Before Lee ditched him in the parking lot, and before Gabriel went inside to give Chuck and Danny a hard time for siding against him in the doctor debate, he decided to have a smoke. He had his cigarette halfway to his lips before he got an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach. Like he’d just swallowed a huge chunk of ice. It wasn’t a bad feeling. Just weird.
He shoved his cigarette into his mouth and began to light up, keeping his hand over the flame to keep the air from getting to it while his eyes darted around the parking lot. There was a new car he didn’t recognize. A nice one. Someone with real money? A client? Somehow he doubted it. Probably just some dickhead who decided he didn’t want to pay for parking in the next lot over. The engine was still running.
Tucking his lighter into his jacket pocket, Gabriel made his way towards the car. Funny. He wasn’t even irritated. In fact, he was suddenly in a better mood than he’d been in all day. Thank god for nicotine, he supposed.
“Hey,” he called out, not quite able to make out the driver through the tinted windows, “you lost or something?” He tried to muster up some note of authority in his voice, some sternness to let the person inside know he was in charge here, but somehow to his own ears Gabriel sounded a lot friendlier. Almost apologetic.
The car turned off and the door opened slowly, it was almost like they were drawing out the anticipation. A familiar figure stepped out, Donovan’s head popping up over the top of the car. He immediately smiled at Gabriel, like he’d been there all day just waiting to welcome the hunter back. Or maybe he was just reading into it too much.
“Uh, you just get here or are Danny and Chuck playing hide and seek in the office?” Gabriel asked, flicking some ash from his cigarette and awkwardly shifting on his feet. Suddenly, he felt a little nervous, though he didn’t really know why.
“I recently arrived, I thought it was time I stopped by.” He closed the door, leaning against the roof, “I had been looking forward to another conversation with you.”
“What, tired of the Collector already?”
Donovan laughed, “I will forever be tired of that man, even long after he’s dead and gone. Your company was refreshing, perhaps you would like to go out for a drink?”
Gabriel took a long pull off his cigarette. Maybe because he needed another heavy dose of smoke and nicotine, and maybe because he needed a hell of a lot more time to process that thought. A drink sounded nice, and the guy was pretty cool as far as he could tell. Sure, he even liked being around him. Felt like he’d known Donovan for ages, in a way, but, “I’m flattered, really, but I’m not--” he struggled how to phrase it without coming out sounding like a jerk, “--well, I mean you’re cool, but I like women. No offense.”
Donovan shook his head but his smile never faded, “merely as friends, I apologize if it came off as asking you for a date.”
“Wow, no, oh god, man,” Gabriel immediately regretted putting his foot in his mouth, “I shouldn’t have just assumed that’s--I mean, shit. Sorry. Sure, yeah, a drink sounds cool.” Well, now he felt like a bit of a dick.
“Would you like to go now or do you have plans for tonight?”
Chuck and Danny probably wouldn’t forgive him for letting them sort out tonight’s hunt on their own, but what the Hell? Donovan probably wouldn’t be in town that long.
“Not really. It’s a pretty slow week,” Gabriel shrugged, taking one last pull of his cigarette before flicking it to the ground, “I just gotta go grab my keys from the office real quick.” He paused, “actually, you mind if I just hitch a ride with you? If I go in there now, I might just get stuck all night answering emails.” Then, of course, if there was liquor to be had, Chuck would insist on coming too. Gabriel wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with that tonight.
“Of course, do you know of any good places?” He opened his door again, slipping inside, waiting for Gabriel to join him.
“I can think of a few,” Gabriel quickly hopped into the passenger seat when he noticed movement through one of the front windows in the office. Danny was waving at him. Shit. “Better move now before they chase me down,” he wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. It seriously looked like Danny was freaking out. For a moment Gabriel was almost tempted to go inside, but just when he was about to unbuckle his seatbelt, one look at Donovan made him change his mind. A pleasant calm feeling washed over him. Danny was fine. Just being dramatic. Everything was okay. He wouldn’t remember turning off his cell phone later, but that’s exactly what he did.
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Doctor Carol Martin had seen a lot over the years, weird things, different things, but nothing quite like this. The blood was still warm when she took it out of the storage fridge. There was no way this should be possible. She’d checked the rest of the samples and items in the fridge multiple times, just to be sure it hadn’t broken. No. Everything that had been stored before, and after this particular vial was just as cold as it should be, but she could swear Gabriel Bianco’s sample was getting warmer by the minute. Like someone was playing a prank on her.
That wasn’t possible. Sophie and Mark had left the office over an hour ago, so she was the only one left. If this was a prank, it would certainly be an elaborate one. The other samples still had to be sent off, but she wondered if they were just as warm as this one. She was eager to prepare the slide so she could see if anything was going on. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen. Something was there, that was for sure, the red blood cells were being consumed by, well, she had no idea what it was. There was no word for it. Not one she knew of, at least. For a moment, she considered disinfecting everything and running another slide, just to be sure she hadn’t just done something wrong.
“Incredible,” she whispered, fascinated by the process. A dance on razor thin glass she doubted anyone had ever seen before. Was it a virus? It didn’t look like one, or at least none she had ever heard of before. She’d have to do more research, but thank god she’d have second opinions later with far more knowledge than she had about this sort of thing.
Stolen story; please report.
“It is an interesting process, isn’t it?”
She let out a loud yelp, jumping up from her seat at her desk and spinning around in sheer terror, “how did you get in here?!”
“I used a door, how else does one get inside?” The man questioned, stepping closer to her, “do you want to know what it is?”
Her lips trembled, while she struggled to say something. The only door to the room was behind the man, and he was too close for her to have time to dial 911 from her cell, “know what what is?”
“The virus, in his blood.”
“Who are you? How did you know I was-“
He held a finger to her lips, bracketing her against the desk, “my name is Donovan, if you must have a name to call me, and I’m the one who awakened the infection in his blood.” He smiled, “it's been there, hiding, and no one ever saw it.” He looked thoughtful for a moment before picking up a slide, “hold this.” When she wrapped her fingers around it Donovan picked up a small needle, pricking his finger and putting his blood on the slide, “see for yourself.”
With shaking fingers she removed the slide of Gabriel's blood and slid Donovan’s into place. He stepped back far enough that she could turn but she could still feel him at her back as she gazed through the lenses at the blood. It was filled with those strange cells. In this blood they came in two different types and seemed to replace the white and red cells in normal blood. There were a few regular red blood cells but they were quickly consumed by the others. It was like the blood of an entirely different species. The discovery of the century, except-
“What are you going to do to me?” Carol asked, slowly drawing back from the microscope, and reaching blindly for something, anything to defend herself with. Something like this--whatever he or it was--wasn’t going to want this to get out. “What are you?”
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you what I am.” He said, smiling at her, “I could let you live, I could turn you, or I could kill you. However, if you live, you must destroy his blood and everything you've found.”
Carol slowly stood, keeping her hands firmly on her desk. There was no weapon nearby. Nothing sharp. Nothing to keep him from killing her in the moment, if he so chose. She had so many questions, and only the vaguest notion that this thing speaking to her now was a creature modern science simply could not define. “You called this an infection. So you aren’t human. You must have been at one time. Why would you want to spread this to others?”
“It’s a gift, meant for a chosen few. Immortality is something many people are not suited for.” He replied, “we have plenty of time to talk, so long as you do not attempt anything foolish.” He took a step back, motioning to the chair.
Carol speculated on the merit of conversation with a madman or the devil himself, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly sat back down, repositioning her chair so that she was fully facing him and the door.
“You think you’re immortal?” She asked, keeping her voice quiet, and trying her best to keep an even tone.
“I have been alive since humans were traveling in tribes, hunting and gathering for food.” He leaned against the wall, watching her carefully, “so, yes, for all intents and purposes I am immortal.”
Her eyes flicked towards the clock positioned above the door, “it’s late.” She remarked, “I suppose you always keep hours like this?” If she was going mad right now, and this man in front of her was merely a reflection of her shattered psyche, he’d certainly picked an odd hour to reveal himself.
“Not always, in the beginning, yes, however as the years have passed it has become easier to remain awake during the day. Many stories surrounding my kind have portrayed us as nightwalkers.” He explained, seemingly completely at ease.
“You’re a vampire,” she concluded, “or something like it.”
His smile grew, “bravo doctor, yes, that is the common name for us and what most of us have taken to calling ourselves. When I was first made we had another name but time erodes all things and names change.”
“How does the infection spread? Does my patient know about this?” She pressed on, finding it highly unlikely that he would. Unless, for some reason or another, he thought a dose of antibiotics would cure him. Somehow a thing like this seemed far beyond the capabilities of penicillin.
“It is transmitted by ingestion of blood. Gabriel, your patient, knows about vampires, knows what it is, but doesn't know he's been re-infected. He was exposed to it as a child and the virus went into remission, they call it a cure but it isn't what they think.” He was giving out this information rather freely, she knew if he didn't kill her she could never share this with anyone, “when the vampire who infects you dies before you are fully turned the virus goes dormant. Through an extraordinary series of events, Gabriel unknowingly drank my blood which reactivated the virus, hence his current predicament.”
“I imagine it must have been very extraordinary,” she remarked, “how would a person not know he was drinking blood?”
“When the blood is mixed with wine.”
As much as she wanted to know why he was doing this to an unwitting man, it hardly seemed relevant to her own situation. “So the only way to cure him…” she trailed off.
“Would be to kill me, yes.”
It was odd how calmly she was accepting the impossible. Perhaps it was shock. “Why isn’t the world overrun with your kind, if you are immortal? How has the—infection, or whatever you call it—how has it managed to be contained?”
“We are very particular about who we share it with. Besides, we can't overrun our food source, now can we? It is easier to stay hidden, wolf in sheep's clothing.”
She wanted to know more, but tamped down her curiosity with the knowledge that if he really was a vampire, then-
“Are the myths true, then? Murder? Sunlight? Crosses and stakes? All of it?”
He shook his head, “no, not everything.” He wasn't about to reveal all of that, “do you have any more questions?”
“No,” Carol shook her head, reaching under her collar to grasp at the rosary on her neck, “I don’t think I do.”
He pushed off the wall, “I have one for you. I gave you three options, which do you prefer?”
There it was. The question she’d never conceived of, yet humanity had sought an answer to for centuries. Life or death?
Carol squeezed the rosary even tighter, letting the chain at her neck snap as it fell to the floor.
He smiled, stepping closer, his left hand moving up to touch her face, “you’ve chosen wisely.”