Konrath, J.A. - DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror)

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“You can take that sorry and shove it up your ass.”

She stormed away, and no one bothered to stop her. The cool night was now hot as the summer in Nevada, and the burning hospital bright enough to see the damage that had been done to it. The autoclave had performed as advertised. The building wasn’t just sterilized. It was annihilated. Nothing could have survived that.

Choking back a sob, Shanna headed toward the TV crew. They were interviewing a man. A doctor. Incredibly, his scrubs were pristine, not a mark on them. He held a sleeping baby close to his chest, while a good-looking brunette asked him how he had managed to save the infant.

“Her name is Daniella. She was handed to me by your cameraman when the helicopter landed. Incredibly, some soldiers almost shot both of us, until I could prove we hadn’t been bitten.”

“Is the baby okay?” the reporter asked.

“I’m happy to report she’s completely healthy. Even in tragedies such as this, miracles happen.”

Something about the man’s voice was familiar. She walked closer, to get a look at his face. He was young, longish brown hair, had a strong jaw and deep eyes. Shanna immediately found him attractive, and the feeling shamed her, especially so soon after Clay’s death.

But something about him drew her.

The TV reporter seemed to feel the same way. It appeared that at any moment, she’d leap into his arms.

“Thank you, Doctor Cook.”

As soon as the camera turned away, Dr. Cook approached.

“Hello, Shanna.”

Shanna sniffled. “Do we know each other?”

“We met once before. I was Mortimer’s doctor.”

He reached out his hand. Shanna took it, finding his grip surprisingly cold.

“You seem familiar, but I’m afraid I really don’t recall you.”

He smiled, revealing absolutely perfect teeth. “That’s okay. I’m arranging a ride into town. Would you like to come along?”

Shanna seriously considered it, but something about the handsome man struck her as creepy.

“No, thanks.”

Darkness flashed across Dr. Cook’s eyes, so quickly Shanna couldn’t be sure she hadn’t imagined it. The doctor bowed politely.

“Some other time, perhaps.”

Then he pressed his cold lips to her hand, turned on his heel, and walked off into the night with the infant.

Shanna wondered where she should go next. She thought of Clay’s father. He didn’t sound like someone she’d want to hang around with, but a survivalist type might be just what she needed right now. He deserved to know that his son was dead, and how he died. And he’d be the type to believe why he died.

Where had he said Daddy lived?

Up near Silverton?

That was where she would go.

The Man in the Pristine Scrubs

“YOU are hungry, aren’t you,” he cooed to the infant in his arms. “Well, we’ll fix that.”

His canine teeth extended. They were so much better than the previous, unwieldy set he’d shed in the laundry room less than half an hour ago. This new form was superior. His thoughts were clear, focused. And he looked human. Better than human. Better than his best days on Wall Street. He’d blend in much better than those monsters.

Better still, he was young and healthy again.

He bit the tip of his index finger and watched the blood well into a bead, then touched it to the baby’s mouth. She made a face at first, then began to suck.

“Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us, little one. We seem to have experienced a setback on the way to a brave new world, but it’s only temporary. We’ll get there eventually, and you’ll play a big part. Oh, yes, little one. I have big plans for you.”

Epilogue

HE hurt. Hurt bad.

Burns, for sure. All over.

Broken arm.

Broken leg.

Make that two broken legs.

But somehow he’d managed to survive that explosion, that fall.

He was too weak to cry out. But that was okay. He heard soldiers sifting through the rubble.

They’d find him soon.

Until then, he had good company to kill some time with.

The best company a man could have.

He set Alice on his chest, and wondered how long it would be before they found him.

But he could be patient.

He could wait a little longer.

Not a problem.

THE END

From Joe Konrath, about this bonus content

Welcome to the supplements section. One of the cool things about ebook technology is that page count no longer matters. In print, paper costs money. The longer the book, the more it is to produce it and ship it.

Since we’re not bound by this (technically we’re not bound at all) we can include a bunch of DVD-style extras that don’t increase the cost of the ebook.

You’ve probably just finished reading the interview with all four authors about writing Draculas.

If you’re a writer, or you’re interested in how four different authors crafted a single novel, we’ve included a lengthy selection of our emails to each other during the writing process. In this, you can see how our final draft changed from our original vision, and how we put it all together.

We’ve included complete Kindle bibliographies, bios, and excerpts from our latest novels.

We’ve also included these three bonus short stories.

I’ve been fortunate to have collaborated with all of these authors on separate projects. Here’s a brief explanation of each.

Years ago, a friend of mine told me I had to meet Jeff Strand because he wrote “funny but sick shit, just like you.” I read some of his Andrew Mayhem books, loved them, and we began to correspond. I thought it would be a lot of fun to team up his Mayhem character with one of my characters from the Jack Daniels series, a private eye named Harry McGlade. We wrote a novella called SUCKERS, which came out in a limited edition hardcover and sold 250 copies. Later, I put SUCKERS up on Amazon Kindle, and it’s made us a small fortune.

A while later, we were both invited into a tiny werewolf anthology, and decided to hash out a quick story. The result was CUB SCOUT GORE FEAST. The anthology never came out, but the story lives on as a supplement to this ebook.

Blake Crouch and I met under similar circumstances. A mutual friend told us we both wrote dark, scary serial-killer books, so we checked each other out and found our writing was very similar. On a lark, I asked Blake if he wanted to try a writing experiment. I write about a driver who kills hitchhikers. He writes about a hitchhiker who kills drivers. Then, without showing each other our sections, we try to kill each other.

The result, SERIAL, was released as a freebie on Amazon, and downloaded more than 250,000 times. Amazon now carries the longer, expanded SERIAL UNCUT, which is about five times the length. Here’s the original.

I’ve been a fan of F. Paul Wilson since I was a kid, and we met a while ago at a writing convention. When we were both invited into a horror anthology, neither Paul nor I had time to write a story, so I asked him if he wanted to collaborate, which would be faster. He graciously agreed, and the result, A SOUND OF BLUNDER, was released in the antho BLOOD LITE. It’s a parody of the famous Ray Bradbury story. Thanks to Pocket Books for allowing us to include it here. Jeff Strand was also in that collection, and it’s well worth seeking out.

Collaborating is a fascinating creative endeavor. Two heads, or four heads in the case of DRACULAS, really allows the writing to come quick. Having instant feedback on scenes that are hot off the keyboard is a luxury writers don’t normally have, and hopefully the fun is apparent on the e-ink page.

It’s been my pleasure to work with these talented guys, and I hope we get a chance to do it again soon…