God Touched - 01 (15 page)

Lydia’s car was a BMW Five series, sil
ver with lots of power and she drove it with skill.
  We raced through the Brooklyn streets and I should have been nervous about her driving, but Tatiana, who had decided to sit in back, distracted me.  She was busy studying me and I got nervous.  

Finally I had enough. 

“What?” 

She smiled.  “I like watching you.”

“Well, I like looking at you too, but you’ve got that look again.”

“What look is that?” she asked.

“It’s a cross between a Cheshire Cat grin and a kid with a new toy.”

Lydia snorted from up front.  “That describes it to a tee, Northern.”

Tatiana frowned.  “You’re not a toy.  But you are mine.  Right?”  she asked, seeking reassurance.

“Yes I am yours, at least till you come to your senses.”

Lydia sighed up front and a warm hand gripped my chin, turning my head to meet a pair of sparking blue eyes.  Annoyed eyes.

“I have senses you don’t even know about and all of them agree.  You are mine, Christian Gordon.  You always will be.”  The hard glint softened and she kissed me, then shook my chin as she let go.  “And I’ll stare at you if I want.  I like to stare at you.” She huffed like any girl might.  I decided to stare back, getting trapped in her cerulean gaze.

     Dr. Singh had been a doctor long before he was Turned.   His unassuming house in lower Brooklyn also held his office, which was in the refinished basement and had its own entrance.  Refined and possessed of the trademark vampire grace, the doctor greeted Lydia and Tatiana warmly, while his assistant led me to the exam room, which looked white and institutional like every other exam room I had ever been in.  The biggest difference was the lack of pharmaceutical company posters and trade name drug marketing paraphernalia.  Instead, the walls had charts showing the moon phases and sunrise and sunset tables and something called a Druidic Calendar.

Dr. Singh's assistant made me nervous.  Tall, maybe five seven, with brown hair and Eurasian features, she was professional and businesslike as she took my vitals.  No small talk and very little direct eye contact, which was unusual based on all the vampires I had met so far.  But despite her direct no nonsense manner, I kept catching her taking little sniffs near me and casting furtive sidelong glances at me.  She drew blood, which had me on edge, as she spent an inordinate amount of time settling the vials in their little carrier tray and I swear she was sniffing their caps.  I was greatly relieved when she handed me the obligatory paper gown and told me to strip to down to my underwear.  Then she fussed around cleaning up for a long time before finally leaving.  I skipped the gown, figuring my boxer briefs would be modest enough for a vampire doctor. 

In a radical departure from official physician code, the good doctor came right in with hardly any delay.  Unlike his creepy assistant, Dr. Singh was personable and had a soothing bedside manner.  He proceeded to give me a thorough exam, including eyesight and hearing, asking me health questions all the while.  We started with early childhood illnesses and worked our way finally to recent events. Tatiana and Lydia had told him I had been the recipient of Tatiana's blood.

“Mr. Gordon, it may seem like a waste of time to go back over your history, as I'm sure you feel that your current condition is the result of imbibing Tatiana's rather potent blood, but I like to be thorough,” he said., “It is very common for a human who is both fed on and receives blood from his or her vampire, to have an increased metabolic rate and experience heightened senses and greater vitality. These changes occur gradually over time and are beneficial to the donor.  It may be an evolved trait of the virus that causes vampirism, helping its host by keeping a healthy donor alive longer.  But the degree and speed of your responses are...well..staggering. I'll have to double check, but I'm fairly certain that our records don't reflect any similar case, ever.”

“Could it be that Tatiana's blood would do this to anyone?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“I've been studying Tatiana's blood since she was born.  I delivered her, you know. And I'm the only one, other than
you
, to have handled her blood.   Tatiana's is very similar to the blood of the Elder vampires, the council that rule us.  These individuals are all over a thousand years old, while Tatiana is your age.  Your exact age in fact. Hmmm.” He paused in thought for a moment, then continued. “Potent blood like that would convey much greater benefits than younger vampires, but nothing like what you are exhibiting.  Your hearing is beyond human normal at both the low and high ranges, your eyesight is twenty/five, your reflexes are just about on par with a newly Turned vampire.  And your metabolic rate is about four times higher than that of an average human male your age.  I'm hoping that slows down a bit, as it usually does with normal donor cases.  Currently, you haven't begun to cannibalize your muscle tissue, but that point can't be far off and you absolutely must keep some fat tissue for healthy nerve function. You're just at about two percent, based on the near-infrared measurement that my assistant took.”

“Was that the thing she aimed at my bicep?” I asked.

“Yes.  But we really need to stop you from losing any more.  I want you to stop working out.  Your fitness levels will continue to improve without effort, and that is one way to slow your fat loss.  I also want you to eat as much high fat, high calorie food as you can, like these.”  He handed me a high calorie protein bar and waited for me to nod my acknowledgement of his instructions then changed subjects. “Mr. Gordon, can I assume that the ladies have conveyed to you the need to keep our world secret from the general human population?” 

I nodded.

“Then you must be careful to not display your new differences to your fellow humans, although I'm not sure you are still human at all.”  That statement alarmed me.

“What?”

“Well, I won't know till I complete a DNA analysis and review the blood workups, but I don't believe these changes are temporary.  I think that you've been changed as much by Tatiana as she has been by you.  And by the way, I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am with her reawakening.”  He beamed at me, then patted my shoulder.  “From what I understand, you've always been different from other humans, eh?”

“Well yeah, between my freaky violet eyes and screwy aura, but nothing like this.  Is it fatal?  Is it turning me into a vampire?” I asked, beginning to get really worried.

“Fatal? Oh no!  In fact it will most likely extend your life indefinitely. And no, I don't believe it is Turning you.  That process is much different.  Plus, you show no signs of being drawn to blood or sensitive to the sun, right?  There, you see?  Nothing to worry about.  However, there appears to be one other aspect we should discuss.  Lydia mentioned that you were drawing an unusual amount of attention from vampires in the club last Friday.”  

I just looked at him blankly and he laughed.

“You probably didn't notice it, but she did.  Some humans are naturally more attractive to vampires than others.  Your AB blood type is part of the reason.  Very rare. Only four percent of the population is AB and many vampires love it. So you smell good.  But there are other factors, like being exceptionally
fit and maybe your unusual aura
that can attract our attention.  Whatever the case, that attractiveness has also been amplified by whatever changes you are going through.  So you need to be aware and careful.  I don't think most vampires would chance ..ah...sampling you and incurring Tatiana's wrath.  Especially, now that she is aware and becoming more formidable by the day.  But newer, less disciplined vampires might lose control.  You will need to be on guard.”

“You’re saying I'm vampire bait.”

“Hmmm, I suppose that's as good a name for it as any.”

It was one thing to hang out with Tatiana and Lydia, who I trusted, although I had known them both less than a week.  But to know that I was going to be attracting every fanged being in the Big Apple was downright scary.

  There was a quick knock on the door and Tatiana entered with Lydia on her heels before the doctor could answer.

“Is everything all right.  Chris, why are you upset?” Tatiana asked.

“Well, I was just telling him about his ...attractiveness to our kind.  Tatiana, did you sense his discomfort from outside?”  Dr. Singh asked.

“Yes.  I can usually tell what Chris is feeling and where he is.”

“Yeah Doc, she can locate our boy here from several miles away,” Lydia supplied.

“Fascinating.  There is usually some form of donor/donee bond but it takes time to form.” He looked thoughtful as he mulled this new piece of information.

“So, the Doc told you about being vamp candy huh?” Lydia asked.

Tatiana's expression was rather stark as I answered.  “Yeah, it's a little ...unnerving.”

“Well, the first thing we're going to do is put an off limits sign on you to keep away the rifraff.” Lydia said.

“An off limits sign huh?”

“Yeah, we'll mark you with Tanya's sign and that should keep the smart ones away.”

“Sounds like a cattle brand to me,” I replied, still out of sorts with the situation.   Tatiana froze in place at these words, but Lydia shrugged them right off.  “Think of it as a stallion brand if it makes you feel better.  It’s just a little tattoo, see?”  She turned her head and pulled her shirt away from her ne
ck, revealing a small tattoo of three letters ‘TAD
’.

“What
is that?  Some sorta vampire word
or something?” I asked.

The girls looked at each other, then back to me. 

“No, it’s her initi
als T.A.D.
” Lydia shrugged.

“What’s the ‘A’ stand for?” I asked.

Tatiana answered. “Antonovna.”

“So that would mean your father’s name is Anton?” I guessed.

“Very good, Chris.” Tatiana was impressed.

“Well, the Internet knows all, ya know.”

We thanked the doctor and climbed back into the BMW.  Lydia changed topics as soon as the car was in motion.  “So, Chris what was this about werewolves today?” she asked.

So I spent the rest of the car ride explaining the Special Situations Squad job interview, the attack in Central Park and the red head werewolf mother and son.

“And you didn’t tell them about the woman being a were or about us?” Tatiana asked.

“No way.  I don’t know anything about this Special Situation group.  I don’t know if they know about you guys or about weres, and I’m supposed to ‘serve and protect’, so that’s what I did.” 

It seemed pretty clear cut to me.  I didn’t struggle with the ethics of it for a moment.  Spending your life fighting Hellbourne tends to simplify your moral code a bit.

“You know, Chris, you seem to draw monsters like flies to honey.  Do you have any idea who she was?” Lydia asked.

“Er..no.” I answered.

“Her name is Afina.  She’s the mate of the Alpha of the City.  And you saved her.”

“I didn’t save her.  She saved herself and her son.  I just gave her some food, water and a cell phone.  I guessed that she would have a Pack or something to help her.”

“Well I spoke to my contact in the Pack, and she and her mate, Brock, are grateful to you.  Things have been a little strained between our Coven and the Pack, and today’s events could have been a disaster.  She smelled the vampire scent on you and she witnessed your wrestling match with the addict in the park.  You may have just patched up a pretty good rift between us.”

“Dumb luck, really,” I answered.

“You seem to have an inordinate amount of that then,” Lydia replied with a grin.

“Dumb or luck?” I questioned, not sure if I had just received a shot.

“Yes,” was her reply.  Yup, definitely a shot.

Tatiana asked me a question before I could fire anything back at Lydia. “Christian, are you going to work for Inspector Roma in the Special Squad?”

“I don’t know if they even want me yet.  I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow morning, so I suspect he may have made up his mind by then.”

“You know, he’s been trying to meet with Galina for years now, but she blows him off every time.  I think he suspects what we are.  You need to be ready if he asks you to introduce him.” Lydia said.

“Well, that’s an easy one. I just tell him the truth. Galina hates me.  That should take care of it.”

“Mother does not hate you, Christian.  And I have told her that you
will
be part of my life unless
you
choose not to be.  I have warned her I will leave if she tries to scare you away.”

Lydia chuckled. “Yeah, and since Doctor Singh reports his medical findings about Tat directly to Elder Senka, I’m doubly sure that the Elders will want to meet you Wednesday night.”

“What’s Wednesday night?” I asked.

“Oh, we hadn’t gotten around to that yet.  The Elders arrive to see Tanya tomorrow night.  Wednesday is a formal reception party and you are a guest of honor.”

“Me?  At a vampire party?  Is that a good idea?  Aren’t I sorta bait?  Why do they want to see me?”   This party sounded like a really bad idea.  I liked hanging around with my two vam
pires, it just seemed natural,
but a whole party of unknown and unfriendly vampires didn’t sound like my cup of tea.