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“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 bod
ies, 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?”
