"Yes, I should have told you before, but I didn't want to frighten you." Mrs. Heath made a tsking sound "That was foolish of me."
"How do you know about him?"
"Why, he's the one who tried to kill me all those years ago," Mrs. Heath said, her voice as calm as if they were discussing the color of her daisies. She patted her hair. "It's white now, but it used to be as red as yours."
Vicki stared at Mrs. Heath, unable to believe she could talk about it so calmly.
"Are you all right, dear?" the older woman asked. "You look a little pale."
Vicki shook her head, certain she would never be all right again.
Chapter 14
When she got home, Vicki hung her new jeans, skirt and dress on hangers and put them in the closet, along with her heels and handbag. She folded the sweaters and sweatshirts and put them in her dresser drawer, carefully concentrating on each task so she wouldn't have to think about what Ramona Heath had told her.
In the kitchen, she opened a can of soda, then sat down to read. After the first few pages, she put the book aside. She thumbed through a magazine, then went into the kitchen to get an apple. She washed it, then put it back in the fridge. Too restless to sit still, she went outside and started raking the leaves in the front yard.
It was a beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The air was cool and crisp but not cold. The autumn leaves rustled beneath her feet as she raked them into a pile.
But all she could think of was yellow eyes and bodies drained of blood.
She shivered, suddenly chilled as she glanced over her shoulder. There was no one there, of course. It was broad daylight. Everyone knew vampires were active only after dark…
Tossing the rake aside, she went into the den and fired up her computer. She brought up Google in her browser, then typed "vampires" in the search window. The first page that came up read, "Web results 1-10 of about 2,310,000 for vampires."
It was going to be a long day.
Settling back in her chair, she began to read. She found a wealth of information in the first ten sites alone!
One site claimed that everyone knew about vampires and also knew that there were no such things, at least not as portrayed in Hollywood. But there were vampires; however, they didn't suck the blood of humans, instead, they drained them of energy. According to one site, those who were thought to be vampires could have been merely people suffering from a variety of diseases, including acute anemia, which would leave a person looking pale, and catalepsy, which caused temporary paralysis so that the sufferer appeared dead. A person with catalepsy could see and hear but couldn't move.
Vicki shuddered, imagining the horror of a relative who laid a loved one suffering from this condition in a coffin for burial, thinking they were dead, and then saw that loved one trying to rise from the coffin.
Another site suggested that many things that could not be explained in any other way were attributed to vampires. One of the most astonishing was the fact that some unlearned people believed that in the 1300s, vampires had caused the Black Death, which was, of course, bubonic fever.
In ancient times, it was believed that a baby born with a caul, teeth, or a tail was doomed to become a vampire, as was the seventh son of a seventh son, and anyone unfortunate enough to be bitten by a vampire. It was also believed that a child born out of wedlock would become one of the Undead. She had to laugh at that. If every child born out of wedlock in this day and age became a vampire, the world would be crawling with them.
She could only shake her head as she read about the various ways people had used to destroy vampires. Some believed in burying the body face down so that if it tried to escape, it would only dig itself deeper into the earth. Sometimes wooden stakes were placed above the grave so that if the vampire tried to leave, it would stab itself, hopefully through the heart. Other methods of ensuring that a vampire did not rise again were wrapping the body in cloth or a carpet, or tying its arms and legs together.
Another site, which she found fascinating, stated that vampires were not supernatural or immortal, but that the vampire trait was part of their DNA, and this trait was likened to a viral imperfection. Some believed this trait could be passed on, some said it could only be inherited. There was another theory that vampires were beings who could not accept their own death, and when their body died, their soul invaded the body of an infant at birth, thereby providing the vampire with a new body and a new life. It was believed that these vampires went through many bodies, and for this reason they thought of themselves as old souls. It was believed that these creatures were hardier than humans, healed faster when hurt or sick, had heightened senses, and were extremely sensitive to sunlight.
By the time she reached the third page, her mind was swimming with so much conflicting information that she didn't know what to believe.
After shutting down her computer, she went into the kitchen, surprised to see that the sun was setting. Amazing, how quickly one lost track of time while cruising the Web.
Standing in front of the refrigerator, trying to decide what to have for dinner, she happened to glance out the window. There was nothing there, but she went over and drew the curtains anyway, and men she went through the rest of the house, locking the doors, making sure all the windows were closed and locked, drawing all the curtains and drapes.
Feeling much better, she went back into the kitchen to fix dinner.
Feeling weary and utterly discouraged, Tom Duncan entered Ozzie's Diner. He took a seat at a table in the far corner, one hand idly exploring the bandage on the back of his head. In spite of his injury, he had spent the afternoon scouring the town for Dimitri Falco's resting place. Unfortunately, he hadn't found what he was looking for.
Tomorrow, he planned to widen his search, perhaps take in Woods Hollow andCottonwood. Of course, as swiftly as vampires could travel, Falco's hideout could be hundreds of miles away from Pear Blossom Creek.
With a sigh, Duncan picked up the menu.
He was still trying to decide what to have for dinner when the waitress approached his table.
"Hey there," she said brightly. "Have you decided yet, or do you need another few minutes?"
Tom looked up into a pair of sparkling brown eyes and wondered why he hadn't noticed her before. "How's the trout?"
The waitress, Bobbie Sue, according to her name tag, shook her head. "Not tonight."
"What do you recommend?"
"The fried chicken is looking really good."
"All right, I'll have that."
"Soup or salad?"