HORROR THRILLERS-A Box Set of Horror Novels (45 page)

"I don't know
if I can do this, sir. I want to help you, but since I don't believe
there are such creatures as vampires, it would be immoral of me to
say that I could try to find one in order to get the funding I need."

"That's what I
thought you would say. I'm glad you said it because it proves you're
an honest man. Now let's forget it and move on. Take the literature
home and read it. Call me in a couple of days and tell me what you
think then. Tell me I'm insane then. Tell me you don't believe it
could be true. If there is one speck of hope, I'm willing to gamble.
After all, Doctor, I'm dying. I have nothing to lose and a new life
if I win. So will you read the works and call me? Say you'll do that
much. It costs you nothing but a little of your time."

Alan felt sorry for
him. He was touched by the old man's fervor and incredible life
force. He thought that money might save him, that myth might be made
reality, that he might find a way to beat death. He hoped never to
meet a man as desperate as this again.

"All right,
I'll read it," he said, pity overwhelming his good sense.

"And you'll
call me afterward?"

"Yes. But I
really can't promise to do this, Mr. Upton."

"Just think it
over. Think about the people you could save if you have a research
center to work on discoveries that would cure them. Think about the
future, Dr. Star. Think about children who get porphyria and what
they are going to have to face. Do it for them."

It was certainly
tempting. Upton had no close relatives he cared for and his money,
when he was gone, would do little good in the world. Why not just
take some of it now and use it to help mankind? But he'd be lying to
himself and to Upton to get it, wouldn't he? Well, he'd read the old
man's papers and books. He'd do what he promised.

"I'll read the
material," he repeated.

"Thank you. I
think after you see what I've found, you'll be convinced enough to
pursue this for me. Even if you aren't convinced . . . forty million
dollars could do a lot of good."

Alan was alone in
the private elevator that took him to the lobby of the Upton
building. In his hands he carried two heavy polyester satchels of
books. What could the old man have found? How could he possibly have
sold himself this bill of goods?

Out on the sunny
street in his car, turning toward the hospital where he was due for a
consultation, Alan glanced at the bags of books taking up the
passenger seat. This was crazy. This was really daft.

But he'd do it.
Upton knew how much he longed to do research, to man his own
facility, to coordinate a staff of qualified researchers to help him
unearth the remaining questions in hematology.

He would at least
look at the books. As daft as it might be, he wouldn't be able to
help himself.

Vampires, he
thought. Oh, God.

Dell spent hours
with Mentor listening to his advice. Sometimes her mind wandered, and
she focused on the sounds outside the house. Sometimes she heard
sounds inside the house, too. A June bug trapped at the window in the
kitchen. A lone roach, antennae wriggling, on the floor beneath the
refrigerator. The electricity in the wires inside the walls—that
bothered her the most. It was like a background hum in her ears that
wouldn't go away.

Nevertheless, she
picked up most of what Mentor said to her and took it to heart. She
could not try out her newfound supernatural powers that involved
great physical strength right away. She could not show her exuberance
in front of humans as they'd think she'd gone mad or was suffering
from manic attacks. She could not ever let anyone know what had
happened. She could not begin to act differently around her friends.
She could not let them know she could read their thoughts if she
wanted.

There were so many
things she was supposed to not do that she wondered exactly what she
could do.

"You can go on
living your life as you always have," Mentor said, intercepting
her thought. "A human lifetime is a gift."

"That's going
to be nearly impossible. Living like I did before," she said,
thinking of eating hamburgers and fries, slurping down milkshakes,
going to football games and dances and to the mall to shop with her
friends.

"It will in
the beginning. But after a few weeks, you'll adjust."

"The funny
thing is," she said, "I thought I'd feel . . . dead. I
thought I'd hate being this way and I'd want to. . . die for real. I
didn't know I'd feel so alive and thrilled about it."

"This feeling
might pass, Dell," he warned. "There will be times when
you'll feel just the opposite. Times when life will be unbearable."

"It's hard to
believe that."

"It is now,
but you'll have to trust me. Our emotions tend to swing widely,
leaving us hanging on stars or dropped into the lowest pit. You'll
call for me if that happens, won't you? When you think you can't go
on?"

"Yes, of
course, I will," she said.

"Good. Then
tomorrow or the next day you will need to return to school. As a
Natural, you're going to take up your old life and carry on. The sun
will not harm you, the night and darkness will not call to you.
You've chosen the path that allows you the greatest freedom in this
world."

"I won't . .
." She could hardly say it. She tried again. "I won't try
to . . . harm anyone, will I? I mean, I won't be like a Predator,
will I?" Already she yearned for one of the blood-filled bags in
the refrigerator. It was like a thirst that never ended. Her throat
was as parched as a mesquite tree in a dry plain in the middle of a
West Texas summer.

Mentor took his
time answering. He was probably listening to her thoughts, weighing
her need. Finally he said, "I can't promise that you'll never be
tempted. At times, all of us fight the urge to just take what we want
when we want it. It's so easy that way, you see. It's something
you'll have to wrestle with and overcome."

"Your
conscience is strong, Dell. Your humanity still resides inside you.
Murder isn't something your mind will accept, though your hunger
might grow strong. But there will be times when hunger overpowers the
heart and your mind may get confused. It's at those times you'll be
most vulnerable to committing an act against man. If you ever give
in, even once, the next time will be easier. So you must never give
in. Do you understand? Never, no matter what provocation or how weak
you think you are or how great your need for sustenance."

"I didn't
really think that would ever happen," she said sadly. "And
this urge will be there all of my life?"

"I'm afraid
so. It's the nature of our affliction. Unfortunately, it's part of
being vampire, any kind of vampire."

She thought long
and hard about what Mentor had said once he left. A horrible thought
occurred to her. She called her mother into her room and shut the
door.

"Mom, I have
to ask you something."

"Anything,
darling."

"Mentor told
me I'd have urges now and then to drink blood from a human."

"That urge
will come less often as you live this life."

"Well, what I
wanted to ask is …" She wasn't sure she actually wanted
to know, but she had to ask. "I wanted to know if you or Daddy
ever wanted to drink from Eddie or me before we … we got
sick."

Her mother's face
registered surprise, and then she smiled. "Oh, only about once a
week. No big deal."

Dell laughed,
realizing her mother was teasing her. "No, really, Mom. Were you
ever tempted that way?"

"No."

"Never?"

"Never. You're
my flesh and my blood. Your father and I would have set ourselves on
fire before we'd bring harm to you."

Dell breathed a
sigh of relief. She didn't know how she would have handled the
thought that her parents had hungered for her. "Okay, thanks,
Mom. I didn't think you did, but I had to find out."

Her mother gave her
a hug and opened the door. She paused on the threshold. "Do you
think you're up for school tomorrow?"

"I can try. I
guess if I feel out of sorts once I get there, I can call you at work
and come home."

"That's my
girl! I'm sure you'll be fine. The faster you get back into your
normal routine, the better off you'll be. Remember, you graduate this
year. And at the top of your class!"

Dell smiled as her
mother left the room. Her mother loved and appreciated her. She was
proud of all her accomplishments.

Restless now, Dell
went to her dressing table and sat down before the mirror. She didn't
look different. The sores that had erupted so rapidly were now
healed, not even leaving scars. She was tan and fit, a girl verging
on womanhood, and the only change she could detect was the look in
her eyes. That look was one of knowledge and sadness. She knew now of
death and of living on after death as a new being. Would her friends
and classmates notice her eyes? Would they suspect she was different?
Maybe she could wear sunglasses for a while, like some of the weird
kids in school. She could say she had a sty. Or pink eye. Everyone
hated getting pink eye.

She wouldn't know
how her friends would react to her, though, until she went back to
school and faced them.

"I can do
this," she said aloud, turning away from the mirror and the dead
look in her eyes. "I can live again."

~*~

It took Dell two
more days before she was ready to face the world outside her home.
During that time, with her parents at work and Eddie at school, she
wandered the empty house and tried to stay away from the transfusion
bags in the refrigerator. Given her deep hunger, she thought she
could down them all at once. The idea made her laugh, but the sudden
sound of laughter in the quiet house gave her pause. She rubbed the
back of her neck where the hair there had crept up. To ease her mind
into trance, she tried to watch television. Think nothing and nothing
will matter, she told herself, hunting down the remote where her
little brother had stashed it between the sofa cushions.

Usually TV talk
shows could turn her into a mindless vegetable, but it didn't work
this time. She watched Jerry Springer, horrified at the guests as
most Americans were, and remembered she'd heard her parents talking
about a Predator in Fort Worth, Texas, who got himself booked on
there one time to discuss the vampire "legend." Mentor was
called in to squelch the renegade, for it was bandied about among the
Predator community that the vampire doing the show was disgruntled
and mentally unstable. He promised the Springer show that he would
show his fangs and even take a victim under the watchful eye of the
camera, if they wanted. A willing victim, if they could find one.

Secrecy was
everything to vampires. Without it, they weren't safe. Rarely did
anyone get out of hand and try to give the secret to the media.
Mentor went to the renegade and discussed his upcoming television
appearance. He judged the vampire to be clearly unreliable, his mind
teetering on the brink of insanity, and had taken him away for his
own good, and the good of all vampires everywhere. The Springer
people booked wannabe vampires instead.

Dell's parents did
not know where the renegade was taken, but they understood there was
a place, a monastery run by vampire monks somewhere in another part
of the world. Was it Asia? The far reaches of China? There someone
could be kept prisoner until well, or if it was judged he would never
be well again, rumor had it the prisoner was bound forever. There was
no alternative.

Dell hoped the talk
show hopeful hadn't been destroyed or imprisoned for the rest of his
vampire life. She did not want to think about what it might be like
to be held prisoner by powerful supernatural monks, but burning the
renegade for turning to the media seemed to her too harsh a judgment.
Go on Jerry Springer and die for it. She almost laughed aloud again,
thinking cynically that some of the guests ought to have that option.

Maybe she would ask
Mentor what had happened to the renegade vampire. . . .

Turning off the TV,
she wandered the rooms again, peeking through the drawn curtains at
the postage stamp-sized front yard. Their house looked similar to all
the other houses on the street in the suburb. Brick, three bedrooms,
two baths, two-car garage. Decidedly middle class. Which was about
all her parents could afford, given that a majority of their income
went to Predators for the blood.