Alicia and the Doctor

It was the second day of classes when I saw Zach Wilson again.

At the end of Sophomore year, Zach and I had "fucked" good-bye. Zach had gone home for the summer while I had stayed at the campus for a summer job. Now that Junior year was starting, I was looking forward to seeing Zach again. I planned to go running up to him the instant I saw him, throw my arms around him, and kiss him passionately on the lips. And while we probably wouldn't start ripping our clothes off right then and there, I would definitely have a diaphragm in my purse in case we did start ripping our clothes off then and there.

But when the moment actually got there it was a shock. You see, it was in the Residence Hall where Zach and I both lived. He was standing outside the same room where he had lived last year, but I almost didn't recognize him. You see, the gorgeous dark hair which came down to his shoulders had been buzzed short. The sexy fuzz which had just barely covered his chin had been shaved. Furthermore, he was dressed completely different. Instead of a cool t-shirt and torn jeans, he was wearing a button-down shirt and chinos.


"You've changed," I said. "What happened to your piercings?"

"Actually," he pointed to his eyebrow, "the holes are still here but they'll close up soon." He paused. "You look the same." He said it in a neutral way, so I couldn't tell whether it was a compliment or an insult. "Oh. Don't get me wrong, Alicia. I'm glad to see you. In fact, I was hoping you and I could get together sometime soon. We need to have a talk-"

Then it got worse. A throaty voice from inside the room called out, "Zach, what's going on there?" A tall blonde girl stepped into the hallway. She was wearing shorts that accentuated her long skinny legs and tube top that left an entire section of her belly unadorned. As soon as she saw me, she blinked in surprise. "Who's she?"

Zach shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Roslyn, this is Alicia Doyle. Alicia, this is Roslyn Bidwell, my uh. . ."

"Your fiancee," Roslyn finished coldly.

That floored me. "You got engaged, Zach?" Roslyn smiled and held up her hand to show that there was indeed a diamond ring on her finger. "Well, this is a surprise. How did it happen?"

"Er. . ." said Zach.

Roslyn decided to finish for him. "Zach is a Wilson. I am a Bidwell. Our families have known that we would be an excellent match for years, but we formalized it last summer." She looked at me. "Your family isn't important, is it?"

I had never thought of Zach as coming from a family like that, but then I had never thought much about Zach's family. Roslyn looked like she wanted to change the subject. "Zach? You said we could go the beach now. I want to get as much sun as I can before the weather starts getting cold. She stared at me. "You don't spend much time in the sun, do you?" That question scared me, because it made me wonder other things about her. Did she know that I was a vampire? More to the point, did she know that Zach was a vampire? The very one whose bite had changed me into a vampire for that matter. She touched me on the nose. "Would your hair be red by any chance, if you didn't dye it that black color?"

"Oh yeah," I said.

"I thought so. You've got freckles, and red-heads hate the sun."

Oh Yeah. That was true. But since I was a vampire, it was a little beside the point.

"I'm glad I'm not a red-head," Roslyn went on. "Lying out in the sun is my favorite thing to do in the world."

Now I couldn't resist getting sarky. "So of course, that would make you a soulmate for Zach."

"Alicia!" Zach jumped in. He gave me a look which was all too clear. He didn't want to discuss vampirism in front of Roslyn.

"It's okay!" I said. "I'll just leave you two alone." I turned away and stomped down the hall.

"Wait, Alicia!" Zach was chasing after me.

"What do you want?"

He sighed. "Do you hate me, right now?"

I genuinely had to think about that. "No," I admitted. "I don't hate you, and I don't really hate her either. The funny thing is I'm starting to hate myself for not hating either of you." I blinked and shook my head. "This is getting confusing. I should probably just go away."

But he didn't go away. He lowered his voice to a whispery level and said, "Look, we really need to talk. Can you come meet me later tonight, when Roslyn isn't here?"

"Now why would you want that?" It almost sounded like he was getting ideas about cheating on Roslyn with me.

He must have read my mind because his next words were. "It's not what you think. Our relationship is over, but I do need to explain something to you."

"What's to explain? Your engagement? Because I think I understand most of that."

"No. Actually, I want to explain the beach." He looked over his shoulder, saw Roslyn waiting for him and hurried away from me.

It was cryptic. I decided that I would go see him later that evening.

* * *

"Come in," he said when I knocked on his door. "Have a seat. Roslyn went to a party with some friends."

"You promised me no funny business," I reminded him.

"Of course. But don't you want to know why sunlight doesn't bother me anymore?"

I shrugged at that. "You know, I guess I was starting to assume that it does still bother you, but you're just sucking it up for the sake of that sun goddess. I wouldn't put it past you."

"Don't be ridiculous, Alicia. A vampire can't suck up certain things. And it's not just the sun thing. He fumbled around on his desk and picked up an object that I recognized all too well. "You know, what this is?"

"A crucifix," I said trying to ignore the nauseous feeling that was coming over me.

"Exactly," he said, dangling it over his head so that it just touched his face. "It doesn't bother me at all." As if to emphasize the point, he brought it to his lips and kissed it like a priest might. "I could even start eating garlic again, if I weren't involved with Roslyn."

It took me a moment to realize that that made no sense. "What does Roslyn have to do with garlic."

He looked a little embarrassed. "It just so happens that she hates the smell of garlic, so we agreed to not eat it. But that isn't the point. The point is that I'm not a vampire anymore. No more drinking blood, no nothing. I'm just an ordinary mortal."

I frowned. "How is that possible? I thought there was no way to make a vampire not a vampire anymore."

"So did I. And so did every vampire I knew." He smiled cynically. "But I guess you shouldn't use the word impossible where the Wilson family reputation is concerned. During the summer, my parents found out that I was a vampire. Naturally, they weren't too happy, but then my father found out about this hospital in Geneva, and he sent me there. Officially, it's a treatment center for the insane, but the guy who runs it is actually a famous vampire expert, named Dr. Van Schliesinger. He claims to have developed this anti-vampire treatment."

"I don't believe it."

"Well, neither did I."

"If it were that simple-"

"Well, for one thing it's not exactly simple," he said. "The treatment turned out to be pretty painful," he cringed as if having a bad memory. "But, nevertheless, it worked. I am not a vampire anymore."

I looked at him. The story was wild, but I had seen the cross, so I just shrugged again. "Well, thank you for telling me this, Zach. It definitely clears things up for me, but now that I know, I guess I should just leave." I stood up to go.

"Wait. For heaven's sake, I'm the one who turned you into a vampire. Now, that I'm not one anymore, I feel responsible."

"That's good, Zach, but it doesn't help me to have you beating yourself up, so don't."

"I'm not beating myself up. Don't you get it? Vampirism can be cured. Do you want to remain a vampire?"

I frowned. "That's an impractical question, Zach. Like your girlfriend observed, I'm not from an important family, so I can't afford to go flying off to Switzerland to see world famous doctors."

"You wouldn't have to go to Switzerland. Dr. Van Schlesinger has a network of people that he's trained all over the world. Believe it or not, there's one in Poughkeepsie. And they don't charge as much for it as you might think. After all, they're saving the human race, in a sense. Besides, I have a certain amount of clout, so I could give you a referral." He handed me a business card which was labeled Dr. Otto Glieger. It then gave an e-mail address and a regular address in Poughkeepsie."

I didn't want to admit it, but he had piqued my interest. I sighed. "You know, Zach. I meant to tell you that I had an interesting summer. I met, both a vampire slayer and one of the brides."

"Brides?"

"Of Vlad the Impaler, the Prince of Dracul, and so on and so forth. (That's actually how she introduced herself.) Anyway, it was pretty scary."

"I can imagine," said Zach.

"She taught me to drink children's blood. She killed a little girl and convinced me to join her in feasting on the little girl's blood. And I loved it."

"Jesus Christ!"

"Hey," I said, "let's not bring him into it."

"Fine, let's bring Dr. Glieger into it. He can help you. Promise me you'll contact him."

At that point, I couldn't bring myself to make promises.

* * *

I was glad when my roommate didn't come to my room that night. (She had a boyfriend that she spent most nights with.)I was sitting by myself trying to think things over when there was a tap on the window. I was astonished to see a bat flapping its wings near the windowpane. For a minute, I thought I would ignore it, but then a familiar voice spoke in my head. “I need to speak with you.”

I sighed and opened the window. The bat came flying into the room. There was a puff of mist, and Miss Valentina, the bride of Vlad was standing before me dressed in her familiar black dress.

“Well, well,” she said with her Eastern European accent. “Long time no see!”

“Not long enough,” I said. “What do you want?”

“Cannot a vampire stop in to see the vampire which she is mentoring?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that you are not my mentor? I said I never wanted to see you again.”

Miss Valentina shrugged. “So you lied. I heard things about you. From the thought waves that you send off. I am led to understand that you are considering an association with a Dr. Van Schlieman?”

I was afraid it had something to do with that. I sighed. “Did you know that vampirism could be cured?”

She frowned. “It is not correct English to conjugate that question in the past tense. What you mean is ‘Do I know that vampirism can be cured?’ And the answer is, No, I definitely do not.”

“It seems to have worked with Zach,” I protested.

“Maybe so,” she admitted. “So what do you plan to do about it?”

“I figure there’s no harm in contacting this doctor.”

“Why on Earth would you want to do that?”

“I would think the reason would be obvious.”

“It’s not,” said Miss Valentina without irony.

There was a long silent pause. Miss Valentina made it clear that she was not backing down. She really expected me to give reasons for not wanting to be a vampire anymore. I decided I would explain it with a story.

“You know, towards the end of the summer, I needed some more money, so I found this family in town that needed a babysitter.”

“How wonderful for you,” said Miss Valentina, this time with a trace of irony.

“The little boy in that family loved me. Everytime I came through the door, he would run up to me and give me a hug. His mother told me that the only two people he does that for are me and his grandma.”

“This is very touching,” said Miss Valetina,” now with lots of irony, “but I fail to see what it has to do with the topic at hand.”

I searched for the right words. “I could never let that boy hug me for very long, because whenever he or any other child gets that close to me, I get this feeling. I feel. . .well. . .hungry.”

“So eat something,” she said nonchalantly.

I lost my temper. “You know darn well what I’m talking about. These urges are getting harder and harder to resist, and I want them gone.” Suddenly a wicked idea crossed my mind. “Miss Valentina, if your’re so concerned, why don’t you come with me to see this doctor?”

“Me?”

“That’s right. You could be cured too.” It was a wicked suggestion because I knew deep down that she would never consider such a thing. In fact, she probably thought I had nerve to make such a suggestion, which was what I wanted.

But whatever she was thinking, she controlled herself. “That will never happen,” she said quietly. “Not if I live to be a thousand years old, which actually I expect to do. That’s another problem with not being a vampire. It means that you have to die.”

“I can live with that.” I glared at her. “Why don’t you just leave now?”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. Leave now before I call the campus police and. . .well. . .tell them that there’s a creepy lady in my dorm room who won’t leave.”

She looked amused at that. But she stood up and said, “I will still be looking out for you.” Then she turned into a bat and flew out the window.

The funny thing was that at that point, I knew what I was going to do. I may have had my doubts before she arrived, but now there was no question.

* * *

Dr. Glieger turned out to be a chubby man with a receding hairline. When I arrived in Poughkeepsie for my appointment, he smiled and welcomed me into his office. “My. . .my. . .,” he said with a smile. “Alicia Doyle. You neglected to mention in your e-mails what a pretty vampire you were.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked, but I smiled anyway. I’m not one to get offended when people tell me I’m pretty.

“Nothing. . . nothing. . .” he assured. “Although, it does make my job a little more pleasant.” He led me into a white room with an examining table, and an odd looking machine. “Well,” he said, “now you need to undress.”

“Right. All the way?”

“All the way. Not a stitch on the vampire when she’s being cured,” he laughed nervously.

I sighed. Well, he was a doctor, so I pulled off my shoes, my socks. Then, my t-shirt and my jeans, before I finally slipped out of my bra and underwear. Dr. Glieger took a moment to stare at the tattoo on my back. “How cute!” he said. “A wolf. You really are a beautiful girl, Alicia. It’s going to be such a pleasure for me this time. Now, I need you to get on the table while I strap you in.”

“Strap me in?”

“Yes, well, it’s for your safety as much as mine. In the heat of the moment, many vampires begin acting a little bit crazy and start thrashing and kicking.”

I was liking this less and less. It must have shown on my face. “Don’t be scared,” he said reassuringly, “When it’s over, you probably won’t remember any of it.”
I got onto the table and lay down. He cuffed both my arms and my legs. He then spent a little time running his hands on my breasts and my midsection. “Now open your mouth wide please.” Great! Not only was this creepy, it was starting to feel a little like going to the dentist.

He picked up a small jar. “I’m going to put some stuff in your mouth. Please don’t swallow it.”

“What is it?”

“A special paste of wolfsbane. In the past, it was used to destroy vampires, but it won’t cause any permanent damage unless you swallow it.

I opened my mouth and he poured the stuff in. I could see that it was an odd pea-green color. The taste was hard to describe. Sort of mediciny. Not exactly foul, but strong. The worst part was that he was putting an awful lot in my mouth without allowing me to swallow. I began to feel that my cheeks were puffed with the stuff. I wondered if I could keep from gagging.

It also had an odd effect on my head. Somehow, I began to feel light-headed and sleepy. By the time, he was done pouring the stuff, I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. But I heard a faint noise that sounded familiar. It took me a moment to process that it was a zipper. I managed to turn my head and saw Dr. Glieger with his fly open. . .

* * *

The next thing I knew, I heard a familiar woman’s voice say, “Spit that out, Alicia!”

Somehow, I figured out that I was supposed to spit into a bucket that had been placed in front of me. When I did and wiped some of the spit from my face, my mind felt clearer. I wasn’t strapped anymore, but I was still naked. Standing next to the table was Miss Valentina She was holding Doctor Glieger, who was wearing no pants, in the air with one hand.

“Do you realize that this is the second time, I’ve come to your rescue at the last minute,” asked Miss Valentina.

Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to feel grateful.

“I wasn’t going to hurt her,” Dr. Glieger whimpered. I can cure her. I can cure you too.”

“Really?” said Miss Valentina. “Does curing, for you, always involve removing your pants?”

“Oh that.” Glieger almost seemed to laugh nervously. “Sometimes, I have a little fun too. I wouldn’t do it with a vampire that looks like you.”

That seemed to push Miss Valentina over the edge. She used her other hand to snap Glieger’s neck and tossed his body into a corner.

“What scum!” said Miss Valentina. “I’m almost ashamed to drink his blood, but,” she went on smacking her lips. “Pride is one of those things that doesn’t really become a thirsty vampire.” She leaped on Glieger’s neck and began sucking.

I was still confused. “Why did you come here in the first place? Did you not want me to be cured?”

Miss Valentina paused to wipe some of the blood from her mouth. “It depends on what you mean by cured. Have you heard about what happened to your boyfriend and his fiancé?”

I hadn’t.

“Well, look it up. I guarantee it will make you want to stay a vampire forever.”

* * *

Roslyn Bidwell, the daughter of Industrialist Richard Bidwell was found strangled to death this morning. Police have arrested her fiancée, Zach Wilson on charge of Second degree murder.

When I found that article, my first thought was to tell Miss Valentina that it proved nothing. After all, if I were engaged to Roslyn, I probably would have ended up strangling her too. But that didn’t ring true when I actually said it. Plus Miss Valentina claimed that all over the world, the other vampires who had been cured by Dr. Van Schleisinger and his followers were committing similar crimes.

I think that I will remain a vampire.



“.
Note: This story is a sequal to the story:

Alicia and the Bride  (GC) A contest entry about a meeting between a young and old vampire (which won third prize!) #1692346 by Weirdone-Back in the games