Sweet Blood of Mine by John Corwin Page A

baby cried in the distance. I tried to pinpoint the sound but it came from al directions. A woman screamed.
    Something inhuman seared the air with a roar of pure agony. What was going on? I'm going insane, that's what. I shoved the car back into drive.
    Somehow, I made it home although I almost plowed into the mailbox. I got out and staggered up to the door. I half expected to see a crazed vampire streaking down the road after me. Thankfuly, no. I barely remembered locking the front door behind me and then shoving furniture locking the front door behind me and then shoving furniture against it. Shoving more furniture in front of my bedroom door. Then the hardwood floor greeted my face.
    I woke up, panting, my heart thudding in my ears.
    A baby's screams sounded from somewhere outside my room. I climbed down from my bed and grabbed the plastic sword Daddy had given me. My palms sweated. I tightened my grip and stepped into the dark halway. Wails echoed down the long corridor. In one direction lay darkness. In the other, bright light. I turned for the light. I looked at the picture-lined wals. I couldn't make out the faces of the people. The harder I peered, the blurrier the images became.
    The baby screamed. I didn't know if it was terror or hunger, or if it had simply pooped in its diapers, but I ran. My padded pajama feet made little noise as I ran for the light. But the light only seemed to move further away.
    The faster I tried to run, the harder it was to move.
    "I'm coming!" I shouted, my voice sounding tiny.
    "I'l save you!" I brandished my toy sword, ready to meet any threat.
    A dark shadow passed over the light and blocked the center of the doorway. A tal hat perched atop the figure's head and a long walking cane rested in one hand. I stumbled, tripped, and went to my knees as dark dread gripped my heart and squeezed. The very air seemed to frost in my lungs.
    The figure held out its hands. A woman screamed in agony.
    "No!" I yeled. "Stop it!" But I couldn't move. I couldn't make him go away. I was only—
    My cel phone rang and I jerked awake. My ears hurt. My head hurt. Every part of me was in raw agony. I pushed myself off the floor, puled the phone from my pocket, and stared with bleary eyes at the screen. It was Crye. I answered.
    "Your appointment is at ten AM.," she said in a voice entirely too chipper. "Don't be late!"
    "Isn't it a school day?"
    "Teachers' work day. Don't you remember the announcement?"
    "Oh. Okay. I'l see you soon." I pushed myself up onto my knees. What a nightmare . It had to have been a nightmare. Vampires did not exist. Hot girls that approached sweaty smely fat kids after a workout also did not exist. I was even surer of that. And what was with the pregnant woman and the screaming baby? Maybe Stacey had slipped me some heroin.

    Besides the agony from yesterday's workout, I felt pretty normal. I stood up. A wave of dizziness almost took me back down and my foot throbbed. I staggered into the bathroom to get ready. I couldn't believe I had a hair styling appointment today. Simply thinking of "my hair" and "style"
    in the same sentence was a new concept for me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had it cut.
    As I showered, images of Stacey with her amber eyes and fangs flashed through my mind. Not real, not real, not real . I got out of the shower and regarded my long wet mop of a hairdo in the mirror. Then I noticed hand-shaped bruises the color of rotten blueberries on my biceps. I looked at my foot. A nasty greenish bruise covered my toes. Last night had happened. Stacey realy did exist. Maybe if I went about business as usual, I'd forget about the whole thing and never have to face a hot vampire woman again.
    Besides, today I would start the transformation that would leave me a different man—an improved man. A non-feasted-upon-by-vampires man. An undercurrent of apprehension gripped my nerves, but I ignored it. That was the stale old me talking, the version that would be making