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last-ditch effort, Jonah flung himself over and hauled back his free foot. Before he could fire off a good face-kick, however, the vampire latched onto his ankle.
    Now, both of Jonah's legs were locked in the vampire's icy vice-grips.
    Guess we'll make it a triple funeral tomorrow. Mom, Dad, and me.
    Or will he make me a vampire instead?
    As the vampire loomed over him, Jonah could only think of the feratu in his chest, the same hideous creature that had been inside the blonde in the alley. One bite from the vampire, and the feratu would lay its eggs inside Jonah. The next thing he knew, a baby feratu would be eating his heart and growing inside him.
    I'd rather die.
    Fortunately, before all that could happen, a machine gun chattered.
    The vampire jittered and twitched as high-velocity ammo peppered his body. Blood leaked from the holes in his head and chest, and the look in his eyes went blank.
    Without a word, he slumped on his side in the gravel.
    Jonah scrambled out from under him, desperate to avoid any feratu that might come crawling out. As he bolted to his feet, he saw Stanza in the church doorway, holding the machine gun. Mavis stood behind her, looking around nervously.
    Now that the immediate danger was over, uncontrollable shivers seized Jonah's body. "Twice in one day! That's twice!"
    Stanza hurried down the stairs toward the only car in the lot—a red PT Cruiser nosed up against the building. "And I saved you again. That's two bonuses in one day." She reached into the rear wheel well on the driver's side and pulled out a magnetic key box.
    "This is insane! " The shivers rose up in Jonah and propelled him in an angry dance complete with primal scream.
    Stanza popped a key out of the magnetic box and opened the driver's side door. "Nice car," she said to Mavis. "Needs gas?"
    Mavis seemed shell-shocked. She kept staring at her bloody hands and clothes. "What?"
    "Still want to hang around here?" said Stanza. "Wait for more playmates?"
    Mavis shook her head and drifted toward the car. "I just filled the tank." She plucked at her blood-soaked pants. "Need a seat cover."
    "No kidding." Stanza jogged past her into the building.
    When Mavis and Jonah were alone in the parking lot, Mavis stared at him with a look of complete bewilderment. "Did this really just happen?"
    "Either that, or we took the same acid," said Jonah.
    "Everything's ruined." Mavis gestured over her shoulder at the church. "My life is ruined!"
    "Join the club," said Jonah.
    Mavis walked away from him, then turned back. "You saved my life."
    Jonah shrugged.
    I did, didn't I? Chickenshit and everything.
    I saved somebody's life.
    "It's no big deal," said Jonah.
    Mavis stared at him with a funny look on her face—confused, upset...and something else that he wasn't quite sure about.
    Angry?
    Just then, Stanza raced out of the building with a blue plastic tarpaulin slung over her arms.
    "Put this on the seat," said Stanza, chucking the tarp at Jonah. "We're outta here."
    "And go where?" Mavis' face was smeared with blood. "Where can we possibly be safe from these monsters?"
    Stanza smiled. "A vampire town, of course."
    Then, she dropped into the driver's seat and started the PT cruiser's engine.
    Â 

    *****
    Â 
    Chapter 9

    Genghis laughed as Thomas drained the blood from the vampire's corpse sprawled over the church pew. "You and your sloppy seconds!" He ruffled Thomas' hair.
    Thomas looked up, his fangs and lips dripping with blood. "I'm not letting perfectly good juice go to waste!"
    Shakespeare's impulse was to tear the boy from his feast and put him through a wall.
    Raised by the most degenerate of our kind, this child is little better than an animal. If he can drink our own dead with such zest, there is nothing he won't do.
    But Shakespeare didn't follow his impulse. He saw Genghis watching for his reaction, but he didn't give him the satisfaction.
    In the interest of preserving the truce, I shall hew to the business at hand. Time enough