Nancy Kilpatrick has published 60 short stories and (under a pseudonym) two erotic horror novels. A long-standing aficionado of the undead, she possesses one of the world's largest collections of vampire- related materials.

Devlin stepped into the hall, his footstep echoing down the hall as he moved swiftly. The voice was back. His silence gone after he had given the necklace away. It was the only thing that could keep her restless soul from tormenting him; reminding him of mistakes made long in the past. Even he the great reborn magi could not block her voice, and its sweet memories. She whispered in the back of his mind, telling him of his wrongs and protecting him from those that might end his existence; a cruel punishment he would not soon get out of.

When you cry out in pain
and nobody can hear you,
when your dying inside and
it appears that nobody can
see it in your eyes or that
they even give it a second
thought or don't even care
about your silent screams;

When you scream out for help
and nobody even notices your
true confusion about your
own very existance or your
own worth or your own right
to live because without any
acceptance no one has any
acceptance for themselves;

My silent screams are heard
by none thus I am neither

The sun is void
There is no day
Dark cast over the truth
Hidden evils
Once captive now roam
Where the misunderstood
And the outcasts govern
Where the sidewalk ends
And the world is turned
You may never have seen us
But we're so definitely there
Haunting your subconscious
You're not quite aware
But we'll stay in the shadows
In the dark shades
Of what you don't know.

Howling Stars
October 9, 2001

September 4, 2007 (Courier News / Martin C. Bricketto) -- Halloween is almost two months away, but Readington, NJ police responded to what must have been a spooky scene of indecent exposure for several local drivers Saturday night.