Primacy of Darkness

by Brock E. Deskins

  Trinh, her partner had called her. I search my brain for a face to put with the name, but I come up blank. The name sounds Vietnamese or Cambodian. I haven’t made any enemies down there since ’68. Maybe a granddaughter carrying out her grandparents’ vengeance? Seems an awfully long way to go for a nearly fifty-year-old grudge.

  She had an entire team. Or did she? I replay the sniper’s face in my mind as I went flying past her. She looked almost as surprised as I was. If she wasn’t expecting the van, then who the hell were they? Do I have two hit teams after me? How many people have I pissed off? It’s best I don’t answer that. It would hurt my feelings, if I had any.

  “I think I’ve done everything I can,” Raj announces after more than an hour of suturing. “I hope it’s enough.”

  “It should be fine, thanks. It’s probably best if you leave before I do my bit. My reserves are tapped out and this level of regeneration is going to leave me famished.”

  Raj looks even more nervous than when I gave him my severed hand and told him to make like Dr. Frankenstein. He swallows a lump in his throat, nods, and makes for the door. I follow him out and climb onto my bike. I don’t think I will go into a feeding frenzy and eat Raj, but there’s no sense in taking unnecessary risks.

  I wait until he gets in his car and drives off before focusing on my arm. My hunger spikes to a painful level as my body regenerates the nerves, tissue, and bones in my wrist. I play a little air guitar to make sure everything is working properly and send a quick text before firing up my Harley and speeding down the street.

  My mouth is literally watering at the prospect of a full feeding, and my stomach is competing with my bike to see who can growl the loudest. So far, it’s a draw. The meal I have planned for tonight is a heroin dealer whose last bad batch killed three people. Katherine wasn’t able to prosecute thanks to a poorly-executed search warrant. It didn’t take me long to get the code I needed to set up a buy, thanks to my contacts in the criminal underworld. Sometimes, having friends in low places is a good thing.

  I park my bike in the darkest corner of the parking lot and walk through the park. I stand beneath a streetlight and wait. I don’t need much in the way of acting skills to play the part of a jonesing junkie. I hear his footsteps and pick up his scent before he gets close enough to speak.

  “Are you Larry?” he asks from what he thinks is the safety of the dark shadows.

  My vision allows me to see him without a problem. “Yeah. You got what I want?”

  “Come over here out of the light.”

  I stride over to where he is waiting in the shadows.

  “You wanted twenty bags of China White, right?”

  I unclench my fists as I pull my hands out of my jacket pockets. “Actually, I am going to need a lot more than that.”

  He starts to look a bit nervous, his eyes shifting from side to side as he tries to make sense of my changing the deal. “How much more? I might not have enough on me.”

  A predatory smile creeps onto my face. “Oh, you have plenty on you for what I need.”

  I move with preternatural speed. I am behind him in an instant, one hand clamped over his mouth in an unbreakable hold. The ring razor looped onto my other thumb makes a small incision over the carotid artery. I clamp my mouth over the wound before the first spurt of blood reaches the grass.

  CHAPTER 9

  Circe had to cling to the door handle to keep from rolling around as the van sped down the street, its tires squealing whenever they took a sharp turn.

  “I don’t think he’s following,” a masked man announced as he stared out of the back window.

  “Who are you people?” Circe asked.

  “Don’t worry, we’re friends,” a woman sitting across from her and pressing a wad of cloth against Trinh’s chest answered.

  Circe darted to Trinh’s side and held her by the arm. “We have to get her to a hospital!”

  “She’ll die if we take her to a hospital.”

  “She’ll die if we don’t!”

  The woman took off her balaclava. She had short, dark hair, with a spattering of freckles across a pert nose. Her eyes were hazel green with sharp corners like a cat.

  “We have someone who might be able to help and she’s a lot closer than the hospital.”

  “Who?”

  The woman glanced at Trinh. “She’s not a normal human, is she?”

  Circe hesitated. “What do you mean, not normal? Of course she’s normal.”

  “I know she’s not a vampire like Malone, but she’s not exactly human anymore is she? If I’m wrong, then no one can help her, but if I’m right, our friend just might be able to. So, is she…special?”

  Circe was torn between her loyalty and the promise she made Trinh years ago never to reveal her secret, and desperation to save her life. “She’s special. Very special.”

  The woman smiled and nodded. “All right, I need you to trust us. I don’t know if we can save her, but there is a chance.”

  “Do everything you can. I’ll do anything. Please, just don’t let her die!”

  “We’ll do whatever we can. She is very important to us as well. We have been looking for someone like her for quite some time. My name is Tami, by the way.”

  “I’m Cir…Carol. I just feel like useless Carol right now.” Carol looked around at the half-dozen, well-armed people crammed into the van. “Who are you people?”

  Tami craned her head to look out of the windshield. “We’ll explain everything once we’re inside and we’ve taken care of your friend. We’re almost there.”

  The van screeched to a stop outside what appeared to be an old manufactory building. A large metal sliding door opened and a pair of men bearing a stretcher charged toward the van. The people in the van helped load Trinh onto the stretcher. Carol had to jog to keep pace as they wheeled Trinh into the building.

  Much of the interior of the building was sectioned off by cubicle dividers. A doorway near the back had heavy plastic strips hanging down, like you would find on industrial walk-in freezers. Plastic sheets sheathed the walls and ceiling of the room inside, creating what appeared to be a makeshift operating room.

  Another woman, draped in a surgical gown, stood waiting. They laid Trinh onto an operating table and cut away her clothing to expose the wound. The woman tore open a thick foil packet and poured the contents into the wound. She stripped off her gloves and turned to Carol while another man pressed a surgical dressing to the massive hole in Trinh’s chest.

  “My name is Dr. Margaret Birch,” the woman said and extended her hand.

  Carol ignored the hand but replied, “Carol. What is all this? Who are you people and what did you do to Trinh?”

  “I used a battlefield clotting agent to buy your friend some time.”

  “Will she live now?”

  The doctor shook her head. “No, not unless we take more extreme measures.”

  “Then why are you just standing here? Do something!”

  “There is one chance to save your friend’s life, but it is slim and involves the research I have been conducting over the years.”

  “What research?”

  “I have been trying to use the super stem cells found in vampire blood to create a cure for every disease and heal even the most horrible of wounds. I have managed to isolate those super cells.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  “They have thus far killed every patient I injected them into.”

  Carol nodded. “You want to inject them into Trinh.”

  “She is what the vampires call a bloodling, is she not?”

  “I’ve heard her say something like that before. She doesn’t like to talk about it.”

  “She is faster and stronger than any human you have ever met, yes?”

  “Yes, but not as much as a vampire.”

  “Of course not, but she hasn’t been sick a day in her life, has she?”

  Carol twitched her head to the negative. “I’ve never even seen her
get a cold.”

  “I think with her bloodling physiology, she will be strong enough to survive the treatment. If she lives, I hope to be able to extract a less toxic group of cells that will work in ordinary humans.”

  “Why haven’t you tried it before?”

  Dr. Birch shrugged. “I haven’t been able to find any bloodlings. Apparently, they are even rarer than vampires. We located the vampires I used for my research using thermal imaging, but that does not work on bloodlings since their metabolic biological signatures are almost identical to that of normal humans

  “How did you know about Trinh?”

  “I didn’t. It was dumb luck that my people recognized the man she attacked on the street. Thermals showed she was probably not a vampire, so I ordered them to grab her if at all possible. We do not have much time. Can I inject her with the serum?”

  Carol looked around and noted the armed guards standing outside the operating room. “What if I say no?”

  “I will do it anyway. Nothing will keep me from my research.”

  “Then why even ask me?”

  “It is the polite thing to do. Besides, I would like us to be friends when this is over—especially if it works.”

  Carol looked from the doctor to Trinh. “If there is no other way, then do it.”

  Dr. Birch retrieved a sealed glass jar from a locked cabinet. She used a syringe to draw out thirty CCs of the clear liquid and injected it into an IV bag hanging over Trinh’s unconscious body feeding fluid into her veins. Carol began counting the seconds until Trinh began to convulse.

  “Hold her down!” Dr. Birch ordered her people.

  Several men rushed in, lay across her legs, and tried to pin her arms down. A wild thrash sent one crashing into a glass medical cabinet. More men arrived and fought to secure her with straps bolted to the bed. Carol thought she might tear the bed apart if she continued her wild bucking.

  The equipment monitoring her vitals began to blare warnings. Her heart rate was over two hundred beats per minute and her oxygen saturation was over a hundred percent. Trinh’s body temperature soared to one hundred-ten degrees.

  “Get some ice in here!” Dr. Birch screamed.

  People rushed in and laid bags of ice atop Trinh’s body, holding them in place so she did not cast them off. Her temperature dropped to one hundred-five but refused to go any lower.

  “Is this normal?” Carol asked in a panic.

  “No, everyone else was dead by now.”

  “How is she still alive? A hundred and ten degree temperature would fry anyone’s brain!”

  “She isn’t like anyone. That is why this might work.”

  Trinh stopped thrashing and her eyes snapped open. She heaved against the straps holding her down. Bolts sheared off with a shriek of metal. Grabbing the piece of the bed frame dangling from her wrist strap, she lunged from the bed and raised the makeshift weapon to strike down Dr. Birch. Bags of ice dropped to the floor, burst open, and spilled their contents.

  Carol threw herself between Trinh and the doctor. “Trinh, no! It’s me!”

  Trinh’s eyes were wild with fear. She cast her eyes around the room, took in her surroundings, and noted the men pointing weapons at her. She slowed her manic breathing, blinked away the lingering haze of near-death, and lowered the pipe in her hand.

  “Carol? Where am I?”

  Carol threw her arms around her and wept. “You’re okay! These people, Dr. Birch, they saved you from Malone. I thought you were going to die.”

  Trinh gently pushed Carol away and sat on the edge of the surgical bed. “I thought I did. Who are they?”

  “I am Dr. Birch. I am very pleased to meet you. How do you feel?”

  “I feel…fevered but strong. Really strong. I feel like I could run a marathon right now.”

  “And break every record doing it.”

  “What did you do to me?”

  “It is a long story. Please, let me check your wound.”

  Trinh nodded, and Dr. Birch peeled back the tape and the thick, blood-soaked bandage it held in place. The gaping hole that went clean through her body was now a red, puckered scar.

  Dr. Birch smiled and shook her head. “Miraculous!”

  “What did you do?” Trinh asked again.

  Dr. Birch waved them out of the room. “Come, let us sit down and talk. We have much to discuss.”

  She led them out of the operating room and into a large cubicle area with a couch, table, and several chairs. Dr. Birch motioned for Carol and Trinh to take a seat on the couch while she pulled up a chair.

  “As I began to tell Carol, I used to work for the government. My team became aware of the existence of vampires several years ago. I had wanted to use whatever it was that made them nearly immortal to cure disease, brain, and spinal injuries. Once I began to get close to a solution, another department took control and weaponized it. They wanted me to create artificial vampires to act as the perfect soldiers. Hoping that it would still lead to what I sought, I did precisely that, only they were highly unstable. When they turned rogue, my department chief forced the man you attacked to hunt them down and terminate them.”

  “The thing in Yemen and Pennsylvania,” Trinh said.

  “Ah, you heard about that.”

  “It’s what brought us to New York. Why would you create monsters, and what does that have to do with me?”

  “I escaped the assault in Pennsylvania, but I refused to give up on my research. I knew there had to be a way to extract the vampires’ extraordinary healing power without creating what you call monsters.”

  “They are monsters! They murdered my… They need to be exterminated.”

  “Are tigers, sharks, or any other predators monsters?” Dr. Birch asked. “I am a scientist. I cannot condemn any kind of life simply because it acts in accordance with its nature, even if that nature is counter to our survival. We humans have killed thousands of times more people than vampires could ever dream of.”

  “They use us as a food source! Some wantonly slaughter for no reason other than for the sport of it.”

  Dr. Birch shrugged. “On occasion, but still not nearly as much as we do.”

  Trinh shook her head. “You admire them.”

  “There is much to admire.”

  “There is even more to fear!”

  “And nothing is more human than to want to destroy that which we fear.”

  “You still haven’t told me what you did to me.”

  “I injected you with the cells that allow vampires to regenerate.”

  Trinh leapt to her feet, her fists clenched at her sides. “You made me into one of them?” she shouted. “You had no right!”

  Carol stood and took her hand. “Trinh, I told her to. It was the only way to save you.”

  “Then you should have let me die! I would rather be dead than be turned into a monster!”

  Dr. Birch frowned. “Do you feel like a monster? Do you feel the urge to cut me open and drink my blood?”

  Trinh paused and mentally examined herself. “No, but I can’t say that I don’t want to kill you right now.”

  “I hope that feeling passes. I did not turn you into a vampire—at least I hope not. What I did was nothing more than some specialized stem cell therapy. There should have been no actual change in your DNA, as happens when a person becomes a vampire.”

  “Shouldn’t?”

  “I need to run some tests, but I am confident in my theory and my advanced knowledge of genetics and cellular biology.”

  Trinh stared at the doctor, trying to look beyond her façade to plumb the depths of her true purpose. “What do you want from me? No one does anything for free, especially Americans.”

  “I am being honest when I say that my research is paramount in my motivations.” She shrugged. “If I can become supremely wealthy in the process, so much the better.”

  “I will not stop killing the creatures you seem to love so much.”

  “I am not asking you to, and you are c
onfusing love with respect. I fear vampires. I also fear Ebola, venomous snakes, and anything else that can quickly and silently kill me. I wish you would stop simply for the reason that I need your blood to further my research and do not want you to die.”

  “What is in this for me? I don’t mind letting you draw some of my blood to repay you for saving my life, but I don’t like what you do, and I have no interest in working with you.”

  “Trinh, the serum’s effect is only temporary and will vanish over time. Whenever you exert yourself or your body heals any wounds you suffer, it draws from a reserve that it cannot replenish on its own. Even now, it is repairing your body on a cellular level and wears off just like the caffeine in a cup of coffee. Vampires’ bodies work in much the same way, only they replenish their super cells by drinking blood, which you cannot do. You lack the genetic difference that allows them to convert human blood into super cells even if you were willing to do the same. If you want to continue your crusade and increase your chances of survival, you need me.”

  Carol laid a hand on Trinh’s leg. “Trinh, you need this. Malone almost killed you.”

  Trinh did not trust the doctor. The fact that this woman managed to create the monsters she swore to exterminate made her dangerous. However, Carol was right. She had almost blown it today when she attacked Malone, and he did not appear to be in his prime. He would feed tonight and would not allow her to catch him off guard again. She had to get stronger if she was going to start targeting older vampires like Malone.

  “If I even think that you are creating vampires, I will kill you,” Trinh promised.

  “The purpose of my research is to heal people. I will not recreate the work I did for the government.”

  “All right, I will provide you with my blood if you supply me with your serum.”

  “That sounds fair. I will need to run several tests so we both know the exact effect it has on you and your blood and how long you can expect it to be effective. I’ll need to monitor you for a few days to get a baseline reading.”

  Trinh sighed. “I guess I don’t have anything better to do. I have alerted Malone, and I doubt he will make it easy for me to find him again.”