Vampire Hunter: Corey Crowgarden's guide to killing vampires for fun and profit.

Lesson 5 part 2

"I don't even know if my key fits anymore," Corey said.
The plan was simple. Bobby was going to stay near the back door to secure the exit in case they needed it. Tim was going to go with Corey.
The old car looked like it hadn't been moved in a while. Bobby had parked the Ford bronco behind it with the doors unlocked. They weren't expecting trouble, But they weren't sure what to expect.
At the back door were two sets of stairs at 90 degrees from one another. Four steps lead up from the  landing to the kitchen, 17 steps lead downwards from the landing to the cellar. Corey wasn't quite ready for the cellar today, so he focused on the kitchen.
The kitchen was small. That had always been one of his major complaints about the house. The counters were clear and bare, there was only a tea kettle on the stove top. The caretaker would be in around 11 o'clock and presumably would make some lunch for his wife, Karen.
He had been away so long. Fighting vampires, and demons that were a little closer to home. The last time he had been here was before he left for Afghanistan. His daughters were just children then. Financially going to Afghanistan had been a major boon to his family. At what cost though was yet to be completely accounted for.
Beyond the kitchen archway was the dining room. When the kids were young, before he had abandoned them, they would have dinner around the dining room table and say grace, something his children have remarked on as strange. It seemed the families of their friends didn't participate in such old fashioned ways.
In the dining room was the dogs bed, but no dog. When he left the dog was just a pup, he wasn't sure if the dog would remember him.
He turned to talk to Tim. Bobby was at the back door outside, so couldn't hear them unless they were screaming. He hoped it didn't come to that. "So Tim, Bobby said that he had seen Karen feeding from the caretaker. I hope she hasn't been turned, but I just don't know."
"Well, I can see why we came so early to visit, Tim said. "So far so good. "
"but only so far," Corey said.
Cory took a glance into the living room, but there was nothing there of interest. A new television, an old player piano and the fireplace that looked like it had been cold and unused for a long time. There were lots of things on the mantle, the clock that Karen's grandparents had owned, candles of various sizes and colours, photos of him and Karen on their wedding day. So many memories that Corey didn't have time for. He needed to focus.
They passed from the dining room into the hallway. There was an L junction with a short hall that led into  Crystal's old room. A dogs dish of food and water was placed in that hallway. The door to Crystal's old room was closed.
In the main hallway the first door on the left was the bathroom. Beside that door were framed photographs of baby Crystal and Carrie. It was hard for Cory to believe they had once been so young.
The bathroom door was open. Clean towels hung from the racks and the bathroom looked barely used. He had expected to see cans of hairspray, containers of makeup, and a hairdryer on the back of the toilet, but all that had been moved away. Across the hallway from the bathroom was closed broom closet door. On the far side of the bathroom door was a closed linen closet door, the closed door to what had been Carrie's room, and on the east side of the hallway, across from the linen closet was Karen's room. It had once been his room as well, but he wasn't sure if that still mattered or if there was a statute of limitations on that. The door was closed, although the door knob was still missing. Cory had broken off the door knob when he kicked in the door the last time he had been here and it had never been fixed.
Cory looked back at Tim to make sure that he was ready, took a deep breath and gently opened the door.
Even with the door only slightly ajar he was surprised by the pitch black that met him. Black out curtains covered the eastern windows. Those were new. There was no hint of natural light, only an unnatural darkness and the faint smell of death.
It took Cory's eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness from the hallway, when he noticed two bright red eyes had turned from the foot of the bed and a low, deep, guttural growl.
"Good puppy..." said Corey.
Well, I guess now was as good a time as any to find out if the dog remembered him or not. "Tim... you wouldn't have an anti-dog sleep spell or something like that, would you?"
"Well, it kind of depends. Is the dog alive or undead?"
"I'm going to guess alive, as there is still a dog bowl with food and water in the hallway."
Corey pulled a small flashlight from his shirt pocket and clicked a narrow beam of white light to life. It was the same old dog, Monty, the name chosen by his daughters that he had left with Karen and the girls. He wasn't a big dog, just a scruffy Yorkie and German Shepard mix. He couldn't really imagine how that congical visit went. Ancient in dog years, it had lost much of its fur. They had got the dog while he was away and the dog had grudgingly let Corey back into the house. As the person most likely to drop food on the floor, Corey quickly became one of the dogs favourite people.
He was hoping those memories would still be remembered despite whether Karen had allowed the dog to be embraced or simply tainted.
"So, Tim.. on the off chance the dog doesn't remember me and decides to take a chunk ... do we have any preventative stuff?"
"Well, sort of... kind of... depends... I can see the glowing red eyes. Is it a ghoul, or is it a vampire?"
Well, isn't that the million dollar question Corey thought. A ghoul is another term for the tainted, but it is a little trickier when dealing with "pets". Animals are given what they are fed, they don't quite have the same level of consciousness as a person. Can an animal that works from instinct be evil? Still, if I had to make a guess.. and I guess I do.. "I'm guessing ghoul."
"The nice thing about living critters is..." he said, poking the thin, ash wand through the doorway "they SLEEP."
And suddenly Monty, our old puppy is chin down and snoozing.
Corey put his open hand on the old dogs head. Even though the dog had not been his decision.. or purchase, he had enjoyed the short amount of time he had spent with Monty. However, his fur was gone and skin felt rough and scaly. He seemed to be suffering.
It was time to find out where they stood, but Corey wasn't sure he wanted to know. He glanced over at the lanky Magi, wand still out and pointing at Karen, lying silent and still on the bed. Tim nodded, prepared.. or at least he thought he was prepared for whatever happened next.
Corey turned his attention back to his motionless wife, hesitating.
He thought of the scene from Dracula, where Harker finds the Count in a coffin lying on fresh earth. He turned the narrow beam of the pen light on to his wife's face.
Was she really so pale or was it the harsh white beam in the unnaturally black room.
He had never known her to sleep with her brown eyes open but there they were, her big, brown, beautiful eyes, open and full of what he thought was pain.. but it might have been contempt. He was fairly familiar with that look too.
The dog was sleeping on what once was Corey's side of the bed, closest to the windows, farthest from the door. He kneeled on the east side of the bed near his pillow and reached out to her neck to check her pulse. He gently prepared to place his fingertips just below her jawline searching her neck for the pulse he hoped to find.
'What if she suddenly woke up and screamed' he thought. How would he be able to explain this to her, and probably later to the police?
"I have to know," he whispered to himself and softly pressed his fingertips on her neck.
Her skin was cold to the touch, but then the room was cold he told himself.
He could not find a pulse.
He looked at Tim and shook his head. Corey ran his fingers through his wife's hair and just admired her for a moment. He stood next to the bed and looked over at Tim and walked out of the room. Wordlessly he walked back through the kitchen and out the door, back into the car.
Moments later Tim appeared at the door and was talking to Bobby.
"What is going on?" Bobby asked Tim.
Tim shook his head, "I have no idea." He looked over at Corey sitting in the passenger seat covering his face with his hands. "We should go and regroup."