But even with the stake jabbed up through her like that, she hadn’t fallen.
“Ed!”
Ed turned. Bernice, on the opposite side of the room, had her arm extended toward a metal box. Her fingers still pinched on the toggle switch.
That’s where she’s been. Trying to find a damn light.
He wished she’d found it sooner.
Bernice looked at Mary, face twisting into repulsion. “What did you do!?!”
Ed had no answer for her. His arm had twitched and even against Bernice’s warnings, he’d accidentally fired a stake through Mary’s throat.
Sitting up, Ed pushed aside broken table portions. He held the crossbow up, saw the strap dangling loosely, and sighed. “Damn,” he muttered.
Mary made sloughy, breathing attempts. “…yoush…sonsh..of-ah…bishhh…”
Ed looked up. Her massive, crimson-soaked breasts hung heavily, stretching the skin that connected them to her chest. Now those flabs of skin acted as ramps for blood flowing from her throat.
Mary’s arms hung stiffly at her sides, hands balled into fists. Her eyes gleamed hatred toward Ed.
“Oh, shit,” he said.
Mary shuffled forward.
“Get up, Ed!” shouted Bernice, tugging at the scimitar dangling from her hip. She stepped past the back room door an instant before it shot off its hinges and flew across the room. The door smacked the wall on the opposite side and stayed there, as if an entrance to another room had suddenly appeared.
The vampire emerged from the doorway in a swirling cloud. It was dressed in the same black, old-fashioned suit. Fuzzy, blue hands crossed at its chest, dark claws curled upward—it seemed to float along the carpet of smoke. Its bow-shaped ears flicked this way and that through its thick, coal-black hair. Its nose flaps looked moist as they tittered above its curved jowls that exposed its colossus fangs.
Bernice froze. The color drained from her face. “My God Almighty, it’s you.”
The vampire’s head snapped toward Bernice, hissing when it spotted her. Its eyes burned red. Ed understood the creature somehow recognized Bernice, and wasn’t pleased to see her.
Then hands slapped Ed’s chest, clutching handfuls of his coat. He was hoisted from the ground, raised high. Looking down, he could see the top of Mary’s head below him. Everybody in Plainfield knew Mary was strong, but he doubted anybody had a true inclination just how much.
Mary spun around and released Ed. He flew the short distance toward the bar, hit the top and slid over the side. His back smashed the shelves on the other side, then he dropped, landing on the floor behind the bar. Tin mugs and glass bottles came down with him, clamoring and shattering when they hit the floor.
Though Ed was riddled with pain, he couldn’t stay on the floor, no matter how much he wanted to. Rolling over, he pushed himself up. Then he gripped the lip of the bar, pulling himself to his knees.
His eyes found Bernice. She stood several yards away and hadn’t moved.
But the vampire had.
On all fours, its body popped and trembled under the old, black garments. The snout, which moments ago had looked compressed against its dingy, pale-blue face, now seemed to stretch outward into an elongated maw. Sharp teeth flashed under its quivering lips. The three-fingered claws fattened and swelled into paws.
My God, it’s changing…
Into something that resembled a beastly, monstrous dog. The black clothes sagged on its emaciated body, showing patches of bristly fur spread across its gray flesh. A tail that looked more like a ribbed worm sprinkled in wooly hair, extended from its rump like some kind of atrocious growth.
The creature stretched its muscles, shook like a dog after a bath, and stepped out of its clothes.
Bernice stood, watching in frozen horror as the vampire-dog stalked toward her. The big balls of garlic looked like a ruffled collar around her neck.
“Bernice! Snap out of…”
A hand clutched Ed’s throat, cutting off his voice. Ed moved his eyes up.
Mary, looming over him, was soaked in blood. “Bash-tardsh…”
Then Ed was pulled across the bar, and thrown to the floor. Before he could get up, he felt a firm kick on his ass. It knocked him forward. His chin scraped the concrete.
Growls came from somewhere nearby. Bernice screamed.
I have to help her!
Ed looked in time to see Bernice narrowly avoid a vicious bite as the vampire dog lunged. Twirling away, Bernice swung the sword behind her in a blind swipe. The blade glanced off the dog’s boney shoulder, leaving a gash that emitted smoke. The vampire howled as if in pain.
Blade must be made of silver.
“Nuuuh!” Mary groaned. She turned in Bernice’s direction and started toward her. Her legs moved stiffly, as if her first time walking. She made slurping gasps with each breath.
Ed reached for Mary’s leg, curling an arm around her ankle.
Mary kept moving, dragging Ed.
“Stop, Mary!” he cried from the floor.
The big woman didn’t stop. She walked slow and stilted toward Bernice.
Ed spun on his side. He tried planting the heels of his boots against the floor, but they slid easily across. Twisting around, Ed squatted, hugging her leg. He let out a long grunt, teeth grinding, and pulled the thick leg.
Mary couldn’t be stopped.
Beginning to panic, Ed caught sight of the table his back had shattered. Amongst the debris, he spotted the crossbow on its side. He released his insignificant hold of Mary, rolled sideways, and stopped beside the weapon.
He looked up to check on Bernice.
The older woman was running at the dog, the long, bowed knife poised above her head. She unleashed a warrior’s cry as she swung down. The creature’s head jerked to the right, missed the swooping blade, and snapped its teeth on Bernice’s forearm.
Bernice shrieked as the creature’s sharp teeth dug into her flesh. It jerked its head viciously from side to side. Ed figured had it not been for the garlic, those teeth might have found her neck.
Bernice’s sleeve hung around the beast’s snout in shreds as blood pumped and sprayed. The blade canted to the side, her fingers losing their grip. As the scimitar dropped out of her hand, her other hand shot forward, catching it by the handle. Then she swung the weapon back, severing the vampire dog’s tail at the halfway point. The halved nub spurted blood in a high chute that spattered the ceiling.
The beastly dog’s teeth pulled away from Bernice’s arm. Turning a circle, the creature yipped and bit at its blood-spewing nub, as if trying to catch what it was losing.
“Nooosh!” Mary slurped.
Ed took one of the table’s legs that had broken off and, with both hands, slammed it on his knee. It snapped in two.
Bernice stepped around the side of the vampire dog, raising the scimitar up in a sacrificial pose. The sharp underside was positioned above its scrawny neck.
As Ed got to his knees, Mary bumped into Bernice’s back, hugging her burly arms around Bernice’s front. Bernice’s breasts were squished under the X-shape of Mary’s blood-streaked forearms. Choking on her groans, Bernice dropped the blade. It made a resounding clamor when it hit the hard floor.
Bernice was spun around, Mary now blocking her. But in that quick glimpse, Ed noticed Bernice’s face was already turning pink.
Damn woman’s going to crush her!
“Mary!” Ed called. “Let her go!”
Mary ignored Ed’s shouts and continued to violently cuddle Bernice in her strong arms. At her feet, Bernice’s legs kicked the air, her dress fluttering around her knee-high stockings. Below Bernice’s shoes, the vampire had dropped onto its side and was licking its spilled blood from the floor.
Ed, remembering how Bernice had loaded the weapon, clicked the shorter chunk of wood in place without any trouble. The wood leg sat a little crooked, and the tip wasn’t filed to a point, but it was jagged and sharp and would hurt somebody.
Ed raised the cro
ssbow to his shoulder. He had no time to make a good aim. But with Mary’s back to him, he had plenty of space for a target. Unless Mary turned at the last minute, then he’d run the risk of hitting Bernice.
Please, don’t move!
Not allowing himself to balk, he squeezed the trigger.
The string snapped back, making his hand jerk. The modified stake was launched. He’d expected it to peg Mary somewhere on her wide back.
But the wood punched into the center of Mary’s buttocks, disappearing between the tubby dunes of meat as if swallowed.
Mary unleashed a startled grunt, dropping Bernice on her side. Coughing and gagging, Bernice rolled away from Mary and the vampire dog.
Ed continued to stare at Mary’s naked rump. Blood began to drip from the valley of her buttocks. A trickle at first, it quickly escalated to a steady flow. Wobbling, Mary turned around and leered at Ed. Her eyes were wide and white.
“Oh, no,” Ed muttered.
Mary lifted a shaky arm, pointing. Her lips pulled back. The teeth were slick with blood. Before Mary could speak, Bernice appeared behind her. The curved blade rose above Mary’s shoulder.
Ed heard a quick whistle of cutting air. The blade appeared for a flash of an instant at Mary’s neck, then it was gone and Mary’s head was spinning away from her neck as the ragged stump left behind pumped thick surges of blood.
The vampire cocked its head into the air and released an earsplitting howl that shook the walls. Glass shattered. The tables and chairs trembled. Ed felt vibrations in the floor underneath him.
The canine-like snout began to retract back into its skull. Its legs stretched, paws extending into sausage link fingers.
Turning to look at Bernice, Ed screamed when he spotted Mary’s headless body hobbling toward him, arm still raised, finger still extended. Her chubby foot kicked her detached head aside as she shambled closer.
Ed, hollering hard enough to strain his neck muscles, crab-crawled in reverse. His eyes remained glued to Mary’s blood-soaked, naked flesh. Though the uneven neck stub still spouted blood, it wasn’t as heavy as before.
Mary made a few more steps before stopping. Her body swayed forward, then stumbled back. It looked as if she were about to go forward again, but suddenly dropped backward.
Mary’s body pounded the floor with a heavy, jiggling thud.
Ed stared at Mary’s blood-soaked carcass for several seconds. The sound of Bernice’s heavy bottomed shoes scuffing across the floor brought his attention to her. She stepped around the side of the vampire. He was mostly back to his normal form, though not entirely. Down on all fours, his head hung low to the floor as his skin crackled and snapped back to shape.
Bernice turned to the vampire, unhurt arm raising her blade.
“It’s over, for good,” she said in a winded voice.
Ed felt himself smile as she started to bring the scimitar down.
“Nana!”
Bernice froze. Ed froze. Both turned their heads.
Timmy stood between the frames of the backdoor. A horrified grimace split his face.
-31-
“Timmy?” Bernice said, lowering the blade by her side.
Ed saw shame on her face, as if Timmy had walked in on her dancing naked.
“Wha…?” Timmy shook his head. He blinked as if it would make what he was seeing go away. “What are you doing?”
Robin Hicks pushed her way past Timmy, carrying a prybar in one hand. She paused a few steps ahead of the boy. Her eyes scanned the room. First spotting Bernice, they jumped to Ed, then back to Bernice. Then they lowered, and from how her expression dropped away to shock, Ed figured she’d noticed the vampire.
“Oh God…” she said, voice turning shrill. “What is that?”
Now Timmy looked. His eyes rounded.
“Timmy,” said Bernice. “I…didn’t want you to see this. I figured…” She took a deep breath, swayed slightly. “I figured I could sit you down and explain things one day while we were at the store.”
Timmy raised a palsied hand, pointing at the floor. “Is that a…?” He made a sour face, as if tasting something gross. Maybe it was the knowledge he was about to ask his grandmother if she was standing over a wounded vampire that had disgusted him.
Ed assumed so.
“Yes,” Bernice said. “It’s a vampire.”
Robin brought her empty hand to her face, fingers covering her mouth. “My God,” she whispered.
Ed stayed sitting on the floor, afraid to move. He wanted to say something that might help Bernice explicate the situation, but he knew anything said couldn’t make the queer scene Timmy stumbled upon make any sense.
He checked on the vampire. It had completely changed back to normal. On its hands and knees, it seemed to be waiting for the final swipe of Bernice’s blade.
“How did you know to find us here?” Bernice asked.
Timmy stared at the vampire. The color had left his face.
“Timmy?” Bernice said.
Blinking, Timmy shook his head as if waking up. “Huh?”
“How’d you know where we were?”
“We were at Goult’s…”
“Why?”
“Robin wanted to see her aunt and uncle…and we were about to leave when Peter came out of nowhere…”
“Peter?” Bernice said. She gave Ed a quick glance, then stepped toward Timmy. “You saw Peter?”
“Yeah…he said…Eddie would be here.”
“Timmy, listen to me. You can’t believe a word Peter has said to you. He belongs to the vampire now.”
“What?”
“The only words that will come out of his mouth are lies. Whatever he told you to get you here, wasn’t true.”
Robin shook her head. “No. That’s not right. Peter said Eddie has Dorothy.”
Bernice sighed. “Not true.”
“He said we had to come save her!” Robin’s voice was near hysterical.
“Robin,” said Bernice, “he lied.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No.”
“Dorothy belongs to the vampire as well.”
“STOP TALKING!” Robin grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling it, her scalp bulged.
“Robin,” said Timmy. “Calm down.”
Staring at the floor, Robin’s eyes were big and wild. Head twitching, she huffed, lips flapping.
“Timmy?” Bernice asked. “Where’s Peter now?”
“Uh…” The boy looked behind him. Facing his grandmother again, he shrugged. His limp arms smacked against his legs. “He was behind us…I don’t know where he went.”
“He’s close,” said Bernice. “Probably watching us. Waiting to see what we’re going to do next.” Bernice held out the scimitar.
Getting onto his knees, Ed prepared to stand.
Then movement caught his eye. He looked past Timmy to the back door.
Dorothy sauntered in, walking sluggish and rigid as if in a trance. In a white Sunday dress, she moved between Robin and Timmy. Fresh blood was spattered across the white ruffles in the front.
Both kids noticed Dorothy at the same time.
“Dorothy?” Robin said in a scared and helpless voice. “What are you doing?”
Robin went to follow her, then looked down. And screamed.
Ed saw it too—being dragged by a paw in Dorothy’s hand. Its head slid across the dirty floor, leaving a wide path of smeared blood behind it.
A coyote. Its throat had been torn open.
At first, Ed thought the vampire girl was heading toward him, but she turned in Bernice’s direction.
“Dorothy?” Robin shrieked. “What have you done?”
“I told you,” said Bernice. “Peter made her…”
“No!” Robin shouted.
“…a vampire.”
“You shut up, you old hag!”
“Robin, she’s not human anymore!” Bernice stepped back, keeping her hurt arm close to her side. “Look at her. Can’t you see that?” She began to lift t
he scimitar with the other.
Seeing this, Robin screamed. She went to run at Bernice. Timmy grabbed her arm, the one clutching the prybar.
“Stop!” He said, straining to hold her back. “I know you see her! Can’t you tell Nana’s not lying?”
“Let me go!” Robin shouted.
Bernice, turning sideways, kept her eyes on Robin. “She’s one of the undead! The sweet Dorothy we all knew is gone forever.”
Dorothy, as if she were oblivious to Bernice and her blade, knelt down in front of the vampire. She slid the coyote’s mangled corpse over to the vampire’s mouth. Giving her an appreciative nod, it slid its hands under the coyote, lifted the gorged neck to its mouth, and dug in.
The slurping sounds of the vampire’s feeding carried over Robin’s screams.
“Dorothy!” Robin cried. “Why are you doing this?”
“She’s not Dorothy!” Bernice pleaded. “I promise you, Dorothy’s gone!”
“It’s not true. That’s Dorothy!” Robin tried to pull her arm free, but Timmy held on with both hands. “Dorothy! It’s me, Robin! Snap out of it!”
“Robin,” said Timmy, groaning. “Stop!”
Robin turned to Timmy, and stepped back. Not expecting this, the boy stumbled to the side, hands slipping off Robin’s arm. As he went to make another grab, Robin shoved his chest. Timmy stumbled back, hitting the bar, and tumbling to the floor.
As Ed started to get up, Robin ran. By the time he got to his feet, she was halfway to Bernice, who was starting to bring the scimitar down to Dorothy’s small neck.
Robin screamed.
Bernice might’ve succeeded in beheading the little girl, but she stole a fleeting glance behind her. Had she not done that, she wouldn’t have twisted slightly so she could see.
And the prybar might’ve caved in the back of her head, instead of whacking the side of her face. The metal bar made a thunk sound when it hit Bernice. Though it hadn’t bashed her skull inward, the impact had been hard enough to spin Bernice like a top. Her stomach hit the edge of a table, folding her at the waist. The scimitar flew from her hand, hitting a chair and bouncing off.
The Vampire of Plainfield Page 24