You have found him.

Yes. He tried to return home, as do all creatures.

He will suffice?

He will be our sun hunter. He has no other choice.

In a locked cage in the western tunnel, on a floor of cold dirt, Gus Elizalde lay unconscious, dreaming of his mother—unaware of the peril awaiting him.

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Kelton Street, Woodside, Queens

Kelton Street, Woodside, Queens

They regrouped at Kelly’s house, Nora bringing Zack home after Eph and Fet had cleaned up the mess that was Matt, burning his remains under leaves and brush in the backyard.

Setrakian lay on the fold-out sleeper in the sunroom. He had refused to go to a hospital, and Eph agreed that was out of the question anyway. His arm was badly bruised but not broken. His pulse rate was low, but steady and improving. Eph wanted Setrakian to sleep, but not with painkillers. So before going in to check on him after nightfall, Eph opened Kelly’s kitchen liquor cabinet. He picked up a bottle of scotch, once his crutch, and set it aside, pouring the old man a more gentle brandy.

Setrakian said it wasn’t the pain that bothered him. “Failure keeps one awake.”

The mention of failure reminded Eph that he had not found Kelly. Part of him wanted to believe that this was still a reason to hope.

“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.”