The moon shone down on Belvedere Castle where Kain was standing silently, being joined by Roger soon afterwards.
"Have you had your fill of rest, Crimson?" Kain asked without turning around.
"Yes, Master," Roger replied. For everyone's sake, he thought it was best that Kain didn't find out he'd regained control over his mind. At least, not yet. "Are we going to feed soon?"
"Yes, by all means," Kain chucked cruelly. "You will need to be at full strength on All Hallows Eve, if you are to take your part in the preordained events."
"Events?" Roger asked, doing his best to keep his expression neutral.
"Now, all in good time, Crimson. I'll reveal it all to you at the right time. For now, go off and feed to your liking."
"Thank you, Master," Roger nodded, flying off in one direction while Kain went off in another. Once Kain was out of sight, however, Roger changed course, heading to the Condo to keep his promise. As he glided past the city buildings, he began to worry what events Kain was talking about and made a mental note to tell Nana about it. After all, the superstitious woman would most likely know the most about vampires like Kain.
Before long, Roger made his landing outside the window to the Condo. Pushing open the window, he stepped inside. No sooner had he entered the Condo, he felt someone collide with him, pulling him into a tight hug. Roger instantly smiled as he returned the embrace, knowing well who it was before even looking.
"I told you I'd come back after nightfall, Meems," Roger reminded.
"I know. But it still feels like I haven't seen you in years," Mimi whispered, hugging him tighter.
"Yeah. The feeling's mutual." Mimi grinned widely, taking Roger's face in her hands and pulling it toward her. "Mimi, I told you, I can't…."
"Shhh," Mimi instructed, tilting his head to place a large kiss on Roger's forehead. "You may not be able to kiss me, Roger Davis, but that doesn't mean I can't kiss you."
"You got me there," Roger smiled back, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers.
"Hey, welcome back, Roger," Joanne greeted from the couch where the other Bohemians were gathered around. Roger turned to return the greeting, but stopped when he saw Dr. Jordan was also there.
"Oh, hey," Roger acknowledged the doctor. "What brings you here?"
"Your friends called me and told me of your….situation, Mr. Davis," Dr. Jordan replied. "Have you thought about what you plan on sustaining yourself on?" Roger frowned. That's right. He needed blood to survive now. But there was no way he could feed on anyone, not now that he'd gotten his mind back. Dr. Jordan seemed to realize what Roger was thinking, for he went on. "There's no need to worry. Your friend, Collins, came up with a temporary solution for you. That's why I'm here." Dr. Jordan got up from the couch, carrying a red cooler which he set down on the floor next to Roger. When the cooler was open, Roger saw it was filled with IV bags containing blood.
"Are you kidding me?" Roger gaped. "Where'd you…?"
"The hospital keeps plenty of these IV bags in storage," Dr. Jordan explained. "I doubt anyone would notice if a few went missing. Like I said, this is only a temporary solution. I believe your friends were looking through Mrs. Chang's old books, searching for a way to cure you. Until they do, these should be enough to last you for a week or so. And if you run out, I could try and bring more."
"Thanks, Dr. Jordan," Roger smiled slightly.
"Simply doing my job to help people. Now, I hope you'll excuse me. I need to return to the hospital. I'm scheduled to perform a triple bypass tonight, and I need to prepare for that." After Dr. Jordan had left, Roger took a seat on the couch, allowing Mimi to take up her usual place on his lap.
"Thank you, too, Collins," Roger glanced up at the anarchist. "I don't think I'd be able to kill anyone to feed."
"I didn't think you would," Collins pointed out. "And this way, you won't have to." Letting out a sigh, Roger broke open the IV bag to feed. As he fed, Emily walked out of the kitchen, carrying a platter of cookies.
"Since Roger's taking this time to eat," she announced, "this would be a good time to test out this new recipe." As the others selected a cookie to sample, the photographer glanced over at Roger with a smile. "They're chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, and I photocopied the recipe from the library's collection of cooking magazines. When you're back to normal and can eat real food again, Roger, I'll make a special batch for you."
"I'd like that," Roger agreed, letting his eyes close in contentment as Mimi lay her head against his shoulder and snuggled closer to him. In response, he rested his cheek on her head.
For the next few minutes, the Bohemians simply talked and laughed. For a few shining moments, it seemed as if everything was normal, that nothing had changed.
"So, Roger," Maureen spoke up. "I was wondering if you're still interested in going to that Halloween bash over at Tompkins Square Park." At the mention of Halloween, Roger's eyes shot open as he remembered.
"Oh, sh-t!" he hissed. "I forgot! Where's Nana? I need to tell her something."
"She'll be over here soon," Mark explained. "She called a few minutes before you arrived to tell us that she'd be bringing some of her books over, so we can all help her look for a way to get you back to normal."
"Why? What's wrong?" Penny asked.
"Kain. He mentioned some sort of events, and said it would happen on Halloween night. He wouldn't say more about it, but I just have a feeling that whatever it is, it's not going to be good."
"She'll be here soon," Joanne stated confidently. "And I'm sure she'll have some idea."
"I hope so," Roger sighed.
Kain withdrew his fangs from the body of a young woman, lowering the limp form to the ground. This one had been particularly beautiful. And it was the beautiful ones who had the most delectable blood. Leaving the body where it lay, Kain turned and flew off into the night, feeling his anticipation growing.
It wouldn't be much longer now. All Hallows Eve was approaching fast. And then, the wait would be over. But for now, he needed only to concentrate on feeding. And as luck would have it, there was someone walking completely alone, just waiting to be fed upon. It was another woman, Asian from the looks of her, heading down the street carrying an armload of books, with old shopping bags hanging from her wrists. Unfortunately, she was not as young as he'd have liked. This one was old and brittle, so her blood would most likely be slightly bitter. Still, one could not turn up their nose at such an easy meal.
The Bohemians continued to talk about random topics in the Condo, waiting for Nana to arrive, when the phone rang.
"I'll get that," Mark volunteered as he got up. "It might be Benny. We couldn't reach him to tell him what happened with Roger, and had to leave a message to call back." The others sat back as Mark answered the phone. However, as Mark listened to the person on the other end, his facial expression showed that something was wrong. When he finally hung up, his face was frozen with shock.
"What?" Mimi asked. "Was it Benny?"
"No," Mark shook his head. "It was St. Vincent's Hospital." Very slowly, the filmmaker turned to look over at Emily.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Did something happen."
"Emily, they… they found Nana along Delancy Street. She's been placed in ICU."
Within the hour, the Bohemians were congregated by Nana's hospital bed. The elderly woman was lying unconscious, her face completely swollen with two bruises over her eyes, giving her the appearance of a human panda. Emily was sitting in a chair that she'd pushed right next to the bed, pressing Nana's hand to her forehead, looking close to tears. At that moment, Dr. Jordan stepped in, a serious expression on his face.
"Dr. Jordan, is she….?" Penny asked hesitantly.
"She's alive," Dr. Jordan announced. "I can honestly say that she looks a lot worse then she actually is."
"It was Kain," Roger growled, staring at Nana's still form. "I know it was him."
"Then it's lucky for her that she was carrying those things in her bags." Dr. Jordan gestured to the shopping bags and books that had been placed in the corner of the room. "She was found with those scattered around the pavement. And this was in her hand." Dr. Jordan held up some sort of medallion. The second he saw it, Roger pushed himself against the wall, putting as much distance between himself and the medallion as possible, sweat coating his forehead.
"I take it that's some sort of anti-vampire charm," Collins theorized. Swallowing once, Roger nodded in confirmation.
"So, Nana's going to be all right?" Mark concluded.
"Yes, she will be," Dr. Jordan replied. "But we need to keep her here until she's completely healed. We can't deny that Mrs. Chang isn't as young as she once was. Injuries like this take a while to heal."
"Thanks, Dr. Jordan," Emily finally spoke up. When the Bohemians were once again left alone with Nana, Joanne selected one of the books from the pile.
"Guess it's up to us now," she said, flipping through the pages. "Nana might pull through, but it doesn't look as if she'll be well enough to offer us any advice on fighting Kain any time soon. We'd best start reading up ourselves."
"First thing's first," Mimi spoke up. "We planned on finding a cure for Roger, remember? That's why Nana was coming over in the first place. We should do that first." Joanne simply nodded and continued skimming over a few pages, with the others joining her in the search through Nana's books almost immediately.
"I found something!" Penny announced after ten minutes of silence, pointing to the index of one book. "It says right here! 'Curing', on page 275!" Emily took the book from her daughter and turned to the right page. For a moment, Emily read the page in silence.
"Well?" Maureen urged. "What do we do?" Emily didn't reply, and just stared at the page with a blank expression. Suddenly, she slammed the book shut.
"It's nothing, forget about that one," she announced, sounding frustrated and angry at the same time. "We just need to find another way."
"What if there isn't one?" Mark challenged. "It might be our only option of getting Roger back to normal."
"No, we're not going there," Emily rounded on him, nearly shouting. "It won't come to that. We'll just have to find some other way."
"What did it say, Emily?" Roger demanded to know.
"It doesn't matter," Emily shook her head, avoiding looking at Roger. "Because it won't come to that."
"Emily." Roger's voice was now holding the strong hint of a direct order. "What did the book say?" After a long pause, with everyone looking at the photographer, Emily finally faced Roger, a few tears spilling down her cheeks.
"It said… the only way to cure a vampire…. is to cut out their heart, and burn it."