the floor, trembling with the need to get to her twin but unable to disobey. As he lifted his head, he came face-to-face with both barrels of the shotgun.
"So, he's still alive, is he?" Both the gun and the laugh were shaky. "I couldn't feel a heartbeat. You sure?"
Henry could hear the slow and labored beating of Storm's heart, could feel the blood struggling to keep moving through passages constricted by poison. He allowed his own blood lust to rise. "I know life," he said, stepping forward. "And I know death."
"Yeah?" Mark wet his lips. "And I know Bo Jackson. Hold it right there."
Henry smiled. "No." Vampire. Prince of Darkness. Child of the Night. It all showed in Henry's smile.
The table against his back made retreat impossible; Mark had no choice but to stand fast. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dribbled down the side of his nose. This was the demon he'd shot in the forest. Man-shaped but nothing manlike in its expression. "I - I don't know what you are," he stammered, forcing his trembling fingers to maintain their grip on the gun, "but I know you can be hurt."
One more step would move the barrel of the weapon around enough so that Cloud would be out of the line of fire. One more step, Henry told himself fueling the hunger with rage, and this thing is mine. He raised his foot.
The barn door slammed back, crashing against the wall and breaking the tableau.
"Drop it!" Celluci commanded from the doorway.
Stuart snarled a counterpoint beside him, the effort of will it took to hold his attack while Cloud remained in danger sending tremors rippling across the muscles of his back. Her howl had yanked him from the car before it had quite stopped and pulled him unthinking into the barn in human form where the clothes he wore confined his shape.
The shotgun barrel dipped then rose again. "I don't think so."
"What the hell is going on out here?" Carl Biehn demanded, rifle covering the two men standing in the open doorway. He'd heard the car race down the driveway; heard it stop, spraying gravel; heard the howl and known that Satan's creatures were involved. It had taken him only a moment to snatch up his rifle and he'd arrived at the barn just behind the men from the car. He still didn't know what was going on, but his nephew needed his help, that much was obvious. "Put the safety on and toss your revolver to the ground." He gestured with the rifle. "Over there, away from everyone."
Teeth gritted, Celluci did as he was told. He couldn't see as he had an option. The snap of steel jaws closing as the gun hit the floor startled everyone about equally.
"Traps," Stuart said, pointing. "There and there." The dirt floor just beyond his bare foot had been disturbed. "And here."
Mark smiled. "Pity you don't take longer strides."
"Now move over there," Carl commanded, "by the others so I can get a... " As they picked their way between the traps and into the lamplight, he recognized Stuart and his eyes narrowed. All day he had prayed for an answer to his doubts and now the Lord delivered the leader of the ungodly into his hands. Then he saw Cloud, still crouched behind Henry, ignoring everything but the body on the table.
Then he saw Storm.
He lowered the rifle from his shoulder to his hip, holding it balanced by the pistol grip, finger still resting on the trigger. Keeping the muzzle carefully pointed toward the group of intruders now clustered together at one side of the barn, he moved to stand beside the table. "What," he repeated, "is going on here? How did this creature die?"
"He's not dead!" Rose threw herself into Stuart's arms. "He's not dead, Uncle Stuart! He's not."
"I know, Rose. And we'll save him." He stroked her hair, glaring at the younger human who stared at her as though he'd never seen skin before. She needed comfort but, if they were to save themselves and Storm, too, better she have the use of tooth and claw. Silently he cursed the clothing that held him to human form. "Change now," he told her. "Watch. Be ready."
"Stop that!" The rifle swung from Stuart to Cloud and back again. "You will do no more devil's tricks!"
Cloud whined but Stuart buried his hand in the thick fur behind her head and said quietly, "Wait."
Carl swallowed hard. The pain in the creature's eyes as it, no,