Page 2 of The Monster and the Last Blood Match

Reyna watched in awe as the door swiped open. The Warehouse District didn’t have technology this advanced. Hell, machines everyone had taken for granted before the collapse—phones, laptops, cars—weren’t even available to most people.

The interior of the room looked like any hospital room, though she didn’t remember the last time she had been able to afford a real hospital visit. The administrator fiddled with a few tools on a wheeled cart. She glanced up at Reyna, realizing that she hadn’t moved from her position in the doorway.

“Take a seat.” She gestured to the bed.

Reyna took a deep breath, reminding herself of all the reasons she had decided to do this, then walked inside. The paper crinkled underneath her as she sat, and she cringed at the harsh lights. Everything smelled like plastic and disinfectant. Reyna had thought the waiting room was the most unwelcoming room she had ever been in. She’d been wrong.

When she was approved earlier that week, Visage had given her a packet explaining what was to come. The gist of it was—needles.

Lots and lots of needles.

Reyna barely suppressed a gag. She hated needles. Always had. She didn’t even know where the fear stemmed from. If she’d had a traumatic experience as a child, no one who was still in her life knew about it. Considering what she was about to do, it was ridiculous to fear needles. They were going to be the least of her worries where vampires were concerned. She braced for the worst.

The woman strapped a band around Reyna’s arm, clipped her finger in a large plastic clothespin-type device, and ran a giant thermometer over her forehead. She stuck a stethoscope under the band and squeezed a bag that inflated the band and constricted Reyna’s arm. Reyna tried to relax, but she wasn’t successful.

“Good,” the administrator said. “Vitals all look good.”

Reyna breathed a sigh of relief.

The woman spoke to herself as she entered information into the computer system. “Temperature—97.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Acceptable. Pulse—72 beats per minute. Acceptable. Blood Pressure—102 over 65. Acceptable/Low.”

She turned away from her computer to face Reyna. “Family history?”

Reyna stilled her shaking hands. “My parents are, um…dead.”

The words sounded hollow. It had been thirteen years since they died in the car accident. Since she and her brothers moved in with their uncle in the city. Since their uncle drank and gambled away their inheritance. Since the world went to utter shit.

“Any diseases or chronic illnesses?” the woman asked. Her voice was flat. No compassion in the Visage hospital ward.

“Breast cancer on my mother’s side. That’s all I know,” she whispered.

“Are you often ill?”

“No.”

“When was the last time you were admitted to the hospital?”

Reyna racked her brain. She couldn’t even remember. “Probably when I was a baby.”

The woman gave her a searching look. “Any other treatments or surgeries?”

“No.”

As if anyone could afford a hospital stay. This woman had to know it. She wasn’t going to act ashamed of her life.

The admin tapped out a few more notes and then withdrew a needle and a few small vials from a drawer. Reyna’s stomach dropped out, and the color drained from her body.Here we go.

Reyna held her breath as the woman placed a tourniquet around her right arm, swabbed the crook of her elbow, and then without warning pricked the vein in her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to calm her rapidly accelerating heartbeat. She suddenly felt nauseated, weak, and clammy. Fear pricked at the back of her neck.

She glanced down at her arm and tried not to vomit. Bright red blood flowed out of the vein and into the little tube. Pain throbbed in her elbow, but she couldn’t look past the blood. It made her stomach turn, and she had to physically look away until the administrator was finished.

After she removed the needle, the woman placed a bandage over the hole and then gave her a cup to pee in.

“Leave the cup in the compartment in the restroom.” The woman pointed to a nearly invisible doorway to her right. “Come back here once you’re through. The doctor will be with you soon.”

“Thank you,” Reyna said hollowly.

At least the worst was over.

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