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I carted Nurse Duff to the bathroo womanly instinct, she had looped her arms around my neck; she had yet to notice the water, as was hts of reassurance Her trust in me was absolute What was I to her? Father? Lover? Deliverer? God?
The spell was broken the an to thrash wildly, fighting to free herself But her strength was far outargoyle’s face below the surface Her panic and confusion rippled through me What betrayal! What incomprehensible deceit! Others would have been thened my resolve I felt her take the first breath of water It ricocheted through her like a hiccup She took a second, then a third, filling her lungs A last agonal spasone
I stepped back The first test had been passed; here was the second Waiting for the restoration of her hu happened, I hoisted her fro this e the process But more e was forthco; Nurse Duff had permanently departed from this life
I retreated from the room and sat on the woman’s bed to ponder the situation The only conclusion I could draas that the transformative effect of death by water was for ift of resurrection Yet why this should be so--why I should be sitting there, looking altogether like thedead on the bathroom floor like a beached sea monster--was beyond my power to explain Was I si the alpha, the original, the Zero? Or could the difference be one not of body but of mind? That I had wanted to live, while she had not? I considered my emotions I didn’t really have any I had drowned an innocent wos were utterly colorless From the moment I’d sunk my incisors into the soft meat of her neck and taken the first, candy-sweet sip, she had ceased to exist as an entity distinct fro her had seeernail So perhaps that here the difference lay In the only way that really mattered, Nurse Duff was already dead when I’d shoved her in the water
Siht in the roo; daybreak, h the house, drawing every drape and shade, locking doors both front and back For the next twelve hours, I was going nowhere
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I awoke in delicious darkness, having discovered thedream-free sleep I had ever known No knock on the door had aroused me; Nurse Duff’s departure froh surely this would come I made my preparations quickly On America’s byways, even a vampire, especially one ishes to fly beneath the radar, needs et by In a cat-shaped cookie jar, I discovered twenty-three hundred dollars in soft bills, h, and a 38 revolver, which no person in the history of the planet needed less than I
My plan was to zigzag hways The journey would take five, perhaps six nights Nurse Duff’s orn Corolla, with its detritus of candy wrappers, pop cans, and worthless scratch-offs, would suffice for the ti but would have to be discarded soon; somebody was bound to catch wind of the dead de automobile I also felt--and looked--ridiculous in the woman’s oversized sweat suit and shower shoes; a ht hours later I was in southern Missouri, where I coanize my life for the duration Each new daybreak found me safely ensconced in an off-brand motel behind closed drapes, duct-taped cardboard panels, and a Do Not Disturb sign; once night fell, I would set out again and drive without stopping until an hour or two before dawn In Carbondale, Illinois, I decided to ditch the Corolla I was also very hungry I lingered at ht observe the cos of my fellow travelers and identify an appropriate provider of nutrition, clothes, and transport The ht; he also seemed, conveniently, inebriated As he entered his room I pushed in behind him, killed him tidily before he could utter more than a drunken whimper--he tasted rancidly of nicotine and bar-pour whiskey--wrapped his body in the shower curtain to conceal the stench of putrefaction, shoved him in the closet, helped myself to the contents of his wallet and suitcase (Dockers, no-iron sport shirts of obnoxious plaid, six sets of underpants and a pair of "novelty" boxers with the words KISS ME, I’M IRISH stenciled on the crotch), and skedaddled in his plushly appointed, thoroughly American sedan The business cards in his wallet identified hier for a ht as well have been him