Paying the Price (RP)

- Emma -

"Do you think that will work?" Bev asks, hurrying along behind you. "I brought some blood-packs, as well. Oh, god, I hope I don't lose my job for stealing them!" She pants, like it is good to finally get that concern spoken out loud. "All the ... flavours." She lets out a little, nervous giggle at her joke about blood-types. "In case they have a preference."

She is thinking about the time Benji showed up at her door, deranged and desperate to feed [ref]. And he was not 'starving'. You do not know this story, though, but can sense Bev's trepidation.

The 'bite' on Persephone's shoulder is not neat like the controlled, almost gentle, ones you and Bev had. This was an attack, not a 'feeding', and the fangs scored lines across her skin as the attacking vampire was tossed aside and deflected by her demon nature. They did not penetrate all that deep, though —as Bev will observe when she gets to examine the patient: 'almost like the skin was hard enough to deflect the attack... but that's crazy-talk'.

What do you do?

- Persephone -

The black woman in scrubs and a large afro definitely glanced at your breasts first, before you could cover up. She is a nurse and has seen many breasts before, but yours are not to be ignored. However it was cursory (it would be impolite not to look, right?:) and she is more concerned about your injury —hard to assess without cleaning the blood off, and there is little time for that or conversation, Chablis has begun pounding on the door again, the trace amounts of blood on your shirt —it looks like a lot, but really isn't— had only distracted her for a moment.

Anyway, some removed part of your brain tells you, Bev is hopelessly in love with Emma, you can tell that from how she looks at her. Though Emma's gaydar may not be as well tuned as yours and she seems oblivious... and also, married. Now is not the time for such thoughts.

Bev seems frozen in indecision, not sure what to do first. Her instinct is to help the patient, but the vampire in the closet seems like it needs to be triaged higher. She does seem very interested in the question of 'how new vampires get made', but, then, that is an interesting question.

What do you do?

- Emma -

"Um..." Bev says, hesitating. "Shouldn't we try these first?" She holds up a blood pack with dark liquid sloshing inside. She tears off a corner of the bag and slips in under the door, darting back as it is snatched from her fingers.

A moment later you hear Chablis retching and what sounds exactly like a bag of blood being flung against a closet wall in disgust. "Wrong flavour, d'ya think?" Bev tries to joke, but it is clear you were right, this needs to be fresh blood. Let's hope the tube does not make it too unpalatable.

Sharing a look with Persephone, and with a sigh, Bev checks your blood-pressure and heart-rate —she won't be hurried— understandably they are both a little high, but she notes them down before releasing the pressure on the cuff and expertly placing a needle in the crook of your arm and attaching a two meter, transparent tube. "We will need to move closer." She says nervously.

Is there anything you do?

- Persephone -

Noticing you noticing, Bev gives a shy smile and a small shrug, as if to say 'what can you do?'. She is clearly shaken by the whole situation, and your alarm is actually helping her cope, it would be really strange —strangER— if everyone was calmly taking this in stride.

Her hands shake a bit, right up until the point she needs to pierce Emma's skin, but then professionalism takes over, she has done this... well things like this... hundreds of times, and easily finds a vein, releases the little turquoise pinchy-thing and lets the bright red blood fill the tube before pinching it off again and handing the end to you. She adjusts the sphygmomanometer she first placed around Emma's biceps to aid the bloodflow...

Hopefully Emma's weight on the bed will be enough to keep it in place without you holding it.

Chablis did not like the packaged blood, but if you were not being careful you could have lost a hand as she eagerly snatches the end of the tube from you.

So eager is Chablis that she rips the tube and needle right out of Emma's arm, sucking it dry before she even finishes dragging it in. You will need to get a better grip, or make a plan to stop this happening again and again. Bev does not want to keep sticking the donor, already she will have a bruise from that yanking extraction.

What do you do?

- Emma and Persephone -

Chablis does not seem to hear your words, the smell and taste of blood has driven her into a frenzy. Indeed, if you had tried to let her bite one of you it would have been a disaster. It is a wonder Chablis has restrained herself enough to not go out and attack people in the street, though you can not be sure how much longer that state of affairs would have persisted. Think about if Gene had made his way inside...

The vampire in the closet (now there's a chapter title for you Emma) quickly chews up the inch of tube, her instinct is to bite, and has probably ingested that plastic and a fair number of splinters of wood from the door. 'Ingested plastics' are probably not a thing you need to worry about, but mini-stakes are a —macabrely humorous— concern? ... Nothing you can do about that, though.

A bigger concern is the potential growing mouse-hole at the bottom of the closet door. Fortunately the bed casts that in shadows, but if Chablis realises the flimsiness she may try to tear though the door to get a more fulfilling meal. Lapping at the blood is going to take a while to satiate her.

"Oh. I wish I know the flow rate." Bev says nervously. A tube filled with fluid is impossible to measure, and she fears exsanguinating her patient. "You will let me know if you feel... light-headed, or anything?" She asks Emma, knowing that that may be too late anyway, or mean nothing.

Bev tries to monitor Emma's complexion for paleness and tries to listen to her pulse rate over the noise. "I why didn't I bring a pulse oximeter." She wails, but the hospital ones are large and not easily snuck out. "Next time I will have one of the cheap finger ones." She is planning for a next time?!

The light you turned on when you came in might help Bev monitor Emma's health, but it also might induce Chablis to claw her way through the crack under the door. This situation is not controlled.

What do you do?

- Emma and Persephone -

Chablis stops to listen to Emma's words, though the tongue keeps lapping at the end of the tube. "More?" She enquires between licks.

"Not just you. Right." Bev says looking to Persephone for a moment before sighing and taking out another tube and another cuff for her own arm. She came prepared.

It does not seem a good idea to stop while getting the next person lined up and Persephone is busy, so Bev pulls a face as she has to manage getting the needle in from an awkward angle, and the cuff, and the pinch, all with one hand. It would be flattering to say she makes it look easy, but that is just not true.

The line charged, Bev passes it to Persephone. "You really should be wearing gloves for this." The observes, a bit late, but they are in the bag.

Persephone passes the new tube under the door, just out of reach of the teeth, and Bev opens the valve, allowing a trickle of blood to spill out onto the closet floor. Chablis ignores this, fixated on Emma's line. When Bev pinches that off Chablis moves over to try the new blood, but complains, and her tongue returns to worry the empty tube. "Can I have some more?" She begs.

"What is this?" Bev exclaims. "Racists vampires?" You are pretty sure she is joking, Chablis has not seen Bev's skin, and surely African blood does not taste different?

In the end you have to keep a small trickle of Emma's blood flowing into the same spot as Bev's, Chablis laps up Bev's blood while trying to get Emma's from the tube next to it. It is a balancing act to get enough from Emma to sweeten the meal and not drain Emma too much so she passes out.

What do you do?

- Emma -

Chablis continues to lick till gravity empties your tube, then she stops when it is only Bev's. "More please." She pleads.

Bev stops her bloodflow since the fussy vampire does not like it on its own. She was looking ashen by the time you called it quits anyway.

You don't know when Chablis last fed, it sure looks like it was before you took Sarah away. How much blood does a vampire need to recuperate from such a fast? You have heard stories of vampires draining people dry, and Chablis wants more. What are you going to do with her, going forward?

"Urg. I can't go back to work like this." Bev says shakily.

What do you do?

- Persephone -

"No, of course not. Sometimes she is less pale." Bev says agreeing that 'she is always like this'.

She was distracted and busy at the time, but apparently did not miss it. "Why..." She hesitates before continuing. "Er... Why might your blood be bad for the vampire, for Chablis?" She looks innocent, but people need to be careful what they say around Bev, she has curiosity more insatiable than Chablis' hunger.

"I don't suppose there are any little biscuits around the place?" She asks. "We jokingly call the blood donation people 'vampires', and they have little bisuits ... er... biscuits."

What do you do?

- Emma -

"Yes. Good morning, Emma." Kenedi says, sounding more amused than annoyed by your pounce. "I thought you were calling about the other thing." She listens to your 'situation with a vampire' and quickly directs whoever she was speaking to at work to another office (or officer), and you hear her moving to a more private place.

"What are you needing? Fire department and SWAT?" She means SO19, but 'S.W.A.T.' is more familiar to civilians. "Or Flying Squad and a warrant?"

What do you do?