Page 53 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

CHAPTER 15

“I’ve never heard anything more preposterous than the idea that a vampire is haunting your city,” Dr. Gardner muttered before taking a sip of his brandy.

The four of them had returned to Dr. Murnau’s office. The two women sat in the comfortable chairs while Dr. Murnau sat behind his desk. Dr. Gardner sat on the desk for a moment before getting up to pace.

“I assure you I didn’t come to this conclusion lightly,” Dr. Murnau said carefully. “If I thought it could be anything else, I wouldn’t have had to contact you.”

“Still,” Mrs. Montgomery started. “You have to know that vampires sound…extreme. There are all kinds of illnesses we don’t have names for yet. Likely this is something that hasn’t been discovered.”

“Perhaps vampirism is that undiscovered illness.”

Mrs. Montgomery snorted. “Vampires are a fairytale. An explanation from a more primitive time when things couldn’t be explained. We have science and reason now.”

“I know you are under a lot of stress,” Dr. Gardner said, ceasing his pacing to face Dr. Murnau. “It can’t be easy having to shepherd your people through such a violent illness, but Mrs. Montgomery and I are here now. Between all of us, we can figure out what is affecting your village and how to cure it.”

“How do you suggest curing that?” Dr. Murnau snapped, pointing towards the ward they left behind. “Have you ever seen any sickness present like that? Patients smoking in sunlight? Being sick all day while somehow improving at night until they make a sharp downturn no one can explain. When the only thing you can definitely tell is happening to them is that they’re losing blood, but you don’t know how?”

“No,” Dr. Gardner said before turning to Caroline. “What do you think about this vampire business?”

“Me?” Caroline squeaked; she had been a silent participant and didn’t expect anyone to speak to her.

“Yes,” Dr. Gardner said. His gaze wasn’t unkind, but it was intense as he stared at her with his dark brown eyes.

“I’m not a doctor or any kind of medical professional.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have any insight,” Mrs. Montgomery said. Her voice was harsh, but she didn’t seem unkind either, only abrupt.

“I agree that the idea of vampires is preposterous,” she started, carefully choosing her words. “But it also somehow makes sense from what we know about folklore. I don’t have to imagine what this sounds like from the outside, but something deep inside me says I’m right.”

“Like it’s a primal conclusion,” Dr. Murnau said quietly.

Caroline looked at him and nodded. Their eyes met, and she could see how tired he was, but he was grateful she arrived at the same conclusion. Even if they were the only two who believed, at least they both believed in one another.

“I can’t go off of your primal feelings.” Dr. Gardner shook his head. “I will acquiesce that something is happening here, and I promise to figure out what the disease is and how to treat it.”

“And it will be an alternative to vampires,” Mrs. Montgomery added.

“In the meantime, Mrs. Montgomery and I will collect both your vitals and the vitals of your patients so we can start our diagnosis process.”

“But Dr. Murnau and I aren’t sick.” Caroline frowned. She was glad Dr. Murnau had more help, but she wasn’t sure how useful they were if they weren’t willing to believe what was happening. Though it would be easier for her life if it turned out there wasn’t a vampire after all.

“Then the data will be useful for a control group,” Mrs. Montgomery said, her face softening. “It’s best if we face this aggressively. The sooner we diagnose, the sooner we can treat.”

“And hopefully this is something that can be treated after all,” Dr. Murnau said with a fierce frown.

“Would it even be possible to treat vampirism?” Mrs. Montgomery screwed up her face before continuing. “Not that I’m really entertaining the idea that vampires are behind the illness here.”

“We’ll have to kill the vampire, of course.”

“What?” Caroline’s stomach turned, but she didn’t know why she was surprised at that logical course of action. “How will that help our patients? Shouldn’t we be looking for a cure?”

“Any cure would be for our patients, not the vampire itself. In the research I have done so far, there is no cure for the vampire. Only death.”

* * *

It was nearly sunset by the time Caroline arrived home. It was still early spring, so the days weren’t nearly as long as she would have liked, but at least this hadn’t happened at the height of winter when there were few hours of precious daylight. Every day was a little longer.

Though thinking of the vampire as evil didn’t quite feel right. Certainly murder was wrong, and she didn’t like the idea of stealing blood from someone, but she also couldn’t reconcile Valeria being evil. Even if she was killing people. Perhaps she had a good reason?