The Source

by J B Stilwell

  Rick uses his arm to sweep all of the vitamin D bottles into our cart. When he’s done, our cart is literally half-full of little plastic bottles. We move ahead to the cashier section where we have to stand in line. Thankfully there are only two customers in front of us.

  “Do you think this will be enough?” he asks.

  “I don’t know. It will definitely do some serious damage, but not sure if it’s enough to kill.”

  The people in front of us look at us with wide eyes, shocked looks filling their faces.

  I press my lips together and mentally kick myself for saying that out loud.

  Rick looks at me, “We’ll discuss it later, then.”

  “Right,” I say.

  When Rick begins to empty the cart onto the cash register’s conveyor belt, the cashier stops what she’s doing to gape at us.

  I smile at her. “He has a sun allergy, so he needs the vitamin D.”

  “Yeah, like a stake in the heart,” he mumbles.

  I elbow him in the side as the cashier finishes checking out the customers in front of us.

  “Hi, how’re y’all?” the cashier asks.

  Rick looks at her. “Fine, thanks.”

  She looks at the pile of bottles as she starts to separate them by brand. “You sure do need a lot of vitamins.”

  “We’re starting our own vitamin shop,” I advise.

  Rick gives me a dirty look, then turns to her, “Actually, we will be using these for a medical experiment.”

  She dips her head with one eyebrow raised. “A medical experiment?”

  With a confounded look on his face, Rick continues, “Why, yes. We’re working at the government research facility.” He looks at me as if I can help the situation. I keep my mouth shut before I say anything else like how he has a vitamin D deficiency. I raise one shoulder and let it drop.

  The cashier continues to scan one bottle by brand, then multiplies by the number of each type that we have. Thankfully she isn’t going to try to scan each bottle. That would keep us here forever.

  I look around at the front of the store while Rick puts the full bags into the shopping cart. Workers and shoppers alike seem to be overly interested in what we are buying - or that it’s a vampire bagging up our loot. Either way, I start to shift and fidget as discomfort shimmies its way up my back. I tell myself that I should stare back at each of them in defiance, but I relent and stare at the floor instead.

  After paying the cashier (who appears hesitant to take Rick’s money) we walk silently from the store. Once we get out into the more private space of the parking lot, I ask, “Did you notice all of them staring at us like they were waiting for us to break out into some show tunes or something?”

  “They were hardly waiting for that,” Rick responds. “Besides, I’m used to it. That type of thing always happens whenever I’m in a place with an invisible vampire population.”

  I open the trunk to my car and help him load the bags. “Invisible. More like practically non-existent from what I can tell, although I’m sure there’s a few around.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. Rowan has plenty of vampires. They just choose to hide.”

  I drop one of the bags. “You’re joking, right?”

  “No joke at all. Unlike your admission that I have a vitamin D deficiency. What in the world made you say that?

  “I panicked.” I bend to pick up the contents of the dropped bag. “I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tell the truth or not.”

  “You didn’t have to give specifics, just the truth in general. It would have made us look a lot less conspicuous.” He closes the trunk and walks to return the cart to the corral.

  “Sorry,” I say in a slightly raised voice. “Not like we were inconspicuous anyway. A woman and a vampire shopping together in a no-visible-vampire town. I’m sure the locals thought up a lot more interesting explanations than you having a vitamin D deficiency.”

  He gets in the car and turns to me. “Best not to encourage their imaginations. Especially when you’re with a vampire.”

  I swallow the enormous lump in my throat as we begin our drive back to the facility. Nearly a mile and half before we reach the building, I see flashing lights in the rearview mirror.

  “Those lights are red and blue. Means it’s probably a cop car.”

  Rick turns in his seat. “Maybe they’re on a call for something out past the facility.”

  As the lights get closer, it becomes clear that the call they’re on is for us. The cruiser gets right up behind us as a “whoo-whoo” alarm sounds.

  I slowly pull off to the side of the road. “Great. There goes my perfect driving record.” My hands tense on the steering wheel as I wait for the officer to approach.

  Rick turns back around in his seat. “Just do what the officer says. We need this to go as smoothly as possible.”

  When the officer reaches the side of the car, I roll my window down. “Good evening, officer. Was I doing something wrong?”

  Whoops. That must’ve not been the right tactic because I can literally feel Rick’s body tense up although we’re nowhere near touching. The vibe he’s putting off is most definitely that of a cornered animal. Not that Rick’s an animal. But the feeling’s the same.

  “What’re y’all doing out here after dark?” the officer asks as he shines a flashlight inside the car.

  I look at Rick before turning back to the officer, not liking how the officer has started. “We’re actually returning to work.”

  “Uh-huh. What type of work is that?”

  “We work at the research facility up yonder,” I respond. Seems appropriate to fall back into some of the regional colloquialisms. Maybe it will win me points.

  “Is that so. What do you have in the trunk?” he asks.

  “How do you know we have something in the trunk?” I foolishly reply.

  “Ma’am, I’ll ask the questions and you’d do best to just answer them. Now, go ahead and exit the vehicle.”

  Rick leans over me to look up at the officer, “Sir, with all due respect, we are just on our way back to work. I’m sure if...”

  Before he can finish the officer insists, “Ma’am, exit the vehicle. Sir, you’d do best to not interfere. When I want answers from you, I’ll ask for ‘em.”

  I slowly look at Rick as I unbuckle my seat belt. I get out of the car and close the door. The officer walks to the back of the car and motions for me to follow him. He then directs me to open the trunk.

  With the trunk open, he begins rummaging through the Wal-Mart bags. I try to edge around the open trunk to see if Rick is watching, but it’s too dark to see much of anything without a light - or vampire sight. I’m sure Rick is watching and seeing everything as plain as day.

  “What’re y’all planning to do with all of these vitamins?” the officer asks.

  I stammer, “Like I said, officer, we work at the research facility. We’re researchers. Both of us have PhDs. We need the vitamins for a project we’re working on.”

  The officer humphs. “Is that right? What type of project would require this much vitamin D?”

  “A research project sponsored by the Federal Office of Human and Vampire Administration.”

  The officer stands up and leans back on his heels, staring at me for several moments as he shines his light in my face. I can hear his teeth grind as I wait for the next question.

  “Ma’am, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

  As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Rick is by my side. The officer jumps back and points his gun at us. “Don’t move!”

  Rick holds up his hands. “We don’t want any trouble. If we could all go to the facility, the research director can explain everything.” Rick glances at the officer’s chest so quickly I almost don’t notice it. “Officer Davis. Let’s not make things more difficult.”

  Officer Davis keeps the gun on Rick. “I’ll make the decisions, vamp. You see we don’t take kindly to outsiders coming into our town and making tr
ouble. It’s highly suspicious y’all being out with a trunk-load of pill bottles in the trunk of your car. I’m not stupid. I know all kinds of things that can be cooked up with stuff you buy at the store.”

  “With vitamin D?” I ask before suffocating the smart aleck twinge to my voice. I am thankful that I’m able to mentally kick myself before pointing out to the huffy officer that I’m West Virginian, too.

  He glares at me. “You got a real smart mouth for someone with a PhD. Now, both of you get into the back of my car.”

  I look at Rick, feeling completely helpless. Rick starts to walk to the police cruiser before he suddenly turns around. Officer Davis still has his gun pointed as us. Everything is very quiet for several heartbeats. I know because my heartbeat is so loud that I’m sure that even the non-vampire can hear it.

  Rick looks intently at the officer. His shoulders squared, Rick catches his gaze and slowly says, “I know that it’s difficult. Being an officer in a small town. Especially someone as talented as you. You are capable of so much more, but with little opportunity, you can’t prove to everyone just how great you really are.”

  Officer Davis’s gun hand begins to slowly drop to his side. He tilts his head to the side as he continues to stare into Rick’s eyes.

  “Bringing us in, making an example of us, especially a vampire,” Rick continues, “that’s one small step in building your rep as someone who should be heading the force. It’s a lot more impressive than a routine cow-tipping call or domestic dispute.”

  “Nothing major ever happens around here,” Officer Davis admits.

  Rick nods. “And you also realize that bringing us in, when we have done nothing wrong, will only cause more harm to your rep than it’s really worth.”

  Officer Davis turns to the side and motions to my car. “Why don’t you all get on back to work and be safe tonight.”

  Rick waves his hand at me and I hurriedly close the trunk then get into the driver’s side of the car. I look back to see that Rick is still talking to the officer. I start the car. After what seems like forever, he finally gets into the passenger side. I quickly, but without speeding, take off toward the facility. I look in my rearview mirror and see the officer still staring after us.

  My hands twisting around the wheel, I glance at Rick. “I’m so glad that you finally did that. I was wondering when you were going to use your spidey sense on him.”

  Rick’s brow furrows. “Spiderman’s spidey sense alerts him to possible danger, not helps him influence people.”

  “Whatever, you know what I mean. Anyway, thanks. I did not want to spend any time in a small-town jail.”

  “Me neither,” he concedes, “I just did what I had to. I don’t like doing that often.”

  I snort, “You could’ve fooled me with how many times you’ve played those mind games in my head.”

  He grins, “Well, you’re different. If I do it too much, especially to police officers, vampire powers will be more widely known with humans. Right now only those who are educated on the subject are aware of what’s possible, mostly scientists and medical researchers.”

  “What does it matter if everyone knows?”

  I can see from the corner of my eye that he’s looking at me more fully. “Do you think that the human powers-that-be would feel comfortable knowing just how easily vampires can influence events? That we could possibly change the course of human history through these, as you said, ‘mind games’?”

  “Well, when you put it like that.” I bite my lower lip, thinking. “But you know, everyone will find out eventually. Those of us that know, not me, but others who know - well, they’re liable to tell even more people about it.”

  He turns in his seat, facing forward. “The longer we can keep it quiet, the better off we’ll all be.” He says this in such an ominous tone that it’s almost as if he’s whispering, not wanting to tempt the universe to make his fears come true.

  How bad could it be? Well, if there already is an extremist fringe group that wants to shove vampires back underground then I’m sure there are some that want far worse. A shudder runs through me as I decide that now is not the time to think about that.

  We get to the facility and each take handfuls of Wal-Mart bags from the trunk.

  Once inside our research suite, we set all of the bags on the table. I take my purse and jacket to the closet while thinking out loud, “Okay, now how can we get some better equipment to crush up all of these tablets in the most sterile way possible?” I continue to think aloud as I walk back to the table.

  “I’m sure that FOHVA has some equipment available,” Rick offers. “If not in this building, then in the experiment building.”

  Right then Gwen rushes through the door. “What do you all need?”

  Rick and I both look at her. Slightly startled I motion to the table, “We have a lot of vitamin tablets that need to be ground into a powder. It’s for another experiment so it needs to be done in the most sterile way possible to eliminate contamination.”

  “I’m on it.” And with that Gwen takes off from the room as quickly as she entered.

  I practically collapse in the seat; the adrenaline rush from our run-in with the police capped off by Gwen’s startling appearance has emotionally exhausted me. Standing is just too much effort right now.

  “Are you ready for this?” Rick asks.

  I run my hands through my hair, stopping to run the heels of my palms against my temples. “Yes, although I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I wouldn’t be heart-broken to put it off for a while. A couple of hours. Until tomorrow. Whatever works.”

  Rick sits down beside me. “And that just gives the other teams more time to catch up or even bypass us.”

  “I know. The adrenaline crash just has me wanting to curl up in bed with a good book instead of play mad scientist on a vampire guinea pig.”

  “I agree with Bree in this case.”

  “How do you mean?” I ask.

  He looks deeply into my eyes. “It’s only mad if we don’t try to protect those that we can. Even if it means hurting, even killing, a few.”

  I bob my head up and down. “It’s not that I don’t agree. What scares me is who gets to decide who ‘the few’ are. Today it’s a criminal vampire. What if tomorrow it’s a vampire who didn’t pay their taxes?””

  “That’s a crime, too.”

  “Worthy of torture?”

  “Depends who’s President,” Rick responds.

  “Comforting,” I groan.

  I stretch my legs out and close my eyes. I rest my hands behind my head and lean back as much as possible. I can sense Rick watching me, but I don’t want to continue this line of conversation because I don’t want to think about where Thalia could be tomorrow. I let my mind wander as I envision myself stretched out on my couch, in the comfort of my own apartment, not having to deal with hard questions or what it means to have moral integrity.

  After several minutes Rick asks, “Do you think there would be a more humane way to do it?”

  “Do what?”

  “Administer the vitamin D,” he replies.

  I raise my head and look at him. “More humane than sprinkling acid-like powder all over a trapped vampire?”

  “We could inject it into her, with a syringe. That’s more clinical. And some would say the more clinical, the more humane.”

  “People say that to make themselves feel better about what they’re doing. Ugh. Can you imagine? It would be like basically injecting acid into someone’s veins, giving them a chemical burn from the inside out.” I scrunch my face up in a look that mixes utter disgust and abject horror.

  “We would have more control of our sample if we did it that way.”

  I look at him again. “My God, you’re seriously considering this?”

  Rick shrugs, “Why not? If the end is the same, does it really matter?”

  I look down at my lap as I rest my hands there. “I guess not,” I say quietly. “I mean we’ve already mutilat
ed her, so why be all moral now.” I seriously don’t like the decisions and opinions I was being forced to form during this project. If I had known all of this before, would I have still answered the ad? I don’t know. I have to be honest and say that the money would have still been a big draw. I would like to think that I would have been against answering the ad more than taking the money. But everyone has his or her price, especially in this economy.

  The door opens and Gwen’s head peeks inside, “Bring the bags, we’re going to the other building.”

  I guess the time for self-reflection is over. Regardless of my feelings on the outcome, it is time for action. In some ways I hope that Thalia does die. I don’t know if I can look at myself in the morning if she has to live the rest of her existence looking like a vampire Freddy Krueger. Or even worse, particularly if Rick was serious about the injection. Either way, I expect to have nightmares for weeks to come.

  Chapter 22

  When we arrive at the other building, I suddenly forget how to move my legs. I remain sitting in my seat hoping that at any moment we would turn around and go back. I definitely wouldn’t have complained about the lost time, but the whole point is for the project to continue and for us to be successful. Breathing slowly and deeply, I imagine my legs moving as the door opens. Nothing happens. I continue to sit there, staring ahead of me into the distance.

  “Emma? Is something wrong?” Rick asks.

  I look at him and catch myself laughing at the ridiculousness of his question. Is something wrong? It would be easier to list what is right in this situation. It’s a short list, if anything at all.

  He cocks his head, looking at me as his face softens, as if he’s straining to hear faint music that only audibly enhanced individuals can make out in the cacophony of modern life.

  “You know, you will survive this.”

  I purse my lips. “Will I?”

  “It’s certain that it will change you, but you will survive. What you do with that change is your choice. You can make of it what you want.”