Dark of Night

By Marios Savva

Jane takes part in a séance involving a Ouija board with her high school friends. A dark entity enters the world as a result. One by one, her friends all die horrible deaths and now, years later, she is the only remaining participant left. The evil entity torments her terribly every day and she now feels her end will come soon. She has reached the point of utter desperation and decides to move back in with her aunt Sue in the town of Whitesands. A terrible accident happens on her way there when the dark entity tries to kill her resulting in several people being horribly slaughtered. Sheriff Jake Blakemore is called to the scene. Sheriff Jake is an Englishman who is also known in Scotland Yard as “Young Sherlock”. He worked in the FBI before becoming the sheriff of Whitesands. With the help of his trusted deputy, a Native American Indian named Chief, Jake begins investigating the deaths caused at the scene of the accident.
Jane reveals to Sheriff Jake the truth about the dark entity and that it was this evil being that caused the deaths. Chief, who has a heightened intuition, believes her. Jake, on the other hand is skeptical about such an absurd claim. Chief has a strong feeling that an evil presence has cast its shadow over the town and has an ominous feeling that these deaths are but the beginning.
The evil entity begins causing carnage in the - until then - quiet town of Whitesands. People start dying tragically. Jake is puzzled as to the complete lack of physical evidence of the perpetrator. His excellent detective skills are put to the test and he finds himself overwhelmed by the mysterious manner of the deaths. He enlists the help of Sheriff Dudley, the sheriff of the nearby county of Durham. Chief, who is an expert tracker, finds the tracks of the entity, but cannot explain the nature of them; “for they are not of this world”. He is convinced that a supernatural being is involved in the deaths occurring now in Whitesands.
Jake starts to uncover the root of the source of evil, but with tragic consequences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marios Savva
• Release date: Oct 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370995219

Marios Savva

Born in England, Live in Cyprus! Greek Cypriot, Orthodox Christian. Born in August 1973. Single.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Jane worked the night shift at the local café in her neighborhood, every night till six in the morning. She worked the night shift intentionally.

Her boss, Angelo, had told her many times to take a night off. It had now reached the point where she wouldn't even answer him. Instead, she would give him a look, as if to say ‘don’t ask me again.’ Angelo could sense something was wrong with Jane, and this concerned him, for they were very good friends,and he respected her for her hard work and popularity with the regulars at the café.

Even after her shift ended, Jane would sit in the café - away from the window - until the light of daybreak appeared.

‘When are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ he asked, noting how he had not seen such sorrow and pain in a woman’s face for a long time.

‘Nothing,’ she said as she looked at her empty cup, her eyes filling with tears.

‘Sweetheart, look, I’ve known you since you worked here in the summers as a little girl. Your dad and I are like brothers, and I see you as my niece. I love you like you were my own.’

She looked at Angelo and lovingly placed her hand on his. ‘I know. And I love you.’

‘Well, tell me then,’ he said, his eyes widening. ‘What the hell is going on? Is anyone giving you any trouble? If so, tell me, and I’ll take care of it. Trust me.’

Angelo was a fifty-two-year-old Italian, a big, burly man, with a proper old-school moustache, one that he often stroked while thinking intently, which he did now.

Jane took comfort in the fact that she had a protector, someone who would gladly risk his life for her. But even this powerhouse of a man would be no match for what was tormenting her.

‘God bless you, Uncle,’ she said.

Now it was Angelo’s turn to feel his emotions overpowering him. He felt proud and honored that this beautiful, kind person whom he had known since she was a little girl called him uncle.

‘I’ll ... sort it out,’ she continued. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘No, I do worry,’ he said. Angelo could see she wasn’t going to open up to him, at least not for now. ‘Look, my darling, your uncle is always here for you. If you need anything, and I mean anything, you come straight to me.’

Jane raised her eyes towards him and smiled, nodding in gratitude in case she burst into tears while Angelo looked at her intently, still stroking his moustache.

Dawn had broken. Jane picked up her handbag, embraced Angelo, and kissed him on the cheek. As she walked outside and passed the shop, she looked in. Angelo waved to her with one hand, still stroking his moustache with the other.

He was deeply concerned about Jane’s depressive behavior. ‘What’s torturing her so much?’ he wondered as he continued staring blankly through the window. ‘If she doesn’t tell me soon, I’m going to make her tell me,’ he resolved. The brawny, good-hearted Italian vowed to help her - whether she wanted it or not.

Jane had to try something to escape her torment. ‘It’s now or never,’ she muttered as she walked the streets. ‘I have to leave. This can’t go on anymore.’

Chapter 2

‘Anything interesting happen tonight, Doris?’

‘No, Sheriff.’

Jake sighed. ‘Any cats in trees that need rescuing?’ he asked sarcastically. Sheriff Jake, although pleased that things had been quiet in town for the past several years, often felt a nervous energy. He was bored. Like most extremely intelligent people, he needed stimulation, something to challenge his mental faculties. He had become restless, hence his recent sarcasm.

‘No, Sheriff,’ Doris said, looking at her magazine.

‘Hmm. Well, all right. I’ll be in my office - as usual.’

‘Okay, Sheriff.’ Doris was a lady of few words. Even though she didn’t make eye contact at all with the sheriff during this brief conversation, she had a deep respect and love for him.

Now seventy-one, Doris had worked as a secretary in the sheriff’s department since she was twenty-years-old. She admired the sheriff for what he had done for her small town of Whitesands during his seven years there since moving from the FBI. The town was once renowned in the surrounding states for violent serial killings that had taken place there sporadically for many years and for various unexplained and mysterious disappearances. When the FBI was called in, they sent Jake Blakewood and his team. Within eight months, he got to the bottom of things with his sheer brilliance and liberated the town from the gloom of despair. Now, people moved to Whitesands because they saw it as a haven of safety. The town's Mayor, Richard Stapleman, hardly ever missed a chance to say so when speaking to the television cameras: ‘If you commit a crime in Whitesands, one thing is an absolute certainty; the sheriff and his boys will catch you. What isn't a certainty is how many hours it will take.’ This was his slogan. And he loved saying it.

Jake Blakewood, an Englishman born in London, joined Scotland Yard at the tender age of twenty. He rose to the rank of detective inspector at the unprecedented age of twenty-five, and he became known in the Yard as Young Sherlock. He was a phenomenon, solving every case assigned to him. His crime-solving abilities gained him recognition beyond the UK; Interpol and other international police agencies continually approached his superiors for his services in assisting them with their difficult cases.

Jake was an interesting individual - if you could put it like that. His favorite hobby was solving cold cases on his days off. And he enjoyed great success at solving those too. His current record was a cold case where he apprehended a murderer twenty-six years after the crime took place. He stood six-feet-tall, and was an attractive man with green eyes that were bright and piercing. And although he had a certain arrogance about him, you could also sense there was more to him, something deeper, and something innately good.

One particular cross-Atlantic cooperation between Scotland Yard and the FBI led to him permanently relocating to the U.S. This would be a case that would lead to his instant renown, and one that led the FBI to try everything they could to get him to join the Bureau on a permanent basis. After many months of constant hounding, he eventually agreed, much to the dismay and broken-heartedness of Scotland Yard. The case he so resourcefully (and quite cheekily) solved came to be known as the packet of crisps case.

‘Oh, and Doris,’ he continued, ‘when Chief gets here, tell him to come straight up.’

‘Okay, Sheriff.’

Jake considered Chief, a Native American Indian and fellow police officer in the county sheriff's office, to be his best friend, a kindred spirit, and someone he greatly respected for his particular gifts.

The sheriff and Chief were like the modern-day equivalent of Batman and Robin - at least that's what they contested. Although, they would often have a difference of opinion as to who was Batman and who was Robin.

Chapter 3

Jane was crying. She looked frantically out of the window from the rear passenger seat. The dark of the night only intensified her fear. ‘There it is,’ she said to Matt, the driver who was kindly giving her a ride to the town of Whitesands, where she would see her aunt in Cooks County.

‘I can’t see anything,’ he said, picking up speed.

‘Please ... please ... oh God …’ Jane said as she held her head with her hands, snapping her neck each time she looked in a different direction.

‘Lady, calm down,’ said Matt, trying to calm himself down in the process. He saw something too. How can someone on foot keep up with the car for so long? It's not possible. But I saw it ... or did I? This is crazy, he thought to himself.

Jane couldn’t help wondering about how she would die if this ... thing … got its hands on her. Would it hurt a lot? Would it be quick? Would her beloved grandmother come to meet her the moment her life ended?

‘JESUS, what was that?’ the driver screamed.

‘What? Where, oh no … drive faster, Matt! Please!’

Something – a dark shadow - crossed the road in front of the car in a fraction of a second. Matt instinctively turned the steering wheel violently to the left to avoid a collision.

Oh God ... this is it, Jane thought, as the car overturned.

The car stopped rolling over and lay at rest upside down. The front and side air bags were deployed. Matt was conscious - barely. Jane was out cold.

‘Are you ... all right?’ asked Matt. Jane didn't respond.

Although in a daze, Matt tried to work out what had just happened. He could see steam coming out of the bonnet and instinctively wanted to get out of the car and pull Jane out. He tried to move his right hand but a sharp pain made him cry out in agony. He suspected his arm was broken. He slowly moved the fingers of his left hand to see if he would feel any pain. ‘None so far,’ he said to himself. Matt gingerly touched his left elbow; again, no real pain. He decided his left arm wasn’t broken and proceeded to move his hand across his body to unfasten the seatbelt. As he did, he saw a shadow from the corner of his eye in the field by the side of the road. He thought he imagined it, but deep down in the depth of his soul he knew there was something out there, something malevolent and evil. With a new sense of urgency, he undid the seatbelt, but felt a sudden excruciating pain in his legs. He was scared to admit it, but they were broken. He felt helpless, in danger, and sensed that something or someone was watching him. Only then did it occur to him to reach for his phone.

‘What … happened?’ Jane murmured as she came around.

‘Are you hurt?’

‘My head ... ow ... Where are we?’ she asked, disoriented.

‘We had an accident. Can you see my phone?’ Matt asked.

Jane gingerly tried to find her bearings and only just now realized they were upside down. ‘No, I can't. Let me try and get...’

Suddenly, they heard a loud thud, and the car started sliding, first to the left, then spinning slowly on its roof. Matt and Jane had both hands on the ceiling of the car. Jane frantically looked in all directions, then screamed.

‘There it ... MATT, WATCH OUT!’

Matt saw a dark figure standing next to him by the driver's door. His heart raced. He was certain this was the dark shadow that ran in front of the car, causing them to overturn.

‘MATT, CLOSE THE WINDOW!’ Jane shrieked. But the window had completely shattered.

A long dark arm grabbed Matt by the jacket from his left shoulder and yanked him from the car in one fell swoop. ‘LEAVE ME ... AAGHH,’ he screamed with all his might.

‘MATT ... MAAAATT...’ Jane shrieked hysterically. She sobbed. ‘No ... please, oh God ... no ... please.’

It suddenly dawned on her that she could not hear Matt anymore. Her heart beat hard and fast, pounding in her ears. Other than the sound of her heart, the world was silent, and pitch-black. They were on a long country road with no street lights anywhere. This terrified her. She feared Matt had just been killed, though she refused to believe it. She expected any second now to see this thing coming for her. She cried uncontrollably, pleading ‘please someone come.’

The sound of somebody walking slowly in the field next to her window, where the glass had broken, filled her with dread.

‘This is it...’

Chapter 4

‘Well, look who it is. If it isn't the famous Chief,’ Sheriff Jake said.

‘Good evening, Sheriff.’

‘What time do you call this?’

Chief looked at his watch. ‘A quarter after seven.’

‘And you think that's acceptable, my dear fellow?’ Jake asked, arms folded, sitting in his chair, and looking at Chief with raised eyebrows and an ironic smile.

‘What do you mean?’ Chief asked, genuinely surprised.

‘Well, it says here...’ the sheriff looked down on the sheet of paper in front of him, studying it with raised eyebrows of surprise, arms still folded, ‘...that you were supposed to start work an hour ago.’

‘No I wasn't,’ Chief responded, and now looking confused.

‘Well, I'm sorry to tell you, my friend, that you were,’ Jake said, arms still folded, with a look of disappointment on his face. ‘Tut, tut. Well, I'm very sorry, Chief, but this is unacceptable.’

Jake had a serious look on his face, but Chief, being Chief, understood that the sheriff was pulling his leg.

Jake had asked Chief to work in the Sheriff's office with him after the two had a chance meeting in a local diner. This first encounter took place when Jake was called to investigate the serial killings and mysterious disappearances, before he officially became the new sheriff. He immediately took to Chief, whose real name was Bobby Two Feathers. Jake knew that Chief, now forty-two, had great powers of perception and a heightened intuition, as well as a noble spirit and good heart. Bobby immediately took to Jake too, sensing there was something special about this Englishman who had just arrived in town. From then on, they became brothers-in-arms, fighting crime together and spending time at each other’s homes outside office hours, drinking a cold beer, while Jake reflected on his brilliance and ingenuity - and making a point of it to Chief.

For Chief, this meant war. ‘I'm sorry, Sheriff, it’s just that...’ he then pretended to be upset and looked at the floor.

‘What? What is it? Tell me.’

‘I can't.’ Chief faked a tear.

Jake got up out of his chair and put his arm round him. ‘Mate, what is it? Is everything all right?’ Chief looked at the sheriff with a feigned look of sorrow.

Jake started to worry about his friend. ‘Brother, tell me, what happened?’

‘I ... I can't tell you. You'll get upset.’

‘Bullshit. Of course you can.’

‘It’s just that I...’ Chief really put it on now. He would make the sheriff suffer - and he would thoroughly enjoy it.

‘Chief, you’re killing me! Speak up man! What in God's name is wrong?’

‘I've got something to tell you, and you're not going to like it.’

‘What?’

‘You're the ugliest Englishman I've ever seen.’ Chief tapped the sheriff on the shoulder and burst into laughter.

‘You son of a...’ said Jake, as he looked at the tears of laughter flowing down Chief's cheeks. He began laughing himself, too. You could not fool Jake very often; in fact, Chief was one of only very few people who could deceive Jake with his eyes - and this bugged the sheriff.

‘You should have seen your face!’ Chief said, and then bent down holding his knees in a fit of laughter. ‘Priceless! Your face turned pale!’

‘I knew you were messing around. I just played along.’ Chief wasn't convinced. ‘Yeah ... sure you were.’

‘No, seriously, I knew.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's 16-15 to me.’

‘Rubbish,’ said Jake, ‘it’s 18-16 to me.’

They often argued about the score. The score concerned how many times they fooled each other, the successful pranks one played on the other. Their private little game started way back when Jake first became sheriff. In the beginning, they had to deal with gruesome murders, acts of evil by deranged men. There had been a great deal of stress and pressure on these fearless warriors back then. Their banter and teasing helped ease the strain; it eased the burden on their shoulders. This banter started with the packet of crisps case Jake was famous for, and had continued ever since.

‘Anyway, this one doesn't count. I knew you were pretending,’ Jake said, looking serious sitting in his chair with his arms folded.

‘Sheriff. I know. And you know. That's 17-15 to me.’

‘It was 16-15 a minute ago!’

‘Yes, but because you're a sore loser, and you didn't admit that I got ya, it’s an extra penalty point.’

‘I don't believe this. You're just...’ They continued disputing the result; who won, why it counted, why it didn't count, and so on, and so on, for the next hour.

Their camaraderie had become their personal way of lifting each other's spirits. But their banter wouldn't help them with what would soon happen in Whitesands, what would happen to them. Nothing could have prepared them for what was about to come.

Chapter 5

Jane desperately prayed for safety and forgiveness. The dark figure just stood there, outside Jane's window. She prayed that it would go away, that someone would come to make it go away. She could hear it breathing. She felt faint; such was the horrendous terror that seized her. She heard it move its feet.

‘Oh God, no, please,’ she whispered. She expected it to grab her any second now. She didn't want to look and closed her eyes tightly.

Then, even with her eyelids shut, she could sense a bright light. She opened her eyes and saw a car coming towards her in the far distance with its high beams on. A glimmer of hope: maybe the creature would run away now. Suddenly, a black arm violently grabbed her by the hair causing her to scream. The pain was excruciating and she felt that her head was about to be pulled off her neck. Jane grabbed the arm with both hands. She fought for dear life and managed to move her head slightly so she could bite the arm that was trying to harm her. She managed to sink her teeth into it and bit down with all her might, so much so that she felt her brain being squeezed in her skull from the pressure she applied. Although almost paralyzed from fear, she noticed that this thing did not make a sound; she could only hear its breathing. The fact that it didn’t react shocked her and filled her with dread.

The car drew closer, to the point that she could almost see its silhouette. She felt the arm let go of her hair. All she could hear now was the sound of an engine. She saw a large vehicle, possibly an SUV. ‘Thank you, God, thank you…’ she whispered.

She could see three people getting out at the same time, and the first passenger, a female, ran towards the car. Jane could see the male driver screaming into his phone while running toward her. ‘He's calling the police,’ Jane said, ecstatic. But her thoughts turned to Matt. ‘Where is he? Is he still alive?’ She looked out her window to make sure the thing was gone. She was sure it was. She was safe.

‘Are you all right, honey,’ shouted the young woman, kneeling outside of Jane's window. ‘Is anyone else in there with you?’

‘Help me!’

‘We will, love. What's your name?’

‘Jane. Please hurry, I'm in danger.’

From the other side of the car, a man, who had half his body inside the vehicle, struggled to unfasten Jane's seatbelt.

‘Don't worry, Jane; the ambulance and the cops are coming. You're going to be all right,’ said the man, as he attempted to unbuckle her from her seat. Jane felt comforted. She then began to feel the pain in her scalp where her hair had been violently pulled.

‘Please, find my friend,’ Jane pleaded. ‘He was dragged out of the car into that field.’ She pointed to the area where she had last seen Matt. ‘Yes, there,’ she affirmed to the young man who stood in the area of the field she had guided him to.

‘He's not here,’ the young man said. ‘Wait a minute ... I think...’

‘What?’ asked the young lady who was kneeling next to Jane.

‘I think I can see someone ... yes, I found him. He's all right, he's coming towards me!’ shouted the young man, excited that he had found the missing driver.

Jane was elatedly surprised, relieved that Matt was still alive and well. ‘How did he get away?’ she wondered. ‘He was severely injured. He must -’

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream pierced the air. Everyone looked in all directions in a flash to see who it was.

‘AAGHH!’ screamed the young man in the field.

‘PETE! What is it?’ shouted the gentleman trying to undo Jane's seatbelt. He crawled out of the car and sprinted towards the field.

Jane watched in helpless terror as they screamed, shouted, and ran back and forth in desperation. From her upside-down vantage point, she saw two dark legs moving towards the woman who first arrived to help her. With a broken heart she realized that it wasn't Matt that was in the field. The creature hadn't left after all; it had been there all along. Amid the frantic, hellish screaming, she saw blood dripping on the floor next to her. She panicked. With all her might, Jane managed to unfasten her seatbelt. She made her way to the car window on the opposite side, and managed to climb out of the vehicle. She could hear this thing panting, nothing else, just panting, and the noise she knew meant the woman was being torn apart. She tried to get up to walk, but her legs wouldn't support her. Jane fought the urge to look over to where this thing was—to see what it was doing to that poor woman—but she didn't have the courage. ‘Come on, Jane, run,’ she thought. But she couldn't. Sheer terror had gripped her. She froze. ‘This is it...’ She knelt, looked up at the sky, closed her eyes, and waited for the inevitable.

Chapter 6

‘Sheriff, there's been a terrible accident on Route 35, near Dixie's ranch,’ Doris said over the radio. Jake was in his office at the sheriff's department, getting ready to make his customary 9:00 pm cup of English tea.

‘Oh bugger. They never let me enjoy anything around here. Tut, tut, typical.’ Jake didn't like it when tea time was interrupted, to sit back in his comfortable leather chair, and quietly enjoy his cup of English brew and philosophize about things. He took the radio from his hip holster. ‘Is there an ambulance on route?’

‘Yes, Sheriff. Apparently, some folks called in and said there's an overturned car in the middle of the road, with someone trapped inside.’

‘Okay, Doris. Send Junior to the scene.’ Junior, or Johnny Jackman, as was his real name, was a twenty-three year old rookie who had joined the sheriff's department two years ago. Jake had convinced him to become an officer in the sheriff's department a few years back, because he saw in Johnny the potential to become an excellent officer, and perhaps even make sheriff one day. Jake had become his mentor, and he would always make little points and observations to his new understudy and urge him to improve and hone his burgeoning detective skills. Johnny looked up to Jake; he saw him as a sort of uncle.

‘And tell him to cordon off the area;’ Jake continued. ‘He always forgets; remind him, it’s important,’

‘I know, Sheriff,’ Doris replied. She had already sent Junior to the scene and reminded him to cordon it off. Doris had grown fond of Johnny, too. She thought of him as a lovely and sweet boy. Junior sometimes forgot to cordon off the area because he was so eager to put into practice all of what he had learned from the sheriff, eager to impress Jake with his preliminary findings.

‘I'm glad to hear it, Doris. Cordoning off the area is vital to the integrity of a crime scene, and as I always say, a corrupted crime scene handicaps the investigating detectives, and could make the difference between a case solved or unsolved,’ Jake said.

‘Yes, Sheriff.’ Jake wasn't the only person in the sheriff's department who could be sarcastic. Doris had heard all of Jake's ‘pearls of wisdom.’ In fact, she could write a book about it.

‘Keep me posted.’

‘Will do, Sheriff.’

Jake felt relieved. He could now lay back and enjoy his cup of tea. This incident didn't require his ‘services.’ Junior could easily handle this car accident.

How wrong Jake was about to be proven.

‘SHERIFF!’ a voice yelled over the radio, causing the Jake to jump and to burn his lips slightly while he tried to slowly sip his fresh hot tea. ‘My God, Sheriff, you need to get down here, now. Keep your distance folks ... you there, keep those people back,’ Jake heard Junior frantically shouting in the background, probably to some people who had also arrived at the scene. ‘I mean now, Sheriff.’

Junior's call startled him. He could tell the young officer sounded panicked. Junior never panicked and he always remained innately calm and collected, even in extreme situations. Jake held his chin. What's got this kid so upset? What's going on down there? he thought.

‘Sheriff, there's blood