Heme
The blazing lights of Manhattan just beyond the Hudson River in the distance light up the entire glass wall facing their dinner table. This overlook is regal, Olympian in its majestic vantage.
Paulus Hook is cold, but the twelfth-floor dining hall of Simon Magus’ manse is toasty – filled with delicious smells of Chef Lacas’ specialty: Ossobuco alla Milanese, a magnificent dish from the Lombardy Region of Italy – primarily Milan. “Osso Buco” literally means “bone with a hole” and is vernacular Italian for a cross-cut veal shank.
Ossobuco alla Milanese is a hearty, comforting braised dish that reduces veal shanks into a melt-in-your-mouth meat delicacy through slow cooking and flavorful “sofrito” sauce made from onions, carrots, celery, white wine, bone broth and tomatoes. Little or no garlic is used (The Master “detests” it) – only a traditional “gremolata” garnish made from finely chopped parsley, lemons and peppercorns. The meal is served over a creamy polenta and enjoyed with huge helpings of salad and fresh-baked whole grain wheat bread, slathered with butter.
It’s like Heinlein and Leeds never left. The huge table is literally groaning under the weight of dishes – Chef Lacas has outdone himself. Simon Magus is at the head of the table, pouring glasses of wine, loudly taunting Longinus in – what appears to be – very saucy and inappropriate street Italian, complete with hand gestures that suggest…sex. Longinus just shakes his head and knocks back an entire goblet of his favorite elixir, good-naturedly enduring his friend poking fun at him.
Brother Dimitrios is passing Heinlein and Leeds dish after dish of courses, creams and gravies. Dishes of bread, butter – and wine. Endless carafes of what he calls “Vino Rosso della Casa” – a Cesanese “House Wine” famous throughout Rome. A perfect accompaniment for this flavorful, hearty and comforting dinner fare. Brother Silas, a Greek Orthodox Novitiate from the “Moni Megistas Lavros” – or Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece, sits across from Heinlein and tries his best to keep up with the American “English” idiom that’s erupting all around him. He struggles to keep his long full beard out of his dinner dishes – and ultimately just gives up, laughing at himself.
The sounds of it all are raucous and deafening – but welcoming and cheerful. A contented, safe atmosphere envelopes them. It’s camaraderie and good cheer by the buckets full.
It’s a typical Simon Magus dinner event – endless, sumptuous food and a leisurely pace with good conversation and humor. Even battle-scarred Longinus looks more talkative and untroubled than usual.
“Drink up, Detective!” Simon Magus bellows from the far end of the table. “Your usual suite awaits – no need to bother driving home tonight! I insist!”
Heinlein smiles and raises his wine glass to his host, genuinely appreciating the gesture of hospitality. Leeds smiles and raises her glass to him, too.
The hours simply evaporate. Everyone is so engaged that nobody is watching any clocks. Finally, Chef Lacas brings out coffee and pastries – and the fabulous Gelato that Simon Magus imports from Tuscany. The mountain that is Cassius Gaius Longinus devours his Gelato and heads towards the elevator, waving his ham-hock sized right hand in a slow, fully satiated goodnight. Brother Silas, too, melts away – but not before smiling at his host, Heinlein and Leeds and saying, in Greek, “ka-lee-nee-hta”. Good night.
Awkward minutes pass as Heinlein sips his third cup of exquisite artisanal coffee. He exchanges glances with Leeds and Brother Dimitrios. Simon Magus lets the moment hover – an air of foreboding takes hold, instantly changing the atmosphere in the room. Finally, he clears his throat and looks at everyone. His voice is professorial, and his words are precise.
“I recently eliminated a Vampyre late one night at about 43rd Street and 12th Street – Midtown…at the border of Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. I’d been tracking him for hours – he was a mid-level Manager, an “Auditor” that kept track of local Vamp activity and their kill or “bleed” numbers. One thing led to another… there was a tussle. No contest. I’d just finished severing its head and pushing it into my sack when I caught sight of eyes peering around a loading dock recess in a locked-up Chinese commercial building.
I blended into the background for a while, then watched a pathetic “Prole” – a sick, emaciated Vamp – shambling down the dark sidewalk towards the only blood bank facility in that area of Midtown. I knew he’d be reporting back to his controller – using his sighting of me as currency to bargain for a blood plasma “Hit” to get him through yet another night. He looked like he was in extremis – he was hurting bad for “Globe”…. Hemoglobin. The Proles – low level, pathetic, blood zombies that infest most big cities, concentrate their attacks in groupings to maximize their feeding opportunities. Some, if they’re desperate enough, hunt on their own late at night in the hopes of getting a “Suck” all to themselves.
This pitiful Prole would be describing me to a handler and begging for a blood vial like a heroin addict in the desperate grip of cold turkey before the sun came up – so, I dispatched him, too. He got to keep his blighted, feculent head – because it was too disgusting for me to cut off – but not before he tipped me off about something I’d been suspecting was happening for some time.
First – a bit of Science 101:
“Heme” is the serum in human blood that carries oxygen. The lungs take in air – and extract oxygen. We exhale what’s left – carbon dioxide. The Lungs attach oxygen molecules to “Heme” in the human blood stream and the heart pumps this precious, oxygen-infused, blood to all corners of the body. Without “Heme”, human blood can’t carry oxygen – humans become Dead Men Walking.
This Prole confirmed to me that “Heme Sero Numbers” – Serum Hemoglobin Capacity statistics – are down…. precipitously. All Blood Banks are reporting that Heme Sero Numbers and CBCs are collapsing. The Vampyre “Powers that Be” are panicked.
The Prole rambled on and on – incoherently at times – that human blood is getting “thin as water”, that human blood is “Hemed Out” and that Vamps can’t survive on it! He said they need “Real Juice” not “Sick Shit”. He was a Blood Junkie – but so wretched that I believed him. He begged me for a “Hit” from what I was carrying in the bag – he wanted to suck on the Vampyre’s head that I just cut off!
He was crying out for peace. So, I gave it to him. With the blade of my Seax.
I kept my eyes open and tapped my ratlines of informants relentlessly in the weeks to come. What I found out was this: sure enough, Blood Banks are collapsing from degraded hemoglobin. It’s not just minimal, manageable percentage point degradations that can be vetted and culled out – from humans with alcoholism, STDs, Gonorrhea, raging infections, first-stage kidney disease…syphilis. Blood scores are showing significant declines in Heme and CBCs across the board. Unprecedented declines. Collapsing declines. Dangerous inner-city conditions are developing that will land everyone in jeopardy if there is a large-scale nuclear or environmental emergency. Hospitals will be overwhelmed with people dying from their inability to metabolize oxygen – they will literally asphyxiate while they heave for breath!
A confidential report issued by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta to the CIA in Langley recently highlighted this blood emergency as an existential threat to our country. They opined that the Heme degradation was the result of America’s generally poor health, poor quality food, biological agents in the soil, pesticides, sexually transmitted diseases, endless medications and drugs. No “cure” was proposed – in fact – the CDC flat out said that our society has been overmedicated for so long that any large-scale cleansing of human blood to any acceptable level of Heme efficacy was a practical impossibility.
So, human blood is thinning – and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Heme deficient blood is an existential threat to the human race. But is it also an existential threat to Vampyres.
How can this get worse?
It just did.
Heme Biosynthesis is the pathway that produces Heme for Hemoglobin in human red blood cells. Heme impaired Hemoglobin function is called Anemia. Sometimes it’s curable – most times it isn’t. What impairs Heme function? The physiological destroyer of Heme in human red blood cells is Heme Oxygenase. Not to get overly technical – Heme manufacturing happens in macrophages of the Reticuloendothelial System, especially in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. Bone marrow is a key organ for a human body’s synthesis of Heme – that’s why radiation sickness from nuclear bombs is so devastating to people.
Now some Medical School 101:
Heme Oxygenase Enzymes (good guys) usually process between 6 to 8 grams of Hemoglobin daily from “senescent” – worn out – Red Blood Cells (RBCs). “Senescent” or worn-out Red Blood Cells are bad. Red Blood Cells typically become senescent or worn out over a 120-day lifespan. Heme Oxygenase Enzymes reclaims Iron from these worn-out RBCs and recycles this Iron for new Heme Synthesis. In short, Heme Oxygenase Enzyme (HOE1) is essential for safe Heme reinvigoration. This process is called Iron Homeostasis – and it protects cells against oxidative stress after the 120-day time window. Iron Homeostasis resuscitates Red Blood Cells with reenergized Heme.
Bottom Line: HOE1 acts as a rapid-response rescue enzyme, gleaning Iron from worn out RBCs and transferring it to new Heme-capable RBCs that can carry oxygen throughout the human body.
It’s all about Heme Synthesis. If a body can’t get Oxygen to its cells – and exhale Carbon Dioxide – the body dies. The lifespan of Heme-healthy Red Blood Cells is 120 days before they become worn out and must be removed by macrophagic action in the spleen, liver and bone marrow. Macrophage literally means “Big Eater” in Greek – because it engulfs and eats the worn-out Red Blood Cells in a process called Phagocytosis. It then deposits the reclaimed Iron into new Red Blood Cells so they can work for another 120 days. It’s a continuous cycle in the human body, 24/7.
What does this have to do with you?
Recently, a Cryptoid was killed in Warren, New Jersey.
A degenerated, chromosomally damaged underground dweller of old. Until recently, it was a mythical creature – and then it emerged from its subterranean lair and started stripping flesh from human children.
This creature’s remains were transported to a NordPharma Laboratory facility outside of Belgrade, Serbia, where certain experiments were performed using its cellular DNA. The remains inexplicably – spontaneously – degraded, leaving nothing but a greasy ash-like substance. The blood of this Cryptoid, however, was removed almost immediately after its death and frozen in liquid nitrogen. The containers of this frozen Cryptoid blood were kept in total darkness at precise sub-zero temperatures. After the remains of the Cryptoid suddenly deteriorated, laboratory experiments continued on the frozen blood samples under controlled – near glacial – temperature conditions. From this was synthesized a chemical compound called ASTRA – a molecular chain that attaches itself to and stops Heme Biosynthesis in humans. It kills the human body’s mechanism to produce Heme. The ultimate Bioweapon.
From the blood of a Cryptoid mankind wasn’t supposed to kill, scientists have bioengineered a substance that can – literally – kill off human Red Blood Cells after they wear out. If senescent RBCs can’t trigger their rescue enzyme and reclaim Iron to reuse in new, vital oxygen-carrying cells, RBCs will die – humans will die. The human race will perish in an agonizingly slow execution by asphyxiation. They will know that they are dying and watch their offspring choke for breath and become limp in their arms.
Human blood is Vampyre food. We humans don’t want the human race to end – and neither do Vampyres. Our bread is buttered on the same side of the loaf in this struggle.
Their Chief Archon has approached me. His name is Alius. He is aware of the entire situation. I have investigated and verified the nature and extent of this menace. Humans and Vampyres apparently have now a common enemy – a substance bioengineered with breathtaking hubris, recklessness and self-hate by human scientists.
Chief Archon Alius knows you were involved with the scientist who launched the research that synthesized ASTRA. Dr. Ilse Sonnerlund. The Vampyres are watching you, hoping to somehow leverage your knowledge of or affection for this woman. I have reached an accord with them. They will not harm you as long as you help us undo what has been done. They will endeavor to locate and destroy all formulae for ASTRA – and kill the reprobate scientists who created it. They have certain tools in their toolbox. But so does humanity – we must wage our own battle against this heinous bioweapon. Deus Vult, Deus Gratias.
Will you help us, Detective Heinlein?”
Copyright, 2025 Jon Croft
www.bogironslav.com
Email: vlchek1@gmail.com
