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David felt good So good, in fact, that he didn&039;t know just what the hell he was doing in a hospital, but so far, they hadn&039;t shown any sign of letting hio

And the cop on duty see the inner frah David tried not to think that New Orleans&039; finest ht be really and totally nuts, he was pretty sure that it was garlic

This guy&039;s na crazy, he was a nice guy But David wasn&039;t at all sure why he needed an officer watching over hi to do with the fact that the corpse had disappeared on his shift He still couldn&039;t reh, that there had been a woreat breasts

"You okay, kid?" He almost started; Santini had been so quiet over in his chair, that he had thought the o ho the big cross he wore on a chain around his neck, twin to the one David had found hi when he woke up the first ti, you just let o hoht without a nurse waking hed "Sorry, kid But if you wake up and need anything, you let o to sleep," he said

"Yes, sir"

David tried to He even drifted off at one point, but before he fell deeply asleep, he woke again He wasn&039;t sure why, at first He just sensed soh, it wasn&039;t a nurse It was a doctor, and he was one huge guy He had David&039;s arht at David&039;s face, keeping hilare

"Turn the other way, kid," the doctor said "I&039;ve got to take so blood in the ht?" David asked He wanted to shield his eyes froht, but he felt as if the sleep he couldn&039;t quite get was so his muscles useless

"I need it," the doctor said "Turn aside, I&039;ll get o back to sleep"

He turned as bidden Then the words hit hiet my pints

Pints-with anS

He turned-and screamed

The doctor held his arm, and his teeth were sunk into his vein

Instantly, Santini was out of his chair Without even looking up, the doctor flung back one of his ar across the room

The door to the room burst open A second uniformed cop had appeared The doctor still didn&039;t ease up on David&039;s arm

"Stop or I&039;ll shoot!" the officer warned

The doctor turned at last David never saw hiun was on the floor There was a horrible keening sound The officer was off his feet, held one-handed by the doctor, who had bitten his neck, and was suckings his head He headed for the doctor&039;s back, but once again the doctor kneas there He threw out an ar sounds continued, seeo on and on as David tried to screaed black

"No!" Jessica cried, turning around in a fury, the stake in her hand The room was dark, filled with the red mist She couldn&039;t see her attacker, but it hadn&039;t been the voice of the Master that threatened her; she knew that ht her ar across the rooain, but she kne to fight, and as split seconds flashed by, she waited Then she lashed out with a hard kick, catching her opponent off balance, sending hi back

Another scream

She found her stake, wrenched open the door and went racing down the hall She took the stairs in a single sweep, co crouched and ready

She had destroyed many wolves, but many yet remained, and they had not waited for any command to strike

Directly in front of her, a painfully thin woers twined into the hair of a young s deep into his neck Others were on the attack all over the room

She went for the vampire in the black dress first, since she was closest A quick plunge of the stake into the back of the temptress and she was dust Jessica heard a furious hiss and turned; an ancient va to leap at her She ducked, letting hiing doard She saw a body go flying by-and burst into fragments of dust and bone as it passed

Stunned, she turned in a rush

The man in the low-brimmed hat and frock coat was back

As she stared, he reached under his coat for a sht the attacker when he was just inches from the dark man&039;s face, and he fell

The doors were open, screah the cru out of the plantation house in terror

Jessica whirled, watching as the h the roo fro when a knife would have sliced through her neck, then rising to stake her opponent

Suddenly there was silence The room had emptied The wolves were dust The lambs had fled

There were only the two of them left: herself and the man with the crossbohich was aimed at her as he felt in his jacket for an arrow

She flew across the rooers closed around the arrow He flew backwards, and she fleith him This was the man, she realized, who had attacked her upstairs And he was about to kill her if he could

He had landed hard against the wall, and she had landed on top of hiainst his chest, scra up, then turned to flee

Too late His ar her ankle

She fell hard to the floor

In a second he was atop her, his weight bearing her down She wedged an arain, and tried to scramble away She ht her by the shoulder Without effort, he threw her across the rooainst the newel post Stunned, she nearly fell, then braced herself against the newel post and kicked out with all her strength as he caain she spun away in an attempt to escape, but he was there, in front of her She tried to strike; he caught her arm Off balance, she fell to the floor and landed next to the knife, one of the vaainst her earlier

She reached for it as he followed her down, straddling her

She had the knife She could have used it, but soer on the attack, either He si

She stared defiantly back at him

"Sweet Jesu," he whispered "You" And the sound of the words orse than any agony she had known in years and yearsand years

Sean had practically been crawling up the walls He knew so was about to happen He just didn&039;t knohere

Then the call came, and he moved as quickly as he could

When he reached the hospital roo up all over the place George Mendez was there, too, having come as quickly as possible when the call went out He followed the rookie from the room, and Sean called to hiot so far?"

"I was in ot the ME on his way up, and a cri a deep breath "I knew our men were dead, but the kid was alive I carried him out The only other person who&039;s been in the room is the nurse who found the bodies She was on duty and she heard a screao in When he didn&039;t come back she called Security and went to check She was standing there screaot here, and they called 911"

Sean looked through the doorway The bed was empty There was a smear of blood on the sheets Just a smear

As for the rest of the room

It was a bloodbath

"It&039;s been made to look as if Santini and Clark-those were our officers, I know you can&039;t recognize them noent after each other They&039;rea hened officer, but he was also one of the ious men hom Sean had ever worked There were tears in his eyes "Santinihe was one of ood cop Clark, too Someone went to a lot of trouble to make it look like they attacked each other with scalpels, but it&039;s bull"

"Gloves, shoe covers, sir" Another officer offered Sean the required criear He didn&039;t even look toward the doorway

"Thank you, Rohan," he loves or shoe covers," Mendez ht You said the kid is alive?"

"Yes They&039;re giving hiht," Sean murmured "Maybemaybe he&039;ll survive"

"Maybe" Mendez didn&039;t sound as if he believed it for a minute

Sean walked carefully into the hospital room It was just as Mendez had described it The two officers had died alers loosely wrapped around a scalpel