With the diary tucked to my side, I scrambled for the front door and out into the hall. The elevator chimed. Much too coincidental an arrival. I spied an exit sign in the other direction and sprinted.

The elevator doors whooshed open. I turned my head for an instant to see who came out.

Two men, bearded and middle-aged, burst into the hall. They wore hats and long, open coats. Red auras flared around them. Large silver crucifixes hung from their necks. One brandished a sawed-off shotgun and the other a double-bladed ax-the type of weapons used to murder Ziggy. The men yelled at each other in a harsh foreign dialect.

Vânätori de vampir.

I kicked open the metal fire door leading to the stairwell. Just as I cleared the threshold, a blast of pellets ricocheted off the door.

I used my vampire powers to glide above the steps to the next landing. The man with the shotgun leaned over the railing and took aim. I huddled against the wall, outside his line of sight. A volley of pellets splattered along the stairs.

Pain stabbed my left leg. One pellet tore into my shin. I limped down the stairs, suddenly too weak to float over more than a few steps at a time. I continued to the bottom of the stairwell and went out the door, into the crisp, night air of the alley. A row of sodium lamps threw their yellow glare into the gloom.

I ran to the left, the shortest path to my car.

In front of me, where the alley emptied to the street, appeared a man with a coat similar to my pursuers. His aura burned with hatred. He cradled a hunting rifle with a scope. I was sure he was the one who had shot Dr. Wong.

He jerked the rifle to his shoulder and fired a wild shot that missed.

The stairwell door behind me opened with a bang and the two men rushed into the alley.

I was trapped. I halted. The silver pellet burned against my left shinbone. Blood oozed into my shoe.

My throat tightened in panic. My ears and fingers tingled so hard that they buzzed. The only escape was to crawl up the wall. I hobbled over and planted my toes and fingertips against the stucco. Managing only two feeble steps against gravity, I knew that I couldn’t reach the balcony above in time to avoid getting shot and decapitated. I slid back to the ground.

The man with the rifle tracked me through the scope. The other two men called to him and he held his fire.

Shadows falling from the wide brims of their hats shrouded their faces. In this meager light, I couldn’t easily hypnotize them. Not all at once. And not until they got closer. They approached warily. Their auras crackled with hostility and determination. The older one with the ax held his crucifix before him and chanted in Latin.

An approaching police siren echoed through the alley.

The man glanced over his shoulder toward the siren and let the crucifix dangle. He gripped his ax with both hands, his fingers flexing. He hissed at his companions and their steps quickened.

With this wounded leg I couldn’t escape, not in human form.

A Dumpster stood against the wall to my left, midway between the man with the rifle and myself. I ran toward it as best I could. Bolts of agony shot up my left leg.

Ten feet from the Dumpster I leapt and dove for the inside. I didn’t figure that the cover might be secured. Instead of landing within, I bounced off the metal top. I landed hard on the asphalt, between the Dumpster and the wall, knocking the wind out of me and scraping my knuckles.

Gasping and dizzy, I struggled to my feet, tilted open the Dumpster’s cover, and crawled inside…to land on top of piles of stinking garbage. I burrowed into the trash, into the slime and yuck at the very bottom, and tucked myself into a ball.

I commanded the transformation and channeled pain and fear into the energy needed to change my shape. My heartbeat quickened. My bones and joints stretched and popped, each crack a torture that I endured in silence. My skull distended. Saliva washed from my mouth, dripping from many sharp teeth. Skin prickled as my hair thickened and spread across my body. Smells flooded my growing snout. My ears picked sounds too faint even for vampires.

I shook off the man garments choking me. I waited hunched inside the Dumpster, naked and hairy, no longer vampire but wolf.

The man creatures approached the enclosure, their breathing guarded and anxious. They exuded smells-of digested cow meat, perspiration, and the greasy odor of their deadly fire weapons.

The hairs on my spine bristled. My lips curled back to bare vicious canines. I felt the urge to rip their flesh and taste blood. But escape was my priority. Revenge could come later.

The long end of a human weapon pushed over the top of the enclosure. Just as the man’s head appeared, I lunged for him and knocked aside the weapon.

He screamed. The weapon released its explosive bark. The loud noise stung my ears.

I landed between him and his companion. My left hind leg collapsed and I yelped, reminded painfully of my wound.

Springing to my paws, I raced down the canyon between the human nesting structures and hid in the shadows.

Another weapon barked and its bite pinged well away to my side. I turned the corner and continued down the wide path. The wail of the siren became louder.

Several humans emerged from one of their carriers. The two males smelled of a recent dinner and the female of estrus. I snarled at them. They shouted in fright and jumped away.

I was surrounded by mountains of human dwellings. Sniffing river water, I turned toward the source, knowing that I could hide in the reeds and wait until later to transform back into a vampire.

A human carrier roared in front of me. Lights flashed along its top. I stumbled and turned. My wounded leg buckled under me. I lunged off my good hind leg and started again. The smell of river water grew stronger. I lifted my head to look for any signs of bushes or a shoreline.

I headed west and slinked through the bushes and shadows surrounding the dwellings. Human carriers rolled past. Some slowed and made honking noises. One of the human carriers with the flashing colored lights shined a powerful light in my direction. I hid within a lilac bush along a fence and waited for them to leave. The moon crested the tallest dwelling.

I welcomed the opportunity to rest. My wounded hind leg burned with pain.

The light went dark and the carrier left. I trotted from under the bush and continued west. I moved carefully from cover to cover and did my best to avoid humans. There were few of their carriers on the roads. By the time the moon had risen high above, the smell of the river was strong and inviting.

I loped from the shadows toward an open dirt lot. Colored lights flashed on. A bright white light caught me. I dashed to the left.

A sudden sting, like from a bee, popped me beside my tail. Desperate to escape, I ran faster.

My legs grew clumsy. My paws knocked against each other. I slowed and dragged my numbed hind legs. A feathered human weapon clung to my haunches. I tried to gnaw it off but my head felt too heavy to hold upright. Drowsiness smothered my panic. I lay on the cool ground and watched through dimming eyes a human approach, a rope in her hands.