To Save a Patient

                                                                word count 500

Elizabeth Newcastle accepted the hand of the groom who assisted her in exiting her steam car.  She nodded her thanks and swept up the steps of her sister’s home.  Her brother-in-law, Henry met her at the door.

“How is she?” Elizabeth asked without preamble.

Henry shook his head.  “I don’t understand it.  She gets worse every day.”  He led the way up the grand staircase. 

Elizabeth entered her sister’s room.  She pushed back the curtains and opened her bag. “Catherine, can you hear me?”

Catherine tried to open her eyes and to answer.  Elizabeth leaned over and took her sister’s wrist, pushing up her sleeve.  It was obvious that her sister had been bled.  “I take it Dr. Abbott was here.”

Henry had the grace to look embarrassed.  Elizabeth said nothing further, but opened a small bottle from her case.  She took out a small clean white cloth and saturated it, cleaning the wound and bandaging it.

“What is that?” Henry asked.

“Carbolic acid.  Dr. Lister in Edinburgh has had great success with it.”  Elizabeth checked her sister’s eyes, and felt her neck on each side.  Ah ha, she thought. I was right!  “What has she eaten?” she asked aloud.

“We tried porridge.”

Elizabeth shook her head.  “Instruct Cook to make beef tea.  I will stay here.”

Henry nodded, leaving the room.  Elizabeth knew her brother-in-law disapproved of her.  Few men accepted a woman who practiced medicine, much less one who drove their own steam car.  Catherine couldn’t understand Elizabeth’s interest in science and technology, but supported her in every way.

Elizabeth damped a cloth and washed her sister’s face.  I have to save her, she thought. 

The afternoon wore on.  Elizabeth worked to get the beef tea down her sister, and was rewarded when her sister could swallow more each time.

A maid came in as the room darkened and lit the gas lights.  Another brought Elizabeth fresh tea.  Waiting until the household settled for the night, she lowered the gas.

From the bottom of her medical bag she removed her gas-cylinder pistol.  She loaded it from a small box of cartridges, bearing the name Father Sinclair.

Tucking the pistol under her skirt, she prepared to watch over her sister.  Later the clock downstairs struck three.  She sat very still, head down as the window slowly swung open.  She tightened her grasp on the pistol, and waited. 

At a sudden hiss on the other side of her sister, she leapt to her feet.  The man had drawn back from Catherine, due to the cross Elizabeth had placed on her neck.

He looked up, annoyed and laughed.  The sound sent chills down Elizabeth’s back.  “You really think you can destroy me with a pistol?”  The fangs in his mouth glistened.

The gas-cylinder hissed back as she coolly shot.  “With special bullets filled with splinters soaked in holy water, and blessed by a priest?  Yes, I do!”  The vampire dissolved into dust, and Dr. Elizabeth Newcastle, vampire hunter, smiled.