Page 68 of Even Vampires Bleed
It takes a bit of time, but I’m getting there, and when I get inside the church, Léandre is waiting for me with a shirt and pair of sweatpants.
He got dressed in the meantime, and I don’t know if I’m relieved by the fact, or if I’m disappointed.
I don’t want to dwell on it, though.
We need to assign my tiny new friend a room, and…
“Where is the lizard-shifter?” I ask Léandre, suddenly remembering that we didn’t free only one shifter.
His smile is tight.
“Don’t tell me you lost the lizard…” I start saying, but Léandre doesn’t let me finish.
“They’re alive and well. Or at least they were still sleeping when I left to retrieve you. We might just not be able to see them immediately,” he says, as if only now realizing the mistake he made in where he dropped the lizard-shifter.
I look at him with an annoyed look and tap my foot on the floor to show him his answer isn’t enough, even if I know the effect is all butruined by the fact I’m doing that barefoot, and, by consequence, it barely makes any noise and won’t annoy him at all.
“They’re in the operation room with my father,” Léandre finally says with a grimace. “I don’t know if the doctor is done with him, but we can go take a look,” he quickly adds.
“Lead the way,” I tell him, and we walk there together.
We climb the stairs and end up in the room next to my dad’s—right next to the stairs.
I’m not surprised. They put the two people needing medical assistance next to each other and the closest to the entrance.
Léandre knocks at the door and waits.
“Just a minute,” says an elderly voice that I recognize as Alban, our usual doctor.
We wait and as if Alban monitored time, he precisely opens the door one minute later.
He doesn’t let us in, though.
“Are you here to get your misplaced lizard?” the human doctor asks with a mix of annoyance and amusement.
In his hands is a lizard with a flange around his neck and what looks like a tiny sterilized suit.
I don’t know if the doctor dressed the lizard because he felt the need to since it was in the room or if it’s just a joke to him.
He still laughs when he sees our faces at the sight of the lizard.
“It tried to bite me. Now get it out of my room. I’m not completely done,” he says as he thrusts the little lizard in Léandre’s hands without another look and closes the door in our faces.
At least that answers part of our questions. Gabriel doesn’t have his wings back yet.
I walk a bit and open the door after my dad’s. It’s not locked and looks empty.
“The lizard-shifter can have that one,” I say as I pull a set of clean sheets from the wardrobe. We’re at the end of July. Idoubt they’ll need more than that with the heat we’re currently going through, but just in case, I add a blanket at the end of the bed.
Léandre lets the lizard down from his hand to the blanket, and I slowly approach them so I can remove the flange.
They hiss at me first but seem to understand what I want to do and let me get closer. I don’t bother with the sterilized suit, and it seems to be fine for the lizard, who makes circles on the blankets. Then they drop in a circle on top of it and close their eyes.
Well, one down.
“We’re going to be back to bring you food,” I tell the lizard before Léandre and I leave the room.
I check the next door over, but it’s locked.
