Draculas

Until he started drinking. Then a new Randall emerged. Violent. He never touched her, never even raised a hand to her. But he'd break things and pick fights with other people. She'd finally given him an ultimatum: Je

Now he seemed more like the man she'd fallen in love with.

"Get out of here, Randall. Save yourself."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jen. You know that. Let's go save those sick kids."

Je

"Of course it's for you. But it's also so those little diseased children don't become dracula snacks. We need to get them safe so they can be sick and die in peace."

A dracula launched itself at the duo, and Randall pushed Je

"Come on!"

Randall grabbed Je

"Maybe an elevator?" Randall said. He stared down at his leg, which was dripping blood from torn stitches.

"Aw, Randall..."

Dropping to her knees, Je

"Randall!"

"Sorry," he said, turning red. "Ain't been with anyone since you left."

"Really?" Randall wasn't smart, but he was handsome and charming, and he'd had a steady stream of girlfriends before they met. Though Je

"Well, five-finger Mary, if you know what I'm saying."

Je

Or maybe it wasn't so irrational. In times of stress, humans often regressed to base behaviors.

"Have, uh...you?" he asked.

"What?"

"Been with anyone since the divorce?"

"That's not your business, Randall."

"Yeah." He looked away. "Sorry."

Je

He moped along behind, and when they reached the elevator, Je

The elevator dinged, and when the doors opened a dracula darted out, tackling Je

She fell backward, the creature atop her, snarling and gnashing its horrible teeth. Je

Then, as quickly as she'd been pi

Randall had jerked Nurse Fortescue off Je

The thing that was once Fortescue thrashed and hissed, and Randall dropped his big knee onto the monster's ribcage, pressing on the edge of the blade with both his palms, shaking it back and forth until Je

Still, the teeth gnashed and feet--claws bursting out through the gym shoes--continued to kick and writhe. It wasn't until Randall had the head completely severed and pushed away from the body, that the monster was finally still.

"You okay?" he asked, staring up at his ex-wife.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you turned the saw on?"

"Outta gas. Still works pretty good, though."

Je

"Nurse Fortescue is from pediatrics," she said. "We need to move. Now."

Lanz

SINGLY and in pairs, all but two teeth had fallen out of Dr. Kurt Lanz's gums. He cupped them in his hands. He'd counted them.

He knew.

How? Why? He'd been racking his brain for a reason. He hadn't been bitten or cut. He--

Oh no! Moorecook had been seizuring when Lanz arrived, spraying bloody saliva everywhere. Some had landed on his face. A fleck must have reached his lips. He'd been contaminated through his mucous membranes instead of directly into his blood. A tiny inoculum. A delayed reaction. A slower transformation.

Screams erupted on the far side of the door, followed by gunfire. He rose and pressed his ear against the steel. Sounded like chaos out there. Good thing--

Something slammed against the door. He jerked back as fists began pounding the other side and someone screamed to be let in.

No fucking way, Jose.

The pounding and screaming stopped abruptly. Shaken, Lanz sat again. If he could just hold out here till the cavalry rode in, he'd be--

The faint sound of a siren filtered through the door. Had the sheriff sent someone?

Okay...he could control this. Maybe not the physical aspects, but he refused to become a bloodthirsty beast like the others. He was a doctor, for fuck's sake. He was educated. And he was certainly more intelligent than any dozen of these yokels combined.

His last two teeth dropped from his gums.

Didn't matter. He was better than the rest. He'd beat this.

Sudden blasts of agony shrieked from his fingers and drove him to his knees as hooked claws burst from the tips.

And then indescribable pain from his jaws as the fangs erupted and tore through his cheeks and lips, like he'd forced his face into a wood chipper.

His vision blurred, then cleared. He saw everything in such detail now, like switching from a blurry black-and-white TV to hi-def. Same for his sense of smell. A delicious, mouth-watering odor was wafting through the door. He recognized it: blood. Beautiful, warm, red, delicious blood. He had to--

No! He was better than this. The cops were here. He'd heard the sirens. He'd stay in here and explain through the door what had happ--