Science and Sorcery (20 page)

Calvin held the knife over the symbol on her chest, hesitated for one long moment, and then thrust the knife down, into her body.  There was a brief moment of agonising pain, a scream that she realised had been torn from her own throat, and then her remaining awareness just faded away.

***

Calvin screamed too as the
mana
raged into his body, a wave of energy tinged with madness and death and something he only vaguely recognised as part of Sandra’s soul.  He’d done all of the mental exercises Harrow had ordained, time and time again, and yet the roaring fury nearly overwhelmed him.  Instinctively, he reached out to either absorb it or push it away, despite knowing that either one would be disastrous.  Somehow, desperately, he held on to his link to Harrow, drawing on her strength and experience to channel the
mana
.  It couldn't be stored in his cells, but it
could
be contained within his wards. 

Fire seemed to blaze through his mind, incinerating his thoughts as easily as he had incinerated Moe a lifetime ago.  Calvin felt his mind opening wide, allowing the fire to plummet through his memories despite his struggles, followed by a series of thoughts and memories that couldn't possibly be his.  He’d drained Sandra’s memories, he realised dimly, as the fire finally started to recede.  The power he’d torn from her dying husk was safely stored now, within his wards.  Staggering slightly, Calvin stepped back from the remains of Sandra’s body and stared.  Her body seemed intact, right down to the marks he’d carved in her flesh, but the blood he’d used to make the circle had turned to ash.  He was mildly surprised that the fire alarm hadn't sounded, summoning the fire department.  Outside the circle, the sofa and chairs were badly scorched. 

Some of the mana ran lose
, Harrow said.  She sounded...satisfied.  Calvin wondered why that no longer bothered him as he picked up the knife and stuck it into his belt. 
You have saved enough, however, and when you are ready we will proceed to the second sacrifice.

Calvin nodded.  Somehow, the thought of repeating the whole process no longer bothered him either.  The rush of power, far more
mana
than his cells would ever be able to gather, had blown away all of his doubts, and fears, and the compassion he’d felt for Sandra.  Now, he knew that truth.  She’d been put on the world to serve him and die in his name. 

Carefully checking to make sure he hadn't left anything behind, he walked to the door, checked his glamour and then opened the door, heading outside.  Harrow had ordered him to cast spells intended to keep the noise from bothering the neighbours, but it was still a relief to see that no one looked concerned.  But then, these days no one would dare investigate screams that might have been caused by a vampire feeding on a human target.  Even the cops would hesitate before charging in with loaded weapons.

Quite calmly, he walked home under the glamour, slipped indoors and walked upstairs to the bathroom, where he undressed completely and piled the clothes in the bath.  A simple spell reduced all of them to fine dust, which he promptly washed away down the toilet.  No one who happened to be looking for the clothes worn by the killer would find any trace that they ever existed at all.  And the gloves he'd worn would ensure that there were no fingerprints for the NYPD to find and track down. 

He looked down at his hands and blinked.  For a moment, he was sure that he saw blood dripping off his hands, before it vanished when he looked closely.  Shaking slightly, he climbed into the shower and washed himself thoroughly.  Normally, he would have looked at the girls before washing, but somehow it no longer seemed so entertaining.  He was ready to take it further.  And Sandra had been so easy to manipulate.  He could have done much more with her if he hadn't needed a victim for the sacrifice.

It had bothered him to see her so naked, and so vulnerable – but that had been the old him.  Now, he only wished he could have taken it further, to really enjoy his powers.  The old him had been weak, a fool who refused to believe that all that mattered was strength.  He knew better now.  The world and all it held was the plaything of the strong.

Congratulations, little necromancer
, Harrow said, as he climbed into bed and closed his eyes, trying to sleep.  Her presence hung in his mind, waiting and judging. 
You’ve just graduated.

Chapter Twenty

Washington DC, USA

Day 25

The report on the vampire girl didn't make comfortable reading.  Caitlyn read it in bed on her laptop, trying to make sense of the medical jargon that the doctors had used to write their report, before turning to the summery, which was mercifully jargon-free.  Layla Griffin, as the vampire had turned out to be called, was no longer human, even if she wasn't exactly undead.  She didn't seem to need to breathe, or to eat anything, apart from human blood.  The doctors had tried to feed her animal blood, only to discover that her system didn't digest it properly. 

We cannot say if she is undead in any conventional sense of the word, but her physical changes are quite alarming.  She is extremely strong, capable of moving at blinding speed (this may be the source of the legends of vampires becoming mist, as she has not demonstrated any such capability) and remarkably durable.  There are no traces of the wound caused by an explosive bullet during her capture on her body.  Most surprisingly of all, her ovaries appear to have shrivelled and died.  It is possible that she may never be able to have children naturally.

Her fangs represent another remarkable change.  Unlike normal teeth, they appear to be capable of sucking blood out of a wound and channelling it directly into her bloodstream.  Layla appears to be capable of retracting them at will, ensuring that she would probably pass unnoticed in the mundane world.  At full extension, they cannot be missed by anyone.  But by then it might well be too late.

Some of the other changes are peculiar, to say the least.  She has developed a sexuality that pulls at everyone, male and female, who spends time in her company, enticing them into coming too close for comfort – or safety.  Her reflection cannot be seen in a mirror, nor can she be detected by security cameras, although she does represent a ‘cold spot’ on infrared detectors.  As yet, we have been unable to come up with any explanation for these changes.

The legends about vampires not being able to survive in sunlight appears to have some basis in fact.  Once transformed, Layla never went out in the daytime – and limited exposure to sunlight – and UV light – produced what can best be termed an allergic reaction.  Quite why this happens is unclear, but we can probably find a way to duplicate the effect and produce a vampire detector.

Caitlyn scowled.  The media had been delighted to hear that the vampire had been caught, but it had done nothing to stop the panic sweeping the nation.  Only two days ago, a man had been shot and killed by his neighbour on suspicion of being a vampire, even though there had been no real proof.  And, comparing his very intact dead body to Layla, it had become clear that the dead man had
never
been a vampire.  The neighbour was currently facing charges of murder, but it wouldn't stop the panic. 

Or, for that matter, the growing demands that all vampires be rounded up and isolated from the rest of the world, if not exposed to sunlight and exterminated.  The only good thing about the crisis was that books and movies that portrayed vampires as good guys were suddenly being exposed for the lies they were. 

She shook her head and moved on to the next part of the report.

It is the mental changes in Layla Griffin that represent the most dangerous – and ominous – change in her status.  Put simply, her entire ethical framework has been radically rewritten, twisted into a pattern that is literally inhuman.  She now regards humans as nothing more than cattle, her prey to hunt as she sees fit.  Like a number of patients with extreme mental conditions, she is incapable of empathising with normal humans on more than an abstract basis.  She may feel some guilt at the prospect of eating livestock (humans) but is unlikely to become a ‘vegetarian.’

In some ways, talking to her is like talking to a person from a very different culture.  Her sense of right and wrong is very different, and almost completely selfish – by some extent, it may even be considered racist (discrimination against Unchanged humans).  She attempts to manipulate the psychologists, doctors, and armed guards in her confinement, often using mental tricks to interfere with their minds.  Four different people have been caught in the act of attempting to release her, without really being aware of what they were doing.  Layla appears to consider such mental manipulation perfectly normal, without even a mild sense of guilt at her actions.  Right now, we confess to some nervousness about the security precautions around her cell.  Given the supernatural aspects of her condition, it is alarmingly likely that, sooner or later, she will succeed in breaking free.

We cannot say if she can ever be termed ‘responsible’ for her own actions.  She is not someone choosing to sin against what she believes to be right, but someone whose morals and ethical system is currently very different from our own.  We do not believe that she is capable of recognising Unchanged humans as equals, or realising the need to curb her drives and appetites.  Indeed, by her lights, her behaviour is natural and right.  Given that her pre-Change mentality was by no means sociopathic, this bears testament to the sheer power of the Change – and how it has overwhelmed her. 

In short, she cannot be ever considered to be cured and released back into the civilian population.  The convictions affecting her would make her incredibly dangerous even without the physical changes in her body.  She will hunt and kill again if given the opportunity, no matter what she promises to us, because it is part of her Changed nature.  Even if we do find some way to reverse the effects that Changed her, we may never be able to undo the mental damage.  It is this office’s very strong recommendation that Layla Griffin be declared insane and committed to permanent confinement, without hope of release. 

In other words
, Caitlyn thought,
you want us to keep her locked up for the rest of eternity.  And to hell with her constitutional rights
.

So far, the media hadn't
quite
picked up on that factor, but Senator Whitehall
had
.  Caitlyn suspected that it wouldn't be very long before someone started pointing out that vampires weren't human and therefore were not entitled to human rights – and it was only a short jump from there to declaring that all the Changed were not entitled to legal rights.  Even if they
did
have rights, the rest of the population had rights too – and leaving vampires in a position to prey on innocent human beings was a gross infringement of their rights.  Besides, the longer they waited before coming up with some kind of legal framework, the more tragedies there were likely to be.  And all of them would help propel Senator Whitehall forward, towards the White House. 

The advice she’d had from the legal advisors was complicated; clearly, they were being paid by the word.  Or, perhaps, they were unwilling to offer a blunt legal opinion because it might come back to haunt them later.  Caitlyn had been a junior agent when Wikileaks had published classified diplomatic telegrams and she’d heard of a number of careers that had been blighted because of advice they’d given, advice that was meant to remain confidential.  The result had been inevitable; advisors concentrated more on covering their asses rather than on providing proper advice.

On the face of it, the advisors agreed, Layla Griffin was likely to remain a permanent danger to the population and could therefore be legally confined permanently.  However, a minority opinion suggested that she was an escape risk wherever they put her and recommended executing her, simply because she was too dangerous to leave alive.  Caitlyn was tempted to agree with that suggestion, although the advisers warned that it might require legal backing from the Supreme Court.  Perhaps it would have been better to ask Matt to kill her rather than trying to take her alive.

She glanced over at where Matt’s body lay under the covers and smiled.  They’d fallen into bed together the day after Matt had captured the vampire, the result of stress and mutual attraction, and they’d spent the following nights together.  Matt was now a hero, according to the press, although the media hadn't worked out his true nature.  Caitlyn was hoping that they’d find a way to identify more Hunters, but so far they hadn't isolated the DNA strands that separated Hunters from normal humans.  Their best hope lay with Matt’s relatives, the doctors had decided, yet so far nothing had happened.

Shaking her head, she pushed the report to one side and glanced at the stream of new incidents that had been reported to the FBI.  Every day, something new and bizarre came in, only to be pushed aside the following day by something even worse.  Today, according to the police report that had been forwarded to the FBI, who had in turn forwarded it to the Mage Force, a man had visited a tattoo parlour and insisted on having his back tattooed with an ancient invocation for bringing good luck.  But something had gone wrong with the tattoo and it now invited
bad
luck, causing the poor bastard to suffer a whole series of accidents and disasters, culminating in the death of his wife.  He was now trying to sue the tattoo parlour, only to discover that no lawyer would take his case.  No doubt that too was a sign of bad luck.

The duty officer had asked Golem about the case and Golem had agreed that it was possible, although he was surprised that anyone in the modern era had been able to draw an invocation of any kind.  Caitlyn was surprised too; very little beyond myths and legends, all badly warped, seemed to have survived Golem’s time.  Some Hindu myths seemed to be bad reflections of the war against the Thirteen, while Noah’s Ark bore definite resemblance to Golem’s tale of two human families caught up in a war between gods.  And then there were cities that were destroyed by magic, perhaps the origin of the tale of Sodom and the other city God had destroyed.  Caitlyn could never remember the other city’s name. 

God help us when that gets out
, she thought, tiredly.  Modern religion was having enough trouble coming to terms with magic and the Changed without discovering that many of their most prized stories were actually legends from Golem’s time.  The Vatican had instructed Catholics with magical talents to declare themselves to the Church, an order of questionable legality and – practically speaking – unenforceable.  Given that every country in the world was trying to round up magic users for their own magic programs, it was unlikely that many of them would be allowed to go to Rome.  Israel had issued its own request for Jewish magicians to report to the government to aid in Israel’s defence, while various Islamic groups had taken a darker view of events.  A handful were insisting that magicians should not be allowed to practice, unless their activities were closely regulated by the religious authorities; the remainder seemed convinced that it was all a Western plot and magicians – and Changed – had to be destroyed as quickly as possible. 

The level of paranoia had to be seen to be believed, Caitlyn knew.  One senior mullah in Iran had loudly proclaimed that magicians drew their powers from drinking menstrual blood.  It had made no sense to Caitlyn until a CIA analyst had pointed out that it harked back to various blood libels made against the Jews.  They had to know it was nonsense – as far as Caitlyn knew, none of the magicians discovered in America had made a habit of drinking blood – but it hadn’t stopped the rumours from spreading around the world.  Even some of the more extreme right-wing sects in America had picked up on it. 

She put the tablet PC to one side as she glanced at the clock, and then pulled herself out of bed.  It was 7am; they needed to be on the base at 8.30, where yet another noted scientist was supposed to be presenting a hastily-written paper on the theory of magic.  Every college and university in the civilised world had established a program for studying magic, along with a number of businesses.  Apparently the mermen and mermaids were already being headhunted by businesses to work in underwater mining, which opened up a new series of legal problems.  Caitlyn couldn't see how anyone could fail to regard the Changed as human, at least the ones who didn't become snarling monsters for a few days each month, but legally speaking it was questionable if they were human.  Someone would
have
to come up with a law as quickly as possible, before the shit hit the fan.  What would happen when someone tried to refuse payment on the grounds that the Changed weren't human and therefore could be cheated at will?

The thought made her roll her eyes as she made coffee, filled two mugs, and walked back into the bedroom.  Right now, that wasn't even the most serious problem on the list.  Some of the civilian researchers had been very inventive when they’d come up with concepts for magical research, ranging from polymorph theory to something that involved fiddling with the energy state of the universe.  Caitlyn was no scientist, but she’d shown it to a couple of government researchers and they’d been horrified at the possible implications.  She hadn't understood a word of the technobabble that had followed, but it had seemed to boil down to making the entire universe pop like a soap bubble. 
That
angle of research would have to be left strictly alone.