“I hate this stupid gift of mine. Hate it! What good is it?”
“I think time will tell, Violet.”
“Yeah, right,” I muttered, wiping my eyes. “Oh, great. I forgot all about Kate.”
“What about her?”
“She went to tell Mrs. Girard what happened.”
“You’ve got your phone. Call her and leave a message.”
“Okay,” I said, my hands still shaking. “I don’t think I can go back to class, though. You think they’ll understand if I skip?”
“Definitely,” Aidan said. “I’ll skip the rest of my classes, too. Blackwell will understand.”
I called Kate and left a message while Aidan went to the café to get us something to drink. Fifteen minutes later, we sat side by side up in the chapel’s dusty loft. Patsy had already called to tell me she’d been released from the hospital and was resting up at home, no worse for wear.
“I ran into Jack at the café,” Aidan said, handing me my coffee. “I told him to tell Kate what happened. You know, if he sees her before she gets your message.”
“Thanks.” I wrapped my hands around the cup, warming them. “Actually, speaking of Jack, what does he think you’re working on? You know, in the lab?”
“A blood-borne, parasitical disease, similar to malaria— which is pretty much the truth. He’s probably managed to put two and two together by now, though he’s never come right out and asked. He’s got a brilliant scientific mind, though. The work he’s doing, studying his brother’s medical condition, is graduate-school-level work. He’s a good guy. I trust him.”
I nodded. Jack seemed like a good guy. Still, I hoped Aidan was right to trust him. “Speaking of his brother, what’s the deal with the only-child thing here at Winterhaven?”
“Oh, I’ve got a theory about that,” he said with a smile.
“Somehow I knew you would, Einstein,” I murmured.
“I think it’s an evolutionary mechanism of some sort. Similar to the Rh factor, some protein left behind that affects the mother’s subsequent pregnancies. The only kids at Winter-haven who have brothers or sisters have half siblings through their father. In fact, in all the years I’ve been here, Jack is the first person I’ve ever known with a full-blood sibling. I have to think that’s somehow related to his brother’s condition. Maybe his seizures are caused by a circuit overload of psychic abilities. It kind of makes sense, and that’s where Jack is focusing his research.”
“Huh. Interesting. Okay, so tell me more about your research. You said your. condition. was sort of like malaria,” I prompted. “How?”
“Well, I compare it to malaria because malaria is probably the best known parasitic disease, and certainly the most studied one,” he said, suddenly sounding much more like a professor than a student. “Anyway, the more I learn about parasites and their crafty ways, the more I realize that genetic variation and natural selection can yield behaviors in single-celled organisms that look like pure malevolent genius.
“For instance, the malaria protozoan Plasmodium falciparum infects humans, causing the malarial symptoms that everyone knows about, but it affects the mosquitoes, too. For years people thought that the mosquitoes suffered no ill effects from infection by Plasmodium falciparum. They thought they just served as a handy way for the parasites to get from person to person. But it turns out the infected female mosquitoes do display one unusual behavior — they bite more often, seeking more blood than they need to nourish their developing eggs. This increased biting leads to a higher death rate for infected mosquitoes. You know why?”
“Why?” I played along.
“Because what happens when a mosquito bites you?”
I just shrugged.
“You smack it,” he answered with a smile. “It’s not a big stretch to say that this parasitic infection turns the mosquitoes into vampires of a sort.
Just like malaria, vampirism is transmitted by a bite, and just like malaria, the vampirism parasite multiplies in the red blood cells, causing behavioral changes as well as physical symptoms. And this is pretty interesting too: You know how I said that it’s the female mosquito that transmits malaria to humans? So in essence, it’s the female becoming the ‘monster’?”
He paused expectantly.
“Yeah?” I prodded, having no idea where he was going with this.
“Remember how I also said that only a female vampire can make a male? Well, from what I can tell, there’s probably, oh, a hundred male vampires in the world for every one female. Maybe more. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“Really?” That was surprising, actually. “But still, there are some female vampires, right? So some male vampires must be able to. you know, transmit the parasite or whatever you call it.”
“Any male can. It’s just that they don’t have the primal urge to do so, like the females do.”
“Okay, that’s just weird.”
He laughed. “Trust me, you don’t want to meet a female vampire.”
“I don’t want to meet any vampire,” I shot back, before I realized what I was saying. After all, it was so easy to forget what Aidan was.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching for his hand. Aidan remained silent, but I could see the hurt in his eyes.
“Don’t be,” he finally said, giving my hand a squeeze.
“But hey,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, “I guess this means that I don’t have to worry about you infecting me, right?”
“It takes more than a bite to infect a person. Much more.”
“Like. what?” I prodded.
He shrugged. “It starts with the bite, but then the vampire must drink until the exact moment that the victim’s heart stops beating. Then you begin replacing their blood with your own — your infected blood. You start off forcing it, but eventually they’ll begin to drink.”
“From. from the vampire?” I stuttered, my stomach roiling at the very thought.
“From the vampire,” he conceded. “The vampire’s infected blood reanimates the victim’s body, so to speak. Like I said before, it occurs on the cellular level, and the body is kept in a state of suspended animation. Your body temperature drops, you don’t age, your hair and nails don’t grow.
You become, in essence, immortal. Broken bones heal, damaged tissue regenerates.”
“And the special powers?” I asked, morbidly fascinated.
He nodded “Yes, superhuman strength and agility, heightened senses, telekinetic powers. Actually, the vampire’s powers are derived from the cellular energy that’s created when fresh blood is converted to infected blood. That’s why a vampire is stronger when he’s just fed, and weaker the longer he goes without feeding.”
“But what would happen if you just. you know, stopped feeding? Would that eventually kill you?”
He exhaled sharply. “No. Trust me, I’ve tried. At first you start to weaken, but then it’s like some self-preservation autopilot kicks in. The thirst becomes unbearable, unstoppable. A vampire starving himself is dangerous and unpredictable, an indiscriminate killer.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it of that image. “But back to the whole making-a-vampire thing. Anyone can do it?”
“Yes, but it’s not easy. It takes a great deal of focus and control to ensure that you stop feeding at precisely the moment the heart stops beating.
Otherwise, it’s too late.”
I had to ask. “Have you ever turned someone?”