Blueblood 4: Dracula - 18. Dracula Goes Under Treatment

Sorin was looking at Dr. Petran as if to question her sanity. “You believe this!?” He asked her in disbelief.

Dr. Petran cocked her head at him. “Give me another explanation.” She said quickly. “I’m a doctor, Sorin. I’m not some silly little girl afraid of vampires. There is something in their systems I couldn’t explain. When they told me, I had a hard time believing them.” She waved at Dragon and the others there. “They are vampires. Surely you see that.”

Sorin was like Dr. Petran and many others. He saw what was in front of him, but his mind was having difficulty letting it sink in. “They are just stories.” He said as he worked it over in his mind. “My grandmother told me about them, but…” he shook his head. “They were just stories.”

“When I was first bitten,” Colin said. “I knew of one other.” He said softly. “He bit me to destroy me. Then I found out he bit my daughter.” He waved to Gabriella who waved at Sorin. His eyes grew having the same reaction even I had with the age problem. “I met others during the war…the American Civil War. They were just feeding. Wild. I was not one of them.” He smiled. “I left home, found others…there are literally thousands of us out in the world.” He walked over to George. “This…brilliant man…came up with a serum…it doesn’t take the vampire out of us, but it puts it to rest.” He grinned. “You, Dr. Petran, Chuck, Shelly, Mark and his partner Stan, who is back at the house on his computer watching us now…are the only ones here who haven’t been bitten. You aren’t vampires.”

“If you’re everywhere, why come here?” Sorin asked.

“We think…” George began. “No…I know there is an answer here. We have venom. That’s what makes us vampires. We don’t change into bats or any of that nonsense.” He shook his head dismissing that idea physically. “There is a vampire here that did what I’ve never known was possible. He had a son.” George said walking toward Sorin. “That son holds the key to our getting rid of this…infection. We are victims, not demons or the undead. We have an infection.” He went to Dr. Petran. “The substance she saw in our blood is that infection and the serum used to treat it. This son has a natural…ability to block that venom and infection. I need that to help us.” He waved at everyone here. “To help all of us. We want our lives back.”

“In Transylvania.” Sorin was clarifying again. “Because it started here.”

I shook my head. “No. It didn’t start here, but in the Middle East.” I motioned for Sorin to follow me. “I’ll show you what started it.”

Sorin followed but kept the vampires with Dragon in front of him as he did, turning and even walked backward so he could keep an eye on them. Dr. Petran smiled but followed as well.

I stopped in front of the cell where and held up my hands to stop them. “Prepare yourselves…they are unlike anything you have ever seen.” I stepped back and waved to the two Old Ones. “This is Earless and Repeat. Iustina and Repetate in Romanian.” I hate to admit it, but those two put on a show. Repetate and Iustina were at the bars hissing and reaching out for Sorin. The fangs were always out, but now they wanted Sorin. Badly.

Sorin jumped back a foot and now he did draw his gun, but Dragon was there instantly and took the gun away. Dragon had fed before we arrived and his movements and actions were very fast.

“No! They are not dangerous for us.” Dragon said firmly. His demeanor was dark and shadowed, but he would take no exception to what he had said. “I will not allow you to harm them.”

I nodded. “They are not endangering us because we already are vampires. They can sense it, smell it and feel it.” I backed closer to the cell bars and stood right below the two Old Ones, who were ignoring me as they still were reaching for Sorin. “As you can see…they’re not interested in Dr. Petran. She took the serum to make her…less appetizing.” I grinned as I waved at Dr. Petran who was more fascinated by Iustina and Repetate. She wasn’t scared at all. Her scientific curiosity was stimulated more than her fear. “This…” I groaned. “Disflavor…” I looked at George. “I still hate that name. I’d prefer Ew Yuk to Disflavor.”

Colin chuckled and nodded. “My husband is big on names and movies. He insisted we call ourselves the Vampire United Nations. The VUN.”

I grinned back. “That was a hell of a lot better than Holms' Laboratories!” I grinned at George. “Nothing wrong with your name, George, but it gives more…pizzazz!”

George just rolled his eyes. “I just don’t have your flare.” He grinned and shrugged.

I grinned back. “You know I love you.”

George nodded with a grin.

Dr. Petran got closer and was looking them over and Iustina and Repetate who ignored her completely, but still wanted Sorin’s blood. “What interesting physiology!” She marveled and turned to Sorin. “Do you still not believe it?” She waved at Repetate and Iustina. “Here they are; right in front of you! That can’t be faked. No hair, naked and…” she looked closer. “No anus!?” She asked me to confirm what she saw.

“They drink only blood and piss ammonia,” I explained. “No solid wastes? No need for one.”

Sorin took his jacket off quickly and pulled his shirt down to reveal his arm. “Give me that…Disflavor…whatever you call it…”

George smiled and pulled the syringe he had already prepared for Sorin. A quick dab of the alcohol swab and he stuck the needle in Sorin’s arm. “It takes a few minutes to work its way in, but it works quickly as you can see with Dr. Petran.”

George was right, it did work quickly as Repetate and Iustina lowered their arms and stopped hissing at Sorin. I grinned as Sorin watched as he became less focused on by Repetate and Iustina. They were now smiling at me and happy to see me. Which I spoke to them and opened the door to go in the cell with them. Sorin’s eyes widened as they crowded around me, waving at the laptop I had left them to watch cartoons and things on. They didn’t understand how to scroll through the database for more cartoons. I grinned and pulled a CD out that had hours of Bug Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons.

Dr. Petran was still caught up in the Old Ones and dared to come in the cell with me. Repetate and Instina looked at her and even smiled at her!

“I’m sorry this has been so…” Colin began saying to Sorin. “…well, it’s not something we can just explain easily.”

Sorin nodded as he began to relax. “I can understand why.”

George walked in the cell with us. “Doctor…”

She broke her stare at Repetate and Iustina and smiled at George. “I think now you can all call me Laurel.” Dr. Petran smiled. “This is all…so…”

“Unbelievable?” George nodded. “Sorin.”

Sorin looked up at George.

“You wanted to know what that liquid was I was carrying that night,” George said. “I’ll do one better. Dragon, are you ready to start again?”

Dragon nodded. “I’m patient.”

Sorin looked as if he almost forgot about Dragon and his eyes widened as Dragon smiled at him only inches away; Dragon’s fangs still out.

“This is the serum I gave to all here with us in our group.” He said holding the vial up. “I’m going to start his treatment again. In five or six days, he’ll see the sunrise again that he hasn’t been able to see in how many centuries?”

Dragon nodded. “It’s been quite a few.” Then he frowned and rubbed his chest. “Though I am not looking forward to the pain again.”

George nodded and laughed. “No, but it will work. I promise.” George reassured. He had a patient smile for Sorin. “I’m willing to share all I know, what I’ve observed and demonstrated what I’ve found to work with this venom.”

Sorin pointed at the two Old Ones. “Those are vampires, too?” He asked more to keep it straight in his head.

George nodded. “They are the origins of all vampires.”

I was getting an affectionate touch from Iustina. “These are two of many that were sent into the world. They are the oldest living things on this planet.” I grinned I rubbed Iustina’s face below his missing ear because he liked it there the best. “They are thousands of years old.”

Sorin was still having difficulty with what we were telling him, yet unable to ignore what he saw with his own eyes. “Thousands of years?”

Amasis, who was using the translator because his understanding of English was still not fluent and he wanted to understand what we were talking about. He came over to Sorin. “I am over two thousand years old. I found out I was the last Pharaoh in Egypt.”

Sorin heard it and his eyes grew and again, his mind was telling him it was impossible, but seeing what we’ve told him was true…not about Amasis or what we told him about us, but as in the two Old Ones right in front of him; he couldn’t say it wasn’t true. “That’s…unbelievable.” He said weakly.

“Other than Iustina and Repetate, he is the oldest vampire we’ve found,” Colin said. “We have represented here veterans of many wars from World War II, two veterans of World War I.” Colin smiled. “My daughter and I predate the Civil War in the States.”

Willie nodded. “It’s only because of the serum, we’ve been able to branch out to see what happened to us and began getting a better picture of what we had to work with.”

“We have one in custody that is old, but she’s evil,” George said. “She was the source for most of the vampires in the United States, but with modern day technology, we closed the gaps and began talking with groups around the world and found there are thousands like us. Willie’s right, since we’ve been out in the world a more concise understanding is beginning to form and maybe a cure.”

“There are evil vampires,” I confessed softly. “But these vampires were evil before they were bitten. It doesn’t come from the fact they were bitten.”

“The venom seeks a human being that’s healthy and has the best blood,” George said. He waved at Dragon’s men and us. “All of these vampires are generations away from these vampires.” He pointed to Repetate and Iustina. “They bite a person and they become what we call the Wild Vampires. They become like these Old Ones and can’t speak.” Then he grinned. “Well, there’s Wayne.” He pointed to Wayne. “Wayne was bitten by an Old One in England, but somehow managed to put together that we might help him. He was a wild vampire. Unable to speak or understand, but we gave him the serum and he is now a fully functioning person.”

Sorin looked at Gabriella and then to Colin. “You said she’s your daughter?” He was still having trouble with that.

I chuckled. “Yeah, it blows your mind, doesn’t it? I had problems with that myself. The age thing.” I shrugged. “I still do at times.”

“And she…” Sorin pointed to my mother, “is your mother. She didn’t give birth to you? I mean, she didn’t give birth to you as a vampire.”

I shook my head. “Oh, no…she gave birth to me thirty some odd years ago. We're the youngest vampires here.” I grinned. “She and I are the only ones I know of that became vampires willingly.”

“Willingly,” Sorin repeated.

“I met Colin and fell in love with the man,” I said. “Whether or not you think being homosexual is right or not. He would be alone if I hadn’t.”

Mom nodded. “I met William and…we also fell in love, so Devon and I wanted to be with them and we let them bite us.”

“You wanted to live forever?” Sorin asked again in the tone for clarification.

“We wanted Willie and Colin to have someone in their lives that wouldn’t die!” I said firmly. “For almost two centuries Colin has lost people in his life.”

“You were both injured,” Laurel said. “Badly. Granted you healed at a remarkable rate; is that because of the venom and serum? Not like a regular person. There is no ritual or anything to kill a vampire?”

“No, we could be killed,” Colin confessed. “And it doesn’t have to be a stake through the heart. We can fall and break bones…like our necks. We can be shot and stabbed.”

“Vampires reproduce their numbers by the bite, not sex,” George said. “The venom they infect us with basically rewrites our DNA and we become the thing that makes this venom.” He waved at Repetate. “He bites someone, they become a wild vampire. I’ve found that with each new host…” he explained. “They also rewrite the venom. My venom is my venom and is different than Colin’s. However, our venom all came from one of these vampires.” He said about Iustina and Repetate. “There were hundreds…maybe thousands of these creatures…manufactured.”

“Manufactured?” Sorin asked.

“By who?” Laurel asked.

George nodded. “Well, that’s the tricky part.” He smiled and scratched his ear as he did when had to admit something he was still not sure of himself. “We don’t know who they were. The word or symbol for the name has not been translated, but an empire or king in the ancient world wanted to weaken his future conquests is our best guess.”

“The texts we found…” I waved at Amasis, “thanks to him. A group of men or scientists came up with something they put in the water. Men and women, having to drink water that had this…whatever in the water…gave birth to these things.” I said as Repetate knew I was talking about him and smiled at me. “They are victims, too.” I smiled back at Repetate as he found out to start the CD of cartoons. “They really are kind of sweet.”

“Sweet!?” Sorin balked. “They are killers!”

“They are what they were born to be! They can’t help that they are what they were created to be.” I shot back. “They are innocent!”

Sorin looked at me like I was insane now. “You defend them?”

“They’re not hunting you now,” I said simply. “They only consume blood…human blood.”

Colin nodded. “Whether or not you see that they are innocent, they are important to us for ridding ourselves of this infection.” Colin sighed as he walked closer to Sorin. “You wanted to know the truth…why we were here.” He waved at the surroundings. “This is it. This is the truth.”

George nodded. “There is a threat.” He said causing Sorin to look at him again. “We are not the enemy, but there are vampires out there that are a big threat. They are planning something big, we just don’t know what that is.”

“There was a man named Iilya.” Dragon said. “He believes we are more than we are.”

“All of the movies and books out about vampires…” I said. “Iilya wants to be that kind of vampire, he wants power, but there is no vampire like they want. We’re certainly not.”

“You’re not?” Sorin asked to confirm. “Fangs you have, hunger for blood…”

“I only had fangs twice.” I chuckled. “On the serum, we don’t have fangs.” I shrugged. “When I first smelled blood, I didn’t realize…well…imagine a steak done just right.” I shook my head. “I don’t remember anything smelling so good…and the taste!”

Sorin was becoming more relaxed and nodded. “Okay, so Dr. Petran I understand why you need her. She’s a doctor and scientist.” He shrugged. “The investigation I did because you were shot, but what do you need from me?”

George nodded with a smile. “Thank you. For listening.”

Colin came over and put his arm around me. “There are dangerous vampires in this part of the world besides Iilya or Lucian. That is because they were dangerous men before, now they’re planning something…Iilya and Lucian were the ones that had us shot. I’d wager all I have on that.”

Sorin shook his head. “Why?”

“We’re not sure, but almost every town has one or two vampires that keep themselves hidden.” I smiled and waved to the other vampires with Dragon. “There are several here. What’s happening now is…there are no vampires out there at all at night.”

Sorin again shook his head. “Maybe they're gone?”

“No,” Alex said simply. “One of the things we can say is our advantage about becoming vampires…our senses were enhanced to make us better hunters. I can tell if a vampire has crossed a path even a day later from the scent they leave behind.” He took Gabriella’s hand. “My wife can even tell what gender they are. I can’t.”

“But they’re still here,” Gabriella said. “They’re waiting for something.”

“What?” Sorin asked.

Shelly came forward. “I found this today.” She handed a brochure to Colin. “This could be what they’re waiting for.”

I looked at the brochure in Colin’s hand. Written in big letters. “Halloween in Transylvania.” The script used was bright red and dripping like blood. The image also contained what I knew was Vlad’s castle, but shrouded in mist as the sun was setting. “Dracula Castle Escape,” was also written on the brochure. It was just a couple of weeks away! “Oh, my god. Transylvania is going to be packed with people then.” I said shaking my head.

Colin nodded and looked helpless a second. “They’ll be up late…drunk mostly and just partying all night.” He looked at Sorin. “This happens every year?”

Sorin nodded and then shrugged. “Of course…it one of the things we’re famous for. Dracula.” He thought. “Local law enforcement will be out fully…there will be over ten thousand people here…probably…tripling the population!”

I nodded. “I bet this is what they’re counting on.”

“You think they’ll attack the people that come here?” Mom asked.

Colin frowned. “If they want to make a statement, yes.”

“We may have pushed their timetable forward some…” I said. “For decades, they could pick and choose, but since we’ve offered this serum…”

“…we’ve forced them to move up their agenda.” Colin nodded.

Dragon walked over and looked at the brochure. “My home.” He said with a longing tone and affection, touching the picture of the castle. His castle.

Now Sorin’s eyes widened even more. “Your home!?” He looked at the castle and of course, knew it well as did every person in Romania and around the world. “You’re not…” he now was backing again. “It can’t be. You can’t be!”

“Inspector.” I shook my head. “You know that book is about a fictional character. Not Vlad Dracul.”

Dragon, not really comfortable with his infamous past and just looked away at first, but looked at Sorin. “You often talk about what can’t be.” He smiled. “Yet it stands before you.”

Sorin shook his head. “Because it goes against all we are taught could be.” Sorin looked at the others. “All of you are just fiction!”

I chuckled. “Again, we stand before you.”

Dragon was still looking at the brochure and the writing there. “I’ve heard about this…hall…o…ween?” He stated hesitantly. “My understanding was it was mostly for children.”

I nodded. “For a lot of people, it is,” I admitted. “October 31^st has changed over the centuries and it’s not just for children. It’s taken on many cultural influences, superstitions and now is just a day…or should I say night…of thrills for children and adults.”

“Thrills,” Dragon repeated as he held the brochure up. “I see images of strange creatures on this.”

I nodded. “Being scared is thrilling,” I said simply.

“Devon loved Halloween.” Mom said. “I think you stopped Trick or Treating at…” she thought. “Was it twelve?”

Laughing I smiled as I remembered. “I matured from a pirate, clown and Power Ranger to ghost, mummy and…” I waggled my eyebrows. “The last years, I was a vampire!” I patted Sorin on the shoulder. “Sort of prophetic, isn’t it? Only there aren’t the plastic fangs or cape now.”

Colin grinned but was thinking. “We don’t know that is what they’re waiting for.”

Chuck stepped forward. “It will be televised. If they are…” he said. “We need to be prepared for something big.”

“Think about it, Colin,” I said. “If you sprang out on the night of Halloween. Would you be suspicious of fangs? It would be considered part of an elaborate costume. Part of the night’s entertainment until it became too real.”

“But if it’s venom they spread to make vampires...” Laurel offered with a nod. “How much venom is required to make a vampire?” She asked George.

George shrugged. “One bite will do it.”

“And how fast is the conversion?” Laurel asked.

“A few hours,” George said. “The full transformation takes place during the day after the victim is bitten.”

“I don’t suppose we have enough serum to counter any attacks that happen that night,” I said to George. “Like I got after the first time I was bitten.”

George shook his head. “No. We wouldn’t have enough blood to provide transfusions either.”

“You were bitten twice?” Laurel asked.

“He was bitten by the same vampire I and Gabby was.” Colin smiled. “Sorry, that’s the name I used with my daughter. Gabriella and were bitten by the same vampire. I gave him the serum mere minutes following the bite.”

“And then he was purged of all his blood and had it replaced with fresh blood not having any venom,” George added.

“There is no way of blocking these vampires?” Sorin asked. “Garlic or crosses…Holy Water?”

I shook my head. “They don’t do a thing. Crosses do nothing.”

“And I love garlic,” Colin admitted. “Very nice flavoring, but no adverse reaction to it.”

“They would increase their numbers by thousands!” Sorin said. “There are people coming from all over the world!”

“That’s why I’m saying this…” Shelly said waving at the brochure, “is the event we’re looking for. I know it is. It will even be televised.”

“Which Iilya wants,” Mark said. “If you wanted to force someone to give secrets or suffer…scare people over TV.”

“People will have their phones and other devices to record and transmit what happened.” Mom said. “Even if you could say it was all staged or not real afterward…there will be footage going around the world. It would literally scare the entire world.”

Colin shook his head. “We really need to find them.”

George walked over to Dragon. “I hate to say it, but…” he pulled out a vial of the serum. “We’re wasting time talking…you need this now.”

Dragon looked at the vial, grimaced and nodded. “Let’s do it.”

George looked at Dr. Petran and Sorin. “Now you’ll see how this works.”

“But know this…” Colin said. “It will hurt Dragon, but in the end, …he will be able to go out and eat again.” He walked over to Dragon. “Perhaps even go home for the first time in centuries if he wants to. He’ll have freedom.”

We got Dragon to the chamber he used during the daytime when he slept. We explained what was going to happen…even had Laurel and Sorin feel Dragon had no real pulse. Then George again prepared Dragon’s chest and inserted the needle in Dragon’s heart. Neither Sorin or Laurel was ready to see that it did…hurt…very much as Dragon arched his back with the pain.