The Turning (3 page)

Now I was worried she might commit me.

“You were right. How is that
possible
? Did you hear what we were just talking about?” she asked, looking as if I had pulled the proverbial rug out from under her.

“I didn’t mean to listen, but it sounded like you were having the conversation in the same room as me. You asked her who she was on the phone with and talking about. She answered you with what I had told you. Then you asked her why she didn’t bring her daughter in to you, you would have loved to have seen her. You also asked her what was wrong with her daughter, and she told you it was just a sinus infection and her husband took her because it was closer to her house. Sound about right?”

“Oh my god! Kelly, this is amazing. How did this happen?” Dr. Warshak’s lips trembled even as her eyes sparkled.

“There’s more, Doc,” I hedged, knowing this next part would be even worse.

“I figured. I know you well enough to know you always work your way into the water slowly instead of just jumping in.”

“I love you for knowing me that well. I hope you will still love me after I show you this next part.” I slowly opened my mouth and let my fangs extend. I had figured out how to control them a little bit on the way over.

“Oh my lord in heaven, Kelly. I’m scared!” Her hand fluttered to her throat as if subconsciously trying to protect it from me. She dropped it suddenly and her eyes flashed different emotions as she studied me.

“I know. I am too. I thought you would scream and run out of here. There’s more, Doc.” I gave her a few more moments to breathe.

“Kelly, I have to sit down. This is a lot to take in. How can there be more?”

“I don’t know. I’m figuring this out one step at a time, and I’m sure I’ve not learned everything yet. Do you have your car keys on you?”

Her curious gaze told me I had just distracted her from the fangs. “Of course, why?”

“Where did you park? Did you leave something in it I could retrieve?” I had thought of that being the way to prove it to her once I decided to come in.

“Umm, normally I would say that was an odd request, but given this whole conversation, okay. I’m parked in the back garage for employees and there’s my morning travel coffee mug in the front cup holder. I’m on the—”

“Don’t tell me which level,” I cut her off, wanting to make it challenging enough for me. “Do you have an alarm on it?”

“Of course. Your father would have a fit if I didn’t, not to mention my husband.” She pulled her keys out of her pocket, visibly shaking, and handed them to me.

“I’ll be right back, and I’ll take the stairs. It’s after seven pm so no one should really see me,” I driveled, giving one look back, trying to tell her with my eyes that it was okay.

I took off after checking my watch first, running down the three flights of stairs to the back garage. Once I got to the garage I held down the unlock button of her key fob and ran through the ramp levels. It finally beeped on the fourth level. I saw the lights, opened the door, grabbed the blue travel mug, then closed the door, relocked it, and raced back the way I’d come.

I was back in the exam room so fast I can’t even imagine how quick it was. I slowed down when I entered the room and walked across to Dr. Warshak and handed her the mug. “How long did it take me?” I asked, knowing a doctor would have timed me.

“O-One minute fif-fifteen seconds,” she stuttered it out as if she was telling me I was going to die. “Do you have a heartbeat or pulse?” I shook my head no and her eyes told me she knew that was coming and nodded that she was starting to understand.

“There are a few more things. I’ve not been out in the sun, but when my mom opened my window blinds earlier today, it hurt my eyes considerably. I also have a thirst that I can’t get rid of. I feel like I’m going insane with thirst! I’ve tried everything, water, pop, juice… And nothing worked. Earlier I bit my tongue, because when I gave my mom a hug, she smelled so sweet and that’s when the fangs showed up and pierced my tongue. Umm, I of course bled, but I liked it. It was sweet, very tantalizing to me.”

That last part I practically spat out because the idea was so disgusting to me.

“Well, Kelly, you’re a vampire. What did you think you would be drinking?” That stopped my rambling. My mouth hanging open I almost hit the floor. “Look, I never believed in vampires, even though I’ve heard a lot of old myths from my gram back in Poland when I was a kid. You have all the symptoms though, and it’s the only logical conclusion. I know you’re scared but we can work through all of this and figure out what we have to do. I’ll be right back.”

“Beata, you can’t tell anyone. I mean no one.” I never called her by her first name, but considering we stepped over the patient/doctor relationship I had to talk to her like a friend to make sure she understood the gravity of the situation. She thought for a moment and nodded before leaving the room.

She knocked on the door about five minutes later then walked back in like this was a normal office visit. It made my heart sink to realize that nothing was going to be normal ever again. Then I saw the travel cooler in her hand. “What’s that?”

“I know you would never consciously hurt me. But when you were talking about the smell your mom had and your thirst, it scared me. If you could only have seen the look in your eyes when you were talking about it—I’ve never seen you stare like that before. So I went down to the blood bank, figuring you would calm down once you drank.

“Also, that your drinking would get rid of the fear inside me and think more clearly to help you.” She scanned me up and down like she was remembering the thirteen-year-old she used to know who had turned into the woman, or whatever I was now, standing in front of her. “Are you ready for this?”

“Guess I have to be. I can smell that there are different types in there, and can tell them from yours.” I shook my head. What a random thing to ramble about
now.
“Thank you for doing this for me. I’m so sorry I dragged you into this. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell my parents! They were also so worried about me getting checked out I knew that I had to come in.”

I gazed at my swinging feet the whole time as I still sat on the exam table.

“Oh, Kelly, I’m glad you came to me and I could help you.” I glanced up, and she was smiling as she opened the cooler. My fangs immediately extended.

“Sorry, Doc, I haven’t learned to control them yet,” I rationalized as I accepted the packet of blood. The idea of it grossed me out but it seemed my thirst took over, and the instant she handed me the pack, I ripped it open with my teeth and chugged it down. I sat there a moment and took in how drinking that blood affected me. “I feel better. My mind seems clearer and I’m still thirsty but not like I want to claw my face off.”

“Do you want more?” She could tell my discomfort and her motherly instincts kicked in. “Kelly, it’s okay, you don’t have to be embarrassed around me. I love you like a niece and want to help you.” She handed me another packet which I opened and drank like someone who’d spent a week in the desert.

“Oh man, I hate that I love it this much,” I groaned, licking the last of the blood off my lips. “The idea disgusts me but it’s just
so good
. Thank you again.” With that, I started to feel tears burning in my eyes. Again I was leaking blood from my ducts and I tried to hide them from Dr. Warshak. She walked over with a tissue, wiped them away, and gave me a hug.

“I could mark in your file that you have a condition that makes you need weekly transfusions to keep up your blood supply. However, you couldn’t be a doctor with that diagnosis and there would have to be more tests done. Not to mention me having to send you to a specialist. I think all that pretty much rules out that option.” She stopped like deep in thought. “Let me think about that for a while. Maybe we can come up with another option. Promise me you will talk to me if anything else comes up or any further discoveries?”

“Of course, I promise. Thank you for everything, and please promise not to tell my family?” She nodded in agreement and with that she handed me the cooler with the additional blood. She gave me another hug, this time much longer. I could tell she was crying this time. I held her a long time before I let go and headed out the door.

I walked for a bit, but then realized it would take me a long time to get all the way home, even at my speed. I needed to think and walking helped, but I also couldn’t wander around all night. It was a pretty cool night for May but very clear. I could see every star you possibly could. There was a plane coming in to land over at O’Hare airport. I loved growing up by that airport.

It was one of the first things that made me homesick when I was an undergrad, no planes. Remembering phone conversations with friends I grew up with, having to pause for a plane as it crossed where I was and then where they were. It made me smile. I knew it was a silly memory to think of right now with everything going on. But it helped me realize I was still the same person, vampire or not. I was still in the city I loved, my family was healthy, and I was going to be fine.

Even if I knew I could take care of myself, especially now with my, um, condition, a twenty-six-year-old walking down the street in Chicago at night with a cooler looked conspicuous. I tried jogging home but I realized I was still going faster than a normal person would. Slowing down the pace even more, I heard something.

“Please help, someone!” yelled a woman. I could hear her heart racing much faster than normal.

“Shut up, you bitch. No one will hear you. No one cares about you, dirty whore!”

I ran at top speed to where they were a few blocks away. Putting the cooler out of sight, I raced up to the guy and put him in a head lock which made him release the girl.

“What the fuck? Ouch, let go of me, bitch!”

“Are you okay?” I asked the woman, who nodded rapidly, her eyes as wide as could be. “Run. Run home and don’t tell anyone what happened here.” She looked me over once more and without a word, she ran. When she was out of hearing range, I turned back to her attacker. “Why did you attack her?”

“That dirty whore took my wallet!” And the wave hit me.

Interesting. I still have that talent even now that I’m—yeah, special.

I’ve always been able to tell when people are lying to me. It’s hard to explain how it happens. After they speak, if they were telling the truth, it was like a normal conversation. But if they were lying to me, this wave came over me like a cold breeze. Now that I was a vampire, it was more like a gust of frigid wind coming off the lake.

“You’re lying. Tell me the truth,” I snarled in his ear. I was glad he couldn’t see me since the adrenaline had my fangs out.

“I caught her whoring around here. This is my area, the girls pay me for protection and to work here. She refused. I told her either to get out of my area or she had to pay, and if I caught her doing it again, she was dead.”

That time he told the truth. Before I could even process what he said or decide what to do with him, he pulled a knife and tried to stab me in the face.

I ducked quickly with my newfound speed and he stabbed himself in the neck. I dropped him to the ground as soon as the knife hit otherwise I would affect the splatter patterns if I was in the way. I was careful not to leave any marks on him or touch him directly and leave any fingerprints.

Watching him bleed to death made my fangs practically vibrate and I had to think quickly. I wanted the blood but couldn’t leave any trace.

Then I saw it. There was a spilled slushy drink cup right where he had grabbed the girl. She must have been walking with it and dropped it when he attacked her. I picked up the cup and dumped the contents. Standing over him on the other side from the stab wound I filled the cup with his blood. I drank it in an instant and went for more like filling it from a water fountain.

The most fucked up fountain ever, but it’s
so
good!

The blood reminded me of a warm, thick tea that was so refreshing it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I wanted more but decided two forty-eight ounce cups was enough without drawing too much suspicion. It needed to look like a suicide. If there was too much blood missing, someone would notice.

I ran the rest of the way home. After locking the door behind me and putting the blood Dr. Warshak gave me in the fridge, I sat down at the table. Looking at the clock I saw it was way past midnight and decided to go to bed. I made sure all the blinds were shut, closed the door to my room, and crawled into my bed. The day’s weariness finally sank in and I instantly fell asleep.

* * * *

I woke up several hours later feeling better than I ever had before. Now that I knew most of what I could do, it was time to work on step two of my plan.

Find out what I couldn’t do.

After getting dressed, I drank my morning blood. I only had one of the pints—though I wanted much more—since I knew I had to ration.

I made a list of all the myths of what affects vampires that I knew I could test without risking my life. Starting small, I pulled out the fresh garlic I had wrapped in aluminum foil in the fridge. I unfolded the side of it, quickly touched it with my finger. Nothing, so this time I did the same thing with my whole hand, and still nothing. So I took a very small bite out of it, still nothing. I checked garlic off my list.

In my bedroom I decided to try the same thing with silver. I touched my silver necklace quickly and it burned. I pulled my finger back and watched the burn mark instantly heal. Shit! I couldn’t help but think that was pretty cool—the healing, not the fact that I couldn’t touch silver. I wasn’t much of a fan of gold jewelry so there went ever wearing anything I owned again. It made me frown because most of the items were presents and had sentimental value.

Not the time for this
. I still sighed. Just because I told myself not to feel something didn’t mean it
actually
worked always… Or ever.

I needed answers and fast if I was going to survive whatever was happening to me.