Hard Times (A Sam Harlan Novel Book 2) (14 page)

Everyone’s but mine. I reached in my coat and in one fluid motion unsnapped the catch on my holster and pulled my new Kimber. Mueller barely had time to blink before I had the Kimber pointed at his face. “Don’t move, Deputy. The thing that took the Mendoza girls is here.”

* * *

Mueller’s eyes were bugging out of his head, but he was staring at the .45 in my hand, barely breathing. “What is this?” he asked softly. “How is she making that light?”

I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him to the couch. Everyone stared at the gun in my hand. Everyone but Callie. She was clutching her crucifix in a death grip, the heavenly light streaming through her fingers.

I glanced around the room. Mary Kate looked like she might vomit, and the Glicks were watching in shock. Mueller was staring angrily at me, but there was fear on his face.

He feels it.

I spoke quietly. “Deputy, that gun of yours might as well be shooting blanks. If that thing comes in, only silver bullets will stop it.”

The look he gave me indicated that he did
not
understand. “The thing out there isn’t human,” I continued. “Not anymore. You shoot it, it will just laugh it off before it tears your guts out.” I kept my eyes on Mueller, but nodded at Colden. “Feel that, son? That’s the thing that took your girl.” I nodded to Mueller. “His, too. Do you feel it?”

Colden nodded. Lori Glick was looking at me like I had suddenly sprouted horns, and Carrie squeezed so close to her mother that I couldn’t have fit a playing card between them. Carrie no longer looked like a teenage Goth wannabe with ridiculous hair, but like a frightened girl, barely old enough to drive.

My heart hammered harder, like the drummer in a heavy metal band, and the feeling of unease increased. “It’s getting closer,” I barked. “That sensation at the back of your spine? That’s the vampire.”

The light from Callie’s crucifix intensified, threatening to wash out the room.

“How is she doing that?” Mueller whispered.

“She’s a nun,” I said. “That glow? It’s the presence of evil.”

Callie stopped her murmuring long enough to say, “I’m a Sister,
not
a nun.”

Everyone watched me, waiting for me to act. I shook my head. “Look, you got two choices. Believe what I’m telling you, get off my ass, and we might just survive. Or, keep thinking I’m crazy, in which case you’ll all wind up dead. It’s your choice.”

Mueller’s hand was still resting on his holster, and I barely had enough time to notice it start to move. “Don’t,” I said softly. “It would be a shame to put a bullet in you when there’s a thing outside waiting to rip your head completely off your body. Trust me, I’ve seen it.”

Perhaps it was the way I said it, or perhaps the imagery was just too vivid, but Mueller stopped. The anger drained from his face, leaving only fear. He blinked repeatedly. “I don’t believe any of this.”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. “You don’t have to. That thing out there is coming.”

* * *

Mueller eyed me uncertainly. “What do we do?”

And, like that, the deputy’s acceptance broke the spell on the rest. It went against everything they believed, but when Mueller accepted the truth, the rest fell in line. “Silver bullets work,” I said. “Wooden stakes to the heart work. A religious with the right bloodline. Fire, if you can get them burning. Anything else and we’re dead.”

Mueller swallowed hard. “I don’t have any of those.”

“Then get close to Mrs. Glick,” I said. “Protect her as best you can.”

Mary Kate withdrew her .38 from her jacket pocket and tossed it to Mueller. “It’s loaded with silver.”

Mueller caught the handgun, checked that it was loaded, and nodded gratefully. I motioned to the hallway that led to the back of the house. “Take the back,” I said. “I’ll take the front.”

Mary Kate joined Lori and Carrie Glick on the couch. Callie stood, walked around the couch, and wrapped her arms around them. Colden watched with dread, then he joined his family, huddling against his mother and sister.

I turned to the front door, the Kimber a reassuring weight in my hand, and waited for the creature. “It’s been, what, a minute?” I asked Callie. “It hasn’t entered yet, but it’s still out there.”

“It is,” she said from behind me. “You think it’s afraid?”

There was a pause, then Mueller asked, “What does it want?” His voice was mostly calm, with only a hint of panic.

He was holding up well. Not many could accept the truth so readily, and fewer yet could prepare to act. “It’s all about want and need,” I said. “It’s not a youngling. It wants blood, or to make other vampires.”

I heard Colden ask, “Is that why it took Elena?”

“Most likely,” I said. I didn’t bother to sugarcoat the truth. “Either it drained her and moved on to Olivia, or it’s saving them both for meat treats, a handy meal it can bleed when it wants. Maybe it wants to give them the gift and create a family.”

Colden let out a choking sob. It was animalistic, and my body tensed. I had made the same sound when I thought I might never see my daughter again.

I was still thinking that when the door exploded off its hinges, wood splintering in a mighty crack, and the door struck me, pushing me back.

I was thrown against the wall, slamming into it and sending the wall display of ceramic thimbles spraying across the floor. The door knocked my Kimber to the ground, and I was struggling to raise it when I heard Mary Kate’s .38 fire.

I prayed that Deputy Mueller was hitting the vampire, but I didn’t hold out hope that he would actually strike it.

From the screams in the room, I knew the vampire was moving, but I had no idea where. I lurched forward and knocked the door to the floor just in time to see the vampire, greasy hair plastered against its head and eyes gone completely black, rearing back to strike Mueller.

“Sam!” Callie screamed.

As the door fell to the floor, I managed to raise the Kimber and pull the trigger. The gun roared and I actually saw the vapor trail cutting a path through the thick white light from Callie’s crucifix as the silver bullet tore through the air.

The vampire was faster, unfortunately. It threw itself across the room like a living missile and crashed through the front window and into the darkness.

I stumbled forward, the Kimber raised, and saw a blur of motion across the front lawn as the vampire made its escape. I wanted to empty the magazine, blasting away at its back, but it was too late.

The vampire was gone.

* * *

The Glicks huddled against each other on the couch, but Colden stood behind Mueller, looking through the shattered front window into the darkness beyond. The lamp next to the window had fallen, the lampshade flattened, the bulb shattered. The nearest neighbor was at least two hundred feet away, their houselights filtered through a stand of trees. The streetlight at the end of the block offered little illumination. Without the blinding light from Callie’s crucifix, the Glicks’ house was dark as a dungeon.

I took a step toward the window and peeked outside.

The yard was empty. The sickening sensation of evil was gone.

Mueller turned to me, pale-faced. He still held Mary Kate’s .38, but his hand was trembling. “Jesus Christ, what the hell was that?”

Callie winced. She still clutched her crucifix, but it was just a silver image of the Lord on the cross. “Please,” she said, “try not to take the Lord’s name in vain.”

He turned to me. “That thing?” he asked, his voice wavering. “What was it? It moved so fast. It didn’t have eyes, just black where the eyes should have been.”

I sighed and holstered my Kimber. “That was a vampire, Deputy.” I turned to the Glicks, still on the couch. “That, Mrs. Glick, is what took Elena. It’s what took Olivia. It’s what we’re up against.”

Lori Glick clung to her daughter, and Mary Kate had her arms around them both. She raised her head, the expression on her face evident. She was terrified.

“We have to go,” I said.

Mueller shook his head. “I can’t believe that thing is real.”

“You
can
,” I said, “and you
will
. We’ve got to get
them
out of here. You, too. I don’t know what it wants from you, but we need to get you somewhere safe.”

“Where is safe?” Mueller asked softly. “Where will we be safe from that?”

Everyone was staring at me. Even Callie.

What do they want from me? How can I keep them all safe? I just lost my daughter, damn it, how can I be responsible for them?

Maybe Callie read it on my face, or maybe she had the same doubts, but she saw my hesitation and nodded encouragingly.

If anyone was going to do anything, it would have to be me.

“Okay,” I said. “Here’s the plan. We’re going to go. Follow me.”

Mueller started to speak, bit his lip, then said, “What about the gunfire?”

“What about it?” I asked.

He shrugged. “If someone reports it, dispatch will send a squad car.”

“Call it in,” I said. “Tell them it was nothing.”

He shook his head. “I can’t—”

“You can,” I urged. “Call it in. You’re a deputy, you know the system. Use it to our advantage.” I turned to the rest. “When we go, we go as a group. The deputy and I will cover you. The Sister’s crucifix isn’t glowing, and I don’t feel him anymore. We should be good. But if I yell, you hit the dirt. Understand?”

They all nodded.

“Callie, follow me, then everyone else. Deputy, you bring up the rear. We’re going to Mary Kate’s pawnshop.”

“Why there?” Lori Glick asked as she helped Carrie to her feet.

“Because there’s plenty of silver ammo there,” Mary Kate said with dawning comprehension.

“Bingo,” I said. I crept to the empty doorway and peeked outside. There was no movement, except for an inflatable Halloween display down the block, bobbing merrily in the breeze. There was no sign of the vampire. No neighbors peeking out windows. No sirens screaming toward us.

Not yet, at least.

I pulled the
Kimber and led everyone out the front door. Lori Glick’s Taurus was parked in the gravel driveway and the Glicks, including Mary Kate, hurried to it and climbed in. I waved for Deputy Mueller to get in his squad car parked behind them, then motioned for everyone to start their vehicles. When they did, I grabbed Callie’s hand and ran to my truck parked in front.

The street was still quiet. I craned my head in all directions, alert for any sign of the vampire, but I could sense nothing. I jumped in and turned the key. The truck roared to life while Callie climbed in, then I whipped the truck around in a U-turn while the deputy backed his squad car from the Glicks’ driveway.

“Come on,” I muttered.

“It’s going to be okay,” Callie said.

I shot her a sidelong glance. “It’s
not
going to be okay. I’ve gone two for two, and it’s still out there.”

Lori Glick backed out and gunned the engine, heading downtown, followed closely by Mueller, with me bringing up the rear. We didn’t break the speed limit tearing out of the Glicks’ neighborhood, but we definitely approached the top end. I kept less than a car length between my truck and Mueller’s patrol car.

We wound through the darkened streets of Marshalltown, a procession of vehicles that looked almost comical. Except, I felt the trickle of sweat down my back, even though the night air was somewhere in the mid-forties.

Nope, it wasn’t funny, I decided. Not one bit.

I was so busy tailing the cars and watching the rearview mirrors that I almost swerved when Callie said, “You saved us.”

I turned to look at her. She smiled, and I turned my attention back to the road. “We haven’t killed it yet,” I said. “The girls are still missing.”

“No one died. That’s something.”

“Yeah,” I admitted, “it’s
something
.”

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“My head hurts. That door didn’t do my scrambled brains any good.” I sighed. “
Everything
hurts, Callie. How am I going to keep everyone safe?”

We were approaching downtown, turning left to enter the alley that ran behind the pawnshop. The Glicks came to a stop, and Mueller pulled up behind them. They got out and waited for us, standing nervously in the dark alley.

“You’ll do the best you can,” she said. “You’ll protect us and save the girls, Lord willing.”

I sighed and removed the Kimber from its holster. “Just for once, I’d appreciate the Lord pulling his share.”

She shook her head reproachfully. “Sam—”

“Sorry, Sister. I know he’s got a plan and all, but is it too much to ask for a little help?”

I opened the door and stepped out. Mary Kate was fiddling with her keys in the dark, trying to open the door to the storage room behind the pawnshop. The only light came from the glow of a lonely streetlight roughly one hundred feet away, and watching her fumble around was making me nervous.

She finally found the right key and turned the lock, but before she could open the door, I said, “Stand back. I’ll go in first, just in case it made it here before us.”

Mueller put his hand on my shoulder. He still carried Mary Kate’s .38. “I’ll go first,” he said.

“It would rip you apart like hamburger,” I said. “Stay here.” I motioned to Callie, who stood behind the Glicks. “The Sister can hold it off, if it comes from behind.”

I had little faith in Callie’s crucifix, but it was all we had besides the silver bullets in the Kimber and Mary Kate’s pistol.

Mueller nodded reluctantly and withdrew his hand from my shoulder.

Mary Kate stepped back, letting me go first, and I slowly opened the door. I didn’t feel that oily sense of evil that indicated a vampire. Either it wasn’t near, or I was hurt so bad I couldn’t sense it.

I entered the pawnshop storage room, Kimber raised, but it was empty, lit only by a nightlight in the corner. The storage shelves were dark tunnels, and shadows filled the room, making me uneasy as I made my way down the hallway to the display cases filled with guns. I heard feet shuffling behind me as the Glicks, Mueller, and Callie entered the storage room.

The door to the alley slammed shut and I turned to stare down the hallway. Callie winced and said, “Sorry.”