"Your heart is still beating," the physician said, readjusting the stethoscope around his neck.
Cora resisted the impulse to roll her eyes. She was certain that this was no physician at all. He wore glasses and a white coat with the name "Dr. Wright" embroidered on it, but he felt almost like a caricature of the real thing… like a vampire's assumption of what a human doctor should be.
What would vampires need doctors for anyway? And why would a vampire even need a stethoscope? She knew he could clearly hear her heartbeat without it. No, this was an act that they were putting on based on what they imagined her expectations of a doctor to be.
The palace had plenty of scientists, however. Maybe Dr. Wright was a scientist who got to play at being a medical doctor on the days when she came in. Maybe he even had to audition for it. The thought made her stifle a laugh.
"Have you been eating well?" He asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Yes."
"Blood?"
"Pardon me?" She asked, scrunching up her face.
"Have you been trying out the blood I recommended? Even a little bit? It could move the process along."
"No. No blood," she replied, licking her lips as if there was an awful taste in her mouth.
"You must try the blood," he mumbled and scribbled something in his notes before focusing back on her. "What have you been doing in your spare time?"
Cora sighed. What did he want to hear? This was the most boring place she had ever been.
"There is not much to do honestly. I read a lot. Cook. Bake. I have started to make things."
"Make things?" He asked, as if this alone was a dangerous possibility.
"Yeah. Just… with fabric. Not outside. I have been sewing. Clothes and dolls. I'm planning on starting quilts. It's so cold here."
Dr. Wright's eyebrows lifted to indicate the acceptability of this pastime.
"I would like to get out, do some gardening, you know… exercise. But everyone is terrified of me, Dr. Wright," she tilted her head to the side, a coy smile on her lips as she tested these suggestions.
"No! No… no gardening," he said, trying to disguise his initial alarm. "Now, you know that, Cora," he attempted a chuckle as he noticed the playfulness in her eyes.
"Is there nowhere I can be that is outside my own home? Maybe on the palace grounds somewhere… I can grow things," she shrugged.
Another alarmed expression from the good doctor had her twisting her mouth to hide the smile that wanted to expose her teasing.
"I doubt that," he cleared his throat.
"Will you ask for me?" She pouted.
"I will ask," he replied, adding another scribble to his notes. "Now then," he put his notes away and took out some plastic gloves, putting on the first one as he peered at her over the top of his glasses. "I need you to remove your clothes."
"Excuse me?" She scoffed, the humor in this situation flying out the window. "Why?"
"Her majesty has requested a number of new tests. They are concerned," he told her.
"About what?" An edge of anger cut through her words, causing Dr. Wright to blink a few times.
"Well… obviously that you are not transitioning," he spread his arms out to reveal how obvious it was.
"And how is taking my clothes off going to help?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"Let me ask you this. What kind of books are you reading?" He snapped the second glove on.
"What?" She scoffed.
"What genre of books? Romance?" His eyebrows lifted in curiosity.
'Is this bastard spying on me?' She growled in her mind, her cheeks flushing. Was it the old librarian that ratted her out?
"Obviously you are wanting to be sexually active. The question is whether it is the biological impulse for procreation, which is not vampire-based or whether it is just," he shrugged, "curiosity, which may have root in your vampire genes."
"And how the hell do you expect to find out THAT difference?" She growled.
"I have some theories. Please, let me test them out," he gestured to her, as if she should just obey and remove her clothes like a good patient.
"What theories?" She snarled, unable to hold back the venom bleeding through.
"Well, if I stimulate you…" he began, causing her to jump off the table. The doctor blinked innocently, watching her back away from him.
"I am not here to be an experimental subject for you Dr. Wright, if that is even your real name. My heart will stop when it is ready, and whatever sexual activity my body does or doesn't want to engage in is my business. No one else's! Not even her majesty's! I'm done with these check-ups!" She growled, sliding against the wall toward the door.
"Miss Cora, you cannot be done! These visits must continue," he replied patiently. "It is part of the agreement."
Then the doctor's eyes went as large as saucers when he noticed the green vines criss-crossing the window behind him where there had only been glass prior.
"Is this a threat, Miss Cora?" He called nervously after her. "Threats will not be tolerated on the palace grounds!"
Zane watched his sister storm out of the room and walk straight past him. "I will wait for you out front," she mumbled.
She wanted to tell him not to listen to any ridiculous requests from the doctor, but Zane was more than capable of taking care of himself. He may have been younger than her, but he was much larger physically and had a fiery spirit of his own.
"Miss Cora," a familiar voice arrested her steps.
"Prince Grayson," she turned slowly, attempting to school her features as much as possible, which was difficult considering what she just had to escape.
"I thought I heard your heartbeat in the palace," he smirked. "Is everything alright? It is quite faster than normal, I must say."
"Yes, everything is fine. I just… the uh, the doctor…" she stuttered, regretting being caught by him. These conversations with Grayson never ceased to be uncomfortable, but at least he wasn't as intolerable as his brother Rayth.
Grayson looked behind him to where Zane was disappearing behind the door to the makeshift doctor's office. "What did Dr. Wright do? Was he unprofessional?"
"He… well, um," she replayed the conversation in her head, her cheeks growing warm again—a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
How much could she complain to a vampire prince like Grayson? She doubted he would understand or even find it inappropriate. He might even make her return to finish the exam. According to the doctor, it was Grayson's own mother who ordered the tests.
"I have exciting news for you," he told her, leaning forward as if it was a secret that they must not alert anyone else to.
Her gaze darted back to him, wary of what he could possibly think was exciting in this place. He stared at her, his expression freezing in the creepy way it did sometimes—as if he was a simulation of life rather than life itself.
She had noticed this about the vampires. They could stand completely still without blinking or moving a muscle—not even the flutter of an eyelash or twitch of their fingers—like they simply… got stuck. When she pointed it out to Zane once, he suggested that it may be that they were trying to control their thirst. Predators often freeze before pouncing on their prey.
"Lovely," she grumbled to Zane at the time.
Cora swallowed carefully now, trying not to panic as Grayson stared at her in that frozen way only a few feet from her. If he wanted to pounce, she would be done for before she even realized he had moved. They were so fast… the vampires.
"Are you…" she looked behind her nervously before turning back to him, and she noticed that his eyes followed her while everything else stayed frozen. Even the otherwise charming smile on his face was frozen. Goddess, was she really meant to become one of these creatures? "Are you waiting for me to ask what the exciting news is?"
"Yes, the news!" His body became reanimated, flowing organically again. "There is another vampire in Gray Vale who wishes to live, Cora. We need you."