BloodGifted (9 page)

I
turned to Alice. ‘Go tell the Communications Officer to contact the other field hospitals. Perhaps they might have a driver to spare.’

After a fearful glance at Luc, she
hurried off. From the corner of my eye I saw Owen snatch his pistol from its holder and aim it at Luc.

‘Owen, put it
down,’ I said.

‘No. Don’t tell me what to do!’ He swung towards me and pointed the gun in my direction.

I stiffened, Luc snarled, and quicker than a heartbeat snatched the pistol from Owen’s hand, but not before it had discharged with a loud crack. I felt a thump in my chest, but no pain even as my blood oozed and spread out over my surgical coat. I  staggered
backwards and fell to the ground as a great weakness came over me. The bullet must have entered my heart. I barely registered Owen’s, ‘Oh shit!

‘Owen, you fool. What have you done?’ Luc’s voice cried.

‘I didn’t… didn’t mean to shoot him! Oh God! Oh God!’

‘Then why
did you take the gun?’

‘I, I…shit! Just don’t let him die, Luc,’ he begged. ‘Please. Oh, God, it’s my fault.
You can’t let him die!’

‘You have any idea what you’re asking me to do?’

‘Of course I bloody well do!’

‘I can’t simply transform a pe
rson because you want me to,’ Luc replied.

‘They’ll hang me, Luc. If he dies, they’ll hang me. Then where’ll you be without your
Ingenii
! You need me more than I need you.’

‘There’s always your daughter, Judith.’

‘She’s still a babe, and her blood won’t be at full strength till she comes-of-age. You know that. And what’ll you do till then? Especially as the daylight tolerance begins to wane? You won’t be able to hide
that
for long.’

I thought I heard a snarl.

‘If you weren’t
Ingenii
, I’d—’

‘Do what? Drain me? Then it’s just as well I am.’

There was silence for a while and I thought I was finally losing consciousness. My eyes closed of their own accord, but I was still aware of what was happening around me.

‘All right then, but think carefully,’ Luc said slowly in a calm, deep voice. ‘Do you really want me to change him?’

‘Yes!’ Owen sounded desperate.

‘Without asking his consent? Are you willing to risk that?’

‘Yes!’

‘Then there’s not much time. His heartbeat grows fainter. Help me remove his coat.’

My
surgical coat and shirt were ripped from my body and one of them took hold of my left wrist. I heard Luc’s urgent voice. ‘No, too late. It must be closer to the heart.’

My hand was dropped and I felt warm breath on my neck, near the jugular, follow
ed by a sharp sting. Either Owen or Luc’s mouth was sucking blood from my throat and I didn’t have the strength to fight them.

H
ow long this went on I don’t know, but the weakness continued to spread through my body followed by a numbing cold. I was fading out. Someone held my head firmly while another’s arm cradled my back and shoulders.

‘Will it w
ork?’ Owen’s voice pleaded.

‘Undo my shirt buttons, he’s nearly drained.’ Luc’s voice came from next to my ear.
It had been him who took my blood. ‘Do you have your surgical knife?’ he asked.

‘Yes
…’ I barely heard Owen’s reply, or the rest of the conversation that took place above me.

‘Slice just below my left nipple. I’ll do the rest.’

I felt my head turned and soft flesh pressed into my face.

‘Drink Doctor
Munro or you will die,’ Luc’s voice said.

A hot, sticky liquid entered my mouth. Lacking the strength to resist, I gulped and partly choked.

‘Alec, please. Drink,’ Owen’s voice pleaded.

The liquid taste
d warm and sweet and as I gulped more greedily my strength returned and slowly so did my awareness.

‘What about the bullet?’
Owen asked.

‘The enzyme will dissolve it.’

Their voices were clearer now. I felt a shudder from Luc. ‘Ah, nearly done. But the complete transformation will take a few days. He cannot stay here, I hope you realize that.’

‘Alec, can you hear me?’ Owen’s voice was close to my ear.

I angled my mouth away from the source of the liquid and tried to raise myself. ‘Owen,’ I managed to croak. ‘What’s happening?’

‘Um, I accidentally shot you. B
ut you’re all right now.’

Luc snorted and I turned towards the sound. He had been holding my head while Owen supported my body. Seeing I was able to sit up on my own, he’d risen off the ground and began re-buttoning his shirt. I looked down onto my chest for the bloody hole that s
hould have been there and saw—nothing. The skin was as smooth and an unmarked as a baby’s.

Shock rippled through me. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

With a slight wobble I rose to my feet and looked from Owen to Luc when I was assailed by auditory overload. A cacophony of sounds assaulted my brain that made me clap my hands over my ears.

The night was alive with noises I’d never been awa
re of; insects scuttling nearby; the loud whirr of a moth’s wings as it fluttered around the light globe; the rapid beat of a heart. And there were voices—men and women—one
discussing a patient’s medication, another reading a letter aloud and someone moaning. Yet we were in the Supply Depot, at least four hundred yards from the main hospital building. How could I possibly hear individual voices from that distance?

I panic
ked and spun around to see Luc and Owen’s eyes on me—one wary, and the other fearful. On one of the shelves behind Luc’s head, I easily made out the tiny letters on a jar of ointment although the light in the storeroom was dim. How could I possibly see as if it were daylight?

‘What’s hap
pened to me?’ I demanded. Even my voice sounded different—deeper, stronger, more resonant somehow.

Luc
was about to answer when Owen interrupted. ‘Alec, you would have died. I asked Luc to change you.’

‘Change me? What do you mean?’

Luc came toward me. We stood almost eye-to-eye. ‘Listen to me, Doctor Munro.’ His gaze—those strange lavender eyes—bored into mine. ‘Your body has undergone a physiological transformation. Over the next couple of days your eyes will grow sensitive to light and your skin will burn much more easily in the daylight. You will find your strength ten times greater than that of an ordinary man, and your sight and hearing, far sharper and keener. Nothing will escape you and nothing will be able to outrun you. You will also lose the taste for food as your body develops a thirst for blood only—human blood.’

My breath
caught in my throat.
This wasn’t possible,
I thought.
None of this is!
My mind grappled with the implications.

‘I can help you through the c
hange,’ he offered. ‘It will take time.’

‘What ha
ve you done to me?’ I repeated.

‘You are now a blood
drinker with an almost unlimited lifespan and indestructible body.’ He paused. ‘My kind are generally known as vampires. Although we prefer to call ourselves, Brethren.’

I felt myself turn pale as the full force of his words sank in and knew them to be true. There was no denying the changes already beginning to take effect: my sudden night
vision, enhanced hearing and—strength? I bent down to pick up the small iron wedge used to keep the door open. It felt soft as clay between my fingers. Automatically I ran my thumb over my teeth for the telltale fangs, but everything there felt normal.

‘Ah, they wil
l appear in a couple of hours Doctor Munro,’ Luc said as he observed my self-examination.

Revulsion, dis
gust and horror raged within me and I turned on Owen. ‘You were party to this?’

‘I didn’t w
ant you to die. I had no choice!’ he wailed.

‘There’s always a choice,’ I yelled at him before turning back to Luc. ‘And you listened to him! Why?’

‘Owen is my first priority. Some day I’ll explain it to you.’ He reached into the front pocket of his jacket and removed a small mirror. I recognised it as one of the types he used in his photographic work. He handed it to me. ‘Look at your eyes.’

I took the mirror from his hand when the thought came to me. ‘Aren’t… vampires… incapable of casting a reflection?’

Luc snorted. ‘What rubbish! We’re physical beings—’ he poked me lightly in the shoulder ‘—and anything physical has a reflection!’

I lifted the mirror and stared at my face. A cold pit opened in my stomach. My eyes were no longer brown but lavender
, the same colour as Owen and Luc’s.

As I glanced between
them both, the dreadful realisation of what had been done to me sank in and the shock was unimaginable, unbearable… and all Owen’s fault.

My hand tightene
d around the mirror and crushed it to a million shiny shards.

‘Does that mean you’re a vampire, too Owen?’

‘Oh no, not me. Only Luc. I’m human, but… well, it’s complicated.’

‘Your eyes—
’

‘That’s the complicated part.’ He didn’t volunteer any more.

A red haze of rage burned within me. I stared at him as he stood there, silently observing me and watching my transformation. I took a step toward him and he slunk back against the wooden wall. I could actually smell his fear—another new sensation. ‘Why did you shoot me? Of all the bloody mindless things to do!’ My hands balled into fists and I had to resist the urge to use them.

‘Alec, please, it was an accident. I
t was Luc I wanted to shoot—not you!’

‘Why not just let me die then, instead of allowing me to be changed into this… thing I am now!’

‘I would have been court-martialled and hanged for your murder!’ he blubbered, yet had the effrontery to sound indignant.

‘Never thinks of anyone but himself,’ Luc said.

‘It’s my neck!’

‘And my life!’ I roared.
‘I should kill you for this!’ I reached out and grabbed him by the throat. It was easy to lift him up, to see his legs dangling in the air as he struggled to prise my fingers apart.

‘Doctor
Munro, unfortunately, I need him alive,’ Luc stated.

Owen’s open mouth gasped for air like a fish.

‘Why?’

Owen’s lips began to turn blue, but his feet were still kicking.

‘Family connection. I’ll explain one day. Please release him.’

If not for Luc, I may have killed Owen that da
y. I let him drop to the ground where he crawled behind Luc’s legs, rubbed his throat and whimpered hoarsely. He was pitiful… and he had destroyed my life.

I looked around for something that would help me end it. Spotting a bottle of mercuric chloride on the top shelf
, I grabbed it and attempted to empty its contents down my throat. Luc’s tight grip on my wrist forced my hand down.

‘That will not help,’ he calmly stated. ‘It’ll only cause you great pain, without the result you seek. As I said, your body is now indestructible. No matter whether you shoot, stab or poison yourself, your body will heal itself completely. You can only be killed by being beheaded, burned or exposing yourself to the sun.’

He took the bottle from my hand and in a more sympathetic tone added, ‘I understand what it is you’re feeling, Alec. I went through it, too.’ It was the first time in the two years since I’d arrived that Luc called me by my first name.

I sank to my knees in the dirt,
buried my head in my hands and begged God to take me.

‘Alec,’ Luc placed his hand on my shoulder
. ‘You can live with this. I’ll show you. Your physical state has altered, but you are still you—your character and personality do not need to change. Let me help you.’

‘How?’ I croaked.

‘I’ll teach you… and show you ways in which you can be an even better doctor with your new faculties.’

I glanced up at
him—what choice did I have?—and nodded in resignation.

‘Good. Now, it’s more important to ease your transition into a new life. There will, of course, be some adjustments and apart from a new diet, nothing else much will change.’

‘Can I go back to the hospital?’

‘I’m sorry, no. The physical changes in you will become too obvious. And since you’re an infant, so to speak, there might be some regrettable accidents.’

‘You mean I’ll bite someone?’ I glared at Owen.

‘And probably kill them. Self-control
takes time to develop. You don’t want to destroy, just take enough to satisfy.’

‘
Then I can’t stay here.’

‘What will I say to the staff? How will I explain your disappearance, Alec?’ Owen whined.