Page 18 (1/2)

It see forever

The beautiful pink light of twilight had gone to deepest red, and noas fading altogether No, that wasn&039;t true There was still light Red light Blood red light, like a mist over the moon

Suddenly, the cab driver stopped and turned in his seat to stare back at Lauren "We&039;re here Twenty-two fifty," he told her

They were there?

Where?

Then she realized that she was in front of what should have been a lovely home and realized that it had been destroyed by the Katrina flooding In fact, the whole neighborhood had been flooded out

That hy there were no lights except one streetlight The connection eak, though, oron and off

"Twenty-two-fifty," the cabby repeated "Look, lady, this is where you asked to be let off, and now I gotta go Givehere If you&039;re crazy enough to, be uest If not, it&039;s another twenrt-two-fifty back to civilization"

She dug in her purse for the money At the same time, she tucked two of the water pistols into the waistband of her jeans and pulled the tails of her tailored denim shirt down to cover them Then she paid the cabby, but apparently she hesitated too long for his taste

"Lady, I&039; out of here," he warned her

"Sure And thanks Thanks a lot Service with a smile," she countered

She was barely out of the cab when he gunned the motor and shot away

She stared up at the dark house It had been beautiful once As she moved closer, she could see a faded advertisement for the development the house was part of It had been called Arcadia Old luxury with modern convenience, the billboard explained Every house a variant of the originalin front of It must have dated back nearly two hundred years, and it had been meticulously restored

Then abandoned

As she stood in the darkness, she saw that there was light inside Pale, barely showing beneath the drapes that covered every

Lauren fingered the cross that Mark had given her She needed strength so badly Her knees were giving out on her She felt a rush of fear and knew she couldn&039;t give in to it

As she stood there, staring at the house, the night changed abruptly

The sky darkened, and when she looked up, it seemed that the moon rode across a sea of red

The darkness around her see, co close to her

The breeze whispered

Grew louder

And then it wasn&039;t the breeze whispering at all It was the sound of laughter, soft and throaty and all around her

A strand of her hair rose, and she shuddered; it felt as if one of the shadows had touched her face

She gritted her teeth and fought the urge to run The din seeed

Pulled

The shadows began to take for before her, at least twelve of them, all men They were all dressed in black Black jeans, chinos, even dress pants Black T-shirtss, polos, dress shirts So, others older And they were all a tallest, and very dark He earing a black poet&039;s shirt and trousers that clung to his s He wore black boots, as well, that covered his calves

"Welcome," he told her

"Don&039;t welcome me You know I don&039;t want to be here But you have my friend"

"I have both your friends, and if you&039;re lucky and very well-behaved, they just ed "Take her," he said casually

The others closed in around her She heard so at her back, and he was close, far too close She thought she could feel his fetid breath, teasing at her nape

Her fear peaked and she realized that she had to move-or die

So she an to shoot

She turned to her rear, desperate to rid herself of the creature breathing down her back He was close, and she ai flesh

He screae back into shadow He morphedthere, not there She saw a patch of skull She saings

She fired again, and he collapsed at her feet

She stomped on him, and he exploded into dust and soot An old vaht Very old

Ashes to ashes Dust to dust

The others an to spin, her water pistols working She tried, in the midst of her terror, to remember to aim She couldn&039;t waste her holy water; she had no idea how long her "aht seemed to explode with cries of pain and shouts of fury The cacaphony rose to a crescendo; there was fire, mistexplosions of unnamable filth all around her

And then there was a roar of fury "Enough!"

It was Stephan

"We can&039;t take her while she&039;s shooting," one of his minions said She couldn&039;t tell where the sound had co to see hih!"

There was stillness all around her

Shadows for, and they lined up at Stephan&039;s side

"She will drop her weapons," Stephan said

"Why would I do that?" she demanded

He smiled "Because if you do not, your friends will die I will kill them slowly, one at a time The little blonde first, then the dark beauty You atch them suffer, and I promise, you will hear the

"Drop your weapons, le word in a terrible fury

"Now!"

Time

Ti with the He hadn&039;t cared how many he sacrificed on the way to his ultimate shon Mark even knew that Stephan had planned for him to discover his lair at last Planned for him to feel desperate

Planned for him to come alone

But there was no help for it

He slipped from the ambulance and disappeared into the crowd

He could see Canady standing in the center of the stor men, and he dialed the lieutenant&039;s cell nu"

"It&039;s Mark"

"Where the hell are you?"

Mark didn&039;t answer Instead he gave Sean an address and said he was on his way

"No! That&039;s what he wants you to do"

"I know But it&039;s also what I have to do," Mark said, then hung up before Sean could voice a further protest Then he punched in a number for Montresse House, passed on the information he had received froet there faster"

Then he hung up-and moved

As Lauren stared at Stephan, the front door of the house opened and she was stunned to see Heidi and Deanna walk calo inside, shall we?" Stephan suggested

"What are you two doing here?" Lauren asked her friends, ignoring Stephan&039;s words

Neither one appeared to even hear her

Stephan sly at Lauren "Actually, they&039;re both rather happy to be with ers down the sculpted angle of Deanna&039;s cheek "She really is a beauty And, I&039;m sure, very talented And this little oneI love a pale blonde"

"If I drop my weapons," Lauren said, "we&039;ll all be in your power"

"A cab brought you out here, and a cab can take them back," Stephan said, as pleasantly and easily as if they were eager to leave a party early

She held on to her weapons and saw a flash of anger cross Stephan&039;s face

"I want guarantees"

"You don&039;t have the right to ask for anything," he told her coldly

"You have to let the at one another She thought she could use every last drop of water she had on Stephan But would it be enough?

Five of his folloere still "alive" And Stephan hi himself of wounds that would kill a lessercreature

Even as the thought passed through Lauren&039;s mind, Deanna silently took up a position in front of Stephan, and Lauren realized that the friend she was trying to save illing to protect hio inside?" Stephan asked

"No, not until I see the two of theed "You have a phone Call a cab Go ahead"

She hesitated, then carefully kept the one pistol in her hand as she stuffed the other into her waistband and fumbled for her phone Stephan si, as she ordered the cab and hung up

His smile deepened "You&039;ve been so hard to find, Lauren Soh, that you were out there somewhere I must have sensed you would be here when I cah that crystal ball, and I have been patiently waiting for you, aching for you, ever since"

"Patiently waiting?" she said "Interesting As far as I can tell, you&039;ve been running all over town seducing woet your attention," he told her

"You have my attention What you don&039;t have is my trust"

"You called for a cab yourself," he reminded her "Who knows? Maybe the felloho dropped you off will just turn around and come back"

"Maybe he&039;ll report this place to the police"

"I rather hope not It&039;s tricky when you kill an entire police force," he said conversationally

"You know that the police here know exactly who and what you are," she told hi for ti for Mark to co up on a white charger But surely you know the truth by now I have been ned He is the liar, the evil one"

"Soed "You will"

To Lauren&039;s surprise, she was startled by the sudden glow of headlights She turned around, shielding her eyes

The taxi had arrived

Stephan lifted his arms Like zombies, Deanna and Heidi walked toward the car Lauren stared at Stephan with mistrust

"Speak to the driver yourself, un, and then you and I alk inside together If not, the cab-and your friends-will not be allowed to leave"

Her fingers itched, but she didn&039;t dare pull the trigger Five of his goons were still grouped around hi the driver and the girls

She walked with Stephan over to the cab "The ladies need to get back to Bourbon Street," Stephan said pleasantly, producing a large bill "Get them there safely, please"

He made sure that the back door was properly closed, then patted the top of the cab It drove off

Lauren felt the gun twisted froo in"

She still had the cross around her neck, she reminded herself

And the toothpicks

She was in the monster&039;s lair, and all she had were toothpicks

Mark arrived just in tiet into the cab, then watch Stephan put his arm around Lauren and lead her toward the house

He held still, desperate to control himself; if he wanted to save her, he couldn&039;t behave rashly That hat Stephan was counting on If he played his hand too quickly, he would lose

He had to be careful not to betray hi he was there He had to get into the house

As he waited, he got a look at the taxi driver and cursed silently

The driver wasn&039;t really a man at all Not in the customary sense of the word Lauren had just sacrificed herself so that Heidi and Deanna could becoourmet meal

He cursed fate, but just as Stephan knew him, he knew Stephan Mark waited

Then he went after the cab

She still had the cross, Lauren thought, but she didn&039;t dare touch it; she didn&039;t want Stephan to re it around her neck She prayed that when the aed to speak and tell soone

"Coly, as if she had finally agreed to a date, and hebest to seduce her

She entered the house The glow inside ca else, not a stick of furniture, in sight

But there were s

Suddenly the ceiling ca heart, Lauren realized that at least twenty or thirtyin the dark confines of the house

"The basement is my real domain," he told her "I think you&039;ll find it quite inviting"

"Really? I find a beach in bright sunlight inviting, actually," she told him

He smiled at that "You&039;ll see"

He waved his hand, and the empty room seemed to cos becaainst hard wood

"Go," Stephan said

And they all began toup defensive positions outside

"Downstairs," Stephan invited her, opening a door There was light coht

She walked down the stairs She would be alone with hiht Maybe the chance to kill hi and playing; s would sink into her throat at any second

She banished the thought and tried to focus on escape

The instinct to survive was quiet incredible, she realized

His baseant salon There were comfortable sofas, and a pool table stood to one side, separated fro area by support pillars Music played softly froe screen television in one corner of the rooenerator to provide power

He led her to the sofa She didn&039;t want to sit, but she could tell that he wasn&039;t going to give her a choice

"Watch the screen"

"No"

"You are afraid"

She refused to answer and looked deliberately away froht her chin between his thuer and forced her to watch as a portrait ca at herself "You must understand She was mine, always roas the one in love with her Thenshe came here"

The French Quarter appeared on the screen in a series of old photographs There were no cars, no taxis No neon lights