his head. Jones made a sound, like an animal caught in a trap. Then he spoke again, another word too big for the world. Infinity roared back, deeper than seas, to blow through me again with the rush of a million wings and the heady smell of clean spring rain. Giddy, I laughed without knowing why, and as the Word faded out of memory I heard them: two more beating hearts. Orb breathed and laughed as even Fisher smiled wide enough to crack his face. But I ignored them, because sitting against the wall Jacky laughed and cried, the holes in her closed, gone, and I could hear her heart beating, racing as blood filled warming cheeks. She was alive .
Episode Two: Pursuit
Chapter Twelve
I like kitties in trees. They’re easy.
Astra, Notes From a Life
----
“You’re alive,” Dr. Beth said with a broad smile.
Finally finished, he snapped off his gloves and sat down, patting Artemis’ knee absent-mindedly as he gave her the news.
“How?” she asked.
“No idea,” he said cheerfully. “You’re still a vampire. No surprise there since you misted home, something mere mortals don’t do. And of course,” he tapped his left canine illustratively, “you’ve still got the signature dentition. But,” he chuckled happily and waved at the screens behind him, “all metabolic processes formerly in abeyance are now functioning. You’re breathing, and not just for air to talk with. You have a healthy heartbeat, measurable brain activity, your sweat glands are working, tissue samples show living cells, I could go on. You’re a living, healthy young lady.”
I could have told him most of that. When we went out tonight she’d been room-temperature, an animated corpse; now her heartbeat was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard, a faint echo of that second, already forgotten Word, and she glowed in my infrared vision with a warm and yellow living light. I could hardly take my eyes off of her.
Taking stock at the apartment, we’d found we were all good, but the poor building super nearly died of shock—this time the attack left the carpet soaked in blood and a big hole where the thing pinned Artemis. I’d never left an incident scene so fast; Fisher hustled us out, taking Orb and Mr. Jones with him. Officially , he’d contacted both of them and asked them to come out and look at the scene, and Artemis and I had agreed to come along as backup. I guess he thought it was better to lie like a rug than let Chief Garfield know that my request had guided the investigation to tonight’s encounter. It didn’t feel right, but he knew his boss better than I did.
Artemis and I flew back to the Dome and, though I’d never felt so good, went right downstairs to the infirmary. Shelly had called ahead, so Dr. Beth and Blackstone waited for us there. After determining I wasn’t even scratched anymore (and that took a minute, with all the blood and sticky shreds of costume), Dr. Beth went to work on Jacky. He hummed to himself as he checked her pulse, respiration, heartbeat, muscle-tone, involuntary reflexes, and took samples from everywhere to feed his machines. I could have gone and changed but I’d stayed, holding Jacky’s hand while we waited for a diagnosis. She practically vibrated, ready to fly into a million pieces. Blackstone listened as we dictated our after-action reports.
“Astra,” Dr. Beth said, breaking my near-trance. “Could you come over here, please?” Taking my hand, he guided it under a high-res sonogram scanner, nodding at what he saw.
“If you’ll look here, ladies,” he said. “Astra, in your fight with Seif -al-Din in January you fractured nearly every bone in your body. Now, as you can see, the bones in your hand and wrist show no sign of increased density from bone remodeling. Also…” He paused, smiled gently. “How do you feel?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I am not unaware of your problem.”
“Oh.” I’d hoped
Episode Two: Pursuit
Chapter Twelve
I like kitties in trees. They’re easy.
Astra, Notes From a Life
----
“You’re alive,” Dr. Beth said with a broad smile.
Finally finished, he snapped off his gloves and sat down, patting Artemis’ knee absent-mindedly as he gave her the news.
“How?” she asked.
“No idea,” he said cheerfully. “You’re still a vampire. No surprise there since you misted home, something mere mortals don’t do. And of course,” he tapped his left canine illustratively, “you’ve still got the signature dentition. But,” he chuckled happily and waved at the screens behind him, “all metabolic processes formerly in abeyance are now functioning. You’re breathing, and not just for air to talk with. You have a healthy heartbeat, measurable brain activity, your sweat glands are working, tissue samples show living cells, I could go on. You’re a living, healthy young lady.”
I could have told him most of that. When we went out tonight she’d been room-temperature, an animated corpse; now her heartbeat was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard, a faint echo of that second, already forgotten Word, and she glowed in my infrared vision with a warm and yellow living light. I could hardly take my eyes off of her.
Taking stock at the apartment, we’d found we were all good, but the poor building super nearly died of shock—this time the attack left the carpet soaked in blood and a big hole where the thing pinned Artemis. I’d never left an incident scene so fast; Fisher hustled us out, taking Orb and Mr. Jones with him. Officially , he’d contacted both of them and asked them to come out and look at the scene, and Artemis and I had agreed to come along as backup. I guess he thought it was better to lie like a rug than let Chief Garfield know that my request had guided the investigation to tonight’s encounter. It didn’t feel right, but he knew his boss better than I did.
Artemis and I flew back to the Dome and, though I’d never felt so good, went right downstairs to the infirmary. Shelly had called ahead, so Dr. Beth and Blackstone waited for us there. After determining I wasn’t even scratched anymore (and that took a minute, with all the blood and sticky shreds of costume), Dr. Beth went to work on Jacky. He hummed to himself as he checked her pulse, respiration, heartbeat, muscle-tone, involuntary reflexes, and took samples from everywhere to feed his machines. I could have gone and changed but I’d stayed, holding Jacky’s hand while we waited for a diagnosis. She practically vibrated, ready to fly into a million pieces. Blackstone listened as we dictated our after-action reports.
“Astra,” Dr. Beth said, breaking my near-trance. “Could you come over here, please?” Taking my hand, he guided it under a high-res sonogram scanner, nodding at what he saw.
“If you’ll look here, ladies,” he said. “Astra, in your fight with Seif -al-Din in January you fractured nearly every bone in your body. Now, as you can see, the bones in your hand and wrist show no sign of increased density from bone remodeling. Also…” He paused, smiled gently. “How do you feel?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I am not unaware of your problem.”
“Oh.” I’d hoped
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