Once Bitten, No Longer Shy by Julie Steimle (chrome ebook reader txt) 📕

connected to his relationship with his half-vampire sister. He knew Randon had also been looking for a cure for being a witch’s familiar, though Troy had a feeling that Randon had given up once he married Silvia. She was his witch now, and he was happy to be her familiar.  

They came to a room where the sign simply said a doctor was in. Jane knocked.

“Enter.”

They went in, Hanz and Rick first after Jane, then Art and Troy.

Dr. William McAllister looked nothing at all like his sister Eve. He was as blonde as Hanz, with blue eyes and fair peaches-and-cream skin, and he stood tall like a basketball player. He appeared professional in his scrubs and white lab coat, his eyes intelligent, nonjudgmental, and entirely reasonable. When he took in Rick then Hanz, he nodded to himself and said, “Of course you’d come. What can I say Hanz? I haven’t seen her.”

“I have,” Hanz said. “Last night.”

Will raised his eyebrows, cheeks flushing. “Serious?”

Nodding, Hanz wearily then turned, beckoning Troy forward. “Yeah. And she asked me to do her favor…. Will, this is Troy.”

“Wait a second.” Will held up his hand for Troy to not come yet. “How did you see her last night? What happened?”

Hanz pressed a hand to his forehead, struggling to hold back tears. He lifted up his fingers and showed him a pinch-size as he said, “I was this close to getting her back.”

“Oh gosh….” William then looked back to Jane who smothered rising sobs.

Troy glanced to the nurse, wondering how she knew Eve. Or maybe these were just sympathetic tears. People were weird these days.

Hanz sniffed, wiped his eyes and shook his head. “But anyway… um, Rick is helping me out. I’m going to still find her. It’s just, uh, she asked me to introduce Troy to you. So, Will, this is Troy, uh…”

“Mecham,” Rick said, stepping forward. “He’s my friend. Vampires have been after him for most of his life and they caught up to him yesterday.”

Dr. William McAllister turned and stared at Troy. He then reached out to Troy’s hoodie, pausing as he said, “Can I remove this?”

Troy nodded, pulling his hoodie down for him. He also took off the sunglasses.

Nurse Jane drew in a gasp.

“This isn’t from biting, I take it,” Will said, turning Troy’s head to check out his old neck wound which was now fully healed. “Let me guess, you were once bitten but they caught up with you not to kill you, but you force you into vampirism?”

Troy nodded, surprised. “Does this happen often? Have you seen more cases like me?”

Will shook his head. “Not many. But I know one similar.”

Eyes widening, Troy took in a breath. “What?”

“What I generally know about vampires is from what Eve’s told me,” Will said. “She’s the expert. She’s had a lot more interactions with them—the only person who really could and survive, to be honest. But she and I made a practical survival guide book about and for vampires as a partial joke.” He pointed to Rick. “We were inspired by your blog, Anonymous Wolf, figuring if we could just get the word out we could help people…. And it also helped pay for college.”

Glancing to Rick, Troy smirked about Rick’s blog as all their Gulinger friends knew about it. Rick had started it while in high school as a project to help people identify and deal with werewolves, hoping to break down any misconceptions. Troy had read a tiny bit of it.

“So, you have only seen one other case like me?” Troy asked, just to make sure.

Nodding, Will examined Troy more. “Yes, though I believe there are more out there. How long have you been connected to vampires? We could help each other in our research. People send bite victims to me as a joke, but I would really like to find a cure to help them. Offering bandages and clotting agents is all I’ve got, and they don’t always work.”

Rolling his eyes, Troy muttered with bitter memory, “My father and mother became vampires when I was twelve. They are the ones who bit me. I’ve been looking for the cure since forever.”

Will nodded.

Rick backed out to the door.

“Hey, where’re you going?” Troy said, seeing him.

Art nodded and Hanz sighed.

“I gotta go,” Rick said, backing up more. “I’ll send a car to take you three to the new apartment. Go during daylight.”

Nurse Jane waved, looking bemused as she watched Rick escape the room.

Will waved also while murmuring as Rick slipped off. “He hates hospitals.”

“So does Eve,” Hanz added.

“Ok,” Will gestured for Troy to sit on the examination table. “Since you are here, we should give you a full examination.” He then looked to Hanz and Art, “Is there anything I can do for you guys on top of this?”

Art hissed, “Who’s going to pay for all this?”

Chuckling, Will nodded to where Rick had gone. “Knowing Rick, he’ll take care of everything. He’s the one who got me placed in this job.”

Of course. Troy repressed an eye-roll. This was how Rick bought loyalty.

“Both you and Jane?” Hanz inquired, his eyes turning to the nurse who smiled back.

“Yep,” Will said. “Most places are not so reasonable about a husband wife team, as they kind of want to control your life and they seem to like you single.”

Hanz cringed, nodding at that.

Troy looked to Jane as he sat up onto the examination table, realizing now how she knew Eve. She was the sister-in-law.

Jane led Hanz and Art to a place to wait while Will examined Troy.

William did not say much, though he went through all the usual procedures, checking all of Troy’s organs.

“That guy you know,” Troy said, trying to get some conversation as he hated silence, “the one like me? Is he still alive?”

Will shushed him for a second then jotted down some notes. Then he said, “Yeah, he’s still alive. He works at a night school as a math professor. He’s terrified of the sun, but he lives a nearly vegan life and hardly touches animal products at all. It took forever to convince him to drink milk for his health and cravings. Which, by the way, is a good idea for you. Warm milk is a healthy substitute for blood and curbs vampiric cravings—”

“Hanz told Rick about it, and they got me some already. I’m good,” Troy said.

Nodding approvingly, Will then ordered Troy to lie down so he could set up an EKG. Troy was not sure what he was looking for, as he was no longer alive yet not quite dead. What could the doctor find? He would have no pulse. Troy was not even what other functions would work without blood circulating. Yet if he could eat food, that meant his digestion was working. But how in the world would all those nutrients get to the rest of his body without blood moving?

“Now let’s test your blood,” Will said.

Troy stared, “is it possible to draw blood?”

Will nodded but then he shook his head. “Yes and no. I cannot take much blood from you as your blood does not renew itself like it would in a normal human being, but I can do a prick test.”

“So if I lost blood…” Troy stared into space.

“You would have to do a transfusion,” Will replied. “And your vampire blood would attack it, causing you to be in pain for a while as it converted the new blood into vampire blood.”

Troy did not know that.

Will blushed as he said, “We learned this the hard way.” He then continued to think out loud, “Vampires, when they drink blood, digest it so that it can be taken in without that side effect.”

“So then drinking human blood—”

“I would not recommend it,” Will said knowingly. “Even if you can buy donated blood—or as some vampires do, create fake blood drives to get their food—it is a fact that the consumption of blood finishes the transformation. You are in a half-state right now. As long as you never drink another human’s blood, you can live as another human being. You look like you went out in daylight. You are like Eve when she gets sunburned. But that means you can still live in the daytime. You just need high SPF sunblock.”

Troy sighed. That was what Eve had said.

The doctor finished the examination and urged Troy to get ready for his friends’ return again. It almost made Troy laugh as he hardly knew Hanz or Art but was stuck with them. He honestly wished that Randon was there. Will was decent enough, but he wanted just a little more sympathy than either Will or Hanz was giving him. Both Nordic men made him feel small—not on purpose, but like two godly figures walking among mortals. They were too perfect. Their manners and patience were wearily angelic.

“Ok,” Will said once the other two came back. “I recommend the following for our patient, here. Tinted windows or sheer curtains in your apartment. We can order the special sunblock we’ve used for Eve. It stays on nearly all day and rarely needs reapplication. I can order it in bulk as you will use a lot. I recommend you wear long sleeves from now on. Don’t wear white. As a vampire, the sun’s light will reflect off of it and actually cause reflective sunburn. Don’t do black either as it absorbs the sun’s heat. Go gray or colorful.”

These were a lot of restrictions, but Troy knew there were more.

“An epi-pen will do you no good if you come in contact with garlic,” Will said. “But you can wash it off with a strong soap if the occasion ever happens. If you ingest it, I suggest drinking a lot of milk to flush it out, or to vomit it up. In fact, if I were you I’d keep a small carton of UHT milk in your backpack or suitcase for emergencies.”

Troy nodded. That was useful.

“If for some reason, you accidentally ingest human blood, again, drink lots of milk and vomit it up to flush it out.” Will gave him a significant stare. “You don’t seem like the kind of guy who wants to live in darkness his entire life.”

Nodding more, Troy relaxed. This man got it. He understood.

“…But have a backup plan in case you have to,” Will added with a weary head shake. He then said with a cautious peek to Hanz, “If Eve really wanted us to meet, then I don’t think it was just for me to help you. You seem to know a lot about vampires already. I don’t think I have told you a lot that is new to you. I think we were meant to meet.”

Troy stiffened. Was that true?

Hanz and Art exchanged what seemed to be knowing looks.

Will then said something Troy did not expect. “I don’t think you were sent to help me with my research. But… you can help someone who does need a kick in the pants.”

“What?” Troy stared.

Shaking his finger, Will nodded. “Yeah. The vegan vampire. He needs to know you.”

Trying to recall who that was, Troy glanced to Hanz to see if he knew.

Nurse Jane said, “Sure. I’ll get his phone number and address.”

Will nodded to her. He then said, “But be forewarned, he’s rightfully distrustful of vampires—as they pranked him and that’s how he ended up as a part vampire. Truth is, I’ve…” he peeked out the door then lowered his voice to a whisper, “I’ve met a few reluctant and repentant vampires also who are trying to regain their humanity. They had been tricked, or said they were. Part of me thinks they come to schmooze me to get free blood. But there are sincere ones out there that genuinely need help. But I can’t convince him of that.”

Jane returned with the address and phone number, handing it to Troy. Troy realized then that she was as ordinary a human being as both Hanz and Art. He was he only ghoulie in the room.

“Try and visit him,” Will said. “You’d do us