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Linda Carter, Night Nurse. (roomontheright) wrote in silverage,
@ 2011-07-05 20:25:00

Current mood:	busy
Entry tags:	!log, bill compton, linda carter

Who: Linda Carter and Bill Compton.
When: Backdated. Monday 4th of July
Where: Metropolitan General Hospital. The Room on the Right.
What: Working the night shift.
Rating/status: TBD.

4th of July was a time of celebration. Families got together, ate rich meals and blew fireworks to celebrate they were part of a free country. Unfortunately it was also meant an increase on barbecue and fireworks related accidents that kept the personal at the Metropolitan busier than usual. Even Linda Carter, who was only doing half a shift that day (oficially at least) could have used a little break after seeing her tenth patient in less than an hour.

She eventually got her break just as her shift ended, where she got the chance of taking a brief nap and eat something before gathering some files that needed organizing and settling on a little desk on one of the top floors. This part of the hospital was rarely used. It was mostly beds separated by thin curtains, beds that didn’t get much use unless an emergency called for it, as there were areas better equipped and easier to access. There was also a nurse’s station on the front and a series of offices in the back. One of those offices Linda would use from to time to treat her patients. The Room on the Right, they call it, a place equipped to treat anything from bullet wounds to broken bones and many, many unusual injuries. Even after years of practice, Linda was always learning about different powers and biology, hopefully enough to help whoever came asking for her help.

Holidays usually meant an increase on street violence and recklessness. Maybe she was overreacting, but it wouldn’t hurt to stay alert. As she finished one file and took the next, Linda told herself she’d wait three hours. If nobody came she would go home.

Sometimes, she wished more doctors would join the cause, but no one so far seemed willing to spend their free hours tending the kind of patients Linda saw in a regular basis. Perhaps it was time to branch out, she thought. Find the money to open a place of my own. Easier for the patients and probably easier to get some staff as well. If only...

Soft footsteps broke her train of thought. Looking up, she smiled at the figure approaching her. "Good evening. How may I be of service?"

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vampire_compton
2011-07-06 11:05 pm UTC (link)

It was the firecrackers that had woken him up.

It was dusk. Still just light enough where he couldn't leave his apartment (which he had spent one very long Thursday night light-proofing, but it had to be done), but close enough to sunset where he didn't feel the need to go back to resting.

Firecrackers? What day was it? He stared at the calendar on the wall (not something he would normally see a need for, but the previous tenant had left it) for several moments, blinking dumbly. Oh, the fourth of July. He always managed to forget that one.

He wasn't usually this groggy after awakening, but then again, he hadn't eaten in nearly two weeks. He had almost lost it the other night at work, scaring one of the girls at the club half to death, having unwittingly revealed his fangs when they were alone together backstage. He had to glamor her to forget, and he almost didn't have the strength to resist her neck. Still, he couldn't have the girls walking around with holes in their bodies. That certainly wouldn't sell.

So here he was, at the hospital, out of options and desperately hungry. He had a few ideas - perhaps, if the hospital was deserted enough, he could glamor a nurse or doctor into giving him a few bags of blood. That seemed unlikely to work, and if it did, what then? Would that suffice? His other idea, one which he hated himself for having, was to find someone elderly and drain them. He would pretend to be a son, a nephew, but he needed food, and he knew he wouldn't be able to restrain himself enough to prevent them from dying. So much for not killing his prey anymore...

He entered the hospital as calmly as he could, trying to look somber. It was more or less empty, and as other nurses chattered in hushed tones and stifled laughter, he noticed a single lit room down the hall, bright and welcoming. He sensed a lone female in the room - completely secluded. Well, if that's how it had to be.

He approached the woman, affecting the best worried look he could muster.

"Good evening, ma'am. I wonder if you might help me. I believe my father is here in this hospital, but he is suffering from dementia, and may have given you an incorrect name," he licked his lips, and offered a weak smile. She was young, healthy. Pink cheeked. Easy, now.

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roomontheright
2011-07-07 02:02 am UTC (link)

"Of course," Linda said, smile still on, placing the file carefully on her desk before getting up. The situation, as horrible as it sounded, was not unheard of. Luckily, eveyone on staff was prepared to deal with such cases.

"This way, please," she said as she approached the nurse's station. Empty at the moment, but information could still be found. "Now, if I you couldn give some information about your father: age, a description or a what time was he brought here. Even a small detail would help, Mr..." she blushed, realizing she had not asked the man for his name.

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vampire_compton
2011-07-07 02:19 am UTC (link)

"David Finch," he replied without hesitation. Coming up with aliases was second nature to him now - he was no longer surprised by his ability to create new names and personalities within seconds, and already an elaborate backstory for this David Finch person filled his mind.

"Perhaps I should start writing," he thought wryly.

"My father is a rather frail man. And quite old. His health has been on the decline for years now. He's been having heart trouble. Cardio...cardiomyopathy, I believe it's called?"

Of course he knew what it was called - after so many years of life, medical texts and journals were just another way to fill the time, and the truth of the matter was that the progression of medicine in just a few short years fascinated him. He saw penicillin invented, vaccines for polio and smallpox explode in usage. He had thoughts that, in some other life, maybe he could have been a doctor. At the very least, he had knowledge enough in medicine to determine what humans were safe to drink from and what weren't. He had selected a disease he knew would least impact the taste of the blood - after not having eaten for so long, he felt he at least deserved something that tasted decent.

He sighed heavily, raising his eyebrows with somber hope for a response. If there was no such patient, fine, it was an innocent mistake. At the very least he could drink from this poor nurse, though he hated the thought of draining her completely. He would have to restrain himself.

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roomontheright
2011-07-07 02:51 am UTC (link)

Linda nodded as Mr. Finch spoke. She went through each and everyfile file carefully, looking for small details that could help them find the man's father.

Just as she thought, no men with the surname Finch had been admitted. But there were at least two men that could be the elusive Mr. Finch. "I have a man with cardiomyopathy who arrived a couple of days ago. The name is Andrew Vachs," she read before looking at Mr. Finch. "Can you describe your father to me?"

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vampire_compton
2011-07-07 03:12 am UTC (link)

Uh oh. He took a deep breath, now feigning exasperation. This sort of thing he didn't have much practice in. He decided to go vague.

"Short - perhaps as tall as you. Balding, white hair. And friendly," he smiled, looking the rogue, "Perhaps too much so. He may have been flirting with some of the nurses,"

He knew many an old man, and had known several to fit that description. But this lying was getting difficult - retaining his composure among hundreds of people, both healthy and sick, his head was beginning to cloud with thoughts of how hungry he was. And watching this nurse's neck pump with life...

If only she would make eye contact with him. This would be so much simpler.

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roomontheright
2011-07-08 12:46 am UTC (link)

Linda nodded and looked at the folder in her hands. It could be the man in questions, except this one had been sedated since his arrival and thus not given any chance to be friendly.

"Perhaps we should get the Doctor in charge," she said. "He might be able to help you better with your quest." She meant to head into the hallway and call for Doctor Angelo, but stopped before and turned towards the man. It felt wrong to abandon him like this. Nursing school had taught her to care for the relatives as much she cared for the patients.

She placed a temptative hand on his shoulder. "I promise you we'll find your father, Mr. Finch," she said looking at him.

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vampire_compton
2011-07-08 01:39 am UTC (link)

And that was it. Their eyes met, just a fraction of a second, but that was all it took. Bill gazed deeply into her, and Linda would find that her brain was suddenly clear of all thought. It was not an unpleasant sensation - in fact, it would be possibly the calmest she had ever felt in her life. She was a leaf floating downstream, with nowhere to go but where the water took her.

He smiled genuinely. There was nobody nearby to witness this, at least not that he sensed, but he was cautious nonetheless. He started the way he always did.

"What is your name?" he cooed.

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	roomontheright 2011-07-08 01:49 am UTC (link)
	For a brief second, Linda thought something was wrong. But that was soon forgotten. Nothing was wrong. Everything was calm and alright and nothing seemed to matter except for the man's voice. His question. "Linda," she said. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

vampire_compton
2011-07-08 01:54 am UTC (link)

"Linda," he repeated. "Linda, I know you are a good nurse. I know you know all of your patients. I need to see one," with this, he led her a bit further into the shadows. My, but this was risky. "One who is near death. One who is unlikely to survive. Can you do that for me?"

He didn't need to ask, but he felt it was polite. He never felt quite right about entering the minds of humans (well, innocent humans). Beyond the glamouring, he was proud of himself for not feeding on this woman, who was certainly healthy and certainly wouldn't remember. At least he was managing some restraint, yet.

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	roomontheright 2011-07-08 02:13 am UTC (link)
	Linda could think of many in such condition. But one name sprung to mind. Someone she had seen very recently... "Mister Wicks on 5-C," she said softly. Cancer. Advanced stage. There was nothing left to do but keep him comfortable and pain free. "I can show you the way." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

vampire_compton
2011-07-08 02:20 am UTC (link)

Cancer. Not what he would've chosen - the treatments made the blood taste acidic, medicinal - but beggars could not be choosers, as they said.

"Thank you, Linda,"

He followed her into the room, hoping against hope that they didn't encounter another nurse or a doctor. Glamouring two was possible, but difficult, and he was having a hard enough time with one in his current state.

He entered the room to find the patient sleeping, mercifully. Machines softly whirred and buzzed, but it was otherwise quiet. Peaceful. Certainly not the worst way to go. There was a flicker of envy deep in Bill's chest. He would never know such a death. His, if it ever came, would only be a violent one.

"Linda, I need you to make sure I'm not disturbed for the next few minutes. Perhaps you should check on your other patients," he murmured. "I'm afraid Mister Wicks is beyond hope,"

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roomontheright
2011-07-08 04:32 pm UTC (link)

Linda nodded, thinking of the other patients in the hallway. She could already of the many things she should be checking. She looked at Mr. Wicks. Life and death were everyday things in the hospital, but it was always sad knowing a good person's time was ending.

"He's a good man," she said softly before walking outside. She moved silently across the hall, checking on the rest of the patients. The quiet could have been unnerving for most but for Linda it was soothing. Patients rested and she was grateful for the peace they found in their sleep.

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vampire_compton
2011-07-08 08:03 pm UTC (link)

He shut the door behind her. She seemed kind, and he hated the thought of her witnessing what he was about to do. In a way, he reminded her of Caroline. That this thought occurred to him was surprising - he hadn't thought about his human wife in years, probably not since the 50's. He hoped that Linda's life was an easier one.

Bill approached the sleeping man, and regarded him for a few moments. He was gaunt, his breathing shallow. If Bill didn't take him, it looked pretty apparent that the cancer would in the course of just a few weeks. Bill picked up the patient's chart and, at the bottom of a long list of symptoms, scribbled "anemic" in a near-perfect imitation of the previous nurse's handwriting.

The man stirred. He had better make this quick.

With what he hoped was a nurse's gentleness, he picked up the man's head, and began to feed from his neck. The man was awake for a few brief moments, but was too weak to resist or even call for help. An arm lifted to push the vampire away, and then fell back down. The man's eyes went blank, and just as quickly as he knew what was happening, he was gone.

Bill wiped his mouth, making extra sure not to get blood on the sheets, not wanting to cause undue suspicion. The holes in his neck were unavoidable - even Bill's own blood wouldn't heal them, now that he was dead, but he thought them small enough to go unnoticed.

He thought of going back to the nurse, of thanking her, and of apologizing for the man's death, but it seemed insensitive. She would forget about being glamored - the all did - and forget meeting a creature of death.

He slipped out of the room, into the hall, and out onto the cold night streets. Even though the blood was somewhat fouled by the taste of the medicines, he felt satiated, strong, even knowing that this whole event, this brutal feeding would have to happen again in a few night's time. Such was his lot. Such was the nature of his kind.

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