back, and she let herself fall into the priest's embrace. Her tears soaked into his vestments as the past ten years began unraveling. Ben's bright blue eyes shining as he laughed. His hand on her shoulder. His quiet concentration when he picked up a book. His grim determination as…
…they entered the vampire nest. The vampires had holed up in a large house in north Denver. It had taken the hunters nearly a week to track them; the nest never stayed in one place for long. Ben kicked the front door open, letting the afternoon sun stream into the dark interior. They entered, guns at the ready, and waited for their eyes to adjust. She could hear Ben's steady breathing next to her.
Once the darkness had retreated from their sight, they moved up a stairway along the right-hand wall. The boards creaked beneath their boots, announcing their presence, but no monsters came flying out of the shadows. The hunters went from room to room on the second floor, ensuring each was clean of undead before moving on. Boards covered the windows, letting in only thin streams of sunlight. The floor lay under a thin carpet of dust that swirled around their spurs.
They found a second staircase in a hallway attached to the main bedroom. Ben led the way down, rifle at the ready and saber on his hip. Cora kept her big Colt pointed behind them as they descended. The stairs emptied into a large kitchen. The shadows of cooking stoves lurked in the corners of the room, their fires long dead. Baskets of stale bread sat on shelves lining the walls. A door to their right opened into a pantry. In the dim light Cora could see cans of vegetables and fruit.
As they moved toward a door across the room, Ben stooped down and picked something up. He turned to his wife and handed her his find: a small hatchet. She took the handle in her free hand, then looked at him with a question in her eyes.
"We need some sunlight in here," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "Go on back upstairs and see to the windows."
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'll hold the line right here," he said. "Hurry on back so we can lick these bastards."
Cora nodded and, keeping her pistol handy, made her way back up to the second floor. Starting in the main bedroom, she began chopping away the boards covering the windows. The hatchet was light but still sharp, and streams of sunlight soon began filling the room. Her efforts echoed through the house, making her more than a little nervous. She kept one eye on the door, ready to drop the hatchet and open up with her pistol at the first sign of a vampire, but nothing came. Moving from room to room, Cora worked as fast as she could. Soon, the upper floor was awash in late afternoon sunlight.
When she finished, she made her way back down to the kitchen, dropping the hatchet by the bottom of the staircase. "All set up there," she said.
Ben was gone.
Her Colt's hammer clicked in the stillness. She gave the room a thorough sweep with her eyes before moving from her place next to the stairs. The kitchen was silent. Lowering her gaze to the floor, she checked for any sign of a struggle. The carpet of dust remained undisturbed save for two sets of tracks leading toward the far door. She knelt down next to them and took a closer look. One set belonged to Ben's boots, and the other had been made by a pair of smaller shoes.
A thrill ran through her as she began following the tracks. She didn't know how someone could have survived in a vampire nest, but they must have heard her racket upstairs and come looking. Perhaps a butler had been trapped or away when the vampires attacked, or perhaps it was a drifter taking advantage of the abandoned house. Either way, Ben must have taken him outside as soon as he appeared.
Keeping her eyes on the trail, she followed it out of the kitchen and through the central hallway of the house. The fresh sunlight pouring from the second story gave the house a glow like deep twilight. The tracks led her to a closed door near the front of the house. Cora stared at the door in confusion. If Ben had found a survivor, he would have taken him outside to keep him safe, so why