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“Why ‘supposedly’?”
“Because my biological father carries a werewolf bloodline, not a vampire bloodline. His blood and Griswold’s spirit are in me, and my mother was a weak woman who was a slut for Griswold and Vic. A dhampyr is supposed to be pure, untouched by evil, unable to become evil…but look at my family tree, guys. What are the odds that I’m going to be so pure that I’m going to be a real threat to any of these things?”
“Are you guessing, or do you know?” Val asked.
He shook his head. “Even the Bone Man doesn’t know. He says that I’m different than he expected. That’s kind of funny, don’t you think?”
No one laughed.
“If you’re not supposed to be harmed by any evil,” Newton said, “why did he give you to Vic? Pardon me for saying this, but Crow told me that Vic knocks you around a lot. ”
“Oh yeah, Vic loves to hit, but he never killed me. He wanted to, more than you can imagine, and I think he was trying to make life so bad for me that I’d kill myself. That would remove the threat without any danger to Griswold. ” Mike paused. “Don’t think I haven’t thought about it, too. A lot of times. ”
Val bent forward and kissed his forehead. “I’m glad you didn’t, sweetie. ”
Jonatha said, “Mike, I don’t know you, but from what I’m hearing it sounds like you’ve certainly taken a side in all this. You may have the worst heritage anyone’s ever heard of, but you’re here with us. You’re not with Vic. ”
He didn’t meet her eyes, but his cheeks colored. “I guess. ”
“The dhampyr aren’t usually fighters,” she said, changing tack. “They’re more like witch-sniffers—beings that can sense evil and are dedicated to revealing it. Among the Gypsies the dhampyr usually goes from town to town and offers his services to detect and destroy vampires or other evil. Not in single combat or anything…it, um, involves some kind of ritual dance and the use of special charms, and so on. ”
“Oh brother,” Weinstock said, rolling his eyes.
“Don’t worry,” Mike said, “I don’t see myself breaking into a dance number any time soon. ”
“But there’s a downside to being a dhampyr,” Jonatha said gravely. “Did the Bone Man tell you that?”
Mike gazed at her for a long time before nodding. “Yeah, he told me that. ”
“Told you what?” Weinstock asked.
Jonatha cleared her throat. “Well, in folklore, the dhampyr is the antithesis of a vampire. Where a vampire is evil, the dhampyr is not; where a vampire preys on humans, the dhampyr preys on supernatural creatures; and, where the vampire is immortal…the dhampyr is not. In fact, the dhampyr generally only lives into his early twenties. ”
“What happens?” Val asked, leaning forward. “Is it a matter of a high mortality rate for someone so young fighting those kinds of odds? Because you’re going to have a hell of a lot of backup here if it comes to a fight. ”
Jonatha shook her head. “No…it’s worse than that. Beginning with late puberty the dhampyr’s skeleton begins a process of degeneration. It…um…”
“What she’s trying to say,” Mike said, “is that my skeleton is going to turn to jelly by the time I’m in my mid-twenties. It’ll stop supporting my organs, and eventually I’m just going to collapse into a big mooshy mass and die. ”
“Holy…God!” Newton said.
Val reached out and put her hand on Mike’s arm and he shied away.
“I’m so sorry, kid,” Jonatha said softly. “Maybe that part of the story’s just bullshit. Maybe the different biology here…Mayor Wolfe and all…it might make things different. ”
“Yeah,” Mike said brightly, “and maybe Santa will come and sprinkle elf-dust on me and make everything all better. ”
“Well don’t forget you’re in a hospital and this is the twenty-first century, not fifteenth-century Romania. ” Weinstock said, reaching out with his good arm and patting Mike’s shoulder. “I’ll bet there’s a whole we can do, so let’s not dig a hole quite yet. ”
Mike’s eyes searched the doctor’s face, then he nodded.
“Is there more?” Newton asked.
“Sure,” Mike said softly, “I haven’t even gotten to the part where I died, yet. ”
2
The crucified man hung there in the shadows and felt his life run out of him. He could barely feel his limbs; his hands and feet were distant countries from which he received little communication. Most of the time he was not conscious, lost in blackness but still aware of his own body, of the tether of pain that still held him to the world. Sometimes he could find his way into the light, but he had to blink away tears of blood just to catch a brief glimpse of the weak gray daylight. He coveted those momentary glimpses because he was sure they were the last ones he would ever have.
