obviously is a connection between the cup had g/rags/and who ever sees it. It does take its form from an image buried in the viewer's mind, but it doesn't appear as a manifestation of a person's fears. It appears as a figure that that person believes can be resurrected' He looked around the room, at each of them. 'Think about it. Jesus? Dracula? La Verona? Elvis? I can see people being afraid of Dracula or La Verona. Even Jesus, although that's slretching it, But Elvis? Come on. What I think is happening is that the monster appears not as our fears but as figures who, in our minds, can be resurrected--or cannot be killed. I mean, that's really the only thing these figures have in common: the fact that they have survived death. I think these figures can be from cultural or even personal mythologies, but that's what ties them together. That's what ties together Dracula and the cp hugirngsi. I think that's why there's al way been such an interest in vampires, why the myths are found in all countries and throughout history. That's what attracts people to them-the idea of everlasting life.'
'That's great,' Rossiter said. 'But I don't give a shit if the vampire represents your repressed homosexual desire for your father or my need to crawl back into my mama's womb. As far as I'm concerned, vampires are creatures that have always been here and always existed. Like sharks. And instead of sitting around chatting about it, we ought to be out there tracking it down and killing it.'
'We will,' Sue said. 'But it's not going outside of the church in the daytime, and we can spend ten minutes talking about it to prepare everyone for what they're going to see, to let everyone know what we're up against.
This isn't a movie. We can't just walk in there, find a coffin, drive a stake through its heart, and live happily ever after. There's more to it than that.'
Her grandmother said something in Cantonese. She spoke slowly, and Sue translated slowly, mirroring her.' grandmother's deliberate speech.
'My grandmother says that we don't know the extent of the cup hugirngsi's powers. We don't know if it can read minds or control thoughts. But there are a few things we do know: it is afraid of the daylight, it is afraid of jade and willow and mirrors and water. And it can be killed.'
'Water?' Robert said. : ' 'The cup hugirngsi cannot cross running water,' Sue said, but there was no conviction in her voice.
'I hate to burst your grandma's bubble, but Cheri Stevens and Aaron Payne were killed in running water. In the river.'
'I know. But my grandmother says it cannot cross running water.'
A silence settled over them, and it was not a comfortable silence.
'If she's wrong about that Buford said. He left the thought unfinished.
'Wait a minute,' Rich said. 'Don't rivers in China flow in a different direction? Don't they flow north instead of
' south or something.
Sue's head snapped up. She nodded. 'You're right,' she said excitedly. 'They do. They flow east.' She spoke rapidly in Chinese to her grandmother, and the old woman's frown smoothed out, her wrinkled face returning to its normal placidity.
'I dreamed last week of a river of blood that flowed uphill,' Sue said.
'We can use this,' Buford said thoughtfully. 'We can use this information to help us.'
'How?' Robert asked. 'Drag the vampire to the river?
'No. We make a fake river. Give ourselves some extra
[ Yes, Wood said, catching on. We di ditches round the church. We channel water or get some hoses. We make our own fake river and p he vmpire between the strearfls.'
'That's just dumb,' Robert said.
Rich shook his head. 'We don't have time to dig ditches.'
'We may not have to,' Buford said. He looked at Robert. 'I have access to hoses, the fire truck I say we hook those suckers up, point 'em east and let her rip. If worst comes to worst, at least it'll trap him in the church.' 'Until the water runs out,' Rich said.
'Or until we can think of something else.' .
Robert nodded slowly. 'It just might work. Steve, Ben, you get to work on this.'
'Call the water department,' Buford said. 'Ask for Compton, and tell him to tap off the main valves so we can get some pressure on the hill.
The church is on the slope, and pressure's sometimes a problem.'
'How long can we keep these streams running?' Robert asked. 'How big a reserve do we have to draw from?'
Btfford shrugged. 'We'll have to ask Compton.' He thought for a moment, figuring. 'If I remember right, there's a hydrant across the street from the church. But the next closest one's about half a block down, by the old Big A. We're going to need all the hoses we can lay hands on. I'll call Chief Simmons and get him to opea the station.
We'll run the water through the truck pumlz on the far hose, but with the hydrant by the church we'll just have to trust the water pressure.'
'Hopefully Compton'll be able to deliver,' Robert said Buford nodded.
'Hopefully.' He pushed up the sleeve on his shirt, looked toward Steve and Ben. 'You guys make the calls. I'm going over to the fire station. Tell Simmons to meet me there.'
Robert nodded toward Rossiter. ''You go with Buford,' Robert told the FBI agent.
Roiter shook his head, 'I'm not taking orders from you. I'm in charge of this---''
'No, you're not.' Robert faced the agent, and he was steeled with a new resolve. He was terrified, he didn't know if any of them would live through the day, but while the, did live, this was his town, and he was calling the shots. He suddenly realized that he had not thought of leaving Rio Verde lately, that he had not mentally planned his escape from town as he had so often in the past. If he made it through this, he decided, he would never again complain about being stuck in this place, in this job. He would thank his lucky sxs for his boring, safe, and predictable little life.
There were far worse fates.
Robert motioned toward Sue's grandmother. 'She's in charge,' he told Rossiter.
'Go with Buford,' Sue said. The FBI agent opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. She knew that he wanted to maintain control. But he was also awaxc that. even if he had an army of FBI agents with him right now, armed to the teeth, it would make no difference. The cup hug/rngs/could not be fought with conventional weapons, and he knew it.
There was a knock on the office door. Rich, the nearest the door, opened it.
Ted was in the doorway, standing next to a tall, thin, moderately attractive middle-aged woman who was holding a videotape. The woman was nervous and did not look up. Her attention was focused on the tape she was turning over and over in her hands.
'She says she was staying at the Rocking DID--' Ted began.
'My husband and Iwere camping last night, and I saw something flying above the desert.' She stopped turning the tape in her hands, held it out. 'I thought it was a phoenix. You know, the bird? So I got out my camcorder. It kind of hovered for a while and then flew toward the highway. I got all of it on tape. Our guides never came back, and we were going to go back to our room, but we thought we might get lost and not be able to make it back in the dark, so we decided just to stay there. We found out what happened when we went back to the dude ranch and saw all the police cars...' She took a deep breath. 'I think you should see the tape
Robert stood up, walked around his desk, took the videotape from her.
'May I keep this and make a copy? I will return it to you.'
'Keep it,' the woman said. 'I never want to see it again.
'Have you looked at it?'
She shivered. 'We looked at it.'
Robert nodded to Ted. 'Take her statement.' He turned to the woman.
'Thank you again, Ms ?'
'Singleton. Tracy Singleton.'
'Thank you, Ms. Singleton.'
Ted escorted the woman down the hall, and Robert. turned back toward the others. 'We have a VCR in the
