“Why?”
“Because part of your charm is your love of your fellow humans, your desire to help them live better lives. He has no such altruistic notions. I couldn’t fall in love with him but I fear I have with you.”
“You fear that?”
“You’re young still. Eternity provides plenty of time to fall in love, then grow apart and lose the object of your desires. That’s why I was celibate for the past few decades—no one was worth risking being hurt again.”
“And now?”
Yuri sighed heavily. “We’ll see...at any rate, it’s too late for me to stop myself now.”
Keisha smiled at him and nodded. “Good. I’d hate to be falling so fast and so hard all by myself.”
Yuri kissed her again, “We need to leave soon—before we outstay our welcome.”
“Then let’s get dressed and get back into that fast car you rented. By the way, can I drive it for part of the way this time?”
Yuri lifted an eyebrow. “I suppose...”
Keisha giggled. “I can’t wait. You got it up damn close to a hundred...I want to try that too.”
Yuri sighed again, this time even more resigned to his fate.
Chapter Twelve
Keisha was delighted when Yuri took her to his estate along the Mississippi, in the southwestern area of Wisconsin. His home was on a hill with a fabulous view of the river, which of course they only got to enjoy gazing at in the darkness of the night. He had servants who took pictures and videos for him over the years of the view during the daylight hours during the various seasons of the year. Keisha decided the fall pictures were her favorites because of all of her new favorite colors being represented.
Oranges, yellows and reds were what she now found most attractive. When Yuri told her to shop on-line to find herself some new clothing, those were the hues she chose. Since her skin was a milk-chocolate color, those colors came alive when they were on her. The hazel-green of her eyes, with the yellow circles around the pupils, accentuated her newly vibrant good-looks. Yuri often watched her and sighed to himself with satisfaction.
One part of the estate Keisha liked the most was the laboratory in the basement that Yuri designed with modern computers and some of the equipment Keisha would need to answer his age-old questions as to the nature of their existence. He told her to order whatever else she needed. They spent many nights enjoying each other while they waited for the various microscopes, centrifuges, and other devices to be delivered.
Once everything she required had arrived, they spent many hours working in harmony getting things unpacked and set up. Yuri was an apt and eager lab assistant. Keisha teased him about how she would reward him for his service...by servicing him after they were done for the night.
Sometimes he didn’t wait and bent her over the counters to take her in the lab. Other times he realized instinctively that she was too involved with what she was doing, her finely-tuned scientist’s mind racing ahead of his in her search for solutions, and he merely did as she told him to do or watched her working. Those were the times he would spend admiring her beauty and being thankful that his lonely eternity became a shared paradise.
Yuri donated blood for her to study and she compared it with her own, devising various tests to see how they were similar and how they were different. One of the servants, who was still mortal and untouched by vampire blood, also donated a sample for her to compare to theirs. She analyzed the samples down to their components, and then tested them also.
Sometimes Yuri would get caught up in her excitement and be as breathless as she was for the results. Other times he would recline on a sofa he had brought down to relax on so he could be near her while she worked, using his laptop to manage his funds and investments around the world.
On one of those nights, as Yuri was IMing his investment broker in Japan, Keisha suddenly gave a whoop of excitement. He cut his business short and put down his laptop to investigate.
“Found something, my love?”
“I think so. I’ve identified the component that is only in our blood and not in a mortal’s. It’s a spore...specifically, an iron-binding spore.”
“Is that what makes us vampires?”
“As far as I can see, yes. The spore looks totally dependent on an influx of iron for it to process and digest while it binds to it. I hypothesize that when we drain a mortal, his or her immune system goes into shock, fearing imminent death. Then when we have him drink from us, the contaminated blood brings the spore into every part of the body, beginning a change which makes that person one of us. We already know the non-essential organs the blood doesn’t need begin to shut-down and eventually stop functioning at all. That’s what causes the new vampire to appear to die. The spores need a much cooler body temperature also, thus approximating a dead body. Of course the brain still needs to function and the spores can change it to suit their needs...abilities can be added or enhanced.”
“Like ESP? Like being able to enter someone’s mind while you are feeding from them to extract information or create a vision for them that will become their new reality so they don’t remember the actual feeding?”
“Yes. Exactly. The organs not needed anymore include the stomach, since we don’t eat food anymore, and the intestines. We also don’t need to urinate anymore because the blood doesn’t waste any fluids but changes anything we drink—including water or wine—into blood. We still create spit but now it has a non-clotting element to keep the blood flowing while we feed. It also has an ability to create a scab when we are done so the blood stops.”
“So, kidneys, bladder—the elements we don’t use—just atrophy?”
“Eventually, yes. I’ll bet that if I did an MRI of your body and compared it to mine, my inner organs would still be more similar to a mortal’s. Yours would have shrunk over the years that they have been unused and unimportant.”
“How convenient that we are still able to have sex then since it’s not essential for the blood,” he leered at her.
The excitement of her discovery made her eyes sparkle and her face so animated that he had to know if he could lure that excitement to himself.
Keisha shrugged. His hopes were dashed for the present as she continued thinking out loud.
“I’ve been wondering about that myself. It would seem that we don’t need to fuck since my ovaries and your testicles don’t produce anything viable anymore. We don’t sexually reproduce anymore, since the cooler temperature of our bodies wouldn’t allow for a fetus to even begin. We both still produce the fluids that make sex possible and enjoyable. There must be a function I haven’t found yet...”
“Maybe just so we enjoy eternity? Speaking as a man, I’d have to say that the decades I was celibate were not nearly as enjoyable as, say, my existence since you have moved into my life.”
Keisha smiled at him and patted his cheek. “Yes, but just like some anthropologists claim that females evolved with breasts because men like to play with them, that is a specious argument. Evolution always has a purpose to things. If we are the only mammals with rounded breasts there must be a reason. Men like them because they are there...they didn’t develop because men liked them. How could men know they liked them if they never existed before?”
Yuri furrowed his brow, enjoying thinking new thoughts along with her.
“So, just because we like still having sex, that can’t be the reason we can still do it, right? What if it is...maybe the species who weren’t still enjoying having bodies just killed themselves out of boredom?”
“Are you suggesting that other species, maybe alien ones, have the spores in them also?”
Keisha leaned forward excitedly. “Yes, that’s what I think. Since we already know dogs are also mammals with iron-based blood, they can be transformed. The spores are capable of going dormant when they are exposed to extreme cold. In that state they can withstand extreme heat also, so they could quite easily pass through a planet’s atmosphere. I believe that since they have elements
of cosmic dust components in them, that they are a part of the flotsam and jetsam of cosmic travelers who float around throughout our galaxy and maybe others as well. If they land on a planet which has no life-forms with iron in the blood, they just become part of the dust of the land, with no way to wake-up and grow. If they are lucky enough to blow onto a planet which has beings with iron-based blood, then they enter the life forms and reproduce themselves again The blood wakes them up and they change the being into what we are: for all intents and purposes—immortals.”
“So, we have cosmic cousins as it were, on other planets...possibly in other solar systems and universes?”
“We must. I’m sure there is a lot of variation involved. But surely other organisms have evolved with iron as the main element in their blood. We would actually have much in common with them, due to the spores’ ability to facilitate communication over distances.”
“You mean like Casimiro being able to talk to Apolinar over long distances? We might be able to communicate with alien beings because the spores are in both of us?”
“Yes. Isn’t that exciting? In fact, I wonder if vampirism began on our planet by chance, with spores that drifted into our atmosphere...or if aliens landed here already carrying the spores in their blood? Maybe somehow the spores were able to detect iron-based blood on our planet and direct them to land here?”
Suddenly the color drained out of Keisha’s face. She gasped as she staggered backward with her hand held up to her forehead.
Yuri leapt over the counter and caught her as she fell. His strong arms kept her upright.
“Keisha, my love. What is it?”
“I...I don’t know. There’s a headache lurking behind my eyes. It’s kind of painful but not fully realized. My blood is pounding loudly in my ears. I feel kind of weak.”
“Have you fed tonight?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I was too excited to get to the lab. You were out when I got up. I think I just came right down here.”
Yuri used a fingernail to puncture his wrist over the veins. “Here, have a little from me. Then we will find you a donor. You are probably just weak from not feeding.”
Keisha licked and pulled delicately on his arm, making his every cell tingle. His cock hardened as he felt her lips on him. He ignored it.
She straightened up with her eyes clearer and more focused.
“That’s a little bit better. Thanks.”
He nodded. “Now we find you a donor for some fresh blood. I think you have done enough research for now. I want answers—that’s true—but not at the risk of you damaging your health.”
She smiled wanly. “I’m eternal, remember? You made me this way.”
“Yes, but we can still be weakened by lack of blood. That might be something you could look into also...maybe synthesizing something which would give us the iron and nutrients we need but not require a donor?”
“I’ve always wondered if it were possible to create artificial blood which would work as well as the real thing. Think of what a boon that would be for surgeries or people with hemophilia. Maybe that’s the next thing I’ll get to work on.”
“Not tonight,” Yuri said firmly. “Tonight you will feed and then relax in my arms.”
She shook her head.
“Yes. Because I said so. Your well-being is so important to me and selfishly, I just want to feel you in my arms.”
“Can we have sex?”
Yuri’s lips twitched.
“Maybe. If you are feeling better after you feed. However, you are still young in the blood. I fear I haven’t been as vigilant as I should be in watching over you. You had so much blood from me and from the two Old Ones that I often forget how new it is to you. Now you have reminded me. I will make the decisions until you feel better.”
“Yes, Yuri,” she said in a small voice.
Why do I get the feeling that she is even more determined not to listen to me when she sounds so agreeable? With a loud sigh, he took her arm and led her up the stairs in search of a meal.
Chapter Thirteen
Yuri kept a close watch over Keisha for the next few days. She recovered from her momentary weakness and jumped back into her research. Now that she thought about creating an artificial blood, her scientific mind was fully engaged in thinking about that and only that.
A week after the headache incident, Yuri looked up from his laptop to talk.
“Keisha? Are you able to think about what I’m saying or are you too busy working through something?”
She looked up and smiled at him.
“I’ve got some stuff in the centrifuge but I can’t do anything else until that stops. What’s up?”
Yuri sighed with impatient frustration.
“I must travel tomorrow night...to Paris. I’m on a board of directors there which doesn’t allow us to vote by proxy or on-line. I have to be there in person. Do you want to come to Paris with me?”
Keisha frowned and shook her head.
“I don’t think so...not this time. I’m working really hard at the whole synthetic blood idea and I don’t want to lose any time on that. Also, I’m still doing research about the whole idea of alien vampires. I’m pretty sure that’s how this whole thing got started. You go ahead and go.”
“I’ll miss you, you know. Holding you in my arms as I sleep all day is rapidly becoming an addiction I don’t want to break.”
She nodded. “I like it too. How long will you be gone?”
He shrugged. “I’ve stayed longer just for fun before. If I leave tomorrow night, catch the red-eye, then vote the next night at the meeting, I should be able to be back by early morning the next day. I’ll really only be gone for two nights.”
“I should be able to take care of myself for a couple of nights. I’m a big girl.”
“I’ll let the servants know you will be the only one feeding. Just please remember to do so when you wake up. We don’t want you getting faint again when I’m not here to catch you.”
“I know. I know. Thanks...Dad.”
Yuri got up from the couch and advanced toward her. He didn’t stop until he was right in front of her, and one hand caressed her shoulder. He placed one finger from his other hand under her chin and forced her head up, to look into his eyes.
“The relationship between a maker and a fledgling is kind of similar to a parent and child. Only so far as I need to give you the benefit of my years of learning how to exist as you are now so that things are easier for you. Many unfortunates are turned and then deserted. They either carelessly burn up in the sun or they go insane from realizing what they have become and find some way to kill themselves. Or some fool with religious psycho-babble in his heads stabs them through the heart with a pointy stick.”
“You said that won’t kill you.”
“Not me, no. Not anymore. Not since I survived the last time, and that was over sixty years ago. I had grown strong enough by then for the blood to heal me. After I dispatched my attackers, of course. As a newbie like yourself—even with my blood, along with that of the two Ancient Ones—you are still new to this condition. You don’t really know how to hunt yet since you haven’t had to. There’s so much I still need to teach you. I wonder if I should even leave you. Maybe I’ll tell them I can’t make it this year.”
“Is it important that you be there?”
He shrugged. “Yes, but nothing is more important than you.”
“I told you I’ll be fine for a couple of nights. Just don’t be gone longer than that or I might have to go find me some gorgeous man to have sex with, since you haven’t taught me yet how to fuck with his mind while I feed. Instead, I’d have to fuck his body, and then put the bite on him while he’s in orgasm. Hmm...that does sound like fun.”
Yuri pulled her closer to crush her lips with his. He ground his hips against her while his hands traveled down to her lower curves. He cupped her butt in both hands and lifted her a few inches off of the floor. He growled.
“N
o other man touches you. You are mine.”
Keisha’s eyes were unfocused as she responded to his touch.
“Yes, I am. If you are going to be gone the next couple of nights then we had better have some world-class orgasms before you go so I won’t miss you so much.”
“Aren’t you in the middle of something?”
“Yes, but you have flight plans to make, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll finish what I’m doing and you make those plans. Then I’ll race you to the bedroom.”
A slow leer crawled across his face. “Deal.”
* * * *
After his arrival in Paris the next night, Yuri called home.
“Hello, Yuri?”
“Yes. I had to hear your voice.”
“How was the flight?”
“Uneventful and boring. How is your research going?”
She sounded excited. “I think I’ve found something. I’m doing some research while I wait for the centrifuge again. This stuff is fascinating.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“No, let me do some more reading first. Then if what I suspect is right, I’ll be so excited I won’t be able to stop myself from telling you tomorrow night. What time do you think you’ll be done?”
“The voting should be finished by about ten. I made my flight reservations for midnight. Whether or not we are done, I’ll leave after that to catch my plane.”
“What time will that get you home?”
“I’ll get into Chicago about two in the morning your time. I might rent a car or I might be so impatient to see you that I just fly home.”
Keisha giggled.
“Well, I’d pick the flying, if I were you. I still want to learn how to do that...it’s so cool. Besides, I miss you already. I’m sure I’ll miss you more tomorrow night since I’ll have to wait for so many hours to even hear your voice again.”
“Being here again reminded me why Paris is called the city of love. I will have to bring you here someday—to share it with you.”
“I’ve been to Paris before but only for conferences. I’d barely have time to take a peek at the Eiffel Tower, or the Arc du Triomphe, and then I’d rush back to a plane to fly home again. It would be nice to be able to enjoy it, especially with you.”
Prophecy of the Undead Page 9
