He laughed again. “I told you it was complicated.”
She agreed, but the way he explained it, it was fairly easy to understand. Even to someone like her whose only science background consisted of her high school classes. “Ok. Now that we have that part down and I think I understand what you are saying, what does all of that have to do with the face-eating zombie?”
“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgot about that.” He turned toward her. “You asked what happens when the vampire blood wears off. Well, the person dies,” he said matter-of-factly. “But because even though the effects may have diminished enough that the body could not continue living, there still are remnants of the cells lingering. Once the person dies, the human DNA in the blood is still present, but no longer active. The heart is not pumping and circulating, so the cells begin to die off.” He used his hands to aid in his explanation. “Now the vampire blood lingering in the system has free reign over the host, without having to fight off an immune system and active DNA. So again, after a day or two, the cells will replicate enough that they will actually reanimate the body.”
Rayne laughed. “Believe it or not, I actually get it.”
She was proud of herself. She’d only learned of their existence a few days ago, but she was already understanding how their bodies worked. She thought for a moment. “So does that mean that zombies are pretty much dead vampires?”
“No. Once the body dies and begins to further decay, the brain is damaged. Even our blood can’t repair that. The body only has limited functions, minimum motor skills, and the last thing it remembers: the desperate need for blood.”
This was getting more and more complicated. She hoped she was keeping up as well as she thought she was. “So you can’t turn into a zombie by getting bitten by one of those, either?”
Camden laughed. “No. But you’ll probably die anyway.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Even if the thing doesn’t rip you to pieces and only manages a single bite, you’re still getting bitten by rancid, rotting flesh. The infections and diseases you would get from it, even the strongest antibiotics wouldn’t help.”
Well, duh.
Rayne mentally slapped herself and tried to fight a yawn, but failed miserably.
Camden could tell that she needed rest. There would be plenty of time to talk later. They’d just done a little investigating into their only lead, and it hadn’t turned up much of anything. Until they could get a little more information on this Christophe character, they were sitting ducks. He stood. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
She nodded and watched him leave the room. It was so odd. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was different. Maybe she had become numb to his charm, or maybe she wasn’t nervous around him any longer because she knew that he wasn’t completely repulsed by her.
Whatever the reason, she liked being able to be near and have a conversation with him without getting all giddy and girly. She was most definitely still attracted to him, that much she knew. She flipped off the light and snuggled under the covers. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but her mind was too overloaded with all the new stuff she’d learned. Who would have thought, that of all things, vampires and zombies would be real?
What’s next? Ghosts? Leprechauns? Werewolves? The Boogie Man?
It seemed as though it took forever, but she eventually drifted off.
Chapter 14
Rayne awoke the next morning to the bright rays of sun peeking through the curtains in her room, feeling well-rested. She yawned, stretched, and stared up at the ceiling, her mind immediately going to work.
Since she’d been staying with Camden in his home, the nightmare had not bothered her once. She couldn’t explain it. Could it be because she wasn’t lying in her own bed where her dream always took place?
No, that’s not it.
If that were true, then she wouldn’t have had it that night at the hotel. Was it the secure feeling of being around Camden? She was near him at the hotel, but still, it had presented itself. Of course, she hadn’t really known him them. She hadn’t known that he was a vampire and what he was capable of.
I’m gonna go with that one.
Throwing the covers off of her, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stretched yet again. She didn’t bother to look at the clock. They had no new leads and nowhere to go at this point, so there was no need worrying about the time.
Rayne went through the motions of showering and making herself presentable for the day. She dressed in a pair of jeans and a Washington State University T-shirt, with a little makeup and her long auburn hair pulled into a high, straight ponytail.
She ventured from her room and down to the kitchen where she grabbed a banana and stood at the counter wondering what the day would hold for her. She knew she had a lot of thinking to do after everything she’d learned last night.
Vampires and zombies. Who knew?
Finishing her fruit, she tossed the peel and pulled out her phone. She typed a quick message.
“You up?”
A few seconds passed before her phone sounded with a reply from Camden.
“Vampire, remember? No sleep required. Come on up.”
She put her phone into her pocket and climbed to the second floor, followed the hall around to his dark corridor, and laughed as he opened the door before she could knock.
“You know, I can’t decide if it’s creepy that you can watch me on camera,” she said jokingly.
He laughed and closed the door behind her. “It’s not creepy. It’s for security purposes only.”
Rayne rolled her eyes. “Sure it is.”
She looked around the room that she had seen for the first time yesterday, and her eyes landed on the bed. The color in her cheeks began to change as she remembered that awkward moment, but she stomped the feeling down.
Camden crossed the room back to his computer and sat in the chair.
“Why don’t you have shutters installed to keep the sun out during the day? It would beat staying cooped up in here.”
A small smile played at the corner of his mouth. “I already have them.”
She shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows. “Then why don’t you use them?”
He shrugged. “I figured it would be more comfortable and easier for you to adapt to everything happening around you, if you could see outside.”
She shook her head. Was he being serious? He was giving up his freedom during the day so she could feel more comfortable? “That’s ridiculous. Close the shutters and come out of this dungeon.”
Camden laughed. “It’s ok Rayne, I’ve already banned you from going outside. The least I can do is let you look at it.”
She pressed her mouth into a thin line and gave him a skeptical look. “I appreciate your concern, but close the shutters. I don’t want to look outside today.”
He laughed. She could be rather cute when she was frustrated. “Ok, ok,” he said, and typed something into the computer.
Instantly, there was a grinding sound like a motor somewhere in the distance.
The attic, maybe
?
“Happy?”
Rayne gave a smug smile. “Yes.”
Camden swiveled his chair around to face her. He was actually thankful that she’d insisted on closing the shutters. He was getting rather bored all by himself. He stood and walked to the door. “Now that I can go out, I have something to show you,” he said and led her down the hall and into the study.
He took a key from his pocket, opened the very bottom drawer of her grandfather’s desk, and pulled out a very old, beaten-down, tattered book. Cradling the item in his hands, he gently sat on the desk and motioned for Rayne to have a seat in the cushiony chair.
She furrowed her eyebrows in question as she moved around to take a better look.
“It’s our history book.”
A smile creased her face and excitement bubbled in her belly. She was fascinated just by the fact that they even existed, but to be able to read the history of the entire species, she couldn’t wait! She sat and pulled the chair closer, hovering over the ancient artifact as her fingers gently caressed the decrepit binding. No wording was decipherable on the cover, but there were faint traces that there had been some there at one time. The dark brown leather was dried and cracked in the places that it still clung to the book, but the rest was ripped or torn away.
She looked up at him, and he smiled. “I’m afraid to touch it.”
Camden laughed. “You wouldn’t be able to read this one, anyway. It’s written in Latin and most of the pages are horribly damaged.” He leaned down and pulled another book from the same drawer. This one was much newer, with a solid white cover and nothing but the words “A History” in the bottom right corner.
Camden removed the old book and replaced it in the drawer, giving Rayne the second one. “I had it translated.”
She couldn’t believe it. He’d thought of everything. She excitedly took the book. “This is incredible!”
He nodded and moved to stand in front of the desk. “I’ll leave you to it. I have a few things that I need to do.”
Rayne nodded and anxiously opened the cover as he disappeared into the hallway.
Camden made his way back to his room and reached under his desk to a small, hidden mini-fridge. Pulling out a clear bag full of crimson liquid, he ripped the corner off and took a few sips before sitting down at the computer. He had some research to do, but he wasn’t sure where to start.
Staring at the keyboard, he willed the information to come to him. Finally, after nothing came to mind, he opened the Internet and typed in the name “Christophe.”
He wasn’t expecting anything to jump out at him, and it didn’t. The results he received were more or less just people of the present day named Christophe, an actor or two, a few writers, but nothing of any use.
There has to be somewhere to start.
He sat back in the chair and drained the rest of the blood from the bag. He did have a long list of vampires that he could contact, but he doubted that any of them would be of any help. He couldn’t very well tell them everything that was happening, and it would be difficult to explain his inquiries otherwise.
His only option at this point was to hope that Christophe showed back up at Madam Laurie’s tonight, and have him followed. It was very risky, and more than likely, this guy would figure them out before they got any real information, but it was all they had. There was nowhere else to go. Camden reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, quickly dialing Connor’s number.
The vampire answered on the first ring. “Yeah boss?”
Camden smiled at his friend’s greeting. “Feel like going on a run tonight?” he asked, and laughed when his companion replied.
“Hell yeah!”
Rayne sat back in the chair, her back cramping from having hunched over the book for several hours, and her stomach growled loudly. She glanced at the clock and was surprised to see that she had immersed herself in the book for more than four hours, and it was bordering on two PM.
Her mind was reeling. She’d taken in so much information since she’d began that she was afraid her brain was going to burst at the seams. She pushed away from the desk and moved toward the door, when something in the straight-backed chair caught her eye and a smile creased her lips. It was the book, “The Iliad.”
She grabbed it and made her way down to the kitchen. She needed to get something in her system before she did anymore digging. She went through the motions of making a sandwich, but her mind wasn’t really paying attention.
From what she’d learned from the book, in essence, the first vampire appeared around the third century when a man sold his soul to the devil in exchange for power and immortality. It wasn’t until after a ferocious, demonic beast appeared and bit him, that he learned the true, dire consequences of his deal. Because of his bargain with the lord of pure evil, he himself became as evil as his new master and was transformed into, “the dark one.” He was forced to collect souls for the underworld as his payment for the gifts that he was given, in the form of turning others into soul collectors as well. Because light banishes darkness, representing all that is good in the world, he would forever roam the night, never feeling the sun on his skin, lest it purify him and take away his evil gifts in death. It was so hard to believe. It all sounded like a horrible fairy tale, and she just wanted to get to the end of it.
Rayne pulled out a stool and sat at the counter, eating her sandwich as she thumbed through, “The Iliad.” She needed something to change the subject and occupy her mind for a while so it could process all the information being crammed into it at once.
She searched for the section of the book that told of the Trojan Horse. It was and always would be her favorite. Taking a bite of her sandwich, she found the part she was looking for and furrowed her eyebrows in question at a small envelope tucked between the pages. “What?” she asked herself out loud as she opened it and pulled out a note and a small, unmarked key.
Dearest Rayne,
I knew that you would find this letter. There was a never a doubt in my mind. It proves that you are still that little girl at heart that I lost so long ago, and even now, my chest swells with pride.
I want you to know that it was never my intention for any of this to happen. I do not regret saving your life all those years ago, and I only hope that I can do so again now.
Pay very close attention to what you are about to read. There are some things that you must know, but I cannot tell you in a single letter. I cannot take the risk of someone else finding it, so I have divided everything and hid them in separate locations. Only you can understand the clues that I have left.
Always stay near Camden. He will protect you. You are the most precious thing in my world, and THE DAY YOU WERE BORN was the best day of my life.