HORROR THRILLERS-A Box Set of Horror Novels (71 page)

He pressed against
the limo window, watching closely. The boy seemed confused. George
stepped in close and suddenly took him by the arm, bending it behind
his back. He pushed him toward the side walk, over the curb, and into
the street. As Upton had predicted, the girl followed. She ran from
the steps and caught up with them close to the car. Upton had the
back door open just before George pushed the boy inside.

George turned
swiftly to the girl.

"What are you
doing?" she said. "Let him go."

Upton had a small
caliber silver pistol aimed at the boy. When the girl opened the
door, he waved it at her, making sure it was the first thing she saw.

"Join us,"
he said, "or your friend is going to have a hole in him."

She didn't say
anything, but the look in her eyes made Upton think for one second
that he'd made a terrible mistake. "Get in!" he shouted,
his sudden fear causing him to raise his voice. "I'm not very
good with this gun and it might go off."

The girl slid in
beside the boy and took his hand. "Who are you?" the boy
asked. "What's this about?"

"If she's
vampire, she can read my mind. Can't you, girl?"

"He wants to
be like me," Dell said. "He's using you to get what he
wants. He's been looking for me for a long time. He's dying."

George had started
the car and pulled from the curb. Full dark had fallen on the
neighborhood now and lights came on inside the houses as they passed
them.

"I don't
understand," Ryan said.

"It doesn't
matter what you understand," Upton said. "Just do what I
say and you'll be all right.” He glanced at the back of
George's head. "Take us out of this city. Take us somewhere
private, far away from here.'

"You better
not do this," the girl warned. "You're sick and feeble. I
can hurt you.”

Upton pushed the
gun into the boy's ribs until he grunted. "I'm not playing a
game with you," he said, speaking to Dell. "You'll give me
what I want, or you'll lose this mortal. He'll die a lot sooner than
I will—and that's a promise."

All of Upton's fear
vanished as he spoke. He saw the girl's resolve waver. She sank into
the leather seat, gazing ahead of her, and holding tightly to the
boy's hand. She might still be reading his mind. If she were, he
wanted her to know just how serious he was.

I wouldn't mind
killing everyone in this car, he thought, hoping she could hear him.
You know I'll do it if provoked. Don't try it.

He relaxed, but
kept the gun firmly against the boy's ribs as George drove them from
the neighborhood onto a freeway entrance ramp.

For once Upton's
frozen smile was genuine. He thought he would smile forever now. Life
was only beginning.

24

Mentor and Ross
were involved in a deep struggle when they both heard the cry for
help from the girl. It was like a screech on the wavelength they both
unconsciously monitored every moment of their lives. The wail
startled them into rigidity.

Ross, taking
advantage of the interruption, threw Mentor off easily. Mentor landed
against the wall of Ross' home, striking it so hard his body dented
the sheetrock and caused a painting to crash to the floor.

"Stop it,"
Mentor said, shaking himself off. "We can finish this later."

Ross stood
immobile, listening intently to the pleas coming to him from the girl
who called herself Dell. "Who is this new one?" he asked.
"What makes her interrupt us this way?"

Mentor said, "Dell
Cambian. You know the Cambians?"

"Of course I
do. I supply them, don't I?”

“
Listen,"
Mentor said, cocking his head, holding one finger aloft to silence
Ross.

She was telling
them where she was. She was caught, a prisoner of an old crippled man
and his chauffeur. They were going to kill her boyfriend if she did
not make the old man a vampire. Help, she cried. Mentor! Help!

"She doesn't
want to kill them," Ross said, sneering. "You see how your
namby-pamby Naturals handle a crisis? They buckle. They call for help
when all they have to do is strike back."

"She's not
like you, Ross, you murdering fiend. She's more human. And she loves
the boy."

"Look where
that got her. Every Natural and every human involved with one ought
to be put out of his misery."

"Oh, just shut
up, you bastard, and let's go get her."

"Only if I get
to take the kidnappers for myself."

"I don't care
what you do when we get there," Mentor said with disgust. He had
been fighting with Ross for more than an hour, trying to keep him
from going to kill Bette and Alan. Ross knew they knew. He knew the
woman had thrown off Mentor's memory wipe. He knew they were dangers
to vampires as long as they lived.

It didn't matter
when Mentor told him he'd extracted a promise from the woman or that
he knew she'd keep it, and she'd make Alan keep it. Ross would take
no chances, he said. And then he'd landed the first blow, attacking
with a fury Mentor had not expected. He had kept the Predator's fangs
from sinking into his neck by only centimeters. His own fury rising,
he had almost made a determination that Ross was too far out of
control to be of use to the clan any longer. He would kill him and
train someone else to take his place.

Except . . . he
realized suddenly during the struggle that it was his own judgment
that had become clouded. Ross was acting as only one who would
protect their clan would act. Still, Mentor trusted Bette. She would
never bring them harm.

Then they'd both
heard the strident call for help from Dell.

He'd let Ross live
as long as he didn't say he was going to do harm to Bette Kinyo. No
one would ever be allowed that privilege.

The two vampires,
Predators both, threw themselves into transformation at the same
moment, disappearing from the destroyed living room of Ross' home.
Dell was being held in an abandoned old house just outside of Dallas
in the suburb town of Ennis, Texas. The house sat on the edge of a
newly plowed field that stretched in all directions for hundreds of
acres. When the two vampires arrived outside the house, a fierce dark
wind was blowing, shaking the boards of the sagging building, lifting
shingles and sending them flying. Geese flew past the face of the
full moon in the sky.

"This is an
ugly place," Ross said with distaste. "But the man's got a
car, I can say that for him."

Mentor looked at
the limousine. Wealth. Tremendous wealth. This must be the man Alan
was going to tell about his discoveries. Obviously, he had told him.
And led him back to their dens, their homes. Ross would have even
more reason now to kill Alan Star.

Would the
complications never cease? Mentor wondered. It was all so out of
hand.

"Let's go,"
he said to Ross. They approached the leaning porch and stepped
lightly over the warped boards. It was Ross who pulled the door open,
ripping it from rusted hinges and flinging it aside. It clattered and
tumbled down the steps and onto the ground.

Wind rushed past
them, pushing them into the room, startling the two men there with
Dell. They turned in surprise, letting her go. "What the hell?"
the old man said.

"Well you may
ask," Ross said, eyes flaming as he stepped forward in two long
strides and grasped the old man by his throat, hauling him inches
into the air off the floor. "What the hell? That's where I'll
dispatch your black soul."

"Let's think
all this over," Mentor said, moving toward the two men.

Ross let go of
Upton, and turned, furious. "We will not discuss this. You try
to stop me from doing what's best for our people. I won't stand for
it anymore."

Mentor roared back,
"You do what I say, or we'll continue where we left off before
we came here."

"What would
you have me do, spare this old evil one?"

"There might
be another way . . ."

"No. No other
way. Not this time." Ross advanced again on the old man.

~*~

Dell fell back from
George's clutching fingers as the door to the old house flew open. In
the garish light from the battery operated lantern the two vampires
stood as tall as the doorsill, their long shadows curling over the
floor and up onto the opposite wall. "Mentor," she
screamed, so relieved that she went to her knees.

She hadn't known
what to do. The old man was insane, slobbering, his teeth shining in
the lamplight from stretched tight lips. He was a horror to behold.
Weeping sores oozed on his old wrinkled neck. There were soiled
bandages on his forehead, and other bandages were coming loose from
his hands. He could hardly walk and grimaced all the time, scowling
from thick white brows.

"I have
porphyria," he said. "You're going to save me from it."

"I don't know
how to do that," she insisted.

"Yes, you do.
You will take my blood, but not enough to kill me. You'll bring me to
the brink of death and let me return. You'll make me like you."

"You don't
understand. We aren't like that. Only a few of us ever do what you're
asking. We're genetically changed by the same disease you have. In
us, it mutated and caused us to be vampire, and now it's a gene we
carry. We pass it down through generations. But we don't turn one
another into vampire the way you're asking." She was lying. They
could change others if they wished, but she'd never tell him that.

His idea of
vampires was very distorted and he could not understand that she was
like a vampire child, untried, unlearned, and probably incapable of
doing what he wished.

"I'll have
George douse you with gasoline from the car and set you afire if you
don't do what I want," he threatened. His gaze was as evil and
unrelenting as any Predator's. She knew he meant it.

All she could do
was to send out a plea for help, for Mentor—either that or kill
the old man, and she did not want to kill, ever. Her anger, which sat
near the surface all the time, was moving out of control, however,
and she feared what she might do to the two men if someone didn't
come to her rescue.

She didn't want to
do it. She didn't want to hurt them. The old man was desperate and
disillusioned. He was pitiful.

And now Ross had
him by the throat. She got to her feet and ran forward to pound on
Ross' steel-vise arms. "Don't hurt him, don't!" She didn't
know what possessed her. She couldn't think about anything but
deterring murder in her presence.

"I'll kill
him!"

Even as she
screamed no and pleaded with Mentor to intervene, Ross swooped low
over the old man's neck. Dell reached between them and caught Ross
around the neck, hauling him backward. He let go of the old man and
knocked her back so hard she flew across the floor, out the door, and
all the way across the small broken porch to the bare yard outside.

Inside, Ross sank
inch-long fangs into Upton's throat. The old man arched his body,
crying out in pain and terror. George ran to him and beat at Ross'
face with his fists. Ross swept him aside with his free hand,
throwing him to the floor.

As Upton's blood
rushed into Ross, he fell into the other man's thoughts and realized
with sudden shock how alike they were. The old man said
telepathically: Make me like you and I'll give you more power than
you've ever dreamed existed. I can help you. Search your soul and see
if I'm not telling the truth.

Mentor stood as if
in a trance, then suddenly he moved, rushing outdoors to see about
Dell. He lifted her into his arms and tried to get her to her feet.

Inside, using these
few seconds alone to make a decision, Ross spoke aloud to Upton.
"What can you do for me? Show me." He bent to the old man's
bloody neck to take more of his life.

Upton, nearing
death, showed Ross all the possibilities. How together they would
siphon off from Upton Enterprises all the funds Ross might ever need.
When they had enough, they would begin buying corporations, going
global, until they owned the largest financial empire in the world.
How he'd share all that with Ross, give him anything, give him not
only riches, but enough power to do as he pleased about the Cravens
and the Naturals. If only he'd make Charles vampire, they could do
anything.