by Brian Lumley
‘Okay, this mindsmog: it was detected at the same time — I mean precisely the same time — as we were dealing with Trennier. Now, we know that many of the Wamphyri had the power of telepathic contact with their thralls even over great distances, so it’s possible, indeed probable, that Trennier’s unknown master “felt” his lieutenant’s death, and it so surprised or startled him that he let his guard down, if only for a moment. He might even have done it deliberately, tried to establish better contact with Trennier to find out what was happening. As for our people in London, they were lucky; someone happened to be looking in the right place at the right time, and that’s when they detected the evil “aura” of a Great Vampire.
‘Of course Chung forwarded this information to me, only to have it intercepted by Peter bloody Miller! And now I couldn’t give a damn about him speaking to the media or anyone else for that matter. But I do care that he might be on his way to deliver a warning to one of the worst threats our world has ever faced…
‘… A warning that we are on our way to destroy it!’
CHAPTER TEN The Vampire File
When everyone with the exception of Jake and Liz was clear of Trask’s tent, he opened his briefcase and plumped a thin file down on the tabje.
‘Read it/ he told Jake. ‘It will give you something to do for a while, for we may be here a little longer than I anticipated. I was forgetting that we’d have to fly Grahame back home again. Even though he’s on his way now, it will still be three to three and a half hours before the chopper gets back. But on the other hand, and since I’d like E-Branch to move as a unit, that’s probably just as well; it gives us more time to get our act together — our thoughts, too — for which I’m grateful. I hate starting something without being able to think it through first/
He looked pointedly at Jake. ‘That file is your chance to think things through, too. You see, I don’t want anyone in the Branch who doesn’t fit or doesn’t want to be here. However, in the event you do decide to move on, you needn’t worry about my handing you over to the law. That’s not my way. I would simply wash my hands of you. But if you stay, then you’re with us all the way. I have no time for quitters, and in that case I would assist the law in any way possible/
‘Huh!1 Jake answered. ‘And just when I thought you’d begun to appreciate me. Okay, do you want my answer right now?’ ‘Read the file first/ said Trask curtly, ‘then ask Lardis to tell you about Sunside/Starside. After that I’ll fill you in on some of our history, bring you up to date on the current situation, and how we got here, and generally try to explain where you fit in the grand scheme of things. Oh, you’ll find it lots of fun, Jake, I can guarantee that.’ But despite his guarantee, Trask’s words were dry as dust; he was deadly serious, his face utterly devoid of humour…
‘Oh, good!’ said the other, just as drily and seemingly unimpressed. ‘I can’t wait.’
‘God, why him?’ Trask asked under his breath, of no one in particular, as he went stamping from the tent. It was a question he would be asking himself for quite some time to come…
‘So why arejyow still here?’ Jake asked Liz.
‘Because I’m good company,’ she answered testily. ‘Or maybe I’m maintaining some kind of balance: my good and pleasant aura versus your miserable, messed-up, self-pitying—’
‘—I don’t pity myself/ Jake cut in, scowling.
‘Then have pity on me and leave it out!’ she told him. And abruptly, angrily starting to her feet: ‘Very well, do it your way. Who needs you, anyway!?’
‘Wait/ Jake said. ‘Sit down. I may need you — to help me with this.’ He waved a dismissive hand at Trask’s file.
Liz took a very deep breath, but despite her annoyance she sat down, folded her arms, said nothing.
And after a while Jake said, ‘You know why I’m pissy, even with you?’
That ‘even’ told Liz something, at least… mainly that she was special, different in his perception. But she remained cool towards him and simply said, ‘Go on?’
‘Ben Trask, Goodly, Lardis/ he said, ‘especially Lardis! — he can give you bad dreams, that one — it’s as if they were all waiting for something to happen/ And he thumbed himself in the chest. ‘To happen to me!’
‘Or waiting for you to do something/ she said.
‘Exactly/ Jake narrowed his eyes at her. ‘And you, too?’
‘Well, and weren’t we justified in that?’ she countered. ‘I mean, we’ve seen one of the things you can do. The way you move… without moving.’
‘But I thought that was agreed/ his frustration was mounting. ‘I’ve already told you that’s not me!’
‘Maybe it’s trying to be you,’ she said — and at once bit her KP— Jake nodded, and his voice was harder when he accused: ‘So you are in on it.’
‘Jake/ Liz told him, ‘if you were to learn everything all in one go, it might be too much for you. I can understand that even if you can’t. Ben Trask and the other espers, they’ve recognized a germ in you. But maybe it’s more than a germ. Especially after last night, and again this morning with McGilchrist. Anyway, they would like it to grow; they don’t want to kill it off with the shock of sudden awareness. That’s why they’ll let you in on it slowly, gradually. That way, when it all becomes clear to you, you’ll be ready for it.’
Jake looked at her and saw only truth in her eyes. Then he looked at the file again. ‘So reading this stuff is like Trask said: just another step in my gradual education, right?’
‘I think so, yes/ she answered.
‘Huh!‘And muttering darkly to himself, Jake picked up the file. It had a yellow plastic jacket with a red diagonal stripe stamped with the word COSMIC. A once-white, well-thumbed label gummed in the top righthand corner bore a scrawled legend in Indian ink: ‘VAMPIRES AND THE WAMPHYRI — basic/
But as Jake Cutter was about to discover, there was little or nothing basic about them…
Jake had of course been briefed prior to last night’s foray; a very sparse — even a brief— briefing before being ‘thrown in at the deep end/ as he had had it. He’d seen a jerky old black and white film from a place called Perchorsk in the Ural Mountains, which at first he’d thought was a clip from some old horror movie that a sensitive
20th Century film censor had refused to pass for general viewing. It was just too graphic, too real, too horrific. And its special effects had been… well, something else.
But the rest of the footage (of the underground Perchorsk Complex, which was obviously real, and of an incredible, nightmarish flying creature that two USAF fighters had sent to hell over the Hudson Bay all of thirty years ago, coupled with Ben Trask’s matter-of-fact, voice-over commentary) had finally served to convince Jake of its authenticity… well, almost. But still not quite with it, and at that time not really wanting to be, he had allowed himself to arrive at his own incorrect conclusion:
That all those years ago Soviet scientists had been breeding something — probably biologically engineered soldiers — in subterranean laboratories in the Urals, and that an unspecified number of genetically mutated monsters, not to mention several ‘altered’ human beings had somehow escaped… which even now seemed a far more acceptable explanation than the fantastic story he was beginning to piece together from the notes in Trask’s file.
‘WAMPHYRI/ (Jake read the heading again): ‘The Mowing notes result from Harry and Nathan Keogh debriefs. The Keoghs, father and son(s), were mainly responsible for the destruction of the Wamphyri. This file should be read in conjunction with 278, “HARRY KEOGH,” 279, “NECROSCOPE,” and 311, “NATHAN/”
And then he started again on the text:
‘The Wamphyri are the original vampires of “myth” and legend. For the last two thousand years vampires have been periodically “banished” from their own world into ours. Prior to that time it seems possible that several of them found their own way to Earth via a “wormhole” situated in Starside, having its exit in a subterranean cave under the foothills of the
Carpatii Meridional! the Transylvanian Alps. This is obviously the reason why, even to this day, that region is associated with vampires and vampirism. It is the source of the so-called “myth.”
‘But the Wamphyri are not a myth. They are the inhabitants of an Earth-type world lying parallel to Earth in a “universe” on “the other side” of our familiar space-time continuum; and but for the fact that the wormhole enters our world deep underground on a watercourse subject to flash flooding, it is quite feasible that by now the human race would have been conquered, converted and enslaved by vampires.
‘However, and whatever might have been Mankind’s fate, one thing is certain: there will be no more vampires in this world. The only means of entry have been closed. In 2007, the Russian Premier, Gustav Turchin, diverted hydroelectric dam waters from the Urals Pass into the subterranean complex at Perchorsk, thus drowning the singularity or “Gate” in the heart of the complex. This action served to preserve the integrity of both worlds and guaranteed the future safety of at least one of them, ours. For further reading see 262, PERCHORSK, and 297, THE REFUGE. ‘STAGES OF VAMPIRISM — the Vampire Life-Cycle — in large part speculative:
‘In the east and west of Sunside/Starside lie swamps which are always gloomy under rolling banks of fog. In a time immemorial to Sunside’s Szgany (nomadic humans), the first vampires came out of these swamps.
‘The morphology or evolution of the Wamphyri would make for a fascinating study in its own right. (But we must consider any clinical, laboratory, or experimental study of ANY PHASE of vampires and vampirism far too dangerous!) Cyclical, it frequently involves forms other than human. Vampire DNA is unique in being mutative within a single life-cycle without the benefit of generation. Like any disease, but almost sentiently aggressive, it invades non-vampire tissues to infect them. But instead of destroying the contaminated body it passes on its mutant DNA, causing the host to adapt — and indeed to mutate — within its own span. Since longevity is invariably a result of vampirism, barring accidental death or fatal diseases the lifespan of the victim, then a vampire in his own right, might easily extend to many hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years.
‘In the vampire swamps of Sunside/Starside, the first (or final) phase of the cycle may be found. It is a black mushroom that ripens to give off red spores. SPECULATIVE: The spores are the genesis of vampiric life and carry the as yet “blank” form of vampire DNA. Breathed in, the spores attach to animal lungs and commence leaking their “poison” into the bloodstream along with oxygen. Then the mutation quickens, the victim falls ill, and following a period of some three days emerges as a vampire in his own right. In Transylvania, the illness would occasionally appear fatal and the victim dead. Hence the legend of the vampire rising from his grave after three days in the earth.
‘The spores do not discriminate; they infect who or whatever breathes them in. An infected fox or dog would have vampire instincts. But the true vampire has instincts of its own.
‘SECOND PHASE. (In part, speculative):
‘Within an infected host, certain special strands join up to take on a separate, parasitic identity. This may take a few years, decades, or even centuries; the reason for these variations are as yet undetermined. But the symbiotic creature that results is the true vampire: a semi-protoplasmic leech clinging to the spine of the host and extending its own nervous and sensory systems into his brain, literally possessing his mind. It is him, and he is it. And the parasite or symbiont’s appetite is for blood. It feeds on the source of life itself: the blood of its host’s future victims. Indeed, “the blood is the life.”
‘The symbiont is not necessarily “faithful” to an original host; in Sunside, should a dog or fox host come in contact with a human being, a wholesale transfer of leech from the animal to the human is possible, especially if the animal is stricken and dying. In other words the leech will seek a continued existence — or even better, a higher life-form — in its new host. Among the Szgany of Sunside, the tenacity of the leech is a legend in its own right.
‘THIRD PHASE: Wamphyri.
‘Not only has the symbiont become an integral part of its host’s body, but the host’s being — even his thought processes, his personality, and of course his DNA — have been altered forever. Just as strands of that DNA have mutated into the leech, so the host’s flesh has become in itself imitative. His flesh is now metamorphic: he can within certain limits bring about physical alterations in his shape and form. He is Wamphyri.’
‘FOURTH PHASE: Back to the Origin. Speculative: ‘In the event of death the symbiont leech (and even the host’s “dead” flesh) may attempt a secondary existence by way of reconstitution. Essential fats and amino acids — the building blocks of life — may seek to escape into the earth, there to develop into mushroom spawn that lies dormant until a time of maximum opportunity. How the “vampire essence” or mushroom germs recognize this one opportune moment remains unknown. In Transylvanian legends, as in those of Sunside, certain vampire Lords store native soil and sleep upon it — clear evidence of the instinct for survival. And once again, immemorial Sunside myths have it that the Drakuls — an especially infamous line of Lords — kept loam from Starside’s swamps for the same purpose, against just such an eventuality.
‘FINAL PHASE: The True Death.
‘Decapitated, a vampire dies. (There is no brain for the leech to control to its own ends — but the symbiont itself may still attempt to escape its host’s termination). However, the bulk of a symbiont is located mainly on the left or heart side of its host’s spine, and a stake driven through the heart will usually suffice to pin the creature there, for a time at least. A stake soaked in garlic will certainly do the job, for garlic, like silver, is a quick-acting poison to vampire flesh. But the only sure way to kill a vampire is to burn it to ashes. Wherefore Sunside’s Szgany stake, decapitate, and burn all vampire manifestations wherever possible. Only then can they be certain that the vampire has died the “True Death.” ‘There exists one other phase in the vampire life-cycle. (See “Egg-son” or “-daughter” in the next section following). VAMPIRISM: Infection, Deliberate and Accidental. ‘By a bite. The virulence of a vampire’s bite, which is usually delivered in the act of feeding, would seem to differ from vampire to vampire. But the bite of a Lord of the Wamphyri is especially infectious. It can cause delirium and death, though not necessarily the True Death. When a Lord (or Lady) seeks to “recruit” a vampire thrall or servitor, the bite isn’t usually deep and little blood is taken. In this case the bite has been used to transmit vampire DNA, but only in an amount sufficient to bring about the first phase of the change. It may then take years for a leech to develop and the servitor — or, later, the “lieutenant” — to “ascend” and become Wamphyri.
‘But when a Lord or Lady’s bite is excessive and too much plasma is taken — and a commensurate amount of vampire essence transfused — then the result may be “death” of a sort, lasting the specified three days. Then, too, when the victim ascends it will be with the germ of a leech established and growing within him.
‘ “Accidental” infection may occur when an infected animal (such as a dog, fox, or wolf), fighting to avoid entrapment or/ and execution, bites a human being. In such a case it is possible for a person bitten in this manner to develop the characteristics of the original host beast. This is the proven source of the werewolf legend; it seems feasible that in Earth’s past there were even “genuine” vampire bats other than Desmodus and Diphylla.
‘Accidental infection may also occur when vampire blood is spilled, such as in Sunside executions of suspect vampires by the Szgany. In common with AIDS and similar contagious diseases, open wounds and mucous membranes are especially susceptible. Even healthy, whole skin splashed with a vampire’s blood or urine should be treated immediately. (Oil of garlic applied with a silver scraper is the best remedy, though no guarantees may be given).
‘The most definite, and definitely the most effective form of vampiric infection is
obtained when a Lord or Lady wishes to create an “egg-son” or “daughter.” Apart from one rare exception (see “Mother,” below) a symbiont leech is capable of producing only one cryptogenetic “egg” during its lifespan. In this the parasite relies on the judgement of its usually human host to provide a superior vessel for habitation. The egg — a flexible ciliolate spheroid half an inch in diameter — is “willed” into being by the vampire host and passed on mouth to mouth, or by sexual intercourse, or by simple spillage when it must find its own way. ‘A spilled egg, being protoplasmic, will seep through the skin of a designated host or other acceptable vessel, interacting with him to cause speedy infection and transformation. Any such changeling is considered to have ascended and is Wamphyri.
‘Not all exchanges of bodily fluids between vampires (the Wamphyri) and human beings are necessarily infectious. The vampire has a degree of control over his parasite, and also over his blood and other plasma fluids. A Lady of the Wamphyri may consort with a human lover without converting him. She simply avoids taking his blood, and following intercourse “wills” her vampire essence to destroy his sperm. Likewise a Lord may will his sperm free of vampiric influence to keep a concubine pristine.
‘This cannot in any way be taken as indicative of love or even affection; it is simply that the Wamphyri do not casually “create” other Wamphyri! Egg-and bloodsons and daughters are chosen with infinite care, and among the reasons are these:
‘A powerful egg-son may one day usurp the father; knowing and even accepting this, the nature of the man, the prospective host, must first be explored to the full. And egg-daughters — as all Wamphyri Ladies — are treated with great care not only by their sires but also other Lords, because while the occurrence is rare, nevertheless the occasional Lady will prove to be a “Mother” or breeder of vampires. The exception that disproves the general rule, a Mother’s parasite has the ability to spawn a great many more than the usual single egg…