P. N. Elrod - Vampire Files 01 - Bloodlist

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Elrod—01 BloodList

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Chapter 1

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THE CAR WAS doing at least forty when the right front fender smashed

against my left hip and sent me spinning off the road to flop bonelessly

into a mass of thick, windblown grass.

It was a well-engineered accident, involving no small skill on the part

of the driver. A body, depending on its size and weight in relation to

the speed and position of the car usually does two things: it either

goes under the car or bounces over it. Going under, it can get dragged,

leaving a lot of bloody physical evidence all over the road and vehicle.

If it gets flipped up and over, the driver risks a dented hood and roof

or a broken windshield or all three. The professional hit-and-run artist

knows how to avoid such risks and will try to clip the target with just

the front bumper or fender; that way he has only some scratched paint to

touch up or at most a broken headlight to replace.

I had been hit by such an expert. There was minimal pain, though, and

that was swiftly receding. The idea my spine had been broken was the

first real thought to surface in my cobweb-clogged brain since I woke up

on the beach. I'd been groggy then, with only enough stuff working in my

head to shakily stand and blink down at my soaked clothes. It never

occurred to me to question why I was on a beach and in such a condition,

and I was still in a thought-numbing state of shock when I climbed a

short, sandy rise and found the road. There was no rational decision on

what direction to go in, my legs took me left and walked. When I heard a

car motor rumbling up behind me I stuck out a thumb and walked sideways.

The small dot down the road swelled into a dark green Ford with a big

lumpy-looking man at the wheel. While still a little distance off, the

car slowed abruptly, its headlights raking painfully into my eyes. I

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shaded them, blinking stupidly as the motor gunned, gears shifted, and

the thing shot forward. The driver held a straight course, as though

he'd changed his mind about picking up a hitchhiker, then he swerved at

the last possible second. If my brain had been running on more than one

cylinder. I might have been able to jump away in time.

The landscape stopped spinning and I lay belly-up, staring at an

unnaturally brilliant Milky Way a few feet from my nose, wondering what

the hell was going on. I tried moving a little, the initial pain of the

impact was gone, but I was cautious of broken bones. Everything worked

perfectly, though--I'd been incredibly lucky. Twisting onto my stomach,

I stared down the road.

The Ford stopped, the motor cut, and the lump behind the wheel was just

levering himself out the door.

The only cover for fifty yards was long grass. The beach was just across

the road, but this particular stretch was clear of concealing rocks.

Except for the car, the only option left was a stand of trees on my side

of the road, which was much too far away.

The man was coming up fast and had a gun in one hand.

Anything was better than waiting for it. My feet dug into the ground and

I bolted for the trees like a frightened rabbit. He spotted me, changed

course, and yelled for me to stop. After hitting me with the car, he

couldn't have really expected me to do him any convenient favors.

In an open space a gunshot doesn't sound like a gunshot, not like the

ones you hear at the movies. All I heard was a flat, unimpressive crack,

then the impact sent me sprawling.

It'd been a lucky hit; we were at a slight angle to one another and the

narrow part of my body was toward him. The bullet entered my lower right

back, just above the pelvic bone, traced through my vitals and out the

front, just above the belt buckle. I doubled up and instinctively tried

to hold things in, but there was nothing. The sharp, hot pain was

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already vanishing and my hands came away clean from what should have

been a bloody mess.

My would-be killer trotted up, turned me over, and stopped short as I

stared accusingly at his stupefied face. He was puffing hard and looked

ready to say something but gulped it back. He quickly leveled the gun

with my eyes. The business end looked as big as an open manhole. His

finger was ready on the trigger; orders were being sent from his brain

to the tiny muscles, telling them to contract. Before they could respond

I grabbed the gun and twisted it out of his hand. His finger was caught

in the trigger guard, there was a soft pop, and he yelped with surprise

and pain as one of the bones snapped.

He fell back, trying to get away, and I seized an ankle, jerked, and

pulled him down. His left fist swung up and slammed into my face, but

with little effect. I managed a weak, backhanded swat and left him

half-stunned. In another second his arms were pinned to the ground and

he was utterly unable to break free. It was easy to hold him still even

though he was built and muscled like a wrestler and outweighed me by a

good eighty pounds. He looked up at my face hovering inches from his own

and whimpered.

The man's heart and lungs were thundering in my ears like a train. All

my senses were sharp and new and wonderful. I could even smell the

blood, an exciting scent when mixed with the sour tang of fear. On his

thick, rough neck the skin seemed oddly transparent where the large vein

pulsed. First it disturbed, then it tantalized. My mouth sagged open,

dry and aching with sudden thirst. I felt drawn to it like a cat to

milk.

He gagged and his bladder let go as my lips brushed his throat, then he

passed out.

I jerked back, wondering what the hell I was trying to do. Pushing away

until I no longer touched him, I lay facedown in the spiky grass,

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shaking like a fever victim until the thirst faded.

With a hand under each arm, I dragged him backward over the irregular

clumps of grass and sand to his car. I felt strong enough to carry him,

but didn't relish coming into contact with his wet pants. Fortunately

the key was in the ignition, so I was spared a search of his lower

pockets. I opened the passenger door and stuffed him inside.

My mind was more or less functioning again and full of questions. Who

this stranger was and why he wanted to kill me seemed like good ones to

start with, so I picked his coat pocket and went through his wallet.

The driver's license was issued to a Fred Sanderson of Cicero.

The name might have been fake, it meant nothing to me, but the town

struck a sour note in my general memory. A bare ten years had passed

since the Capone gang invaded the place and took over. Big Al was in

jail now, gone but not forgotten if Sanderson was any example.

Except for five dollars and the phone number of someone named Elsie,

there was nothing informative in the wallet. I unbuckled Sanderson's

belt and slipped it from his well-muscled waist. He was heavy, but in

solid condition. As I'd thought, the leather strip had been specially

constructed to overlap on the inside. Working it open, I took careful

count and transferred the five hundred dollars hidden there into my own

pants pocket without a single pang of conscience. After what he'd put me

through he owed me, and I needed the operating funds.

I looked long and hard at his face. The heavy jaw and thick lips were

frustratingly familiar, but nothing clicked in my memory.

It was very bright now, the sky all strange with the sun and stars

shining improbably together. It was confusing until I realized it was

the moon that was flooding the place with such brilliance. Like

icewater, fear spread out in my guts and left me shaking at the edges.

The night was too bright, it was wrong, totally wrong.

Distraction. I needed distraction. Where was I?

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East of us were tall buildings in the distance. I was still more or less

in Chicago. The last thing I recalled was some phone call launching me

out of the hotel I'd just checked into. I'd left at midafternoon to do

something and ended up that night soaking wet on a deserted patch of

Lake Michigan shoreline with some crazy trying to kill me. Wonderful.

I felt my head for lumps, found a swelling behind one ear, and smiled

with relief. A concussion of some kind; that would account for the

initial disorientation, the memory loss, maybe even make my eyes overly

sensitive. I'd only imagined the gunshot and had taken care of Sanderson

on adrenaline alone.

Almost as an afterthought I checked my wallet and was surprised to find

it in place and intact. I thought I'd been mugged. The papers were out

of order and damp, but everything was there, including the money and

change left over from the precious twenty I'd used to pay for the hotel

room. It was when I returned the wallet to its inside pocket that I

noticed my shirt front. A big burn hole was in it just over my heart,

surrounded by water-diluted red stains. There was a smaller hole lower

down, next to my belt buckle.

I tore the shin open and found an ugly round scar just left of the

breastbone. It was large, but looked freshly healed.

The lapping of water on the shore sounded loudly in my ears. Far out on

the silver lake, the streamlined shape of a rich man's yacht glided

slowly east and disappeared behind an intervening point of land. My left

hand twitched and clenched. I made it open again. The palm had more than

a dozen puckered red circles on it. More scars, and I couldn't think of

how I'd acquired them or what might have caused them. At least they

didn't hurt. My right hand was also damaged with a narrow pink welt like

a nearly healed cut just above the knuckles. It, too, was painless.

Cautiously I spread a hand over my heart. It should have been banging

away like a trapped bird, but there was nothing, nothing but the scar

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and still night-cool flesh.

I rebuttoned the shirt, not wanting to look or speculate anymore and

stared helplessly at the lake. It gave no answers or comfort so I opened

the driver's door and slid behind the wheel. I rubbed my face and was

surprised at the heaviness of the beard there. Reaching over, I swiveled

the rearview mirror around and stared with an icy shock of comprehension

at the empty glass.

No.

Please, God, no.

Death had come to me that night, unexpected and unfair. Death had

changed me, then left, taking with it the memory of that supreme moment

we all must face. Eyes shut, I hung on to the steering wheel and vainly

tried to adjust emotionally to what had once been a distant and purely

intellectual concept. In a way I was more frightened by the idea that

someone had wanted to kill me than by the fact that they'd succeeded. It

was too much to take in, the best thing was to shut down the feelings

for the moment. I'd get used to things soon enough, not that there was

much choice about it now. In a larger sense it was what animals and

mankind had faced since old Adam found himself outside the garden: adapt

or die.

Having died already, there was only one alternative left, even if it was

mentally distressing.

For something to do I tied Sanderson's arms behind his back with the

belt and used his flowered necktie on his ankles. Rooting around in the

glove compartment turned up several road maps, so I was able to make a

good guess about our present location and figure out how to get back to

my hotel.

It was a tight fit behind the wheel, we were about the same height, but

my legs were longer. I didn't bother adjusting the seat, that was always

more trouble than it was worth. The starter started, the engine kicked

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and caught, and I eased it into first. Thirty minutes later I stopped in

what looked like a safe, secluded place and cut the motor. We were about

a mile from my hotel according to the maps; an easy walk through the

sleeping neighborhoods. This was a dead-looking business district, with

a few tired stores, some dusty warehouses and empty lots decorated with

weeds and broken glass. From the look of things, the Depression hadn't

been kind to the place.

Sanderson was awake, but playing possum, the altered rhythm of his heart

and lungs betraying his condition. He was either very controlled or too

scared to flinch when I plucked his yellow silk handkerchief from his

front pocket. I used it to rub my prints from the steering wheel,

dashboard and gearshift, and stuffed it back in his pocket. His gun was

weighing heavily in my own pocket as I leaned across the seat and gave

his cheek a solid pat.

"You can open your eyes now, I know you're awake." My tongue played over

teeth which had receded to their normal length. At least I'd be able to

talk without lisping. "I said you can open your eyes." I gave him a hard

shake.

They popped wide.

"Name?"

"F-Fred Sanderson."

"Sure it is. What are you doing in town, Fred?"

"Visiting friends."

"They got a boat?"

He shut up until shaken again. "Yeah, so what?"

"Why'd you run me down?"

"Wha-"

"You heard me, why did you try to kill me?"

The heavy jaw snapped shut again, his eyes rolled toward the door, and

he struggled against his bonds. I lost my patience then, and for the

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first time took a great deal of pleasure hitting a man. I pulled the

punches, though. I wanted to persuade, not kill him, and it took

surprisingly few blows to soften him up. Despite his tough looks, he had

no tolerance for pain.

"Frank Paco--said--I--just a job--" he burbled through a bloody nose.

"He your boss?"

"Yeah." Sniff.

"He wanted me dead? Why?"

He coughed messily.

"Why?"'

"You wouldn't talk."

I got the handkerchief again and wiped his nose. "Neither are you."

"He wanted the list, you wouldn't tell him where, so he-He froze. "How

did you--it was right in the heart--

"I got a bulletproof vest. Come on, keep talking."

Sanderson looked anything but convinced. "You know all this." His voice

was rising with panic. "Why do you ask, you know all--"

"What's the boat's name?"

"Elvira. "

"What's the list? What's on it?"

"I dunno--honest, I don't. You got it, you know what's--

"How did I get it?"

"I dunno."

"Answer. "

"It was Benny Galligar. You got it from him. You got it! I dunno

nothing, I swear! Just lemme go!" He was all but screaming, and the

panic had him rolling around, trying to break free. I tapped him again,

did it too hard, and that ended the questioning for the night. Shoving

the exasperation to one side, I went over the car again for prints and

found it was registered to International Freshwater Transport, Inc. It

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might not be of much use, but I filed the name away for future

reference.

Outside the car, I wiped the handles clean with the bottom of my coat

and repeated the action on the passenger side. Sanderson's head was

lolled over, leaving his neck taut and vulnerable, with the blood-smell

rising from his body like perfume. I stepped back quickly before

something regrettable happened, and hurried down the street.

Sooner or later, God help me, I would have to feed.

* * *

The hotel night clerk was half-asleep when I asked for my key.

"That's two-oh-two?" he mumbled, groping for it, but there was no key

hanging next to the number. "Hey, you're not Mr. Ross."

"No, I'm Jack Fleming and I want my key."

"Fleming? Oh, yeah, we had to move your things out. Don't worry, I got

them right back here."

One thing after another. "Why'd you move them out?"

"Well, you only paid for the one night and when you didn't come back, we

couldn't leave the room go empty. There's a convention in town an' we

gotta rent the room while there's business. You know how it is."

"Yeah, I know. Can I have my stuff?"

"Sure, no problem." He hauled out a battered suitcase and a smaller, but

no less battered case that held the means of my livelihood, a

typewriter. I found my clothes intact, if sloppily folded, and my

portable seemed to be in working order. While I checked my things, the

clerk had woken up and was checking me.

"Been having some trouble?" he asked cautiously. His eyes trailed with

open curiosity from my unshaved face to my damp, grubby clothes.

"Something like that." I pulled out another coat from the suitcase,

turned my back to the clerk, and changed the old for new.

"Jesus Christ, are you all right? There's a big hole and blood all over

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your back!"

It was annoying. In sparing the guy the sight of my punctured

shirtfront, I'd given him the full benefit of the back, where the bullet

that killed me had exited. I buttoned up the fresh coat and tried to

bluff it through.

'' Hey, you shoulda seen the other guy.''

"No kiddin', there's--"

"Yeah, well, don't worry about it," I snapped. "The less you know, the

better for both of us, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, sure." He backed off unhappily. Perhaps as a longtime resident of

Chicago he knew exactly what I meant.

"Do I owe any on my bill?"

"Just for one more day, that's all."

"You could have left things alone for another day, couldn't you?"

"Huh?"

"Couldn't you have left my stuff up there for one more day?"

"Mr. Fleming, you were gone--"

The man's tone alerted me. "Gone for how long?"

He looked in his book. "It was right here, you checked in Monday, then

left your key with the day clerk--

"Did I get any phone calls?"

"I dunno, we don't keep records of that. The switchboard girl might

know. Anyway, when you didn't come back by checkout time Wednesday, we

packed your things up. It's Friday now and we couldn't keep the room not

knowing if you were coming back or not, not for no three days we

couldn't."

Friday morning.

I paid up and left the hotel on shaking legs.

I wandered around for a couple hours, unhappy and frustrated by the

lapse of memory. Perhaps it was the shock of being killed. Some people

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Elrod—01BloodList=======================Chapter1=========THECARWASdoingatleastfortywhentherightfrontfendersmashedagainstmylefthipandsentmespinningofftheroadtoflopbonelesslyintoamassofthick,windblowngrass.Itwasawell-engineeredaccident,involvingnosmallskillonthepartofthedriver.Abody,dependingonitssize...

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