Chapter 9- Progeny

"I'm sorry what?" Edith said. "I can't have heard that right."

"I'm afraid you did. Feel your pulse, see for yourself." I said, feeling intensely on edge.

Edith placed two fingers under her jaw, a look of concentration on her face. "Seems normal."

"And your body temperature, breathing?" I continued. "This can't be..."

Edith seemed somewhat concerned. "Fi...fine. Are you alright?" She shifted nervously where she sat.

"No, I'm a vampire, it doesn't make sense. I injected blood, I change, I inject blood into you, you're apparently fine." My head was beginning to hurt.

"Mr... Doctor Connors," she put a hand out in an attempt to comfort me as I began to hyperventilate. I pulled away instinctively. She seemed a little upset by this. "Are you alright?"

"No." I said. "That boy, he's his, right?"

"Yes, his mother is quite ill, she  lives out in Dorchester though, at the family home." Edith confirmed, watching me with caution.

"She isn't. She's likely the same as him. The boy will change eventually." I told her. She likely had Deep One blood too, and the son certainly did.

"Change?" Edith asked. "Mr. Stebbing had siphyllis, Doctor, nothing more."

"No, Edith, he did have siphyllis, but that's only half the story. Couldn't you smell the change?" I continued.

Edith scrunched up her face. "What?"

I extended a bloodstained hand, coated in Mr. Stebbing's rancid blood. "Smell."

Edith didn't move, looking mildly disgusted. Her expression softened though, once she caught the scent. "But..." She said. She sniffed her hand, still slick from her own wound. She was beginning to see.

"Look." I told her, picking up the mandible I'd seperated from its owner, which, as expected, had the buds of hooklike teeth erupting from disease-scourged gums.

Edith paled, somehow, her porcelain skin becoming glasslike. "The boy will change too." I told her again.

"But... he's such a sweet child... can you help him doctor?" Edith whispered, for fear the boy would return and overhear.

"No."

Edith looked extremely upset. "No? So you can save me and not him? Why can't you?" She was angry.

I remembered how the Deep Ones had recoiled at my presence, going into seizure. "If I injected my blood, he'd very likely die. It would be painful and inhumane."

I drew Luis' pistol. "I don't know how else to tell you this... but if he's let transform, he'll become a threat to any human he comes upon. I'm sorry. He wouldn't feel a thing."

"Absolutely not, that is a human child!" Edith shrieked. "There HAS to be another way!"

I thought long and hard. Maybe, just maybe, she was right. I put down the gun. "I can't garuntee any kind of salvation, but if anyone can help the boy, it's going to be Dr. Harrow.

"Fine, we'll bring him there at once. Where does this Dr. Harrow live?" Edith asked, composing herself.

"Outside Oxford, in Burford. Again, I can't stress enough that he might not be able to help." I told her.

"Well it's better than shooting him like a racehorse with a broken leg, is it not?" She snapped.

"The result will be the same, should Dr. Harrow be unable to help. I've seen what those things can do, what they are, don't mistake pragmatism for cruelty." I told her.

"Just get us to him, Doctor."

"Fine." I said. "Pack whatever things you need. We leave as soon as possible."

"That's it?" Edith asked sharply. "No "How will we get there?" No "Sorry for threatning to shoot a child?"

"There is a train, it leaves tomorrow for Oxford, and as I said, Deep Ones are not something we need more of running around. Now please pack your things."

Edith was annoyed now. "Oh, so you just know the timetable, do you? Anyway, where do you suggest we stay for the night, do you think at all?"

"Yes, I do know the timetable, I have this year's schedule in my appartment, I see it every day. Speaking of which, you and the boy are welcome to stay with me overnight."

Edith seemed a little surprised. "Excuse me?"

"Put simply, I've had vampire blood for about 4 days, and I've had 4 attempts made to kill me, 3 of which were from Deep Ones. It would be in breach of the hippocratic oath to knowingly put you in that sort of danger. I'm not thrilled either."

"Fine. One night. If it helps Micheal."

I waited for Edith and Micheal to pack. I wrapped Mr. Stebbing in a sheet, and dumped the body where I had dumped Luis'. Maybe the pelagic residents would get the message I didn't like them now.

The journey to my appartment passed without incident. Once inside, I gave Micheal, who was entirely silent, no doubt in shock from both the assault on himself and Edith, and his father's death, the bed. Edith was given the sofa. I took the rug, which I was none too pleased about but I had to abide by proper manners.

I had lit the brazier, and provided them with some canned soup, as it was all I had. The cat had taken a shine to Edith, and was affectionately nuzzling her as she held him, he smugly gazed at me, purring. That was the thanks I got for feeding him for two years. The little traitor.

Edith was, understandably, on-edge. She rapped her nails against the edge of the table, watching Micheal as if he was about to transform that instant. "It's alright, Edith." I told her. "Transformation of half-breeds takes months if not years..."

Her glare cut me off, but softened when she looked at me. "Dr. Connors..."

"Please, call me Aspen" I told her.

"Aspen... thank you for helping us, but if you say that, you'll upset him further."

"My apologies. I've been told I can be abrasive. I  have diffuculty communicating with people, always have done." I told her, suddenly feeling like I was back in Dublin.

"You remind me of a cousin of mine, he was like you. He was strange, but he became an accountant, and a very good one at that." She said, looking a little more at ease, knowing I wasn't being rude deliberately.

"I wish him all the best. Now, you need rest, so I suggest you get some sleep." I told her.

Edith obliged, seeing to Micheal first, then herself, being none too comfortable. I was even less so, on the hard wooden floor. I lay dead straight, staring at the ceiling.

After about an hour of near-silence, Edith whispered down to me. "Doc... Aspen, are you awake?"