A Lover Cursed

Meet-Cute

To say the new underground vampire medical center was impressive was an understatement. Though, an entire two months in the clinic at the brotherhood compound, and honestly just a coffee shop would have been refreshing at this point. Though Calantha was recovering, the progress was slow and she was impatient. She'd tried her best to get through physical therapy with their human doctor, and though Dr Manello was kind enough, it was too unnerving to be around human doctors. Regular, pass-on-the-street humans were just fine. Add a MD or a white coat though, and it was game-over for Calantha's sanity.

So she'd asked to go to the species' medical center for pt. The place was bustling, and as the friendly doggen - Mahya - who had accompanied her pushed her wheelchair through the hallways, Calantha felt enveloped and comforted by the activity that took no notice of her. It may have seemed like chaos to others, but she knew there was, in the background, and organization to the chaos of the place.

It didn't take them long to get to where they were going. The physical therapy area wasn't one that was likely to be used all that often. Vampires usually healed rather quickly, negating the need for ongoing PT. There was a small waiting area where she waited while Mahya checked her in. It wasn't long before -

"Calantha?" She turned slightly in her chair as a tall male in a white coat walked towards her, chart in hand. He was tall, with kind brown eyes, a few day's beard growth, and long dark hair pulled back. His smile lit up his whole face as he came closer and stuck out his hand for her to shake. "My name is Nash, I'm one of the doctors here. I'll be taking care of you today."

"It's nice to meet you, doctor." she said, shaking his hand.

"I have to say, it is so good to see you. I could hardly believe it when I saw your name on my list for the night. I helped take care of you two months ago when the Brotherhood brought you in. Its so good to see you alive!"

Calantha smiled warmly. "Well, its good to be alive." She tried to believe that, and being here in these walls, maybe today it was at least half true.

"I'll take you over to a patient room and we can get started."

Nash was impossibly kind and gentle, with exactly the kind of warm personality that made a doctor a Healer. His eyes had widened as she handed over her chart - thank goodness for the cloud where she had kept all her medical records. He took a bit of time to go through some of the most important points: chronic aplastic anemia caused by osteomyelitis; transition problems resulting in a slight deformation of her lower left leg and foot; von Willebran disease.

"Von Willebran disease?" Nash asked, looking up from the stack of papers. "I've never heard of that."

"I've never met a vampire with it. It's a blood clotting disorder, I don't have factor 8 proteins. But my numbers were good and I was completely, functionally, normal before... before the..."

Nash nodded, "Okay, so then we can be optimistic you'll get back to functionally normal with treatment."

Calantha nodded in agreement. Unfortunately, "treatment" involved things she didn't want and really didn't have here. Though Tohrment's blood was the strongest she'd ever had, it was inconvenient and embarrassing to take in as much as she needed.

The physical therapy itself was about as she expected: painful and slow, which didn't suit her personality one bit. "I can tell you aren't going to want to go slow, but you HAVE to be gentle with your body right now. Doctors orders." Calantha rolled her eyes, but she knew he was right.

************

Yearning curled in Havers stomach, reaching up to his brain and distracting him from the tasks at hand. I was a familiar ache, a burning greed for what his whole body knew was coming. With a hurried hand, he finished the last chart of the evening and shut his computer with a too-swift motion. He knew what he needed, and heaven help anything that stood in his way. As he stood, the smell hit his nose and his mouth began to water. Even this far away, he could almost taste it.