"Did you hear that?" Mike sat up and looked around. "I could’ve sworn I heard someone call my name."

Wade laughed. "I’m not going to fall for that. You’re just trying to scare me."

"Wade." It was a whisper, almost a sigh of the wind. Wade wasn’t even sure he had heard it. The sound came again. "Wade." He looked at Mike, then realized the sound had come from behind him, not from Mike.

Mike pointed. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came. Wade turned. Something stood in the dark shadow of the trees, only glimpsed in the flickering firelight, except for the glowing red eyes. Eyes too high off the ground to be a raccoon. Wade scrambled to his feet and backed away until he ran into Mike, now also standing.

"What’s the matter with you guys?" Josh asked drunkenly, looking around.

It stepped from the shadows into the firelight, short, maybe five foot four inches, and female, although that was only an impression. All that was really visible in the firelight was a white face surrounded by black. The eyes stopped glowing red and became black, piercing, hypnotizing. Scarlet lips were a slash across the white face.

"Oh, Wade." The soft voice was lyrical and seductive. The mouth smiled, red lips stretched back and parted, and Wade saw sharp, pointed fangs. A pink tongue licked lips hungrily. "Come here, Wade."

Wade’s heart raced with fear. Something inside him wanted to obey her command, yet he couldn’t move.

Two others emerged from the shadows. Taller than she. Ordinary. A white man with dark hair, wearing a red flannel shirt and jeans, and a skinny black man, young, wearing an Oregon University sweatshirt and black pants. Ordinary, except their lips curled back in hungry grins over long fangs.

Then the white one fell on Josh.

Josh’s bewildered "What’s up" changed to a scream.

Mike grabbed Wade’s arm. "Run, man, run."

Wade ran.