Foster smiled, but Jerusa sensed a sadness hidden within. He turned away before she read him further and pulled back the shower curtain. “You go first.”
Foster turned his face to the wall so that Jerusa could undress in private. She tossed her bloodstained and soiled clothes into the trashcan near the sink and stepped into the shower.
Jerusa gasped as the water hit her body, not because the temperature was too hot or too cold, but because her sense of touch seemed amplified beyond measure. The water massaged her strengthened skin, sending a shudder up her spine. She turned the water as hot as it would go and her flesh called for it to be hotter still. The pores on her skin were almost nonexistent and the filth melted away from her without the aid of soap. She turned her face up into the stream, letting the scalding water soak through her hair down to her scalp. Though she didn’t need soap, she washed anyway, relishing the pleasant scents that her heightened nose now detected.
Jerusa rinsed and turned off the shower. She stood for a moment as the water dripped from her, evaluating the wounds of her body. The bite on her shoulder from Kole was completely healed without even a dimple of a scar. So too was Kole’s original bite mark on her neck, and the dagger cut from Silvanus. She ran her fingers across her neck and down her chest. The scar she had received from her heart surgery, however, was still there. The bubbled line, running from the top of her breastplate downward, stood out, bright and pink, more noticeable now than ever against her flawless vampire skin.
“Are you all right?” Foster asked.
“Yes,” she said, but that was a lie. The noises of the storm, of the house, were screaming about her like a raucous crowd. It took great focus to shut out the clamor. Her mind was a cluttered mess of questions. How could vampires possibly exist? The others said that Kole had gone “savage”, but what did that mean? Would she live forever? Would she have to continue taking her rejection medication? Did she have to drink blood? Crucifixes? Garlic? Holy water? She obviously had a reflection. Would the other myths prove just as false?
Foster pressed a towel through the shower curtain and Jerusa took it and dried off. She wrapped the towel around her body and pulled the curtain back. Foster’s bronze eyes lingered for just a moment upon the top of her scar poking out from the towel. Jerusa couldn’t be certain, but she thought she detected a bit of fear and sadness in his face.
Jerusa stepped out of the shower, allowing Foster to take her place. She changed into clean clothes while he showered. She wanted to brush her hair, but Foster was finished cleaning himself before she had a chance. She faced the wall, giving him privacy to dress, then the both of them exited the bathroom together.
The storm dwindled. The rain still fell steadily, but the lighting and thunder had moved on. The lights flickered, but the power stayed on. Thad remained where he had been, a weary and weatherworn look upon his face. She could smell his fear, feel his anxiety, but when he looked at her, his eyes lightened and he managed a small, brief smile.
Shufah, Suhail, and Taos had dowsed most of the lights and were making a circuit of the ground floor windows, staring intently out into the rain-flecked night. They moved without sound, scanning the viewable perimeter of the house while listening for any uncommon noise. Suhail was about to move from his post when something caught his attention.
“I see something,” he said, his voice stricken with panic.
“Is it Kole?” Shufah asked, moving to her brother’s side. Taos crowded in behind them.
“I’m not sure,” Suhail said. “I believe so. It’s circling, moving fast.”
Shufah turned to Jerusa and Foster. “Into the basement.” She grabbed her brother by the arm, shoving Taos before her.
Jerusa took Thad by the hand. Taken with fear and panic, he tried to pull away, to snatch his hand back, but he no longer possessed the strength to overpower Jerusa. She tightened her grip, careful not to crush his hand and dragged him to the basement door.
They filed down the stairs, one by one, into the inky blackness below. Foster, first down the stairs, flipped a switch, bringing several fluorescent bulbs flickering to life. Shufah remained at the top of the stairs. She closed the door and engaged the deadbolt lock just as a crashing thud rattled across the floor above their heads.
“He’s inside,” Foster called out. “Shufah, hurry, close the safety door.”
Heavy footsteps thundered above, moving quickly from the living room to the basement door. A thundering blow rang out against the wooden door, rattling it in its frame, but the deadbolt held. The knob shook as the intruder struggled to gain access. A low, guttural groan filled the air and drifted down into the basement like a poisonous mist.
Thad cried out and Suhail moved to silence him.
The creature let loose a hideous scream, causing all of them to cover their ears with their hands. Jerusa’s knees went weak. Her borrowed heart thrummed faster than she thought possible.
Alicia appeared next to Jerusa. The ghost stood still, staring up toward the source of the calamity, a strange look of confusion poised upon her face.
Another blow shook the door, this time loosening the hinges. Shufah reached above the door to a thick nylon strap hanging barely visible from a recess in the ceiling. She wasn’t quite tall enough to grasp it, but in a motion almost too fast to track, she leapt up and took hold of the strap. She pulled down and a heavy steel door made of segmented plates rolled down, guided on tracks hidden within the left and right walls. The steel door hit with a hard thump and Jerusa heard the sound of a lock engaging.
Shufah backed away from the steel door as though she doubted its ability to withstand Kole’s attack.
“It’ll be all right,” Foster assured her. “Even if he rips the oak door out, he’ll not get through that door. Not with just his hands.”
Jerusa took inventory of the room for the first time. The basement had the same large square footprint of the house. The walls were reinforced concrete, windowless. The floor was concrete as well, polished to a high shine. The floor joists above were exposed, except for the thick gauge grating bolted in place of a ceiling.
Jerusa now understood why Foster and Shufah had placed their confidence in the basement. Unless Kole could get his hands on some heavy-duty tools, there was no way he could storm their refuge.
But then a terrible thought occurred to Jerusa.
“What if he sets the house on fire?” Jerusa asked. “What do we do then?”
“He won’t,” Shufah answered.
“But what if he does?” Thad asked, his absolute terror mirroring the call in Jerusa’s heart.
“He won’t,” Foster said.
“How can you be sure?” Jerusa pressed.
The elder vampires exchanged a look as if they were unsure they should be speaking to her.
“Thanks to your friend, Kole has gone savage,” Taos said. “And the savage don’t think. They just kill.” He approached Jerusa, but stopped just outside of arm’s length. “You see, the savage are no longer blood drinkers, but flesh eaters. And their bites are toxic to vampire and human alike. If you face a savage and somehow survive with just a bite, its venom works to change you into a savage, regardless of how old and powerful you are.”
Jerusa’s hand drifted up to the shoulder Kole had bitten. All eyes were upon her. The only noise came from the rain drumming without and Kole raging within. No one moved to challenge Taos, so he continued.
“There is no cure for a savage bite,” he said. “No known method of extracting the venom. To be bitten is to be sentenced to death. So, my dear sweet one, would you please explain to us how you are standing here before us now?”
Jerusa shook her head. She looked imploringly to the others, but they stood still and silent, awaiting her answer. “I don’t know. Really, I don’t. Silvanus, the one who saved me, somehow pulled it out of me. He drank my poisoned blood and gave me back his own. That’s all I know.”
“Impossible,” Suhail said. “Even the ancients have never pulled
off such a feat. By all rights, the act should have changed both you and this Silvanus into savages.”
“And here you stand,” Shufah said, her tone inquisitive. “Not a savage, but not a human, either. Tell us more about your savior.”
Jerusa sat on the floor, cross-legged, while she recounted her tale of Silvanus. The faces watching her remained placid, like masks at a ball. Now and then, they would raise an eyebrow or purse their lips, but they never interrupted. When she was finished, Taos threw up his hands.
“She lies,” he said. “She and her boyfriend have put us in great danger. We should kill them both and perhaps the Stewards will show mercy.”
“I’m not lying,” Jerusa said. “Thad and I have done nothing wrong.”
Shufah came forward and placed a calming hand on Jerusa’s shoulder. “Of course not,” she said. “Taos is impetuous and speaks out of fear for his own life. I promise, we will do what we can for you. But for now, I must ask if all you said is true. You met this Silvanus in the light of the sun?”
“Yes,” Jerusa answered, keeping her eyes locked with Shufah’s.
“And we saw him vanish before our own eyes,” Shufah seemed to be speaking to herself now. She looked up to her brother.
Suhail shook his head in disbelief. “Impossible. It’s just a myth.”
Taos looked at the twins. “What myth?”
Shufah stood to her feet. “The myth of the Divine Vampire.”
Suhail glanced at Jerusa. “Impossible,” he whispered. But in his eyes, she saw a flash of doubt.
Chapter Eleven
They sat in silence for the next hour, listening as Kole drifted about upstairs, occasionally groaning and screaming. Then, without warning, he crashed through a window and disappeared somewhere outside.
“Where is he going?” Thad asked, his voice strained and hoarse. It was the first that he’d spoken in a long while.
“The sun will be rising soon,” Suhail said. “Kole will seek shelter until nightfall.”
“So it’s true,” Jerusa said. “Vampires can’t go out in the sunlight. Is it like the movies? Do we just burst into flames?” She couldn’t hide the horror in her own voice. It was a terrible thought, never seeing the daylight again, never feeling its warmth upon her skin.
“Don’t be stupid,” Taos said. “What would Hollywood know of vampires? Not that it isn’t a wonderful city to hunt in, mind you.”
“Don’t despise the movies,” Suhail said to Taos. “Misdirection is a great tool.”
“I don’t understand,” Jerusa said.
Foster crossed the room and sat next to her on the floor. “Some of the vampire myths are true, and some are false. Stories, whether they are movies, books, or passed on orally, have always served to hide vampires from the world. Let’s face it, the best way to make someone a skeptic of the fantastic is to immerse them in the fantastic. The tale of the vampire has been so ingrained in the history of the human race that only a very few will believe, even when faced with insurmountable evidence.”
Jerusa thought she understood. She had read somewhere once that humans had been so long in the light that they no longer recognized the miracle of it.
“So what is the truth, then?”
Foster looked up to Shufah. She smiled and nodded for him to continue.
“Only the very old know it all, and they tend to hoard the information. But I’ll tell you what I … we know.” Foster paused for a moment, as if unsure where to start. “Well, first of all, the sun is harmful to vampires, but not in the way you think. We don’t burst into flames, but we do have a serious anaphylactic reaction to UV radiation — UVA in particular. But it has to be in direct, high concentrations, like from the sun or UV lamps. Moonlight or electronic sources rarely have any effect on us. The older, more powerful vampires can withstand a bit of sun. But younger vampires like you and me and even Taos over there, well, just a few minutes might prove fatal.”
For the first time since walking into the presence of the vampires, Jerusa didn’t feel afraid. A wild curiosity filled her like a great unquenchable thirst. She wanted to know it all. Even Alicia drew closer, expectantly awaiting Foster to continue.
“How did I become a vampire?” Jerusa asked. “Will Thad become a vampire, too?”
Foster’s lips pressed together as he considered the young man hovering in the corner of the room. Thad glanced over, but his eyes were distant.
“There are two ways to become a vampire,” Foster said. “By bite or by blood. Usually, when a vampire bites, they will feed until the victim is dead. At least they are supposed to. That is the law.”
“The law?” Jerusa interrupted. “Whose law?”
Foster raised his hand to silence her. “I’ll get to that. Anyway, when a human is bitten by a vampire and lives, one of three things can happen. You live with no effects at all, the virus or whatever it is in the vampire’s saliva infects and kills the host, or it will enter the bloodstream, infiltrate the cells, then lay dormant.”
Jerusa cast a fearful eye toward Thad. The wounds from Taos’s fangs were still visible, surrounded by a patch of dried blood.
Foster smiled. “Don’t worry, little rooster. If Taos’s bite was going to kill Thad, he would be dead by now.”
“So I might be fine,” Thad said from across the room. “I won’t change into — ” He couldn’t finish.
“Perhaps not,” answered Shufah. “Time will tell.”
“If by tomorrow’s nightfall,” Foster continued, “Thad’s wounds are still present, then the infection has not infiltrated his cells. If, however, the wounds heal, it is a sign that he has been infected.”
“What if I am infected?” Thad asked. “What then? Will I be like … you?”
Foster looked to Shufah. She seemed agitated, not much in the mood to speak, but she smiled at Foster. “Go on, sanam. I have taught you all I know. Speak with liberty.”
Foster nodded. “When a person is infected with the vampire spirit, as it was once known, that person will continue with their life as though nothing has changed. They eat, they sleep, they age, all as if nothing had happened. The vampire spirit sleeps within in them until the moment of their death. When the infected dies, the spirit awakens and reanimates them as a vampire.”
“So what about these laws you were talking about?” Jerusa asked. “Who made them? Who enforces them?”
“The Stewards — the most powerful and ancient among vampires — have set certain rules in place,” Foster said, choosing his words carefully. “It is very dangerous for a vampire born of the bite to awaken from an unplanned mortal death. Can you imagine the calamity that would arise if a vampire, maddened by blood-thirst, would awaken in the morgue, or heaven forbid, a crowd of gawking onlookers? And the danger is not just relegated to the humans. Young vampires, especially those born of the bite, are weak and can perish in any number of ways. And unless they are completely destroyed, when a vampire dies, they go savage.”
Jerusa shuddered as the memory of Kole rising up, the hole from Silvanus’s fist still in his chest, flooded her mind.
Foster seemed lost in his own thoughts for a moment. “So the Stewards enacted several laws to protect the vampire race from extinction. One is that when a vampire feeds, they must make sure to kill the human. Another is to ensure that the human does not accidently rise as a vampire. For most vampires, that means mutilating their victims in one way or another. Every now and then, as in Thad’s case, a human is bitten and doesn’t die.”
“Do not forget to add yourself to that list,” Taos said. “Shufah fed from you countless times in defiance of the law.”
Foster ignored Taos and refused to meet Jerusa’s curious eyes. “If a vampire fails to kill their victim, the Stewards may choose to put that vampire to death. Most always, the human is executed.” Thad shifted nervously and started to speak. “There are rare occasions, however,” he said, cutting Thad off, “that a bitten mortal is found worthy and is permitted to live out the rest of their
natural days in one of several quarantine communities.” Foster looked to Thad, who seemed horrified by this thought.
“So they’re condemned to some kind of prison camp?” Jerusa asked. “That’s terrible.”
“It’s not as bad as all that,” Foster said. “In these places, the bitten are free to live as they wish around others of the same circumstance. And when one of the bitten fall prey to mortal death, either accidental or natural, the others in the quarantine community act quickly to destroy the body before it reanimates.”
Jerusa’s insides gnashed against each other in a flurry of guilt. It was her fault that this had befallen Thad. Had she not called him for a ride, had she not invited him inside, none of this would have happened.
“But what if a bitten mortal wants to be a vampire?” she asked.
“Then they must submit themselves to the scrutiny of the Stewards,” Foster said, his eyes fluttering toward Taos. “And if deemed worthy, the bitten are permitted to be born of the blood. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jerusa answered. “Just like what Shufah did for you. And Silvanus did for me.”
A strange look passed over the faces of the other vampires. A silent conversation seemed to radiate between them and she wondered what it was that she had said to make them look so worried.
“Being born of blood,” Foster continued, “especially by the blood of a powerful vampire, ensures that the fledgling will reanimate in strength and with as little blood-thirst as possible. Had you or I been born of the bite, we would be mad with thirst right now. But as it stands, we may not have to feed for a night or two, and the thirst will be controllable.”
Jerusa contemplated Foster’s words for a long moment. So much to process and understand. She felt as though she were navigating some elaborate dream. This was all too ridiculous. It couldn’t be real. Nevertheless, in her heart, Jerusa doubted none of it. She could feel the truth rushing through her veins, invigorating every cell.
Heart of the Dead: Vampire Superheroes (Perpetual Creatures Book 1) Page 10
