Chapter 2

September Twelfth to October Fifteenth

Dr. Nolan walked rapidly down the long, windowless corridor. By decree from above, this portion of the small, underground laboratory was all but abandoned after dark. As a result, he was accompanied only by the echo of his footfalls on the highly polished tiles of the floor. At the end of the hall stood a massive, steel door. His hand shaking slightly in trepidation, Dr. Nolan entered his eight digit code into a pad to the door's right. He then stooped to have his retina scanned, and swiped his security card through a reader. After all of these tasks had been completed, there was whir of electric motors followed by heavy clunks as the thick deadbolts disengaged.

The room behind the door was centered on a large, one way window that looked out into absolute darkness. The only occupant of this room was a soldier in full combat gear. When Dr. Nolan entered, he found himself staring down the barrel of the soldier's weapon. Dr. Nolan held his identification badge up next to his face, and waited while the soldier checked his name against the very short list of authorized personnel that was printed on the wall behind the doctor. This was done meticulously even though the soldier had passed the doctor through on hundreds of previous occasions.

When the soldier finally lowered his weapon, Dr. Nolan walked to the bank of controls and monitors that ran the length of the wall beneath the window. The flick of a few switches produced a low hum, and then the room beyond the window was illuminated by row after row of florescent tubes. The vast chamber was an unrelieved white, from the tiles on the floor to the painted concrete walls and ceiling.

At the far end of the room, a man was held in a standing position with arms outstretched. There were thick steel bands circling his chest, stomach, neck, thighs, elbows and wrists. A dome of a duller colored metal crowned his head. All of the restraints were anchored to a thick steel post that ran from the floor to the ceiling. A web of wires attached him to a variety of machines that hummed and beeped as they monitored every conceivable property of his condition.

"Anything, uh, unusual to report?" Nolan asked.

"Other than the fact that he's awake, no," the guard replied.

Dr. Nolan and the soldier moved to a second reinforced door, and each produced a key suspended from chains around their necks. They turned their keys simultaneously, and the door swung silently open. Dr. Nolan strode hastily through it. He had only taken a few steps into the room when the door automatically pulled shut. He flinched at the click of the locks sliding home.

He strode with feigned confidence to the tightly bound man, and forced himself to meet the eyes that stared at him balefully from beneath the thick lead cap.

"Welcome back among the living," Dr. Nolan said, his voice cracking despite his efforts to keep it calm. "Restoring you to that condition put a sizeable dent in the lab's rat population. Your name is Arthur, correct?"

Arthur remained silent.

Over the next half hour, Dr. Nolan bombarded his new lab specimen with questions. How old are you? What year where you turned into a vampire? How often do you need to feed? How do you create others of your kind? What abilities do you have besides the obvious? Why are you harmed by the sun's touch? How many of your kind are there in the country? How many in the world? Who put the stake through your heart? What happened to the woman that was with you?

Arthur made no reply. He didn't even bother to breathe.

Pacing back and forth in front of the vampire, Dr. Nolan sighed and wrung his hands. "I know this situation is hardly a pleasant one for you, Arthur," he said. "Believe me when I tell you that I don't really want to be here, either. Look on the bright side, though. You're not burned up, staked and buried in a basement any more. Don't you think a little cooperation is warranted?"