Val said, “Did you find out anything more concrete about the process of becoming a vampire?”
“Well, the consensus from among my colleagues is that, folklorically speaking, a psychic vampire like Griswold would be able to create other vampires at will. As I mentioned before, all he needs to do is impose his will on anyone who has recently died through violence. ”
“You mean anyone bitten by a vampire?”
“No…not exactly. There are as many ways to become a vampire as there are vampire species, but I think we can distil that down to the three most common methods,” Jonatha said. “The first is also the oldest. A person has to die with a corrupt heart and unrepentant. That creates a kind of schism between them and the next world—call it Heaven or whatever. An evil person who dies, typically by violence, and who does not repent of their sins is likely to come back as a vampire of one kind or another. We see this in the folklore of dozens of nations. ”
“That could explain Ruger easily enough,” Crow said.
“And probably does. ”
“But Boyd was corrupt rather than evil,” Weinstock said, “at least according to what the cops told us. ”
“Which brings us to the second most common cause of vampirism worldwide—death by violence. Any death, any kind of violence. There isn’t a lot of commentary on why this is, but generally I take it as a feeling of unresolved anger at having died and the need for some kind of revenge for having been killed. In Boyd’s case it appears that somebody killed him. Maybe even Ruger, who knows? When he rose from death he was a vampire, but for some reason we don’t know his anger was not directed at Ruger but at humans. ”
“Griswold?” Val ventured.
“Could be,” Jonatha agreed. “If he is the directing force behind this, then his will would be strong enough to turn Boyd’s anger and aim it like a gun. ”
“At my family. ”
“You told me your dad was no friend of Griswold’s, and he was a friend of Oren Morse. Griswold also killed your uncle. Maybe there are other reasons he doesn’t like your family, but clearly he wants you all dead. ”
Val said nothing but the muscles at the sides of her jaws flexed and bunched.
Crow said, “What’s the third method?”
“That one is closer to the traditional view,” Jonat
ha said. “In the more modern stories, meaning those from parts of Europe beginning in the early eighteenth century, we see a pattern of vampire stories being built around a bite and an exchange of blood. Not the willing and bizarrely sensual exchange you see in movies where Dracula bites some chick and then she drinks his blood—that’s a Hollywood distortion. No, once a person has been killed by a vampire, then any human blood will reactivate them, so to speak. Not animal blood…it has to be human, according to the stories. Even a few drops will do it. ”
“Otherwise they stay dead?” Val asked. She took Crow’s hand and held it.
“Well, that’s a bit cloudy. In about half of the stories the vampire’s victim is caught between Earth and Heaven in a kind of purgatory. Some even rise as ghosts, but they have little or no power. ”
“God…” Val said, touching her cross.
“In the other stories the victim is just plain dead unless human blood is poured into their mouth. At that point a demonic spirit enters into them and reanimates their flesh. They have all of the memories and personality of the person they were before they died, but that’s all a trick. What’s inside is pure demon, or ghost, depending on who you talk to. ”
“Damn,” Crow said. “So we don’t know what state Mark’s in. ”
“No, we don’t,” Jonatha said, “and bear in mind, we don’t know how much of the vampire legend is even true. We’re really fishing in the dark here and for every bit of reliable folklore—if we can call it that—there’s a hundred times as much nonsense, bullshit, and storytelling embellishment. We could be wrong about all of this. ”
“Swell. ”
“Now, there’s one more thing. In a few of the older stories, if a person is brought to the point of death but not killed outright they can simply transition into a vampiric state without going through the process of actual death. You follow me? In those cases the person retains their soul and true personality only as long as they drink animal blood, but should they take so much as a taste of human blood their human soul is pushed out and the demonic spirit takes over forever. ” She paused. “I know this doesn’t apply to your brother or sister-in-law, Val…but in going over everything with Newt I can see that we don’t actually have proof positive that Ruger or Boyd actually died prior to becoming vampires. They could have transitioned. ”
“So what?” Crow asked. “Does any of that matter?”
“Well, the vulnerabilities are different. A vampire who has transitioned instead of dying is usually stronger. Much stronger…and the more they feed the stronger they’ll become. So if Ruger transitioned, then he could be even stronger now than he was when you last encountered him. ”
Crow sighed and bent forward so he could bang his forehead on the desk a couple of times.
Newton said. “What do you want us to do now? You want us to go with you to meet the cops?”
Crow looked at Val, who shook her head. “No,” he said. “Why don’t you find out everything you can about how to stop these bastards? I mean, can we rely on any of the usual stuff? Crosses, holy water…?”
“No, that’s all Bram Stoker stuff. Fiction. ”