Fifteen

I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower on board the Nightrunner. Safe in my refuge, I leaned back against the wall of the shower to let the steaming water massage the aches out of my muscles. Out of curiosity, I examined my shoulder and saw that Quan’s puncture marks were already healed.

I knew I was going to have to give this new development a lot of thought, for I suspected the Vampyre Council would not long let me continue in my work if they thought I was putting them at risk. The question I had to answer, both for them and myself, was whether I was willing to give up all the work I’d done on my research on CJD and the vampire disease itself. I still hoped that if I was allowed to do my work in peace, I would have the answer to both mysteries within a year.

As I stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel, I had a sudden sense that I was not alone on the ship. I searched with my mind, but could find no errant thoughts. I started to relax, until I remembered my recent experience with the other Vampyri. Suddenly, I was not reassured by the mere absence of any other thought patterns, and I decided to trust my instincts that had served me so well over the past two centuries.

I let the awareness of danger cause my body to start to change, and felt my muscles harden and contract, ready for any threat. As I slipped silently through the darkness into the sitting room, I noticed a figure half hidden in the shadows.

“Hello, Doctor,” the voice growled, dripping with scorn.

“Good evening, Quan,” I answered, knowing I had the answer to my question about how much time I had . . . none! “Something I can do for you?”

Quan stepped into the light, and I saw he was holding a machete in his hand. “Yes, as a matter of fact there is.”

He ran the end of his thumb along the edge of the machete, drawing a thin line of blood with the razor-sharp edge. Smiling, he put the thumb in his mouth and sucked the blood. “I am not as sentimental as Jacqueline, and I don’t intend to let your arrogance bring disaster on our entire race.”

The coppery smell of Quan’s blood in the close confines of the stateroom helped to hasten my change. My mouth watered at the sight and smell of his life’s fluid and I could feel both the Hunger and my inner rage grow. I turned my back on Quan and poured myself a snifter of brandy, stalling for time for the transformation to complete itself.

I turned and leaned back against the bar, while swirling my brandy. “Am I supposed to be frightened by the sight of you and your puny knife?”

Quan’s lips formed a small smile, almost a smirk. “We are aware of your crusade against the Sickness, and have benefitted from your expertise in defeating our immortality. We have even adopted your methods in dealing with those we discover with the disease. Sever the head and the body dies, eventually.”

He began to cross the room, holding the machete in a two-handed grip before him as the old Japanese masters who trained me used to over a hundred years ago.

I nonchalantly raised the glass as if to take a sip, my change accelerating as I threw the contents in Quan’s face. Quan screamed as the 150-proof alcohol hit his eyes, blindly swinging the machete with all his might, burying it in the edge of the bar where I was standing a moment before.

The edge of my flattened right hand came down on the back of Quan’s neck like a knife edge, shattering the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae and leaving him disoriented and partially paralyzed.

I spun him around and slapped him openhanded across the face with my claw-hand, filleting the cheek and laying it open to the bone. Quan screamed at the intense pain and tried to change, but he was a lifetime too late.

I bent Quan’s head back and leaned forward, grabbing him by the throat with my fangs. Snarling and grunting with the effort, I worried my head back and forth, like a dog with a bone, ripping Quan’s throat out and swallowing it.

As the body fell forward, I flipped it over my shoulder and carried it up on the deck. I leaned the body against the rail while I took a match out of my pocket. I ran the match along the rusted rail until it flared into flame. Baring my fangs in a terrible smile, I lit Quan’s brandy-soaked clothing.

As flames engulfed the body, I took a final swipe at the neck. With my claws extended completely, I severed the head from the body. Stepping back, I used my foot to kick the burning body over the rail into the ship channel.

I leaned over the rail and spat Quan’s throat tissues into the water. I had no desire to eat one of my own kind. After all, I am not an animal.