Page 103 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“Yes, but I’ve never performed a surgery before. I’ve only ever watched.”

“There’s always a first time.” He let his eyes run down her body. A sudden heat passed through her. She stared at the green tile floor, praying that her cheeks hadn’t turned red.

The double door behind them swung open and a woman in civilian attire walked in.

“Prep her for the OR. She’ll be practising today,” Mikhail said to the woman and landed a heavy palm on Amelia’s shoulder, which nearly made her lose her ground.

“Oh, Mikhail! I didn’t see you there.” The woman smiled at Amelia. “Practising? Wonderful. It’s always good to welcome newbies. Come with me, darling.”

Amelia threw an insecure glance at Mikhail.

“Go with Faye,” he told her. “I’ll be here.”

The woman led her to the female changing room. “First time?” She started a cheerful conversation while removing clothes from a locker.

“Yes.”

“Good, good.” She assessed Amelia. “I think this is your size. Wear it. Take some shoes from there.” She pointed to a wardrobe to the left. “You’ll get a mask and gloves before you enter the OR.”

Amelia changed into the offered green scrubs while Faye dressed in her own. When she was ready, the other woman stood close, observing her with an unreadable expression.

“Did I put it on wrong?” she asked, worried the vampire scent was fading.

“Hmm…” Faye approached her. “Are you from the Barich family?”

“Excuse me?”

“The Serbian vampires?”

“No.”

Faye exhaled. “Thank the gods. I hate them! We have a blood feud, if you catch my drift. If you were one of them…” She didn’t continue, but the sudden darkening in her otherwise pleasant features showed that Faye had a deep-rooted hostility for these vampires.

Amelia concealed her nervousness behind a friendly smile. All of this felt unreal. First creatures, now blood feuds? What had she let herself get dragged into?

And why was she even going along with this surgery, when she had never done one in the human world?

But then again, she had been dreaming of being a surgeon since her first year at med school. And regardless of where it was happening, she was now about to operate! Excitement fizzed through her veins, followed just as quickly by her palms growing clammy.

When Amelia stepped back into the hallway, Mikhail was waiting for her just as he’d promised. He’d also dressed in scrubs, and was leaning against the wall in a casual stance. As she took a few steps towards him, she found it impossible not to stare at him. The colour of the medical attire emphasized the green of his eyes. His bright gaze was too intense and, in an effort to avoid it, her own landed on the muscles of his arms. They were bulging, stretching the material of his sleeves. Her pulse quickened but she convinced herself it was excitement for the upcoming surgery, and it had nothing to do with what she’d imagined while reading that damned anatomy book.

“I had no idea you still performed surgeries, Mikhail,” Faye remarked with glee when she approached.

“Only on special occasions,” he replied and led Amelia to the ORs.

Creatures equipped with masks and caps marched from one room to the other. In front of the nearest OR, two surgeons were having a lively discussion. One of them, a man with a broad face, had lowered his mask below his chin.

“What happened to the gutted nymph?” he asked.

The woman beside him made a dismissive hand gesture. “She’ll survive. But… I bet she won’t dare touch what isn’t hers for the next three hundred years, at least.”

“Tut-tut! I don’t believe it. Some creatures just know no bounds.”

Mikhail interrupted their chat. “What do you have inside?”

The couple seemed startled by his appearance.

The woman was first to explain, “Male, lycanthrope, three gunshot wounds. One transitory, torn lung, one bullet scraped the aorta. They’re prepping him now. We were just about to start.”

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