The Vampire's Photograph by Kevin Emerson Page B

light-headed.”
    Oliver was sure he would. The process always put him to sleep.
    The machine began to vibrate. Oliver could feel the electric current running through his body, charging particles and heating up the forces. The doctor fiddled with more knobs. Sparks began to softly crackle along the mesh encasing Oliver. Light began to jump out from the imager, making arcs like solar flares that spiraled around him, flashing in colors across the spectrum.
    Oliver could feel heat and his body humming lightly. The colors increased in brilliance. Dr. Vincent backed away and appraised the show of spiraling light. A computer screen lit up in the shadows behind him and began recording data.
    Oliver had a basic idea of what was happening. Vampires were powered by forces. Some of those were life forces, supplied by blood, yet many were crossover forces, from other worlds. Those things that humans called mystical power, or enchantment, were really just the brief appearances, in this world, of forces from somewhere else. Because vampires were undead, they were just disconnected enough from the reality around them that they could feel those forces. Oliver only understood those basics. Vampire scientists and scholars spent centuries trying to understand the physics of the parallel worlds.
    The mesh cage was a special receptor for forces and showed their presence and intensity in shades of color. Every vampire had a unique signature of forces. Dr. Vincent was reading Oliver’s now.
    And yes, the light show, and humming, and warmth of the electricity was making Oliver sleepy. His eyes began to flutter. The buzzing and light was all around him. It was peaceful. Oliver’s eyes slid closed and he fell into a deep sleep.
    Except the sleep didn’t last like it usually did.
    Oliver usually woke up when the machine had shut off, but this time his eyes snapped open early, overwhelmed by the familiar anxious feeling that always kept sleep away.
    He found himself lying flat on his back. He was still in the FRI cage, but it had rotated, so that he was looking straight up at the ceiling. And the ceiling had opened. Brilliant, pale white light was flooding down. Oliver squinted and saw the full moon directly overhead and a ring of mirrors around the rim of the open rooftop. They were gathering the moonlight, focusing it down through the roof—and onto him.
    Straining to look toward his feet, Oliver could see that his whole body was surrounded by a bone-white glow. No, it was his body that was glowing, like he was absorbing the moonlight. Just then, a humming that he hadn’t noticed revved to a higher pitch. The mirrors brightened. The intensity of the light increased, and Oliver’s glow increased as well. He felt a cool, tingly surge through his body.
    What was going on? He never remembered this happening during a checkup before. But then again, the FRI had usually knocked him out. Had this always happened and he just never knew it? Then Oliver heard a voice from beside him.
    â€œAlmost finished,” Dr. Vincent said softly. “I’m giving him a longer dose than usual. The increased vessel strength should make his anxieties calm down.” Oliver peered out of the corner of his eye. Dr. Vincent and Sebastian were standing in the shadows by the computer console. Dr. Vincent was writing in the manila folder. “Now, you say,” he continued, “that there’s been some insomnia, and you think, some form of human sympathizing syndrome.”
    â€œI…I can’t be sure,” Sebastian murmured, sounding worried, “I mean, he won’t admit anything’s wrong, but…Listen, you don’t think we did—we’ve done—something wrong to him, do you?”
    â€œNo,” Dr. Vincent said with a professional’s certainty. “Everything’s been done according to the oracles, and according to the best scientific theory. Unless there’s some leftover issue on account