Reckless: Shades of a Vampire(51)

“The Reverend said his son was dead with a snake bite to the neck.”

“Oh, no,” Emma’s mother cries.

Emma does not flinch.

“The sheriff and his deputy are called by the dispatcher. They meet at the Samuel house at approximately 4 a.m. on Dec. 25. They find that one David Samuels is deceased in his bed with a snake bite to his neck.”

“And that’s why we are here,” the sheriff says, picking up where the deputy left off.

The deputy looks at Emma, who is looking at her father.

“The Reverend is some kind of mad, I must say,” the sheriff says. “Best you stay away from him. He says you put some kind of spell on his boy about those snakes.

“Nothing in our law that says that snake handling you do is illegal but you can see that once again it has become dangerous. I suspect those snakes came from your church, but we need to go and see to make sure.”

“As for you Miss Mays, I’m sorry,” the sheriff says. “I understand you and David had just become engaged. I know news like this can be shocking and I’m sorry to say that your fiancé is dead.”

Emma’s mother cries out again.

“Oh, no, no, no,” she wails, as tears run down her cheeks.

The deputy is watching Emma, who is motionless and speechless and looking not at them but out the window, toward the Denton farm.

“I’m sorry,” the deputy says to her.

“I understand,” she says, changing the cross of her legs during the exchange.

“She’s shocked, you understand,” her father says. “Not exactly what she expected on Christmas morning.”

“No,” the sheriff says. “And we’d like to get on out of your way quick as we can. We just need to get by the church to see if that was your snakes that boy was playing with.”

“You don’t play with the snakes, sheriff,” her father says.

“I’m sorry, Reverend, you are right. Nothing playful about it.”

“If David took the serpent in hand and was struck down then it’s the will of God that he is no longer with us, nothing else. His father may not want to accept that, but it’s the truth. If David’s time has come, then maybe he wasn’t right with the Lord.”

“If you say so, Reverend. We just need to see where those snakes came from then be on our way.”

The deputy looks at Emma’s left hand.

“I see you have on the engagement ring,” he says.

“Yes,” Emma says, sliding the engagement ring off her finger. “I got it last night.”

“That’s what his parents said. You got the ring last night.”

“Yes, sir. Last night. David came over, got down on one knee, and said we were getting married.”

“That’s a shame. Probably the only boy you ever dated, huh?” the sheriff says.

“Well …,” Emma says, stammering. “Yes. Well, yes. That’s the only boy I ever dated.”

“So he gave you a ring last night and left? Did he say he might go get some snakes?”

“Then he left,” Emma says. “That’s all. He just left. Said we would not see each other for Christmas.

“That’s right. We thought he was going to have Christmas with his family,” Emma’s father says. But he really took to those snakes. I guess he had some business to settle up with the Lord. I’m sorry it did not work out for him.”

“I’m sorry too,” the sheriff says. “Been a tough year for us, with Josh gone missing and all and now this. A lot of noise for little old Sand Mountain."

“Whatever happened with Josh?” Emma’s father asks.

Emma looks out the window, to the Denton farm.

“Don’t know,” the sheriff says. “We have no clues. But it sure don’t look like he’s coming back.”

“Nope,” Emma says under her breath.

“What’s that?” the deputy asks.

“Nothing,” Emma says. “Just trying to take in this news.”

The sheriff and the deputy get in their car and Emma’s father leaves driving his car and following them to visit the church to see about the snakes.

Emma walks into the kitchen with her mother, who is rubbing tears from her eyes at the table.

“What’s for breakfast, mother?” Emma says. “I’m hungry.”



As Emma and her mother wash dishes after a breakfast of ham, eggs and toast, her father arrives back at the house from his trip to the church with the sheriff and deputy.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways,” he tells them in the kitchen. “Sure enough. Two rattlers missing from the box at the church. Why David wanted to do it at home, and without anyone else around, I don’t know. I would have helped him get those snakes out, if he had just told me.”