When the door closed behind him the three again exchanged glances. Derrick was the first to speak. “He can’t really be a vampire, can he?”

David laughed, somewhat nervously. “No, there’s no way on earth he’s a vampire. Your dentist could give you fangs as good as his, Derrick, and contacts are no doubt responsible for the red eyes.”

“What should we do?” asked Robert.

David sighed. “We’re going to have to think of a plan. We can’t just run for it, getting to the elevator or the stairs would leave us too exposed. There’s no cover in that corridor. But I have an idea, or at least the beginning of one.” He steepled his fingers as he thought, his mind racing. He couldn’t let either of the others go off with this nutcase. Of all of them he stood the best chance of overpowering the faux vampire. He looked up at the other two, voicing some of his thoughts. “He’s going to come back and pick one of us to be his lucky blood donor. Even if he’s not a real vampire, I don’t doubt that he really drinks blood. He seems crazy enough. I’m going to try and provoke him into choosing me. He’ll probably take me to another room. Once we’re out of sight run for it. Get out and call the police. Remember the elevator won’t work with the power off, so you’ll have to take the stairs.”

“What about you?” asked Robert.

“I might be able to overpower him if it’s just the two of us. With all three of us in the room if that gun goes off it’s going to hit somebody. I’m in pretty good shape physically, so if I see a chance I’ll take it. If not, well, people donate blood all the time, right? I’m sure I’ll survive the experience.”

Robert shook his head. “You’ve sure got some guts Dave. But I don’t like this.”

“You think of a better idea, feel free to tell me. We need to get to the police, and I’m sure when he cut the power and the alarm he didn’t neglect the phone lines.”

“Yeah… but if you get killed I’m never forgiving you,” said Robert.

“Shh…” said David suddenly. “Here he comes.”

Booted footsteps approached the door and the intruder opened the door. The gun was still in his hand. “Looks like we’re all alone,” he said. “Now, decisions, decisions…” his eyes scanned across the three men, a predatory gleam shining in them.

David spoke up quickly saying, “I don’t think you’re a real vampire. A real vampire wouldn’t need a gun.”

“You disbelieve?” said the madman. “You refuse, perhaps, to accept the reality of something so strange, so beyond your everyday experience as vampires.”

David suddenly matched the madman’s grin and gave an odd little laugh. “Oh no, I believe in vampires, I’m quite convinced of their reality. What I doubt is your claim to be one of them. Tell me, how much did you pay your dentist for the fang job?”

A snarl of pure rage crossed the faux vampire’s face. “You doubt me? Well then, let me prove it to you first hand!” He waved the gun at David threateningly and said, “Follow me and I’ll show you the truth.”

David nodded and calmly went to the door. He gave Robert and Derrick a meaningful glance as he left.

The “vampire” again warned them against escape and shut the door. He directed David down the corridor again and into a little office. He closed the door firmly behind them and David inwardly relaxed. That had been his biggest fear, that the madman would leave the door open and shoot his co-workers before they could escape. He wasn’t too worried about his own safety. Sure, he didn’t want to be shot either, but he was stronger than his fairly average build suggested, and was confident that given the least opportunity he could overpower his captor.

In the little office there was no emergency light. The only illumination came in through the window that looked out at ground level into the deserted parking lot. The moon was high in the sky outside and nearly full, so there was plenty of light to see by. David had a clear view as the “vampire” closed in on him. He kept the gun pointed at David’s head as he slowly stepped forward. “You disbelieve, but soon you’ll see the truth. I…” he stopped and cocked his head to one side. David could hear the sound that had no doubt attracted his attention. It was the sound of running feet, not quite muffled by the carpet. David mentally cursed the other two for not being quiet. The madman turned to open the door. David realized he needed to buy the others more time. They would still be out in the hallway, terribly vulnerable. So he took advantage of the “vampire’s” turned back and tackled him from behind. They both went down in a tangle with David on top. But the other man twisted and fought and David couldn’t keep him pinned. He was inhumanly strong, and for a moment David wondered if he might indeed be one of the undead, but he was panting and gasping for breath as he struggled, and David was pretty sure that vampires shouldn’t need to breathe.

The madman fought with a strength imparted by his insanity and he managed to squirm out of David’s hold before David could get a good grip on him. He swung his fists wildly and connected with a few lucky blows. They didn’t faze David much, but then he got in one punch that nearly knocked him out. The grip of his gun, which David could see at such close quarters, was polished wood, carved with some kind of design, bats and wolves maybe? But he didn’t have the chance to admire the artistry even if he’d wanted to, for one of the madman’s flailing blows slammed the gun’s grip into David’s head. Lights flashed behind his eyes and he went limp. The madman got to his feet and raced out into the hall. David struggled to pull himself together. That had hurt!

He finally staggered to his feet and ran stumblingly out into the hall. The imitation vampire was already at the end of the hall. David tried to run after him, but his head was spinning and he couldn’t get his balance. Ahead of him the “vampire” opened the door to the stairwell. Because of the fire code the stairwell door couldn’t be locked from this side. From the other side it couldn’t be opened without a keycard, though David doubted if the keycard system was even working with the power off, but in any case egress to the ground floor had to be provided in case somebody forgot their keycard in an emergency, so the fake vampire went through without any difficulty.