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“In both countries, when either a Vlkodlak or a Mjertovjec werewolf dies and is not properly buried, it comes back to life…as a vampire. ”
Val’s face lost all color and she gripped Crow’s hand with desperate force.
“Holy mother of God,” Crow whispered.
“That,” Jonatha said, “is why I believe you. ”
Chapter 21
1
Crow said nothing as he drove. He just put a Solomon Burke disk in and headed north. The sunny morning had given way to a thin cloud cover that was starting to thicken as they drove. Val used her cell to fill Weinstock in on what they’d learned.
“She said that the psychic vampire is the root of the word nosferatu. It’s funny, after all those Dracula movies I thought that nosferatu meant ‘undead. ’ I guess we can’t trust any of what’s in fiction. ”
“So what does it mean?” Weinstock asked.
“Jonatha said that at least a third of the world’s folkloric vampires were bodiless and invisible spirits who spread disease. The Romanian word nosferatu actually translates as ‘plague carrier,’ which she thinks might explain our blight. ”
“Swell. ”
“The main thing is, if Griswold was one of the werewolf species from Belarus or Serbia, and if he was killed, as Crow suspects, by the Bone Man somewhere in Dark Hollow, then it’s likely he’s the one who somehow turned Boyd and the others into vampires. ”
She told him the rest of it and then made arrangements to meet later on. For the next ten minutes of the drive north, Val stared out at the cars passing in the other direction, her fingers tracing the outline of the small silver cross she wore around her neck. Crow knew that she must be in hell. If Griswold’s spirit was lingering in town, then Mark and Connie might also be caught in the polluted etheric tidewaters of Pine Deep.
“Whatever it takes,” he said, giving her thigh a reassuring squeeze, “we’ll take care of Mark—”
“I want to go back to the farm,” Val interrupted. “Now. On the way back to town. ”
Crow nodded. “Okay. Any particular reason?”
“Dad’s guns. ”
He studied her face for a moment and then looked at the dark clouds building in the direction they were headed. “Works for me,” he said.
2
Newton used his credit card to pay for Jonatha’s room at the Harvestman Inn and trailed behind her as she opened her door and went in. Like all of the rooms at Pine Deep’s premier hotel, it was spacious, accented in autumn colors, and very expensive. The numbers on the bill caused Newton real pain.
“I’ll be back to pick you up at six,” he said, fidgeting in the doorway.
Jonatha turned around and sat down on the edge of the big queen bed that dominated the room. They had barely spoken a word since she dropped her bomb at the restaurant, and now she sat there and chewed her lip, giving him a long and thoughtful look.
“Tell me something, Newton. ”
“Call me Newt. Everyone does. ”
“Okay. Tell me…what are you and the others going to do now? With everything that’s happening, I mean?”
“I don’t know. I think Crow will want to go down to Dark Hollow again, to Griswold’s house. ”
“Why? If he’s a ghost, or some kind of psychic vampire spirit, then what do you think you’ll be able to accomplish? You can’t shoot him and you can’t dig him up and run him out of town on a rail. ”
“I don’t know what we can do. Spray garlic over his house, or set it on fire. ”
“Was he buried there? At the house, I mean?”
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