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Memories Awakened
By Jen Wilcher
~A Sanctuary/Fringe Story~
Chapter 1: Meeting Count Dracula
A brown-haired, blue-eyed man, in his thirties, picked up a beaker full of a strange liquid. Its smell seemed to be fading, but the sweet and rotten aroma still lingered The man wore a blue sweater and jeans with black casual dress shoes. The breaker sat on one of the many glass topped tables in his father's old Harvard University laboratory. He rolled his eyes. Great. Walter's brewing more homemade drugs. What could it be this time? he wondered. His father, Walter Bishop, had recently been released from a mental hospital; St. Clair's where he spent seventeen years and much of his son's childhood.
Walter, as if on que, walked down the stairs and to the main floor of his old laboratory sipping a fruit drink. "Peter don't touch that! It's for an important experiment," he lectured.
"And what experiment was so important you had to leave the lab to get a fruit smoothie?" his son asked.
"I was craving a strawberry banana smoothie," Walter replied. He took off his tan coat and placed it on one of the lab tables near by. He dressed much like his son, a sweater and with tan slacks and casual dress shoes. "I'm trying to make some ayahuasca. I've recently read that some South American shamans use it to elicit an alternated state of consciousness."
"So just in case you get bored with LSD, you've decided to try other methods of getting high?" Peter retorted, annoyed.
"No, I merely wish to see if the drug has the same effect."
Peter's annoyed state didn't stop him from noticing a distraught looking young man come through the oak & glass doors and down the stairs to the main floor of the lab. The young man's eyes looked downward with thick brown bangs covering them and his striped flannel shirt and blue jeans tattered and torn. "Are you lost?"
"Help, me . . . I think, I think. I might be. Some kind of freak, or something," he struggled to get out. "I, I should have. Died in that lab explosion, but somehow, I didn't."
Another freak to help, Peter thought. Ever since Peter had been playing legal guardian to his father because the Federal Bureau of Investigation needed his help with certain cases, it had been one weird person or thing after another."Well, you may have come to the right place. We're kind of partial to freaks in this lab."
Upon hearing Peter's words, the young man looked up, locking eyes with him
For a moment, Peter could only stare. The young man's eyes looked unlike anything he'd ever seen before: pitch black, like he had only pupils. Snapping himself out of a daze, Peter asked the man's name.
"Biff, Biff Harrington," he replied, his eyes returned to their usual brown color.
"Someone actually named you that?" Peter answered with cocked brows, pulling out his cell phone. "Look, I'm going to call some people who I think can help you. Why don't you have a seat right here," Peter told Biff, pointing to the large metal lab chair in the middle of the room.
Biff moved towards the uncomfortable looking chair in slow, jerky movements, but managed to get there without help.
"Who's the kid?" Federal agent Olivia Dunham asked when she walked into the lab followed by her assistant, junior agent, Astrid Farnsworth. Olivia wore a black suit coat over a white button up blouse with black slacks and dress shoes; Astrid, a red long-sleeve casual dress shirt with tan corduroy pants and shoes.
"Just in time, we may have a new case to look at," Peter replied. "He says his name's Biff Harrington. He came here asking for help. He thought might be 'some kind of freak'."
"Who names their kid Biff?"
"You want me to look him up?" Astrid asked. She knew her job too well. Junior agents always get stuck running background checks, and looking up information. In most cases these days, her job also involved being Walter's lab assistant . . . and sometimes his babysitter.
"Yeah, while I see if I can get some more information from him," Olivia ordered the junior agent.
Stricken with uncontrollable bloodlust, Biff stood up from the lab chair, poised to lunge at Walter.
"PETER!" Walter screamed, his hands shaking in front of his face.
The air stiffened around everyone with Walter's fear. Peter and Olivia turned around to see what made Walter scream. Claws and fangs replaced the human teeth and nails Biff walked into the lab with and his eyes had turned pitch black again. He held a clawed hand out ready to strike.
Taking a heavy in breath, Olivia pulled out her gun from its holster, and fired off three shots. The bullets only made Biff take one or two steps back and he quickly healed what little damage Olivia's shots caused.
Crap. "Everyone get down," Olivia ordered. Her heart beat faster, as more adrenaline started pumping though her system. This isn't going to be as easy as I thought. I need a plan B.
Peter got down against the wooden drawers underneath the central lab table. Okay, regular bullets don't work, which means we need a plan B, Peter thought, taking deep breaths, trying to claim his nerves. Even though his father hadn't spent much time with him growing up, he still didn't want anything to happen to him. He still loved him despite the issues he had.
Wait, tranquilizer guns were placed in one of the drawers underneath all the lab tables at my request. Peter turned around and slowly opened each drawer until he found the tranquilizer gun. He stood up and looked around, making sure no one stood between him and Biff. Good, Walter and Astrid found a place to hide. He fired off three shots, knocking Biff out and causing him to fall back into the lab chair.
Walter, hands shaking, dared to take a peek at the scene. He saw Peter standing with the tranquilizer gun and Biff back in the lab chair. "Can I come out now?"
"Yes, you can come out now Walter. It's safe," Peter replied.
Astrid and Olivia cautiously stood up from their hiding places, behind more lab tables.
"What was that thing?" Olivia asked, gun still in hand.
"I don't know, but he did walk in here with pitch black eyes. Other than that he seemed pretty human. Until he grew fangs and claws. He's out for now," Peter answered.
Looking over at Biff, Olivia put her gun back in its holster. "Any idea what could have caused such a transformation?"
Astrid had since returned to her laptop to continue her back round check on Biff. "Guys, I think I may have found something," she replied and everyone gathered around her laptop. "According to this Biff is a Harvard biochemistry major who spent some time at a detox clinic in Mexico for a cocaine addiction. He was treated by a man named Hinrick Bonslauger. Now, here's what caught my eye: the name of the clinic, La Casa de Nueva Vida or "The House of New Life." This guy's treatments supposedly cure any and all addictions within a week."
"That's impossible," both Bishops exclaimed.
"Do you think it could have something to do with why or what Biff transformed into?" Olivia asked Walter.
"I suppose it's possible, but I would need Dr. what's-his-face's research. Strange as it may sound, he looks familiar, like I've seen him before even though I've never heard of him," Walter replied, excitement in his voice. He was like a kid in a candy store when it came to possible experiments.
"So, you think you could figure out what made Biff turned into Count Dracula?" Peter asked.
"Perhaps, but I need a blood sample and that doctor's help would be appreciated," Walter noted while he prepared a syringe to draw blood.
"And Astrid, could you tell me where Biff was living? I'd like to check the place out," Olivia ordered.
A dark haired man, appearing somewhere in his thirties, walked up to a house and knocked on the door. He wore a black vest over a grey-blue long sleeve dress shirt with black slacks and dress shoes. A young man, in his early twenties, answered the door after a few more knocks. "I'm looking for Biff, is he around?" the older man asked. "It's really important that I speak with him."
"Uh, he hasn't been home since a day ago that I'm aware of. I know he was near or maybe even in the biochemistry lab that exploded on Tuesday. They think he died along with everyone else, but nothing's been confirmed 'cuz they can't find his body. . . I didn't know him very well though; I was just his roommate. We weren't friends or anything," the young man answered, looking at the floor.
"Ok, thank you anyway," the man said. He turned around and started walking back towards campus. This could be bad. If one of my sleeper vampires died again before the full transformation, a vampire could be walking about. One I have to find and quickly. Lucky for me, Biff isn't like the other brats I recently taught some manners to.
"Dr. Bonslauger?" a woman's voice called out from behind him.
The doctor turned around to face the blonde woman. She looked well dressed and important. "Yes?" he replied.
"I'm Olivia Duhnam with the FBI," she replied, showing her badge. "I've got some questions for you regarding a former patient of yours, Biff Harrington. He walked into one of our consultant's labs located in the basement of Harvard University's Kresge building yesterday. I was wondering if you could come with me and help us shed some light on his current condition?" she replied.
"Oh, that's why he wasn't home. Is he alright?" the doctor asked with a concerned tone. Maybe I can hide my concern about blowing my cover, under concern for Biff.
"We're not sure. We were hoping you could help us in determining that."
Realizing it would be stupid of him not to go along with agent Duhnam, he agreed to help. I'll just have to be careful. "Alrighty then, but I need to call a colleague of mine who I believe may be able to help first," Bonslauger told Olivia. He pulled out a cell phone and keyed in Helen's number. "Helen, it's me. I need your help with one of my former patients. I was wondering if you could meet me in the basement of the Harvard University's Kresge building as soon as possible."
Olivia watched the doctor with interest, wondering exactly who this Helen person was and how she could possibly help. Maybe she's his assistant or a colleague from earlier days? Has Astrid come up with anymore background information on Bonslauger? I should ask to her to do a back ground check on Helen as well as when we get a last name. Maybe once Walter had actually met Dr. Bonslauger, he would remember where he'd seen him from. She had an uneasy feeling in her gut. Bonslauger was hiding something; she just had to figure out what. "So, is she coming?"
"Yes, she'll be here later today," he responded following Olivia's lead.
"Alright, this is it. I have to warn you though, you're in for a few surprises," Olivia said. She led him up a set of stairs, and through the building's main entrance.
Dr. Bonslauger followed down another set of stairs and through the hallway to the basement entrance of Walter's lab. Dr. Bonslauger stood for a moment on the main platform just inside the lab entrance. A plethora of smells greeted his nose, the stale lab equipment, hay, and a faint sweet yet rotten smell he did not recognize. The sight of Walter's lab brought back old memories of his old lab in New York City, where he did preliminary work for building the Wardenclyffe Tower.
He took note of four additional platforms, one in each corner, with various lab equipment including beakers and microscopes. His blue eyes continued to survey the perimeter, noticing a freezer, file cabinets, and a table with three computers in the back. His eyes narrowed when he saw a cow on far left corner platform. How dare him! Bonslauger decided not to mention his distaste for animal testing now, but he would definitely have a word with Dr. Bishop later. He moved his focus to the center of the lab's main floor, where he saw what looked like a tank of some kind until his eyes rested on Biff. His former patient sat passed out in a chair in the middle of the room. "How long has he been out?"
"Oh, I see you managed to track down Doctor Frankenstein," Peter blurted out.
"Watch your language kid" Bonslauger retorted, giving Peter a pointed look.
"Oh, Doctor Bonslotter nice to meet you. My name's Walter Bishop and this is my son Peter . . . you look familiar," Walter said holding a hand out in greeting.
"First of all, it's Bonslauger and second of all would someone answer my question, how long has he been out?" he replied, annoyed.
"Not very long, why?"
"Good, but he won't stay that way, if those braces aren't made with Titanium webbing. He'll break through them quite easily," Bonslauger informed them. And hopefully Helen will be here soon with the equipment required to run the devamper.
