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It wasn’t even his town, and yet he kept going.
He looked at Val, who had the most to lose of any of them because of that little babe that was just starting to grow in her belly. She should leave, she most of all should just turn around and find some way out of this town. She’d already lost too much, and yet she kept going.
Then he looked at Crow, who had been tortured by this since Griswold had killed his brother and then tried to kill him. Crow had been in and out of the bottle, had wrestled with enough personal demons. Maybe he had the biggest stake in this because he always believed that the evil had never gone away. Even so, he could have left; he should have packed Val and maybe Mike into a car and driven out of town after they discovered who and what Boyd was. He knew that he was on a suicide mission, that there was no foreseeable way that the four of them could stand against all those monsters, let alone against Griswold and what he was about to become. He should leave, and yet he kept going.
They reached the bottom of the pitch and stood facing down the long corridor of twisted trees. The sounds of shrieks and laughter from the Hollow filled the air, even from this distance. The Bone Man, invisible, stood behind them and watched them brace themselves, check their weapons, exchange handshakes or hugs, and then head down the road toward death.
The Bone Man was done here, he had no reason to even stand and watch, let alone follow. He was nearly powerless, and he was free. And yet he kept going.
Chapter 48
1
They stopped at a point a hundred yards back from the cleared space around the swamp, squatting down behind a clump of wild rosebushes. Beyond was a sight out of Hell itself.
Hundreds of vampires writhed together in a perverse orgy of unbound passion and violent ecstasy, throwing themselves at each other, sometimes biting, sometimes kissing.
They dragged each other to the ground and fed on the stolen blood in each other’s veins; they did unspeakable things to each other and enticed others to do the same or worse to them. It was a celebration of their strength, of their powers to do and take harm, of their supernatural endurance, of their vampire nature. If any human had been a part of that press or caught in those acts of fervent cruelty, he would have died within the first few moments,
LaMastra clutched at Crow’s sleeve. “There’s too many of them!”
“I know. ” He nudged Mike. “Do you see Griswold? Has he risen yet?”
“No,” the boy answered in a tight whisper. “We still have a few minutes. I didn’t even think we’d be in time. It’ll happen soon, though. I can feel it. ”
LaMastra made a noise. “What is it, a disturbance in the Force?”
“Vince,” Val said.
“Sorry. ”
Crow closed his eyes and tried to picture the landscape as he remembered it during the day. “I have an idea,” he said and outlined it quickly. Val gasped, but she kept her comments in check.
“As plans go,” LaMastra sighed, “that really sucks. ”
Mike said, “It’s the best we got. ”
“Right. ” Crow looked at Val. “I . . . don’t know what to . . . ”
Her eyes glittered like polished onyx. “Say ‘I love you, Val Guthrie,’ and then get your ass in gear, Mr. Crow. ”
He grinned. “I love you, Val Guthrie. ”
“I love you, too. ”
She turned away from him and focused her attention down on the writhing mass of undead bodies. Crow lingered for a moment longer, staring at her profile, then he rose, nodded to LaMastra and Mike. “Give me five minutes. ”
“I don’t know if we have that much time. ”
“Then give me what you can. ”
Mike rose and walked the first few yards with him. “Crow,”
he said quietly, “if I don’t get a chance later . . . I just wanted to say thanks. ”
“For what?”
“For being there for me when no one else was. I mean before all this happened. You were always cool, you always treated me like a person, like I was worth something. ”
