F. PAUL WILSON

MIDNIGHT MASS

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

MIDNIGHT MASS

Copyright © 2004 by F. Paul Wilson

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Edited by David H. Hartwell

Book design by Milenda Nan Ok Lee

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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New York, NY 10010

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Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilson, F. Paul (Francis Paul)

Midnight Mass / F. Paul Wilson.—1st ed.

p. cm. "A Tom Doherty Associates book." ISBN 0-765-30705-7 EAN 978-0765-30705-7

1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. New Jersey—Fiction. 3. New York (N.Y)—Fiction. 4. Clergy-Fiction. 5. Rabbis—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3573.I45695M53 2004 813'.54—dc22

2003065048

First Edition: April 2004

Printed in the United States of America

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Midnight Mass was born out of my dissatisfaction with the tortured romantic aesthetes who have been passing lately for vampires. Stephen King gave us the real deal in 'Salem's Lot, but what gives since then? I wanted to get back to the roots—go retro, if you will—and write about the soulless, merciless, parasitic creatures we all knew and loved.

My premise going in was that all the legends about the undead were true: they feared crosses, were killed by sunlight (all right, I'm told that one originated with F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, so it's not really legend, but it has become part of the lore), were burned by holy water and crucifixes, cast no reflection, etcetera. You know them as well as I do.