Stiles regarded him coldly, like a shark, and in that moment Bean would not have been surprised to see the man raise his weapon and fire. Instead he looked from the officer to the woman in front of him and then to the boys, one in his mother’s arms and the other standing at his side. Finally he said to Bart, softly, “Tell them.”

“Everything? You sure?”

He sat down on the couch and laid the Uzi on his lap. “Everything.”

Bart started slowly. “Well, first off, we didn’t get beat up by out-of-town guys the other night, and we didn’t go over to Jay’s either. We had a bet with some guys from Seymour that Del and me could stay all night Friday in the old Danner place.”

“The what?” Billie gaped. “Young man, you should know better than that. That place is falling apart. You could have been hurt, both of you—”

“Would you just let me finish?” he snapped. He glanced back at Stiles, rolled his eyes, and sighed, “Adults!” as if the man wasn’t included in that group. Then he continued with his story. “So we jumped the gate and got to the house and everything’s cool. We put down our bags and ate some sandwiches and then we go poking around the house. That’s when the shit hit the fan.”

Bean listened intently. “What did you find?”

“Well, down in the basement there’s this . . . this thing, fighting to get out from behind one of the walls. It grabbed me here,” he pointed to his still-swollen wrist, “and I thought, Jeez, I’m never getting away from this joker, he’s so strong. You ain’t never felt anything like this, it’s superhuman.”

“PCP,” Bean said matter-of-factly.

“This ain’t T. J. Hooker, Charlie,” Bart sounded annoyed. “You want to hear this story or not? Anyway, Del helped me get away from him—it—whatever—but here it comes after us, tearing apart the wall to do it. We tried to get away and get outta there but it cornered us outside and forced us back into the house. That’s when we got a really good look at it. At him. It was Sebastian Danner.”

The woman and deputy looked at one another. “A ghost?”

“A vampire.”

Billie just stared at them but Bean couldn’t hide his exasperation. He rubbed a hand through his hair and gave the boys his best “you’ve-been-speeding” glare. “Cut the crap, you guys. What really happened?”

Bart was indignant. “This is the God’s honest truth! Why would I make up something so stupid and unbelievable? Cut me some slack, Charlie! That . . . that thing, Danner, he nearly killed me and Del. Hell, look at me. My jaw, my wrist . . . I’m a mess. Where do you think I got these gashes in my neck?”

“You said you got poked with a stick fighting those—”