~Until Your Heart Stops Beating~
"May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you, and heaven accept you when it's time to go home. May you always have plenty, your glass never empty and know in your belly you're never alone." I sing softly to myself as I lie on the small cot in the corner of my prison cell. I stare dismally at the cold grey ceiling above me, wondering how I had gotten myself into this situation.
I had been locked in this cell for two weeks. There was no natural lighting even though no vampires, except for Caruso, ever came inside the room. I had nothing to do except stare at the ceiling or sleep and I was quickly becoming bored with it. According to Caruso, they didn't, meaning Bromley, want me getting hurt... or killed.
So apparently, being human meant that I was just too fragile to handle a paperback book. Fear of bleeding out from a paper cut or something I suppose. Now, I know that my entire life was circled by bad luck, but even bad luck wouldn't allow me to die in such a lousy way. That would just be too sad, even for me.
"May your tears come from laughing. You find friends worth having; with every year passing they mean more than gold. May you win, but stay humble, smile more than grumble, and know when you stumble you're never alone." I smile softly to myself and bob my right foot that lay crossed over my left knee. My smile slowly fades as my thoughts rear to the good friends I had in fact once had.
There had once been a time when I lived a normal life; a time when I was safe and able to have friends and not be afraid of every person I met, human and vampire alike. These days no one could be trusted and I don't trust most vampires like I don't trust most humans anymore. A vampire's animalistic bloodlust was a powerful thing and a human's will to stay alive was stronger.
My head suddenly snaps to the direction of the door of the cell. A soft knock come again from the other side. I slowly sit up on the cot and watch as the door slowly opens, revealing an unfamiliar man in a white lab coat.
"Where's Caruso?" I ask gently, not against having someone other than the annoying vampire I was used to visiting me. The man walks further into the room carrying a small blue box and followed by a soldier. I stare at the soldier with a blank expression, not as pleased to see him. "I see you're back though."
The soldier glares down at me and I can't help, but give a little smile and roll my eyes. I had done nothing to really piss him off, but I guess this day in age all you had to be was another species and that was reason enough for someone to hate you.
"I'm Doctor Edward Dalton." Doctor Dalton looks behind him at the soldier a moment and then back down at me, giving a small apologetic smile. I knit my eyebrows together a little and watch the Doctor carefully.
It was unusual for a vampire to be so… polite; especially to a human. None of the vampires working for Bromley were civil to me beside Caruso. So why was this one? Was it just a doctor thing?
"Do all doctors, medical or not, practice good bedside manner?" I mumble to myself and stand up from the cot.
"I wouldn't know. You're the first one to hint that I had any bedside manner what so ever." Doctor Dalton replies with a small smile. I outstretch my hand to him and notice the soldier stiffen as if I had pulled out a gun. I can't help but give a small laugh and shake my head.
"Would you relax?" I laugh again at the soldier's behavior and look back to the new doctor. "I'm Rosaline Carter and it's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Dalton. Even in this grim and unwelcoming atmosphere."
"You're not afraid of us?" Doctor Dalton's words seemed more like a question to himself as his eyes fall upon my hand.
"Of course I am." I reply honestly with a soft expression, fear hiding just beneath the surface. Doctor Dalton looks up from my hand and stares at me with familiar golden eyes that every vampire shares. "But letting my fear show and consume me gives Bromley the upper hand he so desperately desires… and I won't have that."
A moment passes by before Doctor Dalton takes my hand, shaking it firmly. I look down at his hand and give a small smile. I register just how cold it felt in my own, like a block of ice. They all felt like that.
"Wow. You guys really got the 'grip of death' thing down." I give another small smile and let go of Dalton's hand, rubbing my palms together to warm them. I give a small laugh and sit back on the cot, crossing my legs. I lean back against the wall the cot was pressed up against and look up at Doctor Dalton, waiting patiently for what was inevitably to come; drawing blood for testing.
"It's a steady sixty degrees." Doctor Dalton comments and gives a small laugh of his own. It wasn't completely sincere and I could hear a hint of discomfort in his tone. Obviously, he didn't like being around me or maybe just humans altogether.
"Come to retrieve blood for your friend, Doctor Prick?" I ask and lean my head back against the wall.
"He's not so bad once you get to know him." Doctor Dalton nods his head, but makes no move to come closer to me. I narrow my eyes at him and nod my head slowly, calculating his actions or lack there of.
"Is it just me," I start and cock an eyebrow, "or are you guys more afraid of me then I am you?"
"No, no it's just," Doctor Dalton begins, but falters. He takes a deep breath and thinks about what to say, "You're just not what I expected."
"You're not what I expected either. You're actually," I stop for a moment and search for the right word, "…pleasant."
"Well thank you." Doctor Dalton gives a small nod of his head and then lifts the blue box he was carrying, "Shall we?"
"Why not? I have nothing else better to do today." I give a shrug of my shoulders and sit up straight on the cot. Doctor Dalton walks closer and kneels beside me. He opens the box and pulls on a pair of gloves. Next, he pulls out a tourniquet and holds out a hand for my arm.
"Can I have your arm please?" He asks and waits for me to give him my right arm. I outstretch my arm, palm up, and try to keep myself from laughing.
"Oh, please huh? You're polite too. It must be my lucky day." I comment quietly and smile when he looks up at me. He quickly ties the tourniquet tightly around my arm and searches the crease of my elbow for a suitable vein.
"Found one." Doctor Dalton whispers to himself and then pulls out a bacterial wipe from the box. He quickly dabs my arm and pulls out a needle, going to stick my arm. He suddenly stops dead and looks up at me as if contemplating something. "Private Jenkins?"
"Yes sir?" The soldier standing a few feet behind Doctor Dalton replied and took a step forward. Doctor Dalton takes a deep breath and lets it out in a swift huff.
"Could you please leave the room till I'm finished?" Doctor Dalton requests while his eyes never leave my face. I feel my eyebrows knit together as I look between the doctor and the soldier.
"I've been ordered to stay by this cell at all times, sir." The private replies and looks over at me.
"You didn't stay in here when Caruso was here." I speak up and keep my eyes locked with his. I feel Doctor Dalton's eyes rest on me a moment before looking up at the Private.
"I'd rather not have a bloodbath on my hands. Especially, since you probably haven't feed in a few days. Now please wait outside." Doctor Dalton responds with honesty ringing in his voice. I was starting to like this doctor more by the minute.
"Yes sir." The soldier replies with a tight jaw and walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I look back down at the doctor and then at my arm, watching as he prepared to puncture my arm with the needle.
"You're not going to go all blood thirsty on me are you?" I ask softly, fear fluttering in my voice. Doctor Dalton freezes again just before piercing my skin and stares blankly at my arm. Slowly, as if having to think hard about it, he shakes his head and looks up at me. He shakes his head again and I could tell that it was more for his sake, to reassure himself, that he wouldn't then it was for me.
"No. I promise I won't." He speaks softly and then looks back down at my arm. He quickly pokes the needle through my skin and into the vein, attaching a vial to the end of it. The room sat silent for several minutes until Doctor Dalton had to change the vials. I watch quietly as he skillfully switches the vials without even having to look.
"So, tell me Rosaline," Doctor Dalton starts as he watches the vial fill up slowly with my blood, "What makes your blood so special that Charles Bromley would want us to test it so many times?"
I stare down at him with a blank expression, not sure how to answer. This was a subject I had really hoped wouldn't come up, but he was a Hematologist and Bromley wanted my blood. So there had to be something really special about it and of course he would be curious.
"I can't turn into one." I speak barely above a whisper and if I hadn't remembered he was a vampire I would have thought he hadn't heard me. I feel the slight tug on my arm, signaling to me that he was switching vials again.
"Turn into what? One of us?" Doctor Dalton asks and looks up at me. I nod my head and look down at the cement floor. I could feel Doctor Dalton's eyes linger on me, burning a hole in me the way Bromley's had the night I had been brought to the Bromley Marks building.
"Do you have any idea why?" He continues and I shake my head this time.
"Nope. All I know is that when I get bit by a vampire I don't turn into one." I answer honestly. I start to feel a little light headed and slowly my head spins in a dizzy spell. I blink several times, taking a deep breath. "Don't really care about why I don't turn though."
"You're not the least bit curious?" I feel Doctor Dalton's eyes rest on me again, but I don't look to him. "If you were to turn, then you could escape illness and pain. You could live forever. You would never have to worry about anything."
I look to him for a brief moment and then look down at the ground. I try to think my answer through carefully since I had never really thought of it. I had never been asked such a question before. After a long moment and another vial switch, I look to him again.
"I don't want to turn because I want to live." I start and then stop. I lick my lips and shake my head, my eyes coming to rest on his golden orbs that had refused to leave my face. "I mean... I want to really live… and that means getting sick with the flu and getting bruised and scraped. It means feeling the joy of loving someone and the pain of losing them because otherwise you're just..."
"Just what?"
I look back up at him and see an emotion I couldn't place swirling in his eyes. It reminded me wanting and of needing. I cock my head a little and continue to stare at him, wondering what it was that made his eyes smolder as if he understood how I felt; as if he wanted exactly what I was talking about.
"Otherwise you're just not living at all because you don't truly feel anything. You become numb." I finish, but don't look away from him. Slowly he tears his eyes from mine and the air falls quiet. I could feel myself becoming sleepy and wanted nothing more than to lie down on the hard excuse for a cot I currently sat on. I feel another tug on my arm as Doctor Dalton switches the vials once more.
"You have no idea what this could mean, do you?" Doctor Dalton's voice brought me out of my dizzy spell and back into consciousness.
"No idea about what?" I shake my head a little and lean back against the wall.
"What your blood could mean, Rosaline." He had suddenly become more animate and his hold on my arm tightened to a dull ache. Any tighter and I was sure to get a bruise and a little tighter then that could break my arm in half.
"You're right. I have no idea." I mumble out as I feel my eyes becoming heavy again. I feel myself drifting in and out of my dreamland as Doctor Dalton's grip on my arm loosens slightly. Maybe from realization of how tight he was holding on to me or just because he was becoming lost in his thoughts. "Doctor Dalton? Doctor?"
"Hm?" He replies as I close my eyes and take a deep, soothing breath. I knew he hadn't really heard me. His mind was off somewhere else.
"Doctor Dalton? …Edward?" I ask through a small yawn and open my eyes a little. I feel Edward pull the needle from my arm and feel something spongy in its place.
"Yes?" The doctor replies again, a little stronger as if shaken from his thoughts. I feel the spongy object pressed firmly into the crease of my arm and then feel tape cover it, holding it to its place.
"Can you come back instead of Caruso?" I ask and rearrange myself on the cot. "I like you more than him. You give off a more… humanly feel then he does. It's a nice change from the stiffs I usually get to chat with."
I hear the doctor give a small laugh as he closes the small blue box back up.
"I'll see you the next time then." I hear him stand up from the ground and start to walk towards the door.
"Doctor?" I call after him, opening my eyes as much as I could. Doctor Dalton looks back at me as the door to the room opens. "Could you bring me something to do next time? Like a book maybe? I know I'm not supposed to have anything because Bromley doesn't want me killing myself or something, but I promise I won't."
"I think you could handle a book. Have a specific one in mind?" He asks and places one of his hands into one of his lab coat pockets. I shake my head at his question and look up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Anything's better than sitting in this cell and staring at the ceiling for hours on end." I reply with a smile and look back at him. He gives a small nod and walks out, the door closing behind him as I lie down on the cot to drift away.