The Strain (The Strain Trilogy 1)

"You did not fail," said Eph. "The sun failed."

Setrakian said, "He is more powerful than I knew. I suspected it, maybe...dreaded, certainly...but never knew. He is not of this earth."

Eph agreed. "He is a vampire."

"No-not of this earth."

Eph was worried about the old man having taken a blow to the head. "We hurt him, bottom line. We marked him. And now he's on the run."

The old man would not be consoled. "He is still out there. It goes on." He accepted the glass from Eph, drank it, and sat back. "These vampires now...they are in their infancy. We are about to witness a new stage in their evolution. It takes about seven nights to become fully turned. For their new parasitic organ system to complete its formation. Once that occurs, once their bodies are no longer comprised of vital organs-heart, lungs-but only a series of chambers in the body, they will be less vulnerable to conventional weaponry. And they will continue to mature beyond that time-learning, becoming smarter, more used to their environment. They will band together and coordinate their attacks, and individually become much more nimble and deadly. Making it much harder to find and defeat them. Until eventually it will become impossible to stop them." The old man finished his brandy and then looked at Eph. "I believe what we saw up there on that rooftop this morning was the end of our kind."

Eph felt the weight of the future pressing down on them all. "How much is there that you haven't told me?"

Setrakian's eyes were rheumy as he stared off into the middle distance. "Too much to speak of now."

A short while later, he was asleep. Eph looked at his gnarled fingers twisting the hem of the bedsheet on his chest. The old man's dreams were feverish.

"Dad!"

Eph went out to the main room. Zack was sitting in the computer chair, and Eph gripped the boy from behind, wrapped him up in another hug, kissing the top of his head, breathing in the scent of his hair. "I love you, Z," he whispered.

"Love you too, Dad," Zack said back, and Eph ruffled his hair and let him go.

"Where are we with this?"

"Almost all set." The boy returned to the computer. "I had to create a dummy e-mail address. You pick a password."

Zack was helping Eph upload the video of Ansel Barbour in the dog shed-which Eph had not yet shown Zack-onto as many file-sharing and broadcast video web sites as possible. Eph wanted true vampire footage out there on the Internet for the world to see. It was the only way he could think of to reach people and make them comprehend. He wasn't worried about fostering chaos and panic: the riots continued, confined to poorer neighborhoods, though their spread was just a matter of time. The alternative of continued coordinated silence in the face of an extinction event was too absurd to consider.

This plague would be fought at a grassroots level now-or not at all.

Zack said, "Now I select the file, like this, and move it up as an attachment..."

Fet's voice came from the kitchen, where he was watching television, eating deli chicken salad out of a half-pound plastic tub. "Look at this."

Eph turned. Helicopter footage showed a row of flaming buildings now, and thick black smoke filling the air over Manhattan.

"It's getting bad," he said.

As Eph watched, he noticed all of Zack's school papers on the refrigerator door lift and flutter. A napkin wafted across the counter, drifting to the floor, at Fet's feet.

Eph turned to Zack, who had stopped typing. "What was that breeze?"

Zack said, "Back slider must be open."

Eph looked around for Nora. Then the toilet flushed, and she stepped out of the hall bathroom. "What's up?" she said, finding everyone staring at her.

Eph turned toward the other end of the house, looking at the corner that led around to the sliding glass door and the backyard.

A person turned the corner. Stopping there, her arms hanging limply at her sides.

Eph stared, paralyzed.

Kelly.

"Mom!"

Zack started toward her, and Eph reached out and grabbed him. His grip must have hurt Zack, because the boy pulled away in surprise, looking back at him.

Nora rushed over and wrapped Zack up from behind.

Kelly was just standing there. Looking at them. No expression, no blinking. She looked shell-shocked, as though deafened by some recent explosion.

Eph knew immediately. The pain in his heart was physical.

Kelly Goodweather was turned. A dead thing returned to its home.

Her gazing eyes found Zack. Her Dear One. She had come for him.

"Mom?" said Zack, seeing that something was wrong with her.

Eph felt quick movement from behind. Fet rushed into the hall and grabbed Eph's sword. He brandished it, showing Kelly the silver of the blade.

Kelly's face curdled. Her expression collapsed into evil and she bared her teeth.

Eph's heart dropped through his chest and into his gut.

She was a demon. A vampire.

One of them.

She was gone to him forever.

With a muffled groan, Zack recoiled at the sight of his demonized mother...and then blacked out.

Fet started after her with the sword, but Eph hooked his arm before he could follow through. Kelly recoiled from the silver blade, like a cat with its fur up. She hissed at them. She took one more baleful look at the unconscious boy, her intended...and then turned and fled out the back door.

Eph and Fet rounded the corner just in time to watch Kelly throw herself over the low chain-link fence separating their backyard from the neighbor's, and run off into the new night.

Fet closed the door and locked it. He drew the blinds over the glass, then turned to Eph.

Eph said nothing but returned to Nora, who was kneeling over Zack, on the floor, her eyes keen with despair.

He saw now how truly insidious this plague was. Pitting family member against family member. Pitting death against life.

The Master had sent her. He had turned her against Eph and Zack. To torment them. To take his revenge.

If the degree of devotion to a Dear One in life bore any correlation to their desire to reunite in death...then Eph knew that Kelly would never give up. She would go on haunting her son forever unless someone put a stop to it.

Their custody battle for Zack was not over.

Eph looked at their faces...and then at the fires raging on television...and then turned to the computer. He pressed the enter key, completing Zack's task. He dispatched video proof of the raging vampire into the world...and then went into the kitchen, where Kelly kept the scotch. For the first time in a long time, he poured himself a drink.