Midnight at St. Benedict's

Chapter 4

"Let me get this straight," Jax was sitting in one of the staff room arm chairs tapping his fingers on his knee. "You're telling me Christophe has contracted some kind of vampire disease?"

Lisel had called Jax in as soon as she and Dr. Jeraldo had finished their tests.  They'd spent the last half hour explaining what they'd seen under the microscope. Jax had listened intently, without interruption. Until now.

"We don't know that it only affects vampires," Dr. Jeraldo said. He was sitting across from Jax on a floral love seat, his elbows resting against his knees. He had a mug on the coffee table in front of him and Lisel was pretty sure it contained something stronger than coffee, but she could hardly blame the doctor. The discovery of a disease that could knock out a mature vampire would send reverberations throughout the entire underworld.

"How do we fight it?" Jax asked.

Dr. Jeraldo reached for his mug and took a long sip, not answering.

Jax stood up and immediately began pacing. Lisel was leaning against the coffee counter where she'd been watching the exchange. She'd let Dr. Jeraldo do most of the talking but now Jax turned to her.

"What do you think we should do?"

Lisel blew out a breath. How the hell was she supposed to know how to treat a possible vampire epidemic? But Jax was looking at her, jaw clenched, and she could feel the tension rolling off him. He was worried about his friend.

"Maybe we should try to figure out how Christophe contracted the disease in the first place," she suggested.

"You mean find the source of the infection," Dr. Jeraldo nodded eagerly, putting down his cup. "That's an excellent starting point."

"We could see if he was exposed to any foreign substances," Lisel said. "Or if he travelled somewhere new."

Jax looked from Lisel to the doctor.

"I know Christophe didn't do anything out of the ordinary," he said. "I already retraced his steps for the past week before he got sick."

"But he could have been exposed through something in his normal life," Dr. Jeraldo stood up, moving toward them. The doctor was always a better thinker when he was moving. "Did Christophe have any recent injuries? Any cuts or gashes?"

"Not that I saw," Lisel answered. "I did a basic examination when I was at the house and I couldn't find anything."

"Ok," Dr. Jeraldo nodded, thinking. "Where does he feed?"

Lisel knew he wasn't talking restaurants.

"The Hole," Jax mentioned an ironically named upscale downtown club that none of Lisel's friends had ever been able to get into. Knowing it to be a vampire hang out, Lisel had never tried to go there herself.

"I'm hoping that's not the source," Dr. Jeraldo said. "Otherwise we could be looking at a much larger epidemic."

"I've had my ear to the ground on this," Jax said. "I haven't heard of anyone else being sick."

"They could be hiding it though," Lisel pointed out. "I mean the way you are with Christophe."

But Jax shook his head.

"I don't think anyone else would have the same motivation," he said. "Any other vampire would want to get help. Only Christophe's illness could have repercussions."

"Then maybe he was targeted," Dr. Jeraldo said. "I think you should check out whoever Christophe has been feeding from. At the very least you're going to want to question them and we'll need a blood test to see if there are any human carriers."

"Ok," Jax agreed. "Lisel should come with me."

"Of course," Dr. Jeraldo agreed before Lisel could express an opinion. "She'll be able to collect samples and it's not like I can walk into a vampire bar."

Lisel couldn't really argue with that point, so she didn't.

"I think Saturday is the best time to go," Jax continued. "It's the busiest night of the week."

"The sooner the better," the doctor agreed.

"I can't do Saturday," Lisel interrupted, bringing their attention to her.

"Why not?" Dr. Jeraldo looked at her with a creased brow. She rarely said no when he needed her to work.

Lisel was about to say 'because I need to go see my boyfriend's band' when she realized how lame that would sound. The patient had to come first.

"It's nothing, I just have something to take care of earlier in the evening," she turned to Jax. "Can I meet up with you around eleven?"

"Does anything interesting even happen before eleven?" Jax asked and Lisel took that as her answer.