propofol—“sux” and Diprivan—two of the most powerful, fast-acting sedatives known to man. And also, apparently, vampires. I frowned. “You sure meds still work on him?”
“For now they will. By the time they don’t, he’ll be fully transformed back home in a coffin at the vampire ranch.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “So he’s not a full vampire yet?”
“No. But he will be, once everything assimilates. It’s half genetics, half brute strength. In some ways, vampirism is like a progressive disease, and in doing this, we force its hand. On his own, it could have taken decades to drink as much elder blood as we gave him, assuming there were that many willing local old ones. We bank blood for them now, for just these sorts of occasions. It’s why they come here. The Shadows protect the communal supply, for the Thrones that choose to participate, and those Thrones create the demand.”
“Who decides which and when?”
“The Thrones write up requisitions, they give them to our social workers, and then our doctors write orders and give them to us.”
“So why this?” I asked, gesturing to the blood going into the feeding tube with the end of the gun. Holding this stance, my arms were starting to get tired.
“They wake up hungry and strong.” Charles circled around the perimeter of the room. “Assuming they survive. They don’t always. Sometimes we get this far, and they just can’t make the jump. That’s the genetic part.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then they go into shock and the vampires put them down.”
My lips parted, in either fascination or disgust, I wasn’t sure. “How?”
Charles made a
“Well. Wow.” I was glad I hadn’t seen that. I wondered what my reaction would have been if I’d walked into a room where Charles and Meaty were watching vampire guests feast on a restrained patient. I shuddered. Blood in chilled bags and capped vials was one thing—seeing it spilled out was another, and seeing other people drink it was yet a third. I remembered Anna sucking on my hand, and hoped I’d never see anything like that again. I wondered if that’s why I’d seen her in my dreams, on a boat. Metaphorically, she was like a shark that’d bitten me. No wonder my subconscious was afraid of her.
“Anyhow, the rest of tonight should be easy,” Charles said, pulling a full syringe out of his pocket to show me. “I’ve got orders on Ativan like you wouldn’t believe.”
I laughed, and handed him the stock of the gun. “Happy hunting.”
Chapter Eighteen
When I emerged onto the floor, Meaty was looking around the nursing station. All the shift’s paperwork had been done and filed, courtesy of me, Extra Help Edie.
“Good job, Spence,” Meaty said. “Go on break.”
I saluted, pleased with myself, and set off.
I badged myself into our locker room/bathroom combo area. I didn’t have to go to the bathroom, but anyone who didn’t wash their hands before eating in a hospital was a fool. I turned on the faucet to wash my hands and face.
The sound of the water—I knew that sound. I saw it running in front of me, hot steam wafting up, but in my mind my vision of the bathroom blurred, and I saw freezing snow melt trickling down cement. I was cold, and there was no way I could get warm. Stagnation surrounded me, other things that’d washed into the gutter, rotting in the dark.
I wanted to throw up. My stomach lurched and broke the spell. I slammed the faucet off and clutched the edge of the sink. I had that sense of lostness, looking out at the ocean again, trapped by the endless nothing around me, immobilized by a fear … that I didn’t feel was quite my own.
“Anna?” I whispered. My right hand found my left and traced along its scar. “That’s silly. You know it is. You’re okay,” I told myself.
You don’t just get to be a nurse and see sad and strange all the time and not have it affect you. I knew stress came out in different ways. I’d give any patient I ever had more leeway than I’d given my recent self. I’d been attacked and bitten less than a week ago. And I’d just seen us pour two gallons of blood, easily, into a man, and then seen ten or so vampires drink it back out. Things like that just don’t come normal to people. It’s okay to have some problems afterward. Nightmares, even.
I stood there wondering who exactly I was convincing with this line of thought until the strange feeling passed. When it did, I turned away. I hadn’t washed my hands yet, but that’s what hand sanitizer was for.
Chapter Nineteen
It seemed like there was a lot more air in the locker room hallway. I stood and breathed, went for the next door, and was surprised to find visitors waiting outside.
I could only see three male faces—the fourth entity was shrouded in a robe and hood. All of them were vampires. I knew because even though we were all in the same hallway together, I felt completely alone. None of the companionship of shared humanity radiated off them, no warmth, no joy, no love—no hate or disgust or indignity either. Being near them was like being near a black hole—even without taking blood, they were lapping at the edges of the life I possessed, spinning it away.
“Um—the visitor bathroom is upstairs,” I said, pointing to the elevator as the locker room door snicked shut behind me.
“We are here for Edith Spence,” the one nearest to me said. He was classically beautiful, with long dark brown hair, narrow chin, and long nose. Eyes as green as grass.
No one had called me Edith since my grandma had died. “And you are?” I asked.
“Dren.” He took a step closer. He was wearing a black duster cut in an old-fashioned way, narrow-waisted, calf-length. He wasn’t threatening yet, but I felt he could be. The others behind him clearly were—two of them were dragging the fourth one forward by leashes made of dual silver chains. On its lanyard around my neck, my badge began to glow, stronger than I had ever see it glow before.
“Edith Spence, I presume?” he asked again, and I nodded. “You have been summoned to a tribunal. We are taking you into custody now.” He watched me, waiting for a reaction. I firmed my resolve not to give him any.
“Why?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Apparently you managed to kill a vampire,” he responded, looking me up and down. “I have to admit I’m curious how you did it.” There was a glint of emotion in his eyes. He looked long used to disappointment, but just then, I saw a spark of hope. Why?
The doors to Y4 thunked open. “Hey, Edie—I need help—holy shit,” I heard Gina say in a rush behind me. Then she yelled, “Meaty!”
The doors didn’t even have a chance to close before Meaty burst through them. “It’s past visiting hours. Get out,” Meaty said at once.
I wasn’t sure what scared me more—the fact that the ones in the rear were jerking on the bound person’s chains, or the fact that they ignored Meaty.
“She’s been summoned. We’re taking her into custody until the darkest night.” Dren pushed his coat aside, hooking his thumb into a leather belt that held a gold sicklelike weapon, bound against his hip. His action seemed meaningful, like a cop putting a hand on a holstered gun. “If you’re her friend, you will procure her legal representation immediately.”
“But—” I began.
“Edie, be quiet,” Meaty said, moving to stand between them and me.
