The Midnight Hour Read Online Free PDF

picked it up.
    She almost dropped it again instantly.
    It felt… strange. Oily. Greasy. Almost silk-like but somehow a little too slippery. And when she first touched it she almost felt like it had moved in her hands, but she knew that was just her imagination, just the fabric slipping slightly in her fingers.
    She had a moment of second thoughts but then decided the look was more important than the feel. Only she would feel it. Everyone else would look and be envious.
    She placed it quickly around her neck, suppressing the shudder that threatened to ripple through her whole body, and, with a grand flick of her new scarf, turned on her heel and headed for home.
     
    Paul sat in the van, his hand on the key in the ignition. He wasn’t sure quite what to do.
    He had stopped at the public phone in the police station long enough to phone head office, tell them what had happened and ask for the rest of the day off. At that point he had been intending to just head home, rest, forget about it. But how could he forget about Mr Malone’s neck? The holes. The pulverised mess of broken skin and mangled muscle. That single smear of blood on the sidewalk. The unnatural paleness of his face.
    Despite everything the detective had said, Paul could only think of a vampire, or something vampire-like, that could have caused such damage. The thought frightened him.
    He turned the key, fired the engine into life. He knew where he had to go. He would go home, but first stop was the corner store. Time to stock up on the garlic.
     
    Alex Roland pulled to a stop by the sign.
    Welcome to Sheldsville. Pop 1,250.
    He reached down to the floor of the Jeep and lifted a medical neck brace. He wrapped it round his neck and fastened it in place, the hard plastic digging into the underside of his chin. It was uncomfortable and restricting, but he felt safer with it on. As strong as they were, he didn’t think they would be able to penetrate this strengthened plastic shield.
    He studied the sky and for a moment he thought he saw one, ephemeral, fleeting, twisting. But he couldn’t be sure. They were so difficult to see even close to, unless you knew what to look for. But he felt certain they were there, up ahead, if not in the sky then already feeding on the inhabitants of this small town.
    Grimly he shifted the Jeep into gear and headed up the road towards the first buildings on the outskirts of Sheldsville.
     
    By the time the fifth body had been reported with the same gruesome neck injuries, Detective Greenbaum was convinced they had a vicious serial killer in town. He didn’t know what exactly had caused the injuries, but he was certain it was the same man behind all five.
    And it certainly wasn’t any vampire!
    The pathologist’s report hadn’t come back from the first body yet, that of Mr Malone, but he didn’t need it to know those few small facts.
    Someone was out there killing his fellow citizens. The Sheldsville police force, small though it was, was fully mobilized. No one messed up his town!
     
    “Is that you Paul?”
    Paul kicked the door shut behind him and carried the grocery bag to the kitchen table.
    “Yes, it’s me.”
    Janet appeared from her bedroom dressed, as usual, in a long flowing gown, full makeup, a cigarette dangling between her long, elegant, nicotine stained fingers.
    “Do you like my new scarf?”
    Paul glanced up at his sister.
    “Pink? I would have thought pink was a bit tame for you.”
    Janet frowned down at the scarf.
    “I could have sworn it was more red when I picked it up.”
    Paul sighed, uninterested in her fashion concerns.
    “Where did you find the money for that?”
    She pouted.
    “I didn’t exactly buy it.”
    “You stole it?”
    “I found it!”
    Paul turned away from her, exasperated.
    “We may not have much money Janet, but we don’t need to go searching through other people’s trashcans!”
    “It was on the ground. Someone had dropped it, not thrown it away. It looked too good to leave