Chapter 45

45: On the drive to the school, everybody was a little tense.  Jeffrey wanted to lighten the mood a little.  "Hey, Lowe.  Remember when my mom used to read that children's book, 'With What Shall Orange Rhyme?' to us when you'd spend the night when we were kids?"
  "Oh yeah, that was my favorite book growing up.  That little orange was looking for something to rhyme with orange.  My parents never got it for me so I only heard it at your house.  That and "Sevender the Ever Growing Tomato' still make me laugh."
  "Yeah, my mom had her moments.  She'd do all the voices and shit.  We couldn't hardly sleep whenever she would do that shit.  Oh man, was that fun."  Jeffrey's jaw tightened as he apparently remembered some not so fond memories of his mother.
  "I think my mother was at her best when I was a little boy.  After that, she just kinda didn't know how to deal with me as a teenager.  I think she would have been happy if I just stayed five years old all my life."
  Lowe looked Jeffrey in the eye.  "Well, shit.  You were quite a hand full."
  "Oh yeah, look who's talking.  All I have to say to that is, 'apple sandwich'.  'Nuff said," said Jeffrey.
  "Hey, how was I supposed to know what color her hair was?" asked Lowe and they both laughed at the memory.
  "Anyway, I know my mom did her best, but it's like she hardly even knows me anymore.  I think I didn't turn out the way she had expected.  That scared her, but I just had to be me and she didn't know how to handle my transition into adulthood.  Like she just couldn't my adult choices because she had her own ideas of what I should do with my life.  I hope she can eventually come to see me as an equal and not as her baby anymore.  I love that woman and it would just mean the world to me."
  "Hey, man.  She'll see what you're capable of right now, you know?" said Lowe.
  "Yeah, I know."  Jeffrey pulled up into the parking lot of Wolf Cub Elementary.  They had encountered a few of the Revenant, but the walking dead were too slow to pursue the black truck.  "Well, here we are.  We should leave the engine running.  We wouldn't want to have any possible delays to our departure.  That would be tactically disadvantageous.  Oh, shit!  There's one now."
  One of the undead came around the corner of the building and headed right at them.  Alex picked up a rock and threw it at it's head.  He hit it, but didn't smash it's brain.  It fell to the ground.  Chadwick then stomped on its throat several times until its head was reasonably disconnected from its body.  It stopped moving then, though the eyes continued to follow their every movement.  Lowe kicked the head and it turned face down, still attached loosely to the neck.  They could still hear its teeth clicking shut periodically.
  Alex looked around and saw that the coast was temporarily clear.  "We should go in."
  "Dude, I'll keep a lookout and be the getaway driver," volunteered Lowe Freq.
  "You got it, Lowe," said Jeffrey.  Since Chadwick had been in the school previously, he knew where the cafeteria was.  He led Jeffrey and Alexander there.  Inside was still chaos because the five Revenant were still at large.  The Defectors were busy fending for themselves so the three men divided up to locate Sandy.
  Jeffrey roamed the halls, checking every door to see what was open.  Several of the classrooms were unlocked, but empty.  At the end of the hall was the office.  Inside was the body of the secretary.  He stepped around her desk to check the Principal's office, which was in the back of the office.  Bad idea.  The secretary was not quite dead yet.  She felt better now that food was here.  She thought she'd go for a walk now.  Jeffrey had other plans.  He grabbed a paperweight off her desk and bludgeoned her repeatedly.  "No, please.  Don't get up on my behalf.  I insist.  I was just on my way out anyway.  It's summertime.  Relax."  He continued his search.
  Chadwick went upstairs.  A corpse in a janitor's uniform accosted him.  Chadwick backhanded it hard, but it kept coming at him.  The zombie still had a mop in its hand.  Chadwick snatched it away from him and swung the handle and hit it on the neck, audibly cracking its spine.  The ghoul fell clattering down the stairs.  Chadwick thrust the mop to the floor and dusted off his clothes.  He took one look down the dark hallway and stooped down to reclaim the discarded mop.  It was better than nothing.
  None of the Defectors paid any attention to Alexander and he made his way through the cafeteria to the kitchen.  He saw there was a door leading to a large walk-in food pantry.  He turned the light on and spotted Sandy lying on the floor by the bags of flour.  She was tied up and gagged with a t-shirt.  He went to her and helped her to sit up.  He untied the shirt that was around her lower jaw.  "Mrs. Ahn, I'm going to get you out of here.  I'm with G Bomb, I mean Jeffrey, your son."
  Sandy blinked weakly several times.  She opened and shut here mouth trying to get it to unstiffen.  Alex undid both the knots around her wrists and around her ankles.  Sandy futilely licked her dried lips with her equally dry tongue.  The dust and dirt on her face was disturbed only by the long-dried streaks of tears.  Alex found a measuring cup and filled it with water from the industrial metal sink.  He brought it to her and helped her to sip it.  Her hands and feet were blue from being tied up for so long.  He knew she would have to be carried out.  Jeffrey waled into the kitchen then and Alex called him over.
  "Mom.  Oh, God.  You're alive.  Are you OK?"
  "She's not well.  You'll need to help me get her to the truck.  Where's Chadwick?"
  "He was right behind me.  Let me tell him where we are."  Jeffrey went out the kitchen door and soon came back with Chadwick.  The three of them were able to manage to lift Sandy and transport her to the truck.  They put her into the back and piled into the seats.  "Now let's make our eggsit and geddon outta here," said Jeffrey.  Lowe Freq put the truck in gear and sped off to the amusement park.
  "Dude, what was that eggsit, geddon shit?" asked Lowe Freq.
  "The Korean word for egg is geddon.  It was a pun," explained Jeffrey.  Lowe Freq just rolled his eyes and groaned.  They made their way to the hotel where the rest of the plan would take place before the end of the night.

Chapter 44

44: Daniel safely arrived at the school and saw that something was terribly wrong.  When Chadwick had left, he left the door wide open.  The Revenant had full access to the Defectors who were staying inside.  Luckily, there were only about ten of them.  Daniel was quite well versed in many of the world's fighting techniques and had a vampire's strength to boot.
  He quickly set upon the nearest of the undead, an overweight, red-headed, lady wearing only a slip and bra.  She was terrorizing a young Hispanic lady so Daniel grabbed the corpse from behind and snapped her neck.  She fell to the ground and stopped moving.  One grabbed him from behind so he did a sweeping kick, violently throwing it off its feet.  Once it was on the ground, he punched its face.  This action, plus Daniel's strength equalled the zombie's head completely caving in on itself.  He pulled an orange, plastic chair into his grasp and used it to swing at the head of an approaching cadaver.  A metal chair leg caught the corpse's chin and nearly ripped its entire lower jaw off.  It still kept coming so Daniel swung again and the thing's head came clean off.  Well, not entirely clean.  Blood sprayed everywhere, along with chunks of rotted flesh.
  At the far end of the cafeteria, Daniel spotted Rend's red aura.  Rend had formed his right hand into a heavy, blunt appendage and was delivering some blunt force trauma to a zombie's noggin.  With that one down, there were five of them left.  Daniel had not come here to destroy the Revenant.  He had come for Rend, so he called out to him.  "Yo, Rend.  I'm here to rescue Sandy.  If you don't mind, I've got her in my red jeep.  I'm going to take her back to my cabin in the foothills where the Untaken are all quite safe from the Revenant and awaiting our return.  Oh, by the way, Mina says hello."  Daniel waited until he saw Rend start to come after him, then he ran to the jeep and started the engine.  He had a mannequin wrapped in a blanket in the back of the jeep and made sure Rend got a good look at it before he gunned the engine and fled.
  Rend saw the green aura around Daniel and that made him a threat to his plans.  Daniel would have to die.  Instead of pursuing on foot, Rend reverted to his liquid self and slunk off into a gutter.  With the water of the sewer systems, he was in his element.  He could feel the vibrations of the jeep above him and was able to follow Daniel's every turn.

Chapter 43

43: Kenn and Daniel had worked out a plan to destroy Rend and they knew they could coordinate it with Jeffrey's mission to rescue Sandy.  Kenn took Stratford and left in his car to set his plan in motion.
  Jeffrey decided to take Chadwick, Alexander and Lowe Freq with him to the school.  Daniel was going to travel to the school separately in the red jeep that Chadwick had acquired.  Daniel was the diversion in charge of luring Rend away from the school so that Jeffrey could locate and recover Sandy and bring her to safety.
  "G Bomb."
  "What up, Lowe?"
  "Why do me and Alex need to go?"
  "I need your help, man.  Along the way, we may run into some of the Revenant.  Once we get to the school, we'll bump into Defectors.  We need extra eyes to find my mother once we get there and we need someone to stay with the truck so we can make a fast getaway.  I wouldn't have asked you except for the fact that I trust you.  I know you care about my mom too.  This is a really dangerous mission, but I've known you since we were three years old.  There's no one else I can think of that I would want right there with me.  You're my best friend, man."
  Bill put a hand on Lowe's shoulder.  "Are you familiar with the teachings of Confucius?"
  "A little.  Just what my grandma taught me when I was a kid," replied Lowe quietly.
  "He once said, 'When love is at stake yield not to an army.'  I've known you since you were this tall, Yong.  I remember when Jeffrey got the chicken pox, you still came over every day to play with him and you caught them too. I've always admired the bond you two have."
  Bill turned to his son and put his hands on his shoulders.  "Jeffrey, I want you to know how proud of you I am.  You have turned out to be quite a courageous young man.  Your grandfather would be proud.  One of my father's favorite sayings by Confucius was, 'A heart set on love will do no wrong.'  Since we've been here, I've seen that you have pursued your dreams with all your heart and you seem to be very happy.  In my eyes, that makes you successful in life.  I trust that you will pursue this rescue mission with just as much heart.  You mother needs you.  You will save her."
  Barney walked up to his son and said, "Daniel, you know that Rend will not chase you without the intention of killing you.  This may be a suicide run, son."
  "Yes, I'm prepared for that.  You know, when I was younger, I used to think a lot about the nature of sacrifice.  I mistakenly thought that the more you hate giving something up, the bigger the sacrifice and, therefore, the more it would be appreciated.  I thought about the sacrifice that Jesus made.  I thought he made the ultimate sacrifice because of what he had to give up, but I was wrong.  What he valued more than his own life was the lives of the people who would be saved by the spilling of his blood.  Why?  It comes down to one thing: love.  There is no sacrifice without love and with love, there is no sacrifice too big.  Father, I'm sorry for all I've put you through all these years."
  "Daniel, I am nothing but proud of you at this moment.  I finally have my son back.  I thank God for that."
  "I am honored to know you, Daniel," said Bill with a deep bow.
  "I've done many things in my life that I regret.  There is no amount of good I can do to repay it.  I only pray that I can do enough to help those in need."  Daniel hugged his father, then got into the jeep and drove off to the school.  Jeffrey embraced his father as well, then his group of friends made their way to Bill's black truck which was parked just outside the hotel.  Jeffrey noticed a distinct design in the rust patterns of the truck.
  "Well, I'll be damned.  It's a yin and yang symbol right there in black and rust.  Buddha has spoken.  It's a sign that we will be successful.  There will be a mass pilgrimage of Buddhists to see this miraculous sign."
  "Dude, there's gonna be a mass pilgrimage of Revenant to our asses if we don't get the hell out of here," said Alexander.  With that, they loaded into the truck and drove in the direction of Wolf Cub Elementary School.

Chapter 42

42: Rend returned to the school disappointed by his failure at the hotel.  He knew he needed to take control of the people under him or he would have no chance of carrying out his ultimate goal.  He saw that Richard had come through with enough supplies to last them at least a few weeks.  "Good work, my children.  You have done well.  The hotel is well protected so we will need to band together and go in order to defeat the Untaken.  Richard, I will be planning our attack, but in the meantime, I need you to organize the transportation for everyone to the hotel."  Just then, there was a noise right outside the door.
  Chadwick, who had followed Rend to the school, was in the hallway listening to Rend address the Defectors.  When he had heard enough, he turned to leave, but tripped on a lunch tray on the floor.  The sound echoed in the empty halls.  He ran down the hall and out the door into the parking lot.  There had been two Revenant outside.  One grabbed his shirt when he tried to run past them.  He swung his right fist and knocked its jaw out of alignment.  This caused the zombie to loosen its grip.  Chadwick ran away as fast as he could.
  The Revenant turned away from him because they knew there were more people inside the school.  At a nearby house, Chadwick was a jeep which he climbed into.  It was red, which happened to be his favorite color.  Alright.  He got into the driver's seat.  Scanning the area for any more zombies, he saw the coast was clear.  He had some knowledge of cars and was able to figure out how to hot wire it.  Now it was just a matter of driving back to the hotel.  Much safer than being on foot.  Once he got back, he told everyone what he had seen and heard.

Chapter 41

41: All around Marble Cliffs were living people who had not chosen to be a Defector or Untaken.  Many of them knew very little of what was going on except that the town was deserted.  There was no TV, radio, internet or phones.  This was a particularly hot and arid day.  Small pockets of people had gathered together to try to figure out the situation, but no one had any way of knowing what fate had befallen Marble Cliffs.

  The wind started picking up and a little girl pointed off into the distance.  When people saw what she was pointing at, they crouched protectively to the ground, covered their ears and shut their eyes and mouths tight.  They were no strangers to dust devils and this was a big one.  All kinds of flying debris assaulted their flesh, while pieces of paper and empty plastic bags swirled all around them.  The noise was horrendous.  This inexorable barrage kept up for almost two full minutes and then gradually moved on its way.

  One by one, people started to cautiously open their eyes and get up from the ground.  Sand and dust was in their hair, all over their skin and in some of their ears.  Those with pockets found that sand and detritus had completely filled those as well.  Shoes, shirts, pants.  Nothing remained completely untouched by the fiercely invasive debris.  Twigs and other sharp objects had caused cuts and scrapes.  All around them, trash cans were overturned and tree branches were downed.  The area was generally a horrible mess.

  This wasn't the worst of it because, by the time an hour had elapsed after the dust devil, not a single person who had been outdoors was left standing.  Many of them had gotten home or to shelter of some sort.  Most of them just ended up lying on the ground in the dry heat of an Arizona summer.  They had all been exposed to the Scathing and their bodies were ravaged by the disease.  Of course, they didn't stay down long.

Chapter 40

40: Daniel approached the table where Jeffrey, his band and Bill were sitting, with a plate of eggs and sausage.  "Mind if I have a seat?"
  "Go right ahead," said Bill.
  Daniel poured some pepper on his eggs and took a bite.  "You know, I've been thinking about the connection between Rend being possessed by a dark spirit and the phenomenon of the Revenant.  What I came up with is this: One is the cause of the other. Here's what I mean.  The Collective believe that God has a plan which is constantly in motion.  That plan began when he created life and will end when all life ends.  Only spiritual beings like angels, dark spirits and people of faith, can affect that plan.  I mean like alter it or change it.  That's why prayer works, because faith comes from your spirit and so your faith can move mountains."  He took a drink of orange juice and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
  "How do you know all this?" asked Carrionette.
  "It's all written about in the Sypratic Tome.  That is the holy book of scripture on Sypraxia.  The religion that the Collective practice is called the Hierarchy of Sypraxus.  Let me try to explain it to you.  Did you ever notice that the more solid something is, the less of it you need to survive?  You can go for weeks without food.  You can only go a few days without water.  You can go maybe several minutes tops without air and you can't live at all without your spirit.  This is not an accident.  God is trying to show us the natural order of things.  Both the Collective's and the Nocent's bodies are made of liquid.  Sypraxus is the ability to change at will between the different states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.  I'll tell you more about this some day, but for now I'll tell you that no one I've ever known has been able to change into a gaseous form.  That takes an amount of faith, love and enlightenment which none of us has yet been able to attain.  Anyway, we were talking about the Revenant."  He took a bite of his scrambled eggs.
  After taking a bite of sausage, he continued.  "I'll tell you what I'm getting at.  You see, the Scathing is just a virus.  It can kill you, but it can't make you come back to life.  It is because Rend is possessed by a dark spirit that God's plan is being messed with. You see, before we are born into this world, our spirits write out a chart of our lives, which includes the various things we want to learn during this lifetime.  We also chart five different exit points during the course of this life.  We can choose to leave the physical plane and return to the Other Side through any one of these exit points.  It was not in their charts for these people who died from the Scathing to be dead yet so their souls are leaving their bodies, but the bodies themselves don't know they're supposed to be dead.  They haven't reached an exit point yet.  That's why they continue to move around without a soul.  They're just mindless, reanimated corpses.  I, as Daniel the vampire, worked in a similar way.  The evil in me was a spiritual entity so the people I killed came back, but as vampires not zombies. Vampires somehow keep their mental functions.  Of course, now that I am filled with the spirits of the Collective, I won't be killing anyone anymore."  He drank more of his orange juice.  "There's more I need to explain."
  Jeffrey interrupted.  "Dude, more?  I'm still trying to digest all that other stuff."
  Bill put a hand on Jeffrey's shoulder and turned to Daniel.  "Please tell us what you have on your mind.  We'll have plenty of time to digest it later."
  "Okay, so I'll start by explaining some of the basics.  All the life force of a planet is regulated by what is called a Gaia.  You've probably heard of that."
  "Yes, many religions and philosophies here on Earth recognize the Gaia," said Lowe Freq.
  "It's kind of like, say, the planet's spirit.  The Gaia makes sure that the planet only has the amount of life that it can sustain.  Well, so when the Nocent came to Earth, they offset that balance.  Ah, that's putting it too mildly.  They threw off the delicate life balance of this planet's ecology.  Pretty much any time someone from one planet goes to another, there is the risk of a planetary life force imbalance.  The result is usually death.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are nearly a thousand each of Collective and Nocent spirits here on Earth.  You can kinda expect a lot more bloodshed.  That is why in the past, the Collective tried not to interfere with life here on Earth.  We studied humans over the millenia, but mostly from a distance."  While those at the table sat thinking about the meaning of Daniel's words, he silently finished his breakfast.

Chapter 39

39: Mina went downstairs where the people were already nervously sitting to breakfast.  She sat at a table with Bill and his son, her co-worker, Jeffrey.  "Did either of you manage to get any sleep?"
  "Not much.  I've been thinking about my wife, Sandy.  I think she's still alive where the Defectors are staying. If Chadwick makes it back here and is able to tell us where Rend's headquarters are, I would you, Jeffrey, to lead a rescue party to go find your mother.  I would like you to take the black truck.  It is large and powerful enough to handle the Revenant."
  Jeffrey was stunned by this.  His father had never let him drive the black truck, and wasn't sure if he could.  "Dad, I can't drive the black truck.  You've always driven it."
  "I have not always driven it.  It's your turn now.  Your mother is out there.  She needs you.  You can help her. I believe in you.  I know you can bring her back to us safely."  Jeffrey started to tear up.
  "Dad, you've always made me feel like I'm a little kid.  Now you want me to go out there and find mom?  What if I can't do it?"
  "Jeffrey, did I ever tell you about your grandfather?"
  "What do you mean?  What about him?"
  "I'm talking about why I hold him in such high regard.  Why you always know I'm serious when I swear on his grave.  There's a reason for that."  Bill took a sip of water before continuing.  "When your grandfather finished high school, he worked at a bank in Tangjin.  Back then in Korea, your parents were your matchmakers.  They arranged who you would marry.  He was matched with your grandmother and he thought she was beautiful.  The problem was that they lived 100 kilometers apart from each other.  Taxis were rare back then, but with the money he got from working at the bank, he paid for one every week to visit her.  He'd often bring a guitar, harmonica or flute so that he could serenade her.  Soon, they got married."
  Jeffrey looked like he was about to say something.  "Wait, Jeffrey.  Don't worry, I'm getting to the main part of the story.  That was just the set up.  So then, not too long after they got married, Japan invaded Korea.  Your grandfather drafted to fight for the Korean army.  He went to fight in Japan and was captured.  He was a prisoner of the Japanese.  He gathered a few men who wanted to escape and they hid in an abandoned building for a day or so while they tried to come up with a plan.  They built a fire during the night because the building had no electricity.  They had found an old empty can and an onion.  They had a little water so they boiled the onion in the can over the fire.  It tasted terrible without salt, but it kept them going.
  "The next day, there was an earthquake.  He and his two companions watched out the window of the building at the effects of the natural disaster.  Outside, a Japanese man was struck by a large chunk of fallen concrete.  The blood splattered onto the window my father was looking out of.  This frightened them so they waited until nightfall, left the building and made their way to the coast.
    "My father had a string of gold rings sewn into the seam of his pants, hidden from the Japanese.  He used a gold ring to pay someone for a boat.  The ocean was very dangerous with bad, high winds.  The three of them were almost killed, but they made it to the shore of Korea.
  "When he got to Tangjin, his family thought they were seeing a ghost because they were sure he was dead.  So many soldiers died in the Korean War.  When he got home, his travels had left him with a high fever which almost killed him.  The doctors in Tangjin nursed him back to health and saved his life.  He could have stayed in relative safety in Tangjin, but the love of his life was in another city.
  "Now at this time, North Korea had invaded Seoul.  Your grandmother had gone there to be with her family when my father had been sent off to war.  Nobody was allowed to leave the city.  The bridge over the Han River, connecting Seoul to the mainland had been destroyed.  Your grandmother was sick at that time.  She was hiding in the basement of the building her parents lived in.  Neighbors brought her food and other necessities.  One night, she had a dream that her husband would come to save her.  When she told her neighbors about the dream, they told her not to get her hopes up because no one could get into Seoul.
  "One day, someone who looked like a beggar approached the building.  No one recognized him, but from her hiding place in the basement, my mother could see that it was her husband.  The trip from Tangjin to Seoul had taken him over two weeks, but he had made it.  She ran to him.  He was all bloody and ragged.  She cleaned him up and her neighbors helped to bandage his wounds.  They had to get out of the city.
  "That night they made their way to the Han River.  There were many bodies floating in the water.  A lot of them had died trying to swim across the river.  Many had also frozen to death, since it was wintertime.  Still, they needed to cross to get away from that deathtrap.  Many other families were also trying to get across.  Many families were separated at that time.  Most of them never found each other again.  Recently, in Korea, there was a campaign to reunite people who had been separated from their families at that time.  Anyway, with the gold rings your grandfather had, they were able to get someone to help them cross.  It took them longer to get to Tangjin than he had taken to get to Seoul.  They finally made it to his family's house in Tangjin.
  "In the house, there was a loose floorboard that they were able to hide under whenever the North Koreans came around.  They were never sure when the house would be inspected by North Korean soldiers so they had to be constantly vigilant.  The time for Chusok came while they were in that house and your grandmother made some rice wine in order to honor their ancestors in the traditional ceremony.  Unfortunately, some soldiers came around, so the two of them had to get down to hide underneath the floorboards.  They had the alcohol with them under there.  The smell of it almost gave them away because the soldiers could smell it.  Fortunately, they weren't found.  The war soon ended and they survived."  Bill sat back and folded his hands into his lap.
  "Wow, I never knew that.  I mean, shit.  He really loved her," said Jeffrey.
  "You see, extreme heroism and bravery are in your blood.  You can have your band with you while you look for your mother.  Together you can face the odds."
  Jeffrey seemed to take some measure of comfort from this.  "I'll do it.  As soon as we find out where she is, we'll go and get her.  We're not just a band.  We've been friends through lots of shit.  You have no idea."
  "You know, I don't say this often enough, but I love you, son."
  For the first time in his life, Jeffrey actually believed his father.  "I love you too, dad."  They ate together in a warm and comfortable silence with many smiles and a few tears after that.

Chapter 38

38: The next day, the attack was still fresh on Mina's mind.  If this man was made of water, he could get in from any plumbing fixture.  That freaked her the fuck out.  Next time he might be more stealthy and sneak through an unoccupied room, take the form of any person he's ever seen and just waltz right up to her.  She'd be a goner for sure.  Nowhere in the world would she be safe from an enemy like that.  Of course he just had to have it in for her in particular.
  The night after the attack, Barney organized watch groups to keep tabs on both the Revenant and Rend's inevitable return.  Many were glad to volunteer for watch shifts because they couldn't sleep anyway.  This dangerous enemy could bypass all their defenses and breach their security by entering from anywhere almost.  No one felt safe from sinks, toilets, drains or even the sprinkler system.  How do you defend against that?  Any one of them could be the enemy in disguise.  Distrust ran rampant throughout the hotel.
  That wasn't the only concern.  It didn't help Mina's frazzled sensitivities at all to realize that the Revenant were growing in number outside the hotel as the hours went by.  Who knows how long the Untaken could take refuge safely here?  They would eventually run out of their supply of food.
  When she left her room, she saw in the hallway that she wasn't the only one who was paranoid.  People were walking around with rolls of duct tape and had towels trying to stop up their faucets, secure their toilets, shower heads, drains and sinks.  People were eyeballing each other with open suspicion.  It almost made Mina laugh except that she felt the same way.  The whole circumstance reeked of tension.

Chapter 37

37: That night, in Kenn's room, Kenn and Daniel sat down to discuss some possible options on how to destroy Rend.  "The Collective tell me that Rend can keep his Sypratic gland anywhere in his body.  That's going to be our main concern.  That and the fact that he can go anywhere and be anything, of course.  It is my belief that only a vampire would have the necessary reflexes to kill him," explained Daniel.
  "Daniel, there have been so many questions I've wanted to ask you.  I mean, you made me into a vampire, but I don't even know what that means or how it happened."
  Daniel looked down at his hands and sighed.  "Well, you know how killing someone is sometimes referred to as taking their life?  That is almost literally true.  A part of them will always be with you.  When I bit you, you did die in a way.  I took your life.  But since you came back as a vampire, you are forever linked to me because your blood runs through my veins.  We are connected spiritually."
  "But, how did I become a vampire, why am I not a full vampire and why did my brother not come back?  You killed him too."  Kenn was pacing around the room, avoiding eye contact with Daniel.
  Daniel thought about it for a moment, turned to the nightstand between the beds and opened the drawer.  Inside was a copy of the Holy Bible.  He picked it up and started thumbing through the pages.  "You are not a full vampire because you are without the guilt of murder.  You see, the Scriptures mention a silver cord connecting the body to the soul.  You still have that.  If you were to kill someone, even Rend or myself, that silver cord would be loosened and forever out of your reach.  Just like anyone else, when you die, the cord will be severed.  On the other hand, if I somehow die, your link to me would be severed and you would become fully human again."
  Kenn rubbed the palms of his hands on the laps of his pants, but remained silent.
  Daniel breathed deeply and continued.  "The next part takes a little setting up to explain."  Daniel turned to look at Kenn.  "Are you familiar with ecto-plasm?"
  Kenn stopped pacing, but didn't look at Daniel.  "You mean that ghost slime stuff?"
  Daniel's lower lip stuck out and he folded his hands in his lap.  "In a way, yeah.  Ecto-plasm is a substance that exists between the spiritual realm and the physical plane.  It rides the fence, so to speak.  But it also acts as a doorway between the two worlds."
  Kenn sat down and looked at Daniel.  "And somehow this answers my questions?"
  "Not yet.  I've had a lot of time to think about this.  What I've come to understand is that vampire flesh is ecto-plasmic in nature.  It shares some properties with ecto-plasm.  I'll explain.  We are not fully connected to either plane.  That's why things that would kill a normal human being are relatively harmless to us.  Obviously we still eat, drink, breathe, sleep and get rid of waste.  But the cool thing is, bullets and knives just pass right through us into the spiritual plane."
  "Uh, you lost me at 'hello'."
  "We're not fully alive or fully dead.  We are considered to be undead.  Like a zombie, only smarter.  Well, when I bit you, some of my saliva, which is infused with ecto-plasmic properties, entered your system.  Your body eventually became just as permeated with the 'ghost slime stuff', as you put it.  That's how you became a vampire. Your brother did not come in contact with any of my bodily fluids and I did not drink any of his blood so he died a normal human death.  He did not become a vampire."
  Kenn stood up, went over to the little refrigerator and started mindlessly examining the labels on the tiny bottles of liquor.  "Okay, I'm beginning to get it.  This ecto shit makes us one of the living dead.  Neither here nor there.  Is there anything else I need to know?"
  "The coolest thing is that ecto-plasm absorbs energy, whether it's positive or negative.  You literally get stronger when you or someone around you is putting out energy.  That's why you're so strong when you're angry, sad, happy, afraid or whatnot.
The rest you've probably seen in movies, but didn't fully understand.  For instance, garlic works.  But here's why.  It's the chemical properties of garlic that for whatever reason, nullify the ecto-plasmic properties of vampire flesh.  Basically, it imprisons us in the physical plane, where we are vulnerable to things like bullets and knives."  Daniel put his hand on his knee.  "You know, like the mortals.  Uh, let's see.  Ecto-plasm is also photosensitive and dissolves in sunlight.  Bad news for us.  Better to stay in the darkness."  Daniel drummed his fingers on the nightstand.  "And last, but not least, holy water.  Holy water is kind of like the opposite of garlic. It traps us completely in the spirit world where we are no longer able to be part of this world.  Also, bad news for us.  Avoid at all costs."  Daniel's eyes looked up, then to the right.  Finally, he looked straight at Kenn.  "That's about it.  Vampire 101."
  "What about crosses?  I always see people use crosses in movies."
  "Crosses are just pieces of wood or metal or stone.  They have no power in and of themselves.  They only work if you have faith.  But if you have faith, you don't need them.  Most people don't have that kind of faith."
  Kenn ran his fingers through his hair.  "So I'm a vampire, you're a vampire, my brother isn't a vampire and only a vampire can kill Rend.  But if I kill him I'll forever be damned to Infurnus."
  Daniel's shoulders slumped as his breath whistled through his teeth.  "Well, when you put it that way, it does look kinda bleak, doesn't it?"  He stood up.  "Don't worry, we'll figure something out."