Питер Ловси - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 152, Nos. 5 & 6. Whole Nos. 926 & 927, November/December 2018

The ghoul is standing with its back to him and it is in human form. It is hunched over the companion and she is struggling to keep her pants up as the ghoul tries to pull them down with one hand. Its other hand is wrapped in her beautiful hair and Krikon knows her neck hurts because the ghoul is pulling her hair very hard and her head is bent over to the side. It is chanting bad words like magic curses. Its breathing is ragged and wild. The companion sees Krikon over the ghoul’s sweat-drenched denim jacket and she screams, “Danny, run, run!” The ghoul seems not to hear. There are silver coins everywhere. It may be that the ghoul has used them to produce some kind of foul enchantment.

Krikon is upon them now. He is strong and determined, but he is much smaller than the ghoul. He cannot reach the center of the ghoul’s broad back but that may be a good thing because his dagger finds the sweating flesh between the ghoul’s jeans and his jacket. Krikon’s blow is two-fisted, powerful and sure. For a moment there is silence. Then, as Krikon struggles to pull the dagger loose to strike again, the ghoul makes a burbling wet sound and drops against the companion, who steps aside to let him fall. There is blood, so much blood, not black or green as Krikon had expected, but red, so red, so wet, so bright, spurting and spraying from the body of the ghoul. The ghoul is moaning, yet it must be dead, for otherwise it would return to incorporeal form. The companion’s face is tear-streaked and wild. She pushes the body of the ghoul away with her feet. She reaches for Krikon and he allows her to lift him. His arms are covered with blood but he puts them around her neck anyway. He presses his face against the sweet give of her shoulder. He allows the companion to carry him from the room, and as sobs wrack both their bodies, he is not sure whether they are hers or his own.

© 2018 by Anna Scotti