CHAPTER 4 The Doctor

Cecilia closed her eyes as she didn’t want to see what Donald was doing. Closing her eyes was worse than just watching because she could hear the loud slurps coming from Donald as he was drinking Alex’s blood, as if he had had nothing to drink in weeks. She couldn’t hide the horror on her face, but she wouldn’t say or do anything.

"Oh! That hit the spot," Donald said with a loud moan of satisfaction as he dropped Alex’s corpse onto the ground with a thud.

"I didn’t say to suck him dry, Donald. That will come out of your paycheck," Mother scolded.

"But, Mother, I haven’t had a decent meal all day and with the Hunter’s Moon coming up, I just couldn’t wait," Donald argued.

"Next," the doctor called out, and the next pet walked behind the curtain with him.

Terri and Cecilia were next, but Cecilia couldn’t move forward. Terri noticed this and grabbed her hand. Cecilia jumped as they brought her attention back to Terri.

"Breathe. Calm down. You’re going to be okay," Terri whispered.

"He’s dead. He…he killed him," Cecilia stammered.

"They won’t harm you unless you run," Terri explained. "Just don’t run."

"Next!" the doctor yelled, and Terri turned to walk to him. Cecilia grabbed her hand to keep her in place. She couldn’t leave her alone.

"It’s okay," Terri said as she pried Cecilia’s hand away and followed the doctor into the tent.

Cecilia stood at the front of the line, trying to keep from shivering. Donald and Mother casually talked as Donald began shoving Alex’s body into a large black bag.

How could they act like Alex’s life meant nothing?

Donald looked so normal, but his teeth. Vampires were real, but that made little sense. How could this be? Cecilia fought back the tears as she realized she could have been killed at any moment when she was trying to get free. She could have gotten Terri killed, and Terri had been nothing but nice to her.

Terri came out of the tent looking pale. She didn’t look at Cecilia before walking back to the cage they both stayed in. Cecilia wanted to go to her to ask her what was wrong, but she now knew better. She had to do everything right or she could end up like Alex.

"Next!"

Cecilia took a deep breath and walked slowly past Mother and Donald without meeting their gaze.

Mother ?gave her an approving glance as Cecilia stood still in line?and not once did she try?to escape. Mother thought for sure that she had finally learned her lesson.

Cecilia entered the tent and stood in front of the doctor, who was typing on his laptop. She said nothing as she waited for the doctor to acknowledge her. He was a tall, thin man with black glasses on and a white coat. His hair was black and grey.

"Please sit on the bed," the doctor instructed.

Cecilia sat down on the bed without hesitation. The doctor looked at her and noticed that Cecilia’s breathing was erratic. Her fear lingered in the air like the scent of a freshly baked pie. Most would have drooled, but he was a professional. He could ignore his base instincts.

"You have nothing to worry about. I am only making sure you are healthy," the doctor explained. "Was this your first time seeing that?"

Cecilia nodded as she allowed the doctor to take her pulse and listen to her heartbeat.

"You will get used to it. This is your life now. You must be a stray then. Most strays knew about vampires, but never actually met one and lived," the doctor said.

"A stray?" Cecilia asked.

"Yes, we call humans that lived on the outskirts strays. They never lived in the cities, so some never even knew we took over for a long time. They have really sheltered you for you to not know this. A shame your parents failed you," the Doctor replied as he inspected Cecilia’s back.

"You need to learn to behave. From the faint scars on your back, I see you are very familiar with a whip." The doctor clicked his tongue in disapproval. Mother had been very rough with her. The cream he gave her should’ve made the scars fade, but only so much as it could do for continuous damage. Based on Cecilia’s demeanor, he didn’t think she was that much of a problem.

The doctor continued examining her body, noticing that she was in almost perfect condition for a human, which was odd. She was past puberty in her 20s, but no human living on the outskirts was this healthy. The doctor opened Cecilia’s mouth to inspect her teeth and noticed they were clean. She even had a cavity filled some time ago. That made little sense. Dentists only did the bare minimum for humans.

"You must have been owned by someone because of your teeth. Why did they give you up? Who owned you?" the doctor asked.

"…No one," Cecilia answered.

"Unlikely. You’re too well taken care of," the doctor responded.

"No one ever believes me," Cecilia sighed. "I was never owned by anyone."

The doctor frowned at Cecilia’s blank expression. He didn’t think she was lying. If she was telling the truth, there were skilled humans that had failed to present themselves to the Vampire Lord. He would ask Mother about her supplier.

"You are in top condition. You have done well to keep yourself healthy. Most lose hope or just stop caring once they have been caught," the Doctor said not expecting a response from Cecilia as he added notes on his laptop, "I am going to take your blood."

The doctor cleaned Cecilia’s arm and took her blood. He used the test kit to filter for diseases and blood types. After the plague, more caution was taken when it came to pets. A lot of good vampires died because of a human living in filthy environments. Again, the doctor was surprised as he reviewed the test results.

"You have no diseases, not even a parasite. And your blood type…O+," the doctor said. He couldn’t help but lick his lips at the idea of tasting her blood. She had one of the rarest blood types. Perhaps he would put in a bid for her. The doctor clicked over to the next screen to document her medical record and paused.

"You have no medical record. You have no record at all. How is this possible?" he muttered as he took another sample from Cecilia. Again, the results were the same.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Cecilia Adams."

"Where are you from?"

"Atlanta, Georgia,"

"Impossible. Don’t play games with me," the doctor said.

"I’m not. I was kidnapped. I woke up here over a week ago, and I don’t know how I got here. I didn’t even know vampires existed until today," Cecilia explained.

If the doctor had not seen her herself or her test results, he would have believed that Cecilia was defective. However, there was no way to explain what he was seeing on the screen. He turned away from Cecilia and created a record for her. He had no choice but to register her for the Hunter's Moon based on her results.

"I don’t know who you are, but talking about where you came from is not safe. If you manage to survive the Hunter’s Moon, you are from Southport. Your dam was Audrey Cast, and your sire was Ralph Cast. Do you understand?" the doctor explained.

Cecilia nodded, and the doctor shooed her out before yelling, "Next."