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Though, we all knew that if I needed assistance, it wasn’t likely anyone I’d brought with me could save me on their own. The six of us together absolutely might be able to escape, but not during the daylight hours, and it was four in the afternoon when I arrived in Bain’s quarters.
Imagine my surprise when he had coffee with sugar and milk available to doctor it up.
“You ate while in the skin, so I imagine the coffee appeals to you, but mostly because of what you can put in it?”
“You’ve worn it, too?”
“I have. You want to know more about the side effects.”
He didn’t pose it as a question, but I answered him anyway. “Etta gave herself a series of enemas, so the food wasn’t in her as long. She’s still affected, but not as much as me.”
Bain nodded. “If one waits until they’ve shit everything out before taking the skin off, the effects aren’t as pronounced. Using an enema to get rid of the food before it absorbs also keeps the impact to a minimum. However, merely wearing the skin changes you, a little. You’ve been in it twice, the first time for about ten minutes, and you only ate a few bites, so it isn’t likely you noticed a change in your power.”
“I did not, and no one mentioned my scent being off.”
“That was a human who’d been good in life, so there was no evil left over from his essence to taint yours. Also, a vampire’s body can handle two bites of food without going through major alterations. We get protein and other such things in blood, and the meat you ate didn’t overwhelm your system.”
“We were given skins that matched our gender. What happens if you put a skin on from the opposite gender?”
Bain smiled and gave an insouciant shrug. “The only way to get that information is to put one on and see for yourself.”
That wasn’t the only way, but I didn’t want to know badly enough to argue the point. I had other questions that were more pressing.
“If a vampire spends enough time in the skin, would they eventually revert to a human who can be killed even when not in the skin? Also, I’m assuming if someone kills you while you’re in the skin, it’s the final death for the wearer?”
“It kills the vampire and the skin, so it can’t be used again. As for your first question, we’re forcing some lesser vampires to wear the skin every third day — watch the sunrise, spend the day outside in the sun, and gorge on food. They take it off at sundown, which is when they’d rise, since they’re all so weak to start with. They are getting closer and closer to human, and some of them eat steak and eggs and a whole lot of carbs even when they aren’t wearing the skin, now. So far, none have reverted to the extent they don’t require blood, and none can go into the sun without being burned.
“Are the side effects permanent?”
“Who knows? Everyone who’s eaten while wearing it and let the food travel through our system after the skin came off — we enjoy coffee, tea, milk, and soups without substance. Whether we still will a decade after wearing the skin? We can only wait and see. It’ll take from one to four weeks before your scent doesn’t seem off to those you’re close to you. By the time you arrive home, those who know you only casually shouldn’t notice the difference.”
“That’s why you started killing the homeless? Trying to find skins without the taint of evil?”
“Evil is a strong word, but yes, finding humans who mean to do good and who are not on drugs is the new objective for our hunters. In some cases, we capture them and wean them off drugs before killing them.”
“Is it necessary for them to be terrified and in pain while they die?”
Bain gave a tiny wince, so small, I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been looking for it. “No. If a vampire is handy, it’s best if we block the human’s thoughts and feelings while he or she is skinned. We only have a few people capable of doing the job, however, and when they do it in the field, they work alone.”
“How many skins are in working order right now?”
“Less than two dozen, but some work better than others. You and Etta were given two of the best. They seal up completely and give a comprehensive experience, so all senses are engaged. One of them doesn’t allow for auditory input, another only gives vision and hearing without taste or the ability to touch and feel. You can still grasp the fork, but you can’t feel yourself grasping the fork. You can eat, but you can’t taste the food, nor can you feel the food going down.”
“And most come from evil humans?” It was likely how they’d started the experiment, to try to stay clear of the slayers.
“Again, evil is a loaded word, but yes, they come from humans who did evil deeds.”
“You’re sharing an awfully lot.”
“Are you for or against us continuing the research?”
Well now, that was quite a question, but it made sense. Eventually, if these skins had a chance of successfully going to market — whether Alaric and his cohorts found a legitimate route or were forced to keep them on the black-market — would mostly be in how vampires and other supernaturals viewed them.
“If it were possible to use humans who deserve a horrible death, I’d be for it. But with the necessity of using good humans? That’s a hard one. I feel better knowing I wore the skin of a human who likely deserved being skinned alive, and yet, I also have the taint of that human’s deeds on me, and I’m not happy I can’t just wash it away. It’s going to be part of me for a while, and I don’t want to don such a suit again.” I sighed. “But I’m not sure I can stomach putting one on if I know it came from a good person who died a horrible death.”
“And if there was a way to certify that the human chose to do so in exchange for their family being handsomely renumerated?”
I shook my head. “Would a son prefer to have his father around, or to have his college paid for? No, I can’t be a part of that kind of decision. Not for the superfluous experience of watching the sunrise or eating a meal. I can see wanting to rent a suit and doing so perhaps a few times a century, if it turns out the side effects fade away within weeks, but from what you’ve said,” I lifted my coffee mug, “the craving for milk and honey sticks around and doesn’t fade.”
