Free Shot Through The Heart (Supernature Book 1) by Edwin James Page A

Bathory in her native tongue - was real. She committed these crimes and this is her story.
    Frowning, Mark picked up his mobile and did a search, eventually getting enough reception to pull through a page or two about Bathory. It turned out that she was real - nothing in the book disagreed with anything he found on the internet, though the historian in him felt that there was a huge amount of artistic license.
    He turned the page.
    Vampires are real.
    Elizabeth Bathory was not a vampire, however many of her atrocities resemble the crimes of a vampire. Her bloodlust was drawn from confusion and mental illness.
    But vampires are real.
    Vampirism is a rare blood disease. It is a disease which will quickly kill the host if it does not drink fresh blood. It is a disease which is similar to HIV/AIDS and Leukaemia, but which is not documented in modern medicine, except for some references in some more esoteric textbooks in certain parts of the world. It shares similar traits to Lycanthropy - the condition of becoming a werewolf - but suffers from similar ignorance.
    There is a whole folklore that has built up around Vampires - the fangs, the ability to transform shape into dogs or mist, weakness to sunlight, garlic, and holy water, inability to cross water, and living in coffins. Some are true, some are fanciful.
    First, most vampires in western Europe do not have fangs. Generally, the blood disease affects the fingertips, resulting in a hardening of the bone which gives the appearance of talons. This is the primary method for bloodletting, and the blood is usually drunk.
    Ability to change shape has scant evidence at best, but has not been disproven.
    Weaknesses to sunlight and garlic are false and true, respectively. Vampires are human beings and, while their skin is paler than average, they require sunlight for vitamins. Garlic is harmful to the condition, in much the same way that Italian cooking might kill a cold virus - it will harm the vampire disease and consequently harm the host.
    Vampires can cross water, but generally do not for fear of drownings. Their bodies are host to a disease which, while endowing them with extra strength from a much stronger skeleton, adds significant weight to their bodies and drowning is a very real threat - it is very difficult for a sufferer to escape to the surface.
    Arithromania is a common affliction of sufferers - an obsession with counting, no matter how trivial the task or dangerous the surroundings. Studies reveal that similar patterns to forms of autism are switched on in sufferers, regardless of where they were on the spectrum before contracting the disease.  
    Judeo-Christian beliefs - toxicity of holy water, aversion to crosses and sleeping in coffins - are a mixed bag. Holy water and crosses have no affect on the disease - there is no physical property change in holy water and crosses are merely a superstitious symbol.
    Coffins, however, are preferred accommodation for a vampire. They are made from wood, and wood is good at keeping the symptoms at bay - blood decay is halted by sleeping in a wooden casket. This gives rise to the theory that the disease is caused by natural fungus - transmission is usually from ingesting poisoned vampire blood and not by bite or other means.
    If vampires are real, how do you rid the sufferer of the disease?
    There is no known cure for the disease, even in traditional Chinese medicine. The only alternatives are the victim regaining control over the infection or death by execution.
    The primary method for execution is by a bolt through the heart - longer established vampires have a thickening of the arteries and there is extra protection around the heart. In such cases, the only method would be decapitation - the victim will die and will not come back to haunt the living world. Care must be taken when trying to execute a vampire - they have superhuman recuperation abilities, widely believed to be the inspiration for the superhero Wolverine. The most