Blood Harvest

by Michael Weinberger

  Police Captain Lincoln:

  Our investigations have led us to uncover evidence that Pharmanetics was operating on the executive level with full knowledge the individuals being subjected to the human test trials were not participating voluntarily and had in fact been kidnapped by Pharmanetics own security force.

  Robert Keppler:

  These trials had not been submitted nor received the approval of the FDA, which is what prompted the FBI’s involvement in the case. However, as the case developed a frightening correlation to another case also being investigated by the Los Angeles branch of the FBI began to take shape.

  Senior Agent William Van Ness:

  We have been investigating the possibility a white slavery organization has been operating out of Los Angeles for some time. The investigation came to a conclusion today when the federal agents, working in conjunction with local authorities, stormed the Pharmanetics offices and made several arrests of key individuals.

  Robert Keppler:

  Many of the company’s employees were unaware of Pharmanetics sinister agenda. Executive officer Alex Daniels is unavailable for comment and police believe he has apparently gone into hiding as of this time. The state and national government have put out a nationwide alert for the arrest of Mr. Daniels and authorities are hopeful he will be in police custody very soon.

  The names of the victims have not been released by police; however, the authorities are encouraged they have identified all of the people being held inside the building. They are all in good health and are cooperating with the police. They will soon be reunited with their friends and families.

  This is Robert Keppler, for Channel 3 News @ Nine reporting.

  Chapter 58

  Santa Monica, California

  Three weeks later, 2:00 AM

  Steve walked down the hardwood stairs to the first floor of the old Spanish ranch house set on a hill over looking the ocean in Pacific Palisades. The house was built near the turn of the nineteenth century and had been restored in the early eighties by an elderly couple who had lived there until their deaths in 2000. The children of the couple had no need for the home so it was put on the market where it sold for ten million dollars to an anonymous buyer working through a realtor.

  Checking the refrigerator, he opened a bottle of orange juice, took two long pulls directly from the bottle and savored the refreshing quality to the juice as it coated his dry throat. He screwed the cap back on and replaced the bottle in the fridge. He removed a small insulin needle and an ampoule of medication then turned to climb back to the bedroom when he heard a noise come from down the hallway.

  Setting the drug and needle on the kitchen counter, Steve pulled a key off a hook on the refrigerator, opened one of the kitchen cupboards and inserted the key into a lock. The lock turned easily, opening a lockbox holding a small, powerful handgun. Steve checked the weapon, assured it was loaded and switched off the safety mechanism. He proceeded into the hallway in the direction of the noise he’d heard.

  The house was quiet with the exception of some soft rustling coming from the end of the hall. Steve approached the far end of the house where only a spare bedroom and the basement were available as hiding places for anyone breaking in. A quick scan of the bedroom revealed no one inside. The basement was going to be a more difficult check since the elderly couple had turned it into a wine cellar. Although all of the wine had been removed prior to the sale of the home, the multitude of wine racks, humidifiers and other such wine paraphernalia would provide ample places to lay in wait, out of sight.

  The basement door had been replaced after the home was purchased and it now opened and closed in noiseless perfection. Steve quickly threw the door open and aimed the gun into the darkness. He couldn’t see anyone; then again he couldn’t even see the last two of the ten steps descending into the basement. Carefully, he navigated each concrete step trying to use his peripheral vision as his guide, knowing this area of human eyesight acclimated to the dark faster than normal sight. When he reached the bottom of the steps he waited momentarily so his eyes could accommodate. Seeing as well as he was going to he continued into the space.

  The basement expanded the entire length and width of the house, just as traditional basements did in mid-west and east coast homes. He had a lot of ground to cover before he could be certain no one had intruded. Walking between two floor-to-ceiling wine racks, Steve realized his vision was improving beyond the point of his eyes simply adjusting to the darkness. He continued forward and, as he came out the other end of the wine racks, saw the very small, flickering, illumination of light.

  Someone had lit a candle.

  It was Alpha, sitting at a desk that Steve had been using since he had taken possession of the house, looking intently at his reflection in the mirror. Steve lowered his weapon to his side and was about to walk up and greet the man when Alpha reached up with one hand and jammed his fingers into his own left eye. Steve froze as he watched Alpha grimace and work his fingers and thumb around the inside of the eye socket. Blood dripped slightly from Alpha’s explorations and, with a slight sucking sound, Alpha removed a large, round contact lens from his eye socket.

  Steve had been about to shriek thinking Alpha had removed his own eye. When Alpha looked back to the mirror the reflection revealed something far more disturbing than self mutilation.

  Alpha faced the mirror, his right eye the same amber yellow color the rest of his people shared. But his left eye was completely black…no whites, no pupil, just a deep ebony ball Steve initially mistook for an empty eye socket. Two teardrops of blood ran from the left eye. As Steve unconsciously backed away from where he was standing, his foot caught something solid on the ground, scraping the floor.

  Alpha’s head twitched in Steve’s direction as he spoke with a sigh, “Ah, good evening…or should I say morning?”

  Steve moved from the shadows and faced the man with the mismatched eyes, then looked to the mirror and back to Alpha.

  “What the hell is up with your eyes?” Steve said calmly.

  “I have never submitted to an examination so I don’t really have any factual explanations. It began about fifty years ago and I’ve been hiding it with sunglasses and contact lenses ever since. I can see just fine, but it definitely appears unnerving.” Alpha sighed, “I have been alive for nearly seven hundred years. That’s far longer than any of our kind has ever lived and I fear I am moving into an area of the unknown for our people.”

  “My God, seven hundred years?” Steve was genuinely shocked at the revelation from his mentor. A connection struck him and he blurted out before he had any chance to think.

  “Count Alphonso Diemo?!? YOU are Count Diemo and not simply one of his descendents as all of our people have been led to believe?”

  Alpha smiled, “The first one to ever come back from the madness and so forth and such like?

  Yes.”

  The revelation filled Steve with a million questions; he mentally tripped over his sentences wanting to ask all of them at the same time. All that came out was, “How?”

  “That my boy is information which has been lost to time. Not surprising really if you think about it. After all, I am supposedly the first of our kind to return from the madness which destroyed the minds of all who came before me. If this is truly so, then those who lived before me wouldn’t have remained sane long enough to record our origins; the need to consume the blood of others, the sensitivity to light, the alteration of the normal physicalities, such as unusual eye color, are all the traits separating our evolution from regular human beings.”

  “But no one else has lived as long as you either. What does that make you?”

  “Actually, there were only two others I ever came across who shared the same traits as me. Unfortunately, they were killed in London while helping the rest of our kind flee the Inquisition which came to our door one horrible night.”

  “Who were they?”

  “Their names were William and Abigail. They were my
most trusted aides and dearest friends. William was the first person I ever “saved” from the madness, but the truth of it was he was coming out of the dementia before I ever did anything to assist in the reversal.”

  “And they were killed?”

  “Yes, but their sacrifice saved the lives of everyone who lived under my roof, including their baby boy.”

  Alpha looked directly at Steve expectantly.

  Steve stammered in confusion. “I…I couldn’t be that boy. I’m nowhere near that old.”

  Alpha chuckled. “No, you are not that boy. He grew up and had a family of his own and they had families of their own and so on. What you are Tracker is a direct descendant of William and Abigail. A great, great, whatever-great grandson of the two people I loved the most in this rotten world and, as such, that makes you my grandson as well.”

  “That’s why you took such an interest in me as a baby.”

  “Partially, yes; I also saw the traits in you that were in your parents.”

  “Meaning?” “Meaning you are like me. I have no idea how long your lifespan might be and you have strengths you haven’t even begun to tap into yet. I would have taught you when the time was right, but after that fateful night, you ran away.”

  “I had lived with you over fifty years, when exactly was going to be the right time to tell me?”

  “I didn’t know, but in retrospect I think probably about the time this began,” Alpha gestured with one hand toward his discolored eye, “that would have been about right. I am afraid I may soon become someone/something not suitable to be the leader of our people. I may become something that instills fear as opposed to faith among the very people I have devoted myself to protect. I don’t know what is going to happen to me, but whatever does, I would wish to leave the others in capable hands; hands having gained the proper experience to sufficiently lead our people. That would be you, my boy.”

  Steve was stunned…more than stunned to be precise. He hadn’t even made the decision yet to return to the fold.

  “Alpha…I don’t…”

  “Don’t worry yourself for now. This isn’t something that has to happen immediately; in fact, I think I still have a few decades to teach you a thing or two before my exit becomes necessary. I just wanted you to know how special you are, not only to me but to the whole of our kind.”

  Alpha turned back to the mirror, raised his hand up to his right eye and removed the prosthetic in much the same manner as he had removed the left one earlier.

  “Ahh, that’s better.” Alpha sighed.

  Steve thought the initial appearance of both eyes being completely black would be even more disconcerting. Instead, the look was strangely balanced and far less malicious than the mismatched combination. Alpha’s appearance, although very unusual seemed…well, correct, for lack of better phrasing.

  “There’s more to tell you.”

  “Well, we have time don’t we?”

  Alpha nodded, “We do, but this…I should have told you this sooner.”

  Steve could hear the apprehension in Alpha’s voice as he said, “Acute Peritonitis.”

  Steve’s jovial mood turned sour. “Excuse me?”

  “Acute Peritonitis. It’s what they call the condition that kills people who have perforation injuries to the abdomen, assuming no vital organs or structures were ruptured.”

  Steve felt rage welling up inside of him. “Why are you saying this to me?”

  Alpha raised his hands in supplication. “I’m sorry, but it’s important that I know you understand the condition before I…”

  “You know full well I am aware of the condition, especially under the recent circumstances,” Alpha nodded. “I assumed as much since it was the cause of death for your friend.”

  “Chris.” Steve whispered. Steve was well aware of the condition and how excruciatingly painful a death it was for the victim. It had made Chris’ death all the more difficult to bear when he found out the truck that escaped was full of the anti-biotic and anti-viral medications Pharmanetics had been creating from the blood they’d harvested. One small ampoule of the medication could have saved his best friend’s life.

  “So, what of it?” Steve asked with far more force than he had intended.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I took some liberty with your friend’s body and had the hunters remove it from the scene.”

  Steve was shocked. “You lied to me?”

  “Yes, and I am very sorry for having done so. I thought I was protecting you and, in a way, your friend.”

  “Protecting us how?”

  “I thought that if there was any evidence of a death of someone not affiliated with Pharmanetics then it would…complicate the issues that were sure to arise in our negotiations with the federal government and the LAPD.”

  Steve was beyond furious. He was ready to lash out, but found himself asking, “The coffin that we buried?”

  “Empty.” Alpha said matter-of-factly.

  “So where is his body?”

  “He is among our own now.”

  “His remains are in the mine?”

  Alpha hesitated. “Yes. I thought it best as you could visit him anytime you liked.”

  Steve relaxed upon hearing this. He knew the care and reverence his people are given when they pass. Chris would have been given a far more respectful and proper burial with Alpha and his people than he received from the state funded civil servant type of internment the LAPD had provided.

  Steve was having trouble finding his words. “I suppose I should thank you for granting my friend the courtesy; however…”

  Alpha looked pleadingly at Steve as he tried to interrupt. “Wait! There’s more that…”

  Steve waved a hand in front of his face. “No!” Again Steve’s voice betrayed the emotions he was holding inside. He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. “I’m sorry but no. It’s too soon for me to hear anymore right now.”

  Alpha stared at Steve for a long moment then seemed deflated as he said, “All right. Perhaps it isn’t something you should hear from me in any case. I just want you to know it was never my intention to keep you in the dark.”

  Steve didn’t understand what Alpha was saying, but he also had no interest in talking about it anymore so he simply agreed with a nod of his head.

  The room was silent for a long moment before Alpha spoke again.

  “So what are you and Lei going to do now?” Alpha said with a sly smile. “I assume she is still asleep upstairs?”

  “You knew?”

  Alpha chuckled. “Dear boy, the girl hasn’t been home in nearly three months. In the entirety of her life only you could ever hold her interest, so where else would she be?”

  “You disapprove?”

  “Hardly, but I am wondering what your plans will be when the…ah…honeymoon ends.”

  “I’ve left the LAPD. They wouldn’t grant me the leave I requested, so I resigned. Alpha, I need to finish what Chris and I started. I am going to track down Dr. Whelan and everything he stole from our people. I figure that while that man is still out there our secret and our people will never be completely safe.”

  Alpha was wide-eyed in what appeared to be amazement before he said. “Yes, I think you will be a terrific leader of our people some day.”

  “We’ll see; Lei has agreed to accompany me in this as well.”

  Alpha nodded. “Not that you need it, but the two of you have my full support. Anything you require will be provided to you if you but ask.”

  Steve looked guardedly at Alpha. “I’m not making any promises that when this is over I will return to the fold and become this leader or whatever you are describing.”

  Alpha shrugged his shoulders. “I offer my support with no conditions attached or implied. Your success is incentive enough for me to stand with you on this.”

  Steve nodded. “Thank you.”

  Then breaking the serious mood the room seemed to have fallen into Alpha said, “Oh, I have something for y
ou Tracker!” Alpha reached into his jacket and pulled out two long brown cylindrical objects Steve recognized were cigars.

  “What’s this?” Steve asked.

  “Where I am from originally, we honor new beginnings with a toast and exchange of gifts.” Alpha said with a smile. “These are special,” Alpha indicated to the cigars with a flourish, “as they predate the American embargo of Cuba. They have been kept in pristine condition by a vendor I happen to be very fond of.”

  Steve had only heard of such cigars still existing in America; he had always been keen to try one. He was also well aware of the value placed on these cigars and knew this was a really rare treat.

  “Alpha, I’m honored. Let me go upstairs, I believe I have a good bottle of…”

  Alpha pulled out a flask of the exact make and model as the one’s Steve used to hold his emergency blood and wine mixture. “I think you will be hard pressed to find anything superior to this.”

  Alpha unscrewed the top and held the flask out at arms length, “To new beginnings!”

  Alpha drank from the flask and smiled contentedly at the flask afterward, then handed it to Steve.

  Steve took the flask from Alpha’s hand; he wanted desperately to check the contents of the flask before drinking. Alpha watched him intently. Steve considered the flask for a moment more before saying.

  “To old, very old, friends and family!” With that Steve drank from the flask without hesitation. The scotch inside was well-aged with far more flavor than burn as it sparked his palate and rendered a feeling of warmth all over.

  “That was delicious,” Steve said, impressed by the fine liquor.

  “I agree, very satisfying.” Alpha nodded and handed one of the two cigars to Steve. Steve held the cigar with reverence, then said,

  “I’m afraid I have no gift for you.”

  “In this case it is not necessary. “

  “All right, so what happens to you now?” Steve asked.

  “In what regard do you mean?”

  “Will you be moving our people again? Or are you going to try to rebuild the mine?” No, the mine has been compromised. We will be moving, but not very far.” Alpha smiled. “No, I think I am going to buy one of those giant casinos. Have you ever taken a tour through one of those behemoths? There is an entire city working under what you see on the surface. The spaces are even larger than what we had in the silver mine. Of course, I will have to change out all of the lighting…still.”