It took all of forty-five minutes for Daniel to go stir crazy in the alley. He had paced its length, scaled a wall and observed from on high, sat on the asphalt until his ass went numb, and sang I Wanna Be Sedated to himself in English and rudimentary Spanish. Anything to keep from staring into that black abyss in the wall, a darkness so thick it seemed to move.

The vampire thumbed through a phone book and found the number for Solomon's Scrolls. He fed the phone a quarter and dialed. A feminine voice picked up.

"Hey, is Melody there?"