Blood Run by Christine Dougherty Read Free Book Online Page A

with to offer information. Normally she’d have kept her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself.
    “Yeah, kudzu, that’s right. About two miles in, the kudzu really takes over. It’s almost nighttime dark in there. And then a vamp just…he came out of nowhere and started chasing us. He chased us right up to the edge.”
    “To the edge of the woods? Right before we found you?” Mark said.
    Promise nodded, her face very pale as she remembered.
    “It was faster than Ash, too,” she said. “It was outrunning us.”
    Mark lowered his spoon and stared at her. “Faster than a horse?” His voice was more frustrated fear than incredulity. “And it came almost into the sun?”
    “It was overcast while it was chasing us, plus like I said, the woods are so dark in spots. Then the sun came out all at once. It started to burn up…that’s what stopped it.”
    “I don’t like it. We should tell Mr. West tomorrow. It’s weird that one of them was out during the day. It’s…” Mark trailed off, shaking his head.
    Lea opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, a warbling scream started up outside. Not far from the safe house, either.
    They all froze, listening. The scream came again, starting low, almost a buzz, and then cycled up and up, raising goose bumps on their arms. Ash, who’d been dozing with his head down, snorted uneasily.
    “Is it human or…?” Mark trailed off, whispering.
    Promise shook her head, and Lea sat mute, her eyes wide.
    Silence.
    They waited for the sound to come again, two minutes, then three. Then Mark started eating again. “Maybe a bobcat or even a raccoon. Don’t worry, girls, I don’t think–”
    A fusillade of pounding came from the front door, and they all jumped up. Mark’s chair fell over backward, crashing to the floor, and Lea jumped again, yelping. Then Mark bolted to the door, grabbing a stake on the way.
    “What?” he yelled, one shoulder pressed against the door. There was a standard peephole, but without electricity, they couldn’t have sustained lighting outside the safe houses. They also didn’t want to draw attention to them. So he had no way of seeing who pounded on the door.
    “It’s me…Allen! Let me in!”
    Mark hesitated and looked to Promise where she stood in the hall. Shadows jumped and swayed from the gas lantern in her hand. She’d grabbed a stake, too. She shrugged her shoulders at Mark.
    The pounding came again. “Let me in! I heard something screaming behind the house! Let me in, let me in!”
    The vampires weren’t capable of normal human speech, but the person on the other side of the door could be bit…he could be changing. On the other hand, they couldn’t leave someone outside. They’d be dead or gone over by morning, without question.
    Mark held up three fingers to Promise and nodded. She nodded back and waved Lea forward. Lea went to the door, and her hand fluttered over the heavy bolt. She looked at Mark where he’d taken up a spot on the other side of the door. He nodded and counted down on his hand…one…two…on ‘three’ Lea pulled the bolt and turned the door handle, yanking backward. A figure fell through the door, and Mark was on him, holding him against the floor as Lea pushed the door closed and shot the bolt back home. Mark grunted, and Promise stood over the struggling bodies, stake at the ready.
    “Stop fighting me!” Mark’s voice was a roar, and the body beneath his ceased movement. Mark sat up, his hands on the boy’s shoulders. He was young, thirteen or so, thin and disheveled, and he looked very scared. Mark motioned for Promise to lower the lantern.
    The boy lifted his head, showing the dirty line of his neck, and the lantern hollowed his cheeks and bruised the circles under his eyes. But he was unmarked.
    “Are you bit, Allen?” Promise asked, and the boy shook his head.
    “No! No, I swear I’m not! I didn’t even see any vampires!”
    Mark looked up at Promise, and she shrugged. He