Fiona was standing in the doorway behind the bear.
“What the hell is going on” I shouted, “How is this thing moving. Run, run save yourself” I screamed at her.
Fiona just stood there smiling and said, “This bear will not hurt me as I made him. He does everything I tell him to do and he has been programmed to bring your body to me”.
“Why”  I screamed, “What have I done that you wish me dead”.
“You have done nothing” she said as she moved over to the other wall “But I need your life to extend my own. It is the only way I can continue to live in this world as this person in this body. It is already growing old and needs renewing and the other two men did not provide me with sufficient sustenance and only bought me a couple more years.”
“So there is truth to the rumors that they disappeared and you lied to me about who and what they were. You have been working on this ever since we first met” I said.
“Yes, I have and now it’s time, its your turn. It’s no good fighting it as you can’t win”.
I turned back towards the bear who was now much closer to me than before. I looked around to see if I could find another way out but my feet seemed very heavy and rooted to the floor. Just like having a bad dream when you can’t fight and can’t run and nothing works. Why can’t I move I thought and then I remembered that the coffee had been a little bitter when I drank it and that I must have been drugged.

I heard a shout which seemed a long way away. It was Jack and Bill, the Calvary coming to the rescue. Mrs Duncan turned in them in anger and pointed her finger at them. A bolt of lightning flew out from her finger but both Jack and Bill dodged it. Both had their rifles with them and  one of them shot at the bear who was now no more than six feet from me.
The bear never slowed as it glided slowly towards me. Even though I couldn’t move, I could still talk and screamed at Jack “Shoot Mrs Duncan, shoot her to break the spell”.
Mrs Duncan was pointing her finger at me and Bill threw himself in the way and took the full force of the electric bolt and collapsed in a heap on the floor. The bear was now within two feet of me and then Jack shot Mrs Duncan who fell to the floor. The bear stopped moving and as we watched, Mrs Duncan writhed and screamed as she turned into this old hag not a bit like the beautiful lady she had been and then into an alien shape and it was over. She fell silent and then all of a sudden, she was gone with nothing left of her, not even her clothes.

The spell was broken and I was able to move and rushed to Bill who was laying very still on the floor. He was still breathing and was obviously in some pain. We worked on him a bit and he sat up and asked if it was over and we nodded in agreement. The bear was nowhere to be seen.

“How did you guys know to be here” I asked “You arrived in the nick of time as that bear was going to absorb me as soon as it was close enough. She obtained her sustenance to increase her life span from her carvings who in of themselves were also very advanced technical wonders. I bet that if we were to trace the carvings she has sold over the years, we would find that the owners had all died after they bought them. Her technical ability was strong enough and she was tied in so closely to her carvings that they were able to transport whatever she needed from others back to her body. I wonder how old she really was”?

Jack said, “We suspected that she would try something on you because you were a suitable person just passing through with no strings attached so we have been taking it in turns to keep an eye on you. When you came back today to finish your work, we were both not far away”.

“What now”, I asked. “What about the police. Won’t they be wondering about Mrs Duncan’s disappearance”? “No, we will take care of them. Don’t worry about it. She will only be gone for a little while” was their response. There words never sunk in and it wasn’t until the end that I began to realize that they too are involved.

So, I went back to my hotel to think about all that had happened that day and about the fact that Mrs Duncan was able to make a two thousand pound bear move and also that she was actually needing other bodies to maintain her life. It was all so bloody scary that I didn’t want to think about it any more and felt like getting drunk to hide the memories. That of course was not the answer but a stiff drink would certainly help.

Click on Chapter 11  for the last episode