The Source (4 page)

Shifting my feet, I
quickly smile then turn in the direction he indicated.  We start walking;
the silence between us is almost suffocating.  It’s like the air was made
thicker by the awkwardness of our encounter.  I want to say something
witty so that I can break through this disconcerting smog, but can’t come up
with anything, which means that anything I would say would be totally lame.

We continue to walk
in silence.

When we get to the
cafeteria, it’s just as bland and white as the rest of the facility.
 There is one row of food warmers a la the high school lunch line,
complete with plastic trays.  I don’t know where to begin as my heart says
“one of everything,” but my brain knows better.  Tucker hands me a tray,
then begins scanning warmers to make his first choice.

I pick and poke at
the food, taking very small quantities of vegetables and meatloaf, uber-aware
that Tucker is frequently glancing at me.  I pick up a bottle of water and
quickly move to the cashier line.  After paying, I scan the seating area
for an empty table, sit down and internally berate myself for the small
quantity of food on my tray.  I keep my head down as I unwrap my
silverware and nearly fall out of my chair when Tucker plops down beside me.
 Ugh, now I’m not going to be able to eat at all.

“I’m starving.
 I didn’t get to eat dinner, so I haven’t had anything since lunchtime.
 Thankfully this cafeteria is open 24/7.”

I slightly smile at
him, not sure if I should ignore him or attempt to be polite.

Tucker attacks his
food with much gusto while I sit there making tracks in my mashed potatoes with
my fork.  He looks up at me and asks, “What?  You’re not hungry?”

Busted.  Now I have
to do something.  Distraction is the best course of action.

“So which team are
you working with?  I don’t remember seeing you in the room this morning.”  I
start to slowly take small bites of my food.

“Oh, I’m not a
researcher.  I work for the government archives.  My job here is to collect
data on the project for posterity and all that.  In a way I’m a reporter who
reports
to
the government
instead of reporting
about
it.”

Hopefully that will
be enough for him to leave me alone so I can try to eat without drawing too
much attention to myself.  I really just wanted some time alone to process my
disastrous first encounter with Rick.  I guess I could ask him to sit somewhere
else, but that would be rude.  My best bet would be to quickly eat my food then
tell him that I needed to get back to work.  I could then take a stroll around
the facility while I gather my thoughts.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Or
not.

Tucker smiles at me,
“How did you come to be working on this project?”

“I applied like
everyone else.  I have a background in environmental engineering and with my
experience, I was one of the lucky fourteen.”

“Who did they pair
you up with?”

“Rick Allstedt,” I reply.

“Ah, so you were
paired with a vampire,” he states matter-of-factly.

“How did you know
Rick was a vampire?”

Tucker smiles, “I’m
an archivist, remember.  I know a little bit about what’s going on here.  I may
not know faces, but I know names and some about each person’s background.”

I raise a questioning
eyebrow, “So you really didn’t need to ask me how I came to be working on this
project?”

He winks at me, “Just
making friendly conversation.”

I look down at my
tray, smiling just a little as a tingling sensation rippled throughout my
body.  Was the wink his way of acknowledging that he knows more about me than
he’s revealing or could he possibly be flirting with me?  Best not to think too
much about it.

“Do you live around
here?” he asks.

“Don’t you already
know that?”

He laughs loudly, “I
know where Emma Burcham is from originally, but I don’t know where she’s
currently living.”

“Well, right now I’m
currently living in Rowan.  At least until the project is completed.  Then I
will return back to my permanent home which is in Huntington.”

“Oh, you never moved
away from your birthplace?”

It is rather
unnerving that he knows things about me, including the fact that I was born in
Huntington.  What else does he know? 

“I’ve lived in a
couple of different places, but none very far from Huntington.  Until now. 
I’ve never even visited southern West Virginia, so Rowan is a complete mystery
to me.”

“Maybe when you get
done with your shift I can show you around town,” Tucker smiles brightly.

There’s that tingling
sensation again.  I feel like a fumbling fool because I don’t know exactly how
to respond.

“That’s a friendly
gesture.”

He grins rather
deviously, “Well, I can be a friendly person...to some.”

Now I’m blushing.  I
concentrate on my food so I would have a reason to escape this situation as
soon as possible. 

“How are you and Rick
getting along?” he suddenly asks.

Startled, I reply,
“Fine, I guess.  Are you...a....”

“A....What?”

“A vampire?”

He chuckles, “No, I’m
human.  You can’t tell?”

“My radar has been off
recently.”

“Well, maybe that
means they’re getting better at hiding it.  Or else humans are becoming more
animalistic.”

I give him a blank
stare, saying nothing for several beats.

Tucker’s head drops. 
“I’m sorry.  That was bigoted of me.”

I nod slowly. 
Wanting to change the subject, “You’re not from West Virginia?”

“Not originally,” he
responds.  “I was raised in upstate New York, but I’ve lived in West Virginia
for the past ten years.”

I continue to nod,
feigning casual interest.

“So are you a coal miner’s
daughter?” he asks with a bright smile on his face.

Another blank stare.

“I’m serious.  Was
your father a coal miner?”

No longer able to
withhold my irritation I say, “You’re serious.  My father was an accountant. 
Not everyone from West Virginia works in the mines.”

He holds up his
hands, “Whoah, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I try hard not to
roll my eyes.  “How can you, in the space of mere minutes, go from being an
outright bigot to being naively prejudiced?”

“What?” he responds. 
“That’s SO not what I meant.”

I stand up, no longer
caring if I finish my food.  “Now what I find ironic is that
you
called
me
rude.”

I calmly walk out of
the cafeteria without looking back.

I walk up to the door
of our suite and take a deep breath.  Not knowing exactly what I was walking
into, I slowly open the door.

Rick is standing at
the whiteboard writing a list.  He started without me?  He must be SO talented
that he can do this all by himself.  Like I’m not needed.  He should prepare
himself for some major disappointment.

I let the door close
oh-not-so-quietly.  Rick turns around and still manages to smile.

“You’re back.  Thank
God.  I was afraid that I had upset you so much that you wouldn’t come back and
I would have to do this all by myself.”

Damn with the
assumptions.

“I’m still
aggravated,” I say, “but we need to get started.  What are you working on?”

Rick’s smile
broadens, “I was just making a list of all of the vampire vulnerabilities and
ways to kill.”

I lay my book near
the sink, “Sounds pleasant.”  I begin to read the list as he watches me
intently.  I’m trying not to be distracted by his gaze, but it is rather
unnerving.  Blood to survive, impaling the heart, decapitation, sun exposure,
sleep during the day/up all night, fire.

I cock my head to the
side as I continue to review the list, “Aren’t there some things missing?”

“Like what?” Rick
asks.

“Like a crucifix or
cross?”

Rick crosses his
arms, “Myth.  That doesn’t repel vampires any more than any other artifact. 
Some of us are even Christians.”

“What?”

He continues, “You’ll
find that a lot of what people think about vampires is not true.  When you’ve
had to be in hiding for thousands of years, your existence becomes a mystery. 
The stuff of legend.  And a lot of the ‘facts’ are not only plain wrong,
they’re ludicrous.”

“Okay, what about a
wooden stake through the heart?  You just have impaling the heart.”

“Shoving something
into the center of a vampire’s heart will kill them just as it would a human. 
After thousands of years in hiding, what many people fail to realize is that
vampires are human, too,” he grins deviously, “human...with a twist.”

“But what about
needing blood to survive?” I ask.

“Humans do, too.  If
all of the blood drained out of your body, you would die.  It’s just that with
our particular condition, our bodies do not produce red blood cells so we need
to acquire blood from other means.  Which is related to the fact that yes, we
do have heartbeats.”

“Heartbeats?”

“Yes, heartbeats. 
Many of the myths suggest that our hearts are more or less dead in that they do
not beat.  But, how would we disperse the blood throughout our bodies to give
us that warm glow if we did not have the internal pumping of a heart?”

“I had never thought
of it that way.  But what about things like garlic and holy water?”

“More myths,” he
responds.

I pace back and forth
trying to process all of this information.  “In reality, vampires can be killed
in many of the same way as humans with the exception of sunlight.”

Rick nods as he
watches me.

“Why the sun?  I
mean, what about the sun is so deadly to vampires?”

Rick walks over to
the island sink in the center of the room and rests his hands against it,
seeming to choose his words carefully.  “We’ve never really figured that out. 
Yet.  We just know that if a vampire goes out into the sun, it’s as if the sunburn
process is hyper-accelerated.  There also appears to be a rapid dehydration
part to the process, hence part of the result ends up looking like dried dust. 
Actually, more like sawdust because just like in cremation, pieces of bone and
whatnot remain. The other part of the result looks rather
wet.
Almost
like gelatin.”

I shudder.

He half smiles,
“Sorry.  Some of my reality is gruesome.”

I lean against the
island, “It’s okay.  I need to hear these things if I’m going to understand and
develop any theories to affect our goal.”

“In the simplest
terms, I guess you could say that it’s sort of like a sun allergy.  And just
like ‘regular’ humans, it is unknown as to why vampires have an allergic-type
reaction when exposed to sunlight.”

I nod and stand in
silence as I think of the possibilities.  Doing actual work was a great
distraction from the fact that Rick had previously aggravated my last nerve. 
And the fact that he is a total hottie.  A hottie who totally rocks my socks. 
Sounds like something from a stupid reality show. 

There is a sudden
knock on the door then Mr. Caulfield and his female assistant walk through,
striding with a purpose. 

“Good evening Dr.
Allstedt, Dr. Burcham,” Mr. Caulfield says.

 “I just wanted to
stop by to make you aware of some scheduling items while you’re working on the
project.  We expect that your meal breaks will be taken when needed, but every
night at 2:00 a.m. there will be a project team meeting in the main conference
room to discuss our progress and any other issues impacting our work. 

“Further, we have
other government employees whose primary job will be to observe and record the
overall process for official documenting purposes.  These employees, or
archivists, will show up unannounced at various times.  We do not want to
inhibit the natural flow of your work by arranging multiple visits, when your
behavior and work will be extra impacted by the expectation of the
observation.  In fact, each research facility is equipped with monitoring
equipment such that you may not even be aware of the archivist’s presence. 
However, you will meet with your assigned archivist during the 2:00 a.m. meeting
to discuss your project in detail.”

Archivist.  Tucker. 
Surely the Fates would not be so cruel.

“If you are in need
of anything, please see my assistant Allison and she will take care of
everything,” he motions to the woman standing beside him.  She is a svelte
blonde with deep blue eyes, pouty lips and a bust line worthy of a Botticelli. 
I’m already suspicious of her.