Day 5: Show Me Your Fangs
It was a quiet night, thankfully.
Gandalf was out-he had told me about it last night so I wasn’t surprised when I came in to find him missing.
But with no one to actively follow around and record for, I was kind of left to my own devices. I had taken up residence in his office, idly spinning slightly as I flipped through files. Years upon years of notes that needed to be digitized.
I had one ear bud playing some mixture of songs as I placed down the next file. I almost didn’t note the one nurse who knock on the door.
Not nurse, medical assistant.
One of the few who had befriended me when I started on the night shifts.
“You got a minute?”
I tapped my ear to pause the music before spinning slightly to steeple my fingers. Trying to be a bit like Bryan when he was scheming. Intent and interested in what she was bringing to the table. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Allie, a medical assistant to a surgeon we dealt with frequently in the emergency room, ten years my senior was always good for the tea and the goings on with the other ladies.
Because of my association with Alistair, I was…not shunned. That wouldn’t be the right term. But I wasn’t super close with the others.
Probably for the best given my condition.
But she was different. A mom to two, a girl in high school and a young man about to be married, we had formed a friendship. Mostly for gossip. And to share a roll of the eyes across from one another.
‘What kind of tea is it today? Earl Grey? Chai? I do like a good herbal…they smell good but taste terrible.’ Sybil mused. “Will it have honey? Surprise sprinkles?”
Allie settled into the cushioned chair and told me about how when her superior had sent paperwork to a new patient, she had made a mistake. The form had already had someone else’s information.
A big breach of confidentiality.
Massive.
Huge.
Worse, she was trying to pass it off as if Allie was the one to make the slip.
This could not stand.
“Where is she?” I asked, getting up. My beast, Sybil was stirring, rearing. Bearing her fangs. It took every bit of will power to not expose my own to Allie here and now.
“Probably her office. Don’t worry about it. I just needed someone else to know the shit she pulled.” Her phone buzzed. She glanced down and sighed. “I’m needed. I’ll see you later for a break?”
“Yeah.” I watched her go, counted to seventeen-because that felt the best amount of time-before taking a stroll.
My phone blipped.
I ignored it.
I knocked on Karen’s door before letting myself in. She was an older lady, probably late fifties early sixties if I had to guess. Dark hair, very Italian mom who would cut a bitch if she needed. She was helpful at times, but she had crossed a line. Jeopardized the job of one of mine.
“What do you need?” She was brusque, tapping away at her computer. Probably working on arranging some surgeries, the paperwork part. The releases.
Confidential information she had let slip.
Can’t have that now can we?
“You’re going to apologize.” My lip curled ever so slightly, a fang flashing. But she missed the visual as the words sounded…different.
Usually I was so soft spoken.
My voice carried sharp authority I had no right in having.
But it felt right. “You’re the one who made the mistake. Apologize and own up to it.”
Her body seemed to stiffen as she got up. She moved past me out of the office. I hazarded a glance at my phone.
A Text from Gandalf: “Make sure she forgets”
“...Karen.”
She looked at me, her expression blank.
“After you do that, we never spoke about it. Okay?” I said, sweetly. “Forget we ever had this conversation.”
I watched her go, counting. Nineteen this time. Before I headed back to the office. I still had plenty of documents to digitize, and a playlist to get back to.
Another text from Gandalf: “Good. We protect our own.”
I smiled, reaching for my cup that held the capri sun blood pouch. Making sure I wouldn’t be observed, I drank.
Sybil deserved the treat.