by C. L. Quinn
“You love your shock value, and you’re good at it, I’ll give you that. But I know your sexual tastes by now, and they tend to run to hard pecs and cocks.”
“Ooh, girl, look at you pulling out that word.”
“I’m no prude, really, but I told you, I’m still kind of a sexual newbie. You’ll get me to speed, I know.”
“Love, that hot doctor’s going to do my work for me.”
“At the risk of repeating myself, boy, do I hope so. Have a good day, Naj. Thanks for the dress. Are you sure I can’t pay you for it?”
“No, darling, it’s a sample. No charge. Too small for me, of course. Sleep well.”
After a very good day of sleep, Sarah arrived at the hospital to begin a long overnight shift. It was quiet when she walked out of the lounge, her lab coat in place, ready for whatever trauma walked or rolled through the door. The diversity of people and their situations made the job fascinating. This was precisely what she’d been looking for when she changed her life so dramatically. While her choices weren’t irreversible, Xavier would welcome her back with open arms, she hoped that this life would bring what she sought; meaning and purpose.
“Hey, you too, eh?”
A sweet, almost childlike voice came from her left and Sarah turned with a welcoming smile. Dr. Tracy, young and driven, a full attending at only twenty nine. While many of the departments wanted her, she loved the ER for the same reasons that Sarah did.
“Hot chocolate or coffee?” Sarah asked. Both Tracy and Sarah needed a lot of caffeine on these overnights.
Tracy tilted her head as if considering the difficult decision.
Walking away, Sarah laughed back at her. “As if you would choose anything other than hot chocolate with those strange marshmallows pellets.”
“I can see that I’m too predictable. Bring me a V-8.”
“Okay,” Sarah called back as she went through the swinging doors to where the vending machines waited at the end of a long hallway. Seconds later, a voice carried down the hallway.
“Don’t you dare get me anything but chocolate!”
Never, thought Sarah. It would be a long night, but Tracy’s ebullient personality made the hours fly by. Tracy was slightly shy but she had a sneaky sense of humor that surged at the most unlikely times. Emergency rooms and some of the bizarre complaints offered endless opportunities for harmless observations by the staff about specific events and life in general. And a lot of smiles.
Well aware that Tracy knew it would be the chocolate, Sarah safely delivered the paper cup into Tracy’s eager hands.
“Sarah, I wanted to ask if you would be able to cover for me Saturday afternoon?”
“I’m sorry, normally I would, but…” Sarah couldn’t help herself, she was grinning ear to ear. “…I have a date.”
Tracy’s eyes widened. “Really? You gotta tell me who…shit, is it Doctor P?”
Now Sarah’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. “How did you know that?”
Shaking her head, Tracy sipped her beverage carefully. She loved her hot chocolate, but she’d burned her lips before and she’d determined to never experience that again. Lowering the cup, her eyes sparkling, she answered Sarah. “Please. Everyone around here could feel the heat when you two were near each other. Hell, if you’d been here this past winter, you guys would have reduced the snowfall here in Boston.”
Really? Her cheeks flamed. “Surely we are not that obvious.”
Tracy, diving into the hot chocolate, nodded vigorously between sips. “Oh, yes, you are,” she explained, a little sing-songy to make her point.
“Ugh!”
Sarah pushed her way past Tracy and two nurses who leaned against the desk, smiling.
Shortly after that, their night became busy. Mostly simple things, no traumas, just the usual steady issues, easily cared for, the patients through and on their way home quicker than was often the case in emergency rooms.
Around midnight, Sarah walked into exam room 4 to deal with a repeat customer. Sally was in her mid-thirties and an internet hypochondriac. Whatever was trending, whatever latest ailment she’d found by searching through medical sites on the internet, she often presented at the ER with symptoms of the issue or rare disease that she was certain she had.
Sarah didn’t mind, but try as she might, she’d never been able to get Sally to stop searching for her next self-diagnosed illness. Truly, the girl was very healthy, according to all standard medical tests, which had been performed on her no less than twelve times since Sarah had been there.
She pulled back the curtain. Sally smiled up at her.
“Hi, Sally. So what’s going on tonight?” Sarah asked patiently with the same warm smile.
I can’t believe all of this.
Mies watched the masses of people moving around on concrete with shiny steel and glass rising everywhere up into the sky above Boston, the city lit by millions of lights now that the sun had long dropped. He’d been shocked by the plane ride, and had given Nikolai some alarming moments, too, when Mies’s terror nearly overcame him on lift-off and while landing.
This is what the world is like now. I told you before we left that it would be crowded, noisy, and filled with things you wouldn’t recognize or could understand. It’s going to take some time for you to adjust. I can’t even imagine how I would feel in the same situation. I understand, Mies, but you must be careful and let me guide us through.
Indeed you did warn me, but you are right, this is so much beyond my experience. I didn’t think that even the world now could overwhelm me, but I see that I was wrong. Yes, my friend, this is all yours. I will stay in the background and just observe.
Good choice. Just enjoy, old vampire. You were right when you told me that the idea of getting a chance to see the future like this is such a gift. Mies, it will be years before you stop being amazed.
Years, Nikolai thought. God help them both if they were still trapped with each other years from now. Would either of them ever adjust? Would this shitstorm of a situation ever seem normal? He couldn’t imagine. And for his own sanity, he couldn’t allow himself to think about it another moment. For now, they just needed to find Sarah, to see if there was any chance at all that she could help them, or would know someone who could.
He remembered her sharp eyes and quick smile, and the softest manner. Everything about the slight woman spoke of intelligence and elegance. He remembered, too, that while she seemed delicate, she could command the world in a few words. He needed her help, yes, but he found that he was also very much looking forward to seeing her again.
When I searched online yesterday, I hoped to find a safe hotel, I’m sorry it isn’t luxurious, but it’ll do. Since we’ve dropped our luggage now, we can begin our search.
This is all yours. I feel lost and useless, I am sorry, my companion. Please know that I will get up to task soon and then I can help with our mission.
No concerns. Just relax and let me drive this body.
Mies was fine with that. Just the noise alone here in this bright and frightening city was enough to disorient him. How could he ever get accustomed to this madness?
He watched as Nikolai stepped from the curb at an intersection where four roads met beneath strange red and green lights. Several people stepped into the road and began to cross to the other side.
His attention was drawn to a group of teenagers pushing each other and laughing raucously. It was late and he wondered where they were bound unsupervised.
One of the boys shoved a blonde-haired girl with a ring through her nose. She shoved him back. Then he shoved her so hard that she lost her footing and flew backward.
What happened next happened so quickly, no one saw exactly how it went down.
Mies scanned the scene and saw a large vehicle, Nikolai had told him that they were the major conveyance now, an automobile, traveling at a high rate of speed toward the spot where the girl landed. He knew that the massive thing would hit her within seconds. Using his first
blood abilities, he took control of the body from Nikolai and surged forward to push the girl out of the path of the vehicle. Even his quick vampire speed only had time to assess the situation, command control, and get the girl to safety. He knew within a split second after he moved her out of its path that he and Nikolai would be hit. He wasn’t worried, they were vampire and they would survive this assault.
It still hurt like hell when the speeding mass of metal slammed into them. Mies could feel Nikolai’s intense fear as their body was struck.
I’m sorry Nikolai. We’ll be all right. Have faith.
Pain ripped into them and welcome unconsciousness came.
“Sally, how are you tonight?”
“I’m so sick. Doctor Sarah, it’s just awful. All these months, all this time, and I finally know what’s wrong with me.”
“What are your symptoms?”
“Rashes, all along my arms and legs. And headaches. And look!” Sally lowered her head, her fingers moved through her hair, lifting strand after strand. “I’m losing my hair!”
“That doesn’t sound right, does it? We’ll begin with…”
“But I already know what’s wrong with me. It’s plain once you see my symptoms and realize what’s going on.”
“And what do you think is wrong?”
“I think that I’m an EHS.”
“EHS? Sally, you’ve never had any problems before and there isn’t much evidence to support that type of diagnosis. It’s a set of symptoms that have no verifiable physiological basis. I’m not saying that it can’t occur, but…”
“I’m sure of it, Doctor. I have every symptom.”
“Okay. Okay, well, let’s just get your basic vitals, make sure that there’s nothing that I need to treat tonight. If everything looks okay, you know the only way to truly tell if you are electrohypersensitive is to go somewhere technology free with no electromagnetic waves or wireless signals. That’s going to be tough, EMR is all around us, but it is your best bet.”
“But I work here in Boston.”
“See, that’s going to be hard. Everyone here is bombarded by cellphone, television, and radio transmissions. Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”
For the past few moments, Sarah had noticed activity outside of the examination room.
“Sally, I’ll be right back.”
When she reached the corridor, she saw one of the nurses hurry by.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked.
“Level one trauma. A hero hit by a speeding cab. Dr. Tracy’s started trauma protocol.”
Sarah followed her to trauma bay one where a large man lay on a gurney with his shirt ripped open, the usual IV’s begun, a nurse checking for BP pulse, Tracy leaning over him.
“Sharlene, call up to prepare surgery, and get me an epi. Sarah, hi. This one’s bad. EMT said the accident scene is horrible. The car hit him head on doing about sixty. On a city street! I could use a second set of hands.”
“You’ve got them.” She turned to the nurse. “Can you have someone finish with Sally?”
Sarah went to the man’s left and began an exploration for injury to his neck and head when she stopped, her hands frozen above him.
“Oh, my God…” she whispered. The man looked like Nikolai. Her eyes moved over his body.
No, it couldn’t be. This man was huge, heavily muscled, taller than Nikolai, his frame much bigger than the slight sweet scientist she’d met in Siberia, but he looked so much like him. Shaking her head, she went back to work. Both legs had fractures, and deep lacerations scored his left leg and arm. Save him first, then figure out who he was.
“Do we have any ID?”
“Yeah, they’ve already been through his wallet. His name is Nikolai Zalesky and he has a Russian passport. He’s about thirty five years old and no sign of any prior health issues. He has an airline ticket in his pocket. Sarah, the poor guy just got here tonight. What a welcome, eh? How cruel.”
How could this be Nikolai? Sarah lifted his left eyelid to check his pupils. Nik had pretty pale blue eyes but this man did not. Dark iris’s met hers as she felt his body suddenly jerk and his head turn to her, all doubt removed when he spoke before he lost consciousness again.
“Sarah?” he said.
Tracy looked up. “You know him?”
While she worked, Sarah answered. “I guess I do. He’s, um, changed.”
“Let’s save his life, and you’ll have to tell me all about him later.”
After assessing the extent of the damage, Sarah and Tracy’s eyes met.
“He has internal bleeding, but I can’t find the site.”
Sarah nodded. “I know, Tracy.”
“Surgery is ready. Let’s get him stabilized and get him up there.”
Once they’d done all that they could do to prep him for exploratory surgery, Sarah cleared her throat.
“Tracy, would you let me attend? He’s an old friend.”
“Sure you want to? He may not make it, Sarah.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay. Well, I wish him luck. He’s going to need it.”
“Thanks.”
Tracy left the bay as Sarah waited for transport to wheel Nikolai to surgery.
She felt fingers close around her wrist and looked back down. He was awake again.
“Nikolai, we’re getting you to surgery. You’re going to be all right.”
“No,” he said, weak, almost too quiet to hear. Then, louder, his voice deeper, his eyes more intense, his fingers tightened on her arm, he managed to say, “Sarah, no surgery. I will be…okay.”
“Nik, you’re seriously injured. We have to…”
“No! Sarah, listen.” Nikolai closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Sarah thought how unsettling it was to see the dark instead of the ice-water blue. This time he spoke clearly.
“Sarah, I’m first blood. I’m vampire, don’t let them cut into me. You must gather the blood samples.”
Oh, the poor guy, he was hallucinating, Sarah thought.
“Nikolai, you’ve had a bad accident. You’re confused. You are not vampire.”
And yet, as soon as she said that to him, her eyes moved over the massive, redesigned body, the jawline that was definitely more defined than she remembered, the eye color change, the fact that, as badly injured as he was, he seemed to be getting stronger by the minute. His body was reacting very like that of a first blood vampire. But that wasn’t possible. Was it?
I will compel the woman to do what we need her to do.
No, Mies. She is a friend and well acquainted with your race. She is a trusted ally and you will not fuck with her. Let me handle this!
We cannot let the human surgeons cut into us.
They won’t. Let me speak with her. Trust me!
After several moments hesitation, Mies relented.
As you wish. You are trusted too.
“Sarah,” Nikolai said, as his hand slipped around hers.
“You must trust me. I am just as amazed as you are at the idea, but I am first blood, perhaps the first one in history that was not born first blood. But I house the spirit, the lifeforce, the soul, of an ancient first blood. Sarah, you can see that I continue to improve when it is medically impossible.”
Everything he said seemed true except for the claim that he had become first blood. And what the hell did he mean that he housed a first blood spirit? That was the part of his claim that seemed the production of a confused man.
“Let us take you to surgery and see what we need…”
The hand around her wrist tightened. Sarah tried to pull free, but it was impossible. “Nikolai, you’re hurting me.”
“I am not Nikolai. And you will do as I command.”
From force of habit, she dropped her eyes.
What was she doing, Nikolai couldn’t compel her!
Lifting her gaze back to his newly darkened eyes, Sarah confronted him. “Stop this. Let me help you.”
“You will do as we ask. I will not c
ircumvent your will, I have promised Niko, but you cannot allow humans to operate on this body. I understand you are a bright woman. Think about what you have seen. Allow that the impossible might just be possible. I am not well enough to get up from here, yet, but I will be within this hour. Protect us, Sarah the doctor. Get us out of here.”
Sarah couldn’t move. Even though the sound of the voice was the same, she knew, instinctively, that the man who spoke to her now was not her friend, Nikolai.
“You are cutting off the blood to my hand. Let go of it and tell me who you are.”
Eyes that were not Nikolai’s stared into hers. The man held on a few moments longer before he slowly unwrapped his grip and let her hand fall free.
While she shook out her numb fingers, Sarah kept her eyes on Nikolai’s body, moving carefully from the torso, which was definitely huge enough and ripped enough to be a first blood, to his legs, clad in scraped and torn jeans, up past the obvious bulge between them, to stop on his face. Pulling lose a bandage near the knee on his left leg, she nodded to herself. It was true, the deep lacerations were already healing.
Without realizing she was doing it, she moved the fingers of her sore hand up and slid them along the heavy jawline. As she perused every detail, she brought her eyes back to his.
“This is Nikolai’s body. But it has been transformed. So I can only think that he’s been converted. I can’t explain you, though.”
The lips moved into a smile. “No one can. It appears that I am something that has never been before. You believe me then.”
Mies watched the lovely woman while she considered him. He could see everything that Nikolai had told him about her in her eyes. She was brilliant and she very well might be exactly what they needed.
“I believe that you are not my friend Nikolai. Once I get you out of here, two things are going to happen. You will explain to me, in detail, exactly what is going on with you two. And you will let me speak with Nikolai again. You understand?”