Ch 19 Procedure

We arrived at the familiar mansion in the afternoon, and Jasmine greeted us warmly. She had prepared the same bedchamber for us, but I could barely sleep that night in anticipation of the next day.

Another bedroom had been sterilized and turned into an operating room. Dr. Christianson brought two vampires with her, one of which was her older brother, Michael, who looked twenty five years younger than her. The other was a close friend of his named Robert. The doctor, Megan, had trained them to be her nurses as she didn't want to risk any more human involvement than necessary.

"There is one more person who I think needs to be here," Megan said after we had all greeted one another. She looked directly at me. "Alexander is waiting in the city for my call. He insisted that he would not come unless you allow it. But I think he needs to be here. He is the only one that has actually witnessed anything like this."

All eyes turned to me, and I gripped my hands together tightly. I was no longer afraid of Alexander, but there was a sort of residual uneasiness that spread over me. The memory of how afraid I had been in his presence the last few moments I had seen him seemed to linger in my mind. Rolf reached his hand out to mine.

"It's okay," I said. "He should be here." Before I had even finished Megan had whipped out her cell phone and dialed.

"Yes, come now," Megan paused, "I told you she would accept it." She listened with a slightly irritated look on her face. "Alexander would like to speak to you," she handed me the phone.

"Hello?" I said, turning from the prying eyes.

"Sharon," Alexander's smooth voice came over the line. "I do not wish to make you...uncomfortable, but Megan has requested my presence."

"Of course. Please do come," I told him. "I appreciate your help, and you should be here in your home with Jasmine." The uneasiness disappeared as I said the words, which I truly meant.

Two hours later, I was lying on a table in the makeshift operating room with a curtain separating my upper body from my abdomen. I was to be awake during the procedure, but the doctor didn't want me to actually be able to see anything because my heart rate needed to stay as normal as possible.

Rolf stood by my head dressed in scrubs, holding my hand. Dr. Christianson was the only one wearing a face mask. The vampires could simply stop breathing, so there wasn't much risk in them contaminating the room in that manner. They were all wearing scrubs though, so that their clothes didn't cause any issues. Alexander and Jasmine sat a few feet away, while Michael and Robert stood on either side of the table.

Dr. Christianson – Megan – spread a wet substance over a few small areas and then injected those areas with a drug. Within a few minutes my chest, stomach, and thighs were numb. This was confirmed by the fact that I couldn't feel the pin she touched me with until she reached my knee.

"Good," Megan said and motioned for Michael to bring over a tray. She moved closer to my body, and the short curtain hid her hands from my view.

"Now, I want you to relax," Megan said as she looked down. I could tell she was doing something with her hands by the way her shoulders moved. She nodded to Robert, and he leaned forward slightly, also with a motion in his shoulders indicating his hands were moving near the same spot. Megan nodded quickly again, and Robert backed away.

Rolf reached down and ran his thumb over my cheek, distracting me. I tried to keep my eyes on him, but I couldn't help paying attention to the sights from the corner of my eye. Michael was walking toward the table with another tray. I knew that this one contained the "device" which looked like a tiny light bulb attached to a long cord. The entire apparatus had been sitting in a sterilization chamber when I had lain on the table.

Megan continued to work, making vague statements like, "Yes, that's it." and "There we go, looks good." Finally, she turned to me, and although her mouth was covered I could see a smile in her eyes.

"I've implanted the device," she explained. "Now we just have to try it out before we close you up." She turned back to Michael and Robert. "We're ready? You have the preparations, in case…" The two vampires nodded. "Alexander, Jasmine…" They stood and walked to the foot of the table. They would observe when she turned the UV light on for the first time.

"You shouldn't feel…I don't think you will feel anything," Megan corrected herself. No one knew exactly what to expect, and no one expected what happened next.

I could feel my heart start to race, and then a sensation in my abdomen that I still can't fully explain. It was a jolt. It felt like someone had punched me, but on the inside. There was a bit of a stinging – no that's not exactly right either.

I saw the lines moving rapidly on the heart rate monitor as I struggled to breath.

"Fifty cc's Desflurane," Megan called urgently and Michael moved toward my right hand where the IV line was attached. "Alex…."

Suddenly I was floating.