Blueblood 4: Dracula - 19. Sorin Comes to Us

Dr. Petran stayed with Dragon and George as Dragon endured the pain. I’d seen a lot of people suffer as they took the serum, there was no need for me to see it again. However, I also noted that Sorin was grimacing as Dragon suffered and walked out of the chamber. He was the police and I knew he’d seen worse things than this…I imagined. Sorin was mature with a little grey in his hair, but I think his gruff demeanor was more for show and to threaten criminals…the human kind. I followed Sorin as he returned to Iustina and Repetate where I saw Sorin still sitting as he was watching the two Old Ones enjoy the Bugs Bunny cartoons. He looked this way and that and then sat in a chair near the Old Ones’ cell. That New York Bronx or Brooklyn accent of the lovable rabbit was distinct and the music told me what they were looking at. He looked as if he was still working things out in his head. I pulled a chair near him as he struggled with his own thoughts. “Give it time.” I smiled. “It’s a lot to take in just a few hours.”

Sorin came back from his deep thoughts and chuckled. “To say the very least.” He shook his head. “Everything I thought I knew about the world has sort of…gone all…nebun… little crazy.” He circled his temple to say crazy. He had an Eastern European accent, but I heard less the longer we stayed here.

I laughed. “You’re not crazy. It’s hard to believe, but you’re not crazy.” I nodded. “Things won’t be the same for you now.”

“All of you had to go through that?” Sorin pointed back Dragon’s chamber. “All that…pain?”

I nodded. “Yes.” I smiled. “Colin did it every day for a while.”

Sorin’s eyes widened hearing that. “No.” He said impressed with the level of determination Colin and George had. “You, too?”

I smiled. “Well, the first time I was bitten…”

“First time?” Sorin asked. “George said it only took one bite!”

I put a hand on his shoulder and nodded stopping him. “I was the only one to get the serum so quickly after a bite.” I inhaled as I knew Sorin was trying to understand. “It was mere…minutes after I was bitten, maybe not even minutes…because Colin was a vampire and I wasn’t.”

“But you knew what he was,” Sorin said to get things clear.

“I found a picture of him in some rubble where the house is now.” I smiled. “He said it was a grandparent and he just looked like him.” I smiled as I thought of that day. “But, it was him. Day two, he told me the truth about what he was after he took the medication and explained what he was and how the medication was to prevent him from being a vampire.”

Sorin shook his head. “But this level of pain!? Every night!?”

I shook my head. “No,” I explained about the blood levels needed to be up and how it hurt because the heart needed restarting. “I would do it if needed. George has done some major improvements.” I held my arm up to show Sorin the disc of serum. “Now, it doesn’t hurt.”

“Okay.” He said as he was working it through. “I get it. It’s a horrible life and you want out and any sacrifice is not too much, I get that.” He looked at me with his eyebrows still together. “There aren’t any more…surprises? Out there? Is there?” He motioned out of the caverns.

“Surprises?”

“Werewolves, witches, ghosts or goblins…that sort of thing? Frankenstein?”

I laughed. “I’ve never seen or heard of any.” I shrugged. “I’m not saying there aren’t, I just don’t know of any.” I thought. “I suppose there could be werewolves…after all they have an infection as well…but I dare say they won’t be those in the movies.”

He nodded as I could see him coming to grips at last with all of this new information and ideas. “That’s good…I guess.” He looked at the Old Ones who were laughing in their way at whatever Bugs was doing. “They are…not as creepy as before.”

“They were made to drink blood. You had what they needed to live…now, you don’t. I’m glad you see they aren’t the evil.” I smiled. “I don’t say they aren’t dangerous…they are. Clearly, they are a threat to mankind, but we can’t just destroy them. We might be able to help even.”

“Tell me why they were made in the first place,” Sorin asked.

“Well, the texts we translated talked of an empire that wanted scouts…soldiers that would go in an advanced fighting force to weaken anyone they came across...”

Sorin looked surprised. “Wait. So, this translating project…whatever…is real?” Sorin asked.

I nodded. “Very real.” I picked up my fully charged translator and clicked it on. “As I said before, we don’t have to speak so many languages, so we never learn to. You do.” I smiled. “You slip into English so well, it’s not necessary. We are a diverse world and the vampires which we thought might be in the hundreds, maybe a thousand are a lot more.” I smile. “And we need to talk to them, so it made sense to back this project and use it.”

Sorin shook his head. “Sorry for interrupting. Back to these two. Who could think this sort of shit up!?” He asked incredibly.

I chuckled. “Many have dreamt of the perfect warrior and the perfect weapon.” I smiled at Repetate and Iustina. “There they are…so they thought.”

Sorin nodded and thought more. “Do you know what happened to this empire?”

I shook my head. “No, not really, but…” I waved at Iustina and Repetate. “There were a whole lot more of them in the beginning…I can only offer conjecture what might have happened. There is no proof. I don’t know if this empire had what we do for countering the effects…making them less of a target to their own people. I would dare to say that these weapons turned on their creators if they didn’t.”

Sorin nodded and then gave a reluctant shrug. “It doesn’t matter, they’re gone now.” He looked at Iustina and Repetate. “But they’re still here.”

“Yes, they are.” I smiled looking as they were smiling at something else they saw. “I know we’re asking a lot from you, Inspector…”

He chuckled. “Just call me Sorin.” He shook his head. “I have a feeling we’ll know each other a long time.”

I smiled at the idea. “I welcome that,” I said sincerely. “I know there will be a lot of questions later as you…” I waved at him, “assimilate all this.”

Sorin chuckled again. “I’m working on it.”

“I had a hard time with it, too,” I admitted.

Sorin looked shocked. “I guess you did. Anyone would.” He smiled. "You must have come around…you married him.”

I nodded. “He had the harder time than I did.”

Sorin looked surprised. “He did? He had a hard time.”

“When we first met…he was a vampire already on the serum. He knew about the venom and that it was in all his fluids. So, therefore in his…”

“Yes, I get it!” Sorin said quickly laughing uncomfortably holding his hands up to stop me.

I smirked. “Which is harder to accept? The fact that we’re vampires? Or that we’re gay?”

Sorin shook his head. “You’re both!” He snickered. “I do have trouble understanding being…gay…but as long as I’m not involved...”

“And until you said that, I was rooting for you.” I shook my head as I frowned.

“I admit it!” Sorin confessed. “I don’t get it.” He threw his hands out. “It doesn’t make sense!” He threw his hand out toward Iustina and Repetate. “They don’t make sense.” He frowned. “But they’re here and so are you.” He turned again to me. “Do you believe in God? How do you think He feels about what you are?”

“Are we talking about the vampire thing or the gay thing?” I asked angrily.

Sorin looked puzzled and shook his head. “No, you misunderstand.” He chuckled. “Maybe we should use the translator after all.” He smiled. “I mean…I can’t imagine a man I would be attracted to enough to make me want to have sex with him.” He waved at me as if to physically shove the miscommunication away. “We are attracted to what we’re attracted to. We all do have…things...” He smiled. “Many don’t care for what attracts me.”

“And what are you attracted to?” I asked now curious.

Sorin was beginning to turn pink. “I like my women…” he scratched the side of his nose as he was embarrassed. “…let me say…I like meat on a woman.”

I smiled and nodded. “Oh.”

He held his hand up again. “Not fat, no, but a few extra pounds…soft and round.” He watched as I was apparently my nose was turning up and pointed at me. “See!? You’re not attracted at all…that’s what I meant. You’re not involved, so that’s what I meant about the gay part. I don’t want to be involved.”

I nodded. “I get it.” I looked at him.

“Do I believe in God?”

I shrugged and threw my hands up. “I hope so. Whether he's real or not...I can’t answer that. I have no proof. I’ve never seen a miracle or seen an angel. I’ve wanted to, but never did.”

“That means you don’t believe in magic.” Sorin nodded.

“Not the Bewitched kind of magic, no, but…” I frowned, “there’s magic all around us.”

Sorin cocked his head. “Where?”

“You have it in you.” I smiled. “You. That presence that is looking out on the world through your eyes…seeing me, knowing who I am and more importantly, who you are. That’s magic.” I smiled. “There are vampires out there that are just basic predators. They wake up, hunt and go to sleep and do it again the next night. We say they’ve lost their humanity. I say, they lose their sense of self.” I nodded. “There are wonders in the world and there are horrors, but they’re real I never could have dreamed up this life.” I sighed. “We are animals. Yet there is something different. We know what we are. I’d say that’s pretty magical.”

Sorin bowed a little. “I mean…burning bushes and things like that.”

I smiled. “Haven’t seen one.”

He nodded. “Is there anything that really surprised you about all this?” He asked indicating the caverns.

I nodded. “Oh, absolutely.” I frowned. “It was really sad the first time I had…a problem with what we were doing…killing vampires.” I held my hand up to stop his question. “I wasn’t prepared for the one we found in Manhattan…New York…wherever. New York is big.” I chuckled. “The vampire we found that night was only five years old.”

“Five!?” Sorin balked. “You couldn’t…use the serum?”

I shrugged again. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “We were still on the injections and the discs were new…and Colin said there was nothing left of the boy at that time that he was a mindless predator and I didn’t see anything but a pissed off vampire about to kill a man!”

“Five,” Sorin said in disbelief.

“There are vampires that aren’t that picky or didn’t have luck hunting, so...” I explained with a shrug. “The bottom line is they need blood. Colin, Gabriella, and the others never asked to be a vampire. It was done by someone else who wanted to kill them. Destroy them.”

“And you?”

I smiled. “Well, I was a little different,” I explained how Colin had been forced off the serum and became a vampire and I did it so he wouldn’t suffer. “He could resist so long and…he would die after he attacked me and realized what he’d done. It wasn’t his fault.”

“You love him very much.” Sorin nodded with a smile. “I can’t argue with that.”

“As far as God’s take on all of this…He understands much more than anyone else and He’s God! He knows the hearts of all of us.” I said simply. “Vampires, too.”

Sorin thumbed back toward Dragon and the others. “He has to do this five or six more days.” He said to confirm.

I nodded. “He will if he wants to see a sunrise.” I was very serious now. “You and I really don’t have a clue as to how bad it is…being a vampire. I don’t. I was a full vampire one night. Colin did it for almost two centuries.” I looked up as Repetate was looking puzzled and I realized the CD had run out. “Wait guys!” I said to them both. “I have more!” I went to the cell door and looked back at Sorin. “I’m opening the door. You’ll see they won’t be interested in you now.” I slowly opened the door and Iustina and Repetate just smiled knowing the enjoyment was going to continue. I looked at Sorin and smiled. “It’s going to work out fine, Sorin,” I assured. “We’re just people. Not all of us are fiends or something to go bump in the night.”

It was after Dragon had gone to sleep did Laurel have to retire for rest. She even called to say there was an emergency she needed to take care of and won’t be back to the hospital a while.

George looked surprised as she shut her phone down. “I’m glad you’re here, but don’t you have other patients?”

Laurel smiled. “Who can do without me a few days.” She said. “I was called in because of you.” She pointed to me and Colin. “You were all shot and…well…I hate to say it, but…money does talk and we couldn’t have a major investor killed by someone without punishing them and getting to the bottom of who shot you.” She almost bounced. “And what better medical mystery than real live vampires!” She asked pointing at Dragon’s prone form. She took George’s arm. “Now, you say you have recorded what you've found so far on a hard drive. I’d love to see it.”

I was with Repetate and Iustina a while but came back to find Sorin looking around the caverns we were in and he was nodding at what he saw. He stomped a foot on the hardwood floor and was impressed at the lack of give.

“Do you like where Dragon and his people live?” I asked Sorin.

Sorin turned and nodded. “It’s amazing!” He tapped his foot on the floor again. “What’s under here? It’s level!”

“Sand, I think,” I answered. “The ground has all those stalagmites that are jagged and the sand fills up the spaces. They boarded it up below.”

“It’s smooth and level!”

“They had a while to refine it,” I said.

He turned to me and smiled. “All these centuries…this was under our feet.” He said marveling.

“It’s a little out of town, but, other than the color of some of the rock…a cave is a cave.” I said simply. I looked at what had clearly been a lava tube at one time, perhaps millions of years in that past and only hammered out by hand at some portions to make it easier to get through. “Stalagmites and Stalactites are all pretty much the same underground.”

“And which is which again?” Sorin grinned.

“Sticks tight to the ceiling…stalactites.” I pointed up at the ceiling of the cave.

Sorin nodded. “That’s good.” He said smiling and he was looking more at ease now. “So, tell me…who tried to kill you when you were attacked?” He said leveling his gaze on me. “I still have an investigation.”

I told him about Iilya and Lucian and how they were planning something big.

“And you think this Halloween in Transylvania is that event?” Sorin asked as he worked it in his mind.

“They can do several things that night,” I said. “They feed. They make more vampires and it’s televised.”

Sorin frowned. “That would be a spectacle, but so…out there.”

“But when it begins to happen, the people won’t be scared for a while thinking that’s why they’re here…to be scared. They will think it’s part of the festivities.”

Sorin nodded as he walked over to me. “Something is keeping you here, though.” He said. “More than Dragon and his men…rescuing vampires.”

“Understand, this is an ongoing research process. We know that the original venom has gone through many people and so forth and down the line, it became what you see. There is no telling how many vampires got the venom, made it their own and passed it to another. Each time, it seems fractionally less.” I explained. “There is a vampire here that managed something no vampire can do, as far as I know. A child. He has a son.”

Sorin nodded. “And this son has something that will help you?”

“He has immunity,” I explained. “He’s not a vampire but has the venom. He has his own antivenin and antibody which George hopes to take from him and give to us.”

“But you’ll never die!” Sorin pointed out.

“There is a price,” I said. “You have to stay on the serum. If we run out, we become those things again. You saw what Dragon went through…willingly to be free of this! He doesn’t want to live forever and have no life.”

“But you do!” Sorin said again. “You do now! You have that life.” He stressed. “You’re flying around the world, eating in fine restaurants, going to exotic places…you won’t die!”

I shook my head. “We will!” I said. “Everyone dies. The problem is…we’re not going to be killed because of illness or age, but we will die. How would you feel if you know that one day, you will be killed? It’s inevitable! You won’t slip away in your sleep after decades of life or even with an illness.” I watched and I was getting angrier as Sorin’s eyes grew as I said what I was saying. “You will die! You will be killed! Something or someone is going to kill you.” I turned back as I was speaking louder than even I intended. “Or worse…you’re in an accident. A plane crashes, a car runs you over. You lose an arm or leg…but it won’t grow back, but you will live! You won’t die. You could be brain damaged and you won’t die! The only one I know that had anything close to a bearable life was Amasis, he was a god, or so he though for millennia. He stayed in a place like this for more than two thousand years!!” I was advancing as I spoke, but Sorin was backing up as I did with shock on his face. “When I saw Gabriella that first night.” I shook my head. “She was this horrible…monster…this…thing!” I said not hiding my disgust. “She was more like that undead you read about or hear about. Basically a corpse that…and thank God, had some humanity in her still. Her sense of self was still there and that was magic.” I shook my head. “I’m glad I won’t be leaving Colin…necessarily. But think about what I’d do if I lost him! Eventually, we will lose each other. We know that. Nothing lasts forever.” I shook my head. “No, I want Colin and me to have our time together, but it will end. I know that.”

“Whoa,” Sorin said holding his hand up to stop the assault I was giving verbally. “I get it.” He assured me. “But, my point is you have no idea when. It could be tomorrow or not for hundreds of years. Thousands of years. I have maybe twenty to thirty years, I hope.” He smiled. “Can’t you see where that would be what a lot of people want?”

I sighed. “Yes. I brought the same arguments to George and Colin.” I said softer. “But it’s a cheat. Fearing death. When Brett bit me, and he was the one that wanted to be a vampire, not because he would live, but to destroy Colin! He almost did.”

“That was the first bite,” Sorin said confirming.

“Right.” I shook my head. “He wasn’t that sharp in the first place, but he was insane with the turn of the centuries.” I looked at Sorin. “This isn’t a state I wish on anyone. I chose this for Colin. My mother chose it because of Willie.” I said sadly. “They were both…all of them…Willie, Colin, Alex…they were lost and lonely. They’re not anymore, but if I can have today and tomorrow with Colin, I’ll take it. Mom can have Willie today and tomorrow…maybe we can help make up the years of suffering they have.”

He gave a shrug and a nod. “I guess there’s good and bad with both.” He looked around. “Where’s everyone else? I know Colin is here with George…”

“They do nightly patrols,” I answered. “We’re trying to find these other vampires. The ones not with Dragon.”

“You can do that?” Sorin asked.

“Some of us had abilities we brought over from our days as regular people,” I said. “Gabriella and Alex have a keen sense of smell. We all do, but theirs…it’s almost supernatural what they can smell.”

“So, there is a way for you to sense a vampire.”

“We feel it when we meet one.” I nodded. “Gabriella and Alex can smell it.” I waved at Repetate and Iustina. “They can, too.”

Sorin nodded. “My non-vampire blood.”

“George has a detector he claims works. We’ll find out that night.”

We met with the others to gather what information we got that night back at the house we rented.

“These vampires are keeping it very low,” Gabriella said sighing as she sat in a chair. “I didn’t pick up a thing.”

“But they have to feed!” Colin said turning to Sorin. “What about livestock? Have there been any complaints about missing livestock?”

Sorin shrugged. “I didn’t pay much attention it, but now that you mention it, there have been some reports about someone bothering with them.”

“Bothering? How?” Colin asked.

Sorin nodded. “The livestock were all drained of blood, but there were no deaths.”

“What kind of livestock?” Colin asked.

“Cows, sheep, goats, and pigs mostly,” Sorin reported. “They need them alive to go back for more later.” He smiled. “Now that I know about it, knowing what it means, I can watch for it. But these events happened over a broad range of land. There’s no way of determining where they will hit next.”

Colin rubbed his face in his hands. “It will be Halloween night, I’m sure of it.” He looked at Sorin. “I know there will be police there.”

Sorin nodded vigorously. “Absolutely there will be…a lot of crazies and those vampires will be there added to the mix.”

Willie sat up. “Your local police will need help. Are you getting help from other sources?”

Sorin nodded again vigorously. “Absolutely, but we’re spread thin enough as it is even with support staff. It’s over all Romania.”

Shelly smiled. “Well, how about a few more?” She waved at Chuck and Mark. “We’re all certified with handguns, and we can qualify again if we need to.”

Sorin brightened. “You are agents.” He nodded. “I could deputize you. I’d be within my rights to do that.” He then growled. “But you follow orders!” He pointed to Mark and Chuck.

Chuck grinned as he saluted. “Roger that, Sarg!”

Colin smiled at what he saw. “This could be good!” He said happily. He stood up. “Now, I’ll show you what we have when we find these vampires to push back! I think we'll get things done now.”

“Push back? As in weapons? Garlic and Holy Water doesn’t work?” Sorin asked and then nodded. “Oh, yes, you said you liked garlic, Colin.”

Mark came in with…and truthfully it looked more like a toy, but that was the point. More like those really big squirt guns. “This is a serum gun.” He said opening the cartridge. “It shoots little hard pellets of the serum.”

“Isn’t that what you have shot in you!?” Sorin asked. “To rid you of that…whatever.”

“Yes, but the dosage is so low, it just hurts, if it does nothing else, it will slow them down.” Mark replied and he pulled up another…it looked like a flashlight. “And this…” Mark flipped a switch and it came on, “…is a sun gun.” He waved his hand in front of it and even aimed it at Sorin. “See? No harm to the humans!”

Sorin rose and took the two guns. “Anti-vampire weaponry.” He grinned and looked up as I knew the look. “There’s this great movie…Underworld Series…they had these great weapons!!”

There was a general groan from everyone and my mother shook her head. “No, not you, too!”

Gabriella snickered. “Here we go again.” She moaned as her eyes rolled. “Another movie fanatic!”

I chuckled. “Well, Sorin’s right, they did have some bitchin’ weapons!!”