She was missing Nathan’s guard dog sensibilities. She hoped he and Ecaterina were doing all right.
She got up and went to the front door and made sure all of the locks were in place. Going back to the closet where she got the first blanket for Stephen, she took another one for herself and sat back down in the chair. She asked TOM to take the first watch. She then had to explain that people would break up the night into watches so that some could sleep while others would stay awake to protect them. He told her he would be glad to take the ‘first, second and third watches’. It wasn’t like he slept, anyway.
She closed her eyes and rested. Emotionally drained, she was out in seconds.
6
Constanta, Romania
Bethany Anne, I sense that Stephen is waking up.
Bethany Anne opened her eyes, quickly assessing the room. Nothing had changed. She was still in the chair and Stephen was still lying on the couch.
How?
His heartbeat just increased by ten per cent. It is an anomaly that hasn’t happened the entire time he has been asleep.
So, his heartbeat changed and you’re ready to say he’s waking up?
She stood up and looked down at Stephen. He was looking a lot better.
While he still looked old, his face seemed a little less skull and leather skin, flushed and fuller. His skin had lost all of the sunspots, marks and blemishes and he looked about ten years younger.
While she was looking down at him, his eyes suddenly opened, startling her.
“Hey, you’re awake.”
Stephen looked around and sat up. He looked at the blanket on his lap and back up at Bethany Anne.
“I couldn’t let you just lay there like a cord of wood. I didn’t know if you got cold or not so I found the linen closet and borrowed a couple of blankets.”
“Thank you. It has been a really long time since I have been looked after. Maybe centuries.”
Bethany Anne smiled. “Trust me, I’m happier to have looked after you sleeping than having to knock some sense into you.” She went back and sat down in her chair.
“I think you would have done just that, truly.”
She sighed. “Yes. I had become a little jaded by the fact that it seemed the only thing that vampires understand is violence. Lots and lots of violence. So, I had expected to come here and have to drag you outside to get your attention. I knew you could walk in the sun, but I figured it would wake you up.”
“May I ask what you would have done then?”
“Well, I assumed I’d have to yank off one of your arms, then beat you with it until I got your attention. Frankly, after that I was going to play it by ear. I was rather hoping you would be a reasonable guy. But from the stories that I was hearing, I wasn’t giving that a very high probability.”
Stephen just looked at his new Queen for a minute. She was such a dichotomy between gentle on one hand and violent on the other. She would make a very good Queen, he decided. He truly was the happiest he had been in centuries. His time of loneliness, ever since Michael had gone to the new world, was over. For her, he would even get on a plane to go visit. Although he had never flown, he now had a reason to.
“What will you do now, Stephen? I’ve got to go back to America for a while. I’ll need to come back over here, I’m sure. If for no other reason than to talk with you. How do you keep up your grounds when you hibernate?”
“I have people.” He left out that they were just an agency he had set up a decade before and hadn’t spoken to since that time.
“OK, I see you’re looking better, how are you going to…” Bethany Anne stopped. She never knew what it took to get younger again.
“Rejuvenate?”
“Is that what you call it to look young again?”
“Yes. In order for us make our bodies young again, we have to consume a significant amount of blood and exchange it with another. This process turns them into a vampire, and turns their parent young again.”
“Do you force this change on others?” Bethany Anne wasn’t sure she could allow this. In fact, she knew she wouldn’t allow it. There had to be a different way.
“No, no one in Michael’s family would force a change. He has enacted certain rules we adhere to. One of them is that the person must understand their options and another is that…”
Bethany Anne finished the sentence with him, “they can only have six months to live. Yeah, I got that one.” She started biting the inside of her cheek. It was an old habit when she was thinking.
“You’ve been asleep pretty long, right? You don’t have anyone that you know wants to go through this process and is ready. Shit, this is going to be a tough nut to crack.” Bethany Anne got up and started pacing. She thought better while she moved.
TOM, what is the process that really turns the vampire body back to young again? Is it the blood, or is it the etheric energy that that much blood gives them?
It would be the energy. The age of a human has to do with the cells decaying. With that much energy, the Nanocytes would be able to accomplish stage one again.
So, if we connected Stephen to an etheric energy battery, he would be able to do the same thing, right? Basically, doing this blood transfusion…” Bethany Anne realized she had an answer, possibly.
“Stephen, have the vampires ever consumed blood from a blood bank?”
He looked over at her and thought about it. “I haven’t. Since I don’t talk with my siblings I can’t answer for them. If something like that works, I don’t imagine that they would share the information.”
“Why not?”
“We might be siblings, as in children of Michael. But we compete with each other and frankly, we guard our secrets. It’s one of the reasons we don’t really talk with each other.
Bethany Anne started down that path of logic. If one, or more, of the vampires really studied blood they were probably able to pull out the components of blood that connected to the etheric. Maybe they didn’t understand how it worked, but what it accomplished might have been enough. With as much genetic research that had gone on in the past four decades, she imagined a lot of information was available. Since Stephen, and Michael for that matter, had ignored humanity and stayed hibernating they wouldn’t know much about the advances in science.
“OK, I think I have an answer. Let me research this a little more.” She got out her smartphone and made sure she had a signal.
“What is that?”
“Hmm? Oh, this is a phone that is able to connect to the Internet. From there, I can pull up information, something like books in a library from anywhere in the world.”
“Really? I’ve been asleep too long. I have no knowledge of this.”
“I know, trust me. First, I need to get you younger, fast. Then I need to get you up to speed with reality and connect you with the EPC.”
“EPC?”
Bethany Anne put the phone to her ear. “European Council of Weres.” She put up a finger to hold his next question.
“Hi, this is Bethany Anne. I read on a website that Lithuania has four blood donation sites and that you pay about 12 Euros for each donation for about 63,000 donations a year. Is this right? Yes, yes I’m willing to make a donation. No! I don’t want to donate blood. I want to purchase blood for a financial donation. How much? Well, let’s see. There are about 5 liters of blood in a body, right? OK, how about 5,000 Euros for 25 liters of blood?”
“Yes, I am looking to make a donation of 5,000 Euros for 25 liters. It has to be flown to me tonight. I’ll pay all of the fees necessary if you will get it to,” she put her hand over the phone.
“Stephen, what’s a good place to get a delivery around here? I don’t want it coming directly to your house.”
“We can use the hospital. I have a foundation that provides them money every year. They will do this for me.”
“Really? That’s incredible. Remind me to let you know you’re my new favorite vampire.” She took her hand off of the phone and told them wha
t hospital she wanted it delivered to.
Twenty minutes later she got a return call. They made a deal with the hospital for the 25 liters of blood out of their stores and they would resupply the hospital within forty-eight hours. It cut down on the costs of transportation and they could access the blood right away.
Bethany Anne was smiling. It was nice to have something go right for once. Now, stretching her luck a little, she made another phone call back to Brasov.
“Hello?” A man’s voice was on the phone.
“Ivan, this is Bethany Anne.”
“Hello! How is my favorite… Uh… Lady?” Ivan stammered a little when he realized he couldn’t say some things out loud.
“I’m good. Hey, do you want to do your favorite lady a favor, and get paid?”
“Probably, but you know you took my negotiator out of the country, right? You wouldn’t take advantage of me, knowing my weakness for dimples, would you?” Ivan’s smile could be heard through the phone.
“Of course not. Tell you what. I’m going to need you to come to the coast and teach my friend how to use technology. Cell phones, Internet, computers. If you could be here by tomorrow morning, that would be fantastic. Can you do that for me? I swear I have dimples showing right now.”
Ivan laughed. “Even for you, tomorrow morning is a little too soon. Can it be tomorrow afternoon? I need to meet with a couple of people before I leave. How long will you need me?”
Bethany Anne looked at Stephen and considered what he told her last night. “Uh, plan on a couple of months, possibly. He is not so up to date.”
“Is he educated? This isn’t for a female? I could get there even sooner for a female. Well, maybe not. If you need me for that long, I’m going to need to talk with another friend and let my dad know I’m going to be gone.”
“What about your mom?”
“She still isn’t talking to us. I think now she is embarrassed and her pride isn’t allowing her to say ‘I’m sorry.’”
“Well, I hope that solves itself before you get back to Brasov. You know you could just marry some girl and that would fix it, right?”
“Oh God, no! I will call Dad on my way out of town. Thank you for reminding me what might happen if my mom hears about this on the phone. You said I’ll get paid?”
“Yes. I know how bad you screwed over Nathan. How could you charge him that much?”
“Hey, I was looking out for Ecaterina. Rich American, what was I supposed to do?” Ivan was certainly smiling again.
“Yeah, OK. I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay the same amount for each week you’re here helping my friend.”
“And partial weeks?”
“Yes, and partial weeks!” Bethany Anne had to laugh. Ivan was in negotiation mode and not even dimples were going to get her off the hook.
“OK, anything special I should know about your friend?”
“Well, his name is Stephen…”
“Bethany Anne, you did not just negotiate for me to train technology to a… a…uh…”
“Yes, Ivan. I did. Now, be a man and own up that you just got snookered by the dimples and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“OK, but I’m holding you accountable if I’m not safe.”
Bethany Anne was able to smile. “Ivan, I think you’ll be one of the safest men in Romania while you’re here. I guarantee it!”
They hung up.
“Stephen, let’s go to the hospital. I feel a miracle is about to happen.”
“How do you want to get there?”
“Let me guess, you don’t have a car?”
“Yes, I did learn how to drive. But I imagine the gas is probably bad after this many years.”
She pulled her phone out again. “Well, let’s use the miracle device and find a taxi.”
Stephen couldn’t help it, with Bethany Anne around he found he was rather looking forward to living again. It seemed like his hope had been rekindled.
“By the way, Stephen?”
“Yes?”
“If anything happens to Ivan, I will come back over here and beat the shit out of you, with your own arms.”
“My lady, if anything happens to Ivan while I am around, I’ll already be dead.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“I understand. I’ll not fail you.”
For once, Bethany Anne felt like there was a little light at the end of the tunnel. At least here in Europe. They continued to talk about what changes needed to happen and changed to normal topics when the taxi got there.
Constanta, Romania
The hospital was almost a non-event. When they showed up it was still early evening and the hospital administrator was on the premises. When Stephen explained that as the foundation’s executor, he wanted to see how the hospital was using their funding, he immediately received preferential treatment.
Bethany Anne was amazed to see that he still looked like he was slowly getting better. He moved like a spry seventy-year-old as they walked around the hospital. She had her hat on again and loved the air of mystery it provided her.
Plus, she looked damn good in it.
Stephen was overjoyed with her company and wouldn’t allow Bethany Anne to do anything but be on his arm the whole way through the hospital. He knew that she approved of his funding the hospital and was very proud that he could make her happy. At the end, Bethany Anne switched her voice and gave the administrator instructions to have someone place 25 liters of the freshest blood in a secure room and leave it there. She then told him to work at least three more hours and waited in the room with Stephen until the blood was delivered. She ‘told’ the hospital worker that the blood was picked up and that he couldn’t remember to whom.
Once the worker was gone, she turned to Stephen.
“OK, I have some information to give you. I am trusting you with this information and expect you to keep it a secret unless I tell you otherwise, or in your best judgment the risk is worth the reward. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course.” He looked at the quantity of blood. It was a lot of blood. Way more than he could possibly drink.
“As you know, when you change a human the act of making them a vampire rejuvenates you. What you don’t realize is that there are infinitesimally small genetic machines inside your body that need energy to work. When you suck the blood out of another human and then force it back into their body, what you are doing is putting these machines into their body and those machines will then turn them into a vampire. For you, however, it provides your Nanocytes with needed energy so that they can fix your body again. This is what turns you young.
“When you exchange the blood with a human, you drain about 4–5 liters of blood at a time. I purchased 25 liters because I don’t know how potent the blood is and how much energy you will need.”
TOM chose that moment to interrupt.
Bethany Anne, you might make this easier by mixing your blood into the bagged blood. If we wait a little while, then the Nanocytes will already start propagating in the blood mix and possibly allow it to be more effective.
She thought this through. She didn’t want Stephen to have too many of her Nanocytes, but she didn’t want to be here all night, either. She was pretty sure the ether was gathered by the whole body, not just the blood where it was focused.
“OK Stephen, I want you to start taking the blood. I am going to mix one of these bags with mine and depending how long it takes, you’ll consume it later.”
It took two hours for Stephen to consume three bags of the blood. The fourth liter was the one Bethany Anne had mixed her own blood with two hours before.
Even before he took the last bag, he looked like he had dropped another twenty years.
By the end of the fourth bag, which took another two hours as it was very difficult to consume any more, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to need any extra blood.
“Huh, I guess I went overboard on this, didn’t I?” She looked at the additional twenty-one bags of blood in
the coolers.
Stephen’s vitality was up again, it looked like he had just consumed a Thanksgiving turkey by himself.
“No, my lady. It won’t go to waste. I will donate it back to the hospital and ask them to set aside a revolving stock of fresh blood to have available twenty-four hours a day. If I had known that rejuvenating was possible without needing to make a vampire, I might have considered doing this before. I can’t be sure. Until you came along I was ready to just rest a final time. I appreciate all you have done for me.”
Bethany Anne smiled at him. “Don’t worry, Stephen. You will work diligently to get Europe back on track. We are going to make this work, and work well. I’m happy to have been here to help you and I’m happy that I didn’t have to rip your arm off.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Ivan will be here tomorrow. He has a phone and knows my number. You know that small room next to the linen closet in your home?”
“Yes, I believe so. To the right or left?”
“Left. It has a small bed in it right now.”
“Yes.”
“Good, I want you to remove the bed and lock the door. Only allow someone to clean it once a quarter. If you need me, I’ll come to you.”
“How will you do that?”
Bethany Anne reached over and grabbed one of the packages of blood. “Why, like this.” And then she disappeared.
Stephen stared at where she had just been for a minute before realizing that she could instantly move her body to different locations. She must need to be sure no one was in the same space in order to be safe. He would make sure the room was safe for her.
In fact, he decided, he would make sure all of Europe was safe for his Queen. He grabbed the cooler of blood under his arm and left the room. Even feeling overly full, no time like the present to get started.
Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Set One: Books 1-7, Death Becomes Her, Queen Bitch, Love Lost, Bite This, Never Forsaken, Under My Heel, Kneel or Die (Kurtherian Gambit Boxed Sets) Page 27