Chapter Seven
Tom was in the cafeteria three days later, at noon, eating lunch. He was sitting by the windows
 but he was wearing the Ray Bans. The DA came in and pulled up a chair at his table and sat down.
 He never really asked permission. It seemed that everyone wanted to know the Commonwealth Attorney.
 He had on the sort of glasses that automatically darken in the light. 
"So, Tom, how have you been since the party? Recovered from your hangover?"  
"Yeah, I guess. My eyes have become a bit photosensitive. The noonday sun is outright blinding. 
And recently my skin feels hot. I went onto the internet to see if there is a disease like that,
 but so far, nothing. I thought the burning might be from the new hand soap I bought. Maybe they
 put in too much lye. Or of course, it still may be some pollutant in the air. Or some synergistic
 relationship between the sun and some pollutant."
"Well, Tom, if I were you, until you discover the cause of your new unique problems, you should try
 to stay out of the sun. Remember, the sun ages your skin. ..some more so than others." The DA laughed. 
"So, what is that that you are eating?"
"A steak sandwich," replied Tom. "But the bread tastes like cardboard, so I'm just eating the meat.... Ow!" 
"What?" The DA asked. 
"I just bit the crap out of my lip." Tom held his hand protectively over his mouth. The DA could 
smell the blood from where he sat. 
"Be careful when you chew," replied the DA, getting up to leave. 
Tom paid the waitress and then went into the men's room in order to see how badly he had wounded 
himself. It was hard to see himself in the mirror. He looked up and wondered perhaps if the fluorescent
 lighting overhead was making him look so dim in the mirror. The bulbs did look like they were getting 
dark and in need of replacing. But Tom did see that his incisors seemed longer and sharper. 
He thought: How come I never noticed that before! He shrugged it off and went back to work.
 But as the days passed, his pecularities grew. His teeth got longer but he just rationalized 
it by saying to himself that his gums had receeded. Obviously just some kind of gum disease, 
he thought. Must make an appointment with my dentist. His skin continued to burn in the sunlight
 and Tom ended up throwing out every cleaner in his house into the garbage. It still didn't help.
 He got leather racing gloves to cover his hands. As his forehead and nose got badly sunburned, 
he took to holding his leather folio over his head when he went out. 
Brady and Stone had expected that Tom would have, as a new Vampire, begun biting everything that
 looked remotely warm-blooded and that he, like all new vampires, woud need instruction on how to
 live his new life. In passing Tom by on the way to court and the parole offices, they saw that he
 indeed wore sunglasses and gloves and shielded his head with newspapers or a leather binder but
 other than that, Tom seemed to be no different than before. It looked for all the world that Tom 
was in denial.
 The two broached the topic with the DA. Francois merely replied that he had met with Tom several
 times and yes, Tom was making a lot of escuses for his problems, but Francois was certain that 
eventually the full realization of what he was would eventually dawn on him. The important thing 
was that Tom was not in any immediate danger. He was continuing to do his job well over at Probation 
and Parole, so, what more could anyone ask for? But Stone and Brady were not satisfied. 
"He's a danger to himself, and I don't care if I have to kill him in order to make him  realize that," said Stone.  "Yeah, " said Brady.  The two discussed the problem over their blood sausage at a German deli. 
"Holy water, said Brady. "We throw it at him." 
"And watch him melt," replied Stone. "The Baron would love that." 
"How about we get some Host," said Brady, "and trick him into eating it." 
"All these plans require us entering a church," replied Stone. "Can't you come up with any better ideas?"
"I've got one. Running water. We can't cross over it." said Brady. 
"What running water is around here?" 
"There's the James River."
"How running is that?" Stone squinched his brow. It didn't seem to move at all. 
"Have you ever crossed it?"
Brady thought. " I once went over it to pick up a parole violator."
"Was that before or after you were turned?"
"Can't remember. I know- we take him to Virginia Beach. At night. We show him that he can't enter the surf."
"Who would want to go swimming at night?" asked Stone. 
They watched a gardener water some bushes by the window. 
"A garden hose has running water in it, right?" Brady asked.
"You may have something there," said Stone. 
 The two agreed that the event would have to take place where there was a lawn with a garden hose.
 They would come over to Tom's new house with a garden hose as a gift. Stone bought the thing 
and the following Saturday morning, before the sun had gotten very high, the twins arrived at Tom's
 front door with a big red bow tied on it. Tom answered the door when they knocked. 
"Hi!" They said. "We decided to bring you a house-warming gift. For the bushes and flowers and the 
lawn that you will need to water."
 "For your new house," added Brady.
  Tom liked the gift and invited them inside for coffee, but they declined.
 "Why don't you try out your new garden hose?" They said. Tom screwed it on the outside faucet
 while Brady fiddled with the brass nozzle. The spray came out nicely. Brady held it out for Tom.
 "Here." The two watched in disbelief as Tom walked over the coils of the gardent hose with no problem
 as he came and got hold of the nozzle. He played with it, watering one bush, then another. 
The two were puzzled. 
"We gotta go now," Stone said, and pulled Brady after him. Tom thanked them again and waved the
 nozzle in the air to see the rainbows appear in the spray. They saw Tom turn and look up and squint
 at the sun and go inside for his sunglasses.
 "I don't get it. It was running water, and he had no problems crossing over the garden hose.
 I think there's something wrong with the legend. You ever test it out yourself?"
 "No. Why should I? You have to consider that there are water pipes in everyone's house.
 The water pipes run under the streets. Ever have any problem driving down the road? I know I haven't.
 The legend must be bogus."
 "Well, what'll we do next?"
 "I'm thinking: garlic. You and I know we both can't stand garlic. We invite Tom to an Italian 
restaurant and dump garlic in front of him and watch him react." 
So that is what they did. They called Tom up at work and asked him out for lunch. Tom came,
 and when he saw that the DA wasn't there, he wondered why he was not and why these two were 
being so chummy with him. Maybe they were hoping to get him to ride his parolees harder. Tom knew
 that they really liked their jobs and wanted to put all criminals away permanently and throw
 away the key.  "Rehabilitation therapy" was not in their vocabulary. 
Anyhow, when the waitress arrived, he ordered spaghetti.  He picked up the garlic salt shaker 
on his own and began to sprinkle it on his spaghetti, but it made him sneeze, so he set it down. 
Brady picked up the garlic shaker and began to sprinkle more on Tom's food, saying something about
 how it was good for the  cholesterol. Tom  looked at his spaghetti with dismay. 
"You've put so much garlic on it, I can barely see the spaghetti." Then he sneezed again.
 "You know," said Stone, "They say that vampires can't stand garlic. Ha ha."
 Tom wasn't one to waste food, so he picked up the parmesan cheese shaker and applied that 
liberally as well. It would help drown out the taste of the garlic. 
"So what happpens to vampires when they eat garlic?" asked Tom. "Do they get tummy aches?" 
Tom took a bite out of his spaghetti and smiled. The two looked at each other in disbelief. But 
they actually didn't know. They just knew that the legend said it would drive vampires away.
 And they knew that they didn't like it, either. The two made some  excuse about lots of work 
to do back at the office and they got up and left. The third attempt of the daring duo to try 
to get Tom to realize what he was came three days later. They invited him out again at a different
 restaurant. They handed him a little box. When Tom opened it, there was a silver cross inside. 
 "Take it out, why don't you," said Stone. Brady looked away, pretending to study something hanging
 on the wall. Tom picked it up. Brady snuck a peek, to see if Tom was being affected. 
Stone leaned forward. Nothing happened. 
"Set it in the palm of your hand, so that you can feel the weight of it," said Stone.
 "What's the big occasion, guys?" Tom asked. 
"Francois says that it is a family heirloom and that he wants you to have it." Replied Stone. 
Tom thought this was really nice of Francois. The two waited for something to happen with the
 cross resting in Tom's left palm. 
"Yeah, it has a lot of heft," said Tom. He held it up again and looked at his palm where the
 cross had been and saw a slight irritation. Stone saw the reddness. 
"Hmm," said Tom. "It gave me a rash.  I must be allergic to nickel."
"Gaw!" Exclaimed Brady, throwing down his napkin. "I give up! Let the boss explain it to him!" 
They got up to leave. 
"Explain what?" asked Tom, to the two, now shoving in the chairs and leaving the table. "You
 guys not going to eat your Virginia Ham sandwiches?" Tom called after them. He looked at their
 untouched meals. "Well, more for me," he said. 
Francois listened to the complaints of Brady and Stone and decided to bring Tom back to the scene
 of the crime. He invited Tom over to his mansion for a "symposium." And he invited all the area
 vampires to the event. Francois "invited" the whole group, including Tom down into his basement
 on the pretext of seeing his wine cellar. Everyone but Tom knew what he was really up to. 
Once in the "family chapel," it was so crowded that they couldn't shut the grill door. 
The agency psychologist was also a vampire, and the crowd pushed him, Tom and Francoise to the altar. 
"First, before we visit my wine cellar," began Francois,  I would like to revisit the location of Tom's
 entrance into our society."
 The psychologist then spoke. "You remember this room, Tom?" 
"Yeah. This was in my dream I had the night of the party." 
"Tell us about your dream," said the psychologist. 
"Well," began Tom, "I dreamt that Brady and Stone, um, grabbed me and I ended up on this black
 stone thing and you (he pointed to Francois) bit me. It was a silly dream." 
The psychologist said gently:  "And since the night of that 'dream', have there been any major
 changes in your life?"
 Tom looked at the crowd. "Is this a group therapy session or something?"
 The psychologist replied: "You can say that, yes. We are all friends here. Please continue." 
"Well, these two (Tom indicated Stone and Brady) since then I think have been trying to test me 
to see if I am a vampire."
 The crowd laughed. The psychologist shooed them to be quiet. "How so?"
 "Well, they were spraying me with water with my garden hose, I guess to see if I would melt.
 And they got me to eat a lot of garlic. Then they gave me a cross to touch. I know the stories.
 I was  expecting that they would whip out a mirror  next." 
 "Tell us, what are your thoughts about that?" replied the psychologist. "I think these two guys
 are Section Eights." 
The psychologist replied: "What if I were to tell you that everyone in this room considers himself
 to be a vampire?" 
Tom replied: "I'd say that the group therapy thing isn't working." 
Stone sighed heavily. 
Brady cussed under his breath. 
"Now, now," replied the psychologist, "Our friend Tom here is still in denial. For Tom to change
 too quickly would be traumatic for him."
 "What a bunch of crap," Brady muttered. 
The psychologist ignored the remark. "Tom, I want you to go over and touch the 'black stone thing'
 for me." 
Tom shook his head and went over and touched it. 
"What are your feelings right about now, as you touch the 'black stone thing'?" 
"I remember in my dream it was hard and cold."
 "Yes?" 
"I remember there were three cups underneath it somewhere." 
"Would you care to look underneath it for me?" 
Tom bent down, and in a carved-out hollow he felt three metal objects. He grasped them
 and held them up. They were three goblets. 
"Would you care to share what you are thinking now, Tom?" asked the psychologist. 
"I'm wondering how I knew that they were there." Tom looked at the two idiots who gave him
 a toothy grin. Tom looked at the others, now smiling with the same dental work.  Tom dropped
 the horrid goblets and pushed through the crowd and ran up the stairs, tore through the 
dining room and ran out of the house and made a beeline for his car. The psychologist spoke: 
"I think we have made a breakthrough, ladies and gentlemen."
 "Finally!" Exclaimed Stone. 
"Tom will be needing some time to himself now to sort things out. Thank you all for your assistance."
 "I still think we should've jumped him," replied Brady. The psychologist frowned. He was not into 
immersion/flood therapy. 
Brady had no use for the psychologist. Brady would arrest criminals, hoping to lock them
 away for good, but the psychologist would get them off with an insanity plea in court.
 Francois came over to the psychologist. 
"Will he be mentally scarred?"
 "I think not," replied the psychologist. "I think he will rally nicely."