Dark Corner (49 page)

A scream snatched him out of his reverie.

He shot upright. Who was hurt?

But it was only the wind. Outside, a gust harassed the
trees and screeched around the building. As he looked out
the window, a pulse of lightning stung his eyes.

He pulled the cord to lower the blinds. They clattered to
the bottom of the windowsill.

"There we go," he said, turning back to the bed. "Now,
you can sleep in some peace "

The words died on his lips.

Vicky Queen was awake, and she was smiling at him.

Franklin Bennett swam out of slumber, immediately conL sumed with a raging restlessness and an unstoppable urge
to do ... something. Something he could not articulate. Not
yet. But the nameless compulsion drove him to action.

He flung away the bedsheets.

He was in a hospital room. His glasses lay on a nightstand. He reached for them, as was his habit upon awakening-and paused.

His vision, without the spectacles, was hawk-sharp. He
could clearly discern even a speck of dirt on the far wall.

He pursed his lips, confused.

What is happening? I am a patient here, it seems. How
long have I been asleep? Days, weeks? I cannot recall. Most
important, why am I here?

I cannot remember.

Perhaps he could remember, if he exerted the mental effort, but it did not seem worth the trouble. He was a prisoner
to the urge that he could not elucidate. Satisfying the need
was the only endeavor worthy of his attention.

He raised into a sitting position. The overstuffed chair be side the bed was empty, but Ruby had been sitting there only
a short while ago. He smelled her lingering feminine scent.

Smelled her? What an odd way to determine his wife's
whereabouts.

It doesn't matter. I have to find Ruby. I have to get my
hands on her. She has what I need. I do not know what it is,
but she has it, in abundance.

He bounded out of the bed, with an agility that he had not
known since he had been a teenager. His gown billowed
around him. He had to get out of this foolish getup. After he
had found Ruby.

Across the room, a young woman arose out of her bed.
He did not know who she was, and he did not care. She did
not possess anything of interest to him. She seemed equally
uninterested in him.

He heard footsteps shuffling along the corridor: slow,
tired steps.

As the footsteps neared the room, Ruby's scent grew
stronger.

Quick as a bat, he hid behind the door.

He shot his roommate a stern glance, warning her not to interfere, though he sensed that she was enslaved to a need that
matched his own.

Ruby trudged inside. She saw his empty bed, and gasped.
A mug emitting the pungent aroma of cinnamon-apple tea
dropped out of her hands and crashed against the tile.

My wife has what I need, and I must have it now

Franklin blocked the doorway. Ruby spun around.

"Franklin? Sugar, what's wrong?" Fear and worry flashed
in her big eyes. But Franklin was less concerned about her
eyes, and fascinated with the tender flesh of her neck.

He heard her pulse throbbing. The rapid pounding thundered in his head, like a bass drum.

"Come to me, love." He gripped her shoulders. Ruby
opened her mouth, perhaps to scream, but only a highpitched whine squeaked out of her.

I'm going to do something awful to my wife, my lover, my
lifelong companion, my best friend, but I cannot help it, God
help me, I cannot resist, she has what I need and I absolutely
MUST have it now

He pulled his wife into his strong arms, bowed his head,
and pierced her neck with his unexpectedly sharp teeth.
Ruby batted her hands against him, but as his fangs sank
deeper, she sighed and leaned against his chest, willingly, as
though she accepted that it was inevitable and appropriate
that she should be the first to give him what he needed; the
only thing in the universe that would satisfy his intense craving, the substance that flooded his mouth like warm, tangy
cider and filled him with orgasmic pleasure.

Blood.

Vicky Queen smiled at Junior. "Hey, sweetie."

Her hair had fallen across her left eye, and she brushed it
away with a light motion that, for some reason, made
Junior's heart throb. Vicky had always been able to do that to
him. She affected him in ways that he didn't understand.

But she wasn't the same old Vicky. Her eyes were red and
wild. Something about her smile made him pause, too.

When her grin spread wider, he realized what it was: her
teeth were wickedly sharp. With teeth like that, she could
snap a drumstick in half with a single bite. Or tear into a
man's throat and suck his blood ...

She's a vampire, you dummy, a voice in the back of his
mind warned. Vampires have fangs. Get out of here.

"Were you checking on me, Junior?" Vicky said. Her
long eyelashes fluttered. "That was sweet of you. You've always been so sweet to me ""

"I just wanted to make sure you were all right," he said.
He sidestepped away from the bed. "Guess I'll be going now.
I'll tell the nurse you're up and about; she can come and get
you whatever you need."

Vicky yanked away the sheet, revealing the rest of her
body. She wore only the gown, and the thin material ended at
her upper thighs; her shapely, smooth legs gleamed in the
lamplight like polished bronze.

"I need you, Junior. You need me, too"

"But .. "Junior stuttered. His hand grasped the locket on
his chest.

Mama, please give me some strength.

"Come here, Junior," Vicky said. "Lie on the bed with
me. Let me kiss that muscular, chocolate body of yours. Let
me bring your fantasies to life."

A vivid image flared in Junior's head, something he was
surprised that he could think of. him lying on that bed and
Vicky Queen sitting on top of him, her firm breasts jiggling,
his hands squeezing her fine hips ...

Vicky's alluring eyes were hypnotic.

He had taken a step toward her bed when his attention
was diverted by a scream, outside the room. This time, it was
not the wind. It was a human scream; a sound of horror and
pain.

Junior snapped to alertness. What was he doing, going to
Vicky's bed? She was going to do something bad to him.

Vicky hissed. Her eyes narrowed to red darts.

Junior ran to the door. He didn't dare to look behind him
and get caught in Vicky's spell again.

In the hallway, he dashed past rooms. He glanced in Doc
Bennett's room and saw something terrifying: Doc Bennett
was standing and had cradled Mrs. Bennett in his arms, as if
she had passed out in a faint. He turned and looked at Junior,
and blood streamed down Doc Bennett's chin. His red lips
formed a smile that chilled Junior to the marrow.

Doc Bennett 's a vampire; Vicky Queen's a vampire; I bet
everyone back here's turned into a vampire.

He was afraid to check on the other people and confirm
his idea. He concentrated, instead, on getting out of there.

The exit out of quarantine seemed to be a hundred miles away. Up there, a female nurse strained to open the doors.
She had bright red bite marks on her pale neck. She must've
been the one who had screamed.

"I got it, miss," Junior said. He pulled open the double
doors, and the woman stumbled through. Junior risked a
look over his shoulder.

Patients poured into the hallway, like wild animals released from cages. Inhuman hunger burned in their crimson
eyes. They hissed and spat. Their long fangs gleamed like
needles.

God, all of them had become vampires.

Outside quarantine, the patrol team members looked
frightened and bewildered.

Junior snatched the ring of keys off the desk, to lock the
doors.

"Don't just stand there!" Junior shouted. "Let's keep
them from getting out!"

Then the lights went dead.

David and the remaining members of their special team
arrived at the police station.

There, the storm had knocked out the power. The backup
team used candles to illuminate the office. The people sat in
a circle, as though they were performing a seance.

King, sitting near the doorway, wagged his tail when he
saw David. David was glad to see the mutt was okay.

The team immediately slammed him and Chief Jackson
with questions.

"Where's Ben?"

"We've been getting calls that the power's out all over
town. What should we do?"

"Where's Bertha?"

"We heard lightning's knocked down a bunch of trees.
The roads out of town are blocked with 'em. How can we get
out of here?"

"Listen!" David held up his hand. "Please, calm down.
We'll get to your questions. First of all, is everyone here?
Where are the boys, Jahlil and Poke?"

"Gone, man," a guy wearing a basketball jersey said. "They
didn't wanna stay."

"You're kidding me," Jackson said. "You let my boy
leave?"

"We couldn't stop them," the guy said.

Jackson cursed and threw his hat against the wall. He
stormed around the room, fists bunched on his waist.

David was concerned about the kids, but he had to move
on. He told the group a condensed version of what had happened at Jubilee. None of them questioned the reality of what
David and his group had seen. They were beyond doubts.
The world of nightmares had become real.

"On the way here, we saw the strong winds and lightning," David said. "But we had no idea that trees are blocking the main roads that lead out of here, or that the power has
been knocked out everywhere. Somehow, I don't think that's
an accident. The vampires are setting us up for an attack."

"Diallo?" Nia said. "Jesus, if he's powerful enough to
cause a storm ..."

"I know, I know," David said. "We've got to find him. We
have to assume that he's finally on the prowl, out there" He
motioned to the window, and everyone peered fearfully at
the glass, as though expecting a monster to bust inside.
"Once we find Diallo and put him away for good, this madness will be over."

"I don't even know what this vampire cat looks like," the
man in the basketball jersey said. "How are we supposed to
take him out?"

"You'll know who he is, if you see him," David said. "He's
not like you and me, remember. If you see either Diallo or
his son, Kyle, you'll know it. Trust me. I expect them to
show up on our radar at any second"

A frantic voice crackled from the team's two-way radio:
At the hospital, the patients in quarantine were on the move.
And all of them were vampires.

Franklin, David thought. Dread rippled through him.
Please, God, don't let me be the one to do it. Don't let me be
the one ...

When the lights went out at the hospital, everyone panicked-except Junior. Already holding the key in his hand,
he calmly found the keyhole, slipped the key inside, and
latched the quarantine doors.

But he didn't think they were safe yet. He probably could
have busted down those doors himself if he were angry
enough. And there were close to twenty people on the other
side who were furious about being penned in quarantine.

No, they ain't people, Junior reminded himself. Not anymore, they ain't.

A nurse turned on a flashlight and shone the beam at the
door.

The vampires pressed their ghastly faces against the
square windows. They bared their sharp teeth, hissing.

People screamed. Fear weakened Junior's knees, too. But
he couldn't give up. This was the time for him to be brave.

The creatures beat their fists against the door.

Junior braced his hands against the heavy door. "We got
to block it with somethin'!" he said. His arm muscles felt
like they were about to rip.

Ron and Maria pushed a table across the hall, and Junior
moved aside so they could lever the table against the door.
Another man, DeWayne, grabbed a desk, and Junior helped
him lift it and stack it on top of the table.

The vampires roared, hammered the doors harder.

"That ain't gonna hold them back long," Junior said.
Already, the desk rocked.

"What else can we do?" Ron said, his eyes frantic.

"We gotta get ready to fight 'em," Junior said. "We can't
let them get out of here or they're gonna get everyone else in
town. Gimme a bomb."

Maria slapped a bottle, which they'd called a Molotov
cocktail, into Junior's hand. A dry rag dangled from the tip.

He fished a cigarette lighter out of his pocket.

In front of him, the barricade trembled.

Ron and Maria each gripped a bottle bomb. DeWayne
had the gun, cocked and ready. They had retreated far enough
from the doorway so that when the barrier crashed, they
would be out of harm's way. The nurse who held the flashlight was several feet behind them, her terrified face slick
with sweat.

Blood-curdling sounds came from the vampires: cries
and moans of hunger and aching need. Junior wanted to clap
his hands over his ears. He wanted to run away. He looked
behind him. The corridor was as dark as a tunnel; the only
light came from the lightning that flashed through the windows.