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“They only look different in contrast,” Saber said, understanding what Mia was saying.
Mia nodded.
“What about crucifixes?” Lozen asked.
“Hmm,” Mia said, thinking on it. “I don’t have a definitive answer for that. The church used to be a powerful conduit of faith. Vampires are older than the church, and the church used to be averydifferent entity.”
“What?” Elijah asked, scoffing at her.
Doug spoke.
“If I’m understanding you,” he said, “you’re suggesting that the modern church is not the same as the church that was concerned with demons, with evil…”
“That’s part of it,” she said. “The other part of it is belief. People used to believe in symbols, and thebeliefgave the symbols power.Faithis what gave the church its potency. Does anyone here havefaithin the Catholic Church?”
They all looked at each other.
“I grew up Catholic,” said Elijah.
“But you lost your faith,” Mia said, and smiled at him. He smiled a crooked smile back at her. He was almost handsome when he smiled.
“You could say that.”
“Do you have a crucifix?”
“My mother’s.”
“Bring it. If she had faith, it may still work.”
“So we go to the house in the early afternoon, when housekeepers and workers are less likely to be there. We break in somehow. Then we look for evidence that this is real. And,” he continued, “if we find anyactualvampires, we just go ahead and kill them real quick.”
“How?” Lozen asked, looking at Mia.
“The old ways are usually best in these situations.”
“A stake through the heart,” Saber said, imagining herself driving a stake through another person’s body.
“Hawthorn, if we can get it.”
“I have a few hawthorn trees on my property,” Doug said. “I could fell one.”
Elijah took a deep breath.
“And what if we get caught?”
“We get arrested,” Doug said. “Go to jail.”
They all looked at him.
“I’ve been arrested before, at protests. You survive it. Kids today are so afraid of a little bit of legal trouble. We’ll say we were invited to a party there and we had the time wrong.”
“I can’t lose my job,” Elijah said.
“Then stay outside,” Doug said, and shrugged.
Doug felled his hawthorn tree, fashioned three stakes, and found, in his toolshed, a bolt cutter, a mallet, and a glass cutter. Elijah bought walkie talkies. Lozen and Saber bought flashlights and a lantern at an Ace Hardware on the island. Mia promised to make charms of protection for them to wear. They planned to convene at two in the afternoon at Doug’s house, then drive over together in Saber’s car.
As Saber finished lunch with her father and told him she needed to go meet Lozen, she felt a surge of anxiety and excitement.
