The Marradith Ryder Series Part 45
Justin warned me that Rafael was very serious about school work, and getting me back to a normal routine. I saw proof of that the same day my parents arrived at Leighton‘s.
A Sojourner guard arrived with a black box.
“Marradith, you haven’t had a chance to meet Daria,” Justin said.
The girl smiled and extended her hand. “I recognize you from your photo, Marradith. It’s nice to meet you after hearing so many things about you.”
I shot Justin a look. Who had been spilling information about me? I wondered.
“Daria is your Mother’s guard,” Justin said . “And a former student of mine. I taught her everything she knows about fighting.”
“One of your Mom’s guards,” Daria grinned. “It takes more than one of us to keep up with her.”
Though she looked my age, I knew that amongst Sojourners looks were highly deceiving.
Her hair was long, plaited into impeccably neat cornrows. She was pretty.
“I have to go, but I’ll be back later. It was nice meeting you. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to talk later.”
“Yes, that would be great.”
No sooner than the door was closed behind her, I turned to Justin.
“Okay, so what is she?”
“Vampire,” he paused. “You couldn’t tell?”
“Well I knew she wasn’t human, and not a Wolf. She’s walking around in the daylight, I see.”
“Yes, about that. You need to open this.” he patted the box.
I wasn’t that interested in the box, because I was looking at him. I had never seen him in a suit.
“By the way,” I said. “Where are you going, all sexy like that?”
He smiled. “I am meeting your parents for lunch.”
“Really? Both of them?”
“Yes. I am going to discuss with them what we talked about last night.”
I straightened his tie. “Whatever you do, don’t let my Dad get you angry. You sure you want to do this today?”
“I’m going to die from suspense if I don’t. It’ll be fine, Ryder.”
Now where have I heard that before?
I kissed him, and took my time about it. I could tell he wanted to stay. He pulled away quicker than I would have liked.
“I can’t be late.”
“If you insist,” I replied.
He kissed me once more, this time a peck before he turned and rushed out.
*************
I opened the box, and inside was a black laptop and a new PDA.
The PDA was pink, the same color as the cell phone that was destroyed that night in the river. I was surprised that he even remembered, considering all the things that happened since then. Better yet it was already programmed. There were separate numbers listed for my parents (listed as Nora and Paul rather than Mom and Dad). Fiona’s number. Rafael’s.
And of course, Justin’s. Which made me wonder, because Justin didn’t have a cell. Was this the number for the house back on Kitanya?
The laptop was already configured, and the inbox held one message from Rafael.
Check this computer’s C drive.
I did, and under documents was a huge list that made my head spin.
There were ordinary subjects: history, trig, literature.
And there was a separate file mysteriously marked “ The Others”.
I clicked on this first.
The “Others” were divided into two major groups: predators and parasites.
The first category under parasites was Vampires.
I opened the file. It read:
Vampire: Brethren of Witch and Wolf
The first vampires were witches that became infected with a blood borne pathogen. A small coven in Eastern Europe practiced rites in which they shared blood, and the infection spread through the population at an alarming rate.
Unknown to the human population, modern science has today isolated the virus that causes vampirism, but no cure has been found for it. Similar in composition to HIV, the virus uses the bodies own cells to reproduce.
Ironically, vampirism is the ultimate cure for all other diseases.
The dilemma of the vampire is this; while the vampires blood burns away all traces of other disease, the vampire expends energy several times faster than a healthy human body would . Therefore, the vampire must find ways to replace the lifeblood which its body exhausts at an accelerated rate, or die.
Lifeblood is not the blood of humans, but the energy that is carried in that blood. The vampire will drink human blood for sustenance. But they can also receive the same amount of lifeblood through the act of sexual intercourse with a human host. There are also rites which some vampires use, to draw out the lifeblood of a human without taking enough to kill them. Some of these nighttime rituals were attributed to incubus, a species of purebred vampires that became extinct at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Of course, vampires very much enjoy the killing of humans.
However, some vampires do develop a bond with a selected human, and the host may feel deeply bonded with the parasite as well.
Here, we will dispel some of the rumors about vampires promoted through pop culture propaganda:
1) Vampires are not Undead. Undead are Zombies (see Chapter 116, Zombies).
2) Vampires do not have an aversion to daylight.
3) They cannot change into another form, such as a bat ( see Chapter 155, Shapeshifters, 145, Werewolves).
4) Vampires can be killed in the same ways that a werewolf can; silver bullets , silver knives to the heart or exsanguination. To ensure that the body is not allowed to regenerate, the body must be dismembered and burned.
(Recommended Reading: Zombies Demystified: Naturally Occurring Sites of Zombie Re-Animation: First Hand Accounts from Lazarus, California. BloodLove: Vampires and the Girls that Love them. Shifting Reality: The Difference Between a Witches Glamour and the Power of a True Shapeshifter. )
The recommended reading lists were not chapters, but entire books.
I knew I was going to have to read the one about Lazarus first; my maternal grandmother lives there.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
©2009 Lori Titus
Lori Titus is the Managing Editor for Flashes in the Dark, and Short Story Editor for Sonar4 Ezine. Her work has been included in three anthologies so far. Most recently her stories appeared in Mausoleum Memoirs, and Toe Tags: 21 Spine-Tingling Stories by the Best New Authors in Horror. Meanwhile, she continues to write The Marradith Ryder Series, posted here weekly. For more info, see her blog at:
http://loribeth215.wordpress.com
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October 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
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October 12th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Man, I wish my library was stocked with the Recommended Reading list. Chapter 116, Zombies sounds like my kinda read.
Lori, this is such a wonderfully inventive series. You’ve made a lot of my favorites monsters fresh and interseting again. Thanks.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Thanks! So far its been a lot of fun to write
June 16th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Oh goodie study time, oh well at least she will learn what she is dealing with now.