Free American Blood: A Vampire's Story by Gregory Holden

molecular biologist like the two of you?”
    “Hardly.” Ryan gulped down the last of his meal.
    “Well, I recommended to the Director your request to bring in that physicist who wrote the paper you mentioned,” Siri said. “He’s been contacted and he’s . . . well, he’s definitely on the fringe. But at one time he was considered to be a top theorist.”
    “What’s he been told about Calida?”
    “Only that we have a subject exhibiting signs of exceptional mental abilities,” Siri replied. “And we would like to rule out any unusual causes.”
    “I’m sure he was given a nice retainer for his services.”
    “He also has some specialized equipment he wants to bring,” Siri said. “Right now the logistics are being worked out. Figure five or six days until he gets here.”
    “Where’s his equipment going to be setup, and how much is he going to be told about what she really is?”
    “Don’t concern yourself with the details. The Director will take care of it.”
    “We’ll see how it goes,” Ryan said, again looking at his watch.
    Siri stood up. “Are we ready?”
    “Okay,” Ryan answered. “Henry, finish up on the standards and go home. We can get started around the same time tomorrow.”
    Ryan and Siri got their things together and left Henry to his work. As they walked from the building a small group of trainees jogged across their path. The sun hung low in the sky and would soon fall behind the trees. They walked in silence as they both prepared for their second session with Calida. She had made an impression on each of them but in decidedly different ways.
     
    R yan again found himself standing in front of the observation window. Calida paced around her cell. The guard unlocked the door and they went inside. Siri carried her notebook from the previous night and Ryan had a stainless steel tray with several small syringes, a unit of whole blood partially wrapped in a thermal foil bag, and some plastic tissue swabs.
    Calida turned toward them and her long hair swirled as it caught up with her head.
    “Hello Calida,” Ryan said.
    “I thought I felt you coming.” She stopped pacing and pressed herself against the plexiglas. Her eyes fixed on his. “So you’ve brought me a present, how nice.”
    “How do you feel?” Siri asked.
    Calida continued to look at Ryan. “I feel good. I always feel good when the sun goes down.”
    “You said we could talk again.” Ryan walked up to the plexiglas to where she stood.
    “We are talking,” Calida said. “I do my best talking as the night goes on.”
    “What does that mean?” he asked.
    “Sometimes talking to someone can be very rewarding.”
    “Do you require blood—do you feed—every night?” Siri asked.
    “Don’t you?”
    “And how much blood will you need?”
    “As much as your heart can pump until it stops, I’ve already told you, Ryan.”
    Siri went over to the same chair she used earlier and sat down. She opened her notebook and skimmed through several pages for a moment. “We want to learn about you before you changed.”
    “Before I changed?”
    “Yes Calida, before you became what you are now.”
    “I was nothing before.”
    “But you were once a child, a little girl, and then a young woman, you weren’t born this way.”
    Calida’s eyes bored into Siri. “I was once a little girl . . . then a young woman, same as you.”
    “Your mother and father . . . do you remember them?”
    “Why do you need to know that? Did you wake up today and decide to be cruel to a vampire?”
    “I told you that we want to help you,” Siri replied. “Tell us about when you were sent away from your home.”
    Ryan sensed that Calida didn’t appreciate this line of questioning.
    “Why?”
    “You were sent away to live with others,” Siri continued.
    “How do you know this?” The hypnotic quality of her voice disappeared, and she turned away from Siri. “You figured out what the marks on my foot mean. That happened so far in the past