Chapter 27

Tessa’s POV

Is this why Joseph didn’t want to come with me to this examination? Because he knew this was going to happen?

I felt humiliated that he didn’t give me even the slightest warning.

I was even more humiliated because this woman I had never met before, Lisa, was staring at me and waiting for me to get completely undressed.

“It won’t take long,” she assured me, a frown on her face. “I’m assuming they didn’t explain what this examination is.”

“Not at all.”

She sighed and shook her head.

“I shouldn’t be surprised.”

She went towards the counter and pulled out what looked like a flashlight.

“This is a black light. When I turn off the lights and point this at you, it’ll show me all areas in which you could be infected.”

“Infected?”

“They really explained nothing,” she said, furrowing her brows together.

“Vampires release a venom in their fangs when they bite a human and this venom will possibly turn you into a vampire if you are killed with it in your system. There are usually traces of this venom on your body indicating that you’ve recently been bitten by a vampire. Typically, the venom is on the spot you’ve been bitten. Once we locate the areas that have been bitten, we can get rid of the venom.”

“You are trying to keep vampires from being created?” I asked, raising my brows.

“In our headquarters, yes,” she said. “God forbid something happened and you turned into a vampire. New vampires are very dangerous when they haven’t been domesticated. Joseph brings the new vampires to the school to get domesticated, but it’s not easy capturing them. If you turned into a vampire while here, you could probably kill all of us.”

“So, there’s a chance I could die here?” I asked with a little worry in my tone.

She smirked.

“You’ve met Jordan… you tell me.”

She had a very valid point.

“It’s just precaution. It isn’t that easy to turn into a vampire,” she told me gently. “Then afterward I’ll have you fill out some paperwork. Just basic information and then another more personal document that tells us a little about who you are, Miss Tessa. That way it’s not like we are allowing a complete stranger into our headquarters. Then also some consent forms and a waiver.”

“A waiver?” I gasped. “Just in case I die??”

“Again, it’s just precautionary,” she said gently. “But we don’t have much longer. Chief Mulligan and Joseph are waiting. So, I’ll need you to get undressed.”

I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat as Lisa put on some latex gloves.

“What if I told you I wasn’t bitten?” I asked. “I think I would remember such a thing.”

“We can’t take that chance. Besides, it could have happened in your sleep, and you would never know about it. There’s a lot of reasons why we check for these things using the blacklight method and not word by mouth.”

I felt a little uncomfortable stripping in front of her, but I could imagine that she had seen a lot worse. I took a deep breath and took off my shirt, folding it neatly and placing it on the chair beside me. Then I did the same thing with my pants.

She was getting the blacklight prepared as I unhooked my bra. I put my bra on the chair as well, covering my breasts with one of my arms as I used the other one to get out of my underpants.

I had completely forgotten that Joseph had bitten me not too long ago during our one-night stand and I had a moment of panic. I reached my hand to my neck to feel the bite, but it was completely gone. I knew already that it was gone, but wondered if the venom could still possibly be in my system.

“How long does the venom stay in the human body?” I found myself asking.

“It depends on how much the vampire releases. Longer bites usually mean more venom.”

My heart thudded violently against my chest. He drank from me for a while before he released me. Not enough to make me pass out from lack of blood, but I did get a little dizzy. I could still have his venom inside of me.

I felt queasy at the very thought.

Once I was naked, I felt incredibly exposed to her, and I didn’t like this feeling. My entire body was radiating with warmth, and I had never felt more embarrassed than I did at that moment.

However, she didn’t even look phased when she looked at me. I supposed that made me feel a little better.

“I’m just going to turn off the lights,” she told me just as she flipped the light off.

I was soon surrounded by a thick layer of darkness, and I was feeling incredibly unsettled. But the darkness didn’t last long. The blacklight appeared and I saw the faint outlining of Lisa’s face as she examined my body.

I closed my eyes, bracing myself for any audible sounds indicating that she found venom on my body. But there was no sound, only silence and then the clicking of the black light being turned off.

I opened my eyes as she turned on the lights.

“Okay, you are clean,” she said, writing something down on her clipboard.

“That’s it?” I asked. “You don’t want to check to see if I was bitten in the past and the venom was still in my system?”

“It’s unlikely that the venom would still be in your system from a small bite. Any bigger bites would probably lead to some more obvious damage. Such as too much blood loss and illnesses. But you appear to be healthy so if you were bitten in the past, the venom is most likely gone.”

She paused as she gathered some papers on her clipboard and grabbed a pen.

“Now you have to fill out the paperwork I just explained. But you can get dressed for that.”

I was relieved to hear that, and I wasted no time in getting dressed. Once I was fully dressed, I sat down in one of the chairs and she handed me the papers to fill out.

As I filled them out, I noticed she was staring at me.

I glanced at her in return, questionably.

“Sorry,” she said with a light chuckle. “I’m just surprised Joseph brought a human with him. He doesn’t usually have human friends.”

“I wouldn’t really consider myself to be his friend,” I said in return and that was an honest remark. Just because we had a one-night stand didn’t mean we were friends. “I’m his student.”

“I see…” she said, still staring around my face. “It seems you are special if he’s bringing you here.”

I didn’t bother responding.

I quickly finished the papers and signed everything I needed to sign before I stood to my feet.

“Can I go back to Joseph now?” I asked as she glanced through the papers.

“Yeah, everything looks good,” she said in return.

She opened the door and Jordan was standing there, looking annoyed like always.

I wondered what his issue was.

“She’s all set,” Lisa said to him.

He looked me over before turning away and walking back to where we initially came from. I took that as my cue to follow him.

Back outside, Joseph was still standing on the same patio as he was before I left. He looked at me and then back at Chief Mulligan.

“Okay, now we can go inside.”

…

We sat inside Chief Mulligan’s office. I didn’t see much of the headquarters. Only a few paintings of former chiefs hung above a large mantle. A big chandelier hung in the main foyer area and in the center of the foyer was a big desk where a couple of women worked as receptionists.

There were multiple doors that lead to different departments and offices that I didn’t ask what they were for.

Mulligan's office was on the top floor and outside his giant window that sat behind his large glass desk, overlooked the field we had walked from. I hadn’t noticed this before, but the grass appeared to be freshly mowed and it looked so green and plush. I couldn’t help but wonder who maintained that grass.

“It’s odd that there have been two vampire attacks in a matter of days. Typically, they are weeks apart. They are getting riskier,” Chief Mulligan said, pressing the palms of his hands together like he was praying.

“More like stupider,” Joseph muttered.

“The question is… why? Is there something missing that we aren’t seeing? Do they have a motive for those they attack?”

“New vampires don’t typically have a motive. It's all random. At least it has been,” Joseph responded, shaking his head with dismay written all over his face.

“Do these victims have anything in common? Similar scents? Clothing maybe?”

Joseph thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

“No, they were all—”

His voice trailed off and I could see that the wheels were turning in his head.

I saw a flash of realization in his eyes just before he turned and looked directly at me.