Franklin focused on the girl. It was heartbreaking to look at her. She was only a sh.e.l.l of the vivacious, pretty young lady that he remembered seeing around town.

She has an aversion to sunlight, he thought. Unnaturally low heart rate, red eyes, pale shin.

The data was persuasive. He decided to take a risk and test his theory.

"Tell me about the man and the dogs," Franklin said to her.

The doctor and Mrs. Stevens gaped at him as though he had wandered out of a mental inst.i.tution. But Shenice raised her head, and her eyes shone with a strange glee.

"The man is the master's son," Shenice said. She spoke in a monotone, as if repeating words she'd learned from rote memorization. "The dogs are the master's servants"

Jesus Christ, Franklin thought. It's true.

Acceptance of the impossible washed over him, like cold water.

Mrs. Stevens looked terrified. "Baby, what are you talking about?"

Shenice blinked. Her eyes became clouded and confused again. "Umm, Mama, when can I eat?"

What is happening here? Franklin thought. She appears to be vacillating between various states of consciousness, like someone in a trance.

Dr. Dejean was looking at the girl oddly, too.

But Mrs. Stevens only cooed and patted her daughter's hand. "Ruby's going to bring you something to eat, sweetheart. Just hold tight."

Ruby entered the room, carrying a plastic tray laden with food and water.

"I couldn't find an orderly, so I brought her something to eat myself," Ruby said.

Shenice's eyes blazed when she saw Ruby, but the girl did not appear to notice the food. She began to sit up.

Gripped by a premonition of doom, Franklin snagged his wife's arm before she approached the bed.

"Stay away from the girl, Ruby," he said. "All of you, get away from her!"

They stared at Franklin as if debating whether to get away from him, instead.

Shenice hissed.

Suddenly, her gaze was feral and deadly.

She drew back her lips from her teeth. Her fangs glistened like razor shards.

"Why are you f.u.c.king up my flow, Doc?" she said. "Who sent you here?"

Franklin took a step backward. Shenice tore away the bedsheet and sprang up. She stood on the mattress, her gown billowing around her legs.

Shock had paralyzed the doctor, Mrs. Stevens, and Ruby. But Franklin grabbed a knife off the food tray Ruby held.

"Stay right there, Shenice." He brandished the blade. "Ruby, go get help. We've got to subdue the girl. Go now!"

Ruby dropped the tray and fled out of the room.

Shenice cackled. The sound made Franklin's blood run cold.

"Can you inject her with something, Doctor?" Franklin said in a shaky voice. "An anesthetic, anything?"

Dr. Dejean stuttered. "Uh ... let ... let me see" He moved away from the bed, patting his pockets.

Mrs. Stevens reached for her daughter, hesitantly. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"No, get away from her!" Franklin said.

"My baby .. ." Mrs. Stevens cried.

Serpent-quick, the girl seized her mother by the neck and lifted the woman in the air with one arm. The woman gagged, her legs kicked. Shenice tossed her mother across the room as if she weighed no more than a Barbie doll. Screaming, the woman hurtled through the air and crashed against the wall. She struck her head and blacked out.

She has superhuman strength, Franklin thought. With only a knife to protect himself, he didn't stand a chance against this fiend.

Dr. Dejean had finally pulled out a syringe. His voice quavered. "Stay still, young lady. I only want to help you."

"You aren't pumping any more drugs into me," Shenice said. She leapt off the bed. Dr. Dejean lunged at her, driving the syringe forward like a lance, and she snared the doctor's wrist. She squeezed. Bones cracked with a brittle snap, and the doctor howled. The girl yanked the syringe out of his hand, raised it high, and plunged the needle into the man's eye. Wailing, he collapsed to the floor, the syringe protruding from his eyeball.

Sickened and terrified, Franklin looked to the door. What was taking Ruby so long to get back with help? Even as he raised the question, he answered it in his head: it was a Sunday afternoon, and they were in a small hospital. There were few people on duty at that hour. Perhaps not enough people to subdue this vampire. She possessed the strength of several men.

That decided him. He took off toward the doorway.

But she was as fast as she was strong. Before he could get out, she seized his arm and threw him. He slammed against the wall, pain rattling through his shoulder, the knife spinning out of his fingers. He slid to the floor. But he did not lose consciousness. He almost wished he had.

The vampire whammed the door shut and angled a chair underneath the k.n.o.b, effectively barricading the door against easy entry.

Although it hurt to move, Franklin crawled to the knife, grasped it once again.

"Please, don't hurt us anymore," he said. Was there a trace of humanity left in her? Or had she succ.u.mbed completely to the inhuman urges?

"So hungry," she said. She hugged herself, digging her nails into her flesh. Her body shook, as if she were experiencing a mild seizure. "Hungry ... didn't want to ... hurt anyone ... so hungry."

Shouting voices, outside. Fists pounded against the door. The k.n.o.b twisted back and forth.

"We'll get help for you, Shenice," Franklin said. "Please, lie on the bed. We'll feed you."

"Can't, can't, can't." Her head whipped back and forth, her hair swinging in her eyes. "Must feed ... must feed ... need blood. Oh, G.o.d"

She began to sob.

Franklin carefully got to his feet. He was not far away from the door.

He could not allow her to bite him. That was his greatest fear. He would rather let her kill him than allow her to bite him.

Tears ran down the girl's face. She clenched her hair in her fists and shrieked.

He ran to the door. He kicked away the chair, and it spun away, turning end over end.

He wrenched the k.n.o.b and flung open the door.

Behind him, Shenice screeched.

Eyes wide and frightened, Ruby and two male orderlies retreated from the doorway.

Franklin dove outside the room, but Shenice's hands hooked over his shoulders, like claws. He hit the floor on his stomach, the girl attached to his back.

"Get her off me, get her off me, get her off me!"

Her breath hot against his cheek, her teeth plunged into the side of his neck, like a double pinp.r.i.c.k.

He howled.

The men wrestled the girl off him. But she dipped her head and bit into the forearm of one of the men. The guy shouted in pain, and both of the men lost their grip on her.

Weeping, blood dripping from her chin, Shenice raced down the hallway. The men chased after her, but she soon vanished.

Franklin's puncture wound throbbed. Coldness pulsated in his neck and inched through his bloodstream, as if ice water had been injected into him.

Ruby knelt and cradled Franklin's head in her lap. She was crying.

He grasped his wife's hand, held it tight.

"I can already feel it, the numbness spreading through me," he said. "Give me an antibiotic, something that may slow the infection. And phone David! I must speak to himbefore I am not myself anymore"

David and Nia had moved to the kitchen. He sat at the dinette table, the crutches propped against a chair, while Nia prepared dinner. King lay near the refrigerator and watched Nia with great interest, alert for a morsel that might drop to the floor.

David reviewed the letter for perhaps the tenth time.

Dear Mr. Hunter, I have followed your career with great interest since the publication of your first novel. Your formidable talent has been evident from the beginning. The world of letters has been enriched tenfold by your work, and will continue to reap the benefits of your genius long after you have departed.

Now that I have generously stroked your lion s ego and engaged your attention, shall I commence my purpose for this correspondence?

My name is Elizabeth. I have been informed by my a.s.sociates that you seek an audience with me. I find this discovery rather serendipitous, as for some time, I have considered holding an audience with you as well.

The reason for my interest? I am intrigued by the recurring themes that I see in your literature. Need I restate them? You know your obsessions.

There are answers, Richard. You will uncover them, in due time. But you will require a.s.sistance.

One does not thwart Death alone.

At a later date, you will receive instructions on how to communicate directly with me. Do not respond to the London return address printed on the envelope. I use a remailing service to maintain my privacy.

Until then, be comforted by my a.s.surance that your search will soon draw to a close.

Regards, Elizabeth It was the most puzzling letter David had ever read. Who was Elizabeth? He'd read every article and interview he could find about his father's personal life, and no one named Elizabeth had ever been mentioned. And what did she mean by "one does not thwart Death alone"?

It seemed to support the theory that his father's death was a hoax. Maybe Elizabeth had helped him pull off the ruse.

But why? Where was his father now? How was any of it connected to what was happening in Mason's Corner?

He was back to the same frustrating questions.

In between his consecutive readings of the letter, he'd called Franklin's home. No one had answered, which probably meant that Franklin was visiting the girl at the hospital. David wished he could've gone, too. But he was confident in Franklin's ability to dig up the truth on his own.

"Dinner is served," Nia said. She set a plate in front of David. "Hamburger Helper a la Nia."

"Looks delicious."

"Thank you." She put her own plate down at a spot beside him. "There wasn't much else here I could use to make a meal."

He smiled. "What can I say, it's the bachelor's lifestyle. All we normally have in the fridge is leftover pizza and beer."

She clucked her tongue.

Halfway through their meal, the telephone rang. Nia handed the phone to David.

It was Ruby. Her voice was troubled.

"David, Franklin's here at the hospital. He wants you and Nia to come immediately."

"Mrs. Bennett, you don't sound good. Is everything okay?"

"Please, come right away, there isn't much time. He's in room 104. He's been admitted as a patient."

"Admitted?" David's stomach plummeted.

"Come right away," Ruby said. She hung up.

David stared at the telephone, numb.

"Is something wrong with Franklin?" Nia said.

"He wants us to come see him at the hospital. He's been admitted."

"Oh, no! Why?"

"Ruby wouldn't tell me" He stuffed the letter in the envelope. "But we need to hurry."

Nia drove them to the hospital. A police cruiser was parked in front of the building.

David's heart clenched.

"This doesn't look good," he said. "I wonder if that's the chief."