Blood Red

“Fine. And I’m really sorry. Hope you all get back to sleep okay,” Deanna said.

“Not a problem,” Helen assured them.

“So cn we go back to bed, too?” Heidi asked. “We’ll block the door, Deanna, so you won’t be able to get back out.”

Deanna stared at Lauren. That’s what you did last night, her eyes said. Why didn’t you do it again tonight?

Lauren couldn’t answer the silent question. She could hardly say, Because I was listening to a madman talk about vampires.

They went inside, and Lauren made a point of locking the door, then dragging a chair over and wedging it under the knob.

Heidi and Deanna watched from the hallway.

“Look good?” Lauren asked, determinedly cheerful.

“Look’s good to me,” Heidi said.

“Thanks,” Deanna told her.

Then they turned and went into the bedroom.

Lauren curled up on the sofa bed, found the remote, turned on the television and flicked around until she found an old repeat of “Three’s Company.”

She hugged her knees to her chest protectively as she watched.

They had to leave.

That was it. They had to go home.

Heidi would be upset at cutting her bachelorette weekend short, but Lauren would make it up to her somehow. It was just insane to stay in a place where their neighbor was convinced he was a vampire hunter, Deanna kept sleepwalking and she herself thought she’d seen the darkness come alive.

And where a headless body had been discovered floating in the river…

Lauren stayed awake for at least an hour, staring at the screen, trying to concentrate on the TV, but she didn’t see a thing.

She couldn’t turn off her mind.

She kept remembering how Mark had gone chasing after that shadow and thrown some kind of liquid at it .

And back at the bar Big Jim had thrown beer at the fighters in the alleyway.

Vampires. Mark had insisted there were vampires.

Oh, please.

Mark Davidson was crazy. Gorgeous, but crazy.

She wondered if craziness was contagious, because even Janice had been convinced that she was being watched.

She tried, but she just couldn’t make sense of any of it.

Somehow, somewhere along the line, she fell asleep. And she didn’t wake up until, for the second time in a matter of hours, the sound of a bloodcurdling scream filled the air.

Second Day—Second Corpse

Sean groaned as he stared at the headline. He had known it would be there, and he was afraid it would give rise to a general panic throughout the city.

Bobby entered the office. “You okay, Lieutenant?”

“Oh, yeah. Right as rain.”

Bobby was silent for a minute. “We’ve got every cop on the force—and all up and down the Mississippi—on alert.”

Sean stared at Bobby. “Yeah. Like that’s going to stop this guy.”

Bobby flushed. “Well, what should we do? Should I track down the guy that woman was talking about last night? Mark Davidson?”

Sean sat back. “We need to find him. But I don’t want him arrested and brought here. I’ll deal with him, all right? If I need help, I’ll let you know.”

“Yes, sir.” Bobby hesitated. “I’ve warned people, but I don’t know how much good that will do.” He walked to the door and looked back over his shoulder as he spoke.

“Good.” Sean rose. “I’m going to hit the streets, ask some questions. I want you to call the hospitals. You know what we’re looking for. Also, get someone to check out the missing persons bulletins. And I need to know about any reports of people acting crazy.”

Bobby stared at him.

“What?” Sean said sharply.

Bobby shrugged. “Hey, this is New Orleans. People here pride themselves on acting crazy.”