Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series)

by S. L. J. Shortt

  The first thing that they noticed was that there were no giant bat wings attached to her back...at least that’s what they thought.

  She turned around as they approached, but Jerry managed to catch glimpse of something that made his eyes go wide. It was almost as if she was wearing a parachute on her back, but it looked like it was made of leather. It took him about two seconds to realize that those were her wings, folded up neat and tight and held as close to her body as possible. Looking at her from the front made it impossible to see them.

  Jerry remembered Claire’s words and tried to hide his amazement, but she seemed to have spotted his reaction already as a small grin had curled in the corner of her mouth. It wasn’t until he tried to find something else to look at that he realized just how incredibly beautiful this woman was.

  She had long flowing platinum hair that ended at her lower ribs and she was wearing a long loose blue dress that still managed to show off her features. Her skin was pale white, but because of the large lights above it almost seemed to glow. Her face was so innocent and inviting it seemed unreal. Her entire presence had an aura of calm and her icy blue eyes had an ‘all-seeing’ quality to them.

  She gracefully moved forward and approached Jerry. She came a lot closer to him than he had expected and studied his face for a moment, causing him to feel a little uneasy.

  After a second her eyebrows furled slightly. “Is that oven cleaner?” she asked in a smooth voice.

  “It was all I could find,” Jerry mumbled, turning red.

  Sophinia smiled. “You’re cuter than I expected. And you have beautiful eyes. ” He’d seen his own eyes in the mirror a thousand times over. To him they’d always just been ‘his eyes’, never beautiful.

  Unfortunately, Jerry was still in defense mode and so his snarky attitude immediately tried to cover how intimidated he felt. “You hitting on me?” he asked, and Sophinia laughed lightly.

  “I think I’m a little old for you, Daniel,” she said, before looking at Joe. “Mr. Jericho,” she inclined her head toward him. “And this must be Mr. Gibson.”

  “Call me Goose,” he said weakly.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she smiled warmly. “Might I have a moment alone with Daniel?”

  Jerry’s heart jumped. He didn’t want Uncle Joe and Goose to leave him alone with her, but a small part of his brain reassured him that it would be okay. Goose and Joe also looked apprehensive, but agreed with a nod in the end.

  “Claire, why don’t you get them something to eat and drink; I’m sorry for the length of your journey here.”

  Claire nodded and led them out of the library. Before leaving, both his uncle and his best friend gave him distinct ‘be strong’ looks. The doors closed behind them and suddenly Jerry was alone in the huge room with a pureblood vampire.

  “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Daniel. It’s been a very long time since I’ve even thought about harming a human,” Sophinia said, gliding back towards the oak table. She closed the book she had been reading and returned it to the empty space on the shelf before turning back to Jerry.

  “Once, we had all the time in the world...now that time is running out. The human race is on the verge of discovering our world; in fact, my sources inform me that they are already creating machines that may be able to detect the unique energy signature of magic. They’ll attach them to satellites to search for loose nuclear material and find something very different indeed. Three hundred years ago, I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but then, underestimating the human race is the single biggest mistake any creature, mortal or immortal can ever make. I think God himself may even be a little surprised.”

  “You believe in God?” Jerry asked dubiously.

  “Ever heard the saying; ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’? Well, there are no atheists in the supernatural world either. You can’t be like us and not believe,” Sophinia said simply.

  “Right, because you think you guys are going to Hell?” Jerry said, with a bit of skepticism in his voice.

  Sophinia picked up on it straight away. “Can you think of a more fitting place for things like us?” she moved a little closer to him and stared into his eyes. “You don’t believe that there are worlds beyond this one, do you? That there’s something out there, watching us?”

  Jerry couldn’t help the half laugh that came from his mouth. “Come on, all you’ve got to do is turn on the evening news to see that there’s only two possibilities: either God doesn’t exist, or he does, and he doesn’t give two shakes about any of us.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way. As much as my mind tells me that Hell is our final destination because of the things we have done, my heart never stops hoping that, in you, God has handed us a chance for redemption.” She had spoken so softly that her voice had sounded hypnotic.

  Jerry had never bought into the whole Heaven and Hell idea. He didn’t typically try to snuff out other peoples’ beliefs, but he didn’t like them being pushed on him either, and right now, Sophinia’s words just seemed like a way of trying to tug at his heart strings to buy her the sympathy vote.

  “Look, I’m going to help you guys out if I can, but I’m not doing it because I believe in some higher power, I’m doing it because no vampires means no vampire victims,” he stated clearly.

  She stared at him intently for a moment, and then began to voice her opinion. ‘A young man is found on the eve of our destruction. His blood has potentialities we’ve never even imagined possible. There is no clear reason behind his uniqueness, yet he possesses a mentality which seeks to save others from suffering...some would call that providence,” she smiled.

  “Whatever the hell is in my blood has just put everyone I care about in serious danger. That’s not a miracle, honey, that’s a curse,” Jerry said with gritted teeth.

  “I can understand why the glass feels half empty to you, but I promise you that we will do whatever is in our power to protect you and those you care about,” Sophinia said with conviction. “But, you must understand, Daniel, this may take some time.”

  “Well then, we better get on with it.”

  Sophinia nodded and smiled again.

  She led him through the mansion towards a hallway that opened up into another wing of the building. The place could house a hundred people quite comfortably if it needed to. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at another door. This one was much heavier looking than the others, but it took no effort for Sophinia to push it open.

  Jerry actually wanted to laugh. He had just walked into a secret laboratory! Of course, there were no Tesla coils giving off jolts of electricity or a big wooden table with metal clamps on it like you’d see in the old nineteen fifties horror movies, but it did have several microscopes, a complicated looking chemistry kit and a computer with large processors. In truth, it looked like a lab at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, except without the overly sterile atmosphere. It was definitely a room dedicated to science.

  This was obviously the hub of Sophinia’s efforts to find a cure. However, the idea of a hidden lab inside a vampire mansion was just plain funny to Jerry.

  “I believe you two know each other,” Sophinia said, as a man appeared from behind a large refrigerator filled with blood packs.

  “Mr. Parker?!”

  What the hell was his biology teacher doing there?

  “Hey Jerry,” he smiled. “Took a little tumble down the rabbit hole did we?”

  “You were hip to all this?!” Jerry gasped in disbelief.

  Mr. Parker smiled and nodded. “For about six years now,” he said, walking over. When he was close he lifted up his shirt revealing a set of horrific scars across his stomach. “I was introduced to the paranormal when I had a nasty little encounter with a werewolf in British Columbia.”

  “Wait, you’re a -”

  “No,” he cut him off. “He only managed to get his claws in. If he had bitten me though, it would have been a different story. After the shock and
terror finally faded, I got curious. I wanted to know more, so I did some digging. Luckily, Sophinia’s people were the ones I ran into. Everything else fell into place from there,” he explained.

  “So...vampires, magic and now werewolves as well...” Jerry mumbled to himself.

  “Kid, you would not believe the things that are out there,” Mr. Parker said.

  Jerry just nodded and walked away. The shock value of the supernatural world was quickly wearing off. He took a look at some of the lab stuff that was spread around the room. He didn’t have a clue what most of it did: engineering was his specialty, not Biology.

  “So, you spend your spare time in Frankenstein’s lab trying to help them find a cure for fang’s disease?”

  “Yes. Unsuccessfully I’m afraid,” Parker replied.

  “Well, let’s see if we can’t change that. What’s first?” Jerry asked.

  “Well, first, we have to do something about your stink,” Dr. Parker said unmercifully.

  “Look, I had to use oven cleaner, okay? It was the only thing strong enough to -”

  “He’s talking about your scent, Daniel,” Sophinia said, hiding her amusement.

  “Oven cleaner?” Parker asked, looking confused before taking a quick whiff of Jerry and picking up on the removal spray.

  “Oh, never mind then...” Jerry said, feeling embarrassed.

  “I think I’ve found a way to mask the smell that your blood gives off,” Parker said, walking over to the lab table. “I’m going to need a sample of your blood though,”

  “Well then, I suppose I should leave you to it,” Sophinia interjected. “Matthew,” she nodded, before leaving the lab and closing the door behind her.

  Parker pulled out a syringe and slipped it into Jerry’s arm, none too gently either. He took a full measure of Jerry’s blood, then squeezed a drop of it on a glass slide and put it under the microscope. He looked at it for a few seconds while making some odd grunting noises.

  “I can’t see anything different here,” Parker growled in annoyance.

  “Neither did the doctors at the hospital.” Jerry replied.

  “Well, I’ll keep looking, but first let’s see if this works.” He picked up a small vial with a clear liquid inside and a plastic cap on the top. He injected a small amount of Jerry’s blood into the vial from the syringe and shook it around a little. The red blood danced around in the clear liquid before settling at the bottom. The two liquids didn’t mix.

  “Great.”

  “What is that?” Jerry asked.

  “This is just a little cocktail of hormones and chemicals that will cause a change in the pheromones you produce. It should cover your real scent completely.”

  “Hormones? I’m not going to grow boobs am I?” Jerry asked, looking worried.

  “No,” Parker chuckled. “Might make you feel a little dizzy or nauseous though. Your body will burn though them in about thirty hours though, so you’ll need regular injections. I’ll knock you up a big batch of this stuff.”

  Dr. Parker popped the cap off another vial and attached a needle to the end. He injected Jerry in the arm again, before putting the needle in a small dish of hydrochloric acid to destroy the remnants of Jerry’s blood.

  “Now, I seriously doubt that this stuff will have any effect on what your blood can do, but it should at least make you smell like a normal human to any creature that is checking.”

  “Does this mean I can shower this freakin’ oven cleaner off now?”

  “I’m sure Sophinia wouldn’t mind.”

  “Great, because I think the fumes are making me high!”

  “No, that’s probably the injection I just gave you,” Parker grinned.

  “Joy!”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll wear off. Come on,” he said.

  The two of them walked back out of the lab and through the mansion, eventually ending up in the kitchen. Jerry thought it probably looked like the kitchens in the White House: made to cater for hundreds of people but usually only used by a few. Everything was fully stocked and brand new.

  Goose and Joe were leaning against one of the island cabinets in the middle, while Claire had jumped up to sit on one of the surfaces. All three of them were enjoying a nice cold beer and Goose was snacking on some chocolate cookies.

  “Hey, what’s the scoop?” he asked, chewing contentedly. “Mr. Parker?!” Goose sprayed crumbs all over the counter when he saw his teacher.

  “Hey Goose, hey Joe. Good to see you again,” Dr. Parker smiled.

  “Matt? What the hell are you doing here?” Joe asked, looked amazed and shaking his hand.

  “Oh, I’ve had the inside story about what’s really going on out there for quite a while now,” Parker replied. “I still can’t believe that Jerry was right under my nose the whole time though.”

  “Yeah, well, he was under my nose too,” Joe said, looking at his nephew.

  “Well, noses shouldn’t be a problem anymore, right?”

  “We’ll let Sophinia give you the final seal of approval, but so far it looks promising. I’ve knocked up a serum that should mask the scent of his blood, sweat, tears, the works. Vamps won’t know he’s any different from the norm.”

  “He still smells like oven cleaner to me,” Claire said, offering a beer to Jerry and Mr. Parker.

  They each took one, twisted the caps off of the tops and took a swig. “I’m about to take a shower. After that I guess we’ll know for sure.”

  “The main bathroom is on the second floor,” they all spun around to see Sophinia standing in the kitchen doorway. She had arrived so silently that not even Claire had noticed. “I’ll have some fresh towels ready for you.”

  “Thanks. So, what happens now?” Jerry asked.

  “You leave a pint of your blood with me and I start trying to figure out what makes it tick. I’ll mix it with vampire blood and record the results,” Parker said quickly.

  “Most importantly, you must all continue with your usual routines. Black Forest doesn’t know your identity, but they know you are somewhere in the area and they’ll probably be keeping an eye out for anyone leaving in a hurry. You’ll have to try and blend in and try not to give away that you know about them,” Sophinia continued. “They’ll be watching our people, so we’ll have to keep our distance as best we can. You’re safest during the day. I’m not leaving you without protection though. Claire will remain with you and guard you during the nights, if that’s agreeable to you?” She looked to Joe first and then to Jerry.

  Protection during the night obviously meant that Claire would be spending a lot of time at their house. Joe nodded his consent.

  “Now...I’m not thrilled at the idea of teenagers handling firearms,” Sophinia continued, nodding at Jerry’s belt. She obviously knew that he had a Colt stuffed down the back of it. “But under the circumstances...”

  “I’m not happy about that either, but if it’s going to happen...I’ll field ship them on the weapons. Make sure they how to use em’ proper,” Joe said, but not with a warning look to both the boys.

  Jerry and Goose looked happy about that. Joe being their drill instructor was cool, no matter which way you sliced it.

  “We have a heavy stockpile of silver rounds, but the arsenal itself is running a little low,” Claire informed them.

  “I can have weapons brought in, but moving firearms around isn’t the easiest of tasks. It’ll be at least two weeks, maybe more before they can get here,” Sophinia said.

  “I can get us guns.”

  All eyes (some surprised) turned towards Goose, who looked very proud of himself.

  “You mean you can plunder your dad’s collection and hope he doesn’t fill you full of buckshot when he gets back,” Joe corrected.

  “Hey, between that and becoming a vampire’s slushy, I’ll take the buckshot,” Goose returned.

  “How big is this collection?” Claire asked.

  “His dad’s a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, he could arm Cu
ba if he needed to,” Joe answered. “But he loves those babies like his own flesh and blood, so you’re in it for sure when he finds out, Goose.”

  “I’m sure I can compensate him if needs be,” Sophinia said.

  “Great! Then he might only shoot me full of rock salt instead,” Goose laughed uneasily. Everyone else thought he was joking, but Goose wasn’t so sure.

  “I think it’s also important that you familiarize yourself with our world. I’ve asked Larz to pick out some books from the library that should give you a much clearer understanding of the supernatural,” Sophinia continued.

  “Great, more homework,” Jerry groused.