Chapter 21
THE FIXER
Giving me the task to stalk the Catholic must have been a lark coming from Silas, but I went anyway because where there is a hospital, there will be blood—among other fluids.
Every task, even as a joke, is the perfect opportunity to play a part. I had decided it was time to play doctor once more. It is not like I would be fraudulently impersonating a doctor; I had re-done my medical training of all kinds every fifty years or so, or when something new was discovered.
I borrowed a morning suit and frock coat from the hordes that Alina’s Nest kept, though the hospital was small enough that they may have been excited to receive any new doctors at all, no matter how nicely they dressed.
“Excuse me?” I asked a passing nurse.
She stumbled when she saw me, though I could not gauge if it was from shock or from being flustered due to the cloth mask covering her mouth. I assumed my scar was a bit jarring.
“Y-yes?” she asked, her furrowed brows indicating she was confused at the unfamiliar doctor.
“Could you point me to phlebotomy?” I attempted my friendliest smile.
“That would be down the hall and to the left.”
“And what about osteology?”
“All offices are on the first floor. Are you looking for any doctor in particular?”
“It’s my first day—I’m shadowing a nurse. She gave me instructions, but I’ve forgotten exactly where I’m supposed to be. Her name is . . . Eden?”
“Oh, Edith! Yes, she should be just upstairs. Come, follow me,” she chirped as she nearly fluttered from the desk.
The hospital was an older building, but it was updated regularly. The nurse babbled about the new wing and then littered her tour with complaints about small annoyances over the structure or the inventory.
My home village did not even have a hospital; the only things we had readily accessible were liquor, potatoes, and wheat. I had seen hospitals that were basically run out of abandoned buildings. This place seemed like a luxury if you were to find yourself falling ill.
The second floor was no different from the first, though there were extra rooms and beds up here due to the offices being on the first floor.
Nurses fluttered about from room to room, carrying bowls, towels, and other tools as they rushed about.
Among the chaos, they still managed to throw a glance our way every now and then.
As I entered the room, one nurse in particular stood out. The uniform was a mousy-colored, long-sleeved dress with a white smock and hat. While others wore a standard uniform with their hair tucked into a neat bun, Edith wore a hair scarf as a modest addition.
Edith was tending to some poor clammy soul with a yellow tint to his flesh. When she looked up, she grew nearly as pale as her patient, and she quickly pretended that she had not seen me.
Leaving the side of the nurse escorting me, I stopped across the bed from Edith.
“Are you not going to greet the new doctor?”
She startled, a wild, angry blush across her cheeks when she saw me. “You are not a real doctor.”
“I most certainly am.”
“Liar.”
“I promise you that I’ve done more amputations than years you have been alive.”
“That does not make you a doctor.”
“The hundred collective years of schooling or apprenticing would say otherwise.”
“Fine,” she grumbled, wringing out the wet towel she was wiping the man with over a bowl. “Are you here to help or for fun?”
“Could I say both?”
“Did Silas tell you to keep an eye on me?”
“Yes, but I am genuinely curious to know what you girls do with the Vipera fluid—”
“Keep your voice down,” she snapped, glancing over her shoulder at the other nurses in the corner of the room, one of whom was tending to an old woman who had bedsores from her immobility.
“Vipera fluid,” I repeated in a whisper, teasingly looking over my shoulder to mimic her.
“Don’t be so childish,” she scolded.
“Isn’t using venom a bit risky?” I watched her gather her care items on the rolling cart. “Since there are so many deaths, would you not start having a corrupted every day?”
“The venom does not turn them if we keep it under a certain amount. Just enough to take their pain away.”
“I see . . . and this is Alina’s discovery?”
“Yes.”
“How many did you kill in order to get that number?”
“Enough. That is how many.”
“That is the first I have heard of it. What else?”
“What do you mean?”
“What else do you use it for?” I asked as she wheeled the cart out of the room, and I followed by her side.
“The venom is for pain. We use the saliva on wounds for healing and numbing,” she explained, keeping her voice quiet as we passed a group of nurses.
“What about the blood?”
“Poison. Works perfectly on mice and men.”
“Interesting philosophy.” I glanced at the tools on her cart. “What do you think is causing the increased number of corrupted disturbances?”
She lifted her shoulder before letting it slump again.
“Not one inkling as to the cause?”
“Probably one of the Guilds. There is barely an organized structure in this city; I am sure someone is being careless.”
“I see.” I trailed off. “So why are you here? How did you come to meet Phoebe and Alina?”
“I’m not supposed to be talking to you.”
“Were you a nurse before you turned?”
She shook her head, but did not offer any elaboration.
We arrived at the inventory room, and she started to unload the trinkets, towels, and bowl from the cart.
“So what is the reason for”—I gestured to my own head to indicate her scarf—“that?”
“I was in service to my church.”
“Oh.” I grimaced. “So you’re a virgin.”
“T-that is none of your business.” Her face became red faster than a cherry on a cigarette.
“No need to get flustered; you’re safe,” I proclaimed. “I have a strict rule against virgins.”
“Too much information.” She dumped the murky water bowl in the sink, a bit aggressively.
“It’s an ethical issue.” I shrugged, leaning against the edge of the sink as she worked. “You might as well be an adolescent. I can’t stand it.”
“Could you refrain from talking about your promiscuities?” She flashed a sarcastic smile before she returned to scrubbing the bowl and refilling it with clear water.
“Impossible, I’m afraid.” I shrugged. “What else is there to talk about at work?”
“The patients, possibly?”
“I would never talk about a patient’s promiscuities.”
“You are insufferable!” she snapped, hoisting the bowl onto the cart and grabbing clean washcloths from a shelf.
“I try my very best.”
She was irritated, though she had been uneasy even before she noticed me in the patient room.
“Is there something aside from me bothering you?” I tilted my head at her as she hastily wiped her hands on her apron.
“What is it to you?” She shot me a look of suspicion.
“Well, I am an excellent listener, among other wonderful qualities.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Besides, if we are to be part of the same Nest soon, it might be nice to have a friend.”
“A . . . friend.”
“Do you not have friends, Edith?” A pitying smile played on my lips. “How sad.”
“I-I do have friends!”
“Aside from Alina, your master.”
“She is not a master; don’t be obtuse. I have friends.”
“Well, now you have one more.” I held out my hand to her. “My name is Luka, friend for hire.”
“You want me to pay you?” Her expression turned grim. “Are you going to ask me for any disgusting favors?”
“Did you not hear me before? No virgins.” I scrunched my nose at her in disgust. “It was a jest. I am a mercenary, a Fixer of sorts.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped, and she stared at my extended hand. She fought with it in her head for a minute before she grasped my hand, “Edith . . . um . . . healer for hire.”
“There you go.” I patted her on the top of her scarf-covered head. “Good job, Catholic, you’ve made a friend.”
She smiled sheepishly at me, any reservations melting like butter. A crumb of praise; that’s all it took to win the trust of a loner.
“Now that we are friends . . .” I smoothed the scarf on her head. “Maybe you can help me with some errands after work?”
“Only if you help me on my shift.” She frowned. “And! And if you do whatever I say until we punch out.”
“Ah, I may consider it if you throw in some spinal fluid. I can even do the draw myself.” I winked.
“Spinal fluid?”
“It is quite tasty, very nutritious. You should try it.”
“I will stick to blood.”
“More for me, I suppose.”
The early morning was much softer than the darkness that came before midnight. While still void of sunlight, the sky was tinted in deep purples and blues, hopeful colors of the dawn to come. A perfectly good morning for a walk.
“—and then he put them on sticks! I didn’t think the man would really do it, but by God, he did!” I laughed.
“That is not funny!” Edith punched my arm.
“Considering I said it as a joke after too much mead, it was incredibly funny.” I took another drink from the bottle I found in one of the doctor’s offices.
We were walking through the park nearby. The city had not woken up yet, and neither had the sky. I could still see stars.
“Look, Edith.” I placed my palm on top of her head, tilting it back to make her look up. “It is a full moon.”
“Oh,” she breathed, staring with her eyes wide at the marvel in the sky.
The moon was bigger this witching hour, a little closer than usual.
“We must have caught it on a special night.”
“Yes,” she said, and cleared her throat.
When I peered over, she was already looking at me with those sad eyes of hers.
“What is it?”
“Was it a jape when you said we were friends?” I could see her lip twitch, her head shifting under my palm when she turned her head to look my way.
“No, why would I do that?”
“You make many unserious comments. I am not sure when you are sincere.”
“Then let us talk about something more serious,” I said as we followed the pathway by the pond. We approached a bench, and I dusted off the powder on the seat, sitting down and patting the spot next to me.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Tell me about yourself.” I took the bottle from her and drank from it. “Tell me about the nun situation . . . I assume you are not one anymore.”
“I’m not a nun.” She sat down and rubbed her arm nervously. “I was in service as a sister, but I did not think it was right for me to continue.”
“Were you turned at your convent?”
“I didn’t have a convent. I was at my church.
It was the night before I was supposed to leave for service.
” She sighed. “I remember walking across the courtyard, on a night not unlike this. I remember the moon, a sign of hope.” Her eyes lowered in reminiscence.
“Then the next thing I knew, I woke up under the dirt. It took three days to dig myself out.”
I watched her shift in discomfort, and it wasn’t from the algid air around us. I took another drink and slid closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
“If it makes you feel better, I was thrown into the bottom of a lake once. I had to break my ankle to get it out of the ball and chain.”
“I appreciate the anecdote.”
“Why do you still cover your head?”
“I am not comfortable enough to show my hair at all times, but I am working on it,” she mumbled. “Besides, I have an unsightly scar.” She looked up at me and immediately widened her eyes. “N-not that all scars are offensive! Just mine! I didn’t mean you—”
“I understood; relax.” I laughed. “You should be bold; you do not need to cater to others. Say what you mean.”
“Right.”
“Now.” I leaned closer. “Are you going to tell me what is really bothering you?”
She focused on picking the pilling on her coat fabric distractingly.
“It is complicated.”
“Try me.”
“Alina is not happy with me,” she murmured. “It feels like no matter how hard I try I always end up misstepping.”
“Ah, that has nothing to do with you.” I squeezed her shoulder. “Alina has a stick up her cunt. Silas’s, to be specific.”
Edith jumped when I cussed, as if Alina would hear from miles away.
“You need not be afraid of her; she would never dream of hurting a woman, no matter how foolish a mistake she made,” I assured her. “Besides, you should assert yourself more. Don’t let her bully you. She’s harmless.”
“Harmless is not how I would describe her.” She buried her face in her hands.
“I guess it would be a paradox of sorts.” I patted her back awkwardly.
“Don’t let other people get in the way of the greatness you want to achieve.
You have your skills and morals; Alina has her own.
” I held out the bottle, swishing the remaining liquid at the bottom.
“Do you want any more before I finish it?”
She lifted her face and grabbed the bottle, throwing her head back and taking several gulps before she emptied it.
“There we go, Catholic! See? What is more fun than public intoxication with a friend?”
“I could name many other things, though not when liquor is on my mind.”
“Shall I escort you home then?” I teased, holding my hand out.
“Of course, how could I say no to such a charming bastard!”
“It seems the monk has discovered jokes.”
“Sister. Not a monk.”
“Same difference.”