The Vampire's Requiem [malexmale]

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight (Newell)

The hospital was a sterile, cold place to me. Even with the furnace on and making the place nice and cozy, there was still an uncomfortably eerie air to the place. Everything was blindingly white and the sunlight shining through dozens and dozens of windows only made it worse.

If Xed hadn't been walking beside me, towering high and blocking out the sun from shining in my face, I'd of burnt to a crisp by now.

We walked through the hospital slowly, taking our time and trying to appear as casual as possible. We weren't just walking through the way we were on our way here, though. Claude and Kristophe had forced us to infiltrate in disguises. Xed was dressed as my older sibling with a v-neck black sweater and matching jeans, a cell phone sticking out of his pocket and a necklace with a cross on it. Meanwhile, they had forced me into a navy and gray striped shirt and jeans. The ruse was that I was suffering from amnesia and I was prone to seizures. I had no idea how I was going to fake that should the time come, but for now, our focus was to find Misha.

Which would be easier considering the hospital was overflowing with children. They walked with parents or siblings, a few in groups or pairs. Some were giggling and chattering away, others silent and staring at the floor as if trying to process their own lives. Nurses shuffled from room to room and doctors came in and out of rooms with grim expressions.

Despite the sunlight and the occasional children's drawing on the wall, the place seemed a bit dead today. We were informed that Misha would be volunteering today, however. It was just a matter of finding him.

"Excuse me, can I help you?" A woman's voice asked. We turned to see a nurse approaching us, wearing aqua green scrubs with pictures of Winnie the Pooh on them. Her auburn hair was tied up tight in a ponytail, making her widow's peak more pronounced. Her grey-blue eyes were behind a pair of thick, dark blue glasses.

"We're looking for Mr. Misha?" I asked sweetly. The nurse smiled warmly, hugging her clipboard tight to her chest as she looked down at me. I prepared myself as she looked at me the way adults always looked at children.

"Is that so? Aren't you just the cutest? What's your name, hun?" She asked. I almost responded with my real name, then caught myself in case the woman wasn't who she pretended to be.

"Nicholas." I replied shyly, taking a step back beside Xed, who took my hand as a response. The nurse beamed at that, her cheeks pinkening as if she were restraining herself from squealing in delight.

"Oh, that's a nice name. Have you checked in, sweetheart? You look new. Is this your friend?" She asked, looking at Xed, who just stared at her blankly.

"My big brother," I answered politely, then frowned, "But he can't talk." The nurse's expression became sad as she glanced at Xed, then at me.

"How come?" She asked.

"He's broken." I said. The nurse nibbled her lower lip, then nodded before gesturing for us to follow her.

"My name's Macy," She explained as she wrote things down on a clipboard and led us down the hallway, "I can show you to where he does his shows. After that, we can get you all registered. Is that okay?" She looked at Xed, who just nodded. She smiled at that, then continued down the hallway until we reached the elevators. We stepped inside along with two other children, a nurse, and a man in a business suit. She hit the seventh floor button and we waited as dull elevator music began to play.

I frowned after a moment, however. I smelled something odd, aside from old perfume and rubber. It wasn't sulfur either, thank goodness. The last thing I needed was the yakuza actually leaving New York to find me. But it was still an odd scent and I didn't have a chance to pinpoint it as the elevator stopped at our floor and we got off. This floor was obnoxiously painted with multiple different flowers and cartoon characters, several of which I recognized from Starling's favorite cartoons.