5:30, so he needed to get going if he was going to get there in time.
#
He tried taking the back roads, but there was no way to get past the railroad tracks without taking one of the main arteries. He hadn’t gone more than half a mile before he heard a siren.
Terrill didn’t hesitate. He took off, turning back onto the darkened side streets. He ran a red light, then another, and the cops backed off.
He slowed down, taking right turns so he didn’t have to run any more lights.
They were ready for him. He turned another corner and saw three police cars arrayed on the road ahead of him, blocking it. As he slowed, three more came whooping up on him from behind.
Terrill was boxed in. He jumped out of the car and ran into the nearest yard and down the side of the house.
All thoughts of giving up, all meditations on redemption, left him. He was vampire, pursued by his mortal enemy, mankind. He headed into darkness, his keen vampire senses finding tiny gradations in the level of light. He found himself at the end of an alley with a rocky hillside above him.
He could see the paths on the hillside clearly. The darker it was, the more clearly he could see. It was the obvious escape route.
But he turned aside and ducked through a hole in the side of an old standalone garage that was being used as a storage shed. He made his way to the darkest corner and crouched there.
He could hear search dogs barking and howling nearby. They wouldn’t know what to make of him; his scent would have no meaning to them. They would whine to their masters, wondering what they were supposed to do.
But the dogs could see well in the darkness, better than their handlers. It was inevitable that they would make their way down this alley. It was an obvious escape route.
He heard the cops a few minutes later. The humans, too, had sensed that he would run into darkness. They, too, made it to the end of the alley and looked up at the hillside.
Terrill saw the flashlights going by, and heard the trudging and tripping of the humans as they made their way up the rocky slope with exclamations and curses.
But one light remained. Terrill heard a growl, and he kept absolutely still.
A vampire in darkness cannot be seen unless he moves. Humans can often sense the danger and will search for the cause, but rarely see it in time. Terrill blended in with the dark wood behind him, as solid and as unmoving as it was. The dog poked his head through the hole in the side of the garage and growled, and the human squeezed in after, running the beam of his flashlight around the dark interior.
Terrill closed his eyes. The light went directly past him.
Then the cop muttered something about wishing he was eating dinner at home and dragged the reluctant dog out of the garage. The dog hadn’t seen or smelled Terrill either, but it trusted its primitive instincts more.
#
Terrill held still for what seemed hours, until suddenly, he started shaking. Once he started shaking, he couldn’t stop. That had never happened to him before.
He hadn’t eaten for over a day. His wounds were unhealed. But most of all, the cross was burning into him. He could almost feel the shape of it, could almost feel it glowing, consuming him.
For the first time since he’d been Turned, he had no food, no shelter, and no friends.
The cost of redemption is always high , he thought. Otherwise it wouldn’t mean anything.
Pain alone was not enough. It meant nothing unless he helped others. Unless he helped Sylvie.
Chapter 17
Late in the afternoon, someone knocked on the RV’s door. Horsham pulled one of the curtains aside an inch. The sun was still burning brightly. Still… the door was in the shade. He threw it open and stepped back from the daylight.
“Hey, neighbor!” It was the young couple from Rhode Island, Bill and Peggy, who were taking a yearlong sabbatical in a rundown VW minivan and blogging about it. Horsham had already decided he’d feed
#
He tried taking the back roads, but there was no way to get past the railroad tracks without taking one of the main arteries. He hadn’t gone more than half a mile before he heard a siren.
Terrill didn’t hesitate. He took off, turning back onto the darkened side streets. He ran a red light, then another, and the cops backed off.
He slowed down, taking right turns so he didn’t have to run any more lights.
They were ready for him. He turned another corner and saw three police cars arrayed on the road ahead of him, blocking it. As he slowed, three more came whooping up on him from behind.
Terrill was boxed in. He jumped out of the car and ran into the nearest yard and down the side of the house.
All thoughts of giving up, all meditations on redemption, left him. He was vampire, pursued by his mortal enemy, mankind. He headed into darkness, his keen vampire senses finding tiny gradations in the level of light. He found himself at the end of an alley with a rocky hillside above him.
He could see the paths on the hillside clearly. The darker it was, the more clearly he could see. It was the obvious escape route.
But he turned aside and ducked through a hole in the side of an old standalone garage that was being used as a storage shed. He made his way to the darkest corner and crouched there.
He could hear search dogs barking and howling nearby. They wouldn’t know what to make of him; his scent would have no meaning to them. They would whine to their masters, wondering what they were supposed to do.
But the dogs could see well in the darkness, better than their handlers. It was inevitable that they would make their way down this alley. It was an obvious escape route.
He heard the cops a few minutes later. The humans, too, had sensed that he would run into darkness. They, too, made it to the end of the alley and looked up at the hillside.
Terrill saw the flashlights going by, and heard the trudging and tripping of the humans as they made their way up the rocky slope with exclamations and curses.
But one light remained. Terrill heard a growl, and he kept absolutely still.
A vampire in darkness cannot be seen unless he moves. Humans can often sense the danger and will search for the cause, but rarely see it in time. Terrill blended in with the dark wood behind him, as solid and as unmoving as it was. The dog poked his head through the hole in the side of the garage and growled, and the human squeezed in after, running the beam of his flashlight around the dark interior.
Terrill closed his eyes. The light went directly past him.
Then the cop muttered something about wishing he was eating dinner at home and dragged the reluctant dog out of the garage. The dog hadn’t seen or smelled Terrill either, but it trusted its primitive instincts more.
#
Terrill held still for what seemed hours, until suddenly, he started shaking. Once he started shaking, he couldn’t stop. That had never happened to him before.
He hadn’t eaten for over a day. His wounds were unhealed. But most of all, the cross was burning into him. He could almost feel the shape of it, could almost feel it glowing, consuming him.
For the first time since he’d been Turned, he had no food, no shelter, and no friends.
The cost of redemption is always high , he thought. Otherwise it wouldn’t mean anything.
Pain alone was not enough. It meant nothing unless he helped others. Unless he helped Sylvie.
Chapter 17
Late in the afternoon, someone knocked on the RV’s door. Horsham pulled one of the curtains aside an inch. The sun was still burning brightly. Still… the door was in the shade. He threw it open and stepped back from the daylight.
“Hey, neighbor!” It was the young couple from Rhode Island, Bill and Peggy, who were taking a yearlong sabbatical in a rundown VW minivan and blogging about it. Horsham had already decided he’d feed
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