The tires of the car rustled on the dirt road. A few more minutes, and we would reach our destination – the Order’s headquarters.
“Can I ask you a personal question?” I asked my uncle.
“Sure. Even two, if you like,” he replied eagerly.
“How is it that you and not somebody else became the head of the Order?”
I felt that my question might have sounded insulting, as if I didn’t think my uncle worthy of such a high position. I tried to correct myself, “I mean, you’re young. Only Lee and Geek are younger than you.”
“Inheritance, my young friend. I inherited it. My father, your grandfather, was the head of the Order before me. Actually, he was more than a leader, he had practically recreated it. You see, Sam, the Order of the Night Guardians dates back more than five centuries, but the Civil War was not just a clash between North and South. There was also a war between daytime and nighttime vampires. The vampire battles were much more terrible than the human ones, and both sides were nearly wiped out. There were no victors and losers, only thousands of victims and barely a few hundred survivors who decided to leave the battlefield and crawl to their hidey-holes. So by the start of the 20th century, the organization had ceased to exist. Your grandfather got inspired by the stories of the Order that he heard from his grandfather in childhood, so he decided to restore the brotherhood – and quite succeeded in it, as you can see. For this reason, 1955 is considered the year of the Order’s rebirth. As you know, my father had died tragically before you were born. After that most of his companions who had devoted four decades of their lives to the organization decided to retire. And I, as my father’s heir, was tasked with leading the Order and assembling a new team – which I did.”
“But wasn’t Rettle in the Order even before you?”
“Oh yes, he was among the first vampires your grandfather recruited. In fact, they created the new Order together, shoulder to shoulder. Rettle was my first teacher, too.”
“So why didn’t Rettle become the next leader?”
“Good question. You see, Sam, although our organization is very democratic, even we have a couple of very strict rules. One of them is that only an original vampire, like me and you, can be a leader. Rettle, unfortunately, is a converted one. He had been human before.”
“Someone converted him? Like in the movies? Bit him and he became a vampire?”
“Yes and no. He was converted, but without biting. It’s more difficult than that. If vampirism spread through saliva, we would have probably been the dominant species on the planet by now. Bessie will explain to you how this all works in more detail.”
“How did it happen to Rettle?”
“No one knows for sure, he’s never talked about it. But my father told me he had been made one against his will, during the war.”
“World War II?”
“Yep.”
“I’ve wanted to ask this for a while now. How could Rettle have fought in World War II, when he looks your age?”
“Another good question. It’s all about proper nutrition, or rather, improper,” Uncle smirked. “Bloodberry is great stuff, but it can only, well, maintain us. Blood is something else, it makes everything better. Human blood makes us even faster, even stronger, it speeds up our regeneration manifold, helping the body regrow cells. And what is a youthful appearance? It’s just how young your body cells are. So, if one uses human blood in proper amounts, the aging process can slow and nearly stop.”
“Stop aging? So we are immortal after all?”
“Well… in theory. In practice, not so much. Fleming studied this issue. Eventually, it will take more and more blood to hold back aging. A gallon might be enough for you now, in ten years you’d need two, in fifty years a whole barrel, and in two hundred years you’d have to live in a tub of blood. So sooner or later you would begin aging to your death. But in an ideal situation, Fleming thinks that a vampire can endure for eight hundred to a thousand years on the right “diet”.”
“Hold on, are you saying Rettle drinks human blood!?”
“Not now.”
“What do you mean, not now? Did he yesterday? Or the day before?”
“No, no. It’s been fifty years or so. But then again, they say, he practically bathed in it during the war.”
“Bathed? In blood!? And that doesn’t bother you – that you work with a serial killer?”
“It’s not that simple,” Mike lifted his hand from the steering wheel and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It was war, and he was killing enemies. Rettle was a Russian soldier, fighting the Nazis. You know who the Nazis were and what they did. War is war! All soldiers kill, and it doesn’t change anything that he drank enemies’ blood. He fought for the good guys, and who knows how many innocent lives he saved by killing a hundred Nazis.”
Uncle looked at me. I had a protesting expression. I didn’t share his views at all.
“Sam, you’re all grown up now and need to realize that the world isn’t black and white, there’s a hundred shades of gray.”
“I think it’s simple when it comes to murder. One is a victim, the other is a criminal. And why are you defending Rettle anyway?”
“So you think it’s that simple, Sam? Do you really?” Mike sounded annoying. Apparently, he took my criticism of his old teacher as a personal affront. “Just a few days ago you became a murderer yourself! And it was the right thing to do!”
Uncle checked himself. He understood that a memory that kept me awake at night was not the best choice of argument. Mike looked at me with eyes full of compassion and patted my knee.
“Sorry, I absolutely should not have said that. Forgive me.”
His words sent a pang across my heart, but he was right. Who was I to judge others?
“It’s okay, you told the truth,” I said.
“Truth or not, I shouldn’t have said it. I’m very sorry. It’s just… You see, Rettle had taught me and brought me up since I was a kid, and later, when we started working together, he saved my life a hundred times. Sure, he’s an emotionless stony-faced robot, but he’s my friend, my brother, hell, he’s like a second father to me. And I can’t sit and listen to people judging him. Understand, Sam, real life is very complicated. We were born vampires, we have no one else to blame for our actions, but Rettle used to be human, he was converted against his will. If anyone is to blame that he killed people, it’s those who made him what he is. I’ve known Rettle for almost thirty years, and trust me, he will never kill someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
The car was now on the Order grounds.
“Hurry up. Bessie must be waiting for you. Today is your first Vampire Studies 101 class.” Uncle smiled. “And I’m going to take care of your business – school and stuff.”
I nodded and stepped out. Lee was at her usual place, this time with Geek. Saying hi, I went further in. Bessie was knitting on a sofa. Her needles were flitting twice as fast as in hands of any ordinary granny. Apparently, vampires were much better than humans even at knitting. When Bessie noticed me, she put aside her work and welcomed me in a kind voice, “Hello, Sammy. How are you today? Did you sleep well?”
“Hello, Bessie. I’m all right. Didn’t get much sleep. A new place, I guess.”
“It’s okay, you’ll have time to make up for the lost naps. You are young, you have your whole life ahead of you. Ready to study?”
I nodded.
“Then follow me.”
Bessie led me to the door at the far end of the room. It opened to a hallway, with five more doors on either side. Bessie explained that all except the first one on the right were the Order members’ quarters. Even though only Rettle and Lumberjack lived there on a permanent basis, every Night Guardian had a bedroom of his own. Pointing to the second door on the left, Bessie said that that room would be mine. For now, the door we needed was the first one. It led to a mini-version of a school room with a teacher’s desk, blackboard, projector and five desks for students.
Bessie took her place at the table and offered me to sit at the front desk. As soon as I got comfortable she started her lecture, “So, what is vampirism? There are two basic theories on this subject. Each of them has serious arguments in its favor. According to the first theory, we belong to independent biological species. According to the second one, we are still people who suffer from some kind of genetic disorder with such symptoms as great strength, the presence of fangs and all the rest that we have. We won’t be arguing about these theories because there is no point in that. I’d better tell you what is happening in your body at the moment. And perhaps it’s better to start by saying that vampires can be of two kinds – original, like you, who inherited the vampire gene, and converted who got this gene some other way. As you know, at the age of twelve-thirteen children begin puberty. When the right age comes, the brain starts sending signals to sex glands, which, in turn, start to release hormones into the blood. These hormones stimulate growth and development of all body systems from bones and internal organs to the brain. That is when ‘sleeping’ characteristics and peculiarities reveal themselves. The reason for the occurrence of vampirism – the so called V-gene – is also dormant. It is activated toward the end of puberty, thus, showing its first signs at the age of sixteen-seventeen. Under the influence of V-gene significant changes occur in the bone marrow. Gradually, instead of erythrocytes, it starts to produce new, so to speak, ‘vampiric’ blood cells. By analogy with red blood cells and due to their color they are called black blood cells or mavrocytes. That’s why our blood is black, not red. In humans, erythrocytes are responsible for the oxygenation of the tissues. In our bodies, mavrocytes replace several inner systems at once. It is these black cells that extract all the necessary substances and microelements from human or animal blood. By the way, we do have red blood cells, but in a considerably smaller amount. Mavrocytes are much more complicated elements than human blood cells that’s why they are compared to viruses, and some specialists call these black blood cells animalcular organisms which live in a mutually profitable symbiosis with vampires. According to this version, a vampire is a kind of lichen consisting of an association of fungi and microscopic green algae.”
Bessie noticed the puzzled look on my face at the mention of lichen and quickly returned to the main topic of her lecture.
“So, due to the fact that mavrocytes virtually substitute most of the digestive system in our bodies, as well as undertake functions of other important organs, the whole mechanism of reception and distribution of necessary substances and energy works more efficiently in vampires’ bodies. That’s why our organisms have a lot of spare time and energy that they spend on producing harder bones, muscles, skin and everything else. As you see, no magic or bites of radioactive spiders required. All our superpowers are explained just by more effective work of our internal organs. It’s similar to the rest of the animal kingdom. A cheetah runs faster than a lion not because of some magic potion but because its body is better accommodated to rapid movement.”
“And where do all the problems with garlic, sunlight, and silver come from?” I asked.
“Side effects are another argument in favor of the theory that we are independent biological species. The matter is that every species has its own list of tolerable and intolerable substances. You’ve probably heard that chocolate is deadly to dogs? It contains theobromine, which is metabolized in them more slowly than in humans. There are also reverse examples. Vultures and other scavengers are able to digest dead, tainted flesh without any harm to their organisms while it is lethally dangerous to humans. It's all about the organization of the body and its particular parts. We are stronger and faster than humans, but don’t tolerate garlic, silver and have hyper-reaction to sunlight. In fact, it’s by far not the full list of substances contraindicated for us, it’s just that other harmful agents are found in the surrounding environment too rarely to be concerned about them. Like, for example, Fleming discovered that bismuth is even more dangerous to us than silver, but it’s nearly impossible to find it in a pure form. However we are very lucky compared to humans. Vampires are not affected by any human diseases and poisons. Mavrocytes simply avoid harmful substances, bacteria, and viruses and they are removed from our organisms without any consequences. Our alcohol immunity also resulted from it, as its intoxicating effect is explained by the influence of ethanol which is considered a poison on a large scale.”
There was a knock on the door. I turned around to see Rettle looking impenetrable like a stone as usual. He did not say anything, but Bessie understood him at once.
“All right, Sammy, it’s enough lectures for today. To be continued tomorrow. I’ll explain the converting process. And now you have a martial arts lesson.”
“Thank you very much, it was very interesting.”
Bessie answered with a friendly smile.
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