Eph studied the old man, trying to see the truth behind his lie.
Setrakian said, “Nora and Zack are ready for their journey to Vermont?”
“Just about. But not Vermont. Nora had a good point—it’s Kelly’s parents’ place, she might be drawn to it. There’s a girls’ camp Nora knows, from growing up in Philadelphia. It’s off-season now. Three cabins on a small island in the middle of a lake.”
“Good,” said Setrakian. “The water will keep them safe. How soon do you leave for the train station?”
“Soon,” said Eph, checking his wristwatch. “We still have a little time.”
“They could take a car. You do realize that we are out of the epicenter now. This neighborhood, with its lack of direct subway service and comparatively few apartment buildings conducive to rapid infestation, has yet to be totally colonized. We are not in a bad spot here.”
Eph shook his head. “The train is the fastest and surest way out of this plague.”
Setrakian said, “Fet told me about the off-duty policemen who came to the pawnshop. Who resorted to vigilantism once their families were safely away from the city. You have something similar in mind, I think.”
Eph was stunned. Had the old man intuited his plan somehow? He was about to tell him when Nora entered carrying an open carton. “What is this stuff for?” she asked, setting it down near the raccoon cages. Inside were chemicals and trays. “You setting up a dark room?”
Setrakian turned from Eph. “There are certain silver emulsions that I want to test on blood worms. I am optimistic that a fine mist of silver, if possible to derive, synthesize, and direct, will be an effective weapon for mass killing of the creatures.”
Nora said, “But how are you going to test it? Where are you going to get a blood worm?”
Setrakian lifted the lid off a Styrofoam cooler, revealing the jar containing his slowly pulsing vampire heart. “I will segment the worm powering this organ.”
Eph said, “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Only if I make a mistake. I have segmented the parasites in the past. Each section regenerates a fully functioning worm.”
“Yeah,” said Fet, returning from the poison closet. “I’ve seen it.”
Nora lifted out the jar, looking at the heart the old man had fed for more than thirty years, keeping it alive with his own blood. “Wow,” she said. “It’s like a symbol, isn’t it?”
Setrakian looked at her with keen interest. “How do you mean?”
“This diseased heart kept in a jar. I don’t know. I think it exemplifies that which will be our ultimate downfall.”
Eph said, “Being what?”
Nora looked at him with an expression of both sadness and sympathy. “Love,” she said.
“Ah,” said Setrakian, his acknowledgment confirming her insight.
“The undead returning for their Dear Ones,” Nora said. “Human love corrupted into vampiric need.”
Setrakian said, “That may indeed be the most insidious evil of this plague. That is why you have to destroy Kelly.”
Nora quickly agreed. “You must release her from the Master’s grip. Release Zack. And, by extension, all of us.”
Eph was shocked but knew all too well that she was right. “I know,” he said.
“But it is not enough to know what is the correct course of action,” said Setrakian. “You are being called upon to perform a deed that goes against every human instinct. And, in the act of releasing a loved one… you taste what it is to be turned. To go against everything you are. That act changes one forever.”
Setrakian’s words had power, and the others were silent. Then Zack—evidently tired of playing the handheld video game Eph had found for him, or perhaps the battery had finally given out—returned from the van, finding them gathered in conversation. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, young man—talking strategy,” said Setrakian, taking a seat on one of the cartons, resting his legs. “Vasiliy and I have an appointment in Manhattan, so, with your father’s permission, we will catch a ride with you back over the bridge.”
Eph said, “What kind of appointment?”
“At Sotheby’s, a preview of their next auction.”