Page 79 of Zombies, Satyrs and Vampires, Oh My!

My heart pounds so loudly, so rapidly, that I worry I won’t be able to hear his next words. “Where? Is she okay?”

He holds up a hand. “I’m getting to that. But I have questions first.”

“What? Anything.”

“I need to know why you are so desperate to find her?” Jones asks.

“She’s my fucking wife, man.”

“I get that. But is this because she left? If this is about your ego or being butthurt because she disappeared on you, then you need to turn around and go home.”

“It’s not my damned ego.” I rake my fingers through my hair. “She’s my wife,” I repeat.

“I got that part. But look at you, man. You look like shit. You’re a man obsessed.”

“Fuck yeah, I’m obsessed. With her. Joy is everything to me.”

Jones stares at me for a while. “You love her.”

“I love her,” I confirm. “It’s why I look like this. Since she’s been gone, I’ve hardly slept and barely eaten. I need my wife like I need oxygen.”

He nods.

“Are you sure it’s her that you found?” I ask.

He nods again.

“Then what’s the matter? Why aren’t you just leading me to her?” My mind races with all the horrible thoughts I’ve had over the last several months.

“Did she meet and fall in love with another man? Did she and Amelia decide their friendship was more than just friendship? Was she in an accident and now she has amnesia and doesn’t remember our life together?”

“Nothing like that.”

Relief washes over me, and I sag in the booth. “Then bring me to her or fucking point me in the right direction.”

“You might not be ready for the truth,” Jones says.

“You’re being very cryptic. What the fuck aren’t you telling me?”

Jones squeezes his hand into a fist, then releases it. “You remember that news story from a couple of months ago? The one about the livestock being drained of their blood?”

“Sure. Old Chupacabra legend. That pops up every now and then.”

“What if I told you it was real? Jones asks.

“If what was real?”

“The Chupacabra. What if it’s not a legend? What if none of them are legends, and instead, walking around with us are beings that are other?”

I stand up. “I don’t have time for this. You’re crazy. I just want to find my wife.”

“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.” Jones’s voice is hard and demanding.

I sit.

He pulls something up on his phone and then passes it to me. It’s a news story from decades ago about a weird Halloween involving a mad scientist, contaminated energy drinks, and a town now filled with monsters.

I look up from the screen. “This real?”