Page 47 of Hospital for Immortal Creatures
The boy appeared with a wide grin across his face, reminding her once again of Sammy. “Amelia! I’m so glad you came!”
“Hey, Dave!” She smiled at him and waved in greeting.
“Did you manage to escape from the Tribunal?” he asked as he led them inside the room.
“I’m here, aren’t I…”
“I told you there’s no reason to worry. Amelia is perfectly safe,” Mikhail reassured Dave, leaning his back against the wall.
While she relaxed on the couch, her eyes landed on Dave’s mother. “I wouldn’t want to disturb your mum.”
“Oh, no worries! She loves hearing voices. Look, Amelia! Ever since I met you, I’ve wanted to show you my greatest invention!” Dave rushed to the wardrobe and rummaged through the insides until he retrieved a small glass vial with transparent fluid. “Vampire scent perfume! Isn’t it so cool, Amelia? Imagine this – today, you’re a nymph; tomorrow, you spray on a drop of this, and you’re a vampire!”
She had no idea what to say, so she just kept the conversation going. “Do you create other interesting things like that?”
“Oh, yeah! When I was younger, I made a love potion.”
Amelia’s jaw dropped. She chanced a glance at Mikhail, who confirmed it with a nod. “Does it work?”
“Well… I’m not sure… The only girl I tried it on didn’t want to talk to me anymore after that. And then we came to the Hospital and there aren’t really any girls my age in the Hospital.”
“It must be very boring for you here.” Amelia turned to the woman on the bed, whose condition hadn’t changed a bit since she’d last seen her.
“Nah, I have friends! Every day, someone comes by to see Mum, and we talk a lot. They bring me cool stuff, like… Oh, check this out!” Dave took out several books, toys and other small objects he showed off as gifts from the Hospital staff.
They spent half an hour listening to stories from Dave’s books about powerful heroes and wonderful adventures, and then Mikhail, using a tone much softer than the one he used to address Amelia, explained to the boy they must go, but promised to come back again soon. His gentle and carefree tone made Amelia question whether the memory of the creature he’d turned into was just a figment of her delirious imagination.
But as they stepped out into the hallway, that curious threatening energy enveloped her once again. There was no way a regular human could emit such power.
“Dave… is he like you?” she asked.
“He’s a different species. A witcher. Although at this age, he’s practically like any other kid. Still mortal.” Amelia’s confusion must have shown on her features, for he clarified, “Immortality is reached at different ages – twenty, thirty, forty, depending on the species. That’s when the body stops ageing, becomes stronger and unlocks the secondary form, for those species that do have one.”
“So, immortality is inherited?”
“Yes.”
Two women in short white aprons flew past them without paying them any attention.
A sudden thought occurred to her. “Why would someone want to smell like a vampire?”
Mikhail’s lips shaped the slightest smile. “Honestly? I have no idea. Every creature has an odour that’s typical of the species and the creature itself. It’s not always detected by everyone, but let’s say that some immortals can discover a lot about you just from the way you smell. I imagine the so-called perfume that Dave created masks that smell.”
She ignored the urge to sniff the air around herself. “And if you’re already a vampire?”
“Why don’t you ask the inventor next time? I’m sure he’ll be more informative.”
They headed down the hallway, passing by a man in civilian clothes, who nodded at Mikhail.
“The Hospital has twenty operating rooms, within which every type of surgery is performed. The immortal world is extremely dynamic. Creatures from all over the globe come here for help.” Once more, he must have noticed the scepticism written on her face, so he explained further, “We may appear humans, but we’re not. If you pierce a human through the heart with a stake, he’ll die immediately, right? But if you do that to a manticore or lycanthrope or any other immortal species, they could live like this for a day or two, or five, long enough to reach the Hospital.”
“Do you cure people – actual humans, I mean?”
“Very rarely. But we do have humans who work here. Some nurses, assisting staff, and a few doctors.”
She tried to conceal her excitement. Maybe if she found one of them, they could help her escape. “Are there any other hospitals like this?”
“No. There are different groups across the world – vampire tribes, witch clans and necromancers that have their own healing methods, but those are often ancient and ineffective. I prefer to rely on modern medicine.”