The Vampiric Housewife (32 page)

    
Alessandro smiled. “Yes. DNA lives in the nucleus of every cell. But it also lives in the mitochondria of the cell. The mitochondria is the part of the cell that produces energy. The DNA that’s inside the mitochondria is only passed on from the female. The male’s mitochondria powers the sperm but dissolves when the sperm impregnates the egg. There are some scientists who believe that we all share the same mitochondrial DNA. That all humans descend from a single woman—the Mitochondrial Eve. These scientists believe that the human population bottlenecked when some type of disaster wiped out the majority of the human race, and for some evolutionary reason, only one woman survived and became the mother to all human children.”

    
“Like the biblical Eve.”

    
“Yes. Now, we believe that living vampires were never human, there was no mutation, at least not in that sense. You evolved along side humans and bottlenecked therefore greatly thinning out the species. The only difference between humans and vampires lay in that mitochondrial DNA. But as you’re the first living vampire we’ve met, we have not been able to test this.”

     
Valerie wasn’t sure she quite understood all this mitochondrial talk, but she definitely did not understand what it had to do with immortality. “What does this have to do with immortality?”

    
“We believe that there was a time in history when living vampires had their own communities along side humans. When the vampires bottlenecked, they had to interrogate into the human population and the mitochondrial DNA mutated to become recessive, inactive, in order for the species to survive.”

    
“So some humans carry this vampiric mitochondrial DNA?”

    
“Yes. Technically they are not human but they possess no vampiric traits. For some reason this DNA becomes activated—as it was in you—and a living vampire is born. It could work in the same way as some hereditary diseases that skip a generation. Not to imply that I consider vampirism a disease,” Alessandro clarified.

    
“Okay, I’m sorry, but I’m still not understanding the immortal part yet.”

    
“We believe—and we have seen some evidence that Venjamin believes the same thing and may even have some proof of the theory,” Jonathan said, “that it’s a matter of blood consumption. It might even be what activated the vampire DNA. A baby born with a strong desire for blood or raw meat that the parents indulge. Valerie, you do not have to drink human blood. As long as you eat your meat on the raw side, you will live an average human life. You can even consume human food, and it will give you some of the nutrients your body needs. But if you were to drink only human blood, you would not age. It is your consumption of human blood that has kept you looking twenty instead of thirty. On a diet of human blood you will not die. Venjamin thinks your children function the same way and that is why Harry is so far behind in his physical development. He drinks more blood than the rest of you slowing down the aging process. Also the less blood you drink, the more vulnerable you are to infection and injury.”

    
A sudden loud noise made Valerie cry out. Huge steel curtains moved across the windows sealing them off from the view and the rising sun.

    
“Living in a house mainly made of windows requires some strong precautions,” Alessandro apologized. “Noisy as they are, they keep the light out and protect against hurricanes.”

    
“So living vampires are allergic to light?”

    
“No. You can go out during the day. I would recommend sunscreen however. You will burn as humans burn.”

    
“And the children?”

    
“We don’t know. But we can do a simple ultraviolet light test to find out without putting them in any danger,” Alessandro said.

    
“What about the speed and the strength? We never knew we had these until running from Venjamin’s men.”

    
“Latent. You never needed them before. Surely it was something Venjamin would have wanted to test, but then you’d have the ability to revolt. If you go off human blood completely, you will lose them.”

    
“Tell me about made-vampires now.”

    
“Are you sure you want to continue? This is a lot to process and take in,” Alessandro said.

    
“We could continue tomorrow night, and you could get some rest,” Jonathan offered.

    
“No.”

    
“Okay. We have venom in our fangs—as do you. It helps subdue our victims, immobilizes them. It will also alter the genes of a human being so they transform into vampire. So we are more like the mutant vampire that Tobar imagines you to be. Our bodies are dead. We don’t breathe. Our hearts don’t beat. Our bodies don’t produce waste. But the change in our genes that is geared towards immortality keeps us alive. We can only feed on blood. Though we have no direct proof, we believe we were originally created by living vampires though we don’t know why.”

    
“How does one create a vampire?”

 
   
“A vampire must first bite a human infecting him with his venom, then the vampire drains him of every last ounce of blood, and finally he offers himself to the victim, the vampire’s blood replenishing the human’s transforming the human into a vampire.”

    
It sounded like a barbaric practice. “Why would you make another vampire?”

    
“Most do it for companionship. Eternity is lonely. But some do it for power. Selfishness. Revenge. It all depends on the vampire.”

    
Valerie rubbed her eyes then ran a hand through her hair. “If your body is dead, how do you produce sperm? How could I reproduce with my husband?”

    
“To that we have no answer,” Jonathan said.

    
“Though we male vampires can ejaculate, I have never seen swimming sperm under a microscope,” Alessandro said. “Maybe there is a very low percentage of living sperm which makes life possible, but as to how a dead body could produce that sperm, I could not tell you.”

    
“Okay,” Valerie said taking a deep breath. “Tell me about yourselves. Personally.”

    
“Tenacious,” Alessandro said with a smile. “I was a Germanic Saxon who had invaded Britain in the late fifth century. I had a particularly strong bloodlust as a human. That is why my maker chose me. He thought I would make a good sporting companion. I am proud to say that I have evolved since then. After a couple of centuries, the hunt began to bore me and I parted ways with my maker. I had always been a voracious reader as a vampire and now turned my eternity towards that pursuit. I discovered that I had an aptitude for science and medicine.

     
“I am told that I am a bit eccentric,” he said with a grin. “I change my name every century. As we entered our two thousandth year, I chose Alessandro. I do not have a last name except for tax purposes and that is Smith. Over the years I have been a lord, a warlock, an actor—hence the costume tonight. I put on a show of Henry VIII. I was magnificent if I may say so myself. I have dabbled in every business imaginable and have acquired quite the fortune. Right now Jonathan and I own and operate a resort slash casino slash nightclub on the island. We have been here for . . . fifteen years now. Let’s see . . . I have a soft spot for humans and animals though animals typically don’t like me. I love to entertain and I always have a room open for a friend. Anything else you’d like to know?”

    
She turned her eyes to Jonathan. “What about you?”

    
“I do not know the year I was born or the year I was turned. As a human I was a tribal leader on the coast of Africa. I was kidnapped from my home and taken to America as a slave before America was even America. One night a black man came to my hut and offered me freedom. I thought him a demon, but he was my only chance of escape. We ran into the fields, but we had been seen. The master and his men were after us, firing their muskets wildly into the night. Once we had found a moment’s peace to rest, the demon transformed me into a vampire. This was his idea of freedom. We soon parted ways. I’ve done odd jobs for many, many years. Then I became involved in machinery. Then electronics. Then computers.”

    
“Jonathan is the only reason we have as much information on Tobar as we do, and why our house is so impregnable. We have a security system that monitors everything,” Alessandro bragged obviously proud of his friend.

    
“How did you two meet?”

    
“Our hunting grounds overlapped some hundred years ago. Instead of battling for the territory, we discovered that we were kindred spirits,” Alessandro said.

    
“And Ethan?” she said looking over her shoulder at him. He had not said a single word this entire time, but she had felt his dark blue eyes fixed intensely on the back of her neck.

    
“Thanatos? A pity case!” Alessandro laughed.

    
“A stray we took in,” Jonathan said smiling as well.

    
“I think it’s time for bed,” Ethan said.

    
“I agree,” Alessandro said. “Valerie?”

    
“How do you plan to free Charlie?”

Chapter Thirty-four

Mystery Solved

    
The mystery vampire’s name was Ethan Shanahan. He did prefer to feast on the dying, and he was not unfamiliar to Sangre Valley or Venjamin. Rhett’s hunch had paid off. After spending a night on the street with the stench of bums and junkies, Rhett had been able to gather a wealth of information on their unnamed vampire. More humans had taken notice of him than vampires.

    
“He’s a devil,” one rather rancid man told him through rotten and missing teeth. Rhett didn’t understand how Shanahan could feast on such filth. “I seen him years ago when I was living under an overpass in Boston. Skulking in the shadows watching us all devil-like. You see him, and you know someone will be dead in the morning.”

    
“Does he live in Boston? Is that where he’s from?”

    
“The devil has no other home than Hell, you fool. I have a friend, he seen the devil in Florida. I’ve heard other stories all up and down the coast. The devil is everywhere.”

    
A street down, a homeless woman who reeked of booze and B.O. told him, “He’s the angel of death. He takes mercy on those that are sick and in pain and dying. If you’re healthy and happy, he don’t want you. He’s only after the dying.”

    
“He’s a vampire,” yet another street person told him. “They’re real, ya know. Exposure, overdoses, disease, that’s what the po-po says. But I’ve seen the bodies. Completely drained of blood. But who’s gonna believe a junkie?”

    
“Do you know his name or where he lives?”

    
The human shook his head. “No. But I know where some other vampires live. You don’t go into their hood at night, man. Not unless you have a death wish. So whatcha got for me? Some green? A little pick me up? Some beer? I don’t give nothing out for nothing.”

    
Rhett smiled revealing his fangs. The man’s bloodshot eyes transformed into huge disks. He tried to run, but Rhett was in front of him before he had even taken two steps. With one swift movement, he snapped the junkie’s neck. He was not about to sink his teeth into such bile.

    
The address the druggie gave him was for a coven of three in Brooklyn, two females and a male. Those vampires had a name for him. He had encroached on their territory some twenty-plus years back. They didn’t know about his taste for the dying though.