"I'll be d.a.m.ned," Jahlil said. "I remember you guys telling me about this bird, but seeing it ... that's something else."

The raven cawed and strutted across the yard.

"Let's move," David said.

His watch read six-thirty. Rosy light glowed in the sky. Dew dampened the gra.s.s.

Seen in the light of day, the Pathfinder was a mess; it looked as if the vehicle had been competing in a mud race. David made a mental note to get the truck washed, and then almost laughed at himself for thinking about such a thing at a time like this.

As they piled inside the SUV, the bird launched into the air.

"Hey, it's flying away!" Jahlil said. "Don't lose it."

"We won't," David said. He made a U-turn in the driveway.

They rolled across the dirt lane. The raven circled above the cabin, then descended until it was only a few feet above the vehicle, and perhaps ten feet ahead.

The bird guided them along the winding path, through the hilly woods.

"I wonder where it's leading us," Nia said.

"You've asked the million-dollar question," David said. "I have no idea where it's going, but it has to be important."

Shafts of daylight pierced the overhanging trees. Ahead, a squirrel that seemed about to venture into view vanished into the roadside shrubbery when it spotted the raven, as though identifying it as a bird of prey to be avoided.

They followed the bird out of the woods, and onto the shaded country lane that intersected the mouth of the cabin's driveway. The bird soared west, toward the town's residential area. The raven rose higher into the air, but remained in clear view.

"She's taking us to the vampire's lair," Jahlil said from the back. "I betcha a thousand bucks. That's where she's leading us"'

David looked at Nia, and she nodded. Jahlil had voiced the thought that had entered David's mind, and he was sure Nia had hoped for the same thing.

"Let's not get our hopes up," David said, probably more to himself than to anyone. "We'll just have to see"

"You know that's where she's taking us," Jahlil said. "Can't you feel it? I feel like I used to right before a big football game. Like something huge is about to happen"

"Whatever it is, we've gotta be ready," David said. He flexed his fingers on the steering wheel. Nervous energy sang through his blood.

The raven wheeled through the air like a toy glider. Following, they turned onto Main Street.

In the morning light, the area looked worse than it did last night. Debris was everywhere. Windows were shattered, gla.s.s littering the pavement. The traffic lights continued to stare like dead eyes.

But there was no pack of dogs blocking the street, no human carca.s.s lying on the ground. There were no signs of life at all. It might have been a forgotten movie set at a bankrupt Hollywood studio.

"I hardly recognize this place," Nia said. Her voice teetered on a sob. She covered her mouth.

David could not think of anything to say. No words of comfort would rea.s.sure her. The worst was yet to come.

They left the business district. The raven began to descend.

A tall, wrought-iron fence that fronted the road indicated their destination, and when David saw the bird swoop inside the enclosure, he realized that he should not have been surprised. Where else could this nightmarish adventure have concluded?

He drove through the open gates of Hillside Cemetery.

The raven alighted on a stone monument just inside the entrance, in the cool shade of a maple tree.

David parked nearby, on the shoulder of the narrow asphalt path that curved through the graveyard.

"This is it?" Nia said. "I don't get it."

"Me, either." David's heart drummed. "But let's check it out"

"You want to bring King with us?" Jahlil said. "Or leave him in here?"

"He's coming," David said. "He's part of the team, too"

They climbed out of the truck. A wind whispered through the cemetery, like a forlorn spirit. Morning mist shrouded the headstones, and the boughs of the large elms and maples drooped, as if burdened with sorrow.

David and the others strapped their bags over their shoulders. Each of them drew a weapon: David and Nia had handguns, and Jahlil carried his shotgun.

Standing atop the monument, the raven regarded them.

David approached the bird.

"Why did you bring us here?" he said.

Staring at him, the raven cawed. But the telepathic moment that he had experienced at the cabin did not repeat itself.

King's ears p.r.i.c.kled. The dog growled.

"He senses something," Nia said. "But what?"

King started to trot through the gra.s.s.

"Let's follow him," David said. He looked at the raven, but the bird only watched them, impa.s.sively.

They jogged in order to keep pace with the dog. They followed King in a twisting route around the headstones and monuments. David read some of the inscriptions on the graves. Most of the people had been buried decades ago.

Farther ahead, deep in the heart of the cemetery, standing atop a slight hill, a dark mausoleum rose out of the fog, like a temple to some ancient G.o.d.

King halted. But the dog continued to growl. He glowered at the crypt as though it were his mortal enemy.

"Oh, my G.o.d," Nia said. "I get it."

"What is it?" David and Jahlil said simultaneously.

"Edward Mason was buried in there," Nia said. "That's the Mason family mausoleum. Remember what Franklin told us, David?"

David nodded. "I remember. There's a shelter, under the crypt. Mason had it built so that he could hide there if Union troops ever invaded the area"

"Are you for real?" Jahlil said. "That thing leads underground?"

"For real," Nia said.

"Think about it," David said. "What a perfect hideaway for a vampire. A sanctuary amongst the dead"

"No, not all dead," Nia said. "Look"

Like ghosts, large shapes emerged from the mist around the mausoleum: vampiric hounds.

King was barking. David, Nia, and Jahlil had raised their firearms.

Three bloodsucker hounds gathered in front of the crypt, like modern-day counterparts of Cerebrus, the mythical, vicious guard dog that guarded the gates of Hades.

"I'm sick of these f.u.c.king mutts," Jahlil said. "They act like they own the town"

Cold sweat plastered David's shirt to his torso. He was frightened beyond reason, and they had not confronted Diallo yet. He had to buckle down and handle this. He had to.

"Listen, we know that guns won't kill those mutts," David said. "At best, they'll knock them down, temporarily. We hit them with enough firepower to paralyze them, then we move on, inside. Let's not waste our energy and resources trying to kill them. Remember: we take care of Diallo, and every creature under his power will die, too"

"All right, sounds like a plan," Nia said. Her fingers tightened on her gun. "Let's do this."

The monster canines broke into a run, scattering in various directions.

"They're gonna try to trap us in a circle!" David shouted. He swung around. The hounds dashed through the cemetery like trained soldiers. s.h.i.t, those suckers were smart. "Everyone, spread out and take a different side. I'm out front, Nia, you get the right, Jahlil, grab the left. Go!"

They positioned themselves as he commanded. King remained at David's side, snapping furiously.

A huge, vampiric canine charged straight toward them, its eyes ablaze with supernatural hunger. David fired the .38 and missed terribly, the bullet ricocheting off a headstone.

The beast leapt high and tackled him. He slammed to the gra.s.s.

The monster dog's strong paws dug into his chest. Saliva poured from its lips, and a rank stench spewed from its mouth.

I can't let it bite me; if it bites me, I'm through.

The gun had popped out of his grasp when he had fallen. He was defenseless.

Snarling, the vampiric mutt dipped its large head, to tear into his neck.

He would have been finished, had it not been for King. King jumped onto the creature and tore into the back of the hound's neck.

The creature shrieked. It fell off David's chest.

David rolled over. His gun had fallen beside a headstone. The inscription bore his first name.

No death today, dammit, not for me.

He grasped the gun. The vampire dog was trying, unsuccessfully, to throw off King. The German shepherd had locked its jaws onto the creature's neck.

David scrambled forward, took aim, and shot the monster in the head. It dropped to the gra.s.s with a whimper, legs kicking spasmodically.

Saliva glistening on his lips, King seemed to grin at David.

"Good boy," David said.

Gunfire rang through the graveyard. David turned to see how the others were doing, and that was when Nia screamed.

She lay on the ground, clutching her leg. A vampiric dog lay in a heap in the gra.s.s nearby, blood leaking from its breast.

"It bit me before I could finish him." Nia gritted her teeth. Blood seeped through the gash in her jeans, high on her thigh. She pounded her fist against the ground. "Dammit, I don't believe this!"

David knelt beside her. Jahlil had just dropped the final vampiric mutt with his shotgun, and he hurried to kneel beside her, too.

David touched her shoulder. Her skin was hot, and she was trembling.

He might be more frightened than she was. He could not bear the thought of losing her. He could handle anything else, but not that.

"How do you feel?" he said.

"David, I'm not going to turn into one of them," she said savagely. "h.e.l.l, no. We're going to finish this before that happens"

"But you're gonna start getting weak," Jahlil said. His eyes were wet. "When that vampire poison gets into your blood, it numbs you, knocks you out."

"Then we better finish while I still have the strength," Nia said. She began to push herself to her feet. David tried to a.s.sist her, but she brushed off his hand. "Don't baby me, honey. Please. I'm with you on this all the way, I'm not going out like a punk. Let's move while those mutts are down"

"Let me at least put something on your wound," David said. "There's a first aid kit in the truck"

"There's no time for that, David," she said. "We've got to keep going."

David had never loved her more. But his fear that he would lose her was just as powerful as the love that poured through him.

"Okay," he said. He looked at each of them, then faced the mausoleum. "Let's go inside."

The mausoleum had been standing for over one hundred and forty years, and the granite structure had endured the time well. The exterior walls and the two supporting columns were smooth and shiny, as if they had been recently polished. Elaborately sculpted white angels flanked the bronze double doors. Above the doorway, "Mason" had been engraved in large, gray letters.

Metal handles were set in the thick doors.

"Those doors looks heavy as h.e.l.l," Jahlil said. "Hope they aren't locked."

David grabbed the handles. He leaned back, and pulled. At first, the doors did not budge. He tried again, and then they loosened, yet it still required help from Nia and Jahlil to force open the entrance.

Shadows congregated inside the vestibule. A musty odor hung in the still air.

David switched on a flashlight. He shone the beam within.

It was a s.p.a.cious chamber, about the size of a large master bedroom. Six granite tombs stood on stone blocks in the center of the crypt, ranked in a line.

"Ed Mason's family was buried here," Nia said. "Him, his wife, and their three kids. After they died in the slave insurrection, their corpses were found and interred here, like he always wanted"