Page 11 (1/2)

Sean Canady stood by the unifor in on the young ue

So far, David hadn&039;t woken up, so he hadn&039;t been able to tell anyone anything But he was stabilizing, and he appeared to be in better shape than Mary had been

"Don&039;t leave him; not for a minute," Sean ordered his officer

"No, sir"

"Not even to take a leak, I ot Howlett down the hallway Call hie Mendez pro Catholic Sean had chosen him for exactly that reason He&039;d seemed to take it in stride, no questions asked, when Sean had hung a crucifix around David&039;s neck

In fact, he&039;d seen Mendez fingering the large silver cross he wore himself, usually beneath his uniform

"Sir?" Mendez asked

"Yeah?"

"Did they ht noe don&039;t knoent down A body isman has suffered serious blood loss For all I know, it could be a sick fraternity prank Anyway, until we knowaway the press and the just plain curious But I want one of you with this young man at all times I&039;ve informed the staff that not even the doctors are to draw a curtain against you, got it? If he needs a bedpan, you&039;re still right here"

"Yes, sir I won&039;t let you down, sir"

Sean nodded and started down the hall Howlett stopped him "The press is outside," he warned

"Thanks"

Sean straightened his spine and headed out tothat she had made an impression on Jeremy and Nancy earlier, and that she wasn&039;t too late if she hadn&039;t, Jessica raced to her office

She banged on the door "Jere that he was in terrible danger She winced as she stood there, fearful his good heart would be his downfall

She fuot it into the lock, then rushed through the door and ran to the inner office

As she burst in, Jere the , turned at last He blinked, staring at her stupidly

"I wassleeping," he said, sounding confused

Jessica went to hi to shake him into awareness

"You can never-never-let her in"

"Butit was Mary"

Nancy began to stir at last "I thought I heard banging It was so strange I thought I heard-"

She broke off, staring from Jeremy to Jessica

Jeremy continued to face Jessica, his features drawn and taut, his eyes filled with sorrow

"It was Mary," he repeated

Jessica lowered her lashes, shaking her head Then she looked up at hi fro that ripping Bryan was so tight that he couldn&039;t even summon a pretense of normal courtesy

No, he didn&039;t want a lap dance

No, it wasn&039;t the price

No, he wasn&039;t gay

It was just that there was only one wo her to anyone else was like co storht now, he had to find Mary He wondered if he asting his time

Then, at last, he found her

It was one of the tawdrier places, off the beaten track The bouncers were big, but flabby The shine orn off the poles, the runway carpets threadbare The girls looked to be older than the usual and, like the bouncers, less than perfectly fit

Until Mary made her appearance

She&039;d picked up soe Bryan gritted his teeth, wondering how she&039;d acquired it, but he had a feeling she hadn&039;troo to take a customer into one of the little curtained alcoves

She strutted down the runway as if she&039;d been born to it She had the naughty schoolgirl look that was such a come-on to some men She had a smile that was a sheer tease, full of forbidden promises

She posed, teased, tempted She practically had sex with the pole

Money was flying; an to offer her services for lap dances One man offered a thousand dollars Hoots and jeers filled the air

Mary assessed the double-chinned businessman, and a smile of disdain touched her lips before she wetted theue

"Why not?" she whispered, and beckoned to hie

Theafter her Discreetly, Bryan followed

There was darkness A very strange darkness Not like ebony, not like a blackout Officer Mendez couldn&039;t have said exactly when he began to notice it, because it was subtle It was as if a shadow had descended Not a real shadow, nothing with a shape or definable edges, just a strange, new sense andfeel of darkness

And then cold

Officer Mendez knew his duty Pure terror began to rip through him, but he had vowed he wouldn&039;t leave, and he wouldn&039;t He fought his fear and approached the young man on the bed He touched the boy&039;s crucifix, then noticed that the pilloas oddly damp

Holy water? Had the lieutenant actually sprinkled the young man&039;s pilloith holy water?

Please, yes

Mendez curled his fingers around the silver cross that protected his own throat He began to pray aloud "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death"

It felt as if he were being strangled As if the shadow had taken on a physical for for him

"I will fear no evil," he continued

He closed his eyes for a o tearing out of the rooone as quickly as it had come With it went the shadow, the sensation of cold Gone as if it had never been

He had broken out into a cold sweat, and he was shaking, but now he began to breathe hter He placed his hands over his ears, never thinking for a second to reach for his firearain the laughter drifted away

This tione

Mendez sank into the visitor&039;s chair at the foot of the bed and looked around nervously Nothing appeared to have changed He thanked God he hadn&039;t given in to his fear, thanked God he hadn&039;t run screaed God never to be given this assignain He was newly married, with a baby on the way He had to live

He stayed on his knees as the night progressed, wondering if he dared try to explain to Detective Canady that there had been a shadow in the room

And that he was afraid it would come back

The curtain drew closed behind the businessman Bryan took a quick look around; there were other curtains, providing privacy for whatever went on in the alcoves There was nothing he could do She had to be stopped

He wrenched aside the curtain just in ti on the floor, blubbering like a two-year-old His eyes ide, his toupee askew

Mary stood over hih he shook and gasped for breath, he didn&039;t have the will to deny her He was like a bleeding diver in a chu he was about to be bitten in half He could see his life-and his death-all at once

Mary hissed as the drapery opened and stared at Bryan For a rowth of her canines, could see what the fat s belonged to a deadly asp

He drew out a vial of holy water, thrice blessed, and doused her

She screa out, and there was the terrible s

Mary doubled over

Bryan race But the fatto his feet

And in those seconds Mary found the will to survive She whirled with the speed of light and burst away from the alcove and the curtain So hard against the runhere a nearly naked wo a come-on with a bull whip

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 screa his way through the crowd

Mary had escaped into a back alley He did the saan to rise By then Jereer so shattered He was quiet and pensive

"It&039;s safe to leave by day, isn&039;t it?" he asked Jessica

She hesitated "I don&039;t really-"

She broke off; he was staring at her with so close to contempt

"You do know," he said quietly "I don&039;t kno you know, but you know"

She stared back at hiht," she said at last Then she shrugged and started across the roo at theend that vampires can&039;t move about by day They can, and they need only sleep near or with a few granules of their native soil They don&039;t like sunlight, but it won&039;t kill them, and too much saltwater, not just holy water, can kill theet just about anything And a really powerful vampire can twisttheain The kids had worried that everyone would think they were crazy Now they probably thoughtshe was totally insane

"I wouldn&039;t talk about this, if I were you If you try to convince other people that vampires are real, they&039;ll probably find a way to lock you up Maybe we all deny e&039;re afraid to believe, I don&039;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&039;s just about as evil as sin itself He has appeared hout history He was dorht have been destroyed, butanyway, I believe he followed Mary here So it&039;s not just Mary walking the streets of New Orleans There&039;s far worse out there," she finished softly

"Are you a slayer, then? Are there really such things?" Jere her head "No I&039;, fro more of their kind Sadly, I failed to save Mary"

"How do you know about thisMaster?" Jeremy asked