“Yeah,” Newton snorted, “we were so damn lucky.”
Jonatha nodded gravely. “Luckier than you think. We don’t know what these things can really do. In folklore there are all sorts of powers associated with vampires, and if only a tenth of it is true then we’re in real trouble.” Everyone turned to look at her, each face registering a different degree of distress. She plunged ahead. “Here’s what we already know—from what Crow, Val, and Dr. Weinstock have observed. Vampires are stronger than us, though if we’re dealing with more than one species the level of strength may vary. Some of them are smarter than humans, too, though the literature suggests that the intelligence increases because of longevity. Immortals, for lack of a better word, have more time to learn.”
“Ruger was crafty,” Crow said, “but nothing he did suggests he was Einstein with fangs.”
“Boyd was more like a zombie,” Val said. “A killing machine, which sounds corny, but believe me there was nothing corny about him.”
Jonatha nodded, continued. “Some vampires can call on storms and affect the weather.”
Val looked at Crow, her eyebrows arched. “That might fit. We’ve had a lot of storms this past month, and more cloudy days than sunny.”
“Right,” Crow agreed, “and that started the night before Ruger and Boyd came to town.” He looked inquiringly at Jonatha. “Griswold?”
“If he’s a true psychic vampire, then, yes, that would fit.”
“How bad can these storms get?” Val asked.
“I don’t know. The stories are often exaggerated. I mean, some vampires are supposed to be able to cause eclipses, which is of course impossible.”
“Even for something…supernatural?” LaMastra asked.
Jonatha smiled. “Bringing corpses back to life is one thing, causing storms is another…but moving the sun and the planets seems a bit much even for a vampire.”
“Well, thank God for small favors,” Ferro muttered.
“In the movies,” Crow said, “Dracula can command rats and bugs. Considering the whole army of roaches thing I think we can assume Griswold has that ability, too.”
“What about shape-shifting?” Newton asked. “Dracula turns into a bat and a wolf…”
“Oddly, in folklore vampires never turn into either bats or wolves. Those vampires that are theriomorphic are—”
“That are what?” Ferro asked.
“Sorry. Shape-shifters. Theriomorphs are what we call creatures that are able to change their shape, or at least their appearance. I don’t know if our vampires can do that, though since Griswold was once a werewolf we can’t rule it out.”
Ferro reached for the coffeepot. “This conversation has become surreal.”
LaMastra held out his cup. “Hit me.”
“What else?” Weinstock asked as he poured.
“Please”—Jonatha said, holding up a slim hand—“please remember that this is all speculation.”
“Yes, we get that. Go on.”
Jonatha folded her arms. “Hmm. I don’t suppose anyone has mapped the ley lines of this town, have they?”
“What the hell are ley lines?” demanded LaMastra.
“It’s a belief held by some that there is a kind of energy grid covering the world, somewhat like the imaginary lines of latitude and longitude, but acting more like the lines of energy in the human body they call meridians. In healings arts like acupuncture and acupressure the belief is that energy flows through the body along invisible pathways and disease comes from blockages in the normal flow and health is restored by removing those blocks. Ley lines are similar in that spiritual earth energy flows along them. Now, there have been folkloric studies of ley lines and in places where the normal flow is somehow blocked there have been all sorts of phenomena like hauntings, plagues, and blights.”
“Hmm,” Crow said.
“You and Newt said that you felt a very negative energy in Dark Hollow, right? Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that the natural flow of earth energy probably warps around that spot.”
“How does this New Age crap help us?” LaMastra said.
“It might not,” Jonatha admitted, “except to help understand the scope of this thing. Do you have a map of the town, Doctor?”
“Sure.” Weinstock took a book from a shelf, a big glossy history of the town. He rifled the pages then stopped at a two-page aerial photo.
As Jonatha bent over it, Crow tapped a few spots. “Okay, here’s Dark Hollow, and there’s Griswold’s farm.”
“What’s here?” Jonatha asked tracing a line in a semicircle that skirted the Hollow.
“Well, the center section here is Val’s place. Then there’s some sections of the campus, some forest, and a few farms.” He named the farms.
Jonatha looked at Val. “Your farm wasn’t affected by the blight, was it?”
“No.”
“What about these others?”
As Val looked at the map deep frown lines formed between her brows. “God…!”
“What?” Newton asked.
“Holy crap,” Crow said. “Those are the only farms unaffected by the blight.” There was a stunned silence.
Jonatha nodded. “I’d bet my tenure that the natural ley line warps around the Hollow and crosses each of those farms, and because those farms—and only those—would in essence be pinched between the next natural ley line and the warped one, they sit in a zone of higher natural energy. That intensified energy kept them safe from the blight.”
LaMastra looked from the map to Ferro. “You buying any of this bullshit?”
“Actually,” Ferro said softly, “I’m starting to.” He sat back in his chair and swirled the coffee around in his cup. “However, as fascinating as the backstory is, Dr. Corbiel, I think we need to determine two things right now. No, make that three things. First, we need to know how to kill these bastards.”
“I’ll drink to that,” said LaMastra, and did.
“Then we need to know where they are,” Ferro continued. “And finally, we need to know how they’re created. If that’s a process we can identify, then maybe we can cut it off. Like when you’re getting rid of termites in a house…if you can kill off one breeding cycle you kill the infestation.”
“Well,” Jonatha said, “as far as where they are…I think Dark Hollow has to be the hub. Griswold’s almost certainly buried somewhere down there.”
Ferro looked at his watch. “There’s not enough daylight to go out there today, but I think we should plan on going there tomorrow.”
“I take it you’re signing on,” Crow asked.
Ferro gave him a withering look. “Yes, and when this is over I hope to Christ that I never see any of you again.”
“Amen,” agreed LaMastra. “When this is over I’m moving to Florida.”
“Why Florida?” Newton asked.
“Why not?”
“The second point is killing them,” Jonatha said, “and that might be some good news. The folklore has a lot to say about that.”
“What, we need to get a bunch of hammers and stakes?” LaMastra asked.
“No,” Weinstock interjected. “Val’s pretty much shown us that severe brain trauma will do the job. Though it’s possible that spinal damage might be a factor. At least one of Val’s shots severed Boyd’s upper spine and also broke his neck. All of those are possible or even probable methods of killing them. When in doubt, aim for the brain stem.”
“Beheading should work, too,” Jonatha said, “and we can probably count on fire.”
“Burn baby burn,” LaMastra said under his breath. Crow reached over and offered a high-five, which LaMastra, to his surprise, returned.
“And don’t forget garlic, that’s very important. In every culture where there are vampires, garlic is used both to ward them off and to kill them. I’m not sure how we’d introduce it into their bodies, though.”
“Garlic oil,” Weinstock said, looking at Ferro. “Could we use that somehow? Some kind of weapon?”
“Doable,” said the detective thoughtfully. “Definitely doable.”
“What about the last point,” Val asked quietly. “That matters most to me because of Mark. Can we do a test to determine if Mark is infected?”
Jonatha looked at her for a long time before she answered. “Yes,” she said slowly. “There is a way…but it’s dangerous.”
“So what else is new?” asked Newton sourly.
2
After Jonatha outlined her plan, Val said she needed some time. Crow walked her down to the hospital’s chapel, but at the door she stopped him with a gentle hand on his chest. “Honey, I need a few minutes to myself. I have to think this through…and maybe talk to Daddy about it.”
He nodded. “You don’t have to be there when we do this. Saul and I can do it. We have the two cops…”
“No.”
“You’re pregnant, Val…Crow Junior doesn’t need his mom to—”
“I said no, Crow.” She put a finger to his lips, then kissed him, sweetly and long. “Give me fifteen minutes, okay?”
Crow sighed, nodded, hating it.
Back in Weinstock’s office, he saw that Newton and Jonatha were gone—out to get sandwiches for everyone—and the others were watching TV coverage of the Halloween parties that were in full swing in town.
“There’s a lot of people in town,” Ferro said dubiously. “I don’t like it.”
“Tomorrow it will be even crazier,” Weinstock said.
“That’s just peachy.” LaMastra rubbed his eyes. “No way to keep control of this.”
Ferro said, “We’ve established that the Halloween stuff is going to happen. What precautions have you taken?”