by Jeff Seats
“Thank you.” Craig set his cup down then asked, “So how was your first night here at Mountain Home?”
“Not bad, but no drill instructors calling cadence or yelling at enlistees like at Huachuca. The jets taking off and landing will take a bit of getting used to, though.”
“No, no DIs here. By now everyone here should have had all the stupid yelled out of 'em.”
Liz smiled at the joke. Perhaps there was hope for her.
“As for the jet engines...think of it as white noise. After a bit, you'll not even notice it.”
“Sir. I mean Craig.”
Liz leaned into Craig as he took a sip of his coffee. The grimace on his face said that she might have gotten too close to him, that or the coffee was bitter. She decided coffee.
"So, I'm curious about a few things. First, the information in the folder seemed fairly thorough, though I’m sure that there’s plenty that it didn’t cover."
Eying her extra reading material he replied, “Well, it looks like you’re going to make up for that.”
Liz made an effort to consolidate the papers on the table. “I like to be informed. You said it could save my life.”
“That I did.”
“And now I have a couple of questions.”
“Yes?”
“I’m curious about the Catholic Church’s involvement. You mentioned the Vatican yesterday and the historical overview...” Liz began to open the red folder. “...also stated that the Pope knew, I guess still knows, about the existence of vampires.”
“Yes?”
“So, what’s up with that?”
“Former Catholic?”
“No, well, I’m not the best one ever, but I still feel like I am one.”
“Me too. So, tell me why you have a problem with the Pope knowing?”
Liz leaned in closer to Craig and lowered her voice a few notches, “Because we’re talking about vampires. Until two days ago I didn’t think vampires really existed. Why would the Pope...”
“You checked out the stories of the vampire myth online?”
“Yes.” Liz thumbed through a stack of papers and grabbed a sheet she downloaded from Wikipedia and showed it to Craig.
“Then you know that the legends go way back in time, even before there was a Catholic Church.”
“Okay, I understand that but...”
“The Church is almost 2000 years old. You haven't considered that it would have encountered vampires at some point?”
“Okay. It's just that it's so hard for me to wrap my head around the whole idea, especially after watching so many Dracula movies.”
“Understandable. Erase all that you think you know. You’re here because vampires exist. The CSC is here because vampires exist. Vampires made an agreement for protection because the Pope knew, as did other religions, and was working to eradicate vampires from the face of the earth.”
“So...other religions worked with the Catholics? How well did that work?” Liz asked incredulously.
“Not too well at first, but all religions had a vested interest in cooperating. Vampires don’t discriminate; they’re equal opportunity suckers.” Craig smiled at that one, but Liz didn't crack; too intent on learning more. “Years ago the major organized religions formed a secret council to coordinate their efforts. Since the Roman Catholic Church had the largest worldwide footprint, still does, by the way, it was agreed that the bulk of the responsibility of hunting vampires landed on the Vatican.”
“Are the churches still involved?”
“In hunting vampires? Not like before the treaty, but they still have hunters out there looking for the free radicals.”
“The what?”
“The free radicals are what we call the vampires who refused to join in with the treaty. They're burrowed deep 'underground' and keep a very low profile. We go after them too. Stop me if I’m overloading you with this stuff.”
“Oh, no. This is interesting. We?”
“Yep, field agents like me and you.”
Liz grinned not entirely comprehending what Craig meant by what he just told her. But she pressed on. “Okay. One more question.”
“Shoot.”
“The mayor of Vamp Town. Alexei. What's his story? Can you tell me?”
Her line of questioning impressed Craig. He figured she would want to know some of his more harrowing experiences, the exciting bits. Instead, she was reading up on the history of the agency, and now she was asking about Alex, who was the key to the whole success or failure of containing the vamps.
"From what he's told me, Alex and his younger brother Vladimir were turned when they were children, not all at once mind you, but over the course of many years. Their ‘blood father’...” Craig drew air quotes around the term. "...was a Russian monk and a vampire hunter who, himself, had been turned.”
Liz drew in a short breath at that little tidbit.
“Alex’s story started in 1792 when he was 12; his brother was 10. They would visit the monk's lair a few times each summer when their family lived out in the country away from Moscow. During each visit, the monk drank small quantities of their blood and at the same time he fed them small amounts of blood from small cuts in his wrists. They became, um, addicted I guess is the right word, to drinking his blood while, at the same time, the freshness of their blood invigorated him. There was something of a symbiotic relationship between him and them.
“The turning process took years. Gradually the boys became increasingly light sensitive and eventually started sleeping only during the days; their need for blood steadily grew until the need turned to a driving thirst and then pure lust.”
"So why did this monk not just turn them right away? I mean, or just drink them dry. Sounds like a lot of time to wait for just a taste only a couple of times a year for, how long?"
"For something like ten years. He fed on animals and other humans for sustenance, but Alexei and Vladimir were special to him. He could taste their potential in their blood and through his blood, he passed on all his knowledge. He was mentoring them to become leaders of the entire vampire realm. And Alex himself was being groomed to be so powerful as to be able to command respect and subservience from even the oldest of the undead.”
Liz could only say, “Wow.” It was the age-old story of innocence lost.
Then she stopped and thought a bit about what she was just told. “Wait a minute. Alex's brother is named Vladimir?”
“Yes.”
“Vlad.”
“Yep.”
“As in Vlad The Impaler? Dracula? Fuck you! Damn. You sucked me in, and I fell for it. Ha. Ha. Ha. You got the new kid. Very funny. I'm sure you and the others will get a good laugh over this at the Agent's Club or wherever you get together for a drink.” Liz sat back in her chair and crossed her arms; angry at herself for falling for the hazing.
Craig smiled. No one had yet caught that weird coincidence. “Vladimir is a popular name in the Northern Slavic countries.” Liz gave him a skeptical look. “Hey, you asked, and this is the story.” He got no response. “Okay, I've met Vlad. He doesn’t look like Bella Lugosi or Christopher Lee. In fact, he has red hair. Like you.”
Liz looked up and smiled weakly. “Yeah, right.”
“Well, not as intense as yours, but it sure is red, and like I said yesterday, it isn’t always true.”
Liz scrunched her face in still not willing to believe him.
“Alex is the strongest vampire on earth. Vlad pulls up a close second. But it’s Alex's strength that got the vamps to agree to the treaty and his continued power keeps them all in line. I hope nothing happens to Alex. I trust Vlad for about as long as we can go for a walk, hand in hand, on a bright summer's day.” He gave Liz a wink. “Which wouldn't make for a very long walk.”
Liz laughed despite her accusation of being taken for a fool. “One more question. At investiture yesterday someone behind me asked why the vamps don't just fly over the fence and escape. And your answer was that Alex is too strong which
you just repeated.” For dramatic effect, Liz flipped through the papers scattered in front of her. “But I have not found anything in my reading so far that explains what that means. How can Alex keep them from leaving the reservation? And for that matter how could he get all the vampires to go along with the treaty in the first place?”
Craig brushed his hand over the research papers that Liz had spread out in front of her. “So you say you've read through all this?”
“Well, yeah, most of it.”
“And you've read through everything in your folder here,” Craig asked pulling the red folder out from amongst the papers.
Hesitantly, Liz answered, “Yes. At least I thought so.”
Craig opened the folder and flipped through several pages and stopped. With a finger, he pointed to an article. “Did you happen to read this?”
Liz took the folder and read the heading of the article. The Nature of Vampires. With a sheepish look on her face she confessed, “I, uh, I think that the pages must have stuck together. This one completely slipped by me. Sorry I...”
“Nothing to be sorry about. I think this will answer that question. Mostly.” With that, Craig picked up his coffee and unfolded the paper and prepared to enjoy this morning the way he liked, in silence and with hot caffeine.
Liz looked down at the open folder and began to read.
She looked up from the folder and saw that Craig had a smile of satisfaction on his face. Shaking her head slightly she resumed reading.
««« ‡ »»»
THE NATURE OF VAMPIRES
by Craig Wright
Ethologists disagree on the exact nature of vampires. Research on the subject is, understandably, challenging. Both from the highly secret aspect of the topic and the danger involved to the researcher. The volume of information on the question after thousands of years could fit on an old school three and a half inch floppy disc, with room to spare. There is, nevertheless, an overwhelming agreement that once a person becomes a vampire he/she is no longer a human and can not be considered “alive” in the standard definition of the term. However, there is some argument about whether there exist any elements of humanity in a vampire after its transition; such as a carryover of human traits. It has been documented that vampires do, for example, show vestiges of their former human selves through their expression of emotions such as love, hate, generosity, greed, pity, jealousy, lust.
While some similarities exist between species that is not to say that the two are the same in any substantial measure. Vampires are dissimilar to the humans which they once were and any other creature on the earth in several ways, primarily in how a vampire sustains life. The drinking of blood, preferably human, as its sole means of sustenance, is, perhaps, the main difference. Many disagree on whether a vampire can physically ingest human food and drink. Some maintain that should a vampire take in “normal” food it would become violently ill and find itself close to death. Others dismiss this as merely an old wife's tale. (It should be noted here that over the centuries there have been more old wives tales on the subject than solid research. And increasingly the myths and legends about vampires are proving to be more in line with reality than expected.) At any rate, there is no disagreement on the vampire's need to consume blood to survive. Any blood, but human above all else and the fresher the better. Without fresh, human blood on a regular basis, a vampire will grow weak. After a prolonged period it will go through an aging process; though there are no recorded instances of a vampire dying of old age, old wives tales included.
Another significant difference is that one isn't born into the race. In fact, vampires are sterile. They can not procreate. Vampires do not have a sex drive as other living beings, and some say that their sexual organs no longer even exist or have devolved through lack of need. This is not to imply that they do not have certain "urges", but their form of sexual release occurs in biting the neck of a victim and consuming his/her blood.
Simply stated, a vampire is added to the population when a human is bitten and then made to drink that vampires own blood. Thus, for a vampire to be created a person dies; forfeiting his/her previous life. The human being dies and then is “born” again as an immortal vampire.
It is not a random choice when a woman or man is turned. Vampires are very picky when it comes to whom they will share eternity. Most often the victim/candidate is preselected and submitted to a rigorous vetting process before being brought into the fold. Something about the candidate catches the eye of a vampire who will then study the target to determine whether he/she could be a compatible addition to the family. Sometimes a victim, who is in the process of being consumed as dinner has a particular taste in his/her blood. An undefinable quality—a je ne sais quoi as the French say—in their blood that saves them from consumption and death. They are selected on the spot, no further vetting required; their fate now on the path of immortality.
The process of turning can take hours, days or longer, depending upon the amount of the vampire's blood the chosen one consumes at any one time. The longer the turning process takes, the more knowledge and insight is passed on through the “parent's" blood. The longer it takes to become a full-fledged vampire the higher in status and stronger one becomes within the social structure. But, no matter how much blood is consumed during the process, once started, it can not be reversed. If the bitten is cut off from drinking more of a vampire's blood his human body will go into a type of shock and soon die. Vampires view this as a form of miscarriage or abortion. An infant not making it to full term either through random chance or an actual decision.
The behavior of vampires is most similar to that of pack animals, dogs or wolves. When they are “born,” a vampire knows, from its first breath, what they are and how they are supposed to behave. Animal behaviorists call this “instinct.” Instinct is the innate part of behavior that emerges in the beast without any training or education. Through instinct, the vampire knows its place within the “pack”; how it is supposed to behave. They are imprinted with the rules which guide them and the entire race. They know through this imprinted instinct, for example, that sunlight is a dangerous thing for their lifespan. They know that they can't enter a house without being invited by a human. They know that garlic is offensive, that holy water is hazardous, and that silver is deadly.
All this imprinted knowledge is passed on through the ingested blood of their "blood parent"; who received the same imprinted information from their "blood parent" who received...it goes back in time. These innate behaviors are rigid and predictable. And, as in pack animals, there is stamped a mentality of extreme loyalty and devotion to the leader. The vampire is imprinted with the innate understanding that all defer to their leaders. Thus establishing a dominance hierarchy within the vampire race.
The vampire hierarchy resembles the human pyramid governance model. There is the Alpha, the Khan; the ultimate ruler at the top—the president. The Betas who represent the heads of the families and sit on the grand council—congress. And the Omegas who make up the general vampire population--the electorate. The Khan can either be elected by the heads of the houses or become such through exhibiting his/her dominance over the council. In some extremely rare situations, a beta of the pack challenges the alpha's position. The Beta believes that it has acquired the strength to take on the Alpha which it will need because without the ability to defeat the Alpha death is the only reward.
Not much is understood as to what exactly makes a vampire stronger than another. Physical strength can be measured, yes. But what gives the alpha the mental dominance over an entire race? We do know that this mental capability is obtained through the selective feeding off of the choicest blood donors which the alpha has first selection rights to. The fresher and younger the blood the more of these qualities of "strength" it seems to impart. But, the how of it remains a mystery. Perhaps there are enzymes in the fresh young blood of a human that combine with the vital body chemistry of a vampire to enable the mind control required to tame a race.
All vampires have these mental capabilities which they use to varying degrees in subduing their victims, and all signs point to a connection with the consumption of fresh young blood—both in quantity and frequency—and how powerful a vampire can become. However, due to the nature of how a vampire dies no postmortem has been possible, so these studies remain open-ended.
««« ‡ »»»
LIZ CLOSED THE folder and looked up.
Still smiling, Craig put down his paper. “Not too bad for someone without a Ph.D., huh?”
“Well, I...”
“Don't answer that,” Craig said cutting her off. “I'm not going to tell you that that article answers all the questions you still have, but, at this point in time, this is all we've got. Maybe someday you'll get to write the addendum.”
Liz shook her head and was about to say some self-deprecating thing when a cell phone rang.
The ring tone was the X-Files theme and of course, it was on the loudest setting. Heads around the commissary turned in their direction. Liz held up her hands saying it wasn’t hers. Craig acted like he didn't hear a phone at all. Finally after the third ring Craig, a bit embarrassed, pulled out his phone and answered it. Liz stifled a laugh as Craig spoke into it.
“Hello?”
“Agent Wright. There's been an incident.”
“Ah, shit, not another one. It’s morning, so it can’t be Carter’s.”
“It's not Site-Delta. It's Site-Alpha, Vamp Town. There's been an incursion.”
“An incursion? Sweet Jesus! I’ll be right over.”
Craig stood and shoved the phone in his pocket. “Well, Adams looks like trial by fire for you. There’s been an incursion at Vamp Town. That’s our beat.”
“Wait. An incursion? Someone is breaking into Vamp Town?”
“At this point, that's all I know. Something or someone has gotten into the reservation. Come on we need to get to Control for more intel. Let’s hope that the incursion was just a couple of coyotes or jack rabbits. Humans stumbling into a town full of vampires could get very messy. And neither of us wants to be on the clean-up crew.”