Ofelia (The Book of Davoth 1)

by Martyn Stanley

  Then it was over. She was back in her room at Harper house. She tried, but struggled to fall asleep again. Despite her tiredness, she gave up and began packing her bag for hospital, including a couple of books. As her appointment was around the same time as school started, Molly had offered to take her. The letter had warned against eating for six hours before the procedure, so she skipped breakfast. When Molly drove her to the hospital, she didn’t take her to the emergency department where she’d stayed before, but to Haematology on the top floor. Molly carried the letter and Ofelia carried her hastily packed bag while they trekked through endless corridors past ailing patients – most of them elderly, and medical professionals ambling around in their scrubs.

  When they got to the Haematology department Julia Sterling was waiting for them. She hadn’t seen Ofelia in over a week, but greeted her warmly. ‘Ofelia, how’s your first week at school been?’

  ‘Good. At least they decide I’m British now, so I’m staying. This thing you want to do to me though, what exactly-’

  ‘Well, I took your blood samples to a consultant haematologist here at the hospital. He said he’d never seen anything like it, but suggested if it looked like a contaminant or pathogen in the blood and that treating it as we’d treat some sickle cell complications might work. Basically, we’re going to put a tube into a vein in your groin. I’ve already used your samples taken last week to order healthy blood, so we’ll hook you up to a machine and it will carefully, slowly, remove all your blood and replace it with healthy blood. Does that sound okay? Having the tube put in will involve a little discomfort, but once we start the process, you literally just have to lie around for a couple of hours while we monitor you.’

  Molly looked at her watch at this point. ‘Ofelia, are you going to be okay if I leave you for a bit? I brought some paperwork in the car. Thought I’d try and work in the cafe for a bit. I’ll pop up and see how you’re getting on shortly.’

  Ofelia nodded. ‘Sure. Thanks Molly.’

  Julia watched Molly leave then gestured towards the cheap plastic chairs opposite the department’s reception desk. ‘Just take a seat and I’ll get one of the nurses to come and sort you out.’

  Ofelia sat and waited. Nerves were starting to creep in, but she brushed them aside. This was her chance to be free of her curse. She kept telling herself to be brave and get through it. The thought of feeling warm, and alive in a way she hadn’t felt for over five hundred years, was tantalising.

  She didn’t have to wait long. A young nurse in a navy blue dress eventually appeared behind the desk and walked over to her. She did the usual confirming name and date of birth routine, but Ofelia knew her true date of birth was the 21st December 1440. When she’d filled in the forms at Harper House, she’d kept her birthday, but adjusted the year to make her eleven. It seemed this was now being taken as her official date of birth.

  Once the forms were done, the nurse led her into a closet and ordered her to change into a gown. This was expected, and Ofelia complied - eager to start the procedure as soon as possible. Then she was led to an otherwise empty ward and ordered into bed.

  What followed was another long wait. This seemed to be a recurring pattern of the day. A key part of patients navigating the pathways of receiving healthcare seemed to involve waiting. Luckily she’d brought two books and took the opportunity to read ‘The Hobbit’. Sadly, just as Bilbo encountered the trolls for the first time, the nurse with a porter turned up. She was wheeled through the hospital to another department for the femoral catheter insertion. Sedation was offered, but Ofelia turned it down, though part way through the process she began to regret that decision. While she lay flat on her back, a masked and capped surgeon draped her, swabbed the side of her groin and began by injecting local anaesthetic. She couldn’t see exactly what was happening, but once the numbness had set in the surgeon began taking things from a carefully opened surgical tray and pushing and shoving at the inside of her upper right thigh. It seemed to take forever, but in reality was probably less than twenty minutes. The surgeon talked himself through the procedure, but Ofelia didn’t catch much more than, ‘scalpel’, ‘guide wire’ and ‘dilator’. Once the ordeal was over, she had a tube direct into her femoral vein with three ports hanging loose. The whole assembly was fixed firmly onto the right side of her groin with a large sticky pad. It was uncomfortable and irritating, but if this procedure worked, it’d be worth it. Having had the catheter inserted it was time for another wait, then another ride on the trolley back up to haematology.

  Once back on the ward, a nurse came and hooked her catheter up to a beeping and whirring machine with a touch-screen control. It looked futuristic and technical, but from what the nurse told her, it basically removed her blood while simultaneously filling her up with pre-warmed healthy blood. When it was working and the nurse left her, she picked up her book and began to read. In addition to the blood exchange machine, she was hooked up to blood oxygen and blood pressure monitors. Her pulse was charted on a graph on one of the machines surrounding her bed.

  What followed was two hours of lying still and being bored. Occasionally, a nurse would drop by to check her, but for the most part she was left alone.

  Would it work? She wasn’t sure. As she approached the one hour mark, she began to feel different. Warmer? A tingling sensation seemed to build all over her body. It was worrying, it didn’t feel ‘right’ somehow. Was it simply a consequence of her centuries old curse finally being reversed? As she passed one hour thirty, her skin began itching. A network of thin black lines, faint at first, started appearing on her hands and arms. She stared at them for some time. It didn’t seem normal. Doctor Sterling called in at around the one hour forty mark. The black lines had faded, as had the itching, but she felt weak and numb all over. She’d given up on reading and could barely lift her head off the pillow when Julia walked up to her bed. ‘How are you feeling?’

  ‘Weak.’ Ofelia gasped.

  Julia stepped over to the exchange machine and spent a while looking at the readouts. ‘Everything appears to be working normally. Another half an hour and we should be done. I need to take some fresh blood samples. I was hoping I could send you home later, but you don’t look well.’

  ‘I don’t feel well.’ Ofelia groaned, barely louder than a whisper.

  Doctor Sterling took a hand held thermometer out of her scrubs pocket and poked it in her ear. It beeped and she held it up to read the temperature. ’36.5 degrees C. How do you feel? That’s more normal.’

  ‘I feel hot, too hot.’ Ofelia moaned.

  Her face was covered in tiny beads of perspiration, now. The doctor looked at the thermometer, then the patient, then the blood exchange machine. ‘Something isn’t right. I’m going to stop this.’

  She scuttled over to the exchange machine and tapped the screen a few times halting the process. Then she turned back to Ofelia. ‘I’ll leave you hooked up for now. I’ll ask one of the nurses to pop in and take some blood samples.

  Strangely, Ofelia felt her deterioration slow once the process was halted. The numbness and the itching slowly subsided too, and it was replaced with an insatiable thirst. Not for water, but for blood. It didn’t happen at once, it built slowly. When a young nurse, appeared with a syringe Ofelia found herself staring longingly at her neck. She resisted, allowing the nurse to connect the syringe to the ports in her groin and draw a sample. When she held up the full syringe though, Ofelia almost broke. For a moment, she was about to snatch it from the nurse and drink it there and then. She managed to control herself though. The hospital was quiet. Ofelia found herself feeling better and better but also thirstier and thirstier. When Doctor Sterling appeared again, Ofelia was experiencing a full-blown episode of the craving. The Doctor noticed it too as she approached. Instead of the innocent, vulnerable Ofelia she was used to, her patient had an almost predatory gaze. Ofelia felt her fangs elongating and morphing as the Doctor walked over, pushing out the recently installed fillings completely. She swal
lowed the gritty little tips and licked her lips. She could taste the venom on the tips of her fangs again. The ward was empty, nobody would know...

  Doctor Sterling was completely unprepared. Ofelia was a blur. When Julia walked alongside the bed, the covers were thrown back and Ofelia was standing on the bed, still hooked up to the machine, trailing tubes. She grabbed the Doctor in a vice-like grip and pulled her down so she could sink her teeth into her neck. As soon as Ofelia’s fangs penetrated the Doctor’s skin, the sedation and confusion set in, making her drop her clipboard. Julia went limp in Ofelia’s iron grip and hung loose, looking dopey and confused as Ofelia sucked and lapped up her warm, fresh blood. It tasted so good. A feeling of euphoria came over Ofelia as she drank and drank, but then her senses returned to her. She realised what she was doing and panicked. Pulling herself off, she quickly spat on her hand and rubbed the saliva in the ebbing gashes in Julia’s jugular, muttering under her breath in Romanian, [I’m sorry, I’m sorry!]. The holes sealed immediately. Still holding up the limp and sedated Doctor, she scrubbed the area with the hem of her patient’s gown, desperate to hide all evidence. She finished, but Julia showed no sign of recovery. Even though she’d only fed for a moment, the sedatory effects were strong. Ofelia laid her across the foot of the bed, then sheepishly tried pretending to be asleep. Eventually Doctor Sterling started to tense up again, showing that her senses were returning, so Ofelia moved and sat down at the pillow end. Luckily, nobody walked in while the Doctor lay collapsed on the bed, recovering.

  Fifteen minutes later when Julia finally opened her eyes, she felt light-headed and dizzy. She awoke lying prone over the end of Ofelia’s bed. ‘Urngh... What happened?’

  ‘You fainted,’ Ofelia lied.

  Julia forced herself to her feet, swaying a little then looked at her watch. ‘Oh god, I’m so sorry. I can’t understand it though, I know I’ve been working long-’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. You have my results?’

  Julia nodded, picked up the dropped clipboard and glanced at it, still looking a little dazed and confused. She could remember setting off to collect the results, but her memory of collecting them and getting back to the ward had completely faded. She studied the clipboard closely, trying to understand it despite her confusion. ‘All your results seem fine. We seem to have completely flushed out the pathogen.’

  Ofelia stared at her. The Doctor had only been good to her since they’d met and now she’d fed on her. The guilt was oppressive. She sighed, ‘Doctor Sterling. You didn’t faint.’

  Julia frowned, confused. ‘I didn’t?’

  ‘I didn’t want to tell you this, because I didn’t think you’d believe me and I don’t want to be guinea pig. But I know what’s wrong with me. It has to be kept secret though. I honestly thought this blood exchange might work, but it didn’t. Can you promise me to keep secret?’

  Julia leaned closer. She burned with curiosity. She’d thought something was off about Ofelia ever since she’d met her. Now she could learn why. ‘I can’t promise, but I’ll-’

  ‘You didn’t faint. I am a vampire, I fed on you. I think the blood exchange do something to the Immortal Paradox that make it need to feed more.’

  Julia failed to stifle a smirk. ‘A vampire?’

  Ofelia opened her mouth wide and focused on the taste of blood. She was still thirsty, there was a risk she’d lose control and seize the doctor for a second helping, but she resisted. Slowly, her fangs elongated and protruded, dripping black venom from their tips. Julia stared and tried to back away, but Ofelia’s hand shot forwards and snatched her wrist. ‘You wanted to know why I’m always cold? Why I’m in bad car crash but okay? Why black bruises vanish in hours? You wanted to know what the strange black cells you find in blood are? Those cells are what cause me to be vampire. A man I met called them the Immortal Paradox. Don’t worry. I don’t want to hurt you. Will you keep secret?’

  Julia paused, awed and dumbstruck. It was a lot to take in, but if she exercised her suspension of disbelief, it made sense. ‘The factor fifty?’

  Ofelia nodded. When Julia relaxed Ofelia released her. She didn’t run. ‘How long have you been a vampire? How did this happen?’

  ‘I’ve been vampire since 1452. I was infected with Immortal Paradox. I don’t know how exactly. They force me to drink some blood from a bottle.’

  Julia reached up to her neck and felt the area where Ofelia had bitten her. It felt smooth and unscarred but inexplicably tender. ‘Does that mean I’m a vampire now?’

  ‘No. When a vampire bite you, something gets in your blood and makes you weak, dopey and forgetful. It’s how vampire stay hidden. As long as we can be alone with victim - we can feed and nobody know. It doesn’t make you vampire though. I don’t know how to make a person vampire. If you have blood test, maybe you find traces of Immortal Paradox in your blood?’

  Julia stared at Ofelia for a moment, then frowned. ‘You were trying to cure yourself of being a vampire. Why?’

  ‘When you become vampire, you stop ageing. That’s the worst part. You feel cold all the time, you never feel quite ‘alive’ again, and you have to feed. But the worst thing is being stuck as a kid for five hundred years.’

  ‘Are there are more of you?’ Julia asked.

  ‘There were. I lose count, but there were probably around three hundred vampires in Europe. I thought I was the last, but now I think there may be one more living in England somewhere.’

  ‘Do you get ill? Does it-’

  ‘I don’t get ill. Not since I became infected. I think the Immortal Paradox won’t let you be ill.’

  At this Doctor Sterling’s face lit up just for a moment. Was it a simple doctor’s enthusiasm for healing people and a thought that she could somehow facilitate a world where people didn’t age or get ill and die? Or was it something else? ‘Why do you ask?’

  Julia smiled, weakly. ‘It doesn’t matter. If I keep it secret, can I study you? I’d love to know how vampirism works. If you learned how to make more vampires - would you?’

  Ofelia shrugged. ‘I don’t mind you taking blood samples. Or doing some scans and things. But I don’t want to spend my life in hospital. I think I need to know why someone want to be vampire, before I turn them - if I could. I want to go home now though. I still feel weak and-’

  ‘Would some blood help?’ Julia asked.

  Ofelia eyed her with suspicion. ‘What are you thinking? Can you put the blood you took-’

  ‘No, your contaminated blood will have been sent to be destroyed I think. But I can get you some fresh blood, I’ll just fill out the form saying you need a top up, you can drink it instead. I’ll do you a deal, I’ll get you a unit of blood if you let me put you in an MRI scanner. I know I can get you in this afternoon and you can still be home tonight. Deal?’

  Ofelia thought for a moment, the negative consequences caused by the blood exchange machine were still lingering, though feeding on Doctor Sterling had eased them. Another good feed would make her feel better and it didn’t sound too inconvenient. ‘Alright, you get me blood, I go in scanner. On one condition though, you see something on scans, you show me pictures - yes?’

  Julia smiled. ‘Great, sure, I’ll go and arrange both. Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I’m on your side.’

  ***

  True to her word, the doctor left and returned with an IV bag of fresh blood. Instead of connecting it to a port and feeding it straight into her veins, she allowed Ofelia to suck on the tube like a straw. It did make her feel better. By the time she’d emptied the bag, she felt like she was beginning to recover. She upheld her side of the bargain too, allowing Julia to wheel her down to the MRI suite in a chair. The MRI wasn’t uncomfortable. It involved lying on a narrow bed, with a plastic cage fitted around her head, then being slid into a giant tube. The staff in radiology talked to her through the headphones they’d placed on her, and ordered her to remain as still as possible and let them know if there was a problem. Then the machine ba
nged and clicked rapidly. Ofelia was statue-like in the scanner. If it hadn’t been for the terrible racket the machine put out, she’d have probably nodded off. Julia asked for the images to be downloaded to a USB stick rather than main system. The technician was reluctant at first, but Julia managed to talk them around. After that, Ofelia was sent to have her femoral line removed. The procedure seemed much faster and involved much less discomfort than the procedure to insert it. In fact, Ofelia considered just ripping it out and sealing her skin with a handful of saliva. The trouble was people would’ve expected her to have needed it removed so doing it herself would rouse suspicion. She also wasn’t entirely sure sealing her skin wouldn’t leave the vein oozing blood into her body cavity. Safer to let the surgeon do it. After that she got dressed again and was taken to Julia’s office. By the time she was there Julia already had her scans up on the screen. Ofelia took a seat and peered at the images. ‘See anything unusual?’

  Julia nodded. ‘Yes. At first glance, everything looks normal right? Nothing radically different about your physiology on these scale images. However, when we zoom in...’

  Ofelia watched as Julia clicked and dragged with her mouse and tapped on the keyboard. The image zoomed and zoomed until individual blood vessels were large enough to see. Then she talked as she traced a route around Ofelia’s body. ‘See these dark thin lines? They’re unusual. You have them all the way around your body. They spiral around blood vessels and the lymphatic system, they invade all of your organs.’

  Julia had now moved the image so that Ofelia’s heart was central and large enough to see detail. ‘This is your heart. The... Immortal Paradox was it? It’s most concentrated here. It wraps around your heart in a thick layer. If we follow this thick line, back up to your head...’

  Ofelia watched Julia move the image following a particularly thick line of Immortal Paradox up to the skull. ‘Here. There are more tendrils of it reaching into your brain than other organs. Why would this be?’