Blood Red

Chapter 18

Soulis walked down into the basement of his house, smiling to himself. They were pleasant enough men, the detectives. Annoying, but pleasant.

It was easy enough to slide between the stones in the floor and move through the darkness until he reached the cave far below the house. There were a lot of tricks he’d learned over the years, and becoming a shadow was one of the simplest.

When he stepped into the cave, they were all waiting, most of them in a stupor, a few conscious and ready to escape if they could. The new ones were still dead. They would be until the sun had set. That was still a few hours away.

The cavern lay below sea level, a deep, dank secret place that only two living people knew about. It was one of the main reasons he had chosen Albert Miles’s house as the proper location for his experiments.

The problem had always been the same as far as he could figure: the newly risen were always rather stupid. It was hard to rise from the dead and come out of the entire situation feeling alert and perky. Not only did they lack any substantial strength, but they also looked like they’d just recently been killed. The average life expectancy of a recently reborn vampire was not very long. The ones that didn’t get killed by whomever they were attacking in the first few nights of their new lives usually didn’t make it past the first sunrise. They were delicate creatures, really, and the sun could destroy them in very little time.

So Jason had decided to experiment. He’d done well enough in Ohio, before Jonathan Crowley showed up and killed off his new prizes. After that, he decided it was time to get a little bolder in his tests.

He hid the bodies away and let them fester for a while; let them stew in their own death with just enough blood to keep them coherent and recovering from their journey back to the world. That was how they all explained it to him, the ones that had actually died: they said it was like coming back from a far darker place.

They also said they came back without their souls in a lot of cases. He wondered about that and whether or not there was any truth to the notion. Most of the time he didn’t give any consideration to the idea of a soul or a life force; it was something he’d never had to deal with.

There were different types of vampires; he knew that much for certain. There were the ones like what he had been leaving in this cave—killed as food, they would rise within a few days and continue the cycle of feeding and killing—and there were the ones who were created through the exchange of blood and other bodily secretions. The latter were far rarer to encounter. It wasn’t often that one of his kind decided to make a new Undead. He wondered if others thought of the distinction or if it was only him. Oh well, live and learn.

He knew a few others who had created Undead as opposed to merely vampires, but they seemed to find the entire affair some sort of secret, best left locked away. Jason couldn’t understand that notion. He had no shame regarding what he had created. The rest seemed to look on what they had done as a mistake of epic proportions.

Still, he supposed if he was going to experiment, he needed to cover all of the possibilities. Besides, it was only a rare few he had ever found who he felt could handle the changes in their lives.

Maggie Preston, for example, was virtually ideal for the part. What a lovely young woman. He wondered idly how angry she would be when she found out what he had done to her.

Back to business. He looked at the sickly things crawling or sleeping in the cave and smiled. Some of the braver ones had figured out how to escape around the same time they realized that breathing was not a necessity any longer. Most of them hadn’t come along that far in their thought processes.

Waking up, it seemed, took a while.

“Please, let us go.” Her name was Danielle Hopkins. He’d taken her from the campus of the university right after she’d dealt with the boy Maggie had befriended.

“Not yet, Danni. It’s not time.” He spoke as patiently as he could. That one tended to whine. She wasn’t doing well; her skin was sloughing off.

“When? Can you tell me that?”

“Maybe tomorrow night.”

“So long?” Her voice was miserable.

“Not so long, my child. Barely any time at all.”

“I’m so hungry.”

“I know. Soon, Danni. Soon.”

She slipped across the ground, her eyes wide and casting their faint silvery light. “Please, just for a short time? Just for a few hours?” Danni suddenly got a crafty look on her face. “I can tell you who has been sneaking out…”

Jason looked from her to where the Lister family was sleeping, pale, yes, but far better nourished than she was. They had barely decayed at all. “Oh, Danni.” He patted her pale blond hair and felt a few strands fall out at the light touch. “I already know who’s been escaping.”

He did, too. He knew by how healthy they looked. The children normally managed to figure it out first. Sometimes they even caught on to the limitations of their abilities and got back before the sun incinerated them.

Yes, he was very pleased with how this was going. There were more of them surviving and getting stronger. He rubbed the hairs off his fingertips and smiled. Danielle was crying again. She cried a great deal of the time.

“Danielle, my dear, only until tomorrow night and then you will be free.”

“Do you really mean it?” Suddenly another day or two in the ground seemed like a small price to pay to her, and she was smiling.

“Of course, child. I would never lie to you. Tomorrow night, and then the world will be yours for the picking.”

She wept again, this time they were tears of joy.

It was almost four in the afternoon when Maggie woke up. She stretched and realized that Ben’s bed was empty, except for her.

With just a moment’s concentration she realized that he was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled absolutely heavenly. The scent of coffee coming into the room didn’t hurt either.

She was wearing a pair of his pajamas. Mostly they fit, but she had to hold up the waistband with one hand and her chest was straining a few buttons.

She walked down the hall and into the kitchen where he was just finishing with his preparations. Grilled cheese sandwiches on rye bread and a pot of cream of tomato soup.

The room was bright, but not uncomfortably so. She sat down at the table and watched him while he finished up the last of the sandwiches.

“Good morning, Ben.”

“Afternoon, sleepy head.”

“Thank you.” She looked into his eyes and he quickly looked away. He was cute. She’d never known a college-aged boy who was so shy around her.

“You haven’t tasted it yet.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

He finally looked back at her and flashed a tentative smile. “I know. You’re welcome.”

They ate in almost complete silence. The food was good and she was ravenous.

When they were finished, he cleaned the dishes, waving off her offer to help.

Parts of his apartment were messy and looked lived in. The kitchen and the bedroom were the exceptions. In those two places he was a bit of a neat freak.

“So, what happened last night, Maggie?”

She had to think about that, because, honestly, she didn’t really understand it all herself. “I don’t know. I have a few suspicions.”

“You don’t know what happened to Tom?”

“That I do know.” She looked him in the eyes and this time he didn’t look away. “I killed him, Ben. He went too far and I killed him.” She looked away from him for the first time, suddenly worried. “Do you hate me for that?”

“I don’t think I could ever hate you, Maggie. No, I think he got what he deserved.”

“He did. He definitely did.”

“Then why would you think I would hate you?”

“I killed a man.” She’d killed several, actually, but he didn’t know about them and she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him.

“Well, no, I don’t hate you. I’m just a little worried about you.”

“So am I.”

“I didn’t know if I should take you to the hospital or what, Maggie.” He was starting to get a look of panic on his face. “I was afraid the blood was all yours and I was afraid you were going to get sick and die on me.”

“I didn’t, though.”

He nodded his head and closed his eyes for a second. “I know. I just… I don’t normally get close to people. I’m not used to it. So when I do, I get a little weird.”

“Well I don’t really go out of my way to meet new people either. My profession doesn’t really encourage it.”

He nodded again. “Yeah, what are you gonna do now? I mean, you don’t have Tom there to help you set things up or whatever he did.”

She smiled. He was very diplomatic when he wanted to be. “I’ll figure something out. I’ve got some cash stowed away.”

“Yeah, well, about Tom…”

“Yeah?”

“I sort of stole his money. All of it.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“No. No, I stole it and put it in a safe place. Not easy to access, but I figured if you wanted to check into it, I can give you the account numbers.”

“What the hell made you do a thing like that, Ben? That’s just dangerous.”

“Yeah, well, him kicking my ass the other day sort of made me angry.”

“So you robbed his accounts?”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Well, I don’t know if it maybe caused whatever had you so pissed off at him.”

She had to think about it. Yes, it probably had been an influence, but not the biggest one. “No. He was just a dick.”

“Good, because I would hate myself if I did something that hurt you.”

“Don’t hate yourself. There’s enough of that going around already.”

“You hating yourself for what happened?”

“Which part?”

“Don’t. You’re a good person.” He got really bold and touched her hand.

“Don’t count on it.” She shook her head, remembering the blood from the night before. It didn’t seem completely real, but she could remember it in vivid detail.

The thing was she really didn’t feel badly about it. She should have, that was the part that bothered her. She was actually very surprised that Ben wasn’t ready to head for the hills instead of being anywhere around her.

“So what’s next?”

“I think I have to talk to a man I met. I think he might have done this to me.”

“What? Did he hide you in a secret lab?”

“Something like that.” She smiled. He probably wouldn’t want to hear the details and she really didn’t want to share them anyway.

“You need someone to cover your back?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, if you want help, I’m not really planning on doing anything special right now.”

“Okay. So it’s a date.”

“Might want to go by your place first. I mean, I like the pajama look on you, but it’s going to be hard for him to focus on answering questions with you in that.”

She punched him lightly on the shoulder and laughed. “Goof.”

Kelli went into town and started shopping. She had to go trick-or-treating tomorrow and there was no time for being picky. She needed a costume ASAP.

Of course she’d heard about the fire. She was just not going to think about it. She was starting to get very good at avoidance. Having people dying all around you did that to a girl. At least that was what Erika said and she should know; she was a psych major, after all.

Erika Addison was a svelte redhead with big baby blue eyes, a devastating pout, and a passionate love of parties and the morbid. Halloween was her kind of gig and she insisted that Kelli have a good time. She was also right, so Kelli was listening.

“What do you think?” Erika was holding up a witch outfit that would get most girls thrown in jail for public indecency. She could not only get away with it, she would probably get a marriage proposal or two.

“I think you might need one of those for each boob.”

“Prude.”

“I am not.”

“Not a total prude, but you’re working on it.”

“Family values do not make me a prude, Erika.”

“They don’t make you any friends with guys, though.”

“Not all of us need a ‘Now Serving number’ sign on our doors.”

“Meow, Kelli. And I don’t need the sign, I just like it.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her hair out. Erika wasn’t happy if she wasn’t being scandalous. Kelli caught a costume that struck her fancy. It was a zombie costume and it wouldn’t take a lot of work. Also, not so scary the kids would freak out.

“God, you cannot be serious.” Erika looked at her like she’d lost her mind as she examined the costume.

“Why not?”

“Because zombie chicks do not get laid at frat parties and you definitely need to get laid, girl.”

“So… maybe I’ll get a second costume for afterwards.” It wasn’t in the plans and it sure wasn’t in her budget, but she wouldn’t mind looking a little sexy for a change of pace.

Erika waved the devil outfit at her. “I’m buying this for you.”

“Okay, Erika, you might have the body for that, but I do not.” Kelli shook her head good and hard to make her point.

“Fine.” She reached out and grabbed an outfit that was just a bit less revealing than Elvira’s usual black ensemble. Erika raised one eyebrow in question and challenge alike as she held out the package for Kelli to see. “Try this one. And yes, you have the tits for it.”

A woman hauling two shell-shocked kids around the store looked over with a frown of disapproval at the language and Erika stuck out her tongue in response.

“I can’t wear that, Erika.”

“Of course you can.” Erika smiled brightly. “I’m glad we agree.”

“No, seriously, Erika…”

“Honey, it comes with a mask. You’re wearing it.”

“But—”

“It’s settled. We can even dye your hair if you want.”

“Are you spoiling me?”

“Yes. Deal with it.”

She nodded and smiled. It was nice to get spoiled now and then. Besides, the number of times she’d spoiled Erika, she figured she had one coming.

One full section of the wall was completely emptied of costumes. An illustration on the wall showed a black-hooded affair with tattered sleeves. “Popular costume…”

“Ever since that Scream movie came out.” Erika shook her head. “No originality.”

“Well, it was kind of a neat costume…” Kelli had seen it a week ago and toyed with it. She was shocked to see them all gone.

“No, it was kind of a neat movie. The costume shows no cleavage, so how good can it be?”

“You have no shame.”

“Shame is for the weak and the virgins.”

“Well, I guess I’m weak.”

“Yeah, but at least you’re not a virgin.”

“Could you announce that a little louder?”

“Nah. I’ll just tell the guys you’re easy at the parties tomorrow night.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Watch me,” she smirked. “You’ll have a wig and a mask. Keep the mask on and have a party, I say.”

“You would.” Kelli started to laugh and stopped when Erika looked at her funny.

“Who are you kidding? I already did. Try it some time.”

“Thanks for doing this.” She felt like crying but hid it well.

“For what? Going out and partying? Any time!”

Kelli nodded and tried to hold in her feelings, but it was harder to do all the time. Erika moved over and pulled her close, offering a shoulder that Kelli did not want to use. She used it anyway. She needed it. The days were driving her crazy and the nights were a hundred times worse.

“We need to get you out of that house, Kelli. Even if it’s only for a few nights.”

“I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Shit. You can come stay with me, okay?” All the usual caustic charm was gone and Erika was just herself; a warm, wonderful person who hid it well sometimes.

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Screw you. You’re staying with me tonight.”

Kelli nodded, grateful. She needed to rest, and she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since Teddy disappeared.

“It’s pissing me off. Something Soulis said was wrong. I just don’t know what it was.”

“You’re obsessing, Richie.”

“I do not obsess. I get results.”

“Save it for O’Neill.”

“O’Neill can kiss my hairy ass.”

“Better be careful. He might if we actually figure out what’s going on around here.”

“You’re starting to whine again.”

“I got a headache.”

“Suck it up.” Boyd reached for the coffee again. If he kept drinking it this fast, he’d be pissing all night.

“Don’t go getting all grumpy bear on me, Richie. Only one of us can be bitchy at a time and it’s my turn.”

“Okay. Good point.” He stole one of Danny’s shrimp. “So here’s the deal. I think Soulis is dirty.”

“We already discussed that.”

“I know, but I want to talk about it again.”

“Well, he gave a good excuse for dealing with Tommy, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, but it was almost too good.”

“How do you figure?”

Danny stole a French fry from his plate. Then the bastard went and took a bite of his burger.

“He didn’t say how he knew about Tommy’s death.”

“Yeah? It’s a small town.”

“Yes, it is. But that doesn’t mean everything that happens is spread around town to a stranger.”

“Maybe he gets the paper.”

“Maybe we need to look at this morning’s paper…”

They both called for Sally at the same time. She sighed and moved their way.

“Yeah, guys?”

“Sally, love of my life, flame of my heart.”

“Don’t make me sick, Boyd.”

“Hmmph. Okay then, you got any copies of this morning’s paper lying around?”

“I knew you wanted something.” She shook her head and walked toward the kitchen door.

“I love you, baby, honest.”

“You tip like we’re already married, Boyd.”

“You gotta start tipping her better. She’s gonna start spitting in your coffee or something.” Danny took another bite of his burger and Boyd scowled. One shrimp was not worth that much of his burger.

Sally came back out with a slightly wet newspaper. “It’s all yours. It’s been in the trash, so have fun.”

“Yeah?” Boyd smiled at her. “Want to order me another burger?”

“Sure, hon.”

“And Sally, my love?”

“Yeah?”

“Wash your hands for me, okay?” He stole another shrimp and opened the paper.

“Boyd, I’m bored.”

“Stop whining or I’ll make you read, Danny Boy.”

When Danny didn’t comment, he looked up to see why. Ben Kirby was walking into the diner with a bombshell on his arm.

“When the hell did he get popular?”

“Maybe he’s spending some of Tommy’s money.” Boyd watched the two sit down and saw Sally move over to them in a hurry, a smile on her face.

“More power.”

“Amen, brother. On the other hand, if he’s giving out loans, I could use a new car.”

“You could use a car that doesn’t belong to the department, you cheap bastard.”

“I ain’t cheap and my parents were married.”

“Not according to Sally.”

“Yeah? What would she know about my parents?”

“You’re a funny man, Richie.”

Boyd went back to reading. He scanned every headline and then threw the paper into Danny’s lap just as his partner was finishing off his burger. “See if you can find any mention of a dead pimp bastard in there, Danny.”

“Nothing?”

“Not a damn thing. And that’s the other thing that bugged me. Why did Soulis talk to us about the frat fire? Far as that article says, it started and it burned; the article didn’t say anything about who died or missing bodies.”

“That might be stretching it, Richie.”

“The fuck it might be. We’re gonna go pay our new friend another visit.”

“What? You’re getting my second burger to go?”

“Touch that burger, Danny Boy, and I’ll bust your head open.”

Danny waved until Sally looked his way. Ben looked over, too, and the girl next to him smiled tentatively. Sally walked over and put her hands on her hips. “What?”

“Sally? If I make Boyd give you a good tip, can I have another burger, and maybe they could both be to go?” He was putting on his pretty-boy pouty face with the big baby eyes. Sally fell for it the same as all the women did.

“Sure, hon. But I’m not letting you off the hook for crappy tips, either. I dug into trash for you boys.”

“But, Boyd loves you…”

“Yeah, love like that I can get on the radio.” Boyd wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but he laughed anyway. Five minutes later Sally put the burgers in a bag and handed Danny the check. Danny put down enough cash to pay for five times that much food. Seeing as she only charged them for around half of their orders, she earned a fat tip now and then.

On their way out, Boyd smiled at Ben and stopped. “How’s things, Ben?” He noticed the bruises on the kid’s face, but most of his attention was stuck in his peripheral vision, where the girl was sitting and watching him. Danny didn’t even pretend to notice Ben. He was almost drooling.

“Good, Officer Boyd. How did things go with our mutual acquaintance?”

“Which one? Tommy or Freemont?”

“Freemont.”

“He’s out on bail for now. But not for long. Waiting for a few test results to come in.”

“Do you think he’ll go away?”

“Oh, hell yeah, kid. He’s already gone, he just don’t know it.”

“Good.” It dawned on him that the girl might be a material witness in the case. He made a note to ask Ben. He’d wait until the kid was alone, however, just in case something had happened to her that would be embarrassing. He wasn’t into embarrassing kids like Ben or their dates. Christ knew he probably didn’t get out that much.

“Funny thing happened to Tommy.”

Both Ben and the girl looked ready to rabbit when he mentioned the name. Danny noticed it too.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. He wound up dead. He also wound up with his bank accounts drained.”

Ben was looking a little green, and Boyd smiled at him.

“I don’t think the two are connected or anything like that, and it’s not my case anyway.” Danny snorted and Boyd resisted the urge to hit him over the head with the burger sack. “I just thought it was interesting.”

“I guess it is.”

Boyd leaned in much closer and looked Ben in the eyes long and hard. “If I was the sort of person that would take that sort of money from someone like that, Ben, I think I would make very sure my tracks were covered. Because I can’t promise the detectives on the case will notice anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised by it, either. I know them both. They’re very good. We’ll see you around, Ben. Nice to meet you miss… ?”

The girl with the devastating smile looked his way and gave her name. “I’m Maggie. Ben and I are study buddies.”

“I’m Boyd and this is Danny. He and I are detectives.” He smiled and went on his way.

When they were outside of the diner, Danny looked at him and shook his head. “She look familiar to you?”

“Not really.” He shrugged and kept walking. “Could be I’m used to seeing her in red.”

It was worth the casual act for the stupid look on Danny’s face. “You’re fuckin’ kidding me.”

“No, I am not fucken kidding you. But we already agreed not to discuss red ladies.”

Danny looked back into the diner. His eyes searching until he found the right booth. “Fuck me, Richie. You’re good.”

“Not with O’Neill’s dick, Danny Boy. And I’m better than good.”

“Gotta watch that ego, sunshine.”

“Not in this lifetime.”

“Soulis’s place?”

“Yep. But we’re just gonna watch for now.”

“Yeah? Why?”

“Call it a hunch. Something about that girl in there and something about Soulis.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Something about their eyes…”

“Let’s go, Richie. I’m bored.”

“Yeah, now that you ain’t staring at that girl’s tits.”

“Man’s gotta have hobbies, Richie.”

“Man should learn subtlety, Danny Boy.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Alan Tripp was feeling much better after a shower and a meal. So far no one had noticed that he was home. Well, no police cars at least. His closest neighbor, a man he still did not know by name after twelve years, waved when he saw him. Happily, that was after the shower and a set of real clothes.

The shower was wonderful. The meal he barely tasted. Part of him just wanted to get comfortable, but he couldn’t let that happen. So he cleaned the wound on his hand, scrubbing with soap and then rinsing with hydrogen peroxide seemed to take care of any possibility of comfort. The flesh around the wound was angry, red and swollen.

He wrapped it tightly and forgot about it almost as soon as he was done.

He’d planned on getting busy with his weapons, but instead he sat down at his home office and signed onto the Internet. There had to be a few sites about vampires out there.

There were over seven and a half million sites that listed vampires. He sighed and searched through the first fifty or so before his eyes started closing on him.

The sound of glass breaking was what woke him up. It wasn’t a small pane of glass being cracked by a rock; it was more like somebody had swatted at the sliding glass door with a hammer. He’d gone to sleep in front of the computer screen and had rested his weight on both arms. His hands were sound asleep and not at all happy about being awakened.

Groggy and dazed, he listened for any further sounds. At first there was only silence, but he heard the whispers. They were sibilant sounds, not that different from the leaves blowing down the street, but with a pattern hidden inside. Alan stood up and swayed, a bit of the room shifting rudely around him. He hadn’t counted on an infection to begin with, but now it seemed his hand had decided to share the wealth of bacteria with the rest of his body.

Or maybe he’d get lucky and it was just a cold.

Either way, he had to see what was going on; not checking went against everything he believed in. This was his home and he couldn’t sit idly by and do nothing if someone was breaking in. He walked as best he could to the doorway, and leaned against the wall for support.

He listened for the whispers and heard them again. Something about the sound sent shivers across his spine. He listened closer and finally understood what it was. He knew the voices. He couldn’t make out the words, true enough, but he knew the voices.

Meghan was whispering to Avery and he was whispering back.

Hearing them, knowing they were right outside the house and talking, took all of the strength from Alan’s limbs. He made himself slide along the wall until he could look toward the broken window he knew was close by.

Vampires can’t get in unless they’re invited, right? That’s what it says in all the movies. They’ve got to know more than I do. Okay. So how did Avery get in? Damned fool. You invited him.

What else was supposed to work on vampires? He thought fast and hard and finally decided to move into the living room. There, on the end table where she always kept it, was Meghan’s family Bible. The bookmark that held her place in the book was a crucifix on a leather strap. He pulled the book to him and carried it in his left, wounded hand, the bookmark in his right. He felt heat surging through the wound and clenched his teeth.

Avery stood in front of him, trying to coax his mother through the window and having no success.

“Come on, Mom, you can do it.”

She reached again then backed away, her expression showing her frustration. “I can’t. Something is stopping me.”

Alan watched her try again and fail. The sweet face he’d fallen in love with back in their senior year of high school— long before they dated, but it was love—grew ugly with anger and she snarled. He’d never seen her with that look on her face. He wasn’t sure her face had ever been designed for that sort of rage. She was like an almost perfect copy of the woman he married. He hated the thing outside his back door for that reason; hated it easily as much as he had ever loved his wife.

“Meghan.” His voice broke when he said her name and he felt the sting of tears threatening to escape. God, how he’d loved her; how she had completed him.

Avery turned to face him and so did his wife. “Alan? Can I come in?”

She had to ask. That much was true at least. They couldn’t come in unless they were invited; he wondered if all of the evil things in the world had that limitation. Maybe, he thought. Otherwise how could there be anything left?

“Yeah, hon. Come on in.”

Her sweet, sweet smile was his reward as she gracefully stepped past the window that the two things had shattered. Broke that fucker apart, Meghan; he looked at the fragments of glass on the ground and was surprised to see that they cast reflections in the shards. The reflections showed a different Meghan, one who’d been dead for two days and an Avery who’d been dead most of a week. Same as you did my heart and soul.

“Alan, we’ve missed you, baby.” Yes, oh that one hurt. That perfect smile on that perfect face as she came toward him with her arms opened, ready to hug him and to love him again.

He wished he could believe it for a moment. A thousand times he wished he could believe it as Meghan and Avery came closer.

Alan held out the crucifix, showed it to them and let them see what he carried. Avery flinched, but Meghan kept coming. Alan waved it around to make sure she saw it.

“Silly man,” she smiled and grabbed the cross in her hand, drawing the cord from between his numbed fingers. She held it up for him to see and then kissed it with her full lips. Her eyes lit up with amusement. “It’s just a pretty little trinket if you don’t believe in it.”

Avery bit him on his wrist, sharp teeth cutting through his flesh with the greatest of ease. The Bible fell to the ground as he tried to shake his son free.

Meghan dropped the necklace and reached for his face with her hands. Her strength was amazing. Avery had been powerful, but Meghan was so much bigger than a ten-year-old boy.

Alan kneed his son in the chest and, as Avery staggered back from him, spitting blood and profanities, he brought his left hand around to punch the monster with Meghan’s features as hard as he could in her face. His right hand came into play too, groping along the bookshelf that held most of the family’s mementos.

Meghan barely flinched from his fist, which flared into a lightning blast of pain as he tore the stitches from the infected wound. His right hand caught a picture frame that held their favorite wedding photo. He brought the edge of the frame around and slammed it into her right temple hard enough to bend the polished chrome corner and drive slivers of breaking glass into his fingertips.

She let out a small gasp of pain as the flesh on her temple dented inward, and then Meghan caught his hand in her grip and squeezed until his bones broke and the Kodachrome memory was sliced apart by glass and bathed in his blood.

Avery lunged forward and sank his teeth into Alan’s crotch, gnashing and savaging even as his tiny hands sank into Alan’s thigh with enough force to tear the denim covering his flesh.

Alan did not go gently into the darkness. His family made sure of it.

Boyd woke up to the sound of Danny whistling “It’s a Small World,” and started into consciousness as his partner tapped his shoulder. Before he could tell his friend to shut the fuck up, Danny was pointing.

Ben Kirby and the bombshell were approaching Soulis’s front door.

“You fucken kidding me?” He sat up, fully awake, and looked as the door opened without the two bothering to knock. Jason Soulis smiled familiarly at Maggie Preston. He gave a polite bow of his head to Ben. For only a second, he looked toward their car and, even from a distance, Boyd would swear the man looked right at him through the glass.

A moment later the three were inside and the door closed.

“Did he just wink at us?” Danny chuckled as he asked the words and then shook his head. “I think that prick just winked at us.”

Thirty seconds after that, the crows started landing all over the Crown Victoria. They dropped from nearby trees and from the darkness overhead and landed, making themselves comfortable. There were enough of the damned things settling down that Boyd could feel the car’s shock absorbers compensating.

“What do you think the chances are we’ll get shit on if we climb out?”

Danny laughed out loud. “I’m thinking we get out of this car and we’re gonna be pecked to death.”

“Yeah?”

“You ever see a crow go at roadkill, Richie? They can use them beaks to cut meat like a steak knife.”

“So screw it.” He started the car and activated the wipers. The birds on the windows hopped out of the way, cawing in protest. Boyd started driving.

“We’re just quitting?”

“No, we’re going to do something else instead.” Boyd lit his cigar, filling the car with thick white smoke. When he was done with that, he shifted into drive and they pulled away from the curb.

“You’re getting fickle, Richie.”

“I don’t want to get my eyes plucked out of my head, Danny. Do you?”

He pretended to think about it. “Not really on my list of things to do, you know what I mean?”

“You want coffee?”

“Duh.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” The birds started flying away. He was surprised they’d stayed on a moving vehicle for that long.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“We could go to bed.”

“With you? You’re a sick bastard, Danny.”

“So where are we going?”

“The morgue. I wanna check on a few things. Then I think we’ll check on our old pal, Brian Freemont.”

“Yay. I love field trips.”

“I was wondering how long it would be before you came to see me, Maggie.” Jason led them into his house. “I didn’t expect you to bring a friend.” The notion seemed to amuse him.

“He’s a very good friend to have, Jason. We were both wondering what the hell you did to me.”

“I made you better.” He led them into the dining room. “Sit, be comfortable. I’ll bring refreshments.”

They waited for a few minutes. Ben looked around the place with a nervous eye.

“Nice place.”

“I think Jason does all right for himself.” She’d been with a lot of men who managed to make money hand over fist. Jason was just the first to make her into something that wasn’t human. She rubbed her arms.

Jason came back in, carrying a tray with coffee and an array of small sandwiches. “I believe you would like answers.”

“Yes, please.”

He looked toward Ben, with that amused smile back in place. “Do you want them with Ben in the room?”

Ben made no comment and kept his face perfectly neutral.

“Yes. You can tell me in front of Ben.”

“You trust him that far?”

She nodded.

“Good. Excellent. That’s a rare thing, a trust like that.”

“What did you do to me?”

“I gave you power and the ability to defend yourself from almost anything.”

“Don’t play with me, Jason, please. Tell it to me straight.”

Jason shrugged. “I made you into a vampire.”

Ben looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “You’re serious.”

“Of course. It’s a serious subject, Mr. Kirby.”

“A vampire?” Maggie sat very still as she tried to absorb that. “As in coffins, sunlight, and drinking blood?”

“You can forgo the coffin, actually. They’re hardly necessary.” Jason looked from one to the other and let that little smile play around his dark eyes. The worst part was that she wanted him. She wanted to politely ask Ben to stay here and then she wanted to take Jason up to his room and do everything they’d done before all over again. Damn, he was a sexy man.

She shook the thought away. “Okay, why did you make me a vampire and what does that mean, exactly, because I saw my reflection in the mirror not ten minutes ago.”

“There’s a lot to explain, so I’m going to hit the high notes and we’ll go from there.”

They both nodded.

“First, you do not need a coffin. That’s just one of those little things the fiction writers came up with. You also do not need the soil you were buried in. You were not buried. You are not dead. You are very much alive.” He smiled. “That makes you an exception.”

“How so?” Ben asked the question. Jason got an irritated look for a second. He recovered quickly.

“Most vampires are created when you feed and kill.” He shrugged. “They are a different breed. They die, they rise from the grave. They need to worry more about coffins and soil than you do.”

Ben opened his mouth again and Jason waved him silent before he could speak. “I’ll get to it, Ben. Please save the questions for later.”

Ben nodded apologetically and Jason went on.

“There are other ways to make a vampire. Maggie, I suspect you already know what acts we did together that caused this.” Ben closed his eyes. Other than that simple action, he remained perfectly calm.

“But why me, Jason?”

“Because you fit the needs I was looking for.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, you’re a very independent woman. You have no strong connections to the world around you, and you fascinate me.” He shrugged. “All three were important to my criteria.”

“What? I’m an experiment?”

Jason laughed softly and shook his head. “No. And yes.”

She felt herself growing agitated and tried to follow Ben’s example.

“I am experimenting, but not on you. I’m experimenting on the other type of vampires because I’m curious. But that’s not really important. I did what I did because I wanted to, and because I think certain types of beauty should be saved. Maggie, you will never grow old and you will never have to die as long as you are smart.”

“How do you fix it?”

“There’s nothing to fix, Maggie. It’s done. You are what you are from now until the end of your existence.”

Her ears were ringing. Ben was looking from her to Jason and he was looking very unhappy. She’d have to talk to him about that. Not to chastise him, but to make sure he was okay with everything. She needed him to be okay, much as that unsettled her.

“Now, listen carefully, because there’s a lot to say. Sunlight will not kill you, but it will make you weaker. It will kill the ones that are made from your bite—”

That one took her off guard and she jumped a bit. “Oh shit.”

“They have been taken care of.”

Ben was looking very puzzled. She couldn’t take the time to explain and she didn’t want to either.

“How often do I need to drink blood?”

“When you hunger for it,” Jason shrugged. “There has never been any rhyme or reason that I have discovered. Sometimes I don’t need to feed for a couple of weeks and other times I cannot get enough without going on a killing spree.”

“Do you have to kill them?”

“No. But it’s convenient.”

Ben was shaking his head from side to side very slowly.

“Why?”

“If you bleed them and do not kill them, you can create more like yourself. It might take a while but it will happen if you feed from the same ones too often.” He placed his hand under his chin and looked at her intently. “Sex can cause the same problem.”

“So why is that bad?”

“Because too many predators can cause harm.” He smiled and shook his head, the dark hair moving in a soft wave. “We can be bad for the human population.”

“If you don’t kill someone, they don’t come back as a vampire?”

“Not often, and not unless you share with them.”

Maggie’s mind kept focusing on the fact that she would never grow old. “What about children? Can I have children?”

The answer was not what she expected.

Brian Freemont thought he was safe at the hotel. He’d chosen one in the center of town and stayed there with the lights on and the TV playing drivel in the background. He slept peacefully for a few hours.

Then the pounding started at his door. The blows were loud enough to scare him into consciousness, gasping and clutching at his chest. In his dream, Angie had been giving him a blow job—something she seldom did—and her teeth had been tearing his flesh away. He was glad the nightmare was gone, but terrified by what might be on the other side of the door.

“Who’s there?”

“Housekeeping, numb nuts.” The voice belonged to Richard Boyd. “Open the door before I kick it down.”

Brian opened the door, almost glad to see the little bastard.

“What do you want now?” He was wearing jeans but had taken off his shirt. The chill from outside was like walking into a gigantic refrigerator.

Boyd walked into the room, his face set in a shit-eating grin that chilled Brian far worse than the cold did. “Brian Freemont, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, if you give up the right to remain silent anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…” He kept reciting the Miranda while Holdstedter pulled out his cuffs and smiled a promise of lethal force if Brian even considered resisting.

Brian had the good sense not to resist. He wanted his shoes and his shirt. They wouldn’t let him have them.

“So what are you charging me with?”

“The rape and murder of Veronica Miller.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Evidence found inside the condom left at the scene places her DNA on the exterior of the condom and yours on the interior. Oh, yeah, and aggravated sodomy. Can’t forget that one, can we, Danny?”

Holdstedter looked murder at Brian. “No, Richie, I don’t think we can forget that, either.”

“Guys, I’ve been set up.” He knew how lame it sounded, but it was all he had.

“Hey, Richie.”

“Yeah, Danny?”

“Look, he resisted.” Holdstedter backhanded Brian with an open hand. He hit the ground and groaned, his entire face feeling like it had been slapped. Holdstedter had big hands.

“That was the only one, Danny Boy. We don’t want this dick walking on a technicality.”

Holdstedter picked him up, lifted him completely off the ground with frightening ease and set him on his feet. He smiled into Brian’s face. “He wouldn’t think of trying that sort of shit. He’s got to know I’ve got weapons of his with his greasy fingerprints all over them. I mean, it’d be easy to put one in his dead hand and say he tried to shoot first, if he did something really stupid like trying to weasel out on a technicality.”

Boyd walked over. “You got weapons of his, Danny? ’Cause I thought we’d confiscated his shotgun.”

“Yeah, we did. It’s in evidence lockup. One firearm.”

They let that sink in. They still had his pistols. Brian nodded his head to make clear that he understood.

“Let’s get this asshole to the lockup.”

Brian sat in the back of the car without saying a word, numb to any sort of thinking or actions.

Holdstedter yawned in the passenger’s seat.

“I need coffee, Richie.”

“I need food, Danny.”

“Diner?”

“Diner.”

“We dropping shithead off first?”

“Nope. He can sit and savor the sweet smell of freedom for a while.”

“More like the smell of your cigars.”

Boyd turned his head and blew a heavy cloud of cigar smoke into Brian’s face. “Whatever makes him happy. Gonna smell better than sitting in a lockup room with Dirk Lockley.”

“Richie, are we that lucky?”

“Oh, yeah. Dirk is in for the night. He tried to hit a convenience store and Coswell nabbed his stupid ass.”

“What is it Dirk is always saying he’d do to a cop if he ever had a chance?”

“Fuck ’im up the ass and make ’im lick his cock clean.”

Danny laughed. Brian closed his eyes and prayed he wouldn’t have to deal with Lockley. The man was a giant mountain of fat and muscle. His bowels seemed ready to leave his body any way they could.

The detectives pulled up in front of the Silver Dollar Diner. They made sure to lock the doors when they got out.

Brian watched them walk away until he saw the figures on the roof of the brick and chrome building. In the neon light, he saw Angela and five college girls that he knew intimately.

“Boyd! Boyd! Fuck’s sake! Boyd let me out of here!” He screamed as loudly as he could, trying to break the cuffs that held his wrists together in the small of his back. All he got for his trouble were a few lacerations.

Boyd and Holdstedter probably heard him, but they didn’t respond.

He looked up as the six women on the roof dropped down to the parking lot and walked his way. Every one of them was smiling, baring wickedly sharp teeth.

He was still screaming when they peeled the roof of the car away and reached for him.