It's Not Over, Chapter 4

(Something About Bridget)

Needy stared at the red-head. The revelation somehow was not surprising, she had sensed there was something very different about the other girl from the time she had met her. Still, this was a lot more than she had expected. She groped for something to say.

"So, you're five hundred years old?"

The self-confessed vampire relaxed a bit. Needy realized just how tense the other girl had been waiting for her response. A smile crept over the red-head's lips.

"Actually I'll be four hundred and sixty in August. I was born in 1552 in County Kerry in Ireland."

"But you're not alive."

"No the normal term is 'undead' although I have to admit even I'm put off by that term. 'Immortal' is more to my liking." Bridget suddenly snorted. "With all the political correctness making its rounds I'm surprised someone hasn't come up with 'existentially challenged' or some such crap." She became more thoughtful. "Actually I DO suppose 'prone to severe sunlight allergy reaction syndrome' would be appropriate."

Needy lifted an eyebrow. "So that part of the vampire mythos is correct? Even if obviously from what you've been saying the 'incredibly evil killer' part isn't?"

"Well, kind of yes and no to the second part. That's the free will thing I was talking about. Some vampires are what we, you and I, would call good. Some are evil. And some, especially the very old ones, are rather indifferent about the whole thing. They're pretty self-absorbed and don't much notice or care for anything that doesn't directly concern them. The oldest one I ever met, who was once a Roman General, was like that."

"Wow, so he's like two thousand years old?"

"If he's still around. Last time I heard of him he was up in Canada. If he's seriously misbehaving he's doing it very quietly. The last thing most of us want is to draw attention to ourselves."

"Why is that?"

"Like any feared minority, especially one that there is actual reason TO fear, we do best to keep a low profile. Yes, some of what the legends say about us are true; we're inhumanly fast and strong, we can see in the dark, and we can shrug off things that would kill a normal human."

"Like a shotgun blast."

"Uh-huh. Still hurts though. I had forgotten how much. The last time I took a shotgun blast at point blank range was during the American Civil War. And that one was worse. Instead of nicely machined buckshot it was old ball bearings and nails as I recall."

"So some of the stories about you, about vampires are true, which means some are not." Needy was finding herself more and more fascinated by this girl; someone who frankly admitted she was not human, indeed was one of mankind's most infamous nightmares and yet seemed to be someone she felt she could completely trust.

"Exactly." Bridget seemed to ponder for a moment. "How would you like it? Me giving you a lecture or you asking questions as things strike you and me answering? I promise the truth except many names will be changed to protect the innocent. Or not so innocent."

"How about you start and I jump in as things happen to hit me?" suggested Needy.

"Okay. Let's see," Bridget pondered and then laughed. "You know, I've not had to produce a full explanation of myself since nineteen forty-three? And I think the time before that was the American Civil War."

"The American Civil War?"

"There have been a lot of civil wars. Although it was incredibly bloody the US one was in many ways a much more civilized one than say the Spanish Civil War. The American one was divided along regional boundaries rather than the brother-against-brother one so many are."

"And that was the last time you got shot with a shotgun."

"Uh-huh. I'm not even sure by whom or exactly what side they were on either. It was all a rather confusing situation."

"You'll have to tell me how you happened to find yourself in those situations," remarked Needy.

"One day I will," promised Bridget. Her eyes glinted with mischief. "When we know each other better. Let's just say neither of those times I mentioned would be appropriate for a "G" rated show. Or even a PG-13 one."

The redhead turned serious again. "Okay, the number one thing about vampires. We drink blood. Human blood. Animal blood can keep us going for short periods of time but eventually we have to have human blood to survive. That part is absolutely true.

"The good part is the innumerable scenes you have seen where a vampires bites a human and then the human falls dead because all of her blood has been sucked out is ridiculous. Where would my body put all that? Actually Bram Stoker and the original Bela Lugosi movie 'Dracula' based on his novel got that part right. Dracula fed on his female victims night after night until they weakened and died, not all at once."

"Is that how you became a vampire?"

"How one becomes a vampire is a deep, dark, close-held secret among us. I won't reveal it. Suffice it to say it requires a lot of preparation and planning and can't be accomplished on the spur of the moment. It's one of the reasons there aren't going to be any vampire armies taking over the world."

"And the other reasons?"

"We're generally loners. Oh there are exceptions," she smiled. "I remember attending the wedding of two friends, a Scottish vampire and a Spanish one, in Paris just before the beginning of the French Revolution. But by and large we are solitary. We surround ourselves with lots and lots of people. And that leads to the third reason."

"Which is?" asked an increasingly fascinated Needy.

"Vampires are rare." Bridget shook her head. "For instance you'll see more vampires on an average episode of 'Buffy' or 'Angel' than are probably in all of North America. Besides the difficulty in creating other vampires there's no real incentive to add competition or take the risk that someone may go insane when they find out what happened to them and reveal our existence to the world."

Needy pounced on something Bridget had said. "Marriage. I assume that it was a civil ceremony?"

"In eighteenth century France? Not hardly. Church, priest, the whole nine yards. Oh, I see. I think anyway." Bridget reached into the open collar of her blouse and fished out a silver chain that was looped around her neck. Suspended from the chain was a worn silver crucifix.

"My parents gave me this for my First Communion," she said softly. She looked at it for a long moment. She stared off into the distance and Needy could tell the Irish girl was not seeing the wall on the other side of the room. When she came back to the here-and-now after a bit she shook her head and continued.

"I know of only two vampires afraid of crosses and one Arabic one who was repelled by the Koran. Out of curiosity I discussed the whole thing with Sigmund Freud. I told me those vampires were driven off by those holy objects because they believed they were SUPPOSED to be afraid of them. Or rather, he told me with a laugh, which would be true if such things as vampires existed."

"Did you hypnotize him or something?"

"No, vampires have no power of hypnotism. Nor can we turn into bats or wolves or such things. Were-creatures do that and I'm glad I don't. It would mess up my hair and make-up for sure. Speaking of make-up we do cast reflections in mirrors. And most of the other things; garlic, inability to cross running water, aversion to silver and such are simply not true."

"One set of tales that has come down through the centuries that is true is how to kill one of my kind. The stake through the heart, decapitation and exposure to direct sunlight all work just fine thank you very much. So if anything has to be done outside during daylight hours it will be up to you Anita."

"It's a deal."

Bridget looked at her appraisingly. "I must say you have taken this much more calmly than that last woman I went through this with. Of course she hadn't had your experiences to prepare her for the reality of the supernatural and she DID figure out something was different about me in a very unusual fashion."

"Who was she and how exactly did she discover your secret? Did you bite her?"

"Nooooo," laughed Bridget. "She was a WAC Lieutenant Colonel during World War Two. I was a Captain in the Army myself and we both were assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to the CIA. She was the senior female officer in England and ran the training facility/safe house outside of London while I was an operational agent who had just returned from France."

"But how did she know?" persisted Needy.

For the first time since they had met Bridget looked embarrassed. In fact she looked VERY embarrassed "Ah, for right now I'd prefer it if we could just let it stand that she figured it out. I'd rather get to know you a little better before I spring that on you."

Needy grinned again. Whatever else Bridget might be she was a fascinating person and the opportunity to get to know her better as well as spend her life fighting other evil creatures such as had taken Jennifer was just too much to even think about passing up.

"Okay but one day you will have to tell me. In the meantime, what's next."

"Today you relax. Catch up on your sleep. Wander the complex. Get to know the people. Tomorrow morning at dawn we'll have the initiation and then see about our first mission together."

"Do you know what it will be?"

"Not a clue but you can count on it being exciting. And dangerous. And something that needs very much to be done."

(To be continued)