Chapter 113

Southern Canada

The line of vampires loped single-file through the dark woods, weaving its way south and east among the snow-draped pines like a snake slithering through tall grass. A six-inch carpet of freshly fallen snow did not impede their progress in the least, nor did the bitter cold. There were a dozen of the creatures, spaced evenly about five feet apart, all clothed in black and shades of dark gray. Only the leader, a vampire of African descent named Jarubu, displayed any color at all in his outfit: a dark crimson oval that covered most of the top half of his black hooded sweatshirt. Above the oval, Jarubu’s coal black skin reflected so little of the pale moonlight that the inside of his hood appeared almost empty. A tiny gold ring that pierced his right nostril seemed to float within the darkness. The crimson swatch on his chest signified nothing, other than that Jarubu liked to be different.

The faces of his fellows—seven males and four