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

Lesson 3 part 6

Hamilton is just down the road from Niagara, but it takes a while to get from under the stink of the plumes of whatever that is coming out of the stacks of the steel mills. There were less jobs and less steel being made there every year and they all agreed that is what made Hamilton such an attractive place for the vampires. When people are scared they are easy to herd, they agreed as they headed down the QEW to Niagara.
Niagara was in the same boat, almost all of the manufacturing had packed up and gone to China, or Mexico or just someplace else. Bobby remembered his Dad used to talk about getting off the train, walking across the street to Union Carbide and working at the plant for the next forty years. Those days are long gone, Union Carbide isn't in Welland anymore, nothing much is. Nothing but some low rent call centers offering half the wage and half the security. No one works at the call center for forty years, that's for sure.
They had so far out run the rain but the darkening sky they could see out of the back window of the Explorer.
"Let's just go to our place and visit mum in the morning. It's been a long day," Carrie said.
Crystal and Bobby both agreed and they headed on to Nags Head.
It was an old farm house, a bit bigger than the old Hill's farm. Grandpa had been a big wheel in the education system and invested his money well. Technically the house was in the estate of Crystal and Carrie's grandparents. Bobby and Carrie were pretty much just squatters. Their aunt hadn't decided what to do with the house, not wanting to sell it because they lived next door and used the gas well. So as long as no one put up a fuss Bobby, Carrie and now Crystal were welcome to stay.
The rain had come as they started cooking. Crystal set the dining room table with Granma's old plates, and Bobby and Carrie cooked supper in the kitchen.
They had a quiet supper of some ramen noodles.
By the time the plates were in the dish washer the rain was coming down hard and the rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.
Bobby did one last check to make sure everything was locked and the security system was on. Carrie's grandfather had done pretty good, Bobby always thought. Two garages, a workshop, an in ground pool, It must pay well to be a public school principal. It kind of pissed him off a bit too, remembering how Carrie's family had always struggled and never received any help from their grandparents, just silent expectations and condemnation.
Bobby and Carrie slept in the front bedroom, that in it's day had been the guest room. Crystal had settled in to the 'girls room' just down the hall. It had two beds and Crystal had fond memories of sleeping there as a child.
Crystal checked her phone, after texting Tim one more time. The wind picked up as the storm drew closer, waving the tree limbs in time with the rain on the roof and windows.
She slipped beneath the linen and desparately tried to sleep. Too much on her mind, she got up and went downstairs using just the light from the washroom and the ambient light from the electronics at the bottom of the stairs.
Crystal noted that Bobby and Carrie hadn't changed anything with the house, but had done a lot of maintenaince. She went to the refridgerator and poured herself a glass of water. She listened to the rain on windows and looked out the of the dining room windows. The flood lights turned on outside, illuminating the area outside the garage doors.
He was standing in the rain, soaked. He was just standing there. Tim, at least she thought it was Tim, her glasses were upstairs on the nightstand,
'Why hadn't he called?' she thought or knocked on the door. Before she knew it she was standing at the front door with her hands on the locks. He was at the front door now, on the other side of the pane of glass. She had a sudden shiver, just the cold, she thought.
She could hear him, but somehow hear wasn't the right word, feel his thoughts. His lips weren't moving and he was dripping wet and cold but didn't seem at all uncomfortable with it. She looked in to his big, brown, puppy dog eyes, the voice in her ear, her mind pleading to be let in.
It didn't feel right. Something was definitely wrong and her father always warned her trust her gut, but she couldn't seem to stop turning the knob until the latch was loose. He put his hand on the glass to press the door open, a faint smile creasing his face.
This isn't Tim. She pressed against the door.
The alarm went off. Flood lights filled every room. Crystal screamed.
Seconds later Bobby came bounding down the door in nothing but his boxers waving his pistol.
The door was shut and whatever tried to press it's way into the house was gone.