Chapter 38: The Infirmary

March 1999

We arrived at the infirmary after several hundred yards (or what seemed that distance to me) of walking down a corridor of hewn stone, chiseled roughly, with niches for torches every ten to fifteen yards. A small trench ran along both sides of the corridor, with icy water filling it. It was shallow, but nonetheless, it would freeze your feet to get them wet with it. The infirmary was the only cozy place I had seen since I had begun my descent into the underworld of the Red Clan.

Just as Tayla had said, up to date medical equipment, supplies, and kitchen stocked this area. There was a ward, with about twenty beds, arranged in a barracks style, which already held about eight humans, suffering from severe anemia, or hemorrhagic shock. There was a doctor and two nurses on staff. I could see they were busy taking care of patients who were too weak to take care of themselves. Tayla introduced them to me with the names she had given to them.

“This is my staff physician, Scabs. These are two of my nurses, Cadusa, and Medusa. They are good at what they do. I will leave you with them here tonight and return after dark to continue our journey. We can talk for a while before I must retire. Is there anything you want to ask me?”

“Oh, yes! Please tell me the status of that young girl I saw earlier, the one that fainted on her feet.” I was very curious to know her status as she had reached out and touched me.

The site of shackles on her feet and hands, accompanied by her grimy face, had sickened me. No longer was I curious about the bizarre and unusual-at-best sites I had seen this night. I only wanted to go to sleep and forget in my blissful oblivion that I was in the most dangerous place in the world; that I was in the lion’s den. It was more like the furnace that Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego went into upon order by the Persian King. Tayla could sense my concern for the young girl. “They are bringing her in now as we speak. Look! See for yourself! I wish no harm to come to her. I am only using her for my children’s survival and myself. As a farmer does his cow at milking time. Never forget Malcolm, this is what vampires do. I am not without compassion myself. I wish I did not have to do this. Nevertheless, this is how my clan and I have survived for the last eight centuries. It is an unpleasant fact cannot change. The act of getting used to it is not easy. I remember when I was young, and only had been what I am for a short time. The hunger for blood drove me to do regrettable things. It was after I had tasted the blood of humans, that I realized what I was doomed to. The mere thought of that scared me to death, but alas, I was already dead. I knew all humanity would hate me, and they would hunt me down. Nevertheless, the hunger was already there, and it has never gone away. I am doomed, as my children are, to an existence of darkness, of predation, and loneliness. We have learned to exist with this because we have had no choice. You had the luxury of choice and were able to make it. Your choice was the correct one. You chose life eternal with your creator. My fate thrust itself upon me, without my consent, before I could make a choice. Consider yourself most fortunate among men, my dear Malcolm.”

She looked away at the familiars placing the young woman into one of the beds. Scabs began to start an IV on her to begin to hydrate her body. The two nurses, Cadusa and Medusa, began to clean her up with a bed bath. Julie’s clothing and shackles were gone. She lay motionless, as she was too weak to resist, and was barely conscious.

“Don’t worry Malcolm, Julie will survive. I see your compassion for her in your eyes. There is a familiar spirit in you, which I have been at odds with for the better part of eight centuries. Perhaps I should say the demon that I share this body with is who I have been at odds with all these years.”

I thought about what she had said. Yes, I had made a choice. I had chosen to follow Jesus but being human still in an earthly body, we still sin. Moreover, I had sinned tonight. I had looked upon her with lust in my heart. When I had done this, part of me wanted her to take me, and me to take her. Part of me wanted to rebuke her. Now all of me was very confused as to what our relationship was going to be after tonight. She had managed to slip through my defenses. Because I have the power of choice, I had not relied upon the power of the Spirit to resist her seduction. As she had said, few men, if any would have been able to. It must have been the power of that room! I hoped she would not ever take me to that room again. It would be best not to tempt myself by finding myself in that place again, at least not with her. I thanked God that He was so good, so full of grace and mercy, as to continue to forgive me of my sin.

Tayla looked back at me, and smiled at me, with twinkles in her eyes. “I do find it comforting to know that you do find me attractive, and that you did entertain the thought of us together. If you could read my mind, well, it would be a beautiful thing. I think your wife is extremely fortunate to have found one such as you. Finding a mate for life is such a precious thing, more precious than you know. Life can be short, or long. It is a pity to go through this world and not know love to its fullest joy. To know love means you fully surrender to it. I see that you have. Yes, I am jealous, and I know that I am coveting that which does not belong to me. Guilty as charged? However, aside from my feelings for you, which are now obvious, we still have a mission to perform and you must be ready soon to fulfill it. You will need all your strength and faith to do this. We must not be at odds with each other. Your angels must cripple my demon at the precise time. You will know when that must happen. I must leave you now, in the care of my familiars. They will keep you here for your protection. Do not venture anywhere on your own. I will be back tonight to meet with you and continue our tour. You are very brave. You saw many things tonight, which would have disheartened many men, even the bravest of men. However, for the fact that you trusted me, you would not have even thought of coming down here to explore. A few have, and I told you of their fate. Do not get too brave and share their fate. Stay here, and don’t pass those doors, without me to accompany you.”

The automatic doors locked upon shutting, thus preventing unwanted visitors and escapes from the ward. The familiars rarely went past the doors for everything they needed was in small rooms positioned off to the side of the ward. The room was exceptionally clean, well-lit with fluorescent lighting and temperature controlled as if I were in any hospital room. It was a set of doublewide mobile homes. The familiars dismantled them, brought them down here, reassembled and outfitted them to serve as an infirmary for Tayla’s human cattle and any of her familiars who might take ill.

“I shall see you tonight my dear friend.” With that last sentence, Tayla arose, said something to Scabs, which I could not hear, and left. I could see her changing into a mist as the doors began to close. She would be lying still in her tomb in a few moments, still as in death ... Still as in forever, and eternal. Again, I tried to imagine what her tomb would appear like.

The only thing I could imagine was the story of Harold Carter and Lord Carnarvon, finding Tutankhamen’s tomb. What an experience that must have been to have found such a wealth of treasure untouched after several thousand years, not to mention the significance of the historical value to it! Would I find her tomb equally as great? Tomorrow I would know for sure. I found a bed at the end of the ward, farthest away from the door, and from the other patients. I removed the warm clothing from myself and placed it on the chair next to the bed. I slipped off my shoes and galoshes, letting them fall on the floor at the side of the bed. Pulling the drape around my bed’s area, I began to find some privacy, as I did not want to see anymore this night. I found it difficult to fall asleep at first. The images of what I had seen tonight were still very vivid in my mind. Soon, I too fell under the peaceful veil of sleep.

I awoke to the sounds of plastic wrapping, only to see the staff placing a shrouded body on gurney. Terrified, I sat up, wondering who had passed on during my sleep. Was it Julie’s body? Did she leave us during the day? I pulled the drape far back enough to see the rest of the ward and took notice of Julie’s bed still occupied by the small, emaciated body I had seen the night before. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that it was not Julie inside that awful plastic death shroud.

Scabs saw that I was awake. He was an older gentleman, thick and squat, who looked like an old country doctor. He could have been from another century for all I knew. He was dressed in white surgical garb, complete with a cap and mask. However, this was not surgery.

He wore spectacles as thick as coke bottles. A port stain birthmark, the largest one I had ever seen, marked the right side of his face. When Tayla introduced me to him earlier this morning, it caught me off guard for a moment, as it did appear somewhat unattractive.

“I see that you are awake now. You slept for quite a while.” “What time is it?” I asked.

“It is now a quarter past five. It’ll be dark in a few hours and then she will come.” He looked at me, and then smiled from behind his surgical mask. “This garb is to prevent us from giving our patients any possible infection. We have already compromised their immune systems greatly and we do not want to expose their weakened defenses with our germs, therefore, the cap and mask. We are removing this body as soon as possible to prevent its decomposition from advancing too far while in the presence of our other patients.”

He could see the look of aghast in my face. I am easy to read like a book at times. He continued. “Oh, I see! You are worried about this one. Well, do not worry. This one died of infection. Pneumonia to be exact. He had been down here a long time. Several years, I think. We usually get about three to five years of service from every person we keep down here. I wish we could keep them longer, but the Queen and her clan keep themselves a good supply of fresh blood continuously. Always on the hunt, they are! New arrivals come here on a weekly basis. They come from everywhere. Most of which are runaways, and homeless persons, people that nobody is going to miss. What a pity! The only ones who respect them, who care for them, are those who eventually will destroy them. Alas! It is our way. I see you are concerned for Julie. Well, she will survive this time. Some of the vampires bled her too much this last time. The Queen will punish them. That is why she left a little early this morning, before she would retire. She is greatly displeased. I dare say it was because you were displeased. You have influence with her. That is rare, Mr. Harris, exceedingly rare.” He prepared to help the nurses roll out the victim and gurney out the automatic door to waiting familiars.

I knew they would be taking this victim to that awful room ... that awful, terrifying room, known as the gleaning room.

I dressed and waited on the edge of my bed. The medical familiars came back into the ward. They attended each one of the patients as if they were just that ... Patients and not victims. This was their job, just like Dread, Necro, Talon, Moon, and Shade had jobs and it appeared that they were particularly good at it. Tayla did not just have a group of people in a vampire commune living together. She had a kingdom ... a real kingdom that she ruled with an iron hand. I could only imagine the cruelty she could wield. I had already seen her affection and kindness to those she considered inside her inner circle. Oh, woe to whomever would dare to be her enemy! She commanded the respect as if she were the equivalent of an Elizabeth I, or a Cleopatra ... maybe even more so! She had killed more men than Elizabeth I, and certainly had seduced more men than Cleopatra. Even the strongest of men fall prey to her will and seduction.

I had slept quite a while. I could smell food as they must have had a kitchen somewhere off to the side of the ward. Cadusa brought out a serving cart, containing trays of hot food. Then the familiars began to serve their patients meals, those who were strong enough to eat and drink on their own. The two nurses would have to feed those who could not feed themselves. Still, others would take their nourishment through IV therapy. I preferred to take mine through the usual means. The two nurses looked as if they could have been twins. They were dressed in nursing uniforms, with no caps or the usual cutesy buttons and pins. Both had dark shoulder-length hair, pale skin, with ruby red lips. A little too much eye makeup for nurses I would say, as it looked as if they were two punk rockers dressed up as nurses for Halloween. Strangely enough, I could see that they were kind and attentive to the needs of those in the ward. They talked with them, in a kind and gentle voice. Where did Tayla find these people? I made a mental note to remind myself to ask her that question later.

Cadusa looked up at me from preparing a tray for a patient and said “Mr. Harris, you’re more than welcome to partake of a tray also. You can help yourself to whatever you find there, sir. It is not like hospital food. It is actually quite good.” After she had spoken to me, she looked at me with a large smile. For a nurse she had a good bedside manner, was very polite, and except for her appearance, was quite the professional. “The Queen allows us a certain amount of freedom regarding the performance of our duties,” she continued, still smiling.