"To spend some quality time with your wife," he answered.

"Victor. Come in and shut the door," Whitley said with agitation in his voice. As soon as the door closed, "What the hell's going with the vampire drug situation?"

"For starters, the people who use it call it `The Dream'," Victor informed him.

"I call it a fucking nightmare. You're supposed to be getting it off the street. Instead, it's spreading like wildfire, almost like someone is standing on a street corner passing it out for free."

Victor paused for a moment. "As a matter of fact, someone is giving it away for free."

"How do you know?"

"Information passed on from the DEA."

"Well do they know who this person is?" Whitley asked.

"I don't know. They say they are very close to finding out."

"Any speculation as to how long before they put a stop to it?"

"I would guess four or five days," Victor answered.

"How many hundreds of people are we going to lose during that time?"

"Some of the numbers will be offset by the vampires we kill on the extermination runs." Victor sat down in one of the battered leather chairs.

26