mad. He walked past her and into the
rows of bookshelves, reeling like a
drunken man. He stopped in front of a
book in the mythology section cal ed
Vampires in Fact and Fiction. He pul ed it off the shelf and walked with it back to the huge oak table in the center of the room. He opened it and turned to the
section on ways to become a vampire.
There was some nonsense about being
born on Christmas Day or being
excommunicated from the church that
Joe immediately discounted as
superstition, then there came the part
about being bitten by a vampire or
drinking the blood of the undead.
Joe quickly turned to the section on
destroying vampires and read about
nailing them into their coffins by driving a wooden stake through their hearts or
through their skul s so that they could not rise to feed. There was a prescription
that cal ed for decapitating and burning the corpses of vampires or dragging
them out into the sun. Fil ing their mouths with garlic or placing host wafers in their coffins so that they could not lie there. Joe turned more pages until he came to
a section that reiterated Professor
Douglas's own remedy for the werewolf
curse. Curing a vampire of the curse
likewise cal ed for finding and kil ing the original bloodsucker. Joe slammed the
book shut and sat there thinking, first about Damon Trent the child murderer
and then about Alicia, whom he would
surely murder and consume if he did not cure himself. He got up and walked over to the computer to do a search on
Damon Trent.
Chapter Fourteen
Alicia was fast asleep when the door
slammed, waking her from her dreams
and plunging her back into the nightmare of reality. Joe stalked into the room
looking excited and agitated.
"I don't know what to do! I don't want to hurt you, but I can't see him again. I just can't face him again!"
He strode back and forth, gesticulating madly, whipping himself into a frenzy. He stopped abruptly and plopped down next
to Alicia, startling her and causing her to shrink away.
He rubbed a hand lovingly over her
voluptuous ass as she quivered in fear
and began to sob.
"Talk to me. Tel me what to do," he said, staring deeply into her terrified eyes.
"Let me go. You should let me go right away before you do something you'l
regret."
"If I let you go I'l just find another woman."
"Then turn yourself in. They have people who can help you."
"Doctors? Psychiatrists? They'l just lock me up with this hunger stil gnawing at me each and every day. That would be
torture. No, I need to find a cure, another cure, a different cure."
"Joe. Listen to me. You have to let me go, Joe. You can't keep me here. They'l catch you."
"You're right. I can't keep you here forever. I'm going to have to go after him. But I'm taking you with me.
Alicia had no idea what the man was
talking about, but it didn't sound good.
"You have to go after who?"
"Damon Trent. He's the one who made me what I am. I have to find him. Destroy him. In order to destroy the curse." Joe sat down and told Alicia everything and she listened, not just in order to gain his confidence and trust, but because
she was legitimately curious. The story he was tel ing was unbelievable, but by the time he was done he almost had her
convinced.
"So you believe that this Damon Trent guy passed on some type of virus to you when he molested you and that's what's
causing you to change?"
"It's changing me into a kil er! And if I don't find him then you're going to wind up being my first victim."
As much as it chil ed the blood in Alicia's veins to hear that he was thinking about kil ing her, she was encouraged by the
fact that he hadn't murdered her yet and also by the fact that he didn't want to. He didn't want to hurt her. It was that virus inside him making him crazy. It sounded ridiculous when she repeated it to
herself now, but when he'd told her about the correlation he'd found between the
werewolf and vampire legends and the
evolution of the serial kil er it almost made sense to her. If he could just find and kil that fucker that infected him then he'd be cured and he'd let her go and
maybe they could even go out again
sometime once he was normal.
Alicia knew that she was being a fool.
Why would she want to go out with the
guy who chained her up and bit her
nipples off and was more than likely
going to murder her?
Because you're a sex-addict, her
subconscious answered back.
The likelihood of him curing himself by plunging a stake through the heart of a serial child murderer was so remote it
"I'l help you."
"What?"
"I'l help you find him ... and kil him." Joe stared into Alicia's eyes for a long moment. He saw an honesty and a trust
there that was almost childlike. There
was loneliness there too, and a need-the need for love. He reached out and
stroked her long curly black hair and
leaned in to kiss her.
As Joe's lips touched hers Alicia
screamed at herself: Bite his lips off. Bite off his fucking tongue! Kil Him! Kil Him!!!
Instead, she returned his kiss. Their
tongues dueled and danced and Joe
lovingly caressed her beautiful body,
careful to avoid her savaged nipples,
which were stil raw and tender. He
kissed her throat and sucked the sweat
from the hol ows of her col arbones. He licked the salt of her tears from her
cheeks and brushed his lips against her eyelids. He sucked her bruised lips and kissed the tip of her chin. Then he laid her down and removed the leg spreader
from between her ankles, slipping off her restraints and kissing the chafed and
torn flesh beneath, shivering at the meaty metal ic taste of her blood.
Joe stroked her buttery caramel thighs
and Alicia moaned in appreciation. She
tried to tel herself to fight him, to kick him off and run for her life, but he was so big, so strong. She doubted she'd have
had a chance of overcoming him even
for a second and she was enjoying his
touch, enjoying the emotion in his eyes, in his soulful moans, and delicate
caresses. As much as she hated to
admit it, she was fal ing for him. She
gasped as he lowered his weight on top
of her and parted her thighs, entering her with cautious probing thrusts.
He lowered his head to the nape of her
neck and she stiffened, momentarily
certain that he would bite her again, tear out her throat like a vampire. But when he raised his head there were tears in
his eyes.
"I love you, Alicia. You have to help me."
"I wil . Ipromise."
That night they made love, gently, softly, sweetly. They gave and took, exchanging pain for pleasure, solitude for solace, and when they were done they held each
other and wept for both their lives.
Chapter Fifteen
Damon was towering above him as
eight-year-old Joey rounded the corner
on his BMX bike. The overweight high
school dropout stood in the middle of the sidewalk in his Windy City Deep Dish
Pizza delivery uniform, his van idling at the curb, and the passenger door swung
wide. He leered coyly at little Joey with a lecherous scowl on his face and a cruel gleam in his eyes. His smile was even
more threatening. It was the predatorial rictus of a hyena approaching weakened
prey.
Joe tried to steer around him but the fat teenager stepped right into his path,
teenager stepped right into his path,
causing Joe to slam on his brakes and
skid out, nearly flipping over the
handlebars. He was just about to cuss
the chubby loser out when he felt the
boy's fat fingers close around his throat and lift him from the bike. Joe tried to cal out, but he could get no air in or out of his lungs. He pinwheeled his arms
and legs in the air as if he were trying to swim away from an onrushing shark as
the boy carried him across the sidewalk and into the idling van. The fat kid
smel ed like pepperoni and ammonia.
That's the last thing Joe remembered
thinking before the van doors slammed
shut, sealing
out the midday August sun and the joyful cries of the kids playing just yards away in the park.
Joe woke up with his fist clenched tight around Alicia's throat. Her eyes were
bulging out of their sockets, her tongue lol ed stupidly from her mouth, and her complexion was turning the prettiest
turquoise blue. He jerked his hands
away from her neck and jumped back,
scooting to the other side of the bed,
startled by what he had done. Alicia was gasping and choking as she sucked air
back into her depleted lungs. Joe was
breathing hard with sweat bul eting down his face.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I-I was having a bad dream. I didn't mean to-I mean, I didn't know what I was doing."
"You almost kil ed me! You're crazy! Oh my God! You're fucking crazy! Heeelp!
Heeeelp!!!"
Joe shook his head in exasperation and
reached down to pick up the restraints
from where he'd tossed them on the
floor. He seized one of Alicia's legs and slipped the leather cuff around her ankle. This time she did try to kick, to fight back. She aimed a kick at his face and
her heel caught him in the jaw as he
reached out for her feet, causing his
head to spin and his lip to split open and run red. Joe barely seemed to notice. He grabbed both of her ankles and flipped
her over onto her stomach.
Joe's breath caught in his throat as that perfect ass rol ed into view, wobbling
temptingly in the moonlight. The hunger came rushing upon him urgent and
insistent. He sat on Alicia's back as she continued to scream and struggle,
seizing her ankles and placing the
leather cuffs and leg spreader back
between her ankles. Then he turned and
cuffed and chained her wrists again as
wel .
"Noooo! Nooo! Don't do this!"
"I said I wouldn't hurt you and I won't-not if I can find the cure."
Joe trussed her up, reinserted the bal
gag into her mouth and reattached her to the chain hanging from the ceiling before he hurried out of the room.
Chapter Sixteen
Emma Purcel was reading a dog-eared
copy of Tropic of Cancer and waiting for the two law students on the computers
and the four medical students half
asleep on the couches and lounge
chairs to final y realize that nothing they did in the next four hours was going to help them pass a test they hadn't
prepared for earlier. She was startled
when the massively muscled psychology
student suddenly appeared at her desk.
"Uh, c-can I help you?"
"I need to find someone."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"There's a man I need to find. I was hoping you could show me how to
search for him on the computer."
"Oh, sure. There're several searches you can run to track someone on the
computer. Here, I'l show you." Emma rose from behind the desk and
immediately felt the large creepy
student's eyes lunge for her, charging
over her curves and invading her most
intimate areas. She felt simultaneously frightened, annoyed, and aroused,
sensations she was used to
experiencing in his presence. Her
nipples hardened and stabbed the sheer
fabric of her blouse. Joe stared at her heaving bosom with unselfconscious
lust. Emma's face colored. She turned
her back to him and sat down at the
computer.
Emma had to admit that the boy was
extremely good-looking. He exuded a
savage sexuality that was nearly
oppressive. She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck as she tapped
the keyboard and logged on to the Web.
C , i 7 . - . . so who are we looking for?"
"His name is Damon Trent. He would be almost thirty by now."
"Do you have any idea where he might be? A city? A state?"
"He would stil be in Seattle; either in prison or a mental institution."
Emma's fingers hovered suspended
over the keys. This was more of his
bizarre research.
"What exactly did he do?"
"He raped and mutilated a couple young boys about twelve years ago."
"That's sick! I'm not going to be a part of this! What is this twisted morbid
fascination you have with these
monsters? Look, you're online now. I'm
sure you'l have no problem locating your murderous pedophile. I've got work to do back at my desk." The librarian stood and turned to leave.
Joe placed a hand on her shoulder and
gently eased her back into her seat.
"Please. You have to help me."
"Why? Why should I help you with this obsession? A child murderer? Why
would you want to know anything about a man like that?" Joe's voice lowered and tightened to a
deep self conscious mumble. The
librarian could feel the boy's body tense as he spoke.
"Because I was one of the boys this particular monster assaulted."
The librarian's eyes widened then
softened and moistened with emotion.
Her mouth fel open and her body
slumped back into the chair, as if
physical y struck by the student's
unexpected confession. She placed her
hand atop his and turned to look him in his eyes. Her bottom lip trembled and
her voice lowered to a soft, maternal
whisper.
"Oh my God! I-I'm sorry. I didn't know. No wonder you're so obsessed with finding
out what makes them tick."
"Wil you help me?"
"Of course."
It took no time at al to locate their kil er.
"He's not in Seattle anymore. He's in Tacoma, at the state mental hospital in a special unit they have for violent sex
offenders."
Joe scrol ed down the screen, reading
about the hospital where Damon Trent
had been kept since he'd openly
confessed to drinking the blood of young boys and was declared unfit to stand trial a dozen years ago. Trent believed that
he could absorb the souls of his victims by imbibing their body fluids. The article, written two years after his incarceration, said that Trent claimed the doctors at the state hospital were deliberately trying to drive him insane by depriving him of
human blood to drink.
Joe wrote down t
he address and phone
number of the hospital and turned his
attention back to the thick meaty
librarian. He'd wanted her for a long time and though he had needed to locate
Trent, he'd real y come down here for
her, using his search for the child rapist as a way to get close to her.
"Would you have a cup of coffee with me?"
"I don't know. I've got a lot of work to do. Besides, I'm old enough to be your
mother. Why are you so interested in
me?"
"Because you're beautiful and I need a friend right now.,,
It was the right thing to say. Joe had
been rehearsing it from the first day he'd seen her. Her need was so obvious you
didn't have to be a con man or a
predator to spot it. Emma needed to be
needed. There was a deep loneliness
and sorrow within her, like one of those chimpanzee mothers who cradle their
miscarriages in their arms for weeks,
refusing to accept their death. Joe
played on those maternal instincts lying dormant within her, starving for a
purpose.
"I know I frighten you. We can take separate cars and go to the cafe down
the street where there wil be lots of
people."
"That sounds awful. I'm sorry. It's not that I think you'd hurt me. It's just that ... those books you read ..."
"I'm a psychology student and I'm trying to understand what turns normal human
beings into these vicious predators. One day, I hope I can find a cure for their madness."
"I think that's admirable, but I hope you won't be offended if I take my own car
and meet you there?"
Joe smiled wide.
"Thank you."
They talked late into the night. Emma
told him about her two failed marriages. Her first husband beat her and her
second left her for her sister. She had a daughter who ran away from home five
years ago, only two months after her
sixteenth birthday.
"Do you ever hear from her?"
"She cal s every once in a while. When she's in trouble or needs money or just needs someone to listen to her. I'm a
good listener. I don't know where she is now, though. She hasn't cal ed in
months."
"It must be hard, not hearing from your daughter in so long."
"I cope."
Joe nodded and looked down at the
scrap of paper with the name Damon