By Raven
Allison watched her mother during the reception of
Chad and Gerda's wedding. She smiled the whole time,
but she could see her exhaustion. More than that she
could feel it. Seeing Penny and Schuyler, explaining the
guild, the wedding, all of it was taking more out of her then
the others saw. Her cue to it all was taken from her little
sister Jade, who seemed to be able to read Mom with an
accuracy that was, well, spooky. She tended to hover
nearby when Mom was tired, her eyes said it all- there was
concern in them.
Jade's eyes always fascinated Allison- they had a
wisdom within them that was far beyond normal human
understanding. Naya said that her eyes were able to see
into Mom's soul, so that she would always have someone
to talk to. Naya had always hinted at so much but said
nothing.
Christmas had answered so many questions. Like the
fact that, no matter how she tried, Allison was not able to
read what her mother didn't want her to. There was always
a wall around her mother's mind that not even Duncan
could break- he had tried when he was younger. She
realized that her family was even more special then she
had ever imagined. Now, though, she was worried about
her mother.
When they got home, she asked Jade telepathically,
"What's wrong with Mom?"
"She is very tired, but sleep will not help. She needs
the deep sleep." That was Jade's term for the hibernation
that her mother was able to place herself in.
It was with Jade's and Cery's help that they were able
to convince her that it would be all right for her to do it. She
wanted to wait until after New Year's Eve, so that she
would not miss the party. Cery had told her that she needs
to take care of her body as a whole, and that she was
placing too much stress on her system.
Allison felt Jade's mind knock, 'She used her magic too
much. It makes her more tired then anyone knows.' she
'heard'
"Mom, it will be all right. All the stuff has been planned,
all that's left is just set up. Harry can cover that, he did it
last year, remember? He did fine." Allison told her mother.
She watched Jade turn on her charm. "You won't sleep
too long, Mommy. I won't let you miss the party." she said.
"All right." her mother said disgustedly.
"Mom, while you sleep, I want to study you." Allison
said. She looked at her mother as she was getting her
fuzzy on. It was then that she noticed her tattoo. She had
a lavender knot on her left shoulder. Naya had the same
knot at the base of her neck, as did Halea, Laurel, and
Sky. Each in a different place, but they all had the same
glow to it and a feeling of life, so to speak.
Cery guided their mother down to the pit and into the
niche. She lay down and was asleep as soon as her head
hit the pillow. Allison was fascinated as she watched her
mother's normal heart rate go from twenty in an hour to
six. Her respirations were down to two an hour and her
brain function was just above the category of brain death.
Allison attempted to send to her mother, but could not
find any signs of consciousness. Once she was sure there
was no chance of her mother waking, she set up the
equipment. Her mother's unique abilities fascinated Allison,
sometimes in ways that were, well, a little morbid.
Jade watched over Mom as Allison placed the
transmitters on her forehead. She was going to monitor the
whole hibernation process. She had a few questions that
were rolling around in her mind. She had spoken to Doctor
Stephen and Uncle Gomez about Mom's genetics.
Stephen knew a lot about her, being her primary doctor for
a long time. What he did not know though was the how or
why. He knew how to treat certain reactions, like exposure
to the Sagan Virus. But he did not know why it had to be
raw virus. He knew that drugs like curare had an effect on
her, along with any other drug that changed heart function.
Gomez had studied his own vampirism to determine what
was needed for his creatures, but again the "Why's" were
not covered.
A few things that came to light immediately were the
use of the extra blood vessels that went directly from the
heart to the brain stem and spinal column. They were ,for
the most part, unused. Now, though, they were the primary
carriers of blood. This was strange, until she realized that
her mother's heart was pumping in reverse. That meant
during hibernation or, to be correct, deep hibernation, blood
flowed only to the brain stem and spine. She also made a
realization, that in a normal human, the spinal column and
the brain shared the same protective fluid sac. This was
not true of her mother or the other vampires.
It became real interesting when she did comparative
scans of her cousin Ramon, and her sisters Sophie and
Jade. Day walkers as they were called also shared this
strange trait. But not anyone else in the family, even those
that had vampiric type regeneration.
Allison then called her Uncle Horace and asked him for
a scan, along with Uncle Chen. Once she explained, they
were glad to be of assistance. Uncle Horace even called
up an old scan of his from when he was in hibernation.
Also one from just after he woke up, along with footage of
how he was reacting just after awakening.
Both her uncles were telepathic to some extent, but
neither had Mom's fine control. Her mother didn't have a
range much further than a mile. What she didn't have in
strength, she had in control, to the point that it could make
the strongest telepath envious. Both Allison and her half-
brother Duncan could use their telepathy in the same
controlled manner, but neither of them could match Mom.
Duncan had gone back to Berne, but half a world away
was still a local call for them. That was their inside joke.
They both realized that they shared a trick. They could
have a conversation together on a separate frequency, so
to speak. They could also piggyback one another when
they wanted to.
Allison looked at her watch- it was nearly dawn. She
decided to take a nap in the pit for a few hours. Her need
to understand things could drive a lot of people nuts,
including her lab assistants, most of all her chief assistant,
Dr. Rodney Harrington. Sometimes, he would just throw
his hands up in disgust. But he was catching the why bug
slowly.
It was ten to nine when she woke up. Jade was in her
fuzzy floating sound asleep. Aurora was on her back in a
little ball. Somehow, the kitten managed to velcro herself to
Jade, no matter what position Jade was in. She was on top
and sitting pretty.
Unbuttoning her fuzzy, Allison floated down to the
floor. Cery looked up from her book- her smile said it all. "If
you hurry, there may be some breakfast left." she told
Allison. She headed up stairs, changed clothes, showered,
and did a quick fridge raid. Adrian and Harry were
spending the day helping Ethan and Bradley. They had a
leather order for Tony to get ready, and the extra hands
made it more fun and interesting.
By nine-thirty, she was back down in the pit, with a
spinal tap kit and a few other things. Cery was a willing
assistant. She had a natural healers touch- it wasn't magic
or Sagans, just the ability to heal. Not as dramatically as
Tim's, but those in her care got better faster, and with
fewer complications. She held her head in position while
Allison drew fluid from the sac around the brain, then from
the spinal column. It still took six hours for the holodeck to
do a complete serum breakdown.
She found two things that were very interesting. The
first was a protein strain, and the second was an enzyme.
The enzyme seemed to be the cause for the spontaneous
combustion caused by UV radiation. When she checked
her samples from Uncle Chen, he had much more than
normal. By dinner time, she had managed to convince all
of Mother's vampiric "children" to give blood samples. She
only had a problem with Remmy, who was deathly afraid of
needles. That she found hysterical, since he was a doctor.
Even Carcharo was fine, once she explained what she
wanted to do.
The other conclusion that was made after scanning all
the samples, was that the enzyme was responsible for
Jade not being able to get close to Harry. It was the
enzyme that made vampires that were young go inert
when the sun was up. The enzyme literally reacted to solar
emissions like a magnet to a compass, causing the body
to shut down.
Allison realized, that with a little work, she could come
up with a daily injection that would help Jade overcome the
problem. She patterned it after her mother's Sagan effect.
Her Sagans caused the enzyme to not be able to bond
with cells. Like Mom, Jade would be sun sensitive, but she
would no longer itch, nor would being near Harry hurt
anymore. As she grew older, she was getting more
tolerant, but this would make Harry's visits more
comfortable.
Once again, she was up until nearly dawn. Jade had
spent most of the night with Cery and was sound asleep
when Allison awoke. As far as she could tell, Cery didn't
need to sleep at all. It was going to take ten days for
serum culture to grow enough of the counteragent to the
enzyme. It might not help with this visit, but it would help
with Harry's next one. Plus, all the other vamps could be
inoculated so that Harry could be comfortable there too.
The protein that Mother had in her system was
fascinating. It was nearly dinnertime when Allison made
the discovery she was looking for. It was the protein that
was responsible for the hibernation process. In her mother,
it tended to build up at a rate that was much slower then
normal. This meant that her mother was able to push her
body farther then normal, but that there was still
consequences. Her last Sagan manifestation had produced
a secondary effect, in that the time required for her body to
break down the protein was reduced. The better
explanation was that the half-life of the protein was now
much shorter. It now deteriorated at an exponential rate.
She used the Holodeck to synthesize some of the protein
in different amounts. She hoped that when she woke up
she would be right in her hypothesis.
She had thirty hours left before the party when she
checked the samples. Cery asked why she was so giddy
when she returned to the pit at lunch time to check on
Mom.
"I was right! The protein does decay at a rate that can
be calculated!" Allison said, the joy of discovery clear in her
voice. She had called Stanley just prior to coming down.
"Let me finish lunch, Malice, and I will be right over."
He had started calling her Malice after China and her
spotting for Harry. It stuck after she got her permanent lab-
"Malice's Wonderland" he called it.
"Complete with Cheshire cat, right, Salem?"
"Someone has to make sure you eat your lunch."
True, since the lab had opened, he had delivered her
lunch every day. They would sit and eat, playing games
like go and chess. It was relaxing for both of them. What
Mom didn't know about her partner's love of science didn't
hurt her. Sure, Salem was a card sharp, but he also loved
the sciences. He had a deep appreciation, that he shared
with Mom, for art and music. Was a mage beyond
compare, and a very good poet.
Mom had been in the foreground with computers from
the beginning and was a virtuoso when it came to
programming, but Salem loved the biological sciences. He
knew all sorts of wonderful methods for making things go
faster in the lab. He was willing to teach them to the lab
crew. With his help, she had the lab working like a well-
oiled machine in less then a week. He made it fun for the
'lab rats', as he called them, to come to work. For all of
them, it was like going to a party every day. No one
became bored, and they all loved what they were doing.
Consequently, a happy lab is a productive lab. Cheers had
Norm, the lab had Salem.
It was hysterical the day he presented the whole crew
with their own personalized tie-dyed lab coats. When they
walked in one morning, to find areas that did not need to
be clean painted with murals, everyone cheered. For a little
gift, someone had made Salem a lab coat and goggles.
Carefully painted on the back of the coat was the Cheshire
cat.
"So how goes it?" Stanley asked as he entered the
Holodeck.
"You know how it is always a real stone cold bitch to
do anything with Mom when she is injured." Allison began.
"Sure. Either the drugs don't work or there are
dangerous effects."
"What if I was able to give you something that would
knock her out that could be timed. What if the substance
could also cause her to relax." She had gotten all the
treatment records she could from Doc, and even his tricks
were dangerous to Mom if used too often.
"What have you got, Malice?"
"Well, I have a protein that causes Mom to go into
hibernation, and an enzyme that causes the solar issues
that all vampires and day walkers have."
"You know, there is also an interesting effect that the
protein has that you have not noticed yet." Salem added.
Both Allison and Stanley looked at him and
simultaneously said, "What?"
"Jade pointed this one out to me last night. Take a
scan of the regeneration, right now." Salem told them. Both
hustled down to the pit, tricorders in hand. There was a
marked difference. It seemed that while in this state, her
body was able to do the fine regeneration needed to
correct her blindness about three times faster.
"Jade said to me that her body doesn't have to divide
the time needed between what needed to be fixed when
she is like this." Salem said.
"Go, kitten." Stanley whispered, then continued in a
louder voice, "So, if we can figure an injection protocol for
her when she pushes it, then we can keep her from going
overboard. There is another thing that it will do, make
removal of foreign matter easier."
"How so?" Allison asked Stanley.
"Well, before Robin was born, Mom did a search and
rescue at a cave in. She was caught when a beam
collapsed. She had a support beam puncture her though
the abdomen. You've seen what she was like when she
gets a sliver. Well, she had a jagged four inch beam in her
stomach. We had to main line curare. We weren't sure
what was doing more damage, the wood or the damn
drugs.
"Once we got her clean of splinters, it still took us
flushing her system continually with a dialysis machine for
a week before we could flush the last of the drugs from her
system. It was three weeks before she was completely
conscious, and Dad said it was nearly a year before she
stopped having nightmares."
"I am growing the protein now. It will take three, maybe
four days for it to be ready, and the cat came up with a
brilliant idea."
"Okay, four legged buddy of mine, what you got?"
Stanley asked Salem.
"Well, the enzyme acts like a heavy duty muscle
relaxant, aside from the burn factor. I think that it could be
possible for us to change the enzyme so that it has just
that effect on Raven. Might take time to figure it out, but it
would be worth it, don't you two agree?"
"You have a point, cat, you have a point."
The rest of the time flew, it seemed to Allison. She
was in the shower when Jade had gotten Mom up for the
party. In all, it had been a very productive three days in her
mind. It was seeing her mother having the dressings on
her eyes changed that made her want even more for this
to work. She would have to be patient, but then, so was
Mom. If she could do it, then Allison decided, she too could
do it.
Maybe with Stanley, Stephen and Gomez's help, she
would write her mother's biological makeup, "Complete
anatomy of a vampire." She giggled at the thought, and
continued getting dressed for the New Years Eve party.