Page 53 of Aberrant Monsters
“I mean, if I had been planning on doing any of that, I’d definitely reconsider. But I’m not. I need the blood for myself. It’s…private. Nothing nefarious. I’m safe. I promise.”
He pressed his lips together. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way, Miss Vera. This may not be a city hospital, but we still have protocols. I’ll need to know why you need the blood.”
Oh, fuck. “Fine. I’m a rift walker infected with an aberration who sometimes needs to feed on my blood.” I tipped my head to the side. “Long story. We have a deal, so I can’t get out of it, but I can make the process less…intimate.”
His expression cleared. “Ah, I see.”
“You do?”
“You made a contract with the aberration. I assume you received something in return?”
“He saved my life.” I felt Telarion stir, listening. “I’m grateful to him.”
Yes, it was an olive branch after my outburst last night, but it was also true. Iwasgrateful and I was sorry for the way I’d acted.
Dr. Roman nodded curtly. “Come with me.”
* * *
The examination room was clean,clinical, and a little too warm for my liking. The walls were etched with silvery arcane symbols I didn’t recognize.
“Take a seat.” Dr. Roman indicated the examination bed. “Roll up your sleeve, please.”
I obliged and waited, trying not to swing my legs like a child. It had been forever since I’d been in a doctor’s office. I watched him gather supplies. The guy was huge with hands like baseball mitts but there was nothing clumsy about him. As he grabbed a pair of surgical gloves from a box on the counter, my attention went to his blunt black nails, then back to his red-tinged skin, and the tickle at the back of my mind morphed into full-blown revelation.
“Infernal.” The word popped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.
He glanced over his shoulder. “Will that be a problem?”
I shook my head, pulse pounding because I was in a room with an infernal, a real live demon. I’d read about them, knew they were a thing, but to see one here, now, outside of a summoning circle. They were said to be evil, wily, and dangerous.
“I don’t get it. How are you here? I mean—”
“Who’s my master?” His jaw tensed. “Not all infernals need to be summoned and not all can be controlled.” He joined me and began prepping my vein to take blood. He was careful and gentle, working fast to get the needle in. “A pint is all we can take today. Do you know how to store it?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Between two and six degrees and up to forty-two days.”
I watched blood rush out of my arm and into the blood bag.
“I can store it here for you.” He kept his gaze on my arm. “Would that work?”
Telarion?
Silence greeted me.
“Miss Vera?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“Does your aberration have a name?”
“Telarion.”
He finished drawing blood and taped up the needle site. “Okay. Telarion can find me whenever he needs some blood. I’m on duty every evening.”
“This place isn’t a government hospital, is it?”
