Moonlight Medicine: Inoculation (41 page)

With that he turned and disappeared into the kitchen. Evelyn felt like she should go to him, but then she spied Clem and Kim on the stairs. “Sorry about the commotion. Everything’s… fine. I just had a nightmare.”

Smiling sympathetically, Kim nodded and turned to leave, grabbing Clem’s elbow when he lingered.

“You sure you’re alright, Evie?”

Evelyn rose from the couch and nodded to him, and only then did he let Kim lead him back upstairs. Turning, Evelyn found Nicolas staring at her, his expression forlorn. “You still fear me?”

Sighing, Evelyn shook her head. “No, like I said, Nicolas, it was just a nightmare.”

She walked over to the table to gather up her notes and shut down the laptop, knowing that she wasn’t going to get anymore work done that night. Nicolas rubbed his eyes and looked over the mess of research on the dining room table and the cold mug of coffee.

“You work all the night?”

“I need to get through all this as fast as I can. There’s just so little time left.”

“Da…have you found anything?”

Evelyn shrugged. “Maybe. Honestly, I can’t even remember anything I read for probably the last four hours before I dozed off.”

“Then you should sleep.”

Evelyn finished tidying the papers and her notes and closed the laptop. She could feel Nicolas watching her. “And you should go back to sleep. I still expect you to translate for me all day tomorrow.”

Nicolas had closed the gap between them and Evelyn felt his breath on the back of her neck. “Da.”

His proximity made Evelyn hastily retreat into the living-room towards the stairs. She called back over her shoulder. “Goodnight.”

“Spokoynoy nochi.”

*

Evelyn slept fitfully until around eight-thirty. No more nightmares haunted her, but she still felt uneasy. She felt like she was forgetting something important, and just when she was dozing off, she’d wake again with a start, trying to remember what it was she’d forgotten. Certain that it was her brain’s way of dealing with the stress of trying to find a cure within the notes Nicolas had smuggled out to them, Evelyn attempted one relaxation technique after another, before she finally admitted defeat and got up. Kim’s bed lay empty and Evelyn heard voices downstairs, so after a visit to the vacant bathroom, she headed down to find some breakfast and face…well, everyone.

Clem was the first to greet her from his place at the head of the dining room table. “It’s a-live!”

“Haha, gimme a break, it’s only eight thirty, not like I slept till noon.”

Evelyn meandered towards the kitchen, but Clem shook his head.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I was you. Nicky and Dave are having a bit o’ a spat about the right way to make French toast. Here, sit. I’ll get ya some OJ.”

Rubbing her forehead in frustration, Evelyn sat as Clem poured her juice from a carafe on the table. She noted an extra chair from the kitchen and modest table settings of plates, glasses, napkins, knives, spoons, and forks.

“Where’s all my notes and my laptop?”

“Dave took it all downstairs earlier. I think he mighta said a-somethin’ ‘bout not wanting you to spill OJ on your laptop.”

Evelyn nodded. She was itching to look at her final notes from last night. Moments later Kim came in with a plate of French toast and Nicolas followed her with a plate of bacon. He paused when he saw Evelyn.

“Good morning. I expected you would sleep longer.”

“I…couldn’t sleep anymore.”

He placed the bacon on the table and sat next to her. Evelyn had hoped Kim would take that seat, but she’d sat on the other side. The awkward silence that followed was broken by David’s entrance with a platter of scrambled eggs. Avoiding eye contact with Evelyn, he sat next to Kim.

“Well, I’m not standing on cer-a-mony. Evie, hand me that plate o’ French toast.”

Evelyn passed the plate to Clem while David and Nicolas both reached for the bacon. An ill look passed between them as David pulled it towards him.

“The butter and syrup!” Kim leapt from the table and sprinted back into the kitchen, breaking the tension. Nicolas picked up the eggs instead and placed them between himself and Evelyn.

“Ladies first.”

“Thank you.” Evelyn scooped a helping of eggs onto her plate then handed Nicolas the serving spoon.

Kim returned with the butter and a plastic bottle of real Michigan maple syrup. “So, Evie, are David and I going to help you with more translations and stuff today? Do you think we’ll be going to the lab tonight?”

Taking a proffered piece of French toast from Clem, Evelyn nodded. “Yes and no. You guys can work off the notes that Nicolas already sent up here and Nicolas and I will work on the notes he brought with him in the basement since he’ll be dictating to me and I don’t want it to distract you.” She swallowed some eggs then continued. “I don’t think we’ll have enough yet to start something in the lab, but I’ll let you know the moment I think I’m wrong.”

The breakfast conversation died out there, though breakfast continued for another twenty minutes or so, ending with Clem insisting on cleaning up so that everyone else could get right to work. Even with the promise of a day in the dark and damp of the basement, Evelyn was glad to get away from David’s brooding and get back to work. She also avoided discomfort with Nicolas by keeping everything strictly business, steering all conversation towards his translations of the Vulke research. Sadly, her initial vigor soon evaporated under the weight of the piles of papers and their abundance of relatively useless information. The Vulke had found all kinds of ways to deactivate
Languorem luporum
outside the human body, but their scattered attempts to alter the virus once an individual was already infected all failed. One attempt using a co-infection of the virus with another virus had sounded promising at the start, but was ultimately unsuccessful. After Nicolas paraphrased translation of that disappointment, Evelyn felt exhaustion and depression creeping in.

“Lunch time!” Clem’s voice bounced down the stairs.

Evelyn glared at her watch, disbelieving the time that had passed. “Sorry, Nicolas, I think I’ll have to take a nap after lunch. You can either type out translations on my computer down here until I wake up or help Kim and David upstairs.”

The corners of Nicolas’s mouth twitched. “I will type.”

They ascended to meet the others at the dining room table, which had been cleared of David’s laptop and set once again. Evelyn was so tired, she was contemplating foregoing lunch in favor of her nap, but a stomach grumble soon had her sitting with the others. Clem emerged from the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches.

“Sand-wich-es ala Clem!”

Setting them down with a flourish, Clem bowed to them all. Kim giggled.

Evelyn rubbed her chin. “And what does that mean?”

Clem sat and rubbed his hands together. “It means I made ya’ll sandwiches. Nothin’ gour-met, but should be edible…if ya ain’t too picky,” he said, eyeing Nicolas.

Nicolas waited until everyone else had a sandwich before taking one. Evelyn marked that there were several extras. Hers was ham and cheese with mustard, mayo, and ketchup, which caught her slightly off guard. She slumped in her seat while she chewed, the effort taking its toll on her meager energy resources. Though her body felt like lead, her mind was still racing around in her head trying to think of anything she’d found in the notes so far that would mean a cure for
Languorem luporum
. Swallowing a bite, she set down the sandwich on her plate. Her eyelids drooped. Kim had asked Nicolas something, but Evelyn couldn’t hear his answer. She turned to look at him, her head moving as if through molasses, and abruptly the nightmare from the previous night returned to her thoughts
. I’ve infected him with rabies. Rabies. Co-infection. A co-infection with rabies to disrupt the virus where it integrates with the wolf DNA. No, not rabies. Something else. Something non-fatal to humans…

“Distemper virus!”

Clem, Kim, David, and Nicolas all stared open-mouthed at Evelyn.

“Huh?”

Evelyn’s sleepiness was quashed by a tidal wave of exhilaration. She stood, knocking back her chair, and began pacing. “I have an idea. It could work…but it’s so weird, not what I thought it’d be, and not permanent of course, but could work long enough…but only with the new strain, the one the USDA has been studying, the persistent one…” Thoughts transformed into words and tumbled out of Evelyn’s mouth.

“Evie, slow down, girl, speak English.”

Evelyn stopped pacing and faced the others. “Okay, so, one of the techniques that the Vulke were using to try to increase the virulence of
Languorem luporum,
and to try to make the virus more active, therefore allowing the Vulke to transform at will, was co-infection with another virus. But it always either had no effect or created a less infectious form of the virus. There are no records of a co-infection actually curing a test subject of Wolfkinism, but they were mainly using nasty viruses that can be fatal to humans. If we use a canine virus to attack the integrated lupine parts of the virus, then we may be able to prevent transformation. But it has to be a virus that isn’t cleared by the immune system, which most common canine viruses are…except for rabies, which of course is right out, but the USDA recently came across a mutant canine distemper virus, because people haven’t been vaccinating their dogs properly in the bad economy.” Evelyn took a deep breath. “Anyways, it can be vaccinated against, but once a dog has it, as far as we can tell, it never clears from the dog’s system. They always have a low level infection, and if the co-infection does what I’m hoping, it won’t really be a true cure, but a suppression of
Languorem luporum
…And, since I suspect the monthly transformations are responsible for the degeneration to the body and brain that comes with being a werewolf then suppressing the transformations should also give the person a relatively normal life post-co-infection…” A wild smile flashed along Evelyn’s lips but then faltered. “Provided symptoms haven’t already manifested.”

“What ex-act-a-ly does that mean?”

Kim cleared her throat. “It means that Evie might have found a way to keep a werewolf from changing, but that it won’t make any werewolf who is already sick or insane from the virus better or sane again.”

Shimmers of tears temporarily blinded Evelyn as her thoughts turned to the Scribe, but she swallowed and wiped them away. “It’s not perfect, but we don’t have much time and this could work…” She tugged at her lower lip. “Except we wouldn’t be able to administer or test it until two days before the final confrontation with the Vulke, because the wolf DNA is shielded by the viral DNA until transformation. And since distemper doesn’t infect humans, trying to infect the Vulke or strays now wouldn’t do anything.” Evelyn grabbed Nicolas’s shoulder. “Nicolas, I know I’ve asked you this before, but please be honest with me. Are you sure the Vulke don’t know you’ve turned on them, or that you took the research files?”

Nicolas paled and fidgeted as all eyes turned to him. “My absence will be noted, but the theft of the files…should remain a secret.”

Breath whistled from Evelyn’s lips. “We need to make sure. You know where some of the Vulke…” Evelyn wanted to say torture centers, “training centers for the strays are, yes?”

“Da.”

“Then we need to check those out and make sure they’re still active. Make sure the Vulke haven’t sensed something and cleared out. If they’re still there, we try to hit every Vulke concentration Nicolas knows about, infect the food and the water. Like I said, it’ll have to be done during a transformation time, so two days before the full moon at the earliest. But before all that, I need to steal a crap ton of the mutant distemper strain from the USDA. We’re going to need some massive help and fast…time to call Roberto.”

64

“Roberto, this is Evelyn.”

“So…is Nicolas with you now?”

“What…how…?”

A heavy sigh wafted through the phone’s speaker. “Because I know you, Dr. Eisenhart.”

Bracing herself to be berated, Evelyn continued. “Are you mad?”

“Mad? No. Positively thrilled. No one else knows about this, I take it?”

“Just the Inali…and Clem.”

Smug satisfaction oozed into Roberto’s voice. “Clem, of course, good. Listen, Doctor, let us cut to the chase. I wanted to help you recruit Nicolas to our side, but I could not risk it with the traitor still unknown, do you understand.”

Evelyn was so derailed that she couldn’t think straight. “No, I don’t think so.”

“If the traitor thought that Nicolas might identify him, he might have done something rash, something that could have gotten good people killed.”

“But this way, the traitor, whoever they are, still feels comfortable.”

“Yes…Does he know who it is?”

Biting her lip, Evelyn grimaced. “Um, I forgot to ask him.”

“You…never mind that now, but please ask him and let me know, would you? So if you are not calling about that, why are you calling?”

It took a bit of time to relay all of Evelyn’s breakthrough and plan to Roberto. In the end, she was out of breath and Roberto was less thrilled than she thought he would be. “And you are certain that you have no way of testing this beforehand?”

“If I could’ve found a way to stimulate the virus to initiate the transformation, so could the Vulke and there’d be werewolves running around today in broad daylight.”

“I see your point.”

“Good. So you’re going to get teams together to check out the Vulke, um, stronghold locations that Nicolas gave us?”

Roberto didn’t answer right away. “Yes, but Evelyn I…should we not get this other mutant virus first?”

“Well, we should know where the Vulke are to infect them first, but I can tell you where the USDA is storing the stuff…and probably get you the security code.”

“That will help.”

*

Days rocketed past and they heard painfully little from Roberto, except that things were ‘progressing’. After finally asking Nicolas about the traitor, Evelyn reported to Roberto that Nicolas didn’t know who it was, but he did know that he or she were being blackmailed by the Vulke. Nicolas described a Wolfkin child, a girl, held captive by the Vulke that he believed to be the child of someone from the Wahya or Amaruq pack and an illegal offspring of a Wolfkin pairing. It didn’t shock Evelyn that a Wolfkin on their side had broken the rules about breeding. Likely the woman had hoped that the child would somehow escape her affliction, but the very idea of a poor Wolfkin child in the hands of the Vulke sickened Evelyn. She was thankful that the Wahya had found Katie instead of the Vulke.