“When a human is Turned, the process is very specific, if deceptively simple. Over the course of several days, the human is progressively drained of more and more blood, while also drinking more and more of the vampire’s own blood. This has the effect of exposing all of the cells in the body to larger amounts of the virus that all vampires carry.”
“Virus?” I asked.
“Yes, Chris. Both vampirism and lycanthropy are caused by viruses. The virus carries new bits of DNA that permanently change the host. In both cases the change actually happens at the mitochondrial level, not the nucleus level. You know what mitochondria are right?” he asked.
I remembered my high school biology pretty well.
“Yeah, the powerhouses of the cell, right? Production of ATP, which is…wait…adenosine triphosphate!” I said, a little smugly.
“That’s what they’re best known for. They also perform quite a few other jobs as well. Steroid and various protein production, involvement in the aging process, cellular differentiation, and cellular signaling, among others. The mitochondrion has its own DNA, which is inherited from the mother’s egg cell. The vampire virus, we call it V- squared, adds new DNA to the mitochondrial DNA. The resulting proteins provide the enhanced sensory, strength, speed, reflexes and anti-aging benefits. They also allow the body to use blood as its only food source. The last is a major mutation of the ATP cycle.”
He paused to see if I was keeping up.
“The Lycanthrope virus, or LV, is similar but more aggressive, which is why only a single bite is needed to fully infect someone. And both viruses have about a sixty to seventy percent infection rate. With V-squared, the other thirty to forty percent die. With LV, they just heal up normally and go on being human. Got it so far?”
“Yeah, I guess. So the Hance protein is a bad copy of just one of the V-squared proteins that an infected mitochondrion would produce?” I asked.
“That’s correct, Chris. A V-squared mitochondrion kicks out a smorgasbord of proteins that are beneficial to the host.”
“And regular humans that imbibe vampire blood, orally, get a mix of proteins but they are short lived?” I guessed.
“Yes. But the virus is not as hardy as the LV and it is destroyed by the body’s immune response. That’s why a candidate is exposed to ever greater quantities of the virus while their total blood supply is being drained down, which reduces the immune response. By the end of the cycle, the candidate is flooded with virus in a weak body and the change is initiated. Once V- squared is fully established, the human is now a vampire. As time goes on, the virus continues to spread and strengthen and change its host.”
“But what about being undead and all that?” I asked.
“Just human terms to attempt to describe the enormous differences in body function. You see, Chris, vampire hearts do beat, just differently, at different times. As changeover is made, a new vampire’s heartbeat will accelerate way past human normal. This has the effect of pressurizing the vampire circulatory system. Our veins and arteries are much stronger and have greater elasticity. Once pumped to high pressure, the heart stops normal functions and starts to operate so slowly that heartbeats don’t register as such. Blood is moved one chamber at a time. Because of the complete change in blood metabolism we don’t need fast moving blood. It’s complicated, involves particle physics and we could discuss it all night but know this, vampires hearts do function. Just differently.” he said.
I scratched my head, taking it all in.
“But the Weres still eat regular food, how does that work?” I asked.
“LV is a much different virus and while it also affects the mitochondria, it does so differently. How much do you know about particle physics, Chris?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not much. You’re talking atoms, protons, and neutrons, right?”
“Oh, much, much more. There are far more interesting ones, like quarks, gluons, neutrinos, Higgs Bosun particles and things like dark matter and dark energy. It’s a fascinating science and has direct application to the study of the so-called supernaturals. Trying to explain how vampires can survive, thrive and exceed human potential on a diet of blood doesn’t work until you can bring in other types of matter and energy. Very simply, vampire mitochondria harness additional energy from sources that current science would have difficulty measuring. It also works to explain how a one hundred and seventy-five pound man can transform into a three hundred pound werewolf, which on the face of it defies the Law of Conservation of Mass. However, mass is matter and matter is made up of particles, and the particles of matter are subject to change.” He shook his head in frustration.
“It’s okay Doc. That actually makes sense to me. So you’re saying that the changes in the mitochondria allow vamps and weres to utilize particles and energy that normal humans can’t.” He nodded, so I continued. “That also helps give me a basis for demons and Damnedthings phasing between dimensions and changing from spirit to solid.”
“Yes, exactly. Quantum physics has multiple dimension theories like String theory and others. Which brings us to you, my unique friend,” he smiled.
“Okay, let me have it Doc, what makes me such a freak?”
All three of the winced at my casual self-description.
“Chris, when I studied your blood samples, I, knowing what I know about V-squared and LV, focused on your mitochondria. And I found they were different. Changed.”
“You mean by Tanya’s blood?” I asked.
“Well yes, but they were different to begin with. As if you, or your mother had been exposed to one of the viruses or a similar virus before.”
“My mother?” I asked.
“Remember, mitochondria are inherited from the mother. So yours came from her. Before you finished your shower, I was asking the girls what they knew about your mother and they told me about your Russian grandfather and the German camp. What more do you know about him?” he asked.
“Not a great deal. He was a child when he went into the camp and was only nineteen or twenty when he was rescued and met my grandmother. He wouldn’t speak about it, and we never asked. They lived in Florida at the time my family was killed. I visited them a few times and they came to New York a couple of times, but other than that it was letters and phone calls.”
“Do you know what the name of the camp was?”
I shook my head and answered. “He never said, but I know it wasn’t one of the well-known camps. It was somewhere in the Bavarian Alps I think. Small and secret.”
I shrugged.
He looked thoughtful. “Well, anyway. Your mitochondria were already different. Which may be why you have your unique abilities with demons. When you drank Tanya’s blood, the tiny amount of virus, which would normally be wiped out, was somehow able to effect additional changes. Each additional dose of blood just continued the changes. Most of your current mitochondria look almost like they came from a vampire, but with a few of the characteristics of an LV modified mitochondrion as well. So you are producing your own set of vampire like proteins, your metabolism is fast like a Were’s, your red blood cell production is crazy high, your immune system is all kinds of enhanced. The changes continue to spread and we will have to monitor the effects. But you seem to be some kind of altogether new supernatural.”
We all just looked at him. I couldn’t think of anything to say. Tanya spoke first.
“What about his aging process?” she asked.
“That part of his mitochondria seems to be just like a vampire’s,” he replied.
“So wait, I won’t age?” I asked.
“I would say not. Can’t tell anything for certain, but that’s my best guess. You seem to have many of the benefits that a young vampire would have. Notice I didn’t say a new vampire, because you have already progressed beyond that point. Probably due to Tanya’s blood being the source of your changes.”