He followed a pretty brunette for several blocks, inhaling her scent, whetting his appetite. When she reached an alleyway, he moved up beside her and drew her into the darkness, his mind easily overriding her objections. He took her in his arms, his mind speaking to hers, soothing her fears as he brushed the hair away from her neck, then lowered his head, his eyes closing in the sheer ecstasy of feeding.
With his hunger assuaged, he wiped his memory from her mind, then escorted the woman back to the sidewalk and vanished from her sight.
He walked until he found a bench under a tree in a small park. Sitting down, he gazed into the darkness. So many changes since he had been born. Once, people had walked or ridden beasts of burden wherever they wanted to go. Now they could go across the country in a matter of hours. Once, it had taken days for a letter to reach its destination.
Now e-mail went across the world in a matter of moments. Machines now did many household tasks, giving women more free time than they had ever known. Books that had once been laboriously printed, one copy at a time by hand, were now turned out by the thousands.
Progress, he thought, it was a wonderful thing and yet, on occasion, he longed for the days of his youth, when every dawn had promised a new adventure.
With a shake of his head, he left the park. There was no point in thinking about the past.
His parents, his brothers and sisters, everyone he had grown up with, the town where he was born, were long gone. It was a lonely life, being a vampire. To make friends with humans, to grow fond of them, meant that, inevitably, they went the way of all flesh, leaving you alone once again. If you kept yourself apart from humanity, the results were the same.
Which made him think of Victoria. For the first time in centuries, he had let himself care for a mortal. He was sorely afraid that this time, when the inevitable separation came, he would not be able to bear the loss, or the pain that was sure to follow.
He was nearing the end of the city limits when a faint cry of terror reached his ears, and with it the strong coppery scent of fresh blood.
Falco!
A thought took him to a deserted part of the city, where the vampire was savaging the throat of a young woman with curry red hair.
"Let her go!"
Falco lifted his head. His lips were smeared with crimson, his eyes blazed with the lust for blood. He hissed when he saw Battista.
"You want her?" Falco said with a snarl. "Take her!" Ripping a lock of hair from the girl's head, he hurled her body toward Battista; then, with a wave of his hand, the vampire disappeared into the night.
Battista looked down at the girl in his arms. She was as limp and lifeless as a rag doll.
Blood oozed from the hideous wound in her throat. She couldn't have been more than twenty years old.
A howl of anger rose in Battista's throat as he cradled her body to his chest.
And that was how Duncan found him a few moments later.
Tom came up short when he saw the two people in the shadows. It was pure luck that he was in town. He had come here earlier in the day, searching for Falco's lair, and been about to call it a night when he'd heard an ungodly howl that had sent shivers down his spine. He knew that sound. He'd heard it often enough in his line of work.
He touched the cross at his throat for luck, then pulled his.38 out of one coat pocket and a bottle of holy water from the other.
"Put the girl down, easy like," he demanded.
"Do not be a fool, Duncan."
"Battista!" Tom took a step forward, his eyes narrowed. "I knew it. Put her down."
"You know nothing."
"I know you've killed your last innocent woman."
"I did not kill her."
"Yeah, right."
"I am putting her down." Antonio laid the girl's body gently on the sidewalk.
And Duncan went into action. Springing forward, he dumped holy water over the vampire's head, then fired his pistol, hoping to bring the vampire to his knees so that he could take his head.
Battista hissed as holy water splashed across his face and trickled down his neck, every drop burning into his skin like acid. The bullet struck him in the chest, but he recovered quickly. With a roar of pain and rage, he backhanded Duncan across the face.
The hunter reeled backward, momentarily stunned.
And Battista vanished into the darkness.
Vicki checked the clock on the wall, counting the minutes until it was time to go home.
She had waited all evening for Antonio to come into the diner, and when he didn't show up, her imagination went into overdrive, coming up with all sorts of reasons for his absence. He had forgotten. He had left town. He had changed his mind about wanting to spend time with her. He had met someone else…
She cleared the last table, helped Bobbie Sue refill the salt and pepper shakers and replace the packets of cream and sugar substitutes, still hoping that Antonio would appear, until Gus came out of the kitchen to lock the front door.
"See ya tomorrow night, Bobbie," he said cheerfully.
"Sure thing," Bobbie Sue said. "Night, Gussie."
He glowered at her.
"Come on, I'll walk the two of you out. Oh, don't forget to come in costume tomorrow night," he reminded them. "It's Halloween."
Halloween, Vicki thought. How could she have forgotten that when every house in town was decorated with ghosts and goblins and jack-o'-lanterns, and the windows of every business, including the diner, wished the world a happy Halloween?
Outside, she bade Gus and Bobbie Sue good night, then glanced around the parking lot, expecting Battista to be there to meet her, but there was no sign of him.
Remembering that he wasn't the only vampire in town, she quickly unlocked her car, got behind the wheel, and locked the door.
So, she thought as she drove home, where was he? She told herself not to worry, he had promised to look after her. What was it he had said? I will be there if you need me.
Did that mean he was somewhere nearby, even now?
Tom Duncan was waiting for her on the porch when she got home.
"Hi," she said. "Is something wrong?"
"Falco's not the only killer in town," he said brusquely. "I caught your boyfriend red-handed tonight."
"I don't believe you!"
"I saw him with my own eyes. He was holding the body in his arms."
Vicki shook her head. "No."
"Yes. She was just a kid, maybe eighteen or nineteen."
"He told me he didn't kill when he… that he didn't have to take life."
"Well, he sure as hell took this one. I took her body to the morgue myself. She didn't have enough blood left to fill a teacup."