Blood Hunt by Lee Killough Page B

back. I — I’m — ” But the words caught in his throat. He could not tell her what a monster he had become. Hell...he could not even say the words to himself. Thank god for the glasses so she could not see the animal glow of his eyes. “Lien, I have to sleep and I haven’t been able to since I went into that place. Let me stay here today, and promise you won’t tell anyone where I am, not even Harry. Please!”
    She stared from his face to her wrist and said softly, “Garreth, you’re hurting me.”
    He let go as though stung. Shit. “Damn! I’m sorry.”
    Lien rubbed the marks left on her wrist by his fingers. “I never knew you were so strong.”
    He swore at himself. How could he be so thoughtless? He had seen some of his strength when wrestling the orderly. “I didn’t realize — I never meant — I’m sorry,” he said miserably.
    “ Garreth!”
    He looked at her.
    She patted his arm. “You can stay on one condition. That you do nothing but rest. Do you promise?”
    He nodded.
    She smiled. “Fortunately it’s Saturday and I don’t have to work, so you won’t be alone. Harry went off without breakfast. Would you like his waffles?”
    His throat burned with hunger but the thought of waffles brought a spasm of nausea. He grimaced. “I’m not hungry.”
    Lien frowned at him “Garreth, you — ” She sighed. “All right. Now get yourself into bed in the guest room.”
    A bed. He would never be able to sleep on a bed. “I’d rather sleep out on the patio.”
    “ Patio!” she said in horror. “It’s chilly out there.”
    “ Please. I can’t breathe in here.”
    His desperation reached her. While her forehead furrowed, she made no further protests...even when he passed the lounge chair to lie down on the grass well in the shade of the tree. His last conscious sensation was of Lien covering him with something.
     
    4
     
    He slept, but not in oblivion. Garreth dreamed...frantic, terrifying dreams...of the alley and Lane tearing out his throat, of being Gerald Mossman, split open and shelled out on an autopsy table, of chasing joggers through Golden Gale Park and tearing out their throats to gulp down the salty fire of their blood.
    He fled from the murders, running back through the park to the Conservatory. Inside, though, it had become a library. Titles of the books glared from the spines in pulsating red lettering: Dracula , The Rise and Fall of the Roman Vampire , Foundation and Vampire , The Vampire Strikes Back .
    Spinning away from the stacks in revulsion, he found himself among a group of children sketching bats and wolves under Lien’s direction. He started to back away but Lien caught his arm and, pushing him down in a chair, cradled his head against her chest.
    “ Hush, Garreth, hush.” She rocked slightly, stroking his hair as he remembered her doing once after Marti died. “The superior man doesn’t panic. Let’s try studying this thing calmly. Look.” She released him and began two lists on her sketch pad. “It’s obvious that everything legends say about vampires isn’t true. Yes, you rest best on earth, you smell and crave blood, and something is happening to your teeth. On the other hand, while daylight is miserably uncomfortable it doesn’t kill you. There’s no nonsense with mirrors, either. The subject needs more research, but perhaps most of the legend is false. Maybe you don’t have to stop being the person you are, the person Harry and I love. Once your basic needs of rest and food are met, why can’t you go on living your life as you always have? Lane passed as human.”
    True, but... “She’s still a monster.”
    “ Because she’s chosen to be. She didn’t have to kill those men. I don’t believe anyone or anything is inherently evil.”
    That sounded like Lien, always seeing the good.
    “ You can chose what you want to be. Do you understand, Garreth?” Her voice rose, became more insistent. “Garreth?”
    That was a real voice, not a dream. He