Drinking Destiny

by Pippa Amberwine

  Would that be enough to defeat SCAR?

  Who knew, but we were ready to fight back after being on the run and the defensive for so long.

  It was a great feeling, and one I hoped to feel more of.

  Once the cash was hidden away, the only thing left to do was to confirm with Nindock that we were good to go. I hadn’t really developed the same kind of feelings as Jevyn had about Cole Pitt from our earlier meeting. I was glad he’d offered to pay for the blood from Nindock. I was also glad to have turned Cole down since we weren’t reliant on him coming up with the goods. Other than our talk, I’d never seen him before, but it seemed like the last few days he had been wherever I had.

  I didn’t think he was stalking me, but it was starting to bother me that he was always around. Although we had cash, some of what he had suggested had resonated. The artificial limbs for some of the dragons, for instance.

  I wondered for a moment just how Jevyn would react if I was to talk to Cole some more. I didn’t have to wonder for long because I knew already what Jevyn would say, but despite that, I got the feeling that Cole was one of the good guys. He’d obviously been accepted around the camp, and Nindock had done a deal for building supplies, which meant Nindock was okay with Cole.

  There was more to find out about Mr. Pitt, though. For a start, how did he know about rifts and other dimensions? And how had he managed to befriend Carol so easily?

  Those were all questions I posed to myself as we headed to the saloon. Jevyn was still quiet, so I tucked my arm through his and walked by his side all the way over to Nindock’s bar. As well as hopefully giving Jevyn some support and reassurance, the gesture would also send a signal to Cole. If he was thinking of making a move on me, I wanted him to know that I was taken.

  In the saloon, Nindock was nowhere to be seen, which was a surprise. We had ordered drinks from the bad-tempered barkeep and then sat at a table when Nindock came out from one of the side rooms, red-faced and adjusting his clothing. Nurse Boobs came out just a few moments later. I was going to have to find out her name. I couldn’t keep calling her that.

  Nindock clicked his fingers when he reached the table. The barkeep rolled his eyes and grimaced while Nindock took his customary seat.

  “So, it all went well?” he asked me.

  “Perfectly. We are now in a position to start paying for blood once Carol gives us the all-clear.”

  “Funny you should mention that, Katie,” he said, sipping the beer the bartender had clunked onto the table.

  “Why? You’re not thinking of backing out of the deal are you, Nindock?”

  “Me? No. I’m as ready to get started as you are. That’s why I went to see Carol earlier, to see if there’d been any progress.”

  “How did that go?” Jevyn asked.

  Nindock shook his head. “Once I’d persuaded her to stop throwing things at me and trying to strangle me, she asked me to arrange for us all to meet up tomorrow at her place. She calls it her laboratory. It’s more like a lavatory, but don’t tell her I said that.” He ran his hands around his throat over the red marks I hadn’t noticed before.

  “We’ll be there,” I said. That day was looking like it was going to be one of the good days, and the next day had a chance of joining it. I lifted my glass.

  “To Carol,” I said, holding my glass out.

  Chapter Four

  Jevyn

  Nindock’s town

  Near Boise Idaho

  “HEY, OSCAR,” I said as Katie and I stepped onto the small porch. “How’re you doing, big guy?”

  I heard Katie’s snicker next to me. She was evidently in as good a mood as I was.

  Oscar clearly was not. His scowl explained everything, and as much as I thought I could handle myself, he was huge, so why take chances?

  Inside, Carol’s house was just as disorganized as the last time we visited. If anything, it was slightly worse, but when we went through to her laboratory—as she had called it—she was as happy, and as crazy, as ever.

  “Katie, thank god,” Carol said, wrapping her arms around Katie and squeezing her tight. I could see the alarm on Katie’s face over Carol’s shoulder. “Is there any news about my daughter?” Then, Carol addressed me. “Hey, Jevyn.”

  Katie closed her eyes, which I took to mean she had forgotten all about it. I had. I could tell she felt terrible.

  “Hey, Carol.

  “Nothing to report yet, Carol,” Katie said.

  “Thank you. What have you done so far? Have you been to my mom’s to see if they are all there? It would almost be enough to know that she’s at least safe there.”

  “Not yet. I haven’t had the chance to, but as soon as I do, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Katie looked like she was desperate to get out of the bearhug she was trapped in.

  “When?” Carol asked.

  “When what?”

  “When will you go? Today?”

  Katie shook her head. “Not today. I’m due on guard duty after we talk.”

  “Tomorrow? Please. I need to know.” Carol held Katie at arm’s length and peered deeply into her eyes.

  “Tomorrow. I promise.” Katie glanced over at me. I nodded my agreement to go with her.

  Katie finally managed to wriggle out of Carol’s grasp and move far enough away that she couldn’t grab Katie again.

  “So,” Katie said brightly. “Nindock seems to think you have some news.”

  “I do.”

  “Is it good news?” Katie asked as Carol headed to the fridge.

  “You guys want something to eat?”

  I shook my head and then realized Carol couldn’t see me, so I said, “No thanks.”

  “I’m good, thanks, Carol,” Katie said.

  I remembered the vile concoction Carol had eaten the last time we were there and didn’t really trust her to produce anything remotely edible.

  “Are you sure? I made sandwiches yesterday.” She pulled out a tin-foil-wrapped package from the fridge. “Sliced beef and mustard,” she said. It actually sounded okay. “Oh, and pineapple jelly.”

  Never mind. I had to wonder again if allowing a child to come here was a good idea, on culinary grounds alone.

  I took a seat while Carol unwrapped her package and slipped out a sandwich, wrapped the rest back up, and returned it to the fridge.

  Katie sat on the seat next to me and elbowed me in the ribs. “Thanks for hanging me out to dry back there,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Sorry,” I muttered and waited for Carol to finish her food.

  “So,” Carol said when she’d licked her fingers and wiped them dry on her pant legs. “You guys want to know what’s going on?” She dragged the cuff of her shirt over her mouth.

  “I do,” Katie said quickly.

  I got the feeling she wanted out of there as soon as possible.

  “Me too,” I said.

  “Well, this is going to take a little bit of explaining. First off, you both know about the way different dragons use different elements, particularly in their use of magic?”

  “Uh huh,” I said.

  “Well, it turns out that the different kinds of dragons—and yes, they are different kinds genetically—have a different effect on the VAMP virus. So, travelers—like you, Jevyn—your blood nullifies the effects of the virus without killing it, but that only lasts for a certain length of time, and as the virus regenerates after each treatment, the effects of the blood last for less time, by about three percent each time. It’s a similar effect to vampires taking human blood but much more long lasting and requires a tiny dose compared to human blood.”

  I wasn’t sure I really understood any of what she’d just said.

  “Does the length of time change if you use a different dragon’s blood each time, rather than the same dragon?” Katie asked.

  Carol leaned across the table, picked up a clean pad of paper, and then wrote a note on it. While she was writing, she muttered a few words to herself. “Good question. I’ll look in
to that.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Dragons whose element is water, well, they are pretty poor. Something in their blood actually makes the virus effects even more pronounced, so their blood is worse than useless for the purposes of either easing the symptoms or finding a cure for vampires here on Earth.”

  “So, you haven’t actually found a cure yet?” I asked. I’d been hopeful.

  “Jevyn, dear,” she said with a withering smile. “I’m a scientist working in a crappy kitchen, not a fricking miracle worker. You may need to give me some more time. Now, many of the other elements are all essentially neutral in nature. Electricity, lightning, soil. They have a negligible effect on the virus at best. In fact, the effects are well within the scope of error in the experiments. Any fire element dragons have similar effects to travelers. They affect the virus for a while, something like twice as long as human blood compared to eight to ten times as long for traveler blood. So, their blood would be worthwhile, but there would need to be more of it collected.”

  “So, what you’re saying is that none of the different dragon blood kills the virus; it simply dulls the effects,” I said.

  “That’s correct, and because of the limitations in the number of traveler dragons—essentially there’s only you and Nindock here—unless we drain both of you of all your blood, there’s never going to be enough truly effective blood to go around. There are more fire dragons, but the reduction in effectiveness—”

  “So, we can still get blood for some of the vampires but not all? Is that what you’re suggesting?” Katie cut in.

  “That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”

  “And you’re sure of all this?”

  “I’m sure of the results of the experiments. I mean this is not the ideal environment, but I’ve run the tests multiple times, and I’m certain of the differences between the different types. There is just one thing though.”

  “What is it?” I asked, not hopeful. The morning had started so well, yet within ten minutes of getting together with Carol, my sense of optimism from the success of the robbery had dissipated like sea mist in the breeze.

  “I got one sample from one of the dragons. On the label, it said his element was sunlight. What does that mean, Jevyn?”

  I had to admit I was puzzled. Sunlight dragons, at least back on Dracos, were very much the bottom of the heap. They were quite rare, but their ability to create sunlight in darkness was looked upon as almost worse than not having a gift at all. Particularly with the technological advances being made, there was really no need for the gift if we could just flick a light switch.

  I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were disliked, but they certainly weren’t respected.

  “It means they can create sunlight from darkness,” I said.

  “To do what?” Carol asked.

  “To see by, I guess?”

  “Seems a bit pointless?”

  “It’s not a highly regarded gift, in truth,” I admitted.

  “No, I can see why. Still, if that’s what you’re born with, I don’t suppose there’s much you can do about it. Anyway, the sample this dragon provided was, well, putting it simply, remarkable.”

  Katie straightened. “Really?”

  It was nice to see Katie perk up. The news about the dragon blood seemed to have knocked her back as much as it had me. I liked to see her true spirit coming through.

  “Yes, really.” Carol seemed to drift off for a few moments then.

  “Why?” I asked quietly, not wanting to make Carol jump out of her skin.

  “Oh, yes, well, when it was added to a sample of blood with the VAMP virus, it almost completely killed it.”

  “Fantastic,” I said, feeling ecstatic. “That’s great news.”

  “How complete is almost completely?” Katie asked, looking not quite so perky as before.

  “If you take an average vampire blood sample, it has ten virus parts per one hundred parts of blood. Does that make sense?” I nodded, and Katie did the same. “Okay, well once the blood from the dragon is mixed in equal measure, that naturally brings the level down by half because there are no viruses in the dragon blood, understand?”

  “So, five parts per hundred,” I said.

  “Exactly. Now that on its own is good, right?”

  “Of course,” Katie said.

  “Right. Once the bloods have mixed, within thirty minutes the virus count goes down to five parts per thousand parts of blood. Within an hour, it’s down to two parts per thousand, and within two more hours, one part per five thousand parts of blood. It’s incredible. It seems to destroy almost all of the infection.”

  “What happens after that?” I asked.

  “The virus starts to come back, but it takes a week for it to start multiplying again. And at the rate it multiplies, I calculate that it would take—wait for it—five years to get back to its previous levels.”

  “Whoa, five years, that’s incredible.” Katie clapped her hands in excitement.

  “It is. It’s fantastic, but—”

  “I knew it,” Katie said. “There’s always a but.” She slumped back in her chair.

  “Hang on. I haven’t finished yet. Thinking about this logically, we can’t replace half of a vampire’s blood in one shot. Right?” Katie nodded. “So, the next test was to see the effect of a normal injection or absorption of dragon blood, and the great news is that it is almost as effective as using an equal mixture. It would represent four years symptom free.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Katie said. “That would make such a difference.”

  “And the best news of all?”

  “Go on,” Katie said, looking bright-eyed and excited.

  “If I can combine different types of blood, I think I can come up with a mixture that will maybe double that time. If I had access to a full lab and some of the tools of the trade of genetic engineering—which I don’t, before you get all worked up—I think the DNA of the various dragons could be spliced to make a separate blood that would kill the virus stone dead.”

  “That is amazing news, Carol.” I was impressed that, given her makeshift lab, she could have achieved so much in such a short time. She might be crazy, but she certainly seemed to know her stuff.

  “It is. There is one downside.”

  “Uh oh.” Katie’s pessimistic side surged again.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Well, as far as I know, there is only one sun dragon in camp. The samples were all collected anonymously. I don’t know who it is.”

  I sat forward on my chair, energized.

  “In that case, we’d better go find out who that is,” I said. “How hard can that be?”

  Chapter Five

  Katie

  Nindock’s town

  Near Boise, Idaho

  “HOW?” I ASKED as we stepped out along the street back toward Nindock’s saloon.

  Although it was mid-morning, the marketplace was alive with people trading merrily away. It was becoming something I was used to, but every time I thought about it properly, it really was incredible that so far from home, these dragons had, in the course of just a few months, gone from being essentially homeless refugees to living and trading in a system that was, for all intents and purposes, completely alien to them.

  On Dracos, everything was bartered, and favors were the currency. Here on Earth, there was still a lot of bartering involved in the transactions, but the use of money instead of favors had been quickly picked up.

  With the proceeds of the robbery, it meant that for a while, at least, even more money would be entering the system. How that would affect the almost entirely closed economy of the little camp, I didn’t really know.

  Jevyn was walking step by step at my side, which was nice. He had a stride that was probably twice as long as mine, but he kept my pace rather than making me hurry to keep his. Little things like that made a big difference, and sometimes I wondered if he knew how much I appreciated it.

  “How does Carol e
at those godawful sandwiches? Is that what you were asking?” Jevyn brought me out of my thoughts and back to the question I’d asked.

  I snorted a laugh. They were godawful, but that wasn’t what I’d meant.

  “No. I was asking how we go about finding the sun dragon?”

  “We need to talk to Nindock first. Chances are he’ll remember everyone who has donated, or maybe he kept some records of how much he has paid and who to.”

  “You think Nindock keeps those kinds of records? Would he have when he was on Dracos?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “So why would he now?” I asked.

  Jevyn shrugged. “I don’t know. It was wishful thinking.”

  I took his hand and squeezed it. “Even if he doesn’t, how hard could it be to find one dragon?”

  Jevyn looked around at the crowds of people. “It’s not going to be easy. Sun dragons like to keep to themselves. They are, I’m ashamed to say, not always treated well back on Dracos.”

  I looked up. Was he blushing?

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because their gift is not useful anymore. Other dragons see them as a drain on society, despite the fact that sun dragons are hard workers.”

  “Huh. And I thought humans were the only ones dumb enough to be prejudiced.”

  “That is definitely not the case. It probably makes what’s happened here even more amazing. On Dracos, there is very little social crossover between the different types of dragons. If you’re an air dragon, the chances are you’ll live among, go to school with, marry, and have kids with another air dragon. There are very few cross-species relationships.”

  “Why?”

  Jevyn went quiet for a few seconds, and I could see the thoughtful look on his face. “You know, Katie, I have no idea. It’s just the way things are. Dragons mix for work and socializing, but not very often when it comes to mating. I’m not even sure it’s a conscious choice, and there are no laws or anything like that to reinforce the behavior. It’s just what happens.”