Page 128 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures

“I’d like to talk to him.”

“All right, but don’t be too pushy.” Elisanda glanced at her golden wristwatch. “See you at the Council meeting this afternoon!”

Mikhail returned to the boy’s room. This time, the gifts grabbed his attention – toys, books, and flowers covered every free inch of space around the bed.

Dave observed the door with wariness, as if expecting the agent to walk in next. When he realised Mikhail was alone, his features relaxed. “I’m sorry for behaving poorly, Mikhail, but Mum warned me never to trust an agent of the Tribunal,” he whispered.

Mikhail sat in the chair next to him. “The Tribunal’s not so bad, Dave. Their agents are making sure that the order in our society is maintained. Agent Kane wants to help us figure out who attacked you.”

Dave winced at the mention of his attack. “Yeah, but I don’t remember anything, so I don’t want to talk to him anymore… Mikhail, promise me, please. Promise he won’t be showing up here anymore.”

Mikhail’s rage surfaced again. “I’m sorry, Dave. I have no power over the Tribunal agents, but if you tell me everything you can recall from that night, I’ll try to pass it on to Agent Kane word for word, so he doesn’t need to come back again.” As he spoke, guilt overtook him, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. Whatever he did, he could not stop the bastard from harassing the boy or anyone else.

“Okay, Mikhail…” Dave closed his eyes. “I was in Mum’s room when I suddenly craved something sweet. I decided to go to Stella’s place. She always has something delicious whipped up.”

“The head housekeeper Stella?”

Dave nodded. “Yeah. She barely eats human food, but she loves to prepare it. She’s converted part of her room into a kitchen and cooks loads of yummy things.” Dave licked his lips at the memory. “She says she wants to have a cooking blog. Here, these are from her.” He pointed to an open box on his nightstand. “Chocolate strawberry muffins. Wanna try?”

Now Mikhail understood why Stella had been so enthusiastic about preparing dinner for him and Amelia. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry. So, you went to Stella’s that night?”

Dave frowned. “I went out in the corridor and headed for the stairwell.”

“Not the lift?”

“I almost always use the stairs because I like running up and down them.” Mikhail remembered that he had indeed brushed past him in the stairwell on occasion. “I was just at the door to the stairs and started heading up when I heard footsteps. I looked down through the railing and there was someone down there, but I didn’t know who it was. They had a hood on. At first, I was worried, but then I told myself it was normal for someone to be walking up the stairs, even though it was past midnight. This building is huge, after all. But then his steps quickened…”

“His? Was it… a man?”

“Well, I don’t know. He had a hood on and wore baggy clothes. He…or she…almost caught up with me, as far as I could tell from the sound of the footsteps. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I had this feeling that he was chasing me. I don’t know what floor I was on, but I saw that one door had a note stuck on it saying ‘Disinfection in progress. Do not enter. Danger of intoxication.’ I… I had no idea if it was true. I thought that whoever was behind me wouldn’t enter the hallway unless they were following me. So, despite the warning, I went in and found myself in a dark corridor.”

Dave, as a kid and a witcher, didn’t have better night vision than a human – unlike his stalker, most likely.

“The door opened behind me and I saw the creature’s outline in the dark. Then I was sure it was following me. I rushed down the hallway and he or she ran after me, getting closer and closer…” Dave inhaled a loud gulp of air. “I could almost feel their breath on my neck, but they hadn’t caught up with me yet. At the end of the hallway, I started pressing the lift buttons, but nothing happened. I was praying for someone to appear… then I fell on the floor, and I don’t remember anything else.” Dave started crying. “Who will take care of Mum if something happens to me?”

Mikhail glanced around the room, trying to find something to reassure the kid. His gaze settled on the presents. “Nothing will happen to you, Dave. Not when so many creatures care about you.”

At the sight of his toys, Dave’s mood changed, in that typical way kids have to forget. “I guess you’re right.” He raised his head. “Why hasn’t Amelia come to see me yet? Is she mad at me about something?”

“Of course not.”

Dave stared at him for a moment longer, his lower lip protruding. Mikhail feared he would cry again, but instead, realisation seemed to dawn on the boy, and he smacked his forehead. “God, I’m so stupid! Of course, she won’t come, if Tribunal agents are sniffing around here.”

Mikhail smiled, relieved. “See, Dave? You are rather clever.”

He stayed for a few more minutes, listening to Dave rant about a vampire series he was watching on TV. According to him, the show portrayed vampires as much cooler than they were in reality, but it was worth watching anyway because of the sex scenes and cursing.

Mikhail was just about to leave when Dave’s trembling voice stopped him in his tracks. “Why would someone want to hurt me, Mikhail?”

Mikhail faced the boy. “Would you believe me if I told you someone made a mistake?”

From Dave’s room, he darted straight to Viktor Volk’s lab, but the lycanthrope was nowhere to be seen. Alex was absentmindedly using an enormous wooden spoon to stir a pot filled with some strange brown boiling liquid. Her focus, however, was on a thick book with a black cover.

“Where is Viktor?” Mikhail asked her.

Her gaze dragged upwards, her eyes lingering on the pages of her book as if loath to abandon the words, before finally meeting his. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen his face for two days.”

“What’s up with him, pup?” He had to ask, even though he suspected what the answer would be. Yet some part of him still hoped he’d be given another explanation for Viktor’s behaviour. Something along the lines of “a thousand-age mid-life crisis.”

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