Good morning, my latest Sardis County short story, "Vengeance Is Swine," is featured in the upcoming anthology "Trouble Comes In Threes" from Ye Olde Dragon Books. One of the co-editors, Deborah Cullins Smith, shared an excerpt from my story on social media yesterday, so I'm sharing it here.
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His original plan had been to do surveillance first to determine the best time to strike Hamilton, the brother living in the brick house. He had been behind the house in the pool and patio area, grilling steaks. The other two brothers, Ned and Ben were there as well. Three young women were there also, all of them appearing to be over the age of twenty but still considerably younger than any of the brothers, no doubt more attracted to their money and their power than to the men themselves. The three women put together might not have weighed as much as any one of the brothers. Another familiar smell drifted to his nose, that of alcohol. The three Swilling brothers were having a party.
Pigs, he thought in disgust. The appalling living conditions that they put their other residents through were bad enough. Only God Himself could calculate how much misery their practices had caused their tenants, and these men were living it up. Nevertheless, it presented a golden opportunity, and Ritch changed his strategy. He would take care of all three of them in one fell swoop.
The familiar hunger rose within him, mingling with his desire to see justice served. As much as Ritch hated what Dr. Lockhart’s experiments had done to him, this was the only way he could reconcile it with his conscience. If his exposure to caprinium had made him a monster who had to kill periodically, the least he could do was make sure his victims were people who had victimized others.
Ritch hunkered down, his muscles tensed like a spring as he waited for the moment. Waited for when at least two of the brothers would be standing near each other and in line with his vantage point, without any of their guests in his path.
When the moment came, Ritch didn’t hesitate. The wolfman charged forth like a shot out of a cannon, covering the distance and jumping on one of the brothers before anyone realized what was happening. Ritch made short work of the first Swilling, and jumped on the second before his impaired state allowed him to react.
In under sixty seconds, he had fulfilled two-thirds of his contract. Now he just had to find the third brother, who was nowhere to be seen. However, an open patio door gave him all the information he needed. The unmistakable aroma of adrenaline and terror accented the scent of his quarry, making it more pungent. Ritch hustled through the door, following his nose into the house.
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"Trouble Comes In Threes" will be released on May 1, so there will be more details to come. Thanks for reading, and as always, thank you for your support!
