Sharon’s note: I understand the need to know. I’m a very curious person. That being said, the character that charges in stupidly with no plan and a manic need to follow something are kind of annoying. You know they are going to get people killed, the author is counting on them getting people killed, and the only thing up in the air is whether or not the idiot themselves die. That being said, they are such fun to write. They make moving the plot easy. Warning: Author plans to have a little fun with this.
“Not every patient that came to this hospital was human. Monster though he was, my father thought of himself as a healer. He welcomed those with strange afflictions and promised that he could heal them.”
“What were they?” My thumbs trembled over my phone.
“Every kind of thing.” The leer on Ernie’s face sent a shiver up my spine. “Those cursed by the moon to change their forms and hunt men, those who were brought back from the dead to feast on the blood of the living-”
“Werewolves and vampires. You’re saying that he experimented on werewolves and vampires?” I would have scoffed at the idea before I saw ghosts.
“Among others. They all came to be made human, but only found pain and death.” He laughed, and it was bitter. “Not a single one of my father’s special patients lived, though it took a very long time for them to die. Their ability to heal was a curse, and one he hopes to pass to me by cutting out a vampire’s heart and sewing it into my chest.”
“That . . . sounds painful.” I swallowed hard.
He shrugged. “Not for long. This was well before the invention of heart transplants. Despite everything my father did to me beforehand to make me survive the operation, I was dead before he even got my heart all the way out.”
I stared at him for a moment. He looked bored, and slightly amused. “You are oddly calm talking about your extremely horrific death.”
He and Kathy laughed. She strolled over to pat me on the shoulder. “Death is traumatic, but you either have to come to terms with it or you become a screaming maniac like that guy in hydro.”
“What happened to him?”
“He was locked in a tank full of water and drowned. Even werewolves need to breathe.” Ernie shook his head. “He never leaves that box, and if anyone gets close enough to grab he pulls them in and tries to suck the oxygen out of their lungs so he can survive. He’s killed two people.”
“One of them is still huddled in a corner murmuring monosyllables.” Kathy rolled her eyes. “Death craziness is contagious.”
“Don’t be harsh.” He glowered at her. “He’s only five years dead.”
“I wasn’t that crazy right after I died, and McBride killed me personally.” She crossed her arms and turned her attention back to me. “You want to talk about being stuck in the past, the evil doctor keeps killing people because he thinks it will hide his special experiments.”
“Well, it’s worked so far. No one knows anything about this.” I said, focusing on my notes. When they were quiet for a long moment, I looked up. They were both frowning at me, hard. “What?”
“Please don’t justify anything that man does.” Earnie’s glare made me gulp.
“Sorry. Does this mean that you won’t take me to see a non-crazy supernatural? I’d love an interview.”
“What are you, stupid?” Kathy swiped at me, and her hand passed through my head. It felt like walking through a cobweb that left a sticky residue on my brain as it passed through. “I brought you down here so that you’d be safe. Your ass is staying here.”
“Oh, come now. We can take her to talk to Elizabeth. She’s a very pleasant lady. We don’t even have to go out into the main building. She’s down in the tunnels.”
Kathy grabbed my shoulders, hands solid this time. “Maggie, listen to me. This is a horrible idea. Please, just stay here.”
I shrugged off her hands. “I have to know.”
Gray Matters: The Works of Sharon and James Gray 