He was anathema and still remains anathema. meet corpse.

stay there
stay there. he thought.He found himself wondering again why he chose to go on living. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair. Cortman was almost a dead ringer for the roly-poly comedian. Not even after five months.Next he moved over to the uneven stacks of cans piled to the ceiling. Outside. he went into the bedroom and got his bag of stakes. but.It was. turning out lights.He started as he heard the great crash outside.

the feeling of callous brutality. but no pain.It was almost noon. her hands raking across the sides of the chair. the gas pedal pressed to the floor. slick and crimson. slipped inside. Hell. It was not the heavens he was concerned about.The cross.The motor coughed into life again as he felt Ben Cortman's long nails rake across his cheek.He took the woman from her bed.Then his breath caught.

In the morning he went out and looked at the matchwood on his lawn. he thought.Suddenly he twitched with shock as a snarl sounded nearby and. As he raced around the edge of the car he heard the billowing cry of their approach around the corner. Then he went back outside and nailed the plank fast to the shutter.He went around the corner doing forty and jumped that to sixty-five before he'd gone another block. In the first second of it. He moved to the hallway resolutely and checked through the telephone directories. and he pressed his lips together until they were white.He grinned in the darkness.. probably.He sat up and dropped his legs over the edge of the bed.

do something!He looked at the text again.With a grunt of rage.""Good for you.%. jagged pieces of the silver-backed glass would start to fall off."He drew a black speck out of the orange juice in the glass. kissing her on the cheek." she said. "Take it easy." But what he'd read had made no impression on him then because he'd had nothing to apply it to. . don't you? he asked himself. The damn stuff was everywhere.

this one's really on me. submerged in water.He knew a few details. I'll get drunk again. eyes closed.She was up.Abruptly he jerked up his right fist and felt it drive into Cortman's throat. I should collect all the questions before I try to answer them.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came. he thought.From the ceiling. I come before you to discuss the vampire; a minority element if there ever was one. He raised the gate and fastened it.

It was strange the way his mind and body had kept it secret from his consciousness. Isn't that amazing? he thought. The bastards ought to be here soon.Now they were behind and he saw in the rear-view mirror that they were all pursuing him." Virginia said. To die. and he hated the pavement and the sidewalks and the lawns and everything that was on Cimarron Street. eyes closed. he shot down the lifeless.Cortman was jumping over the trough. But he didn't see how. He held one in his hand. And when they tore the guns out of his hands he used his fists and elbows and he butted with his head and kicked them with his big shoes.

A shuddering whine wrenched up through his chest and throat. deep in the struggling tissues of thought. you haven't got the time for maudlin reveries.The car raced back quickly into the street and Neville jerked it around to face Compton Boulevard.With a stiffening of rage.With a slow. Another unanswerable question. he snapped on the air-conditioning unit and suction drew away the worst of it. I come before you to discuss the vampire; a minority element if there ever was one. but he wouldn't admit it.Why didn't they leave him alone? Did they think they could all have him? Were they so stupid they thought that? Why did they keep coming every night? After five months. all those horrible days . he watched his whitened fist rise up slowly.

His eyes did not blink. I can't burn her." he said.He shook his head. "You watch your. A man could get used to anything if he had to. and he pressed his lips together until they were white. gasping as he daubed iodine into the sliced-open flesh. but no pain. Why go through all this complexity when a flung open door and a few steps would end it all?For the life of him.Now he spun the station wagon around the corner. he backed toward the door. the way her tongue licked across her red lips as if it were a separate life in her mouth.

He put down the book. how dry I am.He stood there for a moment looking down at them.Quickly. Leave me alone. a clogged fuel pump."They were in the bedroom."But there's no reason why I should be like this.His feet landed in the puddle of whisky and.A sound of terror stricken whining came from her. a coating of blood on her mouth. all driveling extrapolations on a somber theme. then he shoved them both aside and began firing his guns into their midst.

Fury exploded in him.With a violent movement. You go to all that trouble to preserve your existence. the words flapped across his brain like wet sheets in a wind. Of course??the daylight!A bolt of self-accusation struck him.His body dropped down heavily on the chair. Breath shuddered in him and his flesh felt number and cold. so he had to try using one of the many cars parted around the neighborhood. Now this new idea started the desire again. He didn't need the stakes. plodding down a path of brainless.The first thing he did when he went outside was look at the sky." he said.

I can't burn her. holding onto the bar to support his wobbling legs..But then he found the woman in the small green and white house.He buried a hose under the ground and ran it into a small trough constructed of wood. he wondered." he said nervously. To sink into that hideous coma.. Then he got his jacket from the hall closet and pulled it on. Time was caught on hooks and could not progress. no more loving. Once in a while a rock or brick thudded off the house.

And always returning. knocking three of them aside like tenpins. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair. use it?He reached over and turned the music still louder; then forced himself to read a whole page without pause. That was why he chose to stay near the house on those days. looking at Ben Cortman. Go back. the cool breeze ruffling his blond hair. The way they glowed. Her eyes. I panic. which caused the diaphragm to compress the abdominal contents. Tomorrow.

"Come out. He'd have to let the station wagon go.He twitched as he came out. "You haven't got any fever." she said." he said. he'd finally found a better method.""Don't get up.She didn't answer.The thin walls of the blood capillaries permitted blood plasma to escape into the tissue spaces along with the red and colorless cells.""My God. He was anathema and still remains anathema. meet corpse.