Page 22 of The Doctor and the Devil
Château du Diable
My words werelike cannon fire in the softness of Rafael’s underground jungle. Suddenly, the warm, damp closeness of this tropical atmosphere felt all too suffocating, and I was desperate for fresh, cool air. Rafael had gone still and silent, and part of me wondered if he’d heard my words at all. I turned from him, hurrying toward the massive oak doors that would lead me away from here.Away from him.
I climbed the stairs and strode down the main hallway, my mind a tangle of conflicting emotions. I wanted to be outside in the cold sunshine, or back in my clinic, or sitting in Charlotte’s parlor atChâteau de Ruisseau Magdelaine, laughing at scandalous stories of her love life before meeting Antoine. I wanted to be anywhere but here, where I felt the walls pressing in on me and the weight of expectation like a millstone around my neck. Aimlessly, I drifted down the hallway until I found myself standing in the doorway of Rafael’s laboratory.
I stepped inside, my curiosity overpowering my need for mindless escape. Floor to ceiling bookshelves lined one wall, while the other held countless glass specimen jars filled with all manner of flora and fauna. A great table stood in the middle of the room, covered with scientific equipment—some of which I’d never seen before. My gaze snagged on a beautiful brass compound microscope at the center of the table. Next to it lay an open book—Rafael’s observations.
Without thinking, I bent over the book and read some of his tightly scrawled notes. It seemed he’d been experimenting with the effects of garlic and wolfsbane on two types of vampire blood, his own and a turned vampire. I shifted my attention to the microscope.
Dieu,but I wanted one. They were incredible instruments that many of the brightest minds were using and improving upon, but they were too expensive for me to purchase. I leaned forward to peer into the eyepiece.
I gasped. Based on the appearance of the specimen, I wagered it was a blood sample, but I’d never seen blood like this before. The power of magnification made the cells enormous to my eyes.
“It is a new model,” came a deep voice at the door. I froze, embarrassed about being caught but too entranced by what I was seeing. “The magnification is one hundred times what the human eye can perceive.”
“It is truly remarkable,” I murmured, afraid to meet his gaze.
“What do you think of my observations?” he asked, leafing through the pages in his notebook.
Is that…nervousness in his voice?
Finally, I looked up. I did not possess the ability to lie easily.
“The experiments with garlic and wolfsbane have been done,” I said. “They are nothing more than folk cures. They do not affect the disease.”
“Yes,” he nodded, looking oddly chagrined. “Yes, I’d read that.”
“Why did you try to replicate the experiment?”
Rafael shifted, avoiding my eyes. “I thought, perhaps, if I tried with different types of blood, it might yield different results.”
I nodded, impressed. “That is a sound hypothesis. What did you discover?”
“The results were the same,” he answered in a deflated tone.
“Ah, but you learned something in the process, didn’t you?” I encouraged. “And your manner of testing is smart. Why should we expect that the results of different treatments should be the same on your blood over the blood of a turned vampire? Much differentiates your abilities from theirs. It would make sense that you would react to stimuli in different ways.”
Pride flashed in Rafael’s face but evaporated quickly. In its place settled his mask of cool indifference.
I chewed at my bottom lip, embarrassed by my earlier outburst and rejection of his hopes. I didn’t want to be at odds with him, and I didn’t wish for us to go back to the way we’d been—separated by so many things. I wanted him near. I wanted to believe what he’d told me. But I needed time to reconcile twenty years of disbeliefs. How could I make him understand? How could I ask him for patience when he’d waited so long already? What could I say to ease my own anxiety?
“You have a very fine laboratory,” I offered stupidly.
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Ah, so we’re back to Doctor.I cringed.
“Rafael, I am sorry for my outburst. My anger tells me that the wounds I claimed to have healed long ago were not so smartly healed. I reacted…badly,” I apologized.
He tilted his head to study me, but the mask did not waver.
“You must be wanting to return home,” he said distantly. “I’m certain your friends will be worried.”
His manner sickened my heart—it seemed he was not the only one with the capacity to cause pain.
“No, but…well, yes, I’m sure they are. Do you think they are safe?” I wondered.
He lifted one shoulder in nonchalance. “If you trust them, then I do.”
