Negative Space Ch. 09

"The tears are for later. Good luck, god speed, and I'll see you in a few hours."

After Felix Lobovic left, however, the office was still in a tizzy. I saw a couple of vampires for non-healing incisions, one who was feeling weaker than usual, and a young woman who had only recently become a vampire and did not know much about pregnancy, vampires, and contraception. I told her only what I knew, and suggested condoms. She was very appreciative. After that, I turned to Sandra, nodded, and packed up to make a werewolf housecall.

Sandra was extremely nervous, and I realized that I could feel her nervousness through our connection. After I finished putting together my bag, I took one of her hands between mine. I laced the junction of my right pinky and ring finger into the junction of her pinky and ring finger, and then did the same with my left and linked it into the webbing between her pointer and thumb. I stretched her hand out, using my thumbs to gently massage the cramped muscles in her palm. She looked confused and surprised.

"That feels amazing. Thank you."

I just smiled and continued massaging her. I took a couple deep breaths, and she followed suit, letting the muscles in her palm relax. As soon as they smoothed out I could see the rest of her arm falling limp, her shoulder following suit, and, I hoped, her neck and back. I moved to the other hand.

"I promise that this will be alright, Sandy. I'm sure of it. As far as I can tell this man is honest and sincerely worried about his mate. I need you with me, because I trust you more than anyone else. Will you please come?"

"Of course, Lana. Of course. It doesn't change the fact that I don't like this, though."

I smiled and nodded. "That's fine. I'm just relieved to hear you'll be with me." I finished massaging her hands and hugged her quickly. "Let's go then."

The address Felix had scribbled out for me brought us to one of the wealthier neighborhoods north of the Bronx where the apartments morphed into houses with lawns and shrubbery. Number One-Oh-Seven Shady Grove Court, however, spoke of wealth beyond the commuter's Lexus or Audi. In fact, there was no house to be seen at all. Instead there were two towering brick fence posts and a wrought iron gate between them with nothing visible but the house number, a security camera, and a long, curved drive leading back into the woods.

"Since when were there woods so close to the city?" Sandy asked me, nodding at her back-up, a young man she recruited from Theo's extensive security detail. He stepped out of the car, checking the surroundings and opening the door for the two of us to exit onto the pavement. It smelled sweeter here, in the way that foliage freshens the air, and I took a deep breath, letting the cool air fill my lungs. The security camera blinked ominously, and I stepped forward.

"What are we supposed to do? Knock?" I asked, searching for some sort of bell. My search was unnecessary, though, as the gates creaked and moaned and swung backward to let us in. I decided to forgo the car, and Sandra, the body guard and I marched defiantly down the drive.

A good walk later we found ourselves overlooking an 18th century brick building that could very well have been an old boarding school. It must have been nearly a quarter of a mile of floor space in total, but it twisted and turned with little additions popping off the sides like a centipede of sorts. Little bell towers, balconies, and widows' walks were sprinkled along the slate roof, and the whole thing looked almost as if it had taken on a life of its own, growing out of control in all directions. As we walked down the hill to the front of the house I could tell that Sandra and the body guard were on high alert, attuned to every snapping twig and shift in the wind, but I could only gaze at the beautiful landscape around me. It had been highly manicured, but the look of rolling hills, distant woodlands, and wildflower-strewn meadows was so enticing I quickly forgot how much energy must have gone into crafting the whole property. Instead I was blown away by the natural beauty of it so that I almost missed the front door opening before us. Felix rushed out and my attention snapped back—he had that look of someone searching for help in an emergency.

"Dr. Crane, please come quick! She's throwing up blood, and her body won't stop!" I followed him inside, paying no attention to the numbers of people, presumably more werewolves, who were standing about, staring at me and my two vampire companions. Felix led us back through a series of dark hallways, spacious common rooms, and spiral staircases. Finally he flung open a door and behind it was a small, cozy bedroom that smelled of illness. A young woman was hanging over the side of the bed, quietly alternating between whimpering and dry-heaving. I lifted her up, sitting her against the backboard and began to check her vitals. None of the numbers made sense, and I realized I would be very hard pressed to discover what exactly was wrong if I had no idea if everything was off because she was a were or because she was sick.

"Felix, tell me about werewolves. How are they different from humans?" I asked, and Felix stuttered.

"I—well, I'm not sure this is relevant. They, we, turn into wolves—"

"No no, I mean, in their bodies. Do weres have a faster average heartrate? Do they generally run at a different temperature? What else? I need to know what is normal in order to figure out what is wrong here."

"Oh. Well, you can check me if you need to. Were blood does move faster, and we do maintain equilibrium at a higher temperature than humans. We generally eat a mixture of cooked human food and raw meat that we hunt, but that's all. We heal faster, and no one we know of has ever been this sick."

While he was talking I was palpating the woman's stomach, liver, kidneys and other organs. She was wincing and moaning.

"Hey there, love. My name is Dr. Crane. I know you're feeling really awful right now, but can you tell me your name?" I held her head up, and made direct eye contact.

"Nora," she panted.

"Okay, good, Nora. Wonderful. Now, I know you're hurting all over, but can you try to tell me where it hurts the most? You can point if you want."

Nora winced and brought her hand to her left side, just above her hip.

"Okay, so does the pain move? Can you tell me what it feels like?" I brushed her hair out of her eyes as she grimaced. "Oh bunny, I'm so sorry you hurt so bad. Let's try to figure this out as soon as we can, okay?"

"It feels—" she broke off, dry-heaving for a moment. "like an... explosion."

I nodded. I settled her back on the bed, and rifled through my bag. I pulled out a syringe, filled it, and pulled down her pajama bottoms a couple inches. Without saying anything to her I leaned her over just enough to inject the medication directly into the muscle.

"That was a medication to calm down your body," I told her as she cried out. "It'll take down your nausea a little bit. And this," I told her as I injected a second medication into the slowly pulsing vein in her forearm, "Is a pain reliever. You should start to feel a little bit better in a moment, but since I don't know the right dosage for werewolves, I might have to give you a second dose." I left the needle port in her vein, taping it in place, since I assumed I'd have to give her more pain medication as soon as I started my manual examination. I had a suspicion of what was going on, but I was nervous to find out. If it was what I thought it was...well, it would be a sad, dangerous few hours. But we'd see what we could do. I connected an IV tube to the port I had left in, and set her up to get some fluids in her body.

"Sandra, would you call Theo for me? I need an ultrasound, ASAP." She was already on the phone as I continued. "I need a suture kit, a scalpel set, and—um, Felix? What's your mate's blood type?"

"Blood type? Werewolf. I don't think we have blood types."

"Okay, so I need a blood transfusion set, then. Felix? Are you prepared to give a little blood from your mate?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Alright, Nora. Are you having any vaginal bleeding right now?"

Nora nodded, some fear and understanding in her eyes for the first time.

"I hate to ask you this, but is there anyway you could be pregnant right now?"

Both Nora and Felix blanched, and nodded.

"Nora, I need you to be really strong for me right now. I'm about to touch you right where all the pain is coming from, and I need you to hold as still as you can. Okay?"

Nora nodded, tears slowly filling her eyes. I gently touched her right side, which was without pain, and then moved over to the left side to compare. Nora gurgled with pain, but she held her body as still as possible, and as soon as I was done I withdrew and she collapsed in on herself, sobbing. I took a deep breath to steady myself. I had found exactly what I did not want to find. Sandra tapped my shoulder.

"The messengers are standing outside, waiting for an invitation in."

"Felix. Go now and bring everything the vampires have brought directly to me." He nodded and ran off down the hall, probably not entirely remorseful to leave the sickness and sadness of his bedroom. While he was gone, I had Sandra help me clear off the other side of the bed, strip off the sheets, and replace it with sterile paper. We helped Nora undress, wiped down her abdomen with alcohol, and laid her out on the sterile paper. Felix stumbled in, carrying a box full of supplies with a couple vampires behind him carrying the ultrasound machine. For the first time in days I thanked god for Theo and his ability to organize and demand the best for me. It might just save this woman's life. I set his minions to work.

When the room was sterilized, the ultrasound machine set up, and Nora had been given an extra large dose of morphine, I started to scan her abdomen. It was what I thought.

"Nora, darling, are you still with me? Can you come back for a moment? Felix, can you come here?"

Felix rushed to Nora's side and grabbed her hand. Nora's eyes fluttered and opened, and she strained to focus her eyes on me.

"I think there are two things going on here, which is a mixed blessing. First of all, you have an ectopic pregnancy, which is when you become pregnant somewhere not inside of your uterus. Your pregnancy is inside your fallopian tube. The other thing going on is that you've been having some serious morning sickness associated with the pregnancy. On the one hand, it has weakened you and made you seriously sick for the past week, which is no good. On the other hand, it did alert Felix here to the fact that there was something seriously wrong, and got him to come see me, which was seriously lucky, since it seems like your fallopian tube is about to rupture, which could be fatal. I can't take you to a hospital, since you're weres, but I can try to perform the surgery here. Are you willing to allow me to do that? I can promise you nothing except for the fact that you might die if you do not try something." I knew I was laying it on strong, but she was in serious danger, and I needed to do something for her. The two seemed to understand, though, and nodded immediately.

"You have our complete trust and permission to do whatever you need. Please, just make her feel better." Felix looked like he was about to cry. I put my hand on his arm and continued. I went through all the risks, and explained exactly what I would be doing. He still nodded and agreed, so I decided to start.