Swallowing, her fear nearly paralyzing her, Lauren picked up Deanna's hand and fumbled for the pulse in her wrist.

It was there, regular and strong. She breathed a sigh of relief.

But what the h.e.l.l was going on?

Lauren had been concentrating so hard on Deanna that it was several seconds before she realized that someone had come into the room behind her.

As she turned around, wary and tense, she heard the door to the room slam shut.

He was there.

Stephan. Stephan Delanskiy. Standing now at the foot of the bed. Ink dark hair fell over his forehead, contrasting with the doctor's white coat he was wearing. "How is my patient?" he asked very softly.

Lauren looked toward the open window. Shouts and cries were coming from the hallway; the hospital seemed to have turned into Bedlam. But Stephan Stephan Delanskiy seemed oblivious to all that. She didn't know where he had come from, if he had stepped into the room from the hall, or if he had come through the window.

But it didn't really matter. All that mattered was that he was there.

She stared at him and flipped the cross she was wearing out from under her shirt.

He smiled. "That will not stop me, you know."

"Maybe so, but you're there, and I'm here."

"Because you must come to me."

"I will never come to you."

"Eventually, you will." He laughed softly. "I have my ways of doing things. Methods. Even madness, you might say. You see, this is a war. Whatever skirmish I may lose to my enemy, in the end, it is a war, and I will win. And you will come to me, because I know you."

"You cause suffering and death," she told him. "You hurt people. You nearly killed my friend. You're evil, and you will not win."

He smiled and shook his head, as if explaining things to a small child. "What in life has ever led you to believe that what you call 'evil' cannot win? Take that silly cross around your neck. I have seen it before, and it failed to stop me then, just as it will now. He is not the salvation you think he is. And I am not death, but rather, eternal life."

"Tell that to the women you've beheaded," she said softly.

He made a dismissive sound. "They did not deserve to live."

"You're wrong. They didn't deserve to be murdered."

They could both hear footsteps then; someone was running down the toward Deanna's room.

"You will come to me," he told her again, his smile cold and certain.

There was the sound of something slamming heavily against the door. Instinctively, Lauren looked in that direction just as the door burst open.

Mark was there, stranding in the doorway, his gaze quickly darting around the room. He rushed over to her, drawing her close to him, his arms around her.

"He was here," he said huskily, his tone certain.

"Yes." She couldn't help it. She was trembling, even though Stephan had vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared.

"Deanna?"

"She seems to be all right."

"And...you?"

"I'm fine, too."

He let out a sigh of relief. For a moment he seemed so weary that she longed to hold him forever, but now, more than ever, she was afraid to leave Deanna's side.

"What's happening here?" she demanded.

As if in answer, another scream echoed from down the hall.

Even between them, Sean realized, he and Bobby couldn't manage to hold the woman.

Leticia Lockwood was slim and delicately built, but at this moment her strength was unimaginable.

"I can't hold her!" Bobby cried.

Sean had gotten off the elevator just in time to see Bobby trying to wrench Leticia away from a gurney, where she was rabidly attacking a bag marked Type O Positive that was attached to a line transfusing into an apparently post-op gentleman of advanced years. Bobby was already sporting a swollen jaw, and hospital employees were scurrying just to get out of the way."Hey," Sean said firmly, grabbing hold of Leticia's shoulder as she writhed like an animal beneath Bobby.

She screamed, a bloodcurdling sound that was horrible to hear. Then, with astounding ease, she threw Bobby clear across the hall.

"d.a.m.n it, stop! I don't want to shoot you!" Sean roared.

He might as well not have bothered. Leticia was up and flying at a hapless intern who was standing by, aghast.

"s.h.i.t!" Sean swore and went tearing after her.

He tackled her, and they hit the floor together.

She shoved him, and he fared no better than Bobby.

She was off again, this time making a leap for the frozen and panic-stricken head nurse, who was standing behind the desk.

Wincing, Sean drew his weapon and fired a warning shot.

Everyone screamed-except Leticia, who didn't even pause.

Before Sean had a chance to shoot again, Mark Davidson came running out of Deanna's room. He saw Leticia, saw her intended victim, and took a flying leap over the desk. He caught Leticia by the shoulders and shoved her forward, crashing into a rolling cart filled with medications. Bottles and vials went flying everywhere.

Sean waited, expecting Davidson to go flying just as he and Bobby had, but there was only silence.

Nothing.

He strode to the desk and looked over. Mark was straddling the girl, staring down at her and talking soothingly. "Someone get her something quickly-a major league tranquilizer," Sean said.

The head nurse, who had appeared almost catatonic with fear, suddenly sprang to life. She fumbled on the floor, searching through the wrapped needles and the different vials. In a second she was at Mark's side. Leticia began to thrash again, forcing her back, but Mark seized the hypodermic from her, and quickly inserted the needle. In a second, Leticia's wild and frantic eyes closed, and she went limp.

Mark stayed as he was for several long seconds. Then he eased back.

Sean strode over to him. "You all right?"

"Yeah."

Suddenly hospital personnel were everywhere.

"I can't believe it," the head nurse said, stricken. "It's Leticia. She's one of our finest nurses."

"She went insane," one of the interns said.

"Like a rabid dog!" another claimed.

"Let's get her into a bed," an intern said.

"You're going to find that she needs a transfusions, and she needs it fast," Mark said. "Are you a doctor, young man?" the head nurse demanded.

Mark looked up at her. "I know what she needs," he said quietly. The nurse frowned as Mark rose and lifted Leticia into his arms. "A room?" he said.

The head nurse just nodded. The young intern who had first suggested that she needed a bed followed Mark into an empty room and spoke quickly to the nurse. "Pull up her chart. Her blood type must be on record."

The nurse stared at him.

"Do it. Now."

She jumped, shooting a disapproving glance at Mark, and hurried back out to the hall.

Sean stood in the door, watching, then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Bobby standing behind him.

"Lauren is here, in Deanna's room. I'll be with her."

"Thanks, Bobby."

Sean looked at Mark, who was standing next to the bed where Leticia now lay, completely out. "Will the transfusion do it?" he asked quietly.

Mark shook his head, his uncertainty clear.

The intern, who was checking Leticia's pulse, said, "I think she'll be all right. She must have been under the influence of some heavy duty drug. We'll do a tox screen and find out what the h.e.l.l is going on. She's one of our best nurses. I can't imagine Leticia...she never even smoked pot, sings in her church choir..."

A commotion in the hallway began to grow into a din. Sean stepped out to see what was going on and found patients milling around curiously and the staff trying to get them calmed down and back into their rooms.

"Folks, it's all over. Everything's all right," Sean said.

A middle-aged woman in a hospital gown that left her more than a little exposed, suddenly pointed and started screaming.

Sean turned toward the gurney with the post op patient. The man was still unconscious, but Leticia had apparently gotten her teeth into the blood bag, because blood was sprayed all over the man and the wall.

"It's all right. It's all right, Mrs. Ruben," a nurse a.s.sured her.

An orderly quickly went over to the gurney. "I need help here," he called.

"People, please," Sean said. "Get back into your rooms. Let the hospital staff get things cleaned up."

"Someone stabbed him!" Mrs. Ruben screamed.

"He wasn't stabbed," Sean said patiently. "It's just a spill."

"A spill like murder! Blood red murder!" the woman shouted.

"Murder!" someone else repeated.

Sean groaned. "Stop it!" he snapped, using all his authority. "There's been no murder," he said, all the while knowing the words might well be a lie. "Get back to your rooms."

To his relief, the patients began to obey.

With Mark in with Leticia Lockwood and the staff suddenly finding both courage and their senses, Sean strode across to Deanna's room.

Lauren was perched by her friend's side.

Bobby was standing, hands on his hips, looking like a crouched tiger ready to spring in any direction.

Sean walked over to the bed. "She all right?" he asked Lauren.

"No change," she told him.

As he nodded, Mark Davidson returned to the room. "We have to get Deanna out of here," he said flatly. "Sean, there's a Judy Lockwood across the hall with Leticia. She wants to talk to you."

Sean walked to the door, pausing on the way to ask Mark, "And what the h.e.l.l do I tell her?"

Mark took a deep breath. "I have absolutely no idea," he admitted, then smiled. "Hey, you're the cop." Then he turned serious again. "But we have to get Deanna out of this place."

Sean, wincing, strode across the hall.

What the h.e.l.l was he going to say to the woman? Your niece, your decent, sweet, G.o.d-fearing niece, was possessed by a vampire?

He just hoped he wouldn't end up having to stake her.

Lauren wasn't quite sure how Mark managed to convince Deanna's doctors that she would be better cared for her at home. At first the doctor in charge-called back in from a day's fishing excursion, wearing a cap with a bouncing ba.s.s-was adamant that she wasn't ready to be released, not while she was still in a coma.

Lauren swore she could care for her, but the doctor kept shaking his head.

Then Mark began to talk. He didn't say anything she hadn't said herself, but somehow he was more convincing. Maybe it was a guy thing.. She usually hated that. But at the moment she couldn't be too upset, because she was getting what she wanted.