Nia wanted to grab her gun, leap outside, and drill the monster between the eyes. But her good sense overcame her fury. Shooting this vampire would be a waste of time.

In the backseat, King barked madly. The windows steamed up from both her and the dog's frantic breathing.

Quickly, she rubbed clean a spot on the driver's side window, so she could check the side mirror.

The vampire was partly visible behind the truck. He had his back to her.

From the sudden clamor of thunderous barks, she thought that he was summoning his minions.

Certainly, he would know that she was in the vehicle. Perhaps he believed that he could handle her so easily that he could take his time. He underestimated her.

You go right ahead, she thought. Write me off you a.s.shole.

She gritted her teeth. Then she slammed her foot onto the gas pedal.

Please, please, move for me, please!

The truck roared out of the mud.

Kyle whirled, caught off guard.

The vehicle crashed into him, knocking him backward, into the fog.

The snake slithered across the water.

David froze, hands raised. He held his breath. He attempted to refrain from even blinking.

His heart pounded so hard and painfully that he feared that it would be like a drumbeat calling the snake closer.

The long serpent swam to him.

Holy G.o.d, Father in Heaven, save me, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus ...

The reptile, its venomous fangs an inch away from his pulsing heart, seemed to see through him.

David's lungs ached from holding his breath.

The snake curled around his torso, scales glimmering. He feared it would wrap around him like a python and squeeze him to death. He saw himself sinking into the mud, chest crushed, face purple, eyes bulging.

The water moccasin circled him, once, as if embracing him. Then, it swam away into the soupy darkness.

David exhaled explosively.

Across the swamp, the truck bellowed.

He looked up in time to see Nia ram into Kyle, who had turned around too late to move. The collision blew the vampire into the water.

David seized the opportunity. He rushed forward, to the flamethrower. He grabbed it, and, as Mac had taught him, opened the ignition valve and punched the b.u.t.ton to activate the spark plug.

The small flame at the front of the nozzle hissed, ready to burn.

Splashing furiously, Kyle started to rise out of the swamp.

David chopped through the water, closing the distance between him and the vampire.

Wobbling into a standing position, Kyle suddenly saw him. The vampire raised his arms protectively, and his eyes enlarged with fear. "No!"

David had never killed anyone, but he did not hesitate. He pulled the fuel release trigger.

A swooshing stream of flames struck the vampire and swallowed him, like a set of fiery jaws.

The creature screeched. Insane with pain, Kyle rocketed into the air, to the crowns of the trees. The burning vampire leapt blindly from branch to branch. His howls-so humanlike, yet so alien-chilled David to the core of his soul.

A splashing sound drew David's attention. Jahlil stumbled out of the darkness. The boy looked a mess, mud streaking his face and slimy vines in his hair, but he was alive.

Nia rolled down the window. "Let's go, guys! Before the rest of them come"

High in the trees, the dying vampire continued its cries of agony.

"You drive," David said. He grabbed the rear pa.s.senger door.

Before he climbed inside, he glimpsed myriad shapes in the fog, behind them. But the figures were still. They appeared to be entranced with Kyle's fiery demise.

One shadow in the mist stood taller than the others: Diallo.

He's really going to have it in for me now, David thought. I killed his son.

David hustled into the vehicle, beside King. Jahlil got in the front.

Nia blasted forward. They found the trail and followed it through the rest of the swamp.

All of them were silent. The silence was finally broken by a sound that did not come from them. It came from behind, reverberating through the night.

A horrible, wrenching cry of grief.

None of them questioned the source of the cry. They knew: it was Diallo, mourning his son.

The muddy path that weaved through the marsh changed into a dusty trail that curved between thick shrubbery, and finally ended at a paved road. David was relieved to see dry land.

His dog was relieved, too. King tried to stand in his lap and lick his face, and David had to put the dog back on the other side of the seat.

The thunderstorm had pa.s.sed. Thin patches of clouds scudded across the sky. Moonlight silvered the lonely road and the dense bushes that grew alongside it.

"I know where we are," Nia said. "We're on the west side of town. This is Rice's Bottoms Road. It'll hit Main Street about a mile ahead"

"Good," David said. "From there, I'll know the way to where we want to go next"

"Where are we going?" Jahlil said.

"To my father's hideaway," David said. "It's a cabin on the north side of town, in the hills. We'll be safe there until morning."

"You hope," Jahlil said.

"Think positively," Nia said.

"Only being realistic," Jahlil said. "I didn't expect any of the s.h.i.t that we've been through tonight. Neither of you did, either, did you?"

David did not answer his question, and neither did Nia. They rolled along, quietly.

The street lamps were burned out. Broken tree branches covered the pavement, like bones emptied out of a ma.s.s grave.

They reached Main Street. David asked Nia to turn left. They drove into the small business district.

"It looks like a ghost town," David said.

"You aren't lying," Jahlil said.

Wind ushered leaves and severed branches across the abandoned sidewalks. Every storefront was dark. There were only a few traffic lights in town, and they gazed at the night with dead, unblinking eyes.

Theirs was the only moving vehicle on the street. A few cars and trucks were parked along the curb, but judging from the film of condensation on their windshields, they had not been driven recently. When they pa.s.sed the deserted police station, David and the others looked away.

"I wonder where everyone's gone," Nia said.

"I don't wanna know," Jahlil said.

"They're safe in their homes, hopefully," David said. "At the meeting, we gave instructions for people to stay in and lock their doors. I hope they listened to us"

"With those bloodsuckers on the loose, it might not matter," Jahlil said. "They can bust in anyplace they want"

David blotted sweat from his face, leaned back in the seat. Jahlil was right, of course. These vampires didn't follow any silly fictional conventions. In their hunt for blood, the monsters would tear into as many homes as they could to satiate their thirst. And David and the others understood that once someone was bitten, the terrible transformation would begin.

The town might be saturated with gestating vampires that would venture into the open tomorrow evening. The possibility curdled his stomach.

We can't take much longer to finish this, David thought. Tonight, we nearly died. We'll never survive another night.

"Hey, look out," Jahlil said.

In the middle of the road, a trio of hulking, vampiric dogs crowded around what appeared to be a large carca.s.s.

"Oh my G.o.d, that's a person," Nia said.

David bent forward. "Don't slow down, Nia. Go around them, fast"

The vampiric dogs began to snarl. They moved to block the roadway. Nia swerved around the beasts, tires squealing. A hound leaped at the truck; its blood-smeared snout thumped against the side window, drawing a shout of terror from Jahlil and a bark from King. David gripped Nia's shoulder.

"We're past them," Nia said. David relaxed his grip on her. A glance through the rear windshield confirmed that the fiends had returned their attention to their unfortunate victim.

He wondered who the h.e.l.lhounds had attacked. He decided that he did not want to know. He had reached his limit of anguish; any more, and he would lose his mind. Better for the victim to remain a nameless stranger.

"Tell me where to go, David," Nia said. "Give me directions. I want to get the h.e.l.l out of here"

High in the forested hills, Nia parked in the driveway beside the log cabin.

"Well," Jahlil said. "Looks like you were right, David. I don't think anyone will find us here"

"My dad used to come here when he wanted complete privacy," David said. "I checked out the place about a week ago. We'll be safe here for the rest of the night."

David yawned. His watch read 1:02, but he felt as if he had been awake all night and a day. He was eager to get inside and sleep.

They unloaded their bags. David was keenly aware of the stillness of the night. They might have been in a remote area of the Colorado Rockies.

Behind them, the long, tree-shrouded lane that twined through the woods was dark and quiet.

David unlocked the front door of the cabin, pushed it open. He reached inside the doorway and flicked the light switch. No power up here, either.

"We can find some candles inside," David said.

They switched on their flashlights and filed inside. King promptly set about sniffing around the edges of the room. David gave the area a once-over, to make sure nothing nasty awaited them inside, and then he locked the door.

The cabin had been shut for many days. The air, as a result, was stale and heavy. David cracked open a window.

They found a half-dozen candles stored inside the pantry in the kitchen. David and Nia lit each one and distributed them throughout the place, suffusing the cabin with a warm, golden glow. Jahlil lingered in the kitchen.

"Hey, is there any food in here?" Jahlil asked. "I'm starving."

"Check out the cabinets," David said. "I think there's canned foods, ramen noodles, stuff like that. No pizza and beer, unfortunately."

"I don't care, I'll eat anything." Jahlil began to open cabinets.

Nia edged close to David. Lines of fatigue crinkled the flesh underneath her eyes. Death had grazed them too many times tonight. It would be a long while before either of them looked, or felt, normal, again.

"You look so tired," she said. "Like I feel."

"I think we're all wiped out. But I won't be able to sleep a wink until we secure this place."

She sighed. "I knew you'd say that. You're right. But that bed looks so inviting."

"It won't take long," David said.

While Jahlil rummaged for food, David and Nia fortified the cabin. They pushed the heavy oak dresser in front of the door. There were four windows; they locked three of them and left one partly open, to encourage fresh air to circulate.

"It's pretty unlikely that any of these precautions will hold back those bloodsuckers," David said. "If nothing else, the sounds of their breaking in will warn us."

Nia did not look comforted, and honestly, neither was David, but it was the best they could do.

"Food's ready, folks," Jahlil said. "Come and get it."

It was perhaps the strangest meal that David had ever seen a.s.sembled on a table: mixed nuts, granola bars, and beef jerky. To drink, they had the bottled water that David had packed in his small portable cooler.