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Vic cocked his head and peered up at him "If you can hear e now, and you gotta do this right--and right le step forward and then fell to his knees His eyes were de as they locked on Vic’s, but the otta do it It’s no good if I help you Spoils the mojo" He took a toothpick out of his pocket, tore off the plastic wrapper, and stuck it between his teeth Mint Very nice

The dying stranger toppled forward onto his chest and lay there Vic frowned at it for a moment, then relaxed when he saw that there was still a little e He idly chewed the toothpick from one side of his mouth to the other

"Come on, sparky You’re four feet away If you want it that bad, crawl"

The dyingof white fingers in the dirt and a weak kick of the feet, and then the fingers dug into the le of root, and the dying h brown grass and mud

Vic watched him, fascinated He’d read about this in soes he’d prowled on the Net, but he’d never witnessed the process before It was nothing like in the e of the swah hi!

The dying th now, and with his very last effort he pulled himself over the bank and into the swampy mud Blood still leaked fro part of it Vic could hear how hungrily thefrom them

"Oh, hell yes," he said softly

"Yes…" This ti man Faint but real, and it was full of joy as the swamp sucked the last blood out of him "Oh…yes!"

Then there was a sasses erupted froblack bubbled up all around him and Vic leaned close to see It was thick, like blood, but it was the color of ink Stea man and his face was completely covered in it It pooled on the surface of the swa man’s head

Vic waited for a moment to see ould happen next The man looked dead; Vic could see no movement at all in his chest or back And then he heard it…a faint sound Like a baby nursing at a breast A sucking sound

Vic put his hands on the bank and lowered his head so that he could see thethe black ichor of the swa, Vic sat back on the bank and chewed his toothpick, feeling immensely pleased and powerful It was a full ten minutes before the man raised his head froful of air He turned with painful slowness and crawled back to the fir with fever, his fingers twitching

Vic tossed away the toothpick and took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it He smoked it all the way down, s for the man just to sit up, and even then his head drooped down between his knees,from his mouth and nose

"How do you feel?" Vic asked sarcastically

Karl Ruger just shook his head A heavy barking cough spass It was a e…"

"You don’t say," Vic purred, enjoying this

"My head…all fucked up…"

Vic snorted "Pal, you don’t know the half of it"

Ruger looked at him, his rheumy eyes sick but hostile "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Well, let ht understand I," he said, "a man’s eyes jumped