Good Night Sweetheart

Libby

Time goes by quickly, meeting patients and learning my way around. The building looks small from the outside, and everything is rather old-fashioned, especially his filing system. Still, it's a large and thriving clinic. Doctor Thomas has one of the oldest and most well-known around, with people traveling miles to see him. I'm almost worried that the patients won't be willing to have me as the new Doctor, but he assures them he would only hire the best to take care of them. Most of the people we saw this morning were all the usual ailments, nothing like the stab wounds and gunshot victims I had become accustomed to in the ER.

"You know you look like you just graduated medical school, son." He remarks, chuckling a little as we head back to his office.

"I'm older than I look." I insist, smiling.

"Well, you'll have to tell me your secret then." He laughs, and I join in a little, trying not to sound uncomfortable.

"Doctor Thomas, I brought you lunch." The voice that has invaded my thoughts all morning has me turning to the open office door as she walks in. Her red curls still hide her face from me, but the sight of her alone makes me feel ravenous. I choke a moment as she rushes past me.

"Oh, Libby, you are sweet. Thank you, dear. Have you met Keith Morgan?" he asks, smiling from his office chair. I start to rise out of mine as she turns her head to look at me, freezing me in place momentarily.

"Hello again." she smiles, and I swear my frozen-dead heart flutters.

"Oh, you two have met?" Doctor Thomas asks, looking between us.

"Well, sort of; I crashed into him this morning and spilled my coffee on him," Libby confesses shyly.

"Really, it was my fault." I flounder, half out of my chair, awkwardly staring at her. I blink and sit back down, unsure of what to do. She holds her hand out to me, and I stare at it.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor Morgan. I'm Olivia Carson, but everyone calls me Libby." She says, looking at me expectantly. I hesitate, taking her hand. When I take her hand, it's like a rush of adrenalin, and my heart races. Does this mean what I think it means? It can't. Not her, and not now, my mind screams.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Carson." I manage to get the words out, nearly choking on them, and they both look at me funny for a moment.

"Libby here is finishing her last year at the university the next town over, though why she chooses to live in this little town is beyond me. She's a lit major and works at my favorite deli." Doctor Thomas says as I let go of her hand quickly.

"I like it here." She shrugs. Did she really feel nothing? I wonder, watching her.

"Well, I need to get back to work. Nice to meet you, Doctor Morgan." She smiles sweetly.

"Why didn't you go with her and grab a bite to eat? I can't have you keeling over from starvation.

She watches me as if expecting me to follow her. Honestly, I would gladly follow her anywhere something about her feels like it's pulling me to her. I stand, and she starts to leave the room, but I freeze in the hall. I can't give in to this impulse. I don't know where it will lead me, my thoughts an evil mix of hunger and savageness. She pauses as well, looking at me curiously for a moment.

"You know I'm not really hungry, and I have taken up to much of your time." I smile, trying to hold myself together. Being this close to her is amazing and terrifying. I'm not sure what I might do to her at this point.

"Okay, if you are sure, but you didn't know what you are missing. Stop by soon." She gives me a half smile before turning down the hall and hurrying off, her red hair bouncing behind her.

I groan, watching her go and feel like a starving animal. "Get it together," I mutter, going to my office and rubbing the back of my neck. "She is just a human girl, nothing more. I can have a conversation with her. It will be fine." I continue my muttering all the way to my office. Did she really not feel what I felt when I touched her? "No, she's human, Morgan." I huffed, falling into my chair and taking off my glasses to rub my temples.

I fumble through the rest of the day, still distracted as I head back to my apartment, I completely forgot to go and get a new phone today, and mine is dead now anyway. I hope Doctor Thomas doesn't call me. I sit down hard on my bed. I'm so hungry, but what am I hungry for? I can't get her out of my mind as I fall back on the bed. I need to do something about this soon. I have to avoid her for her good and mine.

I plug my phone turning it back on, to see a voicemail from Doctor Rodriguez, "Hey John, your sister stopped by looking for you just after you left. I didn't know you had a sister. Anyway, I didn't know what to tell her about where you had gone. Do you have a sister? Call me back. Are you in some kind of trouble, son?"

"s**t," I mutter, dropping the phone. Do I call him back, lie to him even more, or pretend I never got the message? I need to get a new phone tomorrow. I flop back down as my phone buzzes with a message. I sit up fast, looking at it to see the text.

It's from Doctor Rodriguez "Call me back, son." Is all it says. I don't trust the message. It could be her.

My thoughts drift back to Libby for the hundredth time since seeing her. "She did tell me to stop by," I mutter to the boxes in my room.

If you only knew what you were inviting into your life. I lay back down. "Does that mean she felt something too?" I ask the ceiling. "get it together, Morgan, just stay away from her." Can I really do that, though, now that I found her? Something about her, I want her, but what will I do to her? I know vampires have other halves wandering around. Could she be mine? No, she's human, and she's pulling the part of me I buried to the surface again. My heart flutters again, and the strange, unfamiliar sensation thrills me. I'm so hungry I can hardly stand it at this point, still unsure what I'm hungry for. I need to see her. I need to know her, but she can't know what I am. I can't drag her into my messed-up reality; I can't do that to her.

I get up, determined to distract myself and start unpacking and moving the furniture. Still, nothing is helping as my stomach growls loudly, making me growl as well. I need to do something to sustain this hunger. I know what I want, but I'm not doing that. I grab a coat from the box of clothes leaving the apartment fast. I need to get away from people, or I will have more to regret. The clinic is just a short sprint away, and I have the key and code for the alarm. I'm glad Doctor Thomas gave me the tour; I can find what I need there.

I rush to the back of the clinic in the dark, not needing the light, as I head to the refrigerator in the back. He showed me he had a few bags from the last blood drive for an emergency, and this counts as an emergency. I grab one, stuffing it in my coat, and race back out of the clinic, resetting the alarm and locking the door. Thankful there are at least no cameras to worry about here, unlike the last place I worked; those are a pain to deal with.

I head quickly out of town, and the few cars that drive by with their lights blinding me further add to my aggravation. Safely back in my apartment again, I pull the bag out from under my jacket, and my fangs extend. I bit into it, unable to control the hunger any longer, squeezing the bag and draining it far too quickly, cold blood running down my chin. I stuff it in the trash and go to the bathroom catching sight of myself in the mirror blood covers my chin and drips on my coffee-stained shirt.

"She can't know what kind of monster lurks inside me." I sigh, leaning on the skink. "She can't see me like this."