Dark Corner (60 page)

Her tone indicated that the subject was closed to discussion. David bit his lip, debating whether to continue to attempt to persuade her to leave with them.

"You must hurry," Pearl said.

The barking outdoors grew louder.

On shaky legs, King trudged to the doorway. He whined,
eyes searching David's face for reassurance.

"Okay, boy, we're leaving," David said. Nia and Jahlil had
gathered their things; Jahlil was making an obvious effort to
avoid looking at his father's corpse. The kid's eyes were watery.

David felt a strong, almost paternal urge to spirit Jahlil
away from this, and to take him somewhere where he could
smile again. But it was going to be an arduous journey to
reach such a place. First, they had to escape Pearl's house.

Pearl accompanied them to the door. She quickly kissed
each of them on the cheek.

"Thank you for everything," David said, "again"

"Keep them safe, David Hunter," she said. "They're your
family now."

He nodded, then turned to face the darkness beyond.

The gravel driveway that led from Pearl's house to the
main road was as dark as a subterranean tunnel. But David
heard the dogs. They bayed and barked ceaselessly. It sounded
as though dozens of the hellhounds were prowling closer.

The vampires would be with them.

Jahlil, Nia, and King had climbed inside the Pathfinder.
David opened the rear cargo door, to stash their bags in the
storage area.

His hands shook so badly that he dropped one of the
bags. He cursed under his breath, grabbed the canvas strap,
and flung the parcel into the cargo bay.

Hunter.

The voice, deep and sonorous, came to him like a whisper
of air against his ears.

David turned to face the long, lightless driveway.

Diallo strode out of the darkness.

Although David had seen only an artistic rendering of
Diallo in the Bible illustrations, one look confirmed that he
was witnessing the master vampire, in the flesh. He was
Goliath-size, standing a head above Kyle, who kept pace with him on his right. Clothed in black garments, Diallo
walked as if he owned the night, head raised high and proud,
arms swinging casually, each long stride fluid and commanding. He was accompanied by perhaps a dozen lesser
vampires, and vampiric hounds. They marched in a formation that spanned the entire road.

A change seemed to buzz through the atmosphere, as
though the night itself were comprised of two puzzle pieces
that had finally been fitted together with a click-a click that
echoed in the depths of David's soul. He was gripped by a
certainty that he was meant to be here, fated to meet this
centuries-old adversary of his ancestor on this Mississippi
ground. Another piece of Destiny had slid into the proper
groove.

A dizzying mixture of terror and awe coursed through
him.

"Come on, David!"

"Hurry up, man!"

David shook his head, disoriented.

Jahlil and Nia screamed at him to get in the truck.

At last, I have found you, Hunter. The resonant voice came
to him again. Even from a considerable distance, Diallo's
eyes held David in place, like iron stakes.

The vampire army advanced. The mutant dogs' teeth
glinted.

"David!" Nia screamed.

David broke his paralysis. He slammed the rear door and
hurried to the driver's side.

The engine was already purring.

"What was wrong with you back there?" Jahlil said from
the backseat. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

"Everyone hang tight," David said. He resisted the compulsion to check the rearview mirror, fearing that he would
once again be transfixed by the vampire. He switched on the
headlamps to the highest setting and shifted into drive. He
mashed the accelerator.

The tires bit into the dirt, and the vehicle exploded forward. They mowed across the grass.

"The trail, where's the trail?" David said. He had been in
Pearl's backyard before, but that was during daylight hours.
At night, the landscape was different and unfamiliar. That he
was ready to piss his pants didn't help his sense of direction,
either.

"Over there, by the shed!" Nia pointed frantically.

David saw it: near the tool shed, amidst the shrubbery, a
path that looked barely wide enough to admit a compact car
beckoned. He cut the wheel to the right. The SUV clipped a
rosebush, crimson petals fluttering over the windows. A series of bumps throughout the yard jostled David and the others in their seats.

"Man, those bastards are on our ass," Jahlil said.

David risked a glance in the rearview mirror. Revealed in
the red taillights, the vampiric hounds raced across the yard.
Behind them, the valduwe gave chase. Diallo and Kyle were
not among them.

Where were they?

Pearl, he thought, with a pang of anxiety. She had been
right about the vampire's intent to confront her.

But he could not expend any energy worrying about
something beyond his ability to control. Driving this narrow
route without smashing into a tree was going to demand all
of his attention.

He bulleted through the gap between the bushes. Branches
screeched like claws across the truck's body. The leafy
boughs of the trees formed a low-hanging tunnel. The path
was twisty, the dirt surface moist and orange-red. It was better suited to accomodating a four-by-four recreational vehicle than a truck designed for city driving.

He grasped the steering wheel in both hands, something
he did only when driving in hazardous conditions. Still worried that he would spin off the trail, he cut his speed, too. He
was traveling only twenty miles an hour.

"They're gaining on us," Nia said. She turned to stare out
the rear window. A vein throbbed in her slender neck.

David took her word for it. The dense woods were alive
with the dogs' thunderous barking. In the rear passenger
seat, King whined.

They aren't ordinary dogs, either, he reminded himself.
The beasts were supernaturally gifted and could run much
faster than normal canines.

"We've got to slow them down," he said. "I don't know
how, but we've got to do something."

"I'll take care of them," Jahlil said. "One of you, roll back
the sunroof."

"What're you doing?" Nia said.

"Just do it, will you?" Jahlil shouted.

"I'm not taking my hands off the steering wheel," David
said. Gritting his teeth, he navigated the relentlessly curving
path. "Nia, please. Let him do whatever he has in mind."

"Fine" Nia punched the button to open the sunroof

David did not dare to look away from the trail, but from
the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Jahlil holding his shotgun,
and he knew what the boy was going to do.

That kid is something else, he thought. His dad would be
proud.

Pearl waited in the bedroom, sitting in the rocking chair
beside the bed where Chief Jackson's body rested. Her eyes
were closed, and her hands rested on her lap, palms turned
up. She was praying.

Dear God, do with me what you will. But please, keep my
friends from harm and give them the strength and courage to
fulfill the mission you have decreed for them ...

She was in such deep prayer that she did not hear the
snarling pack of monster canines that rushed past her house.
Neither did she hear the front door crack open as though
split with an axe. And she did not hear the deliberate foot steps that clocked across the wooden floorboards of the living room, thudded across the hallway, and entered the bedroom.

Open your eyes, Pearl. I am here.

The voice slipped into her mind with unsettling ease, interrupting her prayer. Her eyes snapped open.

Diallo loomed in front of her.

She drew in a startled breath. She knew his mind, but not
his body. He was a fearsome, yet majestic creature, intimidating, yet beautiful, terrifying, yet awe-inspiring.

"You are brave," he said. His voice was as deep as a summer night. His gaze touched Jackson's covered corpse on the
bed. "And noble."

Her heart hammered. "I am only fulfilling my responsibility."

Slowly, he nodded. His eyes were so compelling that she
found it impossible to look away from him.

"You fear me," he said. "But not how others fear me ""

"Yes," she said thickly. He did not need to elaborate; they
had a mutual understanding. This creature had the power to
pierce her mind like a hypodermic needle and suck it dry of
all her sanity. She found the prospect of being driven insane
far more frightening than anything he could do to her physical body.

"You understand me," he said.

"I understand only what you have allowed me to learn
about you, Diallo. You were conscious all the while of my
presence. Some doors you kept closed to me"

He smiled, mysteriously. "Some doors must remain closed."

"That may be. But I have never understood why you are
causing so much pain to innocent people."

Perhaps it was his unexpected candor and casual manner
that made it possible, but Pearl captured a thought from him.
It was trapped in her quick mind like a fly caught in a spider's web, and before she checked herself, she spoke her discovery aloud.

"It's her, isn't it?" Pearl said. "A woman whom you loved
when you were a man, a woman whom you lost."

Diallo's smile vanished.

Quickly, Pearl said, "But you will see her again, Diallo.
Have hope. She is not lost to you forever."

Diallo shook his head, almost sadly. "You are talented,
Pearl. Your talent is dangerous, to you, and to me ""

"But "

A cold, invisible hand closed over her throat, cutting off
her words. With a grip as powerful as a machine, it began to
squeeze.

Her hands instinctively scrabbled at her neck, but there
was no physical choke hold for her to tear away. She gagged.

Diallo watched her silently.

Choking, she rocked in the chair. Her feet kicked in the
air.

Then, she gave up the struggle. She allowed peace to flow
through her. Although her lungs ached as they thirsted for
oxygen, and gasps came from her mouth, peace cradled her
spirit, and as the life drifted out of her body at last, she felt
herself soaring, into a vast space, enveloped in a warm tranquillity, completely at peace, for she had fulfilled her life's
mission, and because of her, others might live and go on to
touch and change lives, and so it would go on, forever ...

What I'm about to do is crazy, Jahlil thought.

But he didn't see any alternative. Crazy situations called
for crazy solutions.

"Holler at me when I need to duck," he said to Nia. "I
don't wanna get my head taken off by a tree or something."

"Okay," she said. He could tell by her tone that she didn't
like what he was going to do. Well, that was too bad.
Someone had to do something.

The German shepherd watched him. Maybe it was his imagination projecting human feelings onto an animal, but
the dog looked worried.

Jahlil patted the dog's head. Then, he braced his legs
against the back of the front seats. Gripping his shotgun in
his clammy hands, he squeezed through the open sunroof.

He'd gotten the idea to do this from a thriller novel he'd
read a few months ago. The book was called thunder something and had been loaned to him by a girl he liked. He'd
only read the book to impress her, but it turned out to be a
decent read, with lots of action and some cool, scary stuff.
Not half as scary as what was going on in this town, though.
If the guy who had written that book were in Mason's Corner
tonight he'd probably shit in his pants. Just like Jahlil was
ready to do.

Sharp wind sliced at his face, drawing tears from his
eyes. He blinked a couple of times to clear his vision.

The pack of monster hounds gained on them. Their sleek,
muscled bodies filled the dirt trail, and in the backsplash of
the truck's taillights, the faces of the closest beasts appeared
to be drenched in blood.

Behind the canines, about a dozen vampires gave chase,
too. He did not see Kyle, or Diallo, the tough ones, but they
could not be far behind.

Jahlil steadied the gun on the cold roof.

It's like target practice on a shooting range, he thought.
Think of it that way.

The dogs' frenzied barking drove a chill deep into his
marrow.

No, scratch that. This is war. This Pathfinder is our assault vehicle. I'm the gunner popping out to knock down the
enemy soldiers.

He took aim at the closest vampire mutt, which looked
like it had been a pit bull in its former life. Straining to keep
the gun steady as the vehicle roared across the bumpy trail,
he squeezed the trigger.

The kick of the rifle, combined with the wind and the rough ride, almost slapped the gun out of his grip, but he
held tight. He hit his mark, too. Struck in the breast, the
creature yelped and tumbled to the ground.

The beast's vicious companions trampled it thoughtlessly,
not slowing their pursuit at all.

He frowned. He'd hoped to discourage them by cutting
down one of their pack mates. But that wasn't going to work.
He would have to shoot all of them.

"Get down!" Nia warned.

Jahlil dipped into the truck. He looked up. A thick branch
zipped past, where his head had been only two seconds ago.

"Oh, man," he said. His mouth was dry. "Thanks"

"I wish you would stay in here," Nia said. "These woods
are too thick and dark for us to see anything coming until
it's right up on us"

"Hey, I knocked down one of the bloodsucker mutts," he
said. "I can get 'em all, just watch."

"Throw a bottle bomb back there at them," she said. "The
fire will slow them down, and that's all we need. Like I said,
it's not safe for you to stay up there too long, exposed like
that"

"She's right, Jahlil," David said, his voice taut. "You're a
crack shot, I admit, but this road is twisting like crazy. I
don't want you to get hurt"