‘Right,’ he says with a nod. ‘Only it’s not anaemia. It’s vampirism.’
Every thought in my head comes to a crashing stop. ‘What?’ I hiss, hopefully not loud enough to be overheard. ‘Quinn’s a vampire?’
‘Well, no.’ Cam’s hand goes to his head, scratching at his temple the way he does when he’s puzzling something out. ‘Not exactly.’
‘I’m not following.’
Cam’s eyes dart back to mine and I finally recognise the emotion behind them. He’s intrigued by this. There’s not much Cam loves more than a medical mystery.
‘That’s the thing,’ he says, lowering his voice to a whisper as we hear footsteps pass outside. ‘George said that his red blood cells were behaving in the same way as is expected very early on in someone’s change. And that would account for the symptoms he was having– the fatigue, the palpitations, a rash with sun exposure.’ He takes a step towards me. ‘But that’s the puzzling thing, you see. The state didn’t change at all in the time between the tests. And, even more strangely, he doesn’t have any other markers of vampirism. Not a single one. Every other cell in his body remains entirely human.’
I frown. ‘How could this happen?’
‘George suspects that he’s had intimate contact with one of us, some level of blood-to-blood transfer, but that it wasn’t quite enough to turn him. Like he’s stuck in limbo.’ Cam shrugs. ‘They’ve known something similar happen a couple of times before, but no one knows what happened to those people. That was decades ago, at least. There wasn’t the level of testing and record-keeping we have today.’
‘So what does that mean?’
He sighs so heavily that I’m sure people will be able to hear it from the waiting area. ‘Florence, you know the toll our condition takes on the body. We have the benefit of immortality so we can resist it. But we don’t know if Quinn has that. So…’
‘So,’ I finish for him. ‘Either he’s immortal already, or there’s a good chance this is going to kill him.’
Cam nods, his expression sombre. ‘Pretty much.’
My stomach falls to my feet. ‘Any idea what kind of timescale we’re looking at?’ I ask, but I’m not sure I’m ready to hear the answer.
‘It’s hard to say.’ Cam’s hand scrubs the stubble on his jaw. ‘With the number of symptoms he’s getting, it might be sooner rather than later. Months? Maybe weeks?’
‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah.’
My head feels like it’s spinning. ‘What can we do?’ I ask aimlessly. ‘What if we turned him? Would that help? You know, sent him all the way?’
Cam shrugs. ‘There’s no way to know. Maybe? Or maybe?—’
‘That could kill him, too,’ I say, before he has time to. His answering nod hits like a punch.
‘There’s no way to know. In a standard transition, the host would only take on cells from a single vampire, so if another was introduced there’s no telling what would happen. There could be a fight to the death, which usually isn’t a problem because by that time, the host has acquired their immortality. But there’s no defining timeline on when immortality kicks in. It would be a gamble.’
‘Ok,’ I say, and there’s obviously something about the way I say it that concerns Cam because his face falls unusually serious.
‘Florence,’ he says, his voice low, ‘you understand that anything like that would have to be his choice.’
I’m offended he would even consider that I’d think otherwise.
‘What do you take me for?’ I hiss, half under my breath, and it makes him relax slightly, like he’s not fully convinced.
‘I know you like him.’
I scoff a half-laugh. ‘I’ve seen him twice ever. I barelyknowhim.’
This is true, but it does nothing to dissuade Cam. He’s still studying me closely, his soft hazel eyes fixed on me like he can read my mind. Which I’m pretty sure he can’t.
Ok, I’m fairly sure he can’t.
‘It’s more than that, though, isn’t it?’ he says, after a beat. ‘With his link to Josiah– the way he looksjustthe same…’
Is that what it is? Is that the reason my chest feels like it’s being crushed slowly in a vice? Just my grief coming back out to play after decades of me being able to contain it.