out most of the time, because he’d been pretty hysterical any time he started to come to. They couldn’t keep him doped up forever, but they also couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him mentally and emotionally. Yes, he’d been through serious trauma and his father’s death, but it was almost as if he were having hallucinations when he was awake and horrible nightmares if he slept without the drugs. Henry was a very big, strong guy to have the nurses waking him from nightmares or trying to control him during waking hallucinations.
Dr Bill Aimes was tall, athletic in that I-hit-the-treadmill-and-light-weights kind of way, with short blond hair and steel-rimmed glasses. He was stumped at how to help Little Henry. ‘Is there anything that a vampire could do to him that would cause waking hallucinations and night terrors?’
‘Some vampires can cause terror in a person and feed off it, like a sort of metaphysical snack, but usually they have to be physically closer to do it. It’s usually a touch-distance kind of thing.’
‘Could they be causing the fear and visions so they could keep feeding off him from a distance?’
I thought about it. ‘I’d normally say no, but this vampire has done so many things that I would have said were impossible that I wouldn’t rule it out. I can tell you, though, that if he’s got a connection to a vampire, I should be able to sense it.’
‘How would you sense it?’
‘It’s hard to explain unless you have a background in psychic ability,’ I said.
He smiled and shook his head. ‘No, I’m strictly a touch-it-and-it’s-real person. I don’t even believe in God, because I can’t put him in a test tube.’
‘You’re an atheist?’ I asked.
He nodded.
‘Then you can’t use holy objects against vampires, or faith against the demonic.’
‘I think holy objects glow because of the individual’s faith in them, and I’ve never met a demon.’
The way he said it made me ask, ‘Do you not believe in demons?’
‘If I don’t believe in God, it’s very hard to believe in the rest.’
‘Angels?’ I asked.
‘Sorry, but no.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, before I could stop myself.
‘Sorry about what?’ he asked.
‘Your world is very … narrow, Dr Aimes. I find that sad, and it also means if vampires attack us you have to hide behind all of us believers.’
He laughed. ‘I will hide behind you proudly and keep not believing in all the glowy stuff.’
‘All right, you can hide behind me, but in the meantime I’ll see what I can sense from Henry Crawford.’
‘I hope you can give us some clue, because it’s almost as if he’s continuing to be freshly traumatized in the dreams and hallucinations.’
‘Aren’t night terrors by definition traumatizing?’ I asked.
He seemed to think about that and then nodded. ‘I suppose so, but these seem different. I’ve worked with patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and helped them work through some truly terrible memories, and all I can tell you is that there is something different going on here and I have no idea what it is.’
‘Vampire mind games can fuck with stuff,’ I said.
He grinned suddenly and gave a small laugh. ‘Well, I guess you would be the expert on vampires.’
I agreed with him, gathered up Nicky, and went to see Little Henry Crawford.
70
Little Henry looked smaller lying down than he had standing up, and hospital gowns make us all look somehow shrunken and weak, but none of it could hide that he was still six foot seven, with a spread of shoulders that was almost wide enough to touch the metal railings of the bed. Who would look at this guy and think, Him, I’ll have him, and I’ll totally fuck – him – up!
Everyone in the search group had been physically smaller, so why him and his dad? I asked Nicky, ‘Why did they take him and his father? They’re both ex-military, ex-special forces, in good shape, and they are both well over six feet tall. You saw the other search team members; would the Crawfords have been your choice of prey?’
‘None of the vampires I saw were ex-military. They’re undead, but that doesn’t give them experience they didn’t have in real life.’
‘You’re saying they couldn’t judge who was dangerous and who wasn’t?’
‘Not like you and I can.’
‘But the two men are still huge; that’s not something you need training to see,’ I said.
‘True.’
‘It’s like a lion pride going after a giraffe when there are plenty of gazelles to choose from.’
‘But if you have enough lions