by Ian Hall
“They? Who is ‘they’? Which side is using this stuff?” My head spun at this point.
“That, Miss Cross,” she replied, pushing the thick glasses up the bridge of her nose, “is the million-dollar question.”
Marc Brennan cut in, “And do not underestimate the implications if ‘they’ are to succeed in developing a stable form of the germ; especially if we are unable to manufacture an inoculation in time.”
“Everybody would be vulnerable,” Ferook concluded dispassionately.
Lyman caught on before I did. “Including us Helsings.”
Vampires and Zombies
I’m not sure Mandy picked up on the last statement by Brennan. He’d used the word ‘germ.’ That brought every zombie movie into my head in seconds. When I fought vampires, I knew my enemy. Single persons, who by biting, made more vampires.
If I fought a contagion, that was a completely different matter. Germs could be passed by contact or by aerosol in a thousand different ways. A vampire horde would eliminate mankind in weeks. Of course, they would also permanently eradicate their own source of food. It felt strange to admit that our only hope in the future relied on our enemy’s grasp of biological economics.
“So does this vampire scientific effort show up anywhere in particular?” I folded my fingers together on the table.
“Not yet.” Ferook looked down the table at me. “But thanks to your work on Amos Blanche’s tactics, we’re beginning to see a trend in the high school seniors they’re targeting here in Arizona. Most of them have grounding in scientific disciplines; mostly either chemistry or biology. Without fail, every single one has applied for enrollment in the Alucard Medical University. AMU is small, on the southern side of Phoenix, but it’s principally a medical unit with a teaching hospital added on in the last few years. They only have a freshman year of 200 students planned for the semester in August.”
I could see the direction, and was about to add my five cents when Ferook continued.
“We were hoping that you and Mandy would enroll yourselves. Go down there for a field trip. Find out if there are vampires actually working there right now.”
Then, just as before, a knock on the door, and a medical-type guy crossed the room, and handed a sheet to Marc. He raised his eyebrows, then glanced at me. “Blood work result is back, Lyman.”
“Good news?”
“Well, kinda, we’ll want to run more tests, one when you’re pumped with meds, one when you’re dry.”
“So, today’s news?”
He glanced round the table. “Do you care if everyone knows?”
I shook my head. “Don’t care.”
“Okay; vampire blood still there, but your Helsing genes are still intact. But there’s one anomaly; there’s no degeneration between the test we did after your parents were killed, until now.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Well, everyone is dying. Slowly of course - but we’re all in a state of decay. You, however, do not seem to be.”
“You gotta knock it out more plain than that, doc.”
He grinned. “Well, what we’ve got here is the type of non-degeneration that we get when we test Mandy. She doesn’t show tissue or gene degeneration because the vampire blood makes her immortal. I don’t have a more plain way to say this; your blood is showing signs that you’re immortal, too.”
Wow, I never saw that one coming. I suppose it made sense in a totally medical way. My blood coursed with a vampire/Helsing mix - why wouldn’t I have some symptoms of both types?
So I gave more blood, and we left the building in a better mood than we’d entered.
Considering Chris’s family would be frantic with worry, we allowed Chris to phone home, blaming a drunken binge on his disappearance. Considering the truth, it would be easier for his folks to handle.
We drove him home to Harris, and I left Mandy the ten minutes she needed to say her goodbyes. Then we went back east to Winslow for dinner. I wanted to get a good chat alone.
“So, basically we’ve got three different investigations that we could get involved in, and it looks like we can choose.”
We ordered our drinks, and Mandy watched the waitress retreat. “The three being?”
“Keep investigating Harris and New River. Get our teeth into the scientific investigation of the ‘rage’ gas thing, or head down to Phoenix to the University to see what’s going on there.”
“Can’t we do more than one?” she asked, and I knew that she wanted to keep an eye on Chris.
“Maybe, but you’d have to do Harris part-time. I mean, a fair bit of the puzzle here has been blown wide open anyway. The enigmatic Indian artist is worth pursuing, but I’m not sure if he’s high on the tree. We have to get the writing looked at, too, you can give that to me, and I’ll get it off to Howard Weeks; he’ll have more resources in Chicago than us here.”
Mandy nodded. “I want to keep a finger on the pulse here, but it’s only a few hours away, I can give Phoenix a look-see.”
“And finding the scientific base?”
“Can’t we farm that out to Weeks, too?” Mandy said. “It doesn’t inspire me much at all. It all sounds a bit boring.”
We ate dinner, and I drove Mandy to her apartment. I followed her to the door, but she stopped short.
“Wait,” she hissed. I looked past her to the door, slightly ajar, and a few splinters of wood on the dark hall carpet. We both walked carefully inside. I’m not sure what the apartment looked like before, but I’m sure she hadn’t added clothes shredding as a favorite pastime.
Mandy just spread her arms wide in bewilderment. “What the fuck?”
“How’d they even get in?”
Throwing her hands up in the air, she said it like a curse word. “Must have been the landlady.”
“So Alan’s not finished with you yet,” I said. “I want you to come back to Gregor for a bit. I’m not happy with you up here on your own.”
Reluctantly, she nodded her head. The more she looked around, the more mess she found. Everything lay either broken or torn. Mandy came to my car with nothing in her hands, all her belongings unusable.
“I want to get that bastard.”
“I know,” I said, but I’m not sure I sounded all that convincing. “We’ll catch up with him someday.”
“Yeah… someday,” I replied blankly, staring at the scenery passing by.
My body sat in a car on its way to Gregor but part of me remained stuck in Harris - at Chris’s front porch. Even when I left him, he seemed a bit dazed. Couldn’t be sure if it was the vampire juice or if was just too blown away by all he’d heard to take it in.
“Are you gonna be okay?” I’d asked.
Chris kinda chuckled. “Working on it. Not really ready to believe in vampires yet, Lizzy…uh, Mandy…I mean, this is the first time we’ve been alone since we went to the medical center. You are a cop, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, a smile permeated my face.
“It’s just, you know, vampires don’t exactly fall into police territory.”
“I know what you mean,” I said with an embarrassingly nerdy snort, “some days I don’t even believe it myself.”
I started to turn for the walkway but Chris latched on to my wrist.
“You’re coming back, aren’t you?”
“I’ll be close; but, we can’t be seen together for a while. It’s not safe.”
Then this long, awkward pause - the kind in movies right before the boy and girl kiss for the first time. Me being…me…I wanted to body-rush that boy and swallow his face; but, I let Chris come to me in his time. Slowly, he did. His lips brushed mine with the softness of a feather.
Naturally, that’s when all hell broke loose.
The porch light suddenly exploded to life. The door flew open. Chris’s mother, ratty bathrobe and all, yanked him back by the lobe of his ear.
“This is why you’ve been gone for two days? What is the matter with you…some white tras
h girl…”
Yada, yada, yada.
I waved and smiled at Chris as he got pulled into the house. After what he’d been through, I doubted his mother could do much worse. Of course, the look on Chris’s face was one of absolute horror.
I must’ve giggled out loud, because Lyman asked me, “What’s so funny?”
“Eh. Nothing. You had to be there.”
It looked like my laughter had been contagious; Lyman had a little burst of his own for no reason whatsoever. Blowing off steam, I supposed.
“You’re really smitten with that guy,” he teased.
“No more so than you over Mary-Christine.”
A funny expression twisted over Lyman’s face. I wondered if he had second thoughts about the little Helsing tart. At the moment, I it didn’t think it worth pursuing.
Neither did Lyman; he changed the subject quickly enough. “Sorry about your apartment, Mandy.”
I shrugged. “Not like I felt all that attached to it.”
But even though I was leaving, I already wanted to get back to Harris; close enough to keep an eye on Chris. Close enough to get to Alan.
Lyman must’ve realized I sat stewing. He reached over and squeezed my shoulder, “We’ll get ‘em…”
I grinned. “And his little dog, too!”
We both bust a gut over that one; giddy as six-year-old girls. Proof positive we were worn to the bone by all this guff.
“And now we’ve got a heading,” he said after.
“Yeah. Alucard Medical University; I’m a little iffy on that one, to be honest.”
“What do you mean?”
“Med school, Lyman? How the hell am I s’pose to pull that one off? Becoming a vampire has only made me smart enough to figure out how stupid I really am…”
“We’re not going there to learn microbiology, Mandy; we’re going there to track vampires. Let Frank Reynolds and Howard Weeks figure out how to get our names on the roster. Once we’re inside - we’ve got an entirely different job to do.”
“And plenty of time to do it,” I filled in, “I mean, you haven’t really said much about the big news. How are you taking it?”
I guess there’d been a lot of “big news” in the past twenty-four hours. Lyman obviously didn’t have a clue what I hinted at.
“You’re immortal, jackass…remember?”
Lyman shook his head at that one. “Freaking bizarre. It’s like someone came out and told me there really is a Santa.”
“I know what you mean. There’s a lot of that going around right now. ‘Weird’ has suddenly become the new normal.”
“No shit.”
The talking helped pass the time. By the time we were back in Gregor, both of us were drained. So much for being superhuman. Personally, I needed some serious plasma.
“Son of a bitch! What am I gonna do for food!”
“What’re you talking about?”
“Weeks was sending me some blood packs; I never got them today. If they show up tomorrow…I won’t be there.”
“We’ll just give Weeks a call and get some more out to you.”
I held out my hand for Lyman to inspect. “I’ve already got the shakes.”
“Okay. We’ll stop off at the pet store and grab some rodents.”
I opened my mouth wide. “No fangs, remember?”
“We’ll get you set up.”
Lyman swung through the pet store and emerged with a cardboard box full of vampire takeout. Then, at last, we headed for home. I indulged in fantasies of cable TV, a comfy bed and a hot bath.
But, thoughts of creature comforts were quickly erased from my mind.
Lyman’s house looked in no better shape than my apartment had been.
“Holy shit.” I said. “They got you, too.”
The house wasn’t totally trashed, but every kind of kitchen sauce had been scattered on the living room carpets and wallpaper, you could see adult-sized footprints quite easily. Mail and other papers were shredded.
But in all the bedlam, the kitchen table lay clear. A single sheet of paper lay in the center.
I had to pick it up.
I thought we were friends. Keep out of my way, or you will regret it.
“Alan?” Mandy asked.
“Had to be. He’s the only vampire, you excepted, who’s been invited inside.”
“Ooh.” Mandy’s face lit up. “That sure narrowed it down.”
“Unless it wasn’t a vampire.”
“You mean Muscat? He got hauled away.”
“He could have done it before he left. He is that petty.” I looked around, but even I didn’t believe my theory.
“Now you are being paranoid.”
“Shit!” Mandy gasped. “The safe room!” And she vanished.
I quickly went down to the cellar. A few papers and clothes shredded, nothing more.
Mandy rummaged in her pocket for her key. The heavy seamless door appeared locked, the way we’d left it. Inside, she searched through a large cardboard box, tossing aside the top three unopened reams. In doing so, two items I had never seen before were revealed.
“Bald Eagle’s sketchpad and journal.” She looked up at me, grinning her head off. “I bet they were looking for these.”
I took them from her and thumbed through. The journal would have made for interesting reading - except for the fact that most of it looked like gibberish. When my head was clearer, I’d give the items a more thorough look over.
The safe room had certainly proved its worth, and its value. I left it all in place and went back upstairs.
Upstairs the rooms were hardly touched. Seems that one vampire can’t do that much damage on his own. But it did prove one thing; Alan had been back in Gregor for probably the first time since his murder back in September.
And it had to have been Alan. He remained the only vampire who’d been invited into my house. Bastard.
For all the loose ends we could pick on to investigate, I’d got suddenly yanked back to Alan.
I questioned my own priorities; I mean, I’d considered heading off to the freaking Phoenix university in the morning, and it suddenly felt like the wrong thing to do.
That night Mandy slept in my old room, and I settled down to sleep in my large bed.
But sleep did not come easy. I heard Mandy’s even breathing from the other room, and a few whimpers as she dreamt.
Alan had brought the fight to me. But why? And why now? Had I got too close?
I had provoked his mother’s attack on Harris, but how could he possibly have tied me to it? Sleep came before the answer, and as light poured in the windows, Mandy woke me by jumping on my bed.
“My teeth!” she bared her empty gums at me.
“Mandy?” I tried, but it seemed useless to try to stop her. She straddled me, then leaned down real low, her hair touched my face, tickling. I couldn’t help feel her nipples brush my chest through her flimsy nightgown.
“My fangs! They’re through my gums. Look!”
She looked so ebullient; she put her hands on my cheeks and kissed me. She grinned as she rose from the embrace, then a sobering look passed over her eyes like a scudding cloud. Slowly she lowered her lips back to mine and I dreaded every inch of the journey, yet wanted it to end so badly.
Wow, I’d started my second vampire kiss, and certainly lived up to Elena’s impassioned offerings. Mandy proved herself both tasty and adventurous. Her lips mashed mine, then in between her tongue rimming my teeth; she bit and nibbled my lips. My hands found the back of her head and pulled her closer as her body lowered to mine. Those once-forbidden mounds touched my chest and I thought I would burst. Her hands slid from my face to my shoulders, then lower.
“Lyman?” The call from downstairs fell unanswered.
Mandy seemed to take her passion to a higher level, our tongues twisting in an unstructured waltz.
“Lyman?” closer now, the words halfway up the stairs. Then Mandy just disappeared. I clutched the cover to my chest, temporaril
y both breathless and bewildered. “Lyman? You awake? Did you get burgled?”
Mary-Christine looked quite bewitching, leaning into the bedroom, her normally formal school uniform replaced by simple t-shirt and jeans. But, of course, I couldn’t rid my head of Mandy’s kiss, nor the erection still lying under the covers because of it.
“Hi,” I said, quite convincingly groggy. “No school?”
“Saturday, dummy.” She crossed the room, and lay on the bed beside me. “Burgled? House broken into?”
“Yup. Alan McCartney. Same thing at Mandy’s. She spent the night here.”
The scent of strawberries never seemed to leave her, it was an endearing quality. As we kissed, I got a glimpse of Mandy grinning at the door, then she vanished again. Mary-Christine and I kissed some more.
I couldn’t help thinking that life had just gotten a tad more complicated.
“So what’s the verdict on Harris?” Mary-Christine asked, breaking the kiss, but still hovering close.
I heard the toilet flush as the previous night’s musings came flooding back into my mind.
Then Mandy strode into the room with more confidence than she might have felt. “Someone mention Harris?”
“I was thinking about it all,” I began.
“Thought I could smell something burning.” Mandy’s shit-eating grin proved infectious.
I faked a reply. “We’ve got three or four things we can do to take this further, and last night we’d decided to go into the University, and do some digging.”
“Which I wasn’t actually agreeing with,” Mandy said.
“And, looking back, I’m not sure you weren’t right,” I said. Mandy sat on the end of the bed, her breasts inside her nightdress tumbling like rabbits in a sack. “I was trying hard to work out how Alan had connected me with the raid on Harris. He had to have me connected somehow, but apart from just physically seeing me, I can’t come up with anything.”
“Is it really important, though?” Mary-Christine asked.
I shook my head. “I’ve decided that it’s not. The basic fact is that we organized the hit, Alan lost a few recruits, then he tries to warn me off.”