Bleeding Heart

Cela and Maddie followed Victoria and Daphne to the facility as back up for any resistance they may have encountered from Dr. Le Fleur. Her pleasant and accommodating demeanor were quite unexpected. Their belongings had already been packed and they were waiting for them in their wheelchairs.

“What do you make of that?!”

“Very odd, Daph; it’s like she was expecting us.”

“And no flack to boot! She must’ve gotten laid.”

“If getting laid did that for her, I want his number.”

They had already decided that they would not put them in another nursing home, they would get nurses to care for them during the day though it would be a squeeze on their finances. The money Leonard withdrew from his company’s 401k had been nearly depleted and disability only covered so much, however, the business had been picking up.

The light on Victoria’s answering machine was flashing. “Ms. Collinson, no, I shall call you Ms. Cojocaru… niece Vicki. It’s your uncle, call me. Don’t make this difficult, we must talk. We must plan. La revedere pentru acum (goodbye for now.)”

There had been several messages from Ben. “What are we gonna do, Vic?”

“We can’t put him off forever. He’s a vampire, I’m sure he has his ways. I’ll have to call him back. I’ll put him on speaker, so you can listen in.” One ring and…

“Blanchet Manor, house of Beniamin Cojocaru, Mrs. Pallor speaking.”

“Mrs. Pallor, this is Victoria Co… I’m sure you know who this is. I need to speak to Ben.”

“I will see if the Maestru is available.”

“My niece, Victoria! What a pleasant surprise! You and your sister are ready to talk business.”

“Yes.”

“Victoria?! What are we gonna say?!”

“I’ve got this Daph. Sorry, Ben, yes, we are ready to meet with you. Tell us where and when and we’ll meet you there.”

“That won’t be necessary, your cousin, Kert, will pick you up. Say, Friday evening at 5.”

“I don’t know if I can make that, I’ll have to make arrangements for extended care hours for Cosimo’s nurse.”

“Cosimo’s nurse?! The nursing home should have ample coverage.”

“Didn’t Dr. Le Fleur tell you? They’re home now, with Daphne and me.”

A long pause was followed by hissing noises. “No, she did not. Call me when you have it arranged.”

“I don’t like this, Vic. He’s talking crazy shit. Lenny and Cosi have already improved since leaving that damn nursing hell home. Is that his plan? To make all of us ‘chow’ for the vampire?”

“Ben is our uncle, our father’s brother; we too, may be vampires.”

“I dunno about you but I don’t feel the need to slurp anybody’s blood!”

“It may be more than that, what if we’re some kind of, hybrid?”

“Ugh! That would make us monsters! Like a, a chimera!”

“I think you may have hit the nail on the head. There are already many examples of human chimeras that already exist. Would it be so bad, Daph?”

“Eeeew! That’s too freaky for me!”

“There’s nothing freaky about it; a chimera is a single organism that’s made up of cells from two or more individuals, two sets of DNAs, with the code to make two separate organisms.”

“Has Ben been feeding you this crap?”

“No, not Ben. That just came to me. That’s been happening a lot; don’t you ever get the feeling that there’s more to you? Like, maybe now, your finding out who you really are and what your capable of?”

“Well, sometimes, I get these flashes, words and images… and I block them out, I just block them out.”

“Haven’t you ever thought it strange that some of your paintings and my writings predict future events?”

“No, I never really thought about it. I just went with it.”

“Yes! So, did I! And now, there’s this new… activity. We should go with it, we should both go with it!”

“No, Vic. This is too weird. I’ll fight this, whatever it is. You can meet with Ben, but I’m not going. This is some power trippin’ on steroids.”

“I won’t force you but I think you’re making a mistake. I want to know Victoria Cojocaru.”