34

Amelia had no watch, but the darkness outside suggested it was time for her dinner with Mikhail. She crossed the five steps to his room. Before she could knock, he opened the door.

He had swapped his usual dark clothes for blue jeans and a white shirt. In the middle of the room, a small table was set up with two sets of utensils, plates, and a bottle of red wine. He pulled a chair, inviting her to sit down with a quiet gesture, and got seated opposite her.

“You look different,” she noted, since she could think of nothing else to say and the silence was making her uncomfortable.

“Better?” He filled their glasses with wine.

Perfect.

She winced, scorning herself for her treacherous thoughts. Was she losing her mind, having such strong reactions for the man she was making plans to escape from? Yes, he was an exquisite surgeon and attractive as a god, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a creature – a being she shouldn’t trust.

Then why the butterflies in my stomach?

“Just different,” she replied, desperate to change the subject. “You drink alcohol?”

Mikhail wrapped his fingers around the stem of his glass. “I can. I can eat anything, as well, I just don’t need to.”

“How can you exist without a source of energy?”

He stared into the red liquid that spilt over the walls of the glass while he stirred it gently. “Everything is energy and anything can be a source. The air you breathe. The water you drink. The sunrays piercing through the clouds. The processes of transformation are endless.”

“So, you’re something like a plant?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “If that explanation satisfies you.”

They drank in silence. When she looked back at him, he was already watching her.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Nothing.” She shrugged, playing with her glass.

“Liar.” He smiled. “You purse your lips when you’re thinking.”

Amelia took a big gulp of her wine to hide her surprise. Only one person had ever noticed her annoying habit – Sammy. But she didn’t want to think of him, not just then.

“Is it the same when you turn?” she asked. “A transformation?”

His gaze lingered on her face before he said, “Nothing more than a rearrangement of atoms and molecules.”

At that moment, the door opened and an older woman in a chambermaid uniform barged in, pushing a trolley in front of her. “Good evening!”

“This is Stella. She agreed to cook dinner for us tonight,” Mikhail explained.

“All right…” Amelia inspected the woman, trying to decipher whether she was human or not.

“I imagine you two would like a classical Bulgarian dish for dinner. Right?” The woman filled up their plates. “Kapama! I ordered the best pork, beef, and chicken in the area. Stewed it all up in a broth with onions, garlic, and my secret condiments. I won’t even comment on the quality of the sauerkraut.”

Amelia’s stomach somersaulted. She wasn’t vegetarian but the mention of meat brought back her nausea.

“And… the perfect banitsa!” Stella placed a tray of savoury pastries filled with feta cheese, eggs, and spices in the middle of the table. “Don’t eat too much, there’s dessert, too!” She disappeared with her trolley.

Amelia stared at the table full of food in disbelief.

“I had no idea what you might like, so I trusted Stella,” Mikhail said.

“Is she human?”

“Couldn’t be further from it. She’s a vampire.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed. She is… I mean, the wrinkles…”

“Some creatures reach immortality later in life.” He took a bite of the kapama. “It’s good, I guess.”

She forced herself to taste the dish, wrinkling her nose unwittingly when she brought it to her mouth. Despite that, she swallowed it. “It’s good.”

Mikhail wasn’t fooled. One glance at her, and he was reaching for his phone. “You don’t like it. I’ll call Stella and ask her to bring something else.”

“Don’t! I just don’t feel like eating meat… But the banitsa and the cabbage will be enough.”

“Are you a vegetarian?”

“Yes,” she replied, because she could think of no other way to explain her sudden distaste towards meat. She stuffed her mouth with a piece of the banitsa. “This is very tasty.”

“I need to warn her that you don’t eat meat.”

“I‘d hate to offend her. She seemed very excited about this dish.” The last thing Amelia wanted was to make an enemy out of a vampire by insulting her culinary skills.

“Don’t worry about that. She’s my most trusted creature. She will be the only one taking care of you from now on. As much as I hate to admit it, the Hospital isn’t a safe place anymore. There have been two murders in the span of a few weeks. One of the victims was the chambermaid you attacked in your room.”

Amelia nearly choked on her food. The woman she had pushed to the floor to provoke her to do anything immortal. “She… is dead?”

“Yes. One of my Council members discovered the body.” Mikhail’s speech was casual but his deep voice also carried discontentment. “So, I did the only thing I could think of. I called in the Tribunal. As dreaded as they are by many creatures, they are the only ones with the means to catch the perpetrator. They’ve concluded that the maid was murdered by her roommate and her boyfriend, both of whom are missing.”

Killed by her friends? For God’s sake … Mind still reeling that all of this had happened in the same building she’d been living in – while she’d been busy moping around – Amelia took a sip from her wine. “You said two murders?”

“Yes. The first victim was a witch. A member of the Council.” A darker shade crept across his face.

Then he spoke about the head in the box that had materialised in front of the building with a threatening message carved inside. Amelia listened, observing him. He appeared relaxed but if she focused on his chiselled jawline, the tense muscles underneath were evident. His calm composure was a mask to hide his true emotions from everything that was happening in the building.

Because he really cares .

He cared about the immortal creatures, the Hospital and all those who suffered under his watch. It didn’t justify him kidnapping her twice , but at least she was beginning to understand him.

When he finished the story, she asked him about his Council.

“It’s a gathering of creatures I created a long time ago. Its main purpose is to discuss Hospital problems. Oftentimes, we also solve other matters.”

“Something like a board of directors?”

“You could say that. Except the members of the Council are not regular creatures. It’s not easy to kill any of them. Especially in the way that Kaliope Gazis was murdered.”

Amelia rested her chin on her palm, leaning in closer, all thoughts of food forgotten. The mystery he presented was much more interesting. “Do you know who did it?”

“Who killed her – no. We know who delivered the box, but he died before we could get anything out of him.”

She remembered what he’d told her the other day. “Why did you say I’m responsible for these murders? How are they connected to me? The chambermaid was killed by her friends…”

“I don’t know.” A tiny wrinkle creased his brow. “Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t.”

But they could be. It was on the tip of her tongue to admit it all – the Oracle, the voice in her head. She downed the rest of her wine in a large gulp and started, “There’s something I—”

“Dessert has arrived!” Stella burst into the room once again with her trolley. “Oh, wow!” She stared at their untouched plates, her eyes wide with surprise. “You haven’t eaten!”

“Don’t take it personally, Stella. It’s my fault. I didn’t warn you that Amelia was vegetarian,” Mikhail said.

“Vegetarian?” Stella squinted. “She wasn’t when she lived downstairs!”

Mikhail turned to Amelia. Her stomach twisted.

“I…. am not feeling well,” she whispered as she attempted to stay upright on her chair. The room was spinning.

“Water! Humans drink water!” Stella dashed into the bathroom with a glass.

“What’s going on?” Mikhail looked at her askance.

Amelia tried to say something but it was hard to speak, so she just shook her head, immediately regretting her decision. The contents of her stomach rushed up. Oh, no! No way, she wouldn’t…

Stella returned with a glass full of water, passing it to Amelia. Instead of taking it, she buried her head between her knees and threw up.

It was humiliating. The vampire held her hair and Mikhail knelt beside her. At least as her stomach emptied, her head cleared.

She lifted her eyes to Mikhail.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

She nodded. “I need to use the restroom.”

“Go with her,” Mikhail urged Stella.

She did as she was told, leading Amelia to the bathroom and helping her clean up.

When they were done, Mikhail waited for them on the other side of the door.

“She needs a breath of fresh air and she’ll be fine,” Stella said. “Go out for a walk with her. I’ll clean up here.”

“I’ll clean!” Amelia protested, staring at her masterpiece under the table.

“It’s all right, dear. I’ll take care of it,” Stella assured her.

Before she could argue again, Mikhail took her hand. “Let’s go.” His tone didn’t allow for any objections.

They stopped by her room to grab a jacket. To her surprise, a long, padded coat had appeared in her new wardrobe, along with some other clothes. They must have been delivered while they were having dinner.

She put on the coat and followed Mikhail to the lobby. He unlocked the door by the lift, leading her up the spiral staircase.

“Are we going to the rooftop?” she asked.

“The tower.” Mikhail’s voice echoed in the narrow space.

When the stairs finally widened into a room with broad, barred windows, she realised they had reached their destination. The four slanted walls converged at a sharp angle, forming the tower.

“What do you use this space for?” Amelia asked, approaching one of the windows.

The view was breathtaking. The forest was nothing more than thick darkness, spreading out for miles. With sunrise, the colours would be revealed, but the night provided a blanket of protection. The city lights, the only distinguishable feature at the foot of the mountain, shone like a beacon, bathed in never-ending spotlight.

How many times had she strolled through the streets of Sofia, oblivious to the real world she lived in? And somewhere out there were still millions of people, equally unaware…

Mikhail came to stand next to her. “I don’t use it for anything. I just like the view.”

His presence was stronger than ever, his body radiating so much heat that the space around her warmed with his approach. With the vast mountain before her, her old life faded and everything on the other side of the glass turned foreign to her. She would never again be one of the millions of people, even if she lived among them.

“Do you come here often?” she asked.

“Yes. Every time I need to think.” His attention was set on her. “Why were you ill earlier?”

Shame made her wince once more. As a student of medicine, she was used to seeing ill people, covered with and choking on their bodily fluids. Some of her classmates would faint in the OR from exhaustion. A body’s natural response to disease might be unpleasant, but it was nothing to be ashamed of.

Her vomiting, however, wasn’t due to a disease. “I may have overdone the wine,” she admitted. She had never in her life allowed herself to drink too much alcohol. Why did she have to do it now and humiliate herself in front of Mikhail, of all people?

“Are you sure?” His concerned expression didn’t alleviate her embarrassment; if anything, it made her feel even more self-conscious.

“Yes. I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol.”

“So, it wasn’t caused by panic?”

The question caught her off guard. “What do you mean?”

“I know you’ve been getting panic attacks ever since your parents died,” he said in a soft voice. “I did a little digging on you after I met you in Sofia that day.”

Amelia wasn’t sure what to think. It was unsettling that someone besides her and Doctor Andonov knew about her panic attacks. She had always viewed these physiological reactions as a sign of weakness. Human, but a weakness, nonetheless. She felt guilty and weak-minded for having them. During her studies and later her work in the hospital, she’d witnessed patients face unimaginable hardships – incurable diseases, loss of limbs or organs, and devastating goodbyes to loved ones. Yet, many found the strength to persevere and move forward.

But her? No matter how hard she tried to suppress the suffering and carry on, her body often betrayed her. It would start with a slight tremor in her hands, then spread through her entire body, making it hard to breathe. Sometimes it manifested as a sharp pain in her stomach; other times, it was nausea and vomiting. The most humiliating episode occurred in front of her colleagues—just once—but it was enough to convince her that it was time to talk to a specialist.Her diagnosis? Panic disorder caused by post-traumatic stress. She had been determined to overcome it and she had succeeded. Until recently.

“It wasn’t a panic attack tonight.” Impatient to change the subject, she asked, “So, you did a little digging and you know everything about me?”

“You can’t know everything there is to know about someone, but I learnt a lot about you as I tried to figure out if you had a connection with the immortal species,” Mikhail replied.

Her gut clenched. Did he know that for days, she hadn’t been able to leave her home without a paper bag in case panic attacks stole her breath on the street? Did he know that it had taken months until she could get inside a car without starting to cry? Did he know that she hadn’t been kissed in years?

The urge to defend herself rose. “It was a brief period. I managed to cure myself. Almost.”

Mikhail held her gaze. “You will heal when you accept that you cannot change the past,” he said before focusing on the view once more.

“I’m not trying to change the past…”

He said nothing further, only watched the flickering lights of the city in the distance. Amelia crossed her arms and wrapped herself tighter inside the coat.

She knew now that he had had his losses, so she could assume what was going on inside his head. She wondered how many years had passed since he’d lost his family. Did the grief become easier with time?

While Amelia observed the city on the other side of the mountain, her mind was fixed on the man beside her. It had been three years since her family’s death and Mikhail was the first living person to whom she could relate.

She side-glanced at him . Life is funny, isn’t it?

“I’ll take you back now.” His vacant gaze indicated he was further closing in on himself.

Mikhail walked her to her room, still lost in silence.