She studied him carefully. "You do know who killed people in New York. You're afraid for me, afraid they'll come after me. But you don't think they're here- yet?"

"I don't think they're here-tonight," he corrected.

She touched his cheek, studied his eyes. She barely knew him. Knew nothing about him. She'd been dating a really great cop she had known fairly well.

And she was in bed with him. After the most decadent s.e.x she had ever imagined.

At least I wasn't alone!

She turned away from him, trying to find some rationale for anything that had happened. He sat up, then crawled over her suddenly, pinning her down.

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" he demanded.

"I don't think I ever had any first thoughts," she told him.

He smiled, pleased.

"I've never known anyone like you," she whispered.

"No, you haven't," he a.s.sured her.

"Never anyone ... quite so arrogant," she said.

He laughed softly. "Well, that, I suppose ... But no, you've never known anyone quite like me. Pray you never will," he added softly.

"Are you leaving now?" she asked.

"Not until morning-if I may stay."

"You're asking me?"

"Of course."

"Are you ever going to talk to me?" she asked softly. She sensed his hesitation. "Of course. I've been talking to you."

"Talking-never really saying the truth."

"I haven't lied to you."

"Promise that you won't?"

"I promise I'll do my best to explain the truth, always."

His face lowered. He kissed her.

She was exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Sated. Drained...

His touch awakened her again. If she was dreaming, imagining, she never wanted to wake up. But he was real.

So real. She could see him, feel him, smell him, touch him, know him.. ..

Later he was curled around her. His arm was about her; she wrapped her hand around his, bringing it to her heart, between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

A soft sigh of happiness and pure, blissful satiation escaped her.

"This is so insane. I don't really know you at all. Are you a creature of the night?" she whispered.

Was he sleeping already?

Or did he answer her?

Oh, yes, definitely. I am.

I am a creature of the night.

Chapter Nine.

The month of October.

It had become bigger business than Christmas.

Terror Town, a Halloween theme park in the middle of New England farmland, had been doing brisk business every season over the past twelve years.

People loved to be scared. It had started out as a Friday and Sat.u.r.day haunted house on the weekend nearest Halloween. It had taken place with cheap effects inside a single barn. Then there had been the hayride, the "monsters" roaming the pastures and hiding behind the haystacks. The barn had next become a state-of-the-art building with special lighting, fog machines, piped-in music, a sprinkler system approved by the county fire chief, and more. Adult entertainers came in droves; college students vied for the "monster" job openings that now offered a fun income to be made every night in the month of October.

Darcy Granger, twenty-one, a Communications major at Holy Cross, loved her job working at Terror Town. The special effects had gotten really great, with the black lighting, the fog machines, the piped-in music. Her section had the theme "Transylvania Nights." She dressed up in black with fabulous makeup applied by Hollywood experts specially flown in for the month. Her job was to lie in a coffin. She appeared to be an effigy; then she scared people by rising, leaping out upon occasion, and whispering silly things like, "How about a kiss, sweetie?" or "Bite me, babe!"

It was fun. People screamed and then laughed. Darcy liked most of the people she worked with. Like her, they were making a few bucks and having a good time. They followed the rules. They jumped out, looked scary, tried to startle people into screaming-but they never tried to give anyone a heart attack. Except for a few of them.

Like Tony Alexander. He'd gotten really p.i.s.sed off the other night because a big kid had tried to scare him back. The guy had been an idiot, a real tough guy trying to prove his courage and make jerks out of the people working there. He'd been bad. Tony had been worse, hitting a light switch that darkened the place to pitch-black-and tripping the guy. The guy had turned around and complained. Tony had gotten yelled at-and he'd taken it out on every little kid who had come through the place since. Darcy had said something to him. "Parents shouldn't bring chickens.h.i.t little babies through here," was what he had told her. She'd warned him about getting fired. "Hey- I've worked here four years now, Darcy. Don't worry about me." The next night he'd pursued a kid, whispering that he'd kill him the next time the boy fell asleep-or the next time, or the next. The kid had left screaming. Tony had played innocent. Another kid had been fired.

No one had listened to Darcy.

Tony also liked to pitch the place into real darkness and a.s.sault his fellow employees-the female ones. He'd come after her a few times, then apologizing and telling her he'd been groping for the lights. Her sister had told her she could complain and get him fired for real, but Darcy had wanted to deal with it herself. She thought she was mature enough to deal with jerks like Tony. She'd also found out that Tony was a nephew of the owner. It was true-he kept his job because he knew somebody. Most things in life still worked out to one person's word against another. Her word wouldn't mean anything against Tony's. She really liked working at Terror Town. If she could handle the matter herself, she meant to do so.

Halloween was now approaching, and Terror Town was busy.

Before the gates had even opened, people were lined up for what looked like miles. The employees were busy, from the college kids hired to give cheap thrills to the big-money organizers and managers.

Darcy was sitting in one of the makeup trailers when she first saw the newcomer. He had come in behind her, and sat at one of the dressing tables. She had watched him. He was tall and gaunt, but with surprisingly powerful-looking shoulders. His eyes met hers when she spun around at the sound of his entry. She felt a strange unease, but she was, by nature, compa.s.sionate, and she figured he might be uncomfortable here, his first night at this. She v/as sure it was his first night. There were lots of kids hired to work this place, but she knew them all, by sight and a smile, at the least.

"Hey, you look scared. Don't be. It's fun. Oh, you get the kids who want to impress their friends and their dates and try to scare you back, but not often. Most people want to have a good time."

He smiled. "Don't worry. I intend to have a good time."

"Good."

She turned back to her makeup.

"You like working here?" he asked.

"Sure. It's good money, lots of fun."

"It's fun to scare people, eh?" he teased. The way he said the last, she wondered if he was a Canadian. She loved the Canadian accent, with its long vowel sound on words like cloud and about. And she liked the little "eh" at the end of his question.

"Well, I don't want to scare anyone into any early grave or a heart attack. Just give them a few little shivers and some good fun."

"Good for you, then. Do you like vampires?"

"Do I like them? In pretend? Of course. They're deliciously scary and s.e.xy, right?"

"You're very s.e.xy," he a.s.sured her with a smile, but it was just a friendly smile, and his words were casual. Not like Tony's. She smiled back, then returned to her makeup. When she left her table, heading on toward her building, she touched his shoulder. "Good luck."

"Thanks. Happy hunting."

She went on into her building, waving to a few of the people she knew as they entered their little niches. She saw Tony going in; he was in an alcove before the long velvet black-lit hallway with "family"

portraits that preceded her own area.

Lights were on. Thayer Harding, one of the technicians, greeted her.

"Hey, Darce, how're things going?"

"Great, Thayer." He was checking out the springs on her pressed wood-and-cardboard coffin. "How are the wife and kids?"

"Fine, just fine. Thanks for asking. How is school, young lady?"

"Great. I think I made the dean's list."

"Good for you! Pop on in. Maybe the bosses will let us celebrate later. I'll take you out for a shake!"

She laughed. "But I did turn twenty-one. You can buy me a beer."

"Not if you're driving. Hop on in. We're about to open."

She grinned and crawled in, then tested the new springs and hinges he had just put in the coffin. Blue lighting on the ground was a safety measure, and she also knew where the switches were for the main lights and the sprinklers. The trail through the haunted house twisted and wove, and there were more kids up ahead in various little alcoves like her own. There were also walkie-talkies at blue-lighted areas along the walls, just in case there was ever a problem.

Other than with Tony, she had never heard of any problems. The place was a gold mine for its owner and his investors, but it was well run, with safety the number one priority.

"You in tight and snug, Darcy? That was it, my last repair. We're opening."

"I'm in. Snug as a bug. Take you up on that milkshake later."

"Great."

Thayer left. Darcy closed her eyes, shut into the velvety warmth of her pseudo coffin. She wasn't afraid of the dark.

She had a big speech coming up for English lit. She began to practice, mentally planning the intonations in her voice, her gestures, and her movements. Time began to pa.s.s. She knew when people were coming. A little sensor caused a tiny red light to appear in her coffin.

People. She sprang out. A mom with two ten-year-olds jumped and laughed delightedly.

The ten-year-olds screamed and giggled. She bared her teeth at them and made a noise. They giggled at her and moved on.

She closed the lid to her coffin and went back to practicing her speech.

Jimmy Erskine loved haunted houses. They were guaranteed to make girls shriek. And with Ca.s.sie on his arm tonight...

Such a cute little chicken. She had a thing for him to begin with.

Why not? He was an uppercla.s.sman, tight end on a winning team, in the perfect frat. She had a crush on him, but she was reserved. Careful, a brain, so into her books for so long that she hadn't taken a lot of time to date. A waste. She was small and slim-maybe ninety-nine pounds, and according to the guys at his frat, it seemed as if ninety of those pounds must be b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She had cleavage that didn't quit. What it did to his libido and concentration was sad. So tonight was it-he'd even taken a bet on his abilities to get her to bed, so he had to come through. He couldn't afford to lose the fifty he'd put on himself.

This had been the right place to come. He was going to be the rough- and-ready hero, laughing his way through the horror house, holding her tight, making her cling. He'd started off by buying some Halloween Jell-O shots- blue, purple, and bright orange-to get her courage up, so he'd told her. She was wobbling and holding tight, and unaware of the way he was touching her when they began walking through the vampire place.

It could be pretty creepy. They had one girl who lay in a gla.s.s coffin all dressed up like a sleeping princess- except that she let real rats run all over her. Every once in a while she turned in the gla.s.s case and bared her teeth. The whole place was filled with fog, foam tombstones, black lighting, and characters that jumped out here and there. He teased Ca.s.sie all the way through, making sure she saw the dark, the fog, the eerie, the unreal, and then buried her head against his shoulder. He made a point of, letting others get ahead of him, and falling back so that they'd be alone, so that a crowd of little wise-a.s.s kids didn't come running in around them to spoil all the effects.

They turned around a curve, and for a moment he didn't see the coffin in front of him. It creaked open with a startling sound. The girl who appeared did so with a sudden burst of energy that caused him to jump.

"Oh.Jimmy!" Ca.s.sie gasped. He immediately felt stupid. His face turned red. He saw the vampire chick smile, aware she'd startled him.

"Bad teeth!" he muttered. "Bad dress, bad coffin, looks like a cardboard jewelry box!"

"Jimmy," Ca.s.sie said.

The girl just went back into her coffin and closed the lid.

"Come on," he told Ca.s.sie brusquely.

They started walking again. He was irritated. Things had been going so well.

Then he stopped dead. Up ahead there was a tall, thin guy dressed as a vampire, with the flowing cape, the whole stupid bit.

"Watch out, here I come," the fellow said. And he started toward them.

Ca.s.sie let out a little cry of fear, winnowing against him. It was just what he had wanted, but he still felt unnerved.

And now this idiot was actually reaching toward them.