Notes:
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing the House MD Characters for a little while.
My profuse thanks to my betas who gave their kind attention to this project and offered excellent advice: leakey_lover and bookfan85, and bishojo_kitsune for her cheerleading skills.
Glossary at the end of the chapter
"No! No! Please! We mean no harm."
While the vampire held onto House's arms, preventing the stake from racing down into his heart, he...begged for mercy. The fangs receded with every word he spoke.
"What the hell is wrong with you people?" House asked, exasperated. He could have sworn he heard Stanka behind him, spouting a disappointed "Fuck" under her breath.
The luminous red disappeared from the vamp's eyes, and House felt the grip vanish. He lowered his arms and wedged the stake back into his jeans. He motioned for the man and woman to come out into the corridor so he could examine them further.
Both were in their early forties, around Wilson's age. It was hard to believe House had seen supernatural behavior only seconds ago. They were sort of mousy and nondescript, showing no aggressive behavior as they walked out of the storage area.
If anything, they showed an avid interest in putting the whole situation behind them. The man stared into House's eyes, and the woman did the same with Stanka as they intoned, "You never saw us."
The doctor and gypsy snapped simultaneously, "Like...hell no!"
The couple squirmed.
House took his time. Collected his cane, elaborately reassembling all the elements, and hooked it onto his forearm. For added effect, he drew out Zehava's stake, slapping it into the palm of his hand.
Either his attitude or the spike must have been intimidating because the vampires huddled close to each other.
House stepped forward. "Why the fuck are you here?"
The man shielded the woman behind him as Stanka united with House by moving forward, standing along his left side. She was rubbing her palms together and cracking her knuckles, warming up to pitch a curse.
The man looked visibly shaken, but House waited and didn't budge until the vamp regained his composure and spoke. Talking in a monotone, he pointed to the vamp duster. "I'd be much obliged if you'd put that away. We're not here to cause problems. We came to help. I got a call from Jimmy. He said he needed to see me."
The flat tone almost caused House to yawn, but he hid it under a sharp, commanding voice. "Wilson called you? When?"
"Yesterday morning. He was my roommate in med school. Said he was in trouble and instructed me to come immediately." The man covered the woman's hands with his own. "He didn't say anything about danger or I wouldn't have brought Sarah."
House knew it couldn't have been Wilson who called. He was barely a jellyfish yesterday morning. But something about the boring voice and the name, Sarah, made House begin to connect the dots. "Wait." House began to snap his fingers. "You're Dick somebody....
"Uh, no not Dick. Your name is Joel. You're Wilson's first and, as far as I know, the sneaky bastard's only childe. Technically, Sarah here is Wilson's grandchilde."
The vampire nodded his head. "When your sire calls, you have to obey. He told us to meet him in his office, but we got lost, and thought we'd check oncology.
"We became anxious when no one was here, and Sarah picked up, um...negative vibes from the two of you." He looked protectively over at the bland woman. "She thought it best if we hide until you left."
The man's dull gray eyes resembled a zombie's. They barely blinked. House watched as the man forced himself to ask a question. "And who--who are you?"
"I'm Dr. House. A friend of Dr. Wilson." He heard a snort from the little old woman by his side.
The couple stood hand-in-hand, listening.
House couldn't believe two vampires could be so Velveeta. He turned to Stanka, and it was as if she was reading his thoughts.
"These mahrime use non-dairy creamer to season their food." The Romni sighed.
If Wilson didn't call them, then someone else did. They were being used as bait, decoys, or fall guys. It was lucky that he and Stanka came across them before anyone else. In the middle of the oncology department, they ran the same risk of being exposed as vampires that Wilson did.
In addition, they brought no cred to the Dark Community whatsoever. Five minutes on the six o'clock news and viewers would be trashing their Blade DVDs.
They looked surprised when he hustled them toward the elevator, punching the down button with the tip of his cane, corralling them into the car when it arrived. Stanka was the last to get in, her beady eyes darting back and forth looking for other vampires as she assumed shotgun.
House hurriedly explained, "I don't know who called you, but it wasn't Wilson. You've got to get out of here and out of town. He'll call you when everything's safe."
This time Sarah spoke. "How will we know that it's really him? The man on the phone sounded exactly like our sire."
"Wilson will use a password. He'll say he's calling to speak to Mr. Neufchatel." House watched for a reaction.
Neither picked up on his joke. They simply repeated the name, committing it to memory.
As the doors opened to the lobby, he escorted them out, but halted as he remembered something about them.
He directed his question to Joel. "Wilson told me your marriage didn't last. When you embraced Sarah, the two of you couldn't stand each other."
For the first time the features on the couple's face lit up, displaying excitement. Sarah began rattling out their story: "We still were in love, but couldn't stand being close to each other. Batman found out that gold dust from the Godfather's ring could work miracles, so we petitioned him, and pledged to work on his personal staff. It took us ten years, but we finally got what we needed. And now we're never apart. Right, Batman?"
"Right, Chickie Bird." Batman couldn't peel the sappy grin off his face.
House was stunned at this gem of information. Wilson had a small stash of gold given to him at the ball but didn't know what to do with it.
"All riiiight, so before my gag reflex kicks in, tell me quickly without any pet names how many grains did each of you need?"
Chickie Bird hadn't relinquished the floor. "Two each."
But dull as roadkill, Batman did the math. "A total of four."
"You're sharp with the numbers, Joel. What are you, an accountant? Oh, snap! I remember, Wilson told me you're a whiz at string theory."
Before Batman could object, House walked up to the entrance and tilted his head toward the door. "If you have any more to tell me, write a letter and burn it. Now get out of here."
When he returned to Stanka, she was standing with her arms folded. "What was all that talk about gold dust?"
"Nothing to do with our vampire hunt, but if I can ever persuade Wilson to turn me, the information might come in handy." A small voice inside his head stole away the pleasurable thought. Reminding him that the information was only important if Wilson woke up
All he received for his explanation was a sour smile.
House looked around the lobby. "What's that strange smell, or is the cafeteria preparing for fish stick Friday?"
Stanka answered. "Your nose is becoming sensitized. That's the stink of vampire. At least four have come through here, but I won't bet that was all. The one sure thing is that they all belong to the same family because they all smell similar." She inhaled a long breath. "But I'm not picking up anything fresh except those two. Want to do another run through?"
House was torn between going down to the morgue and going home and seeing how Wilson was doing.
A slender thread tugged at his heart. He decided he could wait until tomorrow to find out if any more bodies were brought downstairs. "No. Let's go."
Stanka had an uncanny talent for divining his deepest desires. "Do you need a ride home?"
Blue eyes lit up with anticipation. House had brought his bike, but what the hell. The Lamba...
"Did I ever tell you, Stanka, it's not always about what you want, but about what you need? Right now, I could use both. You're on."
Thank you for reading. All comments welcome.
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Glossary
Mahrime - Roma (MAH-ree-may) Unclean in a spiritual way.
