Page 54 of Immortal By Morning
“Vampires are mythical creatures who are dead and soulless. We, immortals, are neither dead nor soulless. We are humans who have been given a scientific advancement that allows us to remain healthy and live longer.”
Abril nodded slowly, but asked, “How did your people originally get fangs if they didn’t come with the nanos?”
“They did come with the nanos, just not right away,” he said quietly. “They were not a programmed part of the nanos, but when Atlantis fell... Well, the nanoswereprogrammed to keep their host at their peak. They needed blood to do that. But when the fall happened, the surviving Atlanteans spread out into the world. None of them were scientists who had worked with the nanos, and as you guessed, no one had managed to bring out any of the items needed for transfusions.
“On top of all that, most of those survivors were apparently injured during their escape, some grievously so. They all needed blood, but with no transfusions to aid with that, they were quickly starving for it and in unbearable pain. Some set themselves on fire to escape the pain. Others did it out of fear that the terrible pain would make them desperate enough to attack their new neighbors. That they would become mad and vicious animals who slaughtered mortals to get the blood they needed and even drink it, which of course they had never done before when transfusions were available,” he pointed out. “The very idea of drinking human blood was horrifying to a lot of them.”
Abril nodded with understanding and he supposed she would naturally be horrified at the idea too.
Offering her a smile, he continued, “Fortunately, for those who remained, the nanos did what they had todo to ensure their survival. They brought on fangs and other things in their hosts to help them get the blood the nanos needed to continue to do their work.”
Abril’s head came up slightly. “What other things?”
“They made them stronger, faster, gave them night vision...”
“Abilities that would make them better predators,” she realized.
Crispin nodded, his expression almost apologetic. “Yes. Predators. But only because there were no more blood transfusions and the nanos needed the blood.”
Abril grunted, her expression troubled.
“We are not the vampires of fiction,” he said firmly. “We are not dead and soulless, and we have laws. We do not just go around preying on people. In fact, we do not bite people anymore at all. And even when we did, we were not allowed to feed to the point of death. We could only take so much, and had to erase their memories of our presence, and replace them with pleasurable experiences so that no one knew we existed.
“We understood that anyone finding out about us and our nanos would be a problem that could end in our being hunted down as a people and killed. Or, if they did not outright kill us, they would want to be like us. And even back at the beginning, directly after the fall, the immortals knew that would be a bad thing for the population at large.”
Abril nodded in understanding but couldn’t help thinking that others knowing would also have reduced the population they could feed off as well.
“We have a lot of laws to protect both ourselves and mortals,” he assured her. “As I said we are not allowed to feed unto death, but the truth is, now that there areblood banks, it is against our laws to feed off of humans at all, unless it is an emergency.”
“An emergency?” she asked, her gaze narrowing.
He hesitated and then said, “If an immortal is terribly injured and has lost a lot of blood somewhere away from blood banks or the ability to get bagged blood, it is safer to feed off of a mortal or two than to risk being overwhelmed by blood lust and attacking and killing anyone.”
She nodded slowly at that, and then said, “Tell me about your laws.”
“We are allowed to turn only one mortal in our lifetime. We are allowed to only have one child every century. We are never to do anything that would reveal our existence to mortals. And, as I said, here in North America we are never to feed off mortals unless it is an emergency.”
“Here in North America?” Abril asked at once.
Crispin shifted uncomfortably before admitting, “Different areas have different councils and so different laws. North America has the North American council with its laws, Europe has its own set of laws, and South America has its own council and laws as well and so on.”
Abril almost asked if feeding off a mortal was legal or not in these other areas, but suspected she really wouldn’t like the answer, so set it aside for now, and instead asked, “And how do they ensure these laws are followed?”
“We have immortal police not dissimilar to human police. They are called Enforcers. That is their official title. We usually call them hunters, because that is their main task, hunting down rogue immortals who are harming mortals.”
“Is that what you are?” she asked. “An Enforcer masquerading as a homicide detective?”
“Not really,” he answered slowly, and then grimaced and added, “I mean, I would be included in the hunt if there was one in the area—”
“As there appears to be,” she pointed out.
Crispin nodded. “Yes, that is why Roberts and I are on the police force here in London. So that we will be the first to become aware if there is a rogue in the area that is harming, turning, or killing mortals. They have at least one immortal on each of the police forces in every city, and a couple in each of the provincial police forces, and the RCMP as well. Our jobs are to keep our eyes open for rogue activity, and if we spot any, report to Garrett Mortimer, the head of the Immortal Enforcers. He then sends out other Enforcers to take care of the situation. Of course, the reporting immortals—in this case, Roberts and I—would help the Enforcers get control of the situation.”
“Roberts is a vampire too?” she asked with surprise.
“We are not vampires,” he reminded her gently.
“Aren’t you? You have fangs and—”
