Chapter 11: Weird Science

He finally found it on the fifth page.

A Duplex on Lignellsgaten street burned to the ground in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday. The initial investigation points to a gas leak, which caused a fire and subsequent explosion on the second floor that blew out the walls and completely destroyed the structure. One body was found, and is thought to be the sole tenant in the 2nd floor apartment. The remains were so badly burned and scattered as a result of the explosion, that positive identification may prove to be impossible. Fortunately, the first floor apartment was vacant at the time.

“It looks like we’re out of the woods for now. I think we will be long gone before they’re able to piece this together, if ever. I think we have a safe passport for you Oskar, but you’re going to have to grow a mustache.” Dawson teased.

“Ha, Ha.” He felt his upper lip reflexively; then reached up and rubbed his head. “Boy do I have a headache”

“You’re lucky that’s all you have!” Eli said sarcastically.

“Yours was easier, Eli. No one has ever seen your face.” He handed it to her.

“ ‘Eli Dawson.’ But… I thought they didn’t allow nicknames.”

“Eli is a proper name in England. At least they had no objections when I gave them your ‘birth certificate’ and photograph. Congratulations! You’re now a citizen of the U.K. I’ve sent your official birth certificate to my bank in London. And no, your birth year is NOT listed as 1761. I picked your birthday myself, so I hope you like it. Your official birthday is 183 days, or half a year, after Oskar’s. Since Oskar’s is May 30, 1969, yours is November 29, 1969. Congratulations again! On your next birthday you’ll still be ….12 years old!

Oskar got quiet. “And I’ll be 13 in May. And 14 next May, and…” he turned and went upstairs.

“I’m sorry Eli, I forgot how his aging upsets him. I’ll go talk to him.”

“No, that’s ok, I’ll do it.” She hurried up the stairs after Oskar.

Dawson went out into the storeroom. He checked the incubator to make sure the final samples he had brought home from the lab were still stable. He had created cultures from subcutaneous samples from both the mice and from Oskar right after Oskar had infected himself. Eli’s sample had shown no deterioration after more than 10,000 divisions, and he was close to the 10,000th division in the mice. Their cell growth rate was faster than normal but only about a fourth as fast as Eli’s. So far, Oskar’s cell growth rate was erratic, ranging from normal to about 25 times normal, which probably correlated with his increases in appetite, meaning it would be impossible to predict when the 10,000th generation would be reached. He had no idea what it meant, but the four mice recovering so quickly from exposure to sub-freezing temperatures suggested that they may have at least some of Eli’s regenerative capabilities. Since Oskar’s head wound also seemed to heal abnormally fast, he appears to have inherited this ability also. What am I missing? It seems as though the two cultures I fabricated have unpredictable effects. Oskar’s injection contained a much higher percentage of the critical DNA strands from Eli, yet shows the same limited signs of regenerative ability. He acquired the ESP but it seems limited in odd ways and superior to Eli’s in other ways. All I can do is wait and study the samples when they reach the 10,000 division mark and I can compare them to Eli’s control sample.

He scratched his head, and realized he was already a bit late for work. He closed the storeroom door, picked up his briefcase, and got into the car.

===

Eli followed Oskar into their room. Oskar had already taken his clothes off and was sitting on the edge of the bed. He saw her come in and quickly slipped under the covers and turned toward the wall.

“Oskar, please. Can we talk?”

Oskar didn’t respond.

Eli slipped out of her clothes, lifted the covers, and gently slid in behind him. She pressed herself against him, brushed his hair away and kissed him on the back of the neck. “Oskar, please talk to me.”

“Its just that…sometimes I think too much about what’s going to happen. I’m sorry.” He turned toward her and pulled her close. There were tears in his eyes as he softly kissed her. Eli, you are so beautiful to me. I feel so warm inside when you’re next to me. I love knowing that you love me back. I love to touch you, to smell your hair, to hold your hand. You are so sweet and kind and… He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her forehead. He hugged her tightly and pressed his cheek against hers.

Eli was overwhelmed. Oskar’s feelings washed over her in a flood of warmth and devotion so strong it took her breath away. She closed her eyes and gave herself to him. She went limp in his arms … ‘Elias! Elias! Where are you?’ He rushed into his father’s arms and was spun around and around. Visions of his mother’s smile, his brother’s laughter and playful teasing, and the look of pride on his father’s face as he led the oxen in the field for the first time, rushed back to him from the distant past. He could see them all sitting around the table talking and laughing. He could feel his sister brushing his hair and teasing him because he was such a pretty child. He could feel her love for him as he helped her plant the garden and carry the clean clothes from the stream. And Mama! Dear, sweet Mama! He remembered curling up in front of the fire with his head in her lap as the winter storm raged, her fingers rubbing the back of his neck, soothing his fears of the dark and foreboding world outside. Then she cried for all she had lost, and would never get back – and was comforted and strengthened by Oskar’s love. They lay like that, their faces close, looking into each other’s eyes, bathed in each other’s thoughts, until they gradually nodded off together.

.==========

“Ha! I beat you again.”

Eli frowned, “How are you doing that? There must be a trick. Tell me!”

“Well, I’ll show you one trick but you’ll have to figure out the rest.” He drew another tic-tac-toe on the note paper. “Now if I go first, I always put my X in the center, like this. Now if you put your first O anywhere but in a corner, I will always win. Like this.” He showed her the sequence of moves. “See? No matter what you do, I’ll always win.”

Eli smiled, “Yes! I see that now. Let’s play again!”

Dawson watched them with great interest. Eli had never seen the game before, so he wanted to see how quickly she learned the strategy.

Oskar went first again, but put his X in a corner, rather than the center. Eli paused for a minute, thinking. Then she nodded to herself and placed her O in the center.

“Right!” Oskar said.

She never lost again. After an hour of draws, they agreed to stop.

“Lets go play with the mice. I have to clean their cages anyway.” The two of them raced for the garage. He heard the door bang open as they elbowed each other, each trying to get through the door first.

Dawson smiled to himself. The two of them think so much alike, its spooky. Eli is clearly quicker than Oskar, but that may be because of her years of experience and her doggedness. Or perhaps it’s simpler than that. She may just be very bright. He smiled at the idea that he was even considering the possibility that perhaps vampires had significantly higher IQs than non-vampires. He suspected that human nature could make that an even harder obstacle to overcome that the superhuman predator or blood-drinking part of vampirism, if vampires were ever accepted into society. Special schools for vampires? He could hear the complaints already: ‘Discrimination! We can’t allow that! They’ll take over all our governments and financial institutions! It’ll be us against them.’ Where have I heard these arguments before?

He had finally gotten his results on the 10,000th division on both the mice’s and Oskar’s samples. Both had the same high viability as Eli’s own cells, which supports evidence that Oskar and the mice have limited regeneration capabilities, but…on the other hand…. He looked more closely at Oskar’s chart. He suddenly realized that there was a significant problem. Something was going on here that didn’t make any sense. It could imply that…no, that’s impossible! But it would explain at least one of Eli’s symptoms. But the fact that those characteristics of Oskar’s cell divisions were exactly like those of the mice could be the key. He had to look at Eli’s control sample to be sure, but this was definitely a real possibility. And not necessarily good for Oskar in the long run.

========================

The day was fast approaching. They were scheduled to leave for London on the fifteenth of June. Packed boxes were everywhere. Oskar was in the garage, cleaning the cages and feeding the mice.

Eli came into the kitchen while the Professor was setting the table. “Sit down Eli, I have something I wanted to discuss with you. As you certainly know, Oskar’s birthday is next week. I would really like to have a small celebration for him, in spite of how he feels about it. His whole life has been uprooted and I can’t help but think he needs it, whether he thinks so or not. How do you feel about it?”

“I really want to, but I don’t want him to get upset.”

“Don’t worry about that. I have something to give him that may cheer him up a bit.”

“What is it? Tell me! I promise I won’t tell!”

“Now how would you keep a secret like that from Oskar? Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“I’ll give you a hint. A birthday cake is involved.”

“What kind of hint is that? There’s always a birthday cake!”

“Take it or leave it.” The professor smiled.

“You’re mean! Maybe if I touched you I could read you…” she grinned evilly as she reached for his arm.

He suddenly grabbed both her hands in his and spun her around in circles. Her feet knocked a book off the end table as she flew by. Just as quickly, he set her back on her feet. “Did you read anything?” he laughed at her.

“No fair! You didn’t give me a chance!”

He hugged her and lifted her off her feet. “Eli, I really want to do this for him. Could you try to convince him to let us do it?”

She smiled at him, “I’ll do it! Don’t you worry. He’ll do it for me.” She ran off toward the garage.

Dawson had thought this out carefully. It was a delicate situation. How to break the news to Oskar without upsetting him? Doing it during his birthday party was the best he could come up with, since it would emphasize the plus side of the situation. In fact it was possible that Oskar would not see any downside at all.

He went over his notes again. The culture used to inject the mice had the bat male/female chromosome stripped out entirely, yet they seemed to be exhibiting some of Eli’s traits, albeit to a much lesser extent – but none of what would be called the primary Vampire, or bat only traits. Clearly the bat male/female chromosomes play an integral part in the process of creating the Vampire traits and dietary needs. Oskar’s injection was from the untested batch in which the bat chromosomes had been removed and in which he had reintroduced Oskar’s own male chromosome pair, to make standardized DNA testing easier. Yet Oskar had also picked up some of the same traits the mice did. The differences might only be in the degree of trait strength exhibited, but much more testing would have to be done to determine the differences. He also needed to determine the effects that Oskar’s male chromosome pair had on the Vampire DNA segments he had spliced into the strand and vice-versa. Which brings up the underlying question: Which of these traits are common to both Oskar and the mice, and which are Vampire DNA-segment related? It almost appears as though some sort of intermediate parasitic species was involved before the vampire parasite, which is activated by the bat sex chromosomes, became dominant. And they apparently are not co-dependent. If true then this is a rare case of a symbiotic relationship between two independent parasites, both equally transmittable, but only one dependent on the bat sex chromosomes to become active. But Oskar’s sex chromosome IS present in the hybrid DNA. Perhaps the “device driver,” doesn’t work with human sex chromosomes, which would be fortunate for Oskar in this case. However, the fact that this vampire parasite was still lurking in Oskar’s system didn’t make him feel any better.

==========

Eli watched Oskar for a few minutes in silence as he cleaned the cages. “Oskar, I have a favor to ask you.”

Oskar looked up, “Sure! What is it? Ask away.”

“Could we celebrate your birthday?” she crossed her legs, and looked down at her feet, “It would mean a lot to me” she looked up at him with her best doe eyes. “Please, Oskar. Would you do it for me? I already bought a present for you and everything, and the Professor is going to make a cake.”

“Eli, I really…” He saw the pleading look in her eyes and melted. “Ok. Sure. If that’s really what you want.” It might be fun after all. And a present from Eli. What could that possibly be? What do vampires buy for birthday presents? He smiled at her.

=========

“Well, how did it go?” the professor asked.

“He went for it. I told you I’d get him to do it.” She said, cheerfully.

“Good!. Now as long as you’re here, there are a few things I’d like to discuss with you. How long has it been since you last hibernated?”

“The last time was about a year ago, before I met Hakan.”

“Is the length of time between hibernations always the same?”
She thought about it a minute. “No, I hibernate about every three to six months for one to two months or so each time. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without it.”

“Can you tell when you’re about to hibernate? Are there any symptoms?”

“It usually happens if I have had trouble … getting food for a while. I get really tired, and I just sense when I have to go find a safe place to sleep – usually a cave or some other dark place away from anyone.”

“Promise me you’ll trust Oskar and me the next time this happens and give us as much warning as you can. I promise you, you will be much safer here with us.”

“I promise. But I haven’t even thought about it for the longest time. It’s as though it isn’t a part of my life any more. How could that be?”

He put his hands on her shoulders, “I think its because you are getting more than enough to eat. My theory is that, as long as you are well-fed, your body feels no need to hibernate. Have you noticed any changes in your eating habits? I have and I want to see if you have noticed the same things.”

She thought about it a while. “I know I eat almost two liters a week now, but when we started, all I could eat was one liter a week at the most. Before that, I could survive on a liter or so every two to three weeks. But I was hungry all the time.”

“And yet now, you don’t gain any real weight. The first month or two, I saw almost daily changes right after you ate. Your cheeks would fill out and your arms and legs would firm up and you would look like a normal twelve-year-old for a day or two, then you would begin to deteriorate quickly. Once we got you up to two liters a week, the changes became much less noticeable. Now, you are very stable at two per week, without any discernable changes. How do you feel?”

“I have almost forgotten what it was like to be hungry. Until the other night at the apartment; then, when I got angry, the feeling came back and I couldn’t control it…” She looked down.

“That wasn’t your fault. It doesn’t count!” he looked her in the eyes. “I want you to remember that. He shot you twice. Either wound would have been fatal to a normal person. You had no other choice.”

“But I didn’t choose! It just happened!”

“In either case, you are blameless. The consequences of inaction would most probably have been our deaths – or at least mine. He couldn’t afford to leave any witnesses after he thought he had killed Oskar. You saved our lives.”

“Now, back to the point at hand. During your 200 plus years as a vampire, you have probably been in a state of near starvation 95 percent of the time. You went through the Change at the drop of a hat during that entire period. You’ve been able to behave pretty much like a normal human being for a mere five months of that time. You no longer sleep in a cave, or a cellar, or a hole in the ground, or a bathtub. You no longer sleep alone; in fact, I’m not sure you could easily do so any more.

I’ve noticed other changes too. Oskar has corroborated them. Your nightmares are becoming milder and less frequent. And Oskar tells me that when you first slept together, that sometimes he would wake up and you would be lying there with your Changed eyes open, looking at him.”

Eli looked embarrassed, “Oskar’s right. I would wake up disoriented, and for a moment he would look like lunch.” She smiled sheepishly. “If I had felt he was in any real danger, I would have left, like I did in our basement in Blackeberg once.”

“No, No, that’s not the point. You have much more conscious control over your Vampire persona than before. It’s almost as if it is becoming somewhat dormant. But, as was evidenced last week, it’s always there when you need it. You also no longer change at all when you eat.”

“You’re right, I hadn’t thought about it before. I don’t ever have to try anymore.”

“Eli, you’re turning into a child again. You’re part of a family now You are with people every day who aren’t trying to take something from you, and who care about you deeply. How does that make you feel?

She smiled at him “Happy. But I’m always afraid it will all go away and everything will be like it was before.”

“Maybe this is nature’s way of trying to balance the scales for you, Eli. According to my score card, you should be guaranteed at least another 200 years of happiness just to break even.” The professor winked at her.

He paused, “Eli, I also wanted to ask you some personal questions, if you don’t mind. Just stop me if you get uncomfortable.” He thought he knew the answers, but he needed to be sure.

She looked at him questioningly and nodded.

“Why was Hakan willing to stay with you, in spite of his knowledge of what you were? Was he afraid to leave? Had you threatened him?

“No, I could never do that. He was with me because he thought I was … beautiful. He said he loved me but I don’t think he really did; I think he just wanted to … do things with me.”

“You mean, things of a sexual nature?”

Eli nodded.

“Have you had problems like that in the past?”

“Yes, a lot. At first, I would sometimes…let them, if they would get me blood, but it was only when I was weak and couldn’t get it for myself. Sometimes they liked it if I pretended to be a boy, sometimes if I pretended to be a girl. But I never let Hakan do anything but touch me…”

“Eli, stop. You are not to blame for any of this.”

“But I could have stopped them any time, but I didn’t…”

“No, you couldn’t have. You would have starved to death.” Dawson was upset. “You have to understand that! Even with your power, you had to do what they wanted you to do.”

“I know, but it made me feel bad anyway. It made me feel even more lonely. Oskar is the only person I ever met who liked me and didn’t want … that. And you.” She smiled, and looked down, embarrassed.

“Eli, when we get home, I’m going to show you that there are many more good, decent people in the word than you could ever imagine.” He thought he had seen enough of her life, but this made him angry all over again. How anyone could do such a thing to a child, especially this child, was beyond his comprehension, but obviously there has been no shortage of them, all contributing to Eli’s 200 years of misery.

He took her hands in his. “Eli, I want you to know you can talk to me about this anytime. Is there anything else about this that bothers you; that you would like to discuss with me right now?”

She nodded, “Hakan sacrificed everything for me. He wouldn’t tell them where I was, he poured acid on his face to protect me, and he asked me to take his blood and kill him in the hospital. But I never really gave him anything in return. What does that mean?”

The professor thought about it, “Eli, I think that it means that he did love you in his own way. Things concerning love are complicated even for normal people, but for a pedophile, they get severely twisted and distorted. I don’t know enough about him to know what truly motivated him, but, yes, I think a part of him may have loved you, because you gave his life meaning. Saving you by sacrificing himself may have been his last attempt to do something good and decent.”

She shook her head, “I don’t understand.”

“All you need to understand is that you may have brought out the little good that was left in him. And he used it to protect you from harm.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“That’s a good thing!”