Cult of the Iron Cobra

By Ron Stillman

Years after discovering a strange and powerful pattern of simple numbers - a cousin of the Fibonacci Sequence - a New York University professor proves that this unique pattern formed the birth of the first vampire, the "Blood Countess" Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary. The genetics of this mathematically mutated blood cell division created a need for the Countess to drink the blood of others, and her inbred ancestry caused a deviant sexual sadism that resulted in her torturing and murdering over 600 young female virgins to slake her bloodthirst. Four hundred years later, Elizabeth, history's original vampire, finally finds a direct descendant. She is a young woman who is in love with the professor's best friend. As a dangerous lesbian vampire/changeling/human love triangle develops, the strong as iron cult that Elizabeth has formed over the centuries begins to weaken from the inside. Only the power of the number pattern can undo the deadly havoc that it originally caused...if that power can be harnessed in time. This is the first story in literature of film that has offered a genetic explanation of how the vampire came into existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ron Stillman
• Release date: Jun 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781532310003

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by Ron Stillman

Copyright © 2016 Ron Stillman

All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Preface

In the year 1560, a girl was born into the royal and wealthy Bathory family of Hungary. She eventually came to be Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer in history. A known and unabashed lesbian, even though she did have children, Elizabeth, a sexual sadist also known as the Blood Countess, is said to have tortured and killed over 600 virgin girls in order to keep herself looking youthful by bathing in the girls' blood. What is not known is whether she drank of their blood as well. She is said to have died in 1613, a prisoner walled into her own living quarters at her castle in Cahtice, a town that is now in the country of Slovakia.

This story proposes that the Countess did not die, but actually lived on into the present day, thanks to genetic mutations. One mutation involved telomerase, the substance that determined the lifespan of a human body cell. The other mutation, one that made it necessary to drink human blood was that Elizabeth Bathory’s body’s cells divided according to the pattern of the summation of the Fibonacci Sequence (∑f). (For the many fascinating properties of the ∑f sequence, visit www.fibonaccisummation.com). As for Elizabeth, she would sometimes wonder to herself, If you could live forever, would you choose to die?

The mathematical symbol for the pattern of blood cell division in the Vampyr, where f is the Fibonacci Sequence.

n

∑ f-1

f=1

Prologue

The year was 1202 AD, and the Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano filius Bonacci (Leonardo of Pisa, son of Bonaci) - who would centuries later become known as simply Fibonacci - returned from India to Rome to present his report to his employers, the Italian royal family. He brought back with him a mathematical discovery of a deceptively simple series of numbers that eventually came to be known as the Fibonacci Sequence. This sequence, although little known to the general population of the world, appears in hundreds of areas of nature; including but not limited to astronomy, botany, curves of the ocean’s waves and elephant’s tusk, the chambers of the nautilus shell, and genetics. It has been adopted in hundreds of human-invented arts and sciences, among them; computer algorithms, chemotherapy dosage, molecular biology, behavior of financial markets, sacred geometry, and architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. It has appeared many times in entertainment media, such as in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, music of famous classical composer Bela Bartok, and of the popular rock band, Tool. And it has appeared - once again, in the human-invented science of genetics.

Leonardo watched the small dark waves lapping against the boat, which was preparing to dock on the coast of Italy. His servant, Giovanni, a thin, short easy-going man with a goatee brought a goblet of wine to Leonardo. The great mathematician looked well-fed and a bit jolly, but thoughtful and worried at the moment, as he accepted the goblet.

What a beautiful evening to present such a triumph to the lords of Rome, Leonardo, said Giovanni. They will be enamored of you for such an invention, and more so that your fellow genius in India is part of this event. It is a finding that is certain to have significance for decades, possibly centuries, to come. Personally, I think you deserve all the credit. And I don’t know why you look worried".

As for credit responded Leonardo, this was a discovery, not an invention. God created it, and I feel privileged to have discovered it along with my Indian colleague.

Suddenly, a sailor ran up from below deck in a panic. Watch out! he shouted, They are loose! The snakes are loose! The sailor was joined by three of his fellow shipmates, and after a short chase, they succeeded in throwing heavy blankets over the snakes and grabbing them by the backs of their heads. They took them below deck, and all seemed all right. Mother of God, thank you for your mercy", said the sailor.

And I am worried, continued Leonardo, but not about the snakes. Look here my boy".

"I’m not a—

Yes, yes. I know you’re not a boy interrupted Leonardo. This is what I’m worried about. The summation of the sequence contains several unique properties, and I’m not sure that the summation will receive any attention. Now, he said, look at this".

Leonardo wrote on a sheet of parchment his to be famous sequence:

0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34. Then he wrote on another sheet the same numbers, but with a space between each one. "If you extract the number of integers between each number in my Indian friend’s sequence—

It is your sequence sir; let’s call it the Fibonacci Sequence, short for filius Bonacci. India has nothing but snakes and snake charmers. Where were they a moment ago?

Leonardo said, You could use a little more charm yourself, and the discovery was his, mostly. Just follow me now. Extract the number of integers between each two beginning with zero. What he wrote was:

0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 34 | 55 | 89 | 144 | 233

0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 33 | 54 | 88

Then extract the number of integers from the second sequence, and you get the second sequence all over again. It self-regenerates. He wrote:

0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 33 | 54 | 88

0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 20 | 33

0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12

0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4

0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1

0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0

The extraction sequence is identical to the summation of what your are calling the Fibonacci Sequence. Furthermore, if you subtract one from each of the Fibonacci Sequence’s numbers, you arrive at the same result. It is the summation of the Sequence. It is a fascinating sequence in itself for this reason and others that I’ve discovered. It continues on indefinitely, as some sequences do. But it is monotonic, with each number being greater than the last. And it branches off in all different directions, in some directions that have not even been discovered or invented yet. It’s an incestuous sequence of numbers. I have 15 pages of notes on the summation of the Fibonacci Sequence, but I don’t think it will get the attention it deserves. For the Lord’s sake Giovanni, how can I explain to you what this is about?! Look at it! See it!

Giovanni examined the self-regenerating sequence and replied, Leonardo, you cannot explain it at all. It is more of a picture than an equation or formula. But this picture is telling a thousand words.

Clever, Giovanni. This picture is telling a thousand words. Perhaps people will be saying that for years and years.

Stranger things have happened said the servant.

I knew I hired you for a reason, replied the mathematician. Leonardo was almost manic, as he proclaimed, "Now look! The universe has an ordered chaos. The summation sequence is an ordered order. There is, or will be, something that happens from this.

And at that, two snakes appeared back on deck, closely followed by the again panic-stricken sailors, one of whom yelled, Catch them for God’s sake! Leonardo, sir, move to safety! The one who yelled once again threw a blanket over one snake, but the other snake jumped several feet and bit another sailor on the neck. Four other sailors threw blankets and buckets of water at the snakes, and waved torches at them, and finally caught them both, but only after one of them reared up, showing his cowl, revealing it to be a King Cobra. The sailors threw the snakes into a wooden box that contained coils of rope, and slammed the lid down. They held the lid fast until four other sailors arrived, carrying an anchor to weigh the lid down over the snakes.

One sailor meanwhile was trying to resuscitate the bitten one, but failed. The captain of the boat appeared and said solemnly, Take him below. We will be ashore soon. He is with our Lord now. He will receive our priest’s blessing, and may his soul rest in peace.

Leonardo whispered to himself, There are beauties and dangers in this. Beauties and dangers. He poured his untouched goblet of wine into the water, as a sudden wind blew away the first parchment. The second parchment, with the summation of the Fibonacci Sequence, was not carried away, but stayed as if it had been glued to the boat. Leonardo could not control his excitement, even though the life and death of the sailor distracted him for a few minutes. Indeed, he became almost manic at the beauty of the mathematical patterns that he saw, and that his servant seemed not to. He started to hurry below deck. Come with me now Giovanni! Come with me he shouted. Leonardo rushed down the corridor to his cabin, with Giovanni in close pursuit. The mathematician unfolded pages upon pages of parchment with the 0,1,2,4,7 pattern, now stretching further into 12, 20, 33, 54, 88, etc. He was almost screaming with exasperation at Giovanni, while pointing out the permutations and directions of the number pattern, and how the numbers seemed to be manipulating themselves into ever more repetitions and combinations of direction Then he fell silent.

Giovanni had been looking more and more closely, and he saw more and more of what he had not seen before. "Forgive me Leonardo. You spoke the truth, a truth as bright as the heavens, and yet as hidden as the mysteries of the stars, though they are in plain sight of their beholders. Your original sequence is undeniable. This one that you are so excited about I fear may be hidden for centuries.

* * *

Phyddius, a nobleman of Rome, was Leonardo Pisano’s boss, and the financier of Leonardo’s excursion to India. If Leonardo was well-fed, Phyddius was more so. His rotund figure barely fit into his high-backed chair, as he welcomed his prize mathematician back. Pyramids he said, the Parthenon, seashells, human body dimensions! Is there no end to your magic numbers Leonardo?

"An end, well, I suppose there must be. I just have not found it. But its cousin, the summation sequence, that does not seem to have an end, just keeps branching out. Regenerating uncontrollably. Uncontrollably.

Look said Phyddius, it seems you may have carved out a bit of history for yourself. Why don’t you do the same for me? My life is quite enjoyable, and I’d rather not see it end anytime soon. Brew something magic out of those numbers for me. A potion that regenerates life like your numbers seem to. Let me live forever.

"Live forever or even close to it?! Magic these may be, but they are God’s creation, not mine. He merely placed them in front of those who would see them for what they are. I cannot make you or anyone or anything live forever. It is not possible. Just does not seem possible. By the way sir, how are my cobras doing?

"Those two horrid things? Our friends in Hungary were quite enchanted by them I promised them the offspring.

Chapter 1

At Trencsen Castle in 1599, three servant girls were discussing the latest girl summoned to the court of