"I know the signs, Larry. You're determined to kill the monsters because you've got a grudge, don't you?"
He hunched his shoulders and stared straight ahead. The muscles in his jaws clenched and unclenched.
"Talk to me, Larry," I said.
"The town I come from is small, fifteen hundred people. While I was away at college my freshman year, twelve people were murdered by a pack of vampires. I didn't know them, any of them, really. I knew them to say hi to, but that was it."
"Go on."
He glanced at me. "I went to the funerals over Christmas break. All those coffins, all those families. My dad was a doctor, but he couldn't help them. Nobody could help them."
"I remember the case," I said. "Elbert, Wisconsin, three years ago, right?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"Twelve people is a lot for a single vampire kill. It made the papers. Brett Colby was the vampire hunter they got for the job."
"I never met him, but my parents told me about him. They made him sound like a cowboy riding into town to take down the bad guys. He found and killed five vampires. He helped the town when nobody else could."
"If you just want to help people, Larry, be a social worker, or a doctor."
"I'm an animator; I've got a built-in resistance to vampires. I think God meant for me to hunt them."
"Geez Louise, Larry, don't go on a holy crusade, you'll end up dead."
"You can teach me."
I shook my head. "Larry, this isn't personal. It can't be personal. If you let your emotions get in the way, you'll either get killed or go stark raving mad."
"I'll learn, Anita."
I stared at his profile. He looked so stubborn. "Larry..." I stopped. What could I say? What brought any of us into this business? Maybe his reasons were as good as my own, maybe better. It wasn't just love of killing, like with Edward. And heaven knew I needed help. There were getting to be too many vampires for just little ol' me.
"All right, I'll teach you, but you do what I say, when I say it. No arguments."
"Anything you say, boss." He grinned at me briefly, then turned back to the road. He looked determined and relieved, and young.
But we were all young once. It passes, like innocence and a sense of fair play. The only thing left in the end is a good instinct for survival. Could I teach Larry that? Could I teach him how to survive? Please, God, let me teach him, and don't let him die on me.
Chapter 38
Larry, dropped me off in front of my apartment building at 9:05. It was way past my bedtime. I got my gym bag out of the back seat. Didn't want to leave my animating equipment behind. I locked and shut the door, then leaned in the passenger side door. "I'll see you tonight at five o'clock back here, Larry. You're designated driver until I get a new car."
He nodded.
"If I'm late getting home, don't let Bert send you out alone, okay?"
He looked at me then. His face was full of some deep thought that I couldn't read. "You think I can't handle myself?"
I knew he couldn't handle himself, but I didn't say that out loud. "It's only your second night on the job. Give yourself and me a break. I'll teach you how to hunt vampires, but our primary job is raising the dead. Try to remember that."
He nodded.
"Larry, if you have bad dreams, don't worry. I have them too sometimes."
"Sure," he said. He put the car in gear, and I had to close the door. Guess he didn't want to talk anymore. Nothing we'd seen yet would give me nightmares, but I wanted Larry to be prepared, if mere words could prepare anyone for what we do.
A family was loading up a grey van with coolers and a picnic hamper. The man smiled. "I don't think we'll get many more days like this."