“So, are these vampires and werewolves still human, just with a disease?”

Swann pointed a finger at Danika in the shape of a revolver, and let his thumb down to simulate pulling the trigger. “Bingo,” he said. “That is exactly the question. There are those who theorize that these mutations are actually caused by a disease that is transferred through the saliva and blood, much like the AIDS virus. But my personal theory falls in line with what some scientists at Stanford University are looking at. They believe that there is an actual genetic mutation that is triggered by something. Maybe it’s a built-in racial control sort of thing — when an area becomes overpopulated, the gene is triggered in someone and pretty soon you have some quiet crowd control happening.”

Danika nodded. “That makes some sense — kind of like how rats live in a community until there are too many of them and then they all turn on each other.”

“Right,” Swann said. “The question of the day is, why have so many been triggered now, at this moment in time. There has never in recorded history been an outbreak of this magnitude.”

“I’m guessing you don’t have an answer for that one.”

He shook his head. “Afraid not. But believe me, there are plenty of scientists looking at it. Studying the genes of the infected. Trying to determine why a seemingly normal person yesterday is suddenly possessed of long fangs and a burning desire to eat his neighbors. What I have found interesting is that the changes do seem to relate to the genetic history of the infected individual. The jiangshi, or Chinese hopping vampire, lives in dark places and hunts by night, but moves by hopping, with its arms outstretched. The wampir, from Russia, do not have fangs, but rather a stinger beneath their tongues. Vampires from India appear as crones with two heels on each foot. And the strigoi from Romania have two hearts and the ability to adapt the shapes of animals. We’ve seen all of these types of vampires emerge over the past few months, and what’s interesting is, that in each of the vampires that we have been able to study, the mutations these people have undergone correspond to the folklore of their racial types. In other words, Norwegians don’t become jiangshis, and Indians don’t become wampir.”

“How often do vampires need to feed?”

Swann shook his head. “There’s no real agreement on that. Some evidence seems to suggest every day or two. But there are also stories of vampires only rising to feed during the light of the full moon. And there are stories of vampires surviving for months and even years without feeding.”

The heat in the back of her belly flared, and Danika gasped. She couldn’t imagine going a week without eating.

“How could anything survive without eating for so long?” she asked.

Swann shrugged. “There are those who say vampires are not alive. That’s what most of the mythology suggests. From what we’ve seen recently, however, they do seem to be alive, just in a mutated state.”

“Is it true that they have to eat blood? And does it have to be human?”

“The mutation does seem to revolve around the thirst and need for blood. There are stories of vampires surviving on animal blood, and even managing to sit at public dinners and eat normal human food. But the digestive track of a vampire undergoes a change … and the things that would have given the body sustenance before no longer serve. Vampires need blood to stay vibrant and active.”

“Do vampires have to find their victims attractive? Or can they really eat just anyone?”

Swann laughed. “The majority of the stories about vampires seem to indicate that any live body will do. As I said, some manage even to feed on animals. And there are plenty of stories of vampires feeding on derelicts — who certainly would not fit into the good-looking category.”

The historian paused and held out his hands, palms up. “That said, there are some vampires that do not feed on blood at all. And there are some, like the Russian wurdulac, who can only feed on loved ones. That can really limit the potential food supply for vampires without a lot of family and friends!”

“Yikes,” Danika said. “So Russian vampires are basically incestuous!”

“That’s not the way I would put it, since it’s not about sex, but … you have the right idea.”

Danika suddenly found herself searching for the next question. Because Swann had just given her the key. She was of Russian descent … and the only people she’d been attracted to feed on had been her sister and her best friend at the station. Perhaps, when the mutation hit her, it had drawn on some latent wurdulac gene from her ancestral past.

But now that she knew what she was … how to control it?

“How close would a wurdulac need to be to someone before it could eat them?” she asked.

“Hard to say,” Swann said. “Presumably some emotional bond needs to be established, so whether one would have to live with the victim for a time, or just go on a really good first date … it’s hard to say.”

“If a wurdulac chomps down on its parents and siblings, won’t they all become wurdulacs too?” Danika asked. “Or don’t those old myths of the bite changing the victim into a vampire hold up?”

“No, you’re right,” Swann said. “If a wurdulac sucked the blood of its brother, the brother might also wake up a wurdulac. Unless all of the blood was drained. If the wurdulac truly bleeds out the victim, it’s all over. Despite all those movies and myths, dead is dead. Over the past few weeks we’ve come to realize that real vampires are about mutation, not coming back from the grave. But all of the stories of the wurdulac type of vampire tend to show the vampirism curse being passed on like wildfire —whole families and everyone associated with them being wiped out in a matter of weeks.”

“Wiped out?” Danika said. “What happens to them?”

“Well, the wurdulac tends to exhaust its food supply fairly quickly, especially when you have a mother and brother and sister all competing for the same group of friends and relatives to eat … pretty soon, the original wurdulac goes to the grave because the food supply is depleted.”

Danica felt a horrible pain stab at her heart. She had virtually no relatives and hardly anyone she’d call a friend. And at the moment, she was weak to the point of fainting. The only thing keeping her going was the adrenaline of getting some real answers from this interview.

She looked up and saw Lon signaling to her from the side of the stage. His facial gestures looked frantic. And she knew why. The red countdown clock which told her when to wrap-up had gone into negative numbers. She was overtime on this segment.

“So where do we go from here?” Danika asked. “Do we need to search out and destroy all of these new vampires? We can’t really live with them, can we?”

Swann looked at her in horror. “Surely you’re not suggesting that we set up death squads to go hunting down people? That’s genocide! Remember, vampires are human … they are just … different. We need to find a way to co-exist with them. They evolved for a purpose, and there are many theories as to why. All I can say is, there is strength in cooperation, and death in isolation.”

“So there you have it,” Danica smiled, raising one eyebrow for the camera. “Love your vampire. Especially if he sneaks in your window after dark. One cautionary note — make sure he wears a condom, and you wear a neck guard. That’s all for this morning, just remember … vampires are people too!”

She turned to Swann and grinned, giving him a hand as she stood up while the audience applauded and the credits rolled.

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” he said.

Danica shrugged. “You don’t think we should kill them, but they will definitely kill us. I think I captured it pretty well.”

“They may be the next step on the evolutionary track,” he suggested.

Danica waved and smiled at the camera as she moved Swann towards the exit.

“That step appears to be somewhat self-defeating,” she noted.

— 16 —

The door to Danika’s office slammed. Lon strode in with a look of complete incredulity. “Well, that was great,” he said. “If our viewers haven’t gotten it from every other TV show over the past six months, we successfully gave them a complete primer on vampire legends today. I’m glad that we’ve broken new ground here.”

Danika looked up from the pillow on her office couch. Her eyelids barely raised. “Yeah, like we broke a lot of new ground with the love triangle polygraph too,” she said, and then let her head fall back to the pillow.

“You know what I mean. Interviews about science and history aren’t what our viewers tune in for.”

The cramps in her belly grew and Danika’s skin burned. In her mouth, something changed that made it difficult to talk.

“I get it,” she mumbled. “But I really am too sick to talk about it right now. And frankly, I don’t want you to catch it … .sooo …” Her voice slurred, but Danika’s intention was clear. “I’d like you to leave now.”

Lon opened his mouth to protest, but couldn’t come up with a great comeback, so he did just as she requested.

As the door shut, Danika picked up the phone. She had an idea.

— 17 —

“I was surprised to hear from you,” Craig said. He held his wine glass towards her in a silent toast, and Danika smiled as their glasses clinked. They were having dinner at one of his favorite Italian places on the North Side, and Danika could almost smell his excitement. Actually, as she thought about it, she realized she could smell his excitement. Not in a bad way; there was just a hint of heavier musk in the air around him that was separate from the perfume of his deodorant. She caught him staring at the amount of cleavage her black dress was allowing, and she shifted slightly in her seat to pronounce it even more. The lace at the top of her bra cup tantalized him.

“I’ve missed you,” she lied. “But it just seemed like … well … things were over between us really, and I was busy and, you know how it is.”