something. She had knoned that when the time came, her Di Lo Ling Gum told kick in, that she would sense things, know things, though this morning felt the same as every other. Even the termittent impressions she had received the night before seemed to have deserted her. If she really did have
Lo Ling Gum, what good was it?
Was her grandmother feeling anything?
'So what do we do now?' Sue asked. 'Just walk into church and confront the cup hugrngsi?''
'Yes.'
Sue blinked, unprepared for that answer. 'We don't have to go through some sort of ritual? We don't have to go there at a certain time?'
'No.' Her grandmother smiled. 'You have seen too many movies.'
Sue got out of bed, picked up her robe from where she had placed it on a chair, and put it on. 'if it is living in the church,' she said,
'how come it has not killed the pastor? It does not need him anymore.
Why is it keeping him alive?'
'I do not know,' her grandmother said, and her voice was troubled. 'I do not understand why. That worries me.'
Sue sat back down on the bed next to her grandmother. She looked into the old woman's eyes and saw not fear there, not determination, not any of the things she had expected to see. She saw sadness. She saw regret.
'Are we going to die?' she asked.
'I do not know,' her grandmother admitted.
This time, Sue knew, she was not lying.
The town was crawling with reporters, state policemen, and gawkers of all shapes and sizes. The massacre had not gone unnoticed, and the miracle of satellite technology had made sure that the news had been transmitted to everyone in Arizona who could conceivably fuck up to day's plans.
The police station was the hub of all this madness, with cameramen lying in wait outside the front door, and a slow but steady trickle of townspeople led in to be inter viewed by Steve, Ted, Ben, and Stu.
Robert stood next to the front counter, scanning the room, a major tension headache thumping just below the skin of his right temple. He had been making the rounds of the room, eavesdropping on the interviews, trying to keep track of everything that was going on, but he had given that up and had now decided to let his men perform their jobs without him looking over their shoulders. He had too many other things to think about right now. He had to think about the cup hugirngsi.
He had to find a way for the seven of them to go over to Wheeler's church, armed with spears and amirror and wearing jade, and kill the vampire in the midst of this media circus. r Jesus, he thought, this was like a damn Saturday Night Live sketch.
He and Rich had been wrong. They weren't in a horror movie. They were in a comedy. A farce.
He massaged his throbbing head. Rossiter was in his office and had been on the phone for the past haft hour, talking to the FBI in Phoenix and Washington, trying to get authorization to shut down the state police investigation. Joe Cash was in the conference room on another phone, talking to his own people, trying to counteract the damage. Rich was leaning against one of the desks talking to Woods, who looked as though he hadn't slept all night. The coroner's face was wan, pale, tired. Rich didn't look much better.
Robert ran a hand through his hair, trying to quell the feelings of doubt that were rising within him. How effective were they going to be if they were all exhausted, exasperated, and not thinking clearly?
Right now, he wouldn't trust any of them to go after a high school wee hie bop per who'd bought beer with a fake ID, let alone confront a vampire who had just killed upward of thirty people. Maybe the vampire would be slow and fat and sated after his feast
Yeah, he thought. Right. An maybe he would just walk in and give himself up, too. ?... Robert looked over at Sue. She was standing beside her grandmother, who was seated in Stu's chair. Out of every ii one in the station, they were the only two who appeared calm and unruffled, and he hoped it was because they had inside information and had concrete assurances the rest of them didn't.i
He checked his watch, his headache flaring at the downward movement of his eyes It was after ten already, nearly ten-thirty. Where was Buford? He'd called the burger stand owner over an hour ago, told him to get his asS. over here immediately. Had Buford chickened out?
As if on cue, Buford walked through the door. He did indeed look scared. His face was pale, his clothes disheveled, and he carried a double-barreled shotgun with him into the station. Several people, obviously still shaken by the events of the night before, took a step back at the sight of him, thinking, no doubt, that he was about to open fire, but he strode quickly past them on his way to the front desk.
Robert motioned him over, then gave the high sign to Rich and Woods.
The four of them walked through the crowded room to Stu's desk, where Sue and her grandmother waited. He looked at the grandmother, and though he knew she couldn't understand English, he spoke to her.
'Okay,' he said. 'We're all here. Let's go into my office and talk.'
'It sounds like there's a whole gang of them,' Buford said after he had been briefed on last night's events. 'An army.'
'That's what some of the survivors are saying.'
Sue looked at her grandmother, shook her head. 'There is only one.'
Steve and Ben were in the room with them, had come in because Robert had asked them to. Maybe only seven of them could go into the church, but he wanted some backup just in case something happened to them.
'I didn't know there really were vampires,' Ben said. His voice was shaky. 'I thought it was all made up for the movies.'
'Now you know,' Robert said.
'But why is the vampire afraid of jade?'
'You don't have to know how a television works to turn it on,' Sue said. 'You don't have to know what a microchip is to use a computer, You don't have to know why the cup hugirngs/is afraid of jade. All you need to know is that it is.'
'So everything we think we know about vampires is wrong,' Buford said.
'They can't be stopped with crosses or holy water or garlic or silver bullets '
'I think some of our legends have a basis in truth Robert said. 'But it's like Sue explained at the meeting, they got distorted over the years.' He cleared his' throat. 'I think it's also a shape-shifter.
That's something you all should be aware of. I know we're entering science fiction territory here ' He trailed off, grinned. 'What the hell am I talking about? We're discussing a damn vampire, and I'm thinking you won't believe that it can change its appearance?' He shook his head. 'From what I've heard and been able to gather, the vampire appears as different things to different people. Jesus, obviously. Elvis, according to Emily Frye. La Verona.' He paused, looked at Rich. 'The Laughing Man. I think maybe it appears to people as their fears. You always hear that in the movies--'It knows what scares you'--but I think it's true here. I think it does know what scares you, and I think it plays on that weakness. We all better be prepared for that.'
They were silent.
'I think it can't show up in amirror,' Robert said, 'because it a mirror. It's a reflection of our own fears.'
'No,' Sue said. 'It's not. And it can show up in a mirror, in the baht gwa. That is why we are bringing the baht gwa with us. The cup hugirngsi is afraid of its own reflection.'
'Maybe it jeds off our fears,' Buford suggested. Woods snorted. 'Get off this fear kick. You guys've all been watching too many Twilight Zones. It's not feeding off our fear. It's not draining our emotions.
It doesn't give a damn whether we fear it or hate it or love it. It feeds off our blood and our semen and our urine and our saliva. The fluids of life. Period.'
Sue translated, and her grandmother nodded enthusiastically.
'See?' Woods said.
'Then why does it appear as different things to different people?'
Robert asked.
'Because,' Rich said. It was the first time he'd spoken, and they all turned to look at him. 'Because there
