by Judith Post
Her joy withered and disappeared. She'd been in Three Rivers for months now, longer than most places. If another vampire saw her, she'd have to leave. She could run, and she could hide. Always a step ahead of Vlad, if she was lucky. If he found her again, she'd step outside in the day light. She'd never go back to him. Never.
Chapter 13
Danny knocked on the penthouse door at six thirty. He made it a habit to be punctual, but this time, he was half an hour early…and he was starving. He'd just wrapped up a case. There wasn't much point in going home for five minutes before he came here. Not like he had a clean shirt anyway, or a cashmere sweater to change into. He'd grabbed a candy bar out of a machine on his way out of the station, but it had only served as an appetizer. He'd thought about stalling in Enoch's lobby, but that seemed pointless. So he buzzed Enoch's apartment and hoped for the best. One look at his friend's face when he opened the door, though, and Danny relaxed. He could tell he was prepared.
"Give those a try," Enoch said, leading the way to the kitchen. A platter of giant-sized shrimp wrapped in bacon glistened with barbecue sauce.
"These shrimp are big enough to take on a small dog and win." Danny took a bite and knew he would eat the whole plate if he didn't watch it. He tried to restrain himself while Enoch slid a tenderloin into a hot oven.
“It feels good in here,” Danny said, “warm and toasty.”
“Ovens do that.”
“Reminds me of my mom’s kitchen." Bless his mom's heart, she'd have cookies or a cake waiting for them every day when they got off the school bus. Sometimes, Danny could smell them when he walked up the drive.
“So your mom was Betty Crocker?”
"Hell, no. Betty could take lessons from my mom.”
Enoch handed him a beer. “Do your parents live around here?”
“About an hour away, on a farm in Rochester.”
“When I first met you, I figured you for a farm boy.”
“Yeah, the farmer tan never goes away.” Danny hadn’t discussed much of his background with Enoch that didn’t pertain to work. It was mutual, and there were lots of questions Danny would like to ask his friend. Even with the digging he'd done, he hadn't found much information. That always made him curious, but he was pretty sure, even if he tried to pry, he wouldn't get more answers.
Enoch asked, “Any brothers or sisters?”
“Two brothers, two sisters. None of them as good looking as I am.” Danny reached for another shrimp before bringing the topic back to the usual—work. “No luck with disguises either. Every shop told us they sold tons of wigs and beards over Halloween. Our guy probably stocked up. And my men went door to door today. We didn’t have any luck with the artist’s sketch.”
Enoch looked relieved to be back on common ground. “Not surprising. Our guy probably doesn’t put on his disguise until he’s heading off to strangle someone.”
“Pretty much what I thought. He must have been really revved up to wear it to the bar.”
“Blood lust,” Enoch said. “He wanted a victim so bad, he took risks.”
“Which reminds me, I stopped at the bar today to check on Katy. She told me you’d dropped by this afternoon. Said that you were a decent guy, but you brood too much.”
“Part of my nature. How are you doing with her?”
Uh-oh, personal again. But Enoch didn't give tit for tat. Danny watched him drain the potatoes to mash them and whip in butter and cream. “How did you know that those are my favorites?”
“Lucky guess. You didn’t answer my question. What about Katy?”
Enoch was nothing if not persistent, but maybe if Danny opened up a little with him, he'd return the favor. “She's one hot woman,” Danny admitted. "Too hot for me."
“She seems to have a thing for you.”
“Me? You're stretching it.”
“She actually said that she’d like to get you into bed.”
"Me and lots of other men. She’s a lusty girl.”
“She didn’t invite me.”
Danny glanced around the kitchen until his focus landed on the pot rack with its hanging pans and skillets. “Maybe I should settle for a romp. I'm not having any luck finding a keeper. Who'd want me? I work long hours with no set schedule, and I don’t make that much money.”
“No one should ever settle.” Enoch tossed blanched green beans with butter and garlic to sauté them. “You'd be selling yourself short. So, are you looking for the one?"
“I'm thirty two. It's time, but maybe it's not in the cards for me. Maybe Joyce was right and I'm married to my job. She was a hot number too, got tired of my odd hours."
"I know the feeling." There was something about Enoch's tone that made Danny do a double take.
"Why don't you have a woman on your arm?" Since they were getting personal, there were a few things Danny would like to know. "You could pick and choose.”
“I’ve been hurt too many times.”
Danny snorted. “Right.” Then he looked at his friend, at the shadow of pain that crossed his face. “Oh crap." Why did he always suffer from foot in mouth disease? "You really have, haven't you? How bad was it?”
“She died.”
"I'm sorry."
"They all died."
Danny frowned, but before he could ask more questions, his cell phone rang. "Yeah?" It was Derek on the other end. That in itself should have told him something was odd this time. "Come again?" Boy, did his partner have a story to tell. He listened, shaking his head. "I'm on my way." When he flipped his phone shut, Enoch was looking at him.
"You've got to go?" Enoch asked.
"Derek called because you and I worked the two robbers who were drained, so he thought this case might interest us."
"Us?"
"You'll want to see this too."
Enoch took the tenderloin out of the oven and wrapped foil over it. "What happened?"
"Your vampire girl must be doing her thing again—whatever that is."
Enoch's expression went deadly serious. He turned off the burners on the stove and reached for his coat. "You don't believe in vampires."
"Well this girl thinks she's the real thing. A group of skate boarders were cutting through an alley. They saw a dark shadow hunched over a guy. It looked like she was drinking him. When she realized the kids were there, she jumped up and disappeared."
"Jumped up?"
"To the rooftop." Danny followed Enoch to the elevator and asked, "How does she do that? Acrobatics?"
"They could describe her?"
Danny sighed. "Who else could it be? We've never found dehydrated bodies lying around Three Rivers until she showed up."
"And the victim?"
"A homeless man. Lost some blood, but he's going to make it."
They scrambled into Danny's Buick and headed a few blocks toward town. They ended up in an alley not far from Lawton Park and the river. Derek was waiting for them at its opening. He motioned to the man the medics were strapping into the back of an EMS. "You might want to take a look at him before they leave."
Danny went to the open doors of the truck and looked in. Enoch followed him. The man had two puncture marks on his neck, and he reminded Danny of a pop can that had half of the air sucked out of it. Crumpled. "He's going to be okay?" he asked the nearest medic.
"We're giving him blood. He's lost quite a bit."
"Thanks for waiting on me."
The man nodded and motioned for Danny to slam the back doors shut. When the EMS pulled away, Danny turned on Enoch. "Did you see that guy? He's lucky he's alive. Your vampire girl's dangerous. We have to get her off the streets."
Enoch was about to argue when a heavy thud sounded at the mouth of the alley. Enoch turned and raced to where Derek was waiting for them. Danny followed. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He was afraid and didn't know why.
He reached Enoch just as his friend grabbed the shoulder of a tall, thin man dressed in black. When Enoch yanked him off Derek, Danny stared. He should do
something, but his brain reeled with shock. Long, sharp fangs dripped blood. The man's skin was corpse-like white. His eyes were all pupils. Derek staggered backwards and fell. He lay on the ground, his blue eyes almost bulging out of his head.
The man struggled to free himself from Enoch, but Enoch wouldn't let go. Danny took a stance over Derek and pulled his gun from its shoulder holster. If the guy got broke loose, he'd have to go through him to get Derek.
Enoch slammed the man against a wall, and Danny's blood froze. He'd always thought that was a silly saying, but he could have sworn his blood stopped pumping. The gleaming fangs snapped at Enoch. Sharp, black talons curved from the man's fingers and gouged into Enoch's shoulders. Enoch didn't even grimace. With one arm pinning the man against the bricks, Enoch reached for his neck with the other. Danny tried to aim, to get a head shot, but Enoch was in his way. His friend meant to break the man's neck, and Danny was rooting for him to do it. How did you arrest something like that? He sure as hell didn't know what to do with him.
They were all surprised when a car screeched to a stop at the curb and four teenagers jumped out of it. Two of them held baseball bats. They looked at Danny's gun, but still put on a brave front. "Leave him alone, man." One of the kids held up a cell phone. "I'm calling the cops."
"We are the cops," Danny snapped. He watched Enoch hesitate. How could he snap the guy's neck with four kids watching? The vampire saw his advantage and jerked out of Enoch's grip. A second later, he bound away.
The four kids looked at Danny, suddenly scared. "What was that?"
"A sicko we've been hunting for a while. Thinks he's a vampire. Bites people on the neck. Get in your car and get out of here."
They didn't need to be told twice. They lunged for their Ford and took off. Hopefully, they believed his pathetic cover-up. Danny didn't need to have people panic because vampires were attacking Three Rivers.
Enoch held out a hand to help Derek to his feet. "Are you all right?"
Derek pressed his fingers to his neck and drew them back, staring at a smear of red. "He bit me." His knees gave and Enoch had to support him.
"Did he get much blood?"
"I don't think so. You got here too fast." Derek put out a hand to steady himself against the wall, and Enoch let him go. Too soon. His legs wouldn't hold him. He slid to the ground, his face pale, his breath coming in shallow gulps. He held his hands in front of him, studying them. "Will I be infected? Will he change me?" When Danny knelt to help him, Derek grabbed the front of Danny's coat, his knuckles white. "What's going to happen to me?"
Danny didn't know. He looked to Enoch for answers.
"You're fine. It takes a lot of work to convert someone."
"Diseases? Rabies? Should I get shots?"
Enoch shook his head. "Nothing's going to happen. Nothing."
Derek put his hands over his face. He took a long, ragged breath to steady himself, then tried to get to his feet. Danny had to help him. "He's tasted me. Will he come back for more?" He pressed his back against the alley wall, trying to make himself small.
"You don't taste any better than anyone else. He's hungry. You were just a meal. He had to be really desperate to go for you with so many people around."
Danny gave Enoch an odd look. "You seem to know a lot about vampires." He studied the holes in the shoulders of Enoch's pea coat where the vampire's talons sank in. No blood. No wounds. Only the fabric was hurt. "That thing was strong, and you flung it around like a chew toy. So what does that make you? Are you a vampire too?" He couldn't believe those words were leaving his lips, but he had to know. What was his friend?
He watched Enoch struggle with himself before saying, "You've seen me out in the day time. Vamps can't do that. I’m a vampire hunter."
"So the story about sunlight is true?"
"Light burns them."
Danny thought a minute. "So that's why you walk the streets after dark. You're looking for them."
"I've been looking for this one. He got away from me in New York." Derek started to shiver, from the cold or the shock, Danny couldn't tell, but Enoch said, "Let's go back to my place. You can ask me all the questions you want to there." He reached for Derek, to put a hand under his elbow to steady him, but Derek pulled away. Danny went to help him instead. He couldn't blame the kid for being wary of Enoch. What the hell was a vampire hunter? "Do you want us to drop you off somewhere? If you need to lie down, take the day off…"
But Derek gripped his arm. "Don't leave me."
"I’m going to Enoch's. Are you okay with that?"
Derek didn't answer, but his grip didn't lessen. "Okay, let's go then." It was freezing out here. Thanksgiving was two days away, but the bitter cold felt more like February. Danny looked at Enoch. "Why don't you take Derek's car and I'll follow with the kid? He doesn't look up to driving."
They separated on their way to Enoch's penthouse apartment. Derek hovered close to the door on the passenger's side, ready to jump out at a moment's notice in case they were attacked. He kept his hand on the butt of his gun. His eyes darted to the tops of each building they passed and peered in alleys. He was too spooked to talk. Danny was relieved. He needed some time to collect his thoughts, as if any of them made sense. He felt like his head was a jumble of questions with no logical explanations. When the first two men had been killed and Enoch told him that a vampire attacked them, all right, that had seemed strange enough. Danny had let it pass because, after all, the men were completely drained, and he didn't have any better answers. Enoch thought the girl did it. But this? Two vampires in Three Rivers? Real vampires, one that he'd seen with his own eyes? It was like getting stuck inside some horror movie. Your brain told you it couldn't be real, but here it was. And what did Enoch mean by calling himself a vampire hunter? What the hell did that make him?
Danny quieted his thoughts when he pulled into a parking space at the apartment complex. He helped Derek out of the car and stayed close to him as they walked inside the building. Enoch was waiting for them at the elevator. They rode up in silence. They followed Enoch to his kitchen in more silence. What was there to say?
Enoch poured himself a glass of red wine. “Want some?”
“Whiskey.” Derek sagged onto a bar stool.
"Hungry?" Enoch turned the heat on under the green beans and carried the tenderloin to the bar. He nuked the mashed potatoes. Danny wouldn't have thought he could eat, but after the first slice of beef, he found he was famished. So was Derek. When they finished, Danny said, "Okay, questions. Lots of them." Where to start? He looked at Enoch, and from the look on his face, he wasn't looking forward to this. If Danny pushed too hard, Enoch might shut down. Danny had tried to arrange his thoughts in some kind of order. Part of being a detective. They'd take one step at a time. "You said you followed this vampire from New York. Why?"
"He killed a man I was trying to protect."
Derek's lips pressed tightly together, and his hand went back to his gun handle.
Danny waited for more, but it didn't come. Enoch liked his privacy, but they were past that. "Would you care to elaborate?"
"The thing is, the more I tell you, the more you'll be involved. It always happens that way."
"We're already involved. Derek has teeth marks to prove it."
At the words, Derek's hand went to his neck. His fingers massaged the two punctures there, but from the look on his face, he was past assimilating any new information. His expression said he'd reached overload.
“In New York, a guy came to me who was almost a vampire. One more bite, and he'd be there. He didn't want it. He was fighting to stay as human as possible.”
Danny’s eyebrows shot up. “Can you do that? Start, then change your mind?"
"He'd been bitten twice—by force. It takes three times to convert you."
That got Derek's attention. "Three times?"
"Not just nips. Long feeds that almost drain you. Some people don't survive. Anyway, Alessandro had been bitten twice. He was struggling. H
e hated what he was becoming."
"What do you become?" Derek asked, trying to stay focused.
“Vampires crave blood. Have to have it. Alessandro fought the hunger by hunting down rats in alleys to drink. He teased that he was doing his part to keep the city clean. Had a real love of red wine and pizza. Said they helped.”
Derek grimaced and pushed his empty plate away.
“So what happened to him?” Danny asked. He could tell by Enoch's expression that this didn't have a happy ending.
"I let him stay in my apartment, but the vamps found him, spooked him. They couldn't have gotten in, but he was too scared to think. He tried to run, to get away. The vampire who was converting him found him. The whole pack did."
"They run in packs?"
"The rogues like to. They feel braver breaking the rules that way."
Danny rubbed his forehead. This was all too much. "They have rules?"
"Just like us. There are good vampires and bad ones."
Bullshit. How could there be good bloodsuckers?
"What happened to your friend?" Derek didn't care about the rules, Danny could tell. He wanted to get to the heart of the story.
“When I went home and Alessandro was gone, I looked for him. I found him in an alley…" Enoch hesitated for a minute, his face bleak. "…at least, what was left of him, surrounded by the pack."
Danny remembered the two robbers' bodies—bloodied and broken. One vampire supposedly killed them. If there'd been a pack of them…. "They drained him?"
"No, tore him to shreds. There were only scraps of him left."
Derek reached for the whiskey bottle. His hands weren't steady enough to pour, so Danny did it for him. He poured one for himself too and handed the wine bottle to Enoch.
Enoch filled his glass. “They’re dust now. So is anyone they bit and converted, at least, all of them but the one I tracked here.”
"How?" Danny couldn't imagine killing the thing they'd seen in the alley. How could Enoch destroy a group of them by himself?
"It's what I do. I hunt down the bad ones and destroy them."
"And the good ones, like your vampire girl?"
