Vamps 02 by Night Life

Author:Night Life [Life, Night]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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165

Although virtually all his paying work was done with

a digital SLR camera, Kristof still preferred to shoot at

least one or two rolls of 35-mm film with his old Leica.

While digital cameras were far more cost-effective and

granted instantaneous knowledge of what shots were

worth keeping, traditional film allowed him latitude in

high-contrast situations, revealing a world of detail in

the highlights and shadows that could never be coaxed

from a digital file.

It was because of this appreciation for the inherent

poetry of black-and-white photography and old-school

optical lab techniques that Kristof had turned his sec-

ond bathroom into a darkroom.

In the blood-red glow of the light, he watched as

Lili’s face gradually appeared on the exposed print

paper floating in the developer tray, like a ghost emerg-

ing from a fog bank.

As Kristof quickly transferred the print from the

developer tray to the stop bath with a pair of tongs,

then moved it to the fixer tray, he thought he heard

someone moving around in his combination sleeping

area/office/living room.

It was probably his assistant, Miriam. She was always

forgetting something. Last time it was her purse. The

time before that it was her laptop. Setting the timer for

two minutes, he opened the door to the darkroom and

stuck out his head.

166

“Miriam—is that you?”

He waited for a reply, but all he heard was silence.

He shrugged and ducked back inside the darkroom as

the timer went off. It must have been the building set-

tling or the upstairs neighbors coming home.

He removed the black-and-white print from the

fixer tray and placed it in the wash, swishing it back

and forth with his tongs. As he looked down at the

print floating in the distilled water, Kristof noticed for

the first time what appeared to be a double exposure.

As he pulled the photograph out of the rinse tray

and clipped it to the drying line strung across the bath-

tub, he could clearly see the outline of the Eiffel Tower

superimposed over Lili’s face. But that was impossible.

He’d triple-checked all his cameras before the shoot for

light leaks and film misfeeds.

Kristof’s frown deepened even further when he

discovered that the double exposure did not seem to

affect either the clothing the model was wearing or the

surrounding props and scenery. Although her features

were still visible, it was as if she had suddenly been

transformed into glass. How the hell was it possible for

Lili to be the only thing affected in the entire frame?

Looking more closely, Kristof realized that the Eiffel

Tower on Lili’s face was not the haphazard result of

one exposure being taken atop another, but the simple

fact he was looking through Lili’s head at what she was

167

standing in front of, which just happened to be the fake

window with its pretend view of the Eiffel Tower.

“What the—?” he muttered, snatching the print off

the line.

Kristof turned around to discover he was no longer

alone. Standing between him and the darkroom door

was a tall man with dark hair gone gray at the temples,

his eyes glowing like those of an animal.

“What do you think you’re doing with my daugh-

ter?” the intruder growled, flashing fangs as white and

sharp as those of a wolf.

Kristof didn’t have time to explain, but he did

manage to scream.

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