Page 16 of The Diary of the Vam'pir Jacques

“You are the living dead,” Claudias sneered.

“Shut up!” D’vid ordered his whole demeanour a threat to his bother.

“Now I’m definitely confused. What does the living dead mean? How can the dead live?” Pal demanded, scratching his head.

“Join the club,” another voice joined in.

I recognised Curtan from the Eastern Province.

“If you’ll let me explain with no interruptions,” Marel said.

We nodded agreement, all eager for this to be cleared up.

“What we planned to do would be to alter your DNA. We fully expected there would be pain, not as much as you all experienced, but yes, we guessed you would experience some.

“We can’t alter the gene that creates the Phase. Instead, we aimed to extend lifespans, enabling multiple Phases. That was the Great Experiment. We wanted to prolong existence. Some findings proved if Kalton’s lives were extended, then the Phase would occur more often. But in answer to your unasked questions, no, we couldn’t alter the gene.

“Nobody expected what happened. None of us predicted the extent of the agony or the emptying of bodily fluids. Luckily enough, the council had made us agree to use the stasis chambers. When death occurred, the chambers fell, saving you. But everyone did die, I have the charts to prove this.”

Marel took a deep breath.

“Why do I sense we’re not going to like the next bit?” Kait wondered aloud and looked amused as everyone glared at him for interrupting Marel.

“This is very hard to explain. The doctors had one hundred dead bodies and no explanation as to why you died. The Core was in shock and disarray. Uncertainty clouded both the events and our response. Hence, we decided to do an autopsy on Miran. Yet, as we raised the chamber and scanned his body, we noticed some very odd readings.

“Miran’s heart was beating, but the scanner showed that he was dead. His vital signs and brain activity monitors both said Miran was dead, and yet their back-up systems registered activity. No one expected what happened after…”

Marel paled and stopped talking as he churned what had happened over in his mind. It was obviously horrifying.

“Marel?” Inka prompted gently.

Marel shook himself.

“Miran opened his eyes, and before we could blink, he broke free and bit into the neck of the nurse. Miran drained him of blood.” Marel paused, and as one, we all paled, taking in the implications. “Then Miran rushed to the doors and ran up the stairs. We followed, and as he reached the door, dawn broke, and Miran… and… he turned into ash. Miran just crumbled before our very eyes. The wind scattered the ashes, leaving nothing.”

“Blood?Miran drank blood. Why?” Mera asked, appalled.

Mera was worried about Miran drinking blood. However, I was more concerned about the manner of Miran’s death because I saw the connotations, even if nobody else did.

“Because you need that to live. When you died, every single bodily fluid drained away, including blood. All that remained was a dry husk. Apparently, each night, you must have an infusion of blood to survive.”

“No, I don’t believe that,” I stated baldly.

What Marel was saying was horrifying.

“Jacques, I do not blame you. We have been studying this for over six weeks. Each night, we have to issue you an infusion.”

“I still don’t believe it,” I insisted, rubbing the back of my hand where I had the drip still attached.

“Neither did the others, and they all died.”

“Others? How many are left?” Julia asked, pushing herself to the front.

“You don’t want—”

“Don’t tell us we don’t wish to know. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be asking,” I cut in.

I was confused, and the news hadn’t sunk in. Gazing around, I could see none of us truly understood what Marel was saying. We thought this was just a temporary setback. That a cure would be found. If they had created this, then they could reverse it.

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