Page 22 of Bitten

“Yes, sir,” the nurse said before scooting off to find the doctor.

He didn’t wait long before a witch strolled out in a doctor’s coat, looking much like the human doctors he’d seen on television. Theis’ human mate was obsessed with movies and television, and he’d gotten a crash course on many things human in the last weeks. It had been interesting to see how many things were quite the same within Midnight…

And how vastly different at the same time.

“I came to inquire about Ralnur’s condition.”

The healer sighed, shaking her head. “Perhaps you could convince him to feed while you’re here.”

Theis frowned. He’d thought the warlock’s bloodlust would eventually win out. Apparently not.

“He’s still refusing to take blood. We have a supply of both synthetic and animal blood on hand. We’ve even offered a certified feeder to him, and he won’t accept. He grows weaker by the day without nourishment. If he doesn’t drink soon, he might not survive much longer.”

“We can force it into him, if need be,” Theis said.

“Ultimately, we might have to. But being that he’s the king’s uncle, I had hoped to prevent it from going that far. He is a prince of the city—I didn’t wish to cause any disrespect.”

“I’ll see what I can do to persuade him,” Theis murmured, unsure what he could say to change the man’s mind. Ultimately, magic and brawn might be their only choice. “But, prepare whatever you need to forcibly feed him. We can’t allow him to perish before the king’s return.”

“Yes, sir.” She smiled grimly. “Also, I’ve been reviewing the charts,” the healer paused, scratching her head. “His blood counts are strange.”

“Meaning?”

“Vampires are made because of a virus in the blood. It enters the bloodstream through the vampire’s saliva during the bite. After he was bitten in the nest, we checked his blood, and all signs of the virus were gone. As you know, the enchantment all witches are given at birth kills the virus.” She shook her head, looking as if she searched for something in her mind. “But by the next day, there was a new strain that we hadn’t seen before in our scans—after he showed signs of converting.”

“New strain? We’re aware that someone might’ve entered his room.”

“Of course,” she nodded. “But as a physician—I didn’t want to limit possible outcomes. I looked at this from every angle. Had we missed something? Had one of the dying viruses reanimated? Was this something else that mimics vampiric signs? Or had there been another who entered somehow and introduced another factor in?”

“Have you come to any conclusion?”

“Nothing definite, but I did find that new strain—and by new strain, I mean new. There are thirteen known viral vampire strains. This one isn’t one of those thirteen. And his body isn’t fighting it off as it should. His enchantment should be killing it… and it simply isn’t. His body is allowing it to flourish without any fight.”

“You’ve seen nothing like this before?”

She shook her head, but then paused. “I did once see a similar strain in a Halfling vampire—but it was a mutation of a known strain, not something entirely new like this one.”

Theis was thoughtful for a moment. His mind went to Noah’s half vamp police officer… nay… now a King’s Guardsman per royal decree. Kane had been with Ralnur. Had carried him to the healers himself. “Can a Halfling change a man into a vampire?”

“I don’t see how. With that enchantment in a witch’s blood, they supposedly can’t be changed at all—so it would take something or someone mighty powerful to overwhelm that magic. No Halfling would be strong enough to change one of the strongest warlocks in Midnight. If it was a vampire—it was one old and powerful. One that should’ve set off the alarms in the room, if he did get in there.”

Theis relaxed some. He hated imagining Kane as a suspect, but he wouldn’t leave any lead overlooked. He struggled to trust vampires, even one with Noah’s stamp of approval.

“Perhaps it was something else altogether,” the healer murmured.

“Like?” Theis asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, and that’s what scares me. We might be dealing with an unknown entity here. A rogue witch or a new breed of vampire or hybrid. I’ve already been in contact with the guys at the Health Department, trying to find anything in the archives—some similar case—and they’ve found nothing in the medical records.”

“I have someone at the Library of Midnight doing much the same,” Theis said.

“You’ll let me know if he finds anything?” the woman asked.

“Of course. We need to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Indeed,” the healer commented.

“Ralnur was severely weakened after all the bites that were inflicted on him… perhaps that weakness simply opened him up to the virus?” Theis asked. “Could it be something as simple as that?”

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