The Mystery of the Backward Riding Cyclist: A New Underwood and Prim Adventure

Now fully attired by his man servant, the elucidator of the eerie did not stir nor speak again until he finished his heartsease tea.

Adam continued with his daily chores taking Danse Macabre, second in legend only to the sword of Arthur given to him by the Lady of the Lake, from its resting place high on the wall atop a stack of bookshelves.

Cassandra, the seer, had been meditating over runes and rose petals on a cloth of doves and hearts lace when she began to speak, "If a werewolf is slain as a wolf, it is slain. If a werewolf is slain as a human, the half-wolf essence shall haunt the slayer forever."

"Other than ghosts of late,  I am exclusively a vampyre slayer. I have found that due to their often superior physical condition and ability to accelerate to such a rate that they seem to disappear and reappear, moving through time unharmed, that a wooden stake is often slow and ineffective. It is almost impossible to approach their coffins when asleep, and I do not recommend it, for they are often guarded by their mortal servants. It is better to dispatch them when they are alone in unfamiliar territory when stalking out their prey."

"After dancing, a werewolf was slain once with its own sword in the forest of Villefere," Cassandra advised again aloud.

"Danse Macabre is most effective in battle against all ghouls and vampyres, save one, which I shall never slay, and its origin and how it came into my possession shall remain forever a mystery."

Returning to his window to the world, he examined the street below. Shadows ambled back and forth behind the opaque, smoke-filled window of the Hookah Lounge and the wise un-intelligentsia stepped in and out of the Coffee House clutching their cups and scholarly satchels. Something out of time and out of place had again caught Prim's keen eye. "How extraordinary even for a local such as this!"





©2019 by L.P. Van Ness. All rights reserved.


Note: Danse Macabre appeared in Underwood and Prim Adventures by L.P. Van Ness published in 'zines in the mid to late nineties.


[genre: eerie fiction]