Vampires: The Recent Undead Part 54

"I don't know," the Lieutenant said, "I only mention it as a worst-case scenario. Our ability to share its perceptions, to affect its actions, seems to suggest some degree of congruity between the thing and us. On the other hand, it is a considerable leap from there to its being able to inhabit us."

"Maybe that's how it makes more of itself," Lee said. "One dies, one's born."

"Phoenix," Han said.

"This is all pretty speculative," Davis said.

"Yes it is," the Lieutenant said. "Should the thing seize any of us, however, it will have been speculation well-spent."

"What do you propose, then, sir?" Davis said.

"a.s.suming any of us survives the morning," the Lieutenant said, "we will have to proceed with great caution." He held up his pistol.

XIV.

6:42 AM.

Davis opened his eyes to a hole in the sky. Round, black-for a moment, he had the impression the earth had gained a strange new satellite, or that some unimaginable catastrophe had blown an opening in the atmosphere, and then his vision adjusted and he realized that he was looking up into the barrel of the Lieutenant's Glock. The man himself half-crouched beside Davis, his eyes narrowed. His lips moved, and Davis struggled to pick his words out of the white noise ringing in his ears.

"Davis," he said. "You there?"

"Yeah," Davis said. Something was burning; a charcoal reek stung his nostrils. His mouth tasted like ashes. He pushed himself up on his elbows. "Is it-"

"Whoa," the Lieutenant said, holding his free hand up like a traffic cop. "Take it easy, soldier. That was some blast."

"Did we-"

"We did."

"Yeah?"

"We blew it to Kingdom Come," the Lieutenant said. "No doubt, there are pieces of it scattered here and there, but the majority of it is so much dust."

"Lee-"

"You saw what the thing did to him-although, stupid motherf.u.c.ker, it serves him right, grabbing the wrong G.o.dd.a.m.ned stake. Of all the stupid f.u.c.king . . . "

Davis swallowed. "Han?"

The Lieutenant shook his head.

Davis lay back. "f.u.c.k."

"Never mind," the Lieutenant said. His pistol had not moved. "s.h.i.+t happens. The question before us now is, Did it work? Are we well and truly rid of that thing, that f.u.c.king blood-drinking monster, or are we fooling ourselves? What do you say, Davis?"

"I . . . " His throat was dry. "Lee grabbed the wrong one?"

"He did."

"How is that possible?" "I don't know," the Lieutenant said. "I do not f.u.c.king know."

"I specifically gave each of us-"

"I know; I watched you. In the excitement of the moment, Lee and Han must have mixed them up."

"Mixed . . . " Davis raised his hands to his forehead. Behind the Lieutenant, the sky was a blue chasm.

"Or could be, the confusion was deliberate."

"What?"

"Maybe they switched stakes on purpose."

"No."

"I don't think so, either, but we all know it wasn't much of a life for Han."

"That doesn't mean-"

"It doesn't."

"Jesus." Davis sat up.

The Lieutenant steadied his gun. "So?"

"I take it you're fine."

"As far as I've been able to determine, yes."

"Could the thing have had something to do with it?"

"The mix-up?"

"Made Han switch the stakes or something?"

"That presumes it knew what they were, which supposes it had been spying on us through Han's eyes for not a few hours, which a.s.sumes it comprehended us-our language, our technology-in excess of prior evidence."

"Yeah," Davis said. "Still."

"It was an accident," the Lieutenant said. "Let it go."

"What makes you so sure you're all right?"

"I've had no indications to the contrary. I appear in control of my own thoughts and actions. I'm aware of no alien presence crowding my mind. While I am thirsty, I have to desire to quench that thirst from one of your arteries."

"Would you be, though? Aware of the thing hiding in you?"

The Lieutenant shrugged. "Possibly not. You're taking a long time to answer my question; you know that."

"I don't know how I am," Davis said. "No, I can't feel the thing either, and no, I don't want to drink your blood. Is that enough?"

"Davis," the Lieutenant said, "I will do this. You need to understand that. You are as close to me as anyone, these days, and I will shoot you in the head if I deem it necessary. If I believed the thing were in me, I would turn this gun on myself without a second thought. Am I making myself clear? Let me know it's over, or let me finish it."

The Lieutenant's face was flushed. "All right," Davis said. He closed his eyes. "All right." He took a deep breath. Another.

When he opened his eyes, he said, "It's gone."

"You're positive."

"Yes, sir."

"You cannot be lying to me."

"I know. I'm not."

The end of the pistol wavered, and for a moment, Davis was certain that the Lieutenant was unconvinced, that he was going to squeeze the trigger, anyway. He wondered if he'd see the muzzle flash.

Then the pistol lowered and the Lieutenant said, "Good man." He holstered the gun and extended his hand. "Come on. There's a lot we have to do."

Davis caught the Lieutenant's hand and hauled himself to his feet. Behind the Lieutenant, he saw the charred place that had been the Shadow, Lee's torn and blackened form to one side of it. Further back, smoke continued to drift out of the spot in the trees where Han had lain. The Lieutenant turned and started walking towards the trees. He did not ask, and Davis did not tell him, what he had seen with his eyes closed. He wasn't sure how he could have said that the image behind his eyelids was the same as the image in front of them: the unending sky, blue, ravenous.

Selected Vampire Anthologies 2000-2010.

There were numerous anthologies of romance novellas (usually four authors) as well as original-fiction anthologies with fantasy, horror, or mixed-genre themes that often included vampire stories but were not exclusive to them. These are not listed. Neither are tie-ins to games or television series, retrospectives of earlier eras of vampire fiction/cla.s.sics (with one exception), ebook- or erotica-only anthologies. Anthologies listed (with one exception) contained at least some original fiction. (YA=Young Adult.) 2000.

Kaye, Marvin, ed. Vampire s.e.xtette (Science Fiction Book Club) 2001.

Elrod, P.N. & Greenberg, Martin, eds., Dracula In London (Ace) Jones, Stephen, ed., The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories By Women (Carrol & Graf) About half original; half reprint 2002.

Anonymous, ed., Vampires (Dark Horse) Graphic Anthology; YA 2003.

Greenberg, Martin, ed., Vampire Slayers (Gramercy) 2004.

Allen, Angela, ed., Dark Thirst (Pocket) Cavelos, Jeanne, ed., The Many Faces of Van Helsing (Ace) Jones, Stephen, ed., The Mammoth Book of Vampires (Robinson) Expanded from 1992 edition, primarily reprints with some originals added 2007.

Greenberg, Martin & Darrell Schweitzer, eds. The Secret History of Vampires (Daw) Harris, Charlaine & Toni L. P. Kelner, eds. Many b.l.o.o.d.y Returns (Ace) 2008.

Cast, P.C., ed. Immortal: Love Stories With Bite (BenBella) YA Trelep, Trisha, ed., The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire (Running Press Kids) YA Trelep, Trisha, ed., The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (Running Press) 2009.

Adams, John Joseph, ed. By Blood We Live (Night Shade) Primarily reprints, but some originals Kuznia, Yanni, ed. A Fantasy Medley (Subterranean Press) Penzler, Otto, ed. The Vampire Archive (Quercus) All reprints, but probably the most comprehensive compilation ever a.s.sembled Trelep, Trisha, ed., The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire (Running Press Kids) YA Trelep, Trisha, ed., The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 (Running Press) Trelep, Trisha, ed., The Eternal Kiss: 12 Vampire Tales Of Blood And Desire (Perseus) YA Ulanski, Gave & Garrett Anderson, eds., Vampires: Dracula and the Undead Legions (Moonstone) 2010.

Cast, P.C., ed., Eternal: More Love Stories with Bite (Smart Pop) YA Friesner, Esther, ed., Fangs for the Mammaries (Baen) Kilpatrick, Nancy, ed., Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead (Edge).

Whates, Ian, ed. The Bitten Word (NewCon Press).

Publication History.

Holly Black, "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" 2009. The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire, ed. Trisha Telep (Running Press Kids). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Rachel Caine, "Dead Man Stalking" 2009. Originally published in Immortal: Stories With Bite, edited by P.C. Cast (Ben Bella Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Albert Cowdrey, "Twilight States" 2005. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 2005. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Stephen Dedman, "Waste Land" 2002. Originally published in Agog! Fantastic Fiction, ed. Cat Sparks, (Agog! Press). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Charles de Lint, "Sisters" 2002. Originally published in Waifs and Strays (Viking). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Charlaine Harris, "Dahlia Underground" 2010. Originally published in Crimes by Moonlight: Mysteries from the Dark Side, ed. Charlaine Harris (Berkley). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tanya Huff, "No Matter Where You Go" 2010. Originally published in A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters, ed. Martin H. Greenberg and Kerrie Hughes (Daw). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Caitlin R. Kiernan, "The Belated Burial" 2009. First published in Sirenia Digest #38, January 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Nancy Kilpatrick, "Vampires Anonymous" 2009. Originally published in Vampires: Dracula and the Undead Legions, ed. Dave Ulanski, Garrett Anderson (Moonstone Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

J.A. Konrath, "The Screaming" 2004. Originally published in The Many Faces of Van Helsing, ed. Jeanne Cavelos (Ace). Reprinted by permission of the author.

John Langan, "The Wide, Carnivorous Sky" 2009. By Blood We Live, ed. John Joseph Adams (Night Shade). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tanith Lee, "La Vampiresse" 2000. Originally published in Interzone, Number 154, April 2000. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Kim Newman, "Castle in the Desert: Anno Dracula 1977" 2001. Originally published in SCIFI.com, March 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Tina Rath, "A Trick of the Dark" 2001. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, ed. Stephen Jones (Constable & Robinson). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Barbara Roden, "Endless Night" 2008. Originally published in Exotic Gothic 2, ed. Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Karen Russell, "Vampires in the Lemon Grove" 2007. Originally published in Zoetrope: All-Story, Vol. 11 No 4., Winter 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author and Denise Shannon Literary Agency, Inc.

Nisi Shawl, "To the Moment" 2007. Originally published in Reflection's Edge, November 2007. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Susan Sizemore, "Dancing With the Star" 2008. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance, ed. Trisha Telep (Constable & Robinson). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Michael Marshall Smith, "This Is Now" 2004. Originally published in BBC Cult Vampire Magazine, March 2004. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Jeanne C. Stein, "The Ghost of Leadville" 2009. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2, ed. Trisha Telep (Constable & Robinson). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Mary Turzillo, "When Gretchen Was Human" 2001. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, ed. Stephen Jones (Constable & Robinson). Reprinted by permission of the author.

Carrie Vaughn, "Conquistador de la Noche" 2009 by Carrie Vaughn, LLC. Originally published in Subterranean Online, Spring 2009. Reprinted by permission of the author.