T. Chris Martindale - Night Blood

[dem bones]

T. Chris Martindale - Night Blood (Orbit, 1991)

Blurb:

THE JUNGLE VIETNAM

Chris Stiles is more than a soldier. He's a born hunter. In a single, shocking incident on patrol, he earns his first taste of a whole other war – the war between the living and the Undead.

CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK CITY

More than animal, less than human, the Enemy strikes, claiming a new prey. But this victim will have his vengeance. Flesh no longer, spirit forever, Chris's brother Alex will guide him into a world of timeless, blood-famished evil.

ISHERWOOD, INDIANA

A quiet, typical small town nestled in America's heart. Here the most savage onslaught of the vampires will gather force. Here Chris Stiles, as familiar with death as his quarry, will attempt to complete the ultimate search-and-destroy mission...

"You've got to have faith for that [cross] to work. Didn't you see Fright Night on HBO last week? Oh, I forgot. You hilljacks don't have cable ..."

Hours of fun playing 'spot the influence' with this delightful vampire romp!

Chris Stiles has a suitably moribund dead brother, Alex, who shows up unannounced whenever he thinks he's located, "the enemy", the bastard vampire who buried bits of him across Central Park. His ghost first appeared to Chris in 'Nam, saving the day just as he was about to lead his men into an ambush, and Chris feels obliged to avenge him at the cost of never being able to settle and raise a family. After a lapse of a few years, Alex once again disturbs his brother's peace. He suspects the enemy is active in the small town of Isherwood and operating from the local haunted house where old Seb Danner reputedly chopped up his wife and brother when he caught them having a shag.

Chris shows up at the Danner Place on the night sixteen year old Bart Miller and his eleven year old brother Del are enduring a sleepover to win a fifty bucks bet with Tommy Whitten, Doug and Fat Larry Hovi from neighbouring Seymour. Of course, these three are determined they'll not wind up losing money to a pair of "Woodies" and prepare a little surprise for 'em. It's hardly necessary as the lads have soon had adventure enough for one night. Set upon by the vampire, they're saved when 'Rambo' bursts out of the bushes and damn near cuts the bloodsucker in half in a hail of machine-gun fire, although, inexplicably, he lets the creature crawl off, dragging his wounded bits with him, rather than finishing the job. Chris drives the boys home to their mom, Billie, who works at the diner and has already taken a shine to the enigmatic stranger. Sheriff Charlie Bean, however, isn't so keen having already sussed that their visitor is trouble, definitely trouble.

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware that the Miller boys are safely tucked up at home in bed, Tommy dons his Tor Johnson mask returns to the Danner place and goes on the prowl with a wicked axe while his stooges, likewise done up in best Halloween threads, make ghostly noises and what have you outside the window. The dying vampire can hardly believe his luck!

When Chris returns to the property the following morning, he finds three corpses drained of blood and shoved up a drainage pipe ....

TBC

[goathunter]

One of my favorite vampire novels, along with They Thirst, 'Salem's Lot, and Skipp & Spector's The Light at the End.

Hunter

[dem bones]

Another review of sorts that died before completion! Not surprised that Night Blood appeals to you, Hunter. The impression I got from it was that Martindale intended it as a tribute to Robert McCammon, David Morrell and early Stephen King - no bad thing at all. I particularly appreciated that he's not scared to do away with a main character in the most horrible way (especially because I didn't see it coming) and the nasty sequence toward the climax when a seriously messed up Del finds himself reunited with the undead versions of Tommy, Doug and Fat Larry!

[goathunter]

Yep! A much better novel than the description makes it sound (it was often described as "Rambo vs. vampires" when it came out). Of course, that was true of all of T. Chris Martindale's work, IMO.

And I forgot to mention Jeffrey Sackett's Blood of the Impaler, another favorite of mine....

Hunter

[kooshmeister]

Got a copy of this after seeing it mentioned in Paperbacks from Hell. Great stuff! Though at least according to the reprint, the title is "Nightblood," all one word.

Vietnam veteran Chris Stiles is working a dead-end job as a night watchman when the ghost of his dead brother Alex turns and tells him he needs to go to Isherwood, Indiana. There's trouble afoot. Trouble by the name of Danner. Chris would really rather not, as he's been hunting monsters ever since he returned to the States following the war. Alex Stiles has been haunting his brother ever since he was brutally killed in Central Park by an unknown assailant while his brother was serving his latest tour of duty in 'Nam. Because of the violent nature of his death, and the fact his killer was some kind of supernatural entity, Alex's ghost has the ability to sniff out evil, although he tends to be vague on the specifics. Whether this is because he can only intuit so much or whether he enjoys yanking Chris' chain and making him work for it, I dunno. Maybe both? Anyway, as noted, Chris is tired of monster hunting and beginning to believe that no matter what he does, he'll never find his brother's killer (simply referred to as "the Enemy"). Even Alex himself isn't entirely sure who or what killed him. It happened so fast he didn't get a good look at his killer.

Nevertheless, after a lengthy conversation, with Chris feeling that their working relationship is pretty one-sided, he finally agrees and walks out on his night watchman gig, loads his P.O.S. Dodge van with enough firepower to take on a professional army from a small country, and drives off towards Isherwood. Exactly who or what Danner is, though, Alex isn't sure. Or isn't telling.

Said town is your typical idyllic little American town (think Snowfield in Phantoms, before the Ancient Enemy paid it a visit, or the titular town from 'Salem's Lot, to which Nightblood is frequently compared, not unjustifiably). Chris - probably inspired by his love of cheesy harlequin romance novels - is posing as a novelist who does carpentry and other odd jobs between gigs, which local cop Deputy Charlie Bean swallows hook, line and sinker. So much so that he hires Chris to fix his desk at the police station, which wobbles, causing the drawer to fall out when it's opened. While he fishes for information about the name Danner, he hits up the local diner, where he immediately begins making goo-goo eyes at waitress and available single mom Billie Miller. The two hit it off so well that Chris begins experiencing a longing desire to settle down in Isherwood (it's as good a place as any), get with Billie the MILF and give up monster hunting, Alex's tendency to pester him if he remains inactive too long be damned. After taking care of this Danner business, of course.

After some flirting with Billie, he drives over to the police station, where it turns out the local cops are, surprise, surprise, huge jackasses. Rusty Sanders is a human piece of garbage who likes to smack his girlfriend around, and Marshal Thomas "Dutch" Larson is every redneck sheriff stereotype rolled into one pudgy slob of a man (except for the sheriff part; as noted, he's a marshal, which is a title I didn't think made it past the Old West; I guess Isherwood is that rural). He basically tells Chris to go screw, that Charlie didn't have the authority to offer him work (!) and that besides, he promised the job to his brother-in-law. Ah, nepotism. Chris manages to maintain his temper and points out that said brother-in-law hasn't fixed the desk yet, and manages to sway the Marshal around to giving him the job by essentially offering to do it for what amounts to nothing. In reality, he has no intention of touching Charlie's desk. He just wants the cops off his back so he can snoop, and if they think he's nothing but a humble handyman, they'll leave him alone.

Meanwhile, we finally find out what the name Danner refers to when we're introduced to Billie the waitress' sons Delbert (or just "Del") and Bart. The Danners were a wealthy family who lived in Isherwood years ago, but fell on hard times. Nathan Danner ran off to Europe, and upon returning home had some kind of falling out with his twin brother Sebastian. Something to do with Sebastian's wife, Lynn Anne. One night, Nathan vanished along with his sister-in-law, with Sebastian likewise disappearing not long after. A popular urban legend has it that Sebastian murdered his wife and brother and then went on the lam, a legend so pervasive that ever since the Danners disappeared, their house and property has remained untouched, with the people of Isherwood considering the land "poisoned." The old mansion has sat empty and abandoned for decades. What does this have to do with the Miller boys? Well, they're horror movie freaks, and older brother Bart has accepted a dare from his "friend" Tommy to spend a night in the decrepit mansion, which is scheduled for demolition because some real estate company finally bought the land and plans to develop it, curse or no curse. Del is tagging along just because, apparently. Fifty bucks will be theirs if they can last the night in the old house.

The boys hop the fence and head towards the house. Del quickly discovers that watching scary movies and being able to tolerate the gore in them isn't the same as actually braving a dark, scary house at night, and he lingers uncertainly around outside, despite his brother's assurances that there's nothing to be afraid of; see, before accepting the dare, Bart actually did some research about the Danners, and it turns out there were no murders; they did just simply disappear, but there was never any evidence of foul play. This doesn't exactly reassure Del, especially when, while twiddling his thumbs and trying to decide whether to go in or not, he encounters an old man with an axe. The guy seems just as surprised to see Del as Del is to see him and books it. Despite this, Del ultimately does decide to stay in the house with his brother. Before bedding down for the night, the two decide to explore, and wind up going down into the basement, where, to their surprise, they find a lit lantern and evidence that someone has been performing some kind of excavation, having knocked down one of the walls.

Behind it is another wall, also knocked in; beyond that is a third wall, which hasn't been smashed in yet. After making the obvious deduction that the old guy seen outside is the one who's been working down here, Bart gets the idea that the old man is a thief searching for the fabled Danner fortune; among the many other tall tales about the family is the fact there's supposed to be loads of gold and jewels hidden somewhere in the house. Despite Del's misgivings, Bart grabs a handy digging tool and decides to knock down the final wall so he and his brother can claim the treasure for themselves. Before he can fully knock it in, though, something on the other side, roused by the activity, knocks it out, and a pair of pale, cadaverous hands shoot through the opening, grab the startled Bart, and begin dragging him into the darkness beyond...