smile and continued his way to the bakery with a skip in his step.

  When he returned home and put away the desserts, Poe sat down at his desk to put his plan into action. Poe carefully crafted the letter with passion and precision, shaping his words to be friendly, yet tender. He cared about the words of the letter as much as he did its recipient, and wanted this to be apparent, but in an ever so subtle way, so he proposed that they meet soon on friendly terms to discuss “the most random of topics ranging from literature and writing to the fantastical operations of the universe and the stars.”

  He ended the letter on an enthusiastic plea for her to accept his invitation to meet, noting that he would “love nothing more than to be acquainted with her.” After ending it with his signature, Poe placed the letter in an envelope and sealed it. He tucked it safely into the inner pocket of his coat, so Quincy would not see it and start asking questions. Poe felt it was best to keep Quincy in the dark about his personal life and affairs for the time being.

  Poe exited his bedroom to join his partner in the library, which used to be a bedroom until the hunters converted it into their nerve center, which was essential for their investigations. Filled with a vast collection of valuable books and sensitive information about supernatural entities, this room allowed the hunters the privacy they needed to conduct research, exchange knowledge, and brainstorm ideas that would be used against these creatures. The furniture consisted of two office tables, one for each hunter, and four bookcases that contained more than a hundred books each. The tables were stacked with old newspapers and even more books that had been plucked from the shelves months ago and never replaced because they were of great importance and referred to often.

  “Making any progress, Quincy?”

  “Not yet, my good lad,” Quincy responded. “I wonder how useful our books can be if we cannot find a single chapter on the monster we are tracking.”

  “In due time, Quincy. We only have a small number of clues to work from. We will prevail.”

  Poe went to a shelf near his office table and selected a book to begin his own research. As he was about to sit down, Quincy shouted his name. Startled, Poe dropped his book and brought his hand to his chest as if to stop his thumping heart from busting out of his rib cage.

  “My God, man, we are in the same room! Must you yell?” he asked in exasperation.

  “My apologies, but you must see this.”

  Poe walked across the room and took the open book from Quincy who was pointing to a specific section of a page and proceeded to read.

  “A courion?” Poe asked.

  “Yes! it is possible. Read further.”

  Poe obliged and read more about the monster Quincy surmised could be responsible for the crimes.

  COURION

  A winged monster with extraordinary night vision and a large beak. Known to feed on the important parts of a vessel including the heart, brain, and liver. The lairs of these monsters are mainly natural landscapes that are not densely populated. They possess talons as strong as any bird of prey known to man and possibly even as sturdy as the claws of a dinosaur! Their eyes are bright turquoise. Rather large in stature, they stand taller than the average man and can weigh as much as a tetradactyl. Their wings span six meters, which is double the size of any living bird in the world.

  “Quincy, I’m skeptical that this is the monster who killed that couple. While it does indeed feed on the three important parts of the body missing from the victims, it also has a diverse selection of nourishment. It will consume the kidneys, lungs, and intestines of a human if it so desired. Furthermore, they do not merely stay exclusively in forests. They can thrive in landscapes wherever nature is involved. This can be a desert or a jungle or a plethora of other locations. I think you are mistaken.”

  “Nay, Edgar, this can be a hybrid or a bastard of a courion. Think deeper. This mix…this certain type of biological creation can feed only on specific organs of the body, the ones it only thinks are necessary to eat. The courion can also take flight, so it is able to travel to various locations without depleting most of its energy. Considering the organs that it did not consume; did you stop to think that maybe it was not able to finish its meal because it was interrupted by a hunter or a constable?”

  “That makes no sense. Why would a monster be afraid of a hunter?”

  “Courions might be.”

  Poe entered a deep state of pondering but was having difficulty concentrating because he was his mind kept wandering to thoughts of Ms. Osgood. The image of her in the red dress and her beautiful hair in a bun intruded in his mind and created a disruption of his normal reasoning process. He was brought out of his dysfunction by Quincy who snapped his fingers and said Poe’s name in a sharp tone.

  “Where did your brain travel during that vegetative state?” Quincy asked.

  “My apologies. My instincts are telling me this is not the monster we are hunting, Nathaniel. We must go back to our research. Besides, I wager that I can find a better monster than the one you have set your sights on. I have not opened my book yet. Therefore, I challenge you to a game of wits and aptitude.”

  Quincy smiled and nodded his head. “I accept your challenge, Edgar, but when I win, you must present me with a bottle of my favorite alcohol. If you win, I will do the same for you.”

  “I accept.”

  • • •

  In a different part of the Patapsco Forest, away from the crime scene, two wealthy game hunters in their early forties scavenged the woods for the animals they would kill, then preserve through the disgusting procedure of taxidermy. They were each equipped with Harper’s Ferry model rifles dating back to the early 1800s and wore white breeches with tall fitted boots that stopped at their knees. Out of the bounds of their awareness, the monster ran behind them and rustled the foliage, which caused one of the men to whip around and point in the direction of the noise, but it appeared they were still alone, so the men went about their business.

  “You would not believe what my wife and I discussed the previous night,” one of the men commented. “The lady wishes to travel to Paris every year and I opposed her idea because I desire to journey to a different location annually rather than go to the same territory.”

  “And what did she express regarding your idea?” his friend inquired.

  “My dearest expressed her disappointment in my words by telling me about her admiration for Paris and going to visit the Arc de Triomphe and the various flower markets spread throughout the city. She also cited her love of opera. All of these things I do not cherish as much as her.”

  The man’s friend laughed at
his flawed argument with his wife and pinned the blame on him for his wife’s dissatisfaction. “It is required to please your woman, or you will surely find an empty hole in your heart and a void space in your bed. If Paris is her favorite vacation setting, you must appease your wife as though she is the great goddess, Athena.”

  “Who, or what, blessed you with the expertise of relationships, my good man?” the fellow responded.

  “Through more years of marriage than you, I learned that the key to a healthy and thriving marriage is to keep the woman happy.”

  “I please my wife on occasion. Yesterday, I adorned the house with lilies, her favorite flowers, and presented her with a most decadent piece of jewelry. These were her wishes and desires, and I was not inclined to quash her happiness.”

  Before the man’s companion was able to reply, both chaps heard a loud roar in the forest. It was the same demonic bellow heard by Poe and Quincy during their investigation. The men stood silent and prepared their weapons for a possible kill. They shook with fear as they knew this was not the sound of an animal native to this area or even of this world.

  “I think this is a rare breed of wild animal,” one of the fellows said.

  “I am scared, to be frank. But if we manage to kill this beast, one of us will have the most spectacular animal to display in their trophy room.” Laughing nervously, he continued, “So, its final resting place will depend upon who discharges the murder bullet.”

  The men headed toward the noise and kept their rifles aimed at the space in front of them. After arriving in the territory of the roar, they surveyed the surrounding area seeking the source of the revolting sound. Meanwhile, the prowler was on top of a tree, watching its potential victims. The tree branches trembled as the monster migrated from one tree to the other, which alerted the poachers to scan the tree tops while maintaining its anonymity among the thickness of their leaves.

  After finding no anomalies within the trees, the men traveled deeper into the forest. They happened upon a section of the woodland that shocked them to their core and turned their bones to ice. It was a sight they had never seen before in a forest and it took a few moments for the hunters to comprehend the horror in front of them.

  Leaves, branches, and tree bark were scattered across the ground. The naked trees reached to the sky as if asking the heavens to replace their foliage. Branches were broken, and their splintered remains littered the forest floor among their shredded leaves. All along the trunks of the trees, it appeared that something had been chewing on them while sharpening its claws.

  The men stood with their mouths agape as they attempted to make sense of the destruction. The tension in the air was thick as one of the men shattered the eerie silence.

  “What animal or human would commit such an atrocity?”

  “I haven’t a clue. But I’m inclined to suggest that this is a hoax and that a person who dislikes us is playing a foolish trick to frighten us from the forest. And yet, the evidence is damning. I feel it is impossible to create this degree of mayhem.”

  The men’s conversation was interrupted once again by the sound of shaking foliage. They leveled the barrels of their rifles toward the mysterious clamor and saw nothing. They then aimed upwards at the branches of the trees, and one of the gentlemen saw three eyes staring at him. He felt his blood run cold and before he could react, the predator leaped from the tree and pounced on him. It stabbed the man in the chest with its claws, then pulled his heart out and held it up like a prize, which caused the other hunter to suffer a heart attack.

  As the man grasped at his chest, the prowler stalked his prey and waited for him to take his eternal sleep. After the gentleman’s breathing ceased and he stopped moving, the monster seized the opportunity to feast.

  Chapter 4

  DOUBLE MURDER UNCOVERED AS INHUMANE MARAUDER STRIKES AGAIN!

  Two male bodies were reported to the Baltimore constables this morning after being found with their heads pried open and their brains missing along with their hearts and livers! This discovery is a striking resemblance to the first set of slaughters! The fact that the madman or cold-hearted animal struck again and stole the same body parts has birthed the theory that it might be entertaining itself with the depraved preservation of these three crucial pieces of the human anatomy. Perhaps the strangest occurrence is the scene of the crime because leaves, tree branches, and bark were riddling the ground, which the constables found to be a rather peculiar and puzzling sight. It appears that the tree bark and foliage were used for the murderer’s nourishment as both were found decimated at this crime scene as well as the previous one.

  Poe reclined in his chair after reading about the fresh set of murders in the morning paper, which Quincy had brought to his attention with haste and anger. Quincy sat across the room from his associate and stared at him waiting for a response while attempting to read his mind at the same time. But Poe, who was reading Quincy’s face out of the corner of his eye, sensed his partner’s frustration and impatience.

  “Quincy, what is truly bothering you?”

  Shocked by Poe’s question, he responded, “What is bothering me? Four Baltimore citizens have already died. How many more souls will be lost while we are fumbling to uncover the identity of this creature?”

  Poe looked at Quincy with a mean, scolding frown on his face. He did not understand why his partner formulated these thoughts in his mind and sought to teach him another perspective to look at with regards to hunting. Even though Poe felt an instinct not to tell Quincy, he also felt it was right for his sidekick to understand the principle he was about to impart on him.

  “Hunting the supernatural is never a joyous undertaking. You have spent many years in this profession and should have learned the following lesson by now. Several innocents may have to perish in a multitude of extraordinary ways while we work to identify the perpetrator, but their deaths provide bread crumbs we can gather to obtain the knowledge that will allow us to avenge their untimely deaths. Without these clues, we cannot learn more about what kind of monster we are dealing with and determine its modus operandi. It’s all part of a greater natural order.”

  Quincy was bothered by Poe’s words and the possible intent behind his speech, so he could not help but to confront him. “How can you say that? You are satisfied with people dying, so we can ‘gather knowledge’? Are we hunters or scholars? Are these victims merely rodents in an experiment?”

  “We are not saviors, Quincy!” Poe replied with irritation. “We are hunters! We can either save people or kill the monsters. We can’t do both! In hunting, no such thing exists!”

  “Then how many innocent lives will be taken before we finally gather our wits and capture this threat? We must do something, Edgar! The people of Baltimore cannot avoid the forest! They like to venture outside of their homes and enjoy nature, smell the fresh air, and savor the beauty of the Patapsco River. After all, they live in a city comprised of brick buildings and smoke stacks, for heaven’s sake!”

  “What do you suggest we do, then? If we go into the forest to hunt down this perilous force without a plan or proper weaponry, we risk our lives and if we fall victim to it. It will continue to murder with no one to stop it.”

  “What we do, my sweet, naïve Edgar, is we minimize the deaths! We cannot sleep tonight. We must head into our library and read every book in there until we unmask the identity of the monster. I will not let you shut your eyes for a second until we dig further into this matter.”

  Poe glared at Quincy with intensity. He felt conflicted between his colleague’s words and his own set of beliefs yet decided to meet his partner half way. “I agree with you, but you cannot begin to adopt this collection of principles based on morality and saving lives. We are hunters in essence, Quincy. Not angels.”

  “Well, in that case, Edgar, I want to be so immoral and so dangerous that I want to be an affront to your precious natural order. I
want to defy death and cheat him out of as many souls as possible, because I hate the ugly bastard!” With a glint in his eye, he sharply added, “If that is alright with you, of course.”

  With a smug look, Quincy left for the library while Poe was left to think about his words. With a shake of his head, Poe, too, retreated to the library as the grandfather clock in the hallway began to chime.

  • • •

  The atmosphere in the library was heavy and morose as Poe and Quincy sat at their individual desks with their heads buried in their books; the tension between them raged on. Within each man was a burning, passionate fire fueled by their argument and individual stance.

  Both men undertook efforts to concentrate on their studies, but neither could look at a page in their book without thinking about the other. While they wanted to clear the air by apologizing to each other, each of their stubborn egos prevented them from being the first to wave the white flag by speaking up first. After a few moments, Poe closed his book and shattered the silence.

  “Quincy, I cannot sit here in the library with you until I profess an apology. I understand how hurt you are by the deaths that have transpired, and I wish there was a way to ensure nobody else would die. In all honesty, I detest the four deaths that happened as much as you do. It fills me with anger that these people lost their lives long before their time, but we cannot be successful hunters unless we are able to gather the evidence from the murders while keeping our emotions at bay.”

  Quincy looked up from his book and met Poe’s eyes. After a few seconds he frowned and hung his head. “I apologize, too, Edgar. But it is I who has been naïve and with great error. It is silly and unprofessional to believe that our endeavor can be successful if we become focused on the morality of the circumstances.”