Chapter 3

Elijah was lucid enough by the time I’d finished tending his wound and was cleaning up to hold an intelligent conversation with me.

“It was bad, wasn’t it, doc?” he said in a soft tone.

“How did it happen?” I asked.

“I’ve got a farm about ten miles from here.  I heard the animals going crazy, so I went out to check on them.  This… thing… came at me from out of nowhere.”

“Thing?” I said with confusion.

“It was like a wolf, but it stood on its hind legs like a man and had long arms and huge hands with claws.  It was half-man, half-wolf… a werewolf.”

“We had them back when I was a kid, but they were chased out.  It looks like they’re back,” Max said with a shake of his head.  “I was making my rounds when I found Elijah stumbling down the road all bloody and such.  I debated about bringing him here, but I couldn’t think of anyone else who I could trust with such a secret.”

Just then, Angela popped her head into the room and said, “I don’t mean to interrupt.  I have excellent hearing, as you know, and I couldn’t help popping in to make sure that we’re all on the same page.  You do realize that he’s going to become a werewolf, don’t you?”

Elijah’s eyes went wide. “No!”

“The werewolves were driven out when I was young.  I have limited knowledge of them,” Max said, thoughtfully.

“That’s what happens in the movies,” I said, “but that doesn’t mean it happens in real life.  I’ve learned that much.”

“Sadly, Hollywood got this one right,” she said.  “Depending upon the type of werewolf that bit him, if he doesn’t turn by the next full moon, he’ll turn on the moon after that.”

“It’s not a full moon, is it?” I asked as I ran to the window and peered through the blinds.  To my surprise, and dismay, the moon hung like a spotlight amidst the glittering stars.  “I can’t believe it.”

“Yesterday was a bit of a blur for you,” Angela said, sympathetically.

My eyes darted to Elijah as I gave a silent plea for her to keep the topic away from vampires and zombies.  I had no idea how much this man knew, even if he was sitting on my examination table with a shoulder wound from a werewolf bite.

“We have at least one full month before that happens though, right?” Max asked, eagerly.  When Angela closed her eyes and nodded, he turned to me and whispered, “Maybe you should change the focus of your research, doc.”

“Even if I did, I don’t know if I could possibly find a cure within a month,” I breathed.

“I’ve got a feeling that Elijah won’t be the only one coming for treatment before this is through,” Max said with urgency.

I thought aloud. “I still have an immunity to zombism in my system.  I have no such thing for werewolfism.”

“What makes you immune to zombism?” Max asked with wrinkled brow.

“A low dose of vampirism,” I confessed. 

“What happens if you die with that in your system?” he asked with concern and a raised voice.

“I’d become one, I guess,” I said with hesitation.

“Not cool, Vickie,” he growled.

“It kept me safe from being infected when they captured me, and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“No one plans on dying,” Max grumbled.  “How long will this stay in your system?”

“It should be just about out by now,” Angela interjected. “It’s usually about a year.”

Max’s face turned a purplish red as he complained, “As if I don’t have enough shit to worry about.”

“Easy there, sheriff,” Angela said with a knowing grin. “She’s lived through the year and I’m guessing that the vampire virus is out of her system by now.  We can test it if you like, but I believe she’s safe.”

“I want her tested,” Max demanded.

“What about what I want?” I asked with a raised brow.

“Who’s a vampire?” Elijah asked with confusion.  “There’s vampires too?”

“It’s just a figure of speech for some private business,” Max assured him.  “No need for concern.”  He looked at me and then at Angela.  “I’m going to take Elijah home, but this conversation isn’t over.”

“Yes sir,” Angela giggled.

I pursed my lips together and said nothing as I watched Max guide Elijah out of my office and into his sheriff ‘s car.

“He’s got a major hard-on for you,” Angela sighed as she stood next to me as we watched the sheriff ‘s car drive off into the pre-dawn night.  “Want some coffee?”

I looked at my watch.  “I might as well.  It’s going to be time to get up soon.”

“It’s Saturday.  I didn’t think you worked on Saturdays.”

“It’s Saturday?” I exclaimed.  “When did that happen?” I asked as I followed her into the kitchen and watched her fill the coffee filter with coffee.

Angela said nothing as she putted around the kitchen in preparation for us to enjoy a mug of morning coffee and a toasted English muffin.

“Peter’s leaving really affected you, I think,” she finally said as she slid my mug in front of me; followed by a hot English muffin.

“I guess it did,” I said as I slathered an unhealthy amount of butter onto my muffin.  “He asked me to go with him, but I was worried about my practice.”  I set my knife down and looked at her. “I mean, maybe if I wasn’t drowning in school loans I’d have considered it, but what would I do about paying them back? We wouldn’t stay in Africa forever.  What would I come back to?  I’m just getting my practice to where it looks promising and I’ve only now started to see a nice dent in the loans.”

Angela stared at me with disbelief until she finally said, “He asked you to go to Africa with him?”  When I nodded, she added, “He’s either crazy or he knew that you wouldn’t go.”

I swallowed an unchewed chunk of muffin.  When it threatened to stick in my throat, I quickly washed it down with hot coffee.

“What do you mean?” I finally managed to say.

She looked at me as if she was debating about what to say.  Then, with a sigh, she asked, “Did Peter tell you that he has a wife and two children in Africa?”

The world buzzed around me as my peripheral vision slowly shrunk until Angela was encased in small round frames.  Seeing that I was about to faint, she reached across the table and slapped me back into my senses.

“Sorry,” she said as I rubbed my reddened cheek.  “If I’d had smelling salts, I would have used them.” She shook her head and took a long drink of the dark aromatic liquid in her mug.  “So, Peter didn’t share that with you.  I wonder if he thought I had and just kept it as a taboo topic?”

“How old are his children?” I stammered.

“Simon is ten and Dannell is eight,” she said.

“Boys,” I mused.

“Boys to which he’s very attached to,” Angela said with a scowl. “I can’t imagine how he planned on keeping them a secret if you returned to Africa with him.  Did he suddenly turn Muslim and think that he’d keep a few wives? I was surprised that he stayed away from them as long as he did to begin with.  The sex with you must be fantastic,” she smirked.  When I didn’t smile, she said, “I figured that you two were having a fabulous lover’s romp that you both knew would eventually end.  It had to end. Can’t you see?”

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. “He said that he loved me.  He said that I was his life.”

“I imagine that he does and that you are.  I never saw him so attached to a woman before.  I’ll admit that.  But, he has a family back in Africa.  He should have told you that.”

“Yes,” I said as I wiped at the flood on my face with the palms of my hands.  “Yes, he should have.”

“When he first hooked up with you, I pulled him aside and warned him that he needed to tell you. Not all women are into love affairs on the side with a married man.  I didn’t know you well enough to know if you’d be okay with it.  He promised me that he’d tell you.  So, when you two became the happy couple, I figured that he’d confessed all and that you were cool with it.”

“I had no idea,” I sniffed as I rose to get a refill on my coffee.

Seeing that my legs were threatening to fail me, she grabbed my mug and filled it for me. “Why don’t you head back to bed and stay there as long as you need while you process this news.  I’m guessing the sheriff will be returning to finish his conversation.  Evan and I can handle him.”

“That’s right. Evan’s in the house, isn’t he?” I said with a weak smile.  “Sometimes I forget.”

“He does keep himself scarce,” she chuckled.

“He’s a writer.  They’re solitary people,” I offered.

“Vickie, are you okay?” she asked with concern.  “You do remember that the writer thing is just his cover for the vampire army job.  Just like the traveling social worker is mine. Right?”

I looked at her as if I was just seeing her and said in a light, distracted voice, “Yes.  Yes.  A cover.”

She stood up and walked around the table to where I sat.  Putting one hand under my elbow, she nudged me to my feet. “That’s it.  Time for you to go snuggle back into your bed.”

I allowed her to lead me back into my bedroom and remove my robe.  I made no move to cover my nakedness.  Her compliment about my breasts being so big and beautiful and my waist so small that my figure could rival Dolly Parton sounded more like a female admiring another female in the same way she’d admire a hairdo or an outfit than as coming from a place of lust, so I paid it no mind as she helped me back into my bed and pulled the covers over me until they were tucked neatly beneath my chin.