"Maybe, probably, but I think we should hold off for just a little while until they've had some time. I think the immediate problem is the blood-sucker that did this."
"I agree, we find him and kill him."
"We can't kill him without a court order of execution," I said.
"I know the local judge. I can get you a court order."
"I bet you can."
"What's the matter with you? Don't you want to kill him?"
I looked at the girl. If he'd really wanted her to rise as a vampire, he'd have taken the body with him. He'd have hidden her until she rose to keep her safe from people like me. If he cared for her. "Yeah, I'll kill him for you."
"Alright, what can we do?"
"Well, first, the killing took place just after dark, so his daytime resting place had to be very near here. Are there any old houses, caves, some place where you could hide a coffin?"
"There's an old homestead about a mile from here, and I know there's a cave down along the stream. I used to go there when I was little. We all did."
"Here's the deal, Sheriff. If we go out into the dark after him now, he'll probably kill some of us. But if we don't try it tonight, he'll move his coffin. We might not find him again."
"We'll look for him tonight. Now."
"How long have you and your wife been married?" I asked.
"Five years; why?"
"You love her?"
"Yes, we were high school sweethearts. What kind of question is that?"
"If you go out after the vampire, you may never see her again. If you've never hunted one out there at night in its own territory, you don't know what we're up against, and nothing I can tell you will prepare you for it. But think about never seeing Beth again. Never holding her hand. Never hearing her voice. We can go out in the morning. The vampire may not move its coffin tonight, or it might move from the cave to the homestead, or vice versa. We might catch it tomorrow without risking anybody's life."
"Do you think it won't move tonight?"
I took a deep breath and wanted to lie. God knows I wanted to lie. "No, I think it'll leave the immediate area tonight. That's probably why he came just after full dark. It gives him all night to run."
"Then we go after him."
I nodded. "Okay, but we have to have some ground rules here. I'm in charge. I've done this before and I'm still alive; that makes me an expert. If you do everything I say, maybe, just maybe, we can all live until morning."
"Except for the vampire," St. John said.
"Yeah, sure." It had been a long time since I had gone up against a vampire at night in the open. My vampire kit was at home in my closet. It was illegal to carry it with me without a specific court order of execution. I had the cross I was wearing, the two handguns, the two knives, and that was it. No holy water, no extra crosses, no shotgun. Hell, no stake and mallet.
"Do you have silver bullets?"
"I can get some."
"Do it, and find me a shotgun and silver ammo for that too. Is there a Catholic or Episcopalian church around here?"
"Of course," he said.
"We need some holy water and holy wafer, the host."
"I know you can throw the holy water on the vampire, but I didn't know you could throw the host."
I had to smile. "They aren't like little holy grenades. I want the host to give to the Quinlans so they can put one at every windowsill, every doorsill."