Blood Red

What Stephan’s army didn’t know was that their great leader didn’t give a damn about any one of them; they were there to be sacrificed, and that was that. The more fools Stephan gathered around himself, the more fools he had to sacrifice along the way, security against his own capture or death.

It was actually a miracle, Mark thought, that he had managed to make it back.

He rolled, got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, where he stared at his face in the mirror.

He should have looked a hell of a lot worse. But he’d never given up his weapons. No matter how many hits he had taken after being led straight into an ambush, he’d kept hold of his weapons, weapons his opponents hadn’t been prepared for.

Stephan had known, of course.

But his minions had no idea that Stephan knew his enemy, and so they had died for him.

Mark looked at his face in the mirror again, damning himself. There was no room for mistakes.

He had to get it together.

A shower would help.

It did. Half an hour later, he was showered, shaved and dressed, and he didn’t look nearly as bad as he had. He was pulling a comb through his hair when there was a knock at his door.

He opened it to find Helen, from cottage three, standing there.

“Mark, you are here,” she said breathlessly.

“Yes, what’s wrong?” he asked her.

“I just thought you should know, one of the girls from next door was taken to the hospital this morning.”

“Deanna?” he said, feeling his heart slam inside his chest.

She frowned. “Yes, how did you know?”

“I knew she’d been feeling a little off, that’s all,” he lied.

“Oh,” Helen said, moving on to other things. “Heidi rode in the ambulance with her, and Janice and I dropped Lauren off at the emergency room. It’s been a while…. I knocked earlier, but you didn’t hear me.”

“I sleep pretty soundly,” he told her. “But thanks for everything. I appreciate the information.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled. “Oh, and your newspaper.” She handed him the daily paper, which was delivered to each door every morning.

He saw the headline.

Second Day—Second Corpse

He thanked her again, then, after closing the door, threw the newspaper across the room. A few minutes later, he stepped outside, desperate to reach the hospital as quickly as possible.

Mistake number two.

He never saw it coming; he was too concerned about Deanna and the report of the second corpse.

And his attacker was prepared.

Whatever hit him, it was like a ton of bricks against his head.

As he crashed to the ground, he thought it must have been the broad side of an axe. A big one. Like a medieval battle axe. Then he passed out and didn’t think about anything at all.

“We’re moving over to this place,” Lauren told Heidi.

“What?” Heidi asked, distracted.

Deanna had been given a room, but she had yet to regain consciousness. She was regaining color, though, and the doctors kept assuring them that she was going to be fine, but the next twenty-four hours were critical. Her blood levels had been so low that she was close to death, but the transfusions seemed to be turning the tide, and they believed a full and perhaps even speedy recovery was not only possible but likely.

She was in a private room, with a police guard in the hall.

It should have felt safe, Lauren thought, but it didn’t.

“That cop, Lieutenant Canady, said we’d be safer moving to this place,” Lauren explained to Heidi.

“What is it to him, where we stay?” Heidi demanded.

Lauren took a deep breath. “He’s afraid we’ve been targeted,” she explained. “By a lunatic.”

Heidi frowned.

“Maybe a lunatic who thinks he’s a vampire,” Lauren went on.

Heidi stared at her for a long moment in total disbelief, then started laughing. “Lauren, think about what you just said. A vampire? You’ve been reading too many freaky books.”

“Heidi—”

”Deanna lost a lot of blood,” Heidi explained gently. “She’s sick. She must have been sick when we got here, and that caused her sleepwalking. She wasn’t attacked.”

“Heidi, Lieutenant Canady said we should move, and I want to,” Lauren said firmly. “Look, one of the lieutenant’s officers is apparently always at this place, and he considers it really safe. If we