Part 23 (1/2)

It was death.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

She was literally wearing the evil of untold years.

Realization hit her, and suddenly she thought she was going to pa.s.s out.

She remembered where she had seen the man who had accosted her on the street before.

She had seen him in the crystal ball.

9.

T he shower felt good. Mark made the water as hot as he could, and the steam rose around him, and though he wondered if he would ever again feel that he was clean, really clean, given that he'd been doing this so long, he certainly felt a h.e.l.l of a better physically.

Maybe, if he ever succeeded in destroying Stephan, he would receive vindication, and in that, surely, there would be a little peace.

Thinking back, he had to admit that it had actually been an amazing day.

It wasn't often that you found out that a police lieutenant not only believed in what you were saying but actually had experience battling vampires. And then there had been the moments on the sidewalk.

He'd known that Stephan would eventually come after Lauren himself, but he hadn't known when, where or exactly how. And when he'd stumbled onto Stephan in the act of transforming, he'd thought he had a chance to rid the world of the man-the creature-forever.

But Stephan had no intention of dying. True, Mark had managed to take him by surprise with the holy water, but Stephan was going to be harder to kill than that. And like any cult leader, Stephan had minions ready to die in service to him. Mark knew he was lucky that, so far, those who had been summoned to do battle with him while Stephan disappeared were, for the most part, inexperienced. Old enough to know how to do some hunting, foolish enough to be rash. None of them had been around long- not even the cavalier this afternoon. That guy must have come from some costume party.

But then, that was always the way it was in any war. Send out the expendable forces first.

He gritted his teeth in anger, curious that Stephan had begun to bother keeping his population in check at all. He thought about the poor murdered girls whose decapitated corpses had been tossed into the river. It was possible but unlikely that some of his newer minions were perpetrating the crimes. He had a feeling that Stephan was doing this himself.

Stephan liked to create an aura of fear.

He liked it when the authorities thought they were going after a heinous-but human-madman.

Of course, he hadn't planned on a man like Sean Canady.

In all honesty, Mark hadn't imagined encountering such a situation himself. It wasn't just the cop who knew that vampires existed.

There was an alliance of people in New Orleans who knew and made it their business to do something about the dangerous ones.

Unfortunately, most of them were out of the country at the moment.

According to Sean's wife, Maggie, most of the real horrors were occurring in third world countries where people had nothing, no money and no hope, and government coups were constant, where AIDS was prevalent, and there was so much hards.h.i.+p and sadness that the vampires could rule their fiefdoms with little distraction.

But Sean was still here, as were a few others, though Sean hadn't named them as yet. Mark knew he still had to tread carefully with the other if he wanted to earn his trust. Maggie was more open. She had listened gravely to everything he had to say, then told him a few stories about some of their friends.

It had been an absurd conversation-or would have been, if he weren't who he was and the situation weren't so dire.

And now Stephan had shown himself.

Most of all, Lauren finally believed him about the existence of vampires. More, he prayed, he thought she was actually beginning to believe in him.

As he got out of the shower, he decided it was important to get over to the hospital.

As he towel dried his hair, another towel around his hips, he heard a quiet tapping at his door. He hesitated, not quite ready for visitors.

”Yeah?” he said.

”It's me. Lauren.”

He paused again.

Then he walked to the door and opened it.

Her eyes seemed to be even more brilliantly green than he had remembered. Her hair s.h.i.+mmered with an ever greater touch of fire. She was pale, but she appeared strong and wary.And she was standing in his doorway.

”May I come in?” she asked.

”Um...sure.” He moved outside, sweeping out a hand.

She walked in and perched at the foot of his bed. If she noticed his state of undress, she gave no sign.

She smelled erotically of shampoo, soap and perfume. She had chosen a plain black knit dress, and it hugged her curves in a way he couldn't help but notice.

”Did that really-I mean, really, happen?” she inquired.

”Yes,” he said simply.

”It's impossible,” she murmured, staring at him. He could tell that she wanted him to somehow deny the reality of it.

He strode over to the bed, taking a seat at her side, meeting her eyes but not touching her. ”What's impossible?” he whispered.

”There's all kind of evil in the world. Mostly it comes in human form. Today it came in vampire form, that's all. Stephan is real, and his little army of would-be a.s.sa.s.sins is real. I tried to tell you what was going on. And I blame myself for what happened to Deanna. At first I thought you would be the only one in real danger. But he's getting to you by going through Deanna.”

”Will she get better?”

”There's definitely hope,” he told her.

She stood and walked restlessly to the balcony doors. She pulled back the drape and looked out at the night.

”It's so beautiful,” she said. There was a strange and poignant longing in her voice.

”It is,” he agreed.

To his amazement, she let go of the drape and walked straight over to him.