5

REVELATION 22:9

For I am thy fellow-servant. . . .

REVELATION 16:4

And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers

and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

~ * ~

"Oh God, oh God!" Stephen was crying and babbling, his frail hands little help as the others pulled savagely at the chain where it looped through the radiator.

"Shut up!" Alex hissed. “At least try to be quiet!"

The woman yanked frantically on McDole's sleeve. "Get out while you still can! It doesn't matter about us—for Christ's sake, just run!"

"One more try," McDole said stubbornly. "One, two, three, heave!"

"Damn it!" Alex rattled the chain in fury. "Why can't we—"

The woman caught sight of something over their shoulders and gasped as Alex whirled and raised his fists instinctively and McDole cried out in surprise. Alex had an instant to realize how foolish hand-to-hand would be against the huge creature that faced him, then the muscle-covered vampire grabbed both him and McDole and tossed them aside. Louise bared her teeth and drew a black pistol from her jacket, planting herself between the cowering woman and the vampire. She raised the gun and cocked it, then yelped at the stinging pain in her fingers; he'd yanked the weapon from her hand so quickly she hadn't even seen him move.

"Hey, you son of a bitch!"

The creature spun and snarled as Alex primed the Winchester and fired from only six feet away. The slug opened a crater in the vampire's right bicep and he bellowed and tackled the dark-haired man, leaping the distance in the space of a breath. Louise screamed as Alex took a vicious crack in the face and dropped the gun; before McDole could react, Deb's Winchester was in the vampire's hands.

"Get back," he growled, and swung the barrel at McDole. "Farther, damn it!" He glowered at the two men, then motioned at Louise. Thin reddish fluid dribbled from the hole in his arm. "Get out of the way." When she refused to move, he grimaced, snatched her arm, and pushed her behind him, sending her stumbling into the arms of the two men edging up from the rear. Alex sprawled on the floor and lost his grip on the machete he'd pulled from his belt; it went skittering out of reach as McDole landed heavily on one hip and gasped. C.J. pounded toward them from far down the hallway.

"Vic," Stephen entreated. He held his hands out. "Please—"

The former bodybuilder ignored Stephen and hefted the woman to her feet, then grasped the chain a foot away from her ankle and literally tore it apart. He shoved the terrified woman into Stephen's outstretched arms and streaked into the next cubicle as Alex gained his bearings and dived for the machete, then dropped it again when the vampire hauled the final prisoner from his room and threw him at Alex and McDole.

"Get the hell out of here," he hissed. "Before Anyelet—uh!" His face slackened for a second, then his eyes widened and he grinned. He sank to his knees and pitched forward.

"Vic!" Stephen cried. He ran to the vampire's side and struggled to turn him over, face filled with dismay at the sight of C.J.'s arrow buried so deeply in Vic's back that it protruded through the front of his chest. Alex helped roll him on one side, hoping frantically that this unexpected ally would survive, but Vic raised a hand and waved them toward the open stairwell door behind them.

"Go on," he rasped. "I unlocked it." Alex had a flash memory of how horrible Deb's voice had sounded just before her death; this man’s was exactly the same. The vampire sucked in air and coughed; a gout of black-red heartblood gushed down the front of his white polo shirt. He looked down at it and smiled. "Good," he said in that awful death rattle. "I hated being like this." His head lowered to the floor and he was still.

McDole pulled the woman to her feet and yanked on Alex's arm. "Let's get out of here," he said urgently. "There's no telling how many more are coming. What the hell are you doing now?"

Perlman was yanking a syringe from his pocket. "Leaving them a present." He ripped off the wrapping and squirted its contents onto the vampire's chest. "Done—let's go."

"Oh, man," C.J. said. He crouched, looking toward the main staircase unhappily.

"We are in some serious shit now."