CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

FIFTY EIGHT
From the mountain top I soared into the sky
and headed for Atlantic City. I found Norman after a
few moments, in a seedier section of that metropolis.
The lower half of his face was bloody from feeding.

“Follow me, please.”
I flew to the top of a casino and Norman
landed right beside me.
“What’s up, Gus?”
I told him about the attack and my subsequent
actions. “You’re saying you killed him? Are you sure he
was dead?”
“Yes. I’m sure. I think I know dead when I see
it. He was still conscious after I broke all his bones
and sucked him dry. But when I drove the stake
through his heart, he buckled and oozed and after a
few seconds, he was dead. Very dead. Norman, I have
to tell you, the taste of that blood was like nothing
else. It got me high. I could get hooked on that
feeling.”
“Forget about being high. You shouldn’t have
killed him, mate.”
“Why? You mean the rule? It seems to me the
rule was suspended when he tried to kill me.”
“He wasn’t trying to kill you. He wanted some
of your blood. To make himself stronger – I think she teaches them that trick. And you killed him. He was a creature of somebody else’s making and you killed him. You had no right.”
“Somebody – apparently this Berlin vampire -- set him loose in my city.”
“Look, I’m on your side. All this revenant business could get out of control and cause us all problems. I’d like to know why the Berlin vampire is making the little buggers, when they’re not making each other that is.”
“So would I.”
“The world is changing, mate.”
“It sure is.”
I became shook up as what I had done began to sink in. I began to tremble for the first time ever.
“Nothing I can do about it now.”
“You’ve got that right, Gus. You’ve got that right. We should both call it a night. You’ve got somewhere to sleep for the day?”
“I can be back in the city in plenty of time before the sun rises if I leave right now.”
I shook off my brief malaise and launched toward the stars.