Everyone in the place was suddenly standing, and fists were flying wildly. It had all happened in just seconds.
Swearing, Bryan leapt over the still screaming and blubbering fat man. He thrust out an arm, pushing his way through the crowd.
Mary had escaped into a back alley. He did the same.
Jessica stayed with Nancy and Jeremy until the sun began to rise. By then Jeremy seemed to have made a major change. He grew calm, no longer so shattered. He was quiet and pensive."It"s safe to leave by day, isn"t it?" he asked Jessica.
She hesitated. "I don"t really-"
She broke off; he was staring at her with something close to contempt.
"You do know," he said quietly. "I don"t know how you know, but you know."
She stared back at him. "You"re probably safe by daylight," she said at last. Then she shrugged and started across the room, taking a seat at her desk and staring at them. "Don"t believe the legend that vampires can"t move about by day. They can, and they need only sleep near or with a few granules of their native soil. They don"t like sunlight, but it won"t kill them, and too much salt.w.a.ter, not just holy water, can kill them. What else? A really powerful vampire can make you forget just about anything. And a really powerful vampire can twist most people to his or her will without even looking them in the eyes." She paused again. The kids had worried that everyone would think they were crazy. Now they probably thought she was totally insane.
"I wouldn"t talk about this, if I were you. If you try to convince other people that vampires are real, they"ll probably find a way to lock you up. Maybe we all deny what we"re afraid to believe, I don"t know. The point is..." She gritted her teeth and leaned forward. "The point is, there is a particularly powerful vampire known as the Master. He"s just about as evil as sin itself. He has appeared many times throughout history. He was dormant for many years, and I actually believed he might have been destroyed, but...anyway, I believe he followed Mary here. So it"s not just Mary walking the streets of New Orleans. There"s far worse out there," she finished softly.
"Are you a slayer, then? Are there really such things?" Jeremy asked.
She lowered her lashes, shaking her head. "No. I"m not a slayer. I simply try to stop them from killing, from making more of their kind. Sadly, I failed to save Mary."
"How do you know about this...Master?" Jeremy asked.
"He"s been around before," she said simply. "I went to the conference in Romania hoping to hear rumors of vampire activity. As usual, there was lots of talk about cults and people who think they need to suck blood, but in all that hot air, you can usually find some glimmer of truth or catch wind of one of the parties the Master has started hosting as his personal feast. He likes to pick and choose. Mary was quite beautiful," she added softly.
"This is insane," Nancy said.
Of course it sounded insane. They"d insisted they"d seen vampires without having any idea of what that really meant.
"You wanted the truth. I"ve given it to you. You"ll need to protect yourselves at all times. Especially if I"m right and the Master is here, planning one of his parties."
She was surprised when Nancy said, "The sad thing is, I believe you." Her voice turned to a whisper. "I was there. And I know that you"re telling the truth. I just want it to be insane."
Suddenly Jeremy sprang to life and shook his head. "But...the whole city needs to be warned. The entire state. h.e.l.l, the world!"
Jessica sighed. "Don"t you understand? You can"t go creating panic, or a situation in which you condemn those who can fight the evil to being stuck in a mental ward."
Nancy looked at Jeremy. "We need to go. We can help our friends, at the very least. We can hand out crosses to our friends. We can ask them to wear them in memory of Mary."
"I"m going to suggest you come back here tonight," Jessica said.
"But our friends-" "You two are the ones he wants. He"ll be angry with Mary, because she wasn"t able to seduce you into letting her in."
"If he hurts her-" Jeremy began angrily.
"Jeremy," Nancy said, taking his arm, "she"s dead. The Mary we know is dead. Isn"t that true?"
Again Jessica looked down, wondering what to say. She lifted her head and stared up at the two of them. "The Master is evil- excessively cruel. I"m afraid that Mary, who is now his creature, isn"t at all the person you once knew. She"ll sound like the woman you knew and loved, but she is his to command. Jeremy, you have to be strong. Strong for her."
"You mean, so I can kill her," he said bitterly.
"If need be."
"Maybe I can-"
"You have no idea what you"re up against. You have to keep yourself safe and let me know any time she comes. Do you understand?" She hesitated. "Jeremy, the Master hates me, and he will try especially hard to hurt the two of you, because he knows we"ve grown close. He"ll target some people for his amus.e.m.e.nt, but others..." She trailed off, not certain how much to say. "I believe the Master is intent on ruining my life, hurting those I care about. You have to be strong, Jeremy. You have to resist Mary, no matter how hard that is. Do you understand? She intends to kill you."
Nancy was frowning, but she clearly comprehended that they were in serious danger. "He understands." Nancy said firmly. "I"ll see to it."
"Let"s go," Jeremy said dully.
"Be back before dark," Jessica warned them firmly.
Jeremy looked at her, troubled. "Why does he want to hurt you so badly?"
"It"s a very long story."
He waited. She remained quiet.
"All right," he said softly. "I"m going to a.s.sume you had something to do with the fact that he was...gone for so long. So you need to be careful, too."
"I will be," she vowed.
Then the two of them were gone.
She leaned back and folded her hands in her lap. After a moment, she murmured aloud, "That didn"t go too badly."
She took a deep breath. Then she started to cancel her appointments for the week.
Except for one.
Sean leaned his head wearily against the back of his chair, momentarily closing his eyes. Maybe the aspirin would kick in soon.
What a night, and what a horrendous beginning to the day.He"d already had to make the call to Mary"s parents to tell them that their daughter"s body had disappeared. At the hospital, there were two rumors going around. One claimed that a psychotic necrophiliac had stolen the body. Then there was the suggestion-taken more seriously by most-that the girl had never been dead, that the doctor on call had made a horrible mistake, and she had simply awakened, perhaps suffering some memory loss, and had grabbed some clothes from somewhere and headed out to the streets.
He"d also had to arrange for constant surveillance of Dave where he lay in the hospital, and he had to make sure he chose the right men for the job. The days were easy enough, but the nights were murder.
Now he was being told that Bryan MacAllistair was waiting to see him.
"Send him in," Sean told the desk clerk.
MacAllistair entered the room and just stood there imposingly, waiting.
"What can I do for you?" Sean demanded.
MacAllistair looked worn, exhausted. "Come clean," he said, taking a seat at least.
Sean groaned. "Come clean? You"re a fine one to insist on honesty."
"I almost had her," MacAllistair said softly.
"Oh?"
MacAllistair shook his head. "The way I see it, you know d.a.m.ned well I was in the morgue. Jessica must have called you by now."
Sean leaned forward. "So, what the h.e.l.l were you doing in the morgue?"
A humorless smile curved the man"s lips. "Trying to stop a vampire," he said quietly.
Sean was shocked into silence, though he shouldn"t have been, he thought.
"She"s a vampire now. I tracked her down in one of the strip clubs. I almost had her, but she got away."
Sean blinked.
MacAllistair"s grim smile deepened as he leaned forward. "I don"t know what the h.e.l.l is going on here, but I will find out. I think you know as well as I do that there"s a vampire loose in the city. I intend to stop it. I can help you, you can help me."
MacAllistair rose. Sean fought to control his temper as MacAllistair spoke again.
"Call me if you need me. I promise I"ll call you. Thanks for your time. I thought I should let you know I almost had her. I"d be watching my back tonight, if I were you."
With that, he nodded a goodbye and left.
"Son of a b.i.t.c.h!" Sean swore. "I should have arrested him."
For what? He asked himself. Knowing the truth?
Stacey was at the house, along with Gareth. She seemed relieved to see Jessica.As Jessica walked up the steps, she surveyed the work being done.
Strings of garlic, dressed up with flowers, were hanging everywhere. There were containers of holy water and other religious symbols as if they had gotten their holidays confused.
"Nice job," she said dryly.
"You all right?" Gareth asked tensely.
She offered him a weary smile. "Just fine."
"We"ve heard all the news," Stacey said.
"I imagine."
"So, she"s...gone?" Stacey asked.
Jessica nodded. "I"m going to lie down for a while. Get a little rest. If everything is all right here?"
"We"ve got it covered," Gareth a.s.sured her.
She hesitated, about to head inside. "Have you seen Bryan MacAllistair?" she asked.
"No," Stacey said, frowning and looking at Gareth.
He shook his head solemnly.
Jessica lowered her head, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. "I"ve got to catch a few minutes of sleep. We"ll talk later."
"No problem," Stacey replied.
Jessica walked through the front door and up the stairs to her room. In the hallway, she stopped, tempted to slip into his room and go through his things.
She was so tired, but it suddenly felt necessary.
She glanced around, though she knew she was alone in the house, then took out her master key and slipped into his room, locking the door behind her.
She stared around the room. Neat and tidy. His computer was on the desk. There were no papers beside it. In the closet, there were two dress jackets, shoes, a windbreaker and a few good shirts. She walked quickly to the dresser. T-shirts, boxers and flannel pajama bottoms.
Frustrated, she closed the drawer and moved back to the computer. She turned it on and scanned his files. Nothing of interest.
The computer was either brand-new, or everything was encrypted in someway she didn"t have time to figure out. She connected to the Internet, anxious to view his past searches.
Startled, she swallowed and stepped back.
Then she gritted her teeth, telling herself she was a fool to be nervous. Of course he had looked up everything to do with vampires. Naturally some of the sites he had found discussed interesting cases revolving around vampirism. Naturally some of those cases involved her.
She thought she heard a sound in the hall. She turned off the computer, stepped back, froze and listened. Nothing. She was just so tired that she was hearing things.
She stepped out of his room, locking the door in her wake. Down the hall, she entered her own room. Good Lord, but she was exhausted. She kicked off her shoes, pulled her shirt over her head and shed her skirt, letting everything fall on the floor as she headed into the bathroom. She let the shower pour down on her long and hard.
Just two nights ago she had been in heaven. And now...
Who the h.e.l.l was he and what the h.e.l.l had he been doing there? He"d had a stake!
And where the h.e.l.l was he now?
He had stirred such deep emotions in her. Awakened feelings she hadn"t known in forever. He had reminded her so much of...
What was gone. Dead. What could never be again.
Wrapped in her robe, she strode back out to the bedroom, threw herself down on the bed and staring up at the ceiling.
Only then did she realize she wasn"t alone in the room.
"At last." came the deep voice, barely a whisper on the breeze. "At last. I"ve been waiting for you, you know."