involuntarily changed everything, including her brain. . . Selene, could you tell her to stop?” Restraining me from eating his friend wasn’t easy. I didn’t want to hurt Alpha-male badly; I just wanted to persuade him to let me go.
Leave the third creature alone. He is an ally.
I was disappointed, but rules are rules. I submit to your will. “Is that your wife?” Nat asked.
Mom morphed for the fourth time. “Yes. You must be Dr. Silver.
Sorry about the kimono; I’ve been in pajamas all day. You can let her go, Andy.”
“As long as you don’t try to rip me into little pieces, Mrs. Anghel. Selene, right? Pleased to meet you, by the way. So let me get this straight: Dianne here is stuck as an animal, since she doesn’t know how to go poof into a girl again?”
“It’s worse than that. She doesn’t even want to. From what I can tell, she was so upset that she subconsciously preferred to retreat into a basic, childlike mental state, rather than have to deal with the possibility of me being sick. Wait, I nearly forgot about the HIV thing. Now Dianne’s position definitely sounds attractive. Can I be feral too, please?”
“No, dear,” Dad whispered, massaging her shoulders.
“I get it.” Nat scratched his orange hair and looked perturbed. “I don’t know how I can really help you, though I suppose I could examine her the way I wasn’t able to last time. That is if she doesn’t go Bad Moon Rising on me.”
“Andy can hold her, and I’ll talk to her. We should probably move downstairs; put Dianne on a table so you can work with her. How much do you know about animals?”
“Quite a bit, actually. I started my career as a veterinarian, but after I became a vampire, I realized that I had a couple of centuries to try new things, so I went back to medical school. Blood lust can be difficult in the dissecting room, though, which reminds me of this one really funny story. . .” He chuckled, then stopped and looked at my parents’ faces. “That I will tell when the three Anghels who have the ability to hurt me considerably aren’t passing through a supernatural health crisis.”
“Good idea,” said Mom.
Through a combination of pushing, pulling, and growls the three adults managed to get me into the kitchen. Dad warmed up some of the raw meat we kept on hand, and put in on a bowl we used for Mom every month. By placing it on top of the counter and piling up phone books, he got me to jump up onto the flat surface. My wolf-mother sat next to it and communicated assurance and security to keep me calm, while my more humanoid parent scratched behind my ears.
“I used to make lots of house calls back in the day,” the physician mumbled, taking various medical instruments out of his bag, “but none of them were exactly the same, somehow.”
I grew increasingly crabby at being poked at by a person not in my best graces, and nipped his fingers a few times to let him know it. Poor Nat! He frequently cursed under his breath, but remained gentle throughout.
He only wants to help, Mom repeated, scolding me every time I bit. He is trying to help.
From all three I sensed fear and one unspoken question. Could I be helped?
After Nat finished looking me over, he shrugged sadly. “All this is extremely interesting, but this isn’t my domain. I’m just a humble vampire doctor. I’m very sorry. I liked Dianne very much.”
The other wolf looked at Dad as if she wanted to say something, then shook her head and left the room. My father looked more dead than he had in a long time. “It all started with me,” he said. “Selene’s crying, I know.” Seeing that I was no longer needed, I climbed down and lay next to Dad’s feet. He stroked me absentmindedly.
“I’ll test her this week. Who know? Maybe vampires can’t transmit it after all. You can’t blame yourself, bro. Everyone tries as hard as he or she can.” Nat finished packing up his stuff and pulled up another chair.
“Tries hard to do what?”
“You
Leave the third creature alone. He is an ally.
I was disappointed, but rules are rules. I submit to your will. “Is that your wife?” Nat asked.
Mom morphed for the fourth time. “Yes. You must be Dr. Silver.
Sorry about the kimono; I’ve been in pajamas all day. You can let her go, Andy.”
“As long as you don’t try to rip me into little pieces, Mrs. Anghel. Selene, right? Pleased to meet you, by the way. So let me get this straight: Dianne here is stuck as an animal, since she doesn’t know how to go poof into a girl again?”
“It’s worse than that. She doesn’t even want to. From what I can tell, she was so upset that she subconsciously preferred to retreat into a basic, childlike mental state, rather than have to deal with the possibility of me being sick. Wait, I nearly forgot about the HIV thing. Now Dianne’s position definitely sounds attractive. Can I be feral too, please?”
“No, dear,” Dad whispered, massaging her shoulders.
“I get it.” Nat scratched his orange hair and looked perturbed. “I don’t know how I can really help you, though I suppose I could examine her the way I wasn’t able to last time. That is if she doesn’t go Bad Moon Rising on me.”
“Andy can hold her, and I’ll talk to her. We should probably move downstairs; put Dianne on a table so you can work with her. How much do you know about animals?”
“Quite a bit, actually. I started my career as a veterinarian, but after I became a vampire, I realized that I had a couple of centuries to try new things, so I went back to medical school. Blood lust can be difficult in the dissecting room, though, which reminds me of this one really funny story. . .” He chuckled, then stopped and looked at my parents’ faces. “That I will tell when the three Anghels who have the ability to hurt me considerably aren’t passing through a supernatural health crisis.”
“Good idea,” said Mom.
Through a combination of pushing, pulling, and growls the three adults managed to get me into the kitchen. Dad warmed up some of the raw meat we kept on hand, and put in on a bowl we used for Mom every month. By placing it on top of the counter and piling up phone books, he got me to jump up onto the flat surface. My wolf-mother sat next to it and communicated assurance and security to keep me calm, while my more humanoid parent scratched behind my ears.
“I used to make lots of house calls back in the day,” the physician mumbled, taking various medical instruments out of his bag, “but none of them were exactly the same, somehow.”
I grew increasingly crabby at being poked at by a person not in my best graces, and nipped his fingers a few times to let him know it. Poor Nat! He frequently cursed under his breath, but remained gentle throughout.
He only wants to help, Mom repeated, scolding me every time I bit. He is trying to help.
From all three I sensed fear and one unspoken question. Could I be helped?
After Nat finished looking me over, he shrugged sadly. “All this is extremely interesting, but this isn’t my domain. I’m just a humble vampire doctor. I’m very sorry. I liked Dianne very much.”
The other wolf looked at Dad as if she wanted to say something, then shook her head and left the room. My father looked more dead than he had in a long time. “It all started with me,” he said. “Selene’s crying, I know.” Seeing that I was no longer needed, I climbed down and lay next to Dad’s feet. He stroked me absentmindedly.
“I’ll test her this week. Who know? Maybe vampires can’t transmit it after all. You can’t blame yourself, bro. Everyone tries as hard as he or she can.” Nat finished packing up his stuff and pulled up another chair.
“Tries hard to do what?”
“You
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