Setrakian said, “Following normal infection, they can complete their transformation and activate to feeding after just one day and night. It takes seven nights for one to fully turn, for the disease to consume the body and reshape it to its own end—its new parasitic state. Then about thirty nights to total maturity.”

Nora said, “Total maturity?”

The old man said, “Pray we don’t see that phase.” He gestured toward Jim. “The arteries of the human neck offer the quickest access point, though the femoral artery is another direct route into our blood supply.”

The neck breach was so neat it was not visible at the moment. Eph said, “Why blood?”

“Oxygen, iron, and many other nutrients.”

“Oxygen?” asked Nora.

Setrakian nodded. “Their host bodies change. Part of the turning is that the circulatory and digestive systems merge, becoming one. Similar to insects. Their own blood substance lacks the iron-and-oxygen combination that accounts for the red color of human blood. Their product turns white.”

“And the organs,” Eph said. “Redfern’s looked almost like cancers.”

“The body system is being consumed and transformed. The virus takes over. They no longer breathe. They respire, merely as a vestigial reflex, but they don’t oxygenate anymore. The unneeded lungs eventually shrivel and are readapted.”

Eph said, “Redfern, when he attacked, exhibited a highly developed growth in his mouth. Like a well-developed muscular stinger underneath the tongue.”

Setrakian nodded as though agreeing with Eph about the weather. “It engorges as they feed. Their flesh flushes almost crimson, their eyeballs, their cuticles. This stinger, as you call it, is in fact a reconversion, a repurposing of the old pharynx, trachea, and lung sacs with the newly developed flesh. Something like the sleeve of a jacket being reversed. The vampire can expel this organ from its own chest cavity, shooting out well over four and up to even six feet. If you anatomize a mature victim, you would find a muscular tissue, a sack that propels this for feeding. All they require is the regular ingestion of pure human blood. They are maybe like diabetics in that way. I don’t know. You are the doctor.”

“I thought I was,” mumbled Eph. “Until now.”

Nora said, “I thought vampires drank virgin blood. They hypnotize…they turn into bats…”

Setrakian said, “They are much romanticized. But the truth is more…how should I say?”

“Perverse,” said Eph.

“Disgusting,” said Nora.

“No,” said Setrakian. “Banal. Did you find the ammonia?”

Eph nodded.

“They have a very compact digestive system,” Setrakian continued. “No room for storing the food. Any undigested plasma and any other residues have to be expelled to make room for incoming nourishment. Much like a tick—excreting as it feeds.”

Suddenly the temperature inside the bay changed. Setrakian’s voice dropped to an icy whisper.

“Strigoi,” he hissed. “Here.”