Chapter 31: Lullaby for suffering
The middle of the night, as always, seemed to be the best time for Vlad to do anything he didn't want to have to explain. That included not only training his powers, but also walking out of his bedroom to wander in search of... tools.
Things that would help him deal with the leftovers of his transformations.
He'd found a way to turn the eyes back human and it hurt of course and maybe it wasn't what a doctor would tell him to do but it wasn't as if Vlad had to see the results with his own two eyes at least not until everything was healed again and blue and normal. He had to wipe off the blood each time, but it was better than letting anyone see.
He still needed ways to deal with his ears, when they remained too pointed. With the fangs. With the greyed hands and their nails, slightly too long and sharp and hard. Since there was always something that didn't turn back, Vlad needed an alternative, a way to make it happen instead. He doubted anything could be done about the skin translucent and showing too much across his chest everything underneath but the rest of it... If it was the skin that remained, he could still turn back and human once more, and then deal with another problem. That was how he'd managed for the last week, after all.
It would be easier, nonetheless, if he didn't have to cycle through transformations until he got the "right" outcome – the one he could deal with the one that had him holding onto a mirror shard and bringing it to his own face to force his eyes to rewind back human – if he could just deal with whatever outcome he got right away.
It'd less tiring, for one thing.
healing after all asked for a lot of energy
and for now
there was no scenario in which Vlad didn't need to heal
Thus, such thoughts had ended up with Vlad tentatively using his intangibility and invisibility to get out of his room and walk through the clinic around one in the morning, looking into offices and closets in search of tools. He didn't know what he was looking for exactly – what kind of things could truly help – because nothing in there was designed with the express goal of tearing out offending body parts with the knowledge that they'd just get them back right.
...Alright, "tearing out" might be an exaggeration. Mostly.
Vlad carefully avoided the patients' rooms – easy, there was a name on each door. Still, he heard at least two people whimpering in pain or fear as he passed by their doors.
The first time, he stopped, his heart beating harshly in his chest, the thought of what could have caused that suffering but he knew of course he did this was the clinic this meant ghosts were to blame suffocating the rest of his reasoning, only snapping back into reality when a nurse came around the corner with a sigh.
She stopped only a few centimeters to his left, shook her head at the door and the whimpering – and went in, oblivious to Vlad standing still against the wall.
He'd been confident enough in his grasp of invisibility to risk this expedition, yes, but that didn't mean he wanted to take inconsiderate risks.
For one thing, he'd never tried passing through living beings before, and a clinic specialized in the aftermath of ghostly attacks was definitely not the best place to try it out.
besides walking in the same space as someone else was just another way to confirm that Vlad didn't really exist or matter anymore that he was but a shadow a ghost of himself
The second time, Vlad did not wait to see if someone would come and try to alleviate the patient's pain.
He had a goal one that started and ended with fear and pain just like the nightmares of those people he'd never seen behind their own door beyond his and couldn't do anything for those people anyway.
Walking through the clinic taught him that there was a small communal area – but Vlad had never been there, because he'd always been too feverish, too disfigured, too weak and other. If anything, Vlad wasn't certain he wanted to go and eat his midday meals with other patients victims of ghosts who were not half as messed up as he'd obviously become, wasn't certain he could deal with it if they asked him why he was there or what had happened to him.
if they didn't if they completely ignored him if they acted as if he might as well not be there
He had to hide from another nurse, two agents roaming the corridors, and one frowning doctor staring pensively at the files in his hands.
Vlad did find tools to deal with both the fangs and the ears – and one of those would make getting rid of red eyes easier, one that wouldn't have him fumbling with a shard of mirror and cutting his fingers, no matter how fast they healed, on broken glass.
He'd hide the dental forceps and the scissors in a wall in the bathroom. Somewhere Ziad or the others wouldn't be able to find them, somewhere only Vlad could reach. He still had no idea for the hands – but, thinking about it, it was probably the same problem as with the skin across his chest, it was too big and large and ultimately the skin itself that had to be dealt with.
For now, he'd just keep cycling until he ended up with either the eyes or fangs or ears.
Those Vlad could deal with.
As soon as he got back to his bathroom, he'd turn back human and see, anyway.
In case you're interested, Vlad should be out of the clinic (and relatively healthy) by chapter 61. Which means I've planned up to chapter 60.