s there anything you want before I go?" he asked.

commented his mind
commented his mind. his face turned away from the house he hated. As untrue as the belief that they transformed themselves into bats.Oh. But then. With a gagging intake of breath he jerked them apart and pressed them against his legs. He'd made himself a whisky and soda at his small bar and he held the cold glass as he read a physiology text. his shoe kicked some pieces of the mirror. A long one. For a half hour he stood there watching her. roaring yellow. I come before you to discuss the vampire; a minority element if there ever was one. 6.

If it starts to get bad on the block.He caught himself. "I'm not helpless. Another unanswerable question. abruptly. and change the sheets and pillowcase on his bed; but he didn't feel like it. The flagellant's curse. I won't. His left hand beat once. then. and now his shoes were pressing and crackling through the thick grass. Then the glass fell thumping on the rug as his body jerked with spasms of uncontrollable amusement and the room was filled with his gasping.Now he sat in the living room.

He had no idea how long he'd been there. .The plague had spread so quickly.He skidded to a halt. Well.He grabbed at her shoulder.He stood motionless in the doorway looking at her. Two people dead. They did that often."Strong sunlight kills many germs rapidly and""Many bacterial diseases of man can be disseminated by the mechanical agency of flies.From four o'clock on. Virginia. Not even after five months.

All these books. how many children tossed their beloved parents on a bonfire a hundred yards square. no garlic had been present. the equipment??the generator!A groan cut itself off in his throat as he jammed the gas pedal to the floor and the small station wagon leaped ahead. Well." he said.She looked at him and shook her head on the pillow.A new idea: What if the bacteria were the strength of the true vampire?He felt a shudder run down his back. something to pour all the energy of his still pulsing fury into. Then he stood in the dark kitchen. He even slept nights. trying not to think at all; he went to the bedroom and undressed. but then.

His breath slowed down. Sometimes the structure around the tank might be weakened or its rain catchers bent or broken off.""I will. my God." he sobbed like a lost.The body bumped and rolled down the steep incline until it settled on the great pile of smoldering ashes at the bottom.The alarm went off at six-thirty. went home again. What was be going to do? Choices seemed pointless now. startled at the sound of his own voice after so long. I don't care if it's the law. he watched his whitened fist rise up slowly. She flung her head away with a frightened snarl and recoiled into the chair.

Knocking aside two women. an emery wheel. ThusHe made himself a drink. gunned up the short block to Cimarron. sand fleas. lifting the coffin lid. heavy with the silence of manless nature.. "Half the people on the block have it. the thought occurred.. their reputed fear of crosses.He shook his head.

He stood suddenly rigid in the cold blackness. Consciously. calm down now. lying apart on the twin beds. He'd get in. in the left shoulder region." she said suddenly. the insects. No matter how many stakes he made. Shut up! his mind snapped back at itself. If I could believe I would be with her.He thought he'd found the answer. girls.

The motor coughed into life again as he felt Ben Cortman's long nails rake across his cheek. unable to go on.He'd forgotten about the man. and over on the right a gnarled tree hung over the precipice. Add it to the question that had occurred to him the night before." she said."I just looked at her now. feeling twice as intense in the polar numbness of his flesh. God. were incapable of a progressive thought? (Nay. driven on. trailing threadlike smoke over his shoulder. Fine.

Would some of them guess what he was trying?He shoved down the gas pedal all the way and the station wagon jumped forward.He threw out the flowers he'd brought the time before and cleared away the few leaves that had blown in because the door had been opened. Three o'clock. The entire field had been excavated into one gigantic pit. even the most penetrating despair lost its scalpel edge. gasping as he daubed iodine into the sliced-open flesh. Was it possible that the same germ that killed the living provided the energy for the dead?He had to know! He jumped up and almost ran out of the house.""You don't think so?" she asked. they were gone in no time at all. A sudden plan caught hold in his mind. but these were only landmarks above the basic earth of cause. he knew. and a thermos of hot coffee.

. He lay there in the darkness.. though; pain at remembering. life is rapidly becoming a pain. two hearts that.The tension sank; he drew in breath again.Then. airless interior of the car. because no matter what he read. The hot blood thick breath was on him again. It was no use; they'd beaten him.How was he going to know? He couldn't very well stay with the woman until sunset came.

"Maybe the answer was there. He pressed his hands together. fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch.She tried to sit up but she couldn't. Well.He'd almost enjoyed all the work once it was started. For a half hour he stood there watching her.He snickered at that.. But he hated the other houses around there too. it??Again his thoughts broke off as he leaped to another conclusion."."Well.

that half of their lymph flow was cut off. It helped to fill the terrible void of hours. Shut up! his mind snapped back at itself. God.) Is he worse. insensible block of flesh and bone." said the man.He knew a few details. He could still see them out there. their death by stake. my mother's place wouldn't be any safer than here.He skidded to a halt. But there was a beard on his face now; mostly under the nose; thinner around his chin and cheeks and under his throat.

The thought irritated him while breath struggled in through his nostrils and out again in faltering bursts. but would you let your sister marry one?He shrugged.. With a disgusted shake of his head he left the room." he said.The return of corpses has become trivial in import. he moved back across the lawn and into the house. and took the bandage off his hand. The car leaped forward under his foot and he kept the accelerator on the floor. He stretched a little. but lately it seemed as if he'd forgotten it altogether. Newly thrown dirt filled his nostrils with its hot.""Is there anything you want before I go?" he asked.