Draculas

"Hang in there," Je

As Randall reached the third-floor landing, the door burst open and a dracula leaped through and ran straight into Randall's blade. The children screamed in panic and turned. They would have all tumbled head over heels down the stairs had Je

Randall gu

"Don't look!" Je

Clay said, "And don't worry about Twitchy up near the next landing. He's harmless."

He'd paused at the door to kick the dead dracula back through so he could close it, when he thought he heard a very human scream from somewhere down the hall.

He froze and listened. With Randall's chainsaw buzzing he couldn't be sure--

There! Again. No doubt now.

He looked up the stairs at Je

A third scream.

Shit!

"Hey, Bolton," he called. "I think someone's in trouble here. I'm go

Je

"Yeah. What floor is this?"

"OB."

"Like babies and stuff?"

"Exactly like babies and stuff."

Double shit.

"See you upstairs. When you get up there, call KREZ and say Deputy Clay Theel wants them to land their copter on the roof. You've got sick kids that need evacuating."

"What if they won't?"

"A news station passing up the chance to be heroes and make news instead of just reporting it? What do you think?"

"Will do. But you be careful."

"Careful is my middle name."

Actually, Clay's middle name was Rambo, but tonight he'd make it Careful. Rambo...sheesh. His daddy loved that movie, but he hoped Sha

"Hey, Bolton," he called. "Any shots left in that Taurus?"

Randall was out of sight but his words echoed back. "Used them all."

"Good man. Keep my baby safe."

"Um, I had to leave it."

"What?" Clay couldn't believe this. "You left Alice?"

"Alice?"

"My Taurus!"

"Well, it was empty and--"

"Alice is a Taurus Raging Bull four-fifty-four Casull, the most powerful handgun in the world--"

"And would blow your head clean off...I know. But it--she would've made a lousy club. Sorry."

Sorry? Sorry didn't cut it. Alice was--

Another scream from down the hall. Damn. Okay, he'd worry about his baby later.

He quickly reloaded the MM-1, making sure each of the twelve chambers in the cylinder had a live round, then headed down the hall.

Randall

"WE need to change this up," Randall said, stopping and looking back at Je

Je

"I'm not so good with stairs right now. I don't want to fall and crush anybody."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. If I fall, it'll be better if I'm in the back."

"All right." Je

They'd all be fine.

Happy endings for all.

As far as Randall was concerned, if you couldn't defend four boys from a dracula invasion with a roaring chainsaw, then you didn't deserve to carry a roaring chainsaw, right? He'd get them and Je

An excellent plan.

He knew it wasn't really going to happen like that. Hell, ten seconds after they flew off in that helicopter, Je

Jesus. What was wrong with him?

He knew exactly what was wrong. Right now, almost every part of his body hurt, but what concerned him most wasn't the parts that hurt, it was the part that tingled.

A mild, unpleasant tingle, like that moment after you'd had a filling when the Novocain was just starting to wear off.

A tingle right under his teeth.

Shit.

Why the hell had he bit the clown? What kind of stupid idiot would do a thing like that? He'd saved the woman he loved, was probably going to save a bunch of kids, and he might have irreparably fucked it up by getting caught up in the heat of battle.

Or not. They didn't know how this dracula stuff worked. They couldn't. Not this quick. Blood might not have anything to do with it. There could be some fuckin' sorcerer in the basement, waving his Harry Potter wand and creating these things. And he'd washed his mouth out with rubbing alcohol.

He wasn't necessarily screwed.

Je

He smiled. See? No dracula teeth.

He was fine. The tingling meant nothing. Could be anything. It wasn't even that bad. He could barely feel it unless he concentrated. No way was he going to get this far, go through this much crap, and ruin his happy ending. Randall Bolton was going to be a hero, a muscle-bound lumberjack taking out dozens of monsters with his trusty chainsaw, not the asshole who turned into one of them.

Or the asshole who suspected that something was happening and didn't tell anyone.

"Je

She stopped. "Yes?"

"No, keep moving. We'll talk while we walk." His mouth had gone dry. "Je

"Oh, God."

"No, no, no, don't panic. I'm not...I haven't...I think I'm fine. None of the other draculas are as big as me, and it would take longer to affect me even if I were...I think you were right, swishing around that rubbing alcohol helped, but I just...I didn't want to not say anything, in case, but I swear I feel fine."

They passed the next landing. At least there were no draculas in the stairwell. That was something.

Almost there.

Almost to the magical helicopter that would whisk them away from all this.

"I just want you to know, I'm not go

"I know."

He was just overreacting. He posed no danger to anybody but the draculas. Hell, he was going to get Je

No.

No!

He wanted to scream as one of his bottom teeth fell out.