The Source (22 page)

The side of my mouth lifts in a slow smirk as I nudge
him with my shoulder, allowing myself to relax, a little bit. I run a hand
through my hair, “Actually, that’s not even it. Like you said, I want to win
this competition, but more importantly I want to find the right solution. And
something tells me, my gut tells me, the answer is with the sun.”

He nods as he turns me to face him and runs his hands
up and down my arms. “Okay,” he begins. “So the success here is that we know
it’s not dehydration. What were the other possibilities that we came up with?”

I bite my lower lip as I try to think back to
everything we had talked about before deciding to focus on dehydration. Rick leans
his elbow against the countertop, smiling. “That is,” he starts, “unless you
want to talk about your date with Tucker.”

I jerk back, startled and indignant. “I did NOT have a
date with Tucker.”

Amused he inquires, “Oh, so you didn’t meet with him
before coming here?”

I push at him. “I met specifically to tell him that
I’m not interested. And I’m proud of myself, if you must know, because I stuck
to my guns. Then he kind of flipped out.”

Rick stands up straight, laying his hand on my
shoulder, “What do you mean? Are you okay?”

I let my shoulders sink. “Yeah, I’m okay. He got
viciously angry, which is just another example of why he’s not ‘the one.’ As I
was telling him that I don’t feel a connection with him, a park walker bumped
into Tucker and he completely flew off the handle. They actually got into a
fist fight right there in the middle of the park.”

“You’re kidding me!” Rick exclaims.

“I wish I were,” I respond. “Tucker got his ego
bruised, then his face bruised. A romping good time it was not.”

“But you’re okay?”

I nod as I take a deep breath. “Yes, I’m fine. I’m not
looking forward to running into Tucker any time soon. If he got so crazy over
someone bumping into him, I could only imagine what he would like to do to me.
And believe me, they’re not pleasant imaginings.”

Taking me by surprise, Rick wraps his arms around my
shoulders and pulls me into a close embrace. I’m too stunned to realize just
how good his arms feel around me. Still I lean in and bury my face in his
chest. I repeat “I will not cry” like a mantra in my head as the corners of my
eyes get wet. I cover my face with my hands and just lean into him. For a cold
man, he sure feels good. Before thinking about that too much, I pull back and
smile at him. “Thanks, I needed that.”

He just stands there. I glance at him then turn back
to the counter and the pile of papers. No need to let any awkwardness build. I
clear my throat. “Um, have you ever heard of any stories of vampires becoming
ill after um, feeding?”

Rick leans against the counter and makes a sound as if
he were taking a deep breath, “Very few. Two or three over the years. Why?”

I look down at the papers for a moment then shake my
head a bit, “I just can’t seem to quit thinking about the possibility of an
allergy.”

“Huh. Like there’s something in some people’s blood
that vampires are allergic to? But I’ve never heard of a vampire dying after
feeding on a human unless there was a stake involved.”

“Why did they get sick?” I ask.

He shrugs, “Honestly, I don’t know. But we’re not
looking to make vampires sick. That is, unless you’re wanting to use it like a creature
of the night version of birth control.”

Giggling I say, “That’s brilliant. I can see the
marketing strategy - ‘No feeding, no breeding: think before you fang because
one moment of sustenance could ruin your un-life.’”

“Really,” he smiles, “where are you going with this?”

Shrugging I admit, “I don’t know. If we can pin-point
what caused the sickness, well, maybe a stronger dose will be fatal.”

“Well,” he says as he straightens his notes into some
orderly fashion, “it’s highly unlikely that we’ll know more than that it’s
highly rare. I don’t personally know of any vampires that it has happened to,
and of the cases that I’ve heard of, the humans died a long time ago.”

I push away from the counter and look at him. “I want
to look at vitamin D.”

Raising his eyebrows he asks,  “Vitamin D?”

“I know it sounds like a huge leap, but I had
originally thought about the possibility of a sun allergy and maybe there was
an accelerant that caused combustion. What if it is an allergy related to the
sun, but not specifically a sun allergy? What if it’s an allergy to vitamin D?”

“A vitamin D allergy? I’m not sure I follow.”

Turning, I walk toward the whiteboard as I start my
“pace of deep thought.” I move my hands around as I try to think of how to best
explain the random thoughts going through my mind. “Vampires are different from
humans.”

“Of course, in many ways.”

“But there are some similarities. Humans need the sun
to produce vitamin D. The average human cannot get all the vitamin D that is
necessary for a healthy body by food alone. And if they cannot go in the sun,
then they have to take supplements.”

“And...?”

I turn and look at him, “Well, vampires can’t go into
the sun and they don’t need food. They have no way of taking in any large
amounts of vitamin D. What if in the vampire transformation, the body makes an
adjustment to not being able to get vitamin D?”

Rick tilts his head toward me, a strained look on his
face. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we have developed some type of
allergy.”

I smile at him. “It also doesn’t mean you didn’t. We
don’t know. Fact is, vampires have no method of ingesting or making vitamin D.
If the body has adjusted to function without it, introducing it back into the
system will either cause a change or do nothing.”

Rick crosses his arms as he lightly runs his
forefinger over his lips. He leans back against the counter as his face creases
from the strength of his concentration. “It seems to me that it might not be an
issue of allergy but of toxicity.”

I look into space, my thoughts swirling. “You don’t
need it, so too much of it is poisonous.”

He looks up at me. “Or maybe a combination of both? I
don’t know. Like you said, we just know that vampires don’t need it. And
actually, vampires have no way of preventing toxic levels of vitamin D from a
source such as the sun.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well,” he explains, “If a human stays out in the sun
for too long, even to the point of sun burn, does that raise the levels of vitamin
D in the body to a dangerous level?”

My eyes open wide as I look at him. “The warmth of
human skin causes excessive vitamin D3 to photodegrade.”

“And vampires have no warmth. We also do not ingest
fat which is what is used by the body to break vitamin D down,” Rick states
with an edge of foreboding bordering on fatalistic hopefulness. Did we solve
the puzzle or sign his death warrant?

“But wait,” I ask, “what about drinking blood? There
are levels of vitamin D in blood serum.”

“Maybe normal human levels are safe for vampires and
anything more is toxic to vampires.”

I walk toward him, feeling the buzz of discovery
inching up my spine. “Which might explain the very rare occasions that a
vampire has gotten sick after feeding. Maybe the food source had abnormally
increased levels of vitamin D in their system.”

He nods in agreement. “Which is dangerous for humans
and possibly fatal for vampires. Since we produce no body warmth, there is
nothing to stop the continued production of D3 to the point of toxicity, resulting
in death if exposed for too long or the quantity is too great.”

I shake my head. “But it doesn’t make complete sense.
It didn’t take long for Thalia’s, um, specimen to be destroyed. More like there
was an accelerant rather than a poison or allergy.”

“In human terms, yes, because scientifically that’s
all we know. Vampire bodies, in many ways, are antithetical to human life.
Maybe the lack of warmth
is
the accelerant.”

My mouth drops open, at a loss for words as
possibilities continue to swim through my mind.

He shrugs. “Not that unfathomable. We see it in the
human world, too. Ice can cause a burn, can it not?”

I raise my hands in front of me, my fingers struggling
to grasp onto the concept that I am willing to make concrete. Well, that and I
could kiss Rick at this moment, but don’t want to push it.

“What do we do now?” I ask, trying to mask my
excitement.

“Maybe a small experiment to test the waters, just so
we know if it’s even worth pursuing,” he responds.

“What do you suggest?”

He places his hand on my arm and gently squeezes, “Get
your things. Let’s go to the store.”

I sit in the parking lot, looking up at the Wal-Mart
sign and have my own sense of foreboding. Rowan doesn’t have much, but there is
a Wal-Mart. So like many rural areas, the Wal-Mart becomes the social zone for
everyone, just like farther South many will meet and greet their neighbors at
the Piggly Wiggly. Only with twenty-four-hour store hours, you never know what
you can run into this late at night. Always an adventure for sure.

Rick starts to get out then looks over at me. “Are you
coming?” he asks.

I half-smile, take the keys from the ignition and get
out of the safety of my car. Yeah, safety. I was in a locked car with a vampire
and worrying about going into Wal-Mart in the middle of the night. What is my
world coming to?

As we walk into the brightly lit store, Rick continues
past the aisles of cheap and tawdry goods. I look around to see that most of
the people in the store are workers. Most of them pay no attention that we have
walked in, as if it is normal for shoppers to come in at all hours. Well, I
guess it is since they’re open twenty-four-hours a day. I quicken my pace to
try to keep up with Rick, although he is probably walking leisurely for a
vampire. Keeping fanged company is a lot of work. If I could regularly take him
to the mall, I would probably lose a lot of weight. Vampires as personal
trainers - be trained or get drained. Yep, that would be motivation enough.
Maybe.

I find Rick scanning the shelves in the vitamin aisle.
He picks up a bottle of vitamin D, gives it a quick shake then says, “Well,
this is it.”

“You didn’t explode, so that’s a good thing. I would
hate for the Wal-Mart employees to have to clean up vampire off the floor.”

Pursing his lips he gives me a droll stare. “It’s not
so magical that its power is going to penetrate the confines of a plastic
bottle and kill me. If vitamin D were that good, humans wouldn’t have to take
the supplement. You could just rub the bottle all over yourselves.”

I grin. “Sounds interesting and possibly a little
kinky. Thank God that’s
not
the case. Oh, and it’s also good you’re not
a puddle of vamp flakes and juice on the floor.”

“Thank you for your overwhelming concern for my
well-being,” he grimaces as he makes his way toward the checkout.

As we walk, I notice a few of the employees sneaking
quick glances. I probably shouldn’t have said “kinky” so loud. They probably
think that we’re in here to do something naughty. Not exactly a romantic place,
but who knows what they’ve seen around here.

When we get to the checkout, a young woman rushes up
to the cash register. She picks up the bottle of vitamin D, smiling as she
looks up at Rick. “Cash or charge?” she asks.

“Cash,” he responds as he removes his billfold from his
back pocket. He pulls out a few bills and hands them to the cashier. As she takes
the money, she giggles. “Your hand is really cold.”

With no expression on his face Rick confirms, “Yes, I
guess it is.”

She continues to smile as she hands him the change and
the plastic bag. Flipping her dirty blond hair over her shoulder she adds,
“Well, if you need
anything
don’t hesitate to come back. I’m here during
the nights and not many people come in to shop. It could be convenient for
someone like you.” She smiles, showing all of her big, block-shaped teeth.

Rick nods at her. “Much obliged” and with that he
turns and heads for the door.

I momentarily stare at the girl who slightly shakes
her head and winks at me. Dumbfounded, I follow Rick out the door.

As we get back into my car, Rick puts the small bag in
the glove compartment while I twist in my seat to look at him. “What was that
all about?”

His head slowly turns toward me as he shrugs. “She
probably has been with a vampire before. She was just putting the bait out
there to see if I would bite. Pun intended.” He smiles briefly.

“A vampire groupie?”

One corner of his mouth turns up, “Not necessarily.
May just be a preference. Some men prefer redheads. Some women prefer vampires.
It’s just a matter of what excites us.”

I shift a bit in my seat, trying not to focus on the
fact that he mentioned how some men prefer redheads, the practical opposite of
me with my straight dark brown hair. Nothing new there. Well, me trying not to
focus on it is new.