“Well, questions I can answer. I can’t guarantee you’re going to like the answers or that you’ll even believe the answers, but you’ll get them. It’s a treat to meet you, Ember. You’re the first transition we’ve had for many a century, and the first I’ve gotten to witness.”
“I’m sorry. I have no idea what you’re talking about. What is a ‘transition’?”
“Well there’s really no soft way to put it. You’re transitioning into a vampire. Your body is dying, and soon, the transition will be complete. You know Truman well … very well, but you can’t recall him at the moment because he very effectively buried your memories of him to protect you. How are we doing so far?” He eyed her with concern showing on his face, and she sat stunned, thinking one of them was most definitely crazy, and she was absolutely leaning toward that being him and his tales of vampires and memories. But then she recalled the images that had been flashing through her mind of Truman and thought perhaps… It would explain her lifetime of missing memories, but she’d have to be insane to actually believe what she was being told. Wouldn’t she?
Her brain hurt as she tried to process what he was saying. She had tears in her eyes, and try as she might, she couldn’t rule out what he was saying. She was a vampire … or would be soon. It made no sense, and in one moment she would start to panic, and then in another, she thought he was surely crazy. She absolutely could not wrap her head around his words, and as she sat there shaking her head and then crying and then going back to head shaking, he watched her carefully. Ember finally gave up reconciling his words and decided she could wait to decide which of them was crazy for another time. There was no understanding his words at the moment.
Dr. Bremmer patiently explained the events of the last few days, and she pieced together her final memories of leaving the café. It was raining, and she was walking quickly. She recalled being grabbed and dragged, but before her panic could even settle in, she had felt a pain. It was in her neck, and it was the last memory she could recall. There was a bandage on her neck now, but little pain, and it felt more like a healing sore from weeks before rather than the vicious, gaping wound Dr. Bremmer was relating to her from only three days prior. He explained her aching jaw and the teeth or fangs that were developing. She didn’t believe him in one moment, but then she did in the next. What he was describing was impossible, but she had no better explanation for a lifetime of missing memories and what had happened before she woke.
“You’re really quite lucky to still be with us. You nearly lost too much blood to survive your transition. Only Truman’s quick thinking saved your life.”
“But if I’m a vampire, then wouldn’t I just heal … or … I don’t know … drink blood?” She was trying to keep up with everything he was saying even in her shock.
“Transition takes days, and your GI tract won’t be able to process blood until you’re fully through transition. When you’re envenomated, the toxin starts to slowly take over your blood, but you have to be strong enough to survive through the transition, and we weren’t sure you would. The biggest threat was that your blood volume was so low after losing so much blood. You can’t give a vampire a blood transfusion. It’s similar to giving a human the wrong blood type. It causes an immune response that destroys us. When living human blood or blood that’s been preserved in a blood bank is injected into a vampire’s blood stream, the toxin rebels and sees it as a foreign agent. It very effectively destroys the host in order to fight the foreign blood.”
“But you still drink blood, right?”
“That’s entirely different. That’s our GI tract. Once through transition, a vampire’s GI tract is solely used to process, break down, and provide the nutrients that give our toxin the ability to regenerate and keep it alive. It’s similar, in fact, to breathing in humans. A human breathes to replenish lost oxygen in the bloodstream. The toxin that keeps a vampire alive resides in our bloodstream, and in much the same way a human must breathe to replenish the oxygen in their blood, a vampire must take in blood through their GI tract to digest, replenish, and nourish the toxin in our bloodstream. We’re meant to take in living blood through our GI tract, not directly into our bloodstream. So, we were stuck only able to give you the most minimal support until your blood volume increased on its own and you moved farther into transition.”
“So, will I have to kill someone to survive?” Her worry must have showed on her face because Dr. Bremmer’s face softened.
“No. Truman will feed you from his own blood supply. That was one of the concessions Truman made in order to save your life. Unfortunately, it will keep you weaker than us, and you’ll have to feed more often than we do.”
She continued to eye him, laughing shrilly at times in her disbelief as he talked. She wasn’t upset though. Quite frankly, the last memory she had was that she was going to die, and she wasn’t dead. She was saved … or she was dead … dying, but it wouldn’t be the end of her. He explained her heightened sense of smell and hearing, and it made sense to her even as her furious mind screamed she was losing it to think this absurd tale made sense. But she believed him … and then a moment later, she didn’t…
“So, what of my relationship with Truman? I should know him, shouldn’t I?”
Dr. Bremmer nodded his head. “Yes, but I’m not going to get into the details of your relationship or history with Truman. That is his job to do, and as soon as you’re strong enough, you’ll be moved to his residence, and you can start working through those questions. You will be resired by him as soon as you’re moved to his residence, and he will effectively be responsible for your wellbeing. What you need to know is that your life as you know it is over, but it doesn’t mean you won’t have a life. It will simply be very, very different from anything you know.”
“Wait, what do you mean by resired?” She was confused again and was getting quite used to understanding nothing of what was going on.
“Your own sire was destroyed by Truman when you were bit. We don’t allow humans to be turned anymore, but Truman was able to convince the council to let you live. There were stipulations, and one is that you will be resired by Truman. Effectively, he’ll drain you of your blood as you take his. You will then be part of his bloodline. The council won’t allow you to hunt or kill for sustenance, and you will rely on him to feed you from his own body. It was the requirement of the council, and Truman agreed to their demands. He had no real choice of course.”
“So, am I like a slave? Does he own me?”
“I suppose you could see it that way, but after spending a few days with Truman hounding my every move to see to your safety, I wouldn’t let that worry you. But like I said, I won’t delve into the dynamics of your relationship with him. It is between the two of you, and it is his job to work through these details with you.”
Ember was suddenly nervous. She had every right to be under the circumstances, but these nerves were saved for the brutally handsome Truman whom she apparently had some sort of relationship with that she couldn’t recall, and she would now rely on him for her survival. Relying on a man to save her was not Ember’s first choice, ever, and the idea she should be beholden to a man who she didn’t know was offensive and terrifying.
When Dr. Bremmer finally left her, she was more tired than when she’d awoken, and as she drifted slowly off to sleep listening to the slow bleep of the vitals monitor, she allowed the images of him to pass through her mind again. Had she seen him naked? Was that why she could see his body so clearly in her mind? He was stunning, but he was terrifying too. She didn’t like that she could see his image so clearly but had no memories to back it up. They couldn’t have known one another intimately, but her body betrayed her disbelief when it flushed with warmth. She wanted to remember him. She wouldn’t be nearly so terrified of him and his place in her new life if she could get some handle on who he was to her. But there was no connecting the dots. She simply couldn’t recall him.