30 Days of Night: Light of Day Read Free Page B

with the utility pole did the trick. The second time Walker asked Missy out (and that had been excruciatingly difficult; although it was senior year and he had enjoyed a couple of dates with other girls by then, he still remembered her earlier rejection like it had happened only days before), she not only spurned him, but she talked about it online.
    She still lived in her parents’ old house, off 155th in Harvey, Illinois, where they had both grown up. She was still one of the most beautiful girls Walker had ever seen outside a porn site. Her shiny dark brown hair hung past her shoulders and curled up gracefully at the ends, which were healthy enough to be used in shampoo ads. Her eyes were big and brown, her lips pinkand perfectly shaped, her cheekbones just right, her nose small but exceptional, all of it contained in a face that was almost perfectly oval. Her body had inspired many an emission, nocturnal and otherwise, beginning during his fifteenth year.
    At the moment, she was tied up in the basement of Walker’s house.
    He and Mitch had gone back and forth about it for a couple of days. Walker had been trying to figure out the best approach, but Mitch still needed convincing on the idea as a whole. Walker had pressed, knowing all the while that Mitch would give in.
    “We aren’t vampires yet,” Walker had said. “Which leaves us with some disadvantages. So we’ll just have to go with our strengths. We can walk in daylight. We can blend in with other people. Nobody can tell by looking at us that there’s anything different about us.”
    “Because there’s not.”
    “You don’t feel it yet, dude? I do.”
    “Feel what?”
    “I feel stronger already. Determined. Like I’ve finally found my purpose, after all these years. I know what I was meant to do.”
    “I guess I’m not there yet.”
    “You will be. Trust me.”
    Rather than seek out a random, nameless victim, which might have exposed them to law enforcement or observation by witnesses, they decided to start with someone they knew. Missy Darrington had comeimmediately to mind, since Walker knew where she lived and had spent many hours sitting in his car outside her house over the years, watching for any glimpse of her through the windows. He knew who all her neighbors were, and that the old busybody living on her left went to bed early.
    Plus, he was still mad at her.
    They had gone to her place at ten o’clock the night before. She would still be up, but most of her neighbors would be asleep. Walker sent Mitch around to watch the back door while he knocked on the front. She came to the door, suspicious at first, but opened it when she recognized Walker. She even managed a hesitant smile.
    “Walker? This is a surprise,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”
    “Hi, Missy,” Walker said.
    “It’s pretty late, Walker. But—”
    “I know. Can I come in, just for a minute? I wanted to apologize, but I feel kind of exposed standing out here.”
    “For a minute,” she said. She had already dressed for bed, in loose gray sweats with nothing on underneath, and fuzzy red socks. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She backed away from the door and let Walker in. Walker’s breath caught as he passed close to her, inhaling the fresh scent of her soap and toothpaste. “Apologize for what?”
    He pushed the door closed with his foot and reached under his coat. The gun he drew out was fake, but itwas a replica snub-nosed .38 Police Special from 1975, and the casual observer would never know it wasn’t the real deal. Especially staring into the barrel. “For this.”
    Missy gave a little shriek and brought her right hand to her mouth. “Oh my God, Walker, what are you doing with that? What …”
    “Just stay quiet, Missy. I don’t want to shoot you.”
    “Then put that away.”
    “I can’t. Not yet.”
    “Is it real?”
    “What do you think?”
    Tears brimmed her eyes and started down those perfect cheeks. “But … why …