Chapter 20

Nomis couldn't remember going to bed, yet here he was. The last thing he could recall from the evening before was going to Ralph's private rooms to have dinner but apart from drinking some blood he didn't remember eating or leaving. His head had felt woolly for several days but this morning had a different tinge to it, his thoughts even softer and more nebulous than before.

The door to his room opened, a nurse entered carrying a clipboard. "Good, you're awake. I'm Nurse Teller, we've been waiting for you to wake up. Dr Mettle thinks you'd benefit from having breakfast with some of the other residents."

"He does?"

"Yes, he's concerned you're not eating. You fell asleep during dinner three nights ago."

"Three nights? I've been asleep all that time?" He was sure he'd had dinner with Ralph yesterday.

"Your body is healing, it is not something to concern yourself over. Now, let us get ready and you can have a social breakfast. Eating correctly is an important part of your recovery."

He didn't feel like he'd been asleep that long, although he was well rested, but not three days' worth of rest. "I don't see how eating with others would improve things."

She made a note on her clipboard. "Studies have shown that in a residential care home setting, patients eating together rather than individually prevents isolation and deterioration of their mental health."

"Right. I'm not sure I'm up for that just yet. As you said I've been asleep for three days. I'll need to recuperate."

"Nonsense. You need to get to meet people, allow your mind to be stimulated as well as your body. Do you need help getting dressed?"

Something about her told him she wasn't going to take no for an answer. "Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be ready."

She didn't move. "I'll be right here in case of problems. Dr Mettle was concerned you might lose consciousness again since you have been out a few days."

"That sounds a lot worse than falling asleep," he said, and he reluctantly got out of bed and saw a pile of clean clothes on his dresser.

"Sometimes it is better to hear soft lies than hard truths."

It struck him as a strange thing to say but he didn't want to engage with Nurse Teller more than he had to, her eyes were an odd shade of blue and her features were sharp, her black, bobbed hair not helping. He wasn't sure what species she was, not human, but then given the clientele he'd have been more surprised if she was. A jolt of static electricity darted across one of his cuffs, making him flinch, but she hadn't noticed, and wondered if it was his magic having the same uneasy reaction towards her as he did. He dressed, keeping himself as covered as possible as she didn't turn around but instead busied herself with making notes.

"I'm ready."

She held out her arm. "Come on then."

"I don't need you to steady me. If that changes I'll let you know."

She rolled her eyes. "Very well. But if something happens you can explain it to Dr Mettle."

While it might be disturbing to think that he had fallen asleep for three days his gut instinct told him there was very little physically wrong with him, and his internal thoughts were concerned with his lack of recollection of who he was. He wasn't willing to accept everything Ralph said at face value, and he wasn't going to confide in anyone else.

They left his room and headed downstairs. He'd been told this was a medical facility and there was no indication anyone was being kept here against their will, but he had no real evidence of that.

None of the windows were barred, at least not in the sense of iron and physical reinforcements, but that didn't mean there weren't magical constraints in place. "Breakfast is served in the orangery," Nurse Teller said. "It is a wonderful space."

"I suppose breakfast for some will be dinner for others."

"I assume you are talking about our nocturnal residents."

"Yes, how many are there?"

Nurse Teller led him towards the back of the house. "We've a handful of vampires, none of which live feed, in case you're concerned, a werewolf—although you need only worry about him at certain times of the month—and a couple of others who just prefer the night compared to daytime… although we do try and encourage them all to be out with as many of the others as possible."

"Surely it wouldn't be safe if they were nocturnal or have issues with the sun."

"The windows are magically treated so they would be protected. Some of the spell work even mimics different weather conditions… it's very clever."

He was shown into what he assumed was the orangery. The space was bright and he could see why Nurse Teller liked it. Three walls and the ceiling were made from panes of glass, and collections of plants stood in every corner, although he didn't think they were oranges. The space was obviously used as the main dining room, with tables of various sizes, heights and shapes, which he assumed would accommodate different residents and species. Most of the tables were empty, but the nurse led him towards a round table where three people were sitting, one of them was Kitty, who waved at him as they approached.

By the look of the other two, Nomis would say one of them was some sort of wood nymph, her skin had a grainy pattern similar to bark, but he had no idea what Kitty was. The third was a man with grey hair and wrinkled skin, but his appearance might have no relation to his age as that depended on his species, of which he had no clue.

"Nomis!" Kitty called and got to her feet and pulled out an unoccupied chair at the table. "I am so glad you've come down. You can't hide away in your room forever."

Ralph had said no one else would know his medical details, and there would be no reason for Kitty to have been told he wasn't avoiding people but had been asleep.

He sat. "I'm here now."

"I don't need to introduce you to Kitty," said Nurse Teller, "but your other companions are Terese and Malcolm. I'm sure you'll enjoy your breakfast together. I'll be back in a little while."

Nomis saw Kitty watch Nurse Teller leave, her top lip curling in a sneer. "I don't like her."

Malcolm sniffed. "Me neither."

"She is a little… disconcerting," Terese said, as she scratched at her neck. "There's something about her that makes my bark flake."

"I've only just met her," Nomis said carefully.

Kitty poured him a glass of orange juice from a jug on the table. "But you think the same. I could see it by the way you looked when you got here."

"Let's say I didn't find her bedside manner reassuring." He sipped the juice, it didn't taste right. "Does this taste strange to you?"

"Can't expect fine dining," Malcolm said. "But then, all the food here's a bit odd… Dr Mettle told me it was because of the medication I take."

He didn't think he'd eaten much at the facility, the blood was his main sustenance and that had tasted wonderful. "I don't think I'm on meds."

Kitty snorted and tapped his cuffs. "Really? They're not there to be a statement piece, even though they do go smashing with your scarlet hair. You do look fabulous."

She had a point about his cuffs. "I hadn't thought of it like that, and I've been sleeping a lot. I don't think that's normal for me."

"You don't know?" Terese asked.

"No, I'm having trouble recalling certain things about myself."

"That'll explain why you're in," Malcolm said. "Do you remember how you met Dr Mettle?"

He thought it a strange question to ask, and he didn't want to bring up the story Ralph had concocted about them being married. "I woke up here, I don't remember meeting him before then."

Kitty smiled. "He's like me. We've got leaky brains."

Temporary amnesia would be his preferred choice of diagnosis, but to be fair to Kitty his brain didn't feel very watertight at the moment. "So was Dr Mettle treating you before you became a resident?" he asked Terese and Malcolm.

"Oh no, I went to one of his meetings. They are quite spectacular. He helps so many people and those he can't help on the day he'll bring here."

Nomis had no idea what Malcolm was talking about, but then he remembered Ralph had said something about clinics he held but he'd assumed those were appointment-based in a doctor's surgery. " Meetings ?"

Terese wore the same soft smile as Malcolm. "I heard about them from a friend, he doesn't advertise and his good deeds are spread by word of mouth. Hundreds of people turn up hoping he will heal them, but he can only pick a few each time."

"So he has a mobile clinic or something?" Nomis asked, not grasping what they meant, he'd never come across anything like it.

"Not exactly. He'll find somewhere that can hold a few hundred people at a time. At the one I went to, we were all seated in rows and he walked up and down chanting a series of magical spells and then he selected twenty of us to come up to the dais to be treated."

"For me, it was more like fifty people were selected," Malcolm said. "But I did hear he only did one meeting that day. I imagine it is quite tiring."

Nomis still didn't understand what it was Ralph was doing. "And the people he selects?"

"He cures them, takes away whatever ailments they have, and for those of us he can't save on the day, and he thinks he can still help, he brings here."

"There are some humans who attend. They somehow hear of a miracle worker and they seek him out, and call him a faith healer. It's not like he can tell them the truth, so I heard he will speak to them and then invite them to a meeting and as he treats them, he pretends to pray with them and it is their God that saves them and he is acting as a holy instrument."

It sounded like a recipe for disaster. "I didn't think humans were meant to mingle with our sort."

"Dr Mettle is too good a man to turn them away, and they are sworn to secrecy," Terese said.

Malcolm chuckled. "If sworn to secrecy is code for having their memories altered, then I suppose that's what the support staff does."

Nomis wondered if it were only the humans who were subjected to the memory spells, given his own affliction, but he wouldn't voice that in the open for now. He'd been told that he had magic himself, but he couldn't recollect using it. "So his magic just fixes people? What about the others it can't cure?"

Malcolm shrugged. "He can't save everybody—no one's got that much magic in them. But they could come back another time if they want."

"And not everything can be fixed," Terese added. "You know he would cure them all if he could. But he can't risk draining himself, can he? That'd be daft."

"But if he is so popular and successful at what he does, there must be crowds of people desperate to see him each time, and how come there are not people queuing to get into the house."

"I told you he doesn't advertise, and he keeps it very close to his chest where each meeting will be," Terese said. "I only found out a few hours before. It's to stop so many people being disappointed and him becoming overwhelmed."

"But you said he met with the humans before so they must have found him."

Terese huffed. "It's not many of them, and I dare say they track him down somehow."

It didn't sound convincing. Malcolm and Terese thought Ralph was some sort of saviour, but Nomis didn't think Ralph came across as quite so altruistic. "I suppose his benefactors can only support so much as well."

"I don't know what benefactors he has," Kitty said. "He told me that the income from the other patients meant that he could treat a few of us without funds, I myself am one of his charity cases."

"You have to pay to attend the meeting," Malcolm said.

"Even if you're not selected for treatment?" Nomis asked.

"Yes, but it is not much, and if you are selected you pay more."

"I'm sure it must be a profitable business," Nomis said.

"He uses the income he gets from travelling the country holding these meetings to run this facility and conduct additional research into things that in the future will help more people," said Terese in a breathy tone, her awe of Ralph evident. "Not everything is about money, Nomis."

"Of course not, and I am very grateful," he said quickly, not wanting to cause an argument or show his open distrust. "Do you know what sort of research he does? Beyond in general terms to make people better… perhaps he has a specialist field?"

Terese shook her head. "I don't think he specialises. He's the sort to be interested in all creatures and their ailments."

A young man shuffled into the room pushing a rattling trolley through a pair of swing double doors. He looked as miserable as the selection of breakfast foods consisting of cereals and toast.

Nomis accepted a bowl of brown flakes with raisins and two slices of toast, which on inspection were already buttered but cold. More terrible food, how were people meant to get better if this was what they had to eat?

Kitty waved away the offering, as unimpressed as he was, but Terese and Malcolm seemed happy with what they were given.

Malcolm pointed to Nomis's untouched toast. "Not hungry, you should eat. The food's pretty good."

"It's not really to my tastes."

"You one of those posh types? All froth and fancy frills."

Kitty huffed. "Maybe he just doesn't like eating cardboard, Malcolm."

"You don't eat either, Kitty. You sit at the table but I've never seen you do anything but drink," Terese said, and she stole one of Nomis's unwanted pieces of toast.

"That's because I can only have a liquid diet for now."

He remembered Ralph saying Kitty had been abandoned by a wealthy family, and he wondered if the liquid diet was blood, and she was one of the unnamed vampires. If she didn't tell people then perhaps the staff wouldn't offer her blood in front of anyone else. While he didn't want to reveal too much about himself, given his own genetics, getting friendly with another bloodsucker seemed like a good idea.

Kitty pushed away from the table. "If you're finished, would you like to come and play chess, Nomis? I'm not up for a walk at the moment, but I'd like some company."

It was the opportunity he was waiting for. "I'd love to."

"Excellent, the games room is usually quiet at this time as most of the residents are outside."

They left the orangery together, Nomis wondering if Nurse Teller was lurking somewhere but he didn't see her. "Tell me," he said as he let Kitty lead him into a parlour towards the back of the house, "is your staying inside at this time linked to your liquid diet?"

The room was empty and she closed the door. "You're a clever fellow, aren't you?"

"Or maybe I recognise one of my own."

She picked up a chess set from the shelf and started to unpack the pieces on a low table. "Ralph said I shouldn't broadcast what I am. Said most of the residents would be scared."

"He said the same to me, but he said a lot of things." He wanted someone to trust. "I'm still confused. There's so much that doesn't make sense."

She dropped to sit on a cushion by the table. "Same for me. The vampire thing is only part of it."

He thought if he opened up to her she might do the same. "For me, my name doesn't feel right, and I think my hair should be black, not red."

She bit her lip. "Yeah, I don't think I'm Kitty, and I should be blonde. But I also can't organise my thoughts."

"How long have you been here?"

She shrugged. "I can't be certain, weeks, maybe months, but it doesn't feel that long. I keep getting flashes of a red-bricked house, somewhere I belonged, I was happy, and then it's gone."

He reached over and took her hand. "I was told I was rescued, and that I shouldn't talk to anyone… I don't know what to believe."

"I was told I was abandoned, but Ralph wouldn't say by who. And I'm sure I've tried to leave, but then I wake up back here." She glanced to the door. "I don't know what to do, but I don't think Ralph is the man he claims to be."

Nomis was relieved that Kitty had said what he'd been thinking. Too many things didn't sit right. "Let's keep this between us, and anything we find out we share. If the staff ask, we are bonding over our shared vampire physiology."

The door to the games room opened and Nurse Teller entered. "Ah, there you are."

Nomis hoped they didn't look suspicious but Kitty held up a white pawn. "We were about to play."

"Very well." Nurse Teller's eyes glowed blue. "I'll just sit here. Dr Mettle wants me to observe Nomis for a while.

At least he had been able to speak to Kitty, his unease was growing, bolstered by uncertainty and lack of knowledge. He would need to find a way to recover his memories and he wondered if the cuffs he was wearing were part of the issue. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to believe they were healing him, they felt restrictive and as something stirred inside him he was careful not to give any outward sign. For now he would play chess and keep quiet and see what else he could learn about himself and the man who claimed to be his saviour.