“What do you see?” Damien asked moving his gaze away from the dead man to look towards Murkh who had pulled himself back from the instrument.
“The blood cells keep moving. They all do for the witches but this one is a little mixed,” answered Murkh, rotating himself in the seat so that he didn’t have to get up to face the councilman.
“I have an answer for it,” Damien said, making the doctor give him a skeptical look at him, “He was being converted from one of his innate nature to another.”
“Hmm, I did think about it,” said the doctor as if he had already figured it out before the pureblooded vampire had told him now, “His eyes,” said the man finally getting up to walk towards the corpse to pull the eyelids up to show the eyes which were somewhat green and red in color.
“He had red eyes when we met,” Damien knew this man couldn’t be a vampire. He was only posing to be one, “Isn’t there a mark on the back of his neck?”
“Yes, stitches,” Murkh replied back, using his hand to place behind the neck, he ran his fingers to feel the stitches, “It isn’t just one though. Let me show you.”
Murkh took hold of the body which was facing up towards the ceiling to turn it around so that the corpse’s backside faced them now.
Damien looked at the body curiously as there were more than just one or two stitches. There were at least more than thirty to forty of them and if one were to look closely, they could tell that the cuts and stitches were done symmetrically on the body.
“I cut some of them,” Murkh confessed and Damien didn’t bother to look at the doctor. It was his favorite hobby to cut and stitch things, how could Damien forget the times he had visited with his mother when the corruption had first occurred, “I looked into the organs and they have been replaced. The organ of the witch has been replaced with the vampire’s organs.”
“You mean to say this is why he was able to acquire the vampire characteristics?” Damien questioned Murkh. Wanting to know more, he traced the stitches of the black witch, “I doubt that would be enough to turn or convert because if that was, we would be having people lined up at every doctor’s clinic to change who they are at the cost of the other’s lives. Bring a dead body or sacrifice and get yourself converted. Why is it bothering you with the dead and moving cells?” Damien asked him going back to what the mad doctor had mentioned earlier.
“Though the blood of the witches have movement after their death as their rate of mortality takes time to diminish compared to the rest of the creatures. Blood cells stop moving.”
“And you are saying they haven’t in his case,” Damien concluded the man’s words to give him a nod, “Do you think his spirit is moving around and waiting to leave the lands to the afterlife.”
“I don’t believe in the afterlife, Mr. Quinn,” the response came out to be grumpy and Damien knew exactly why Murkh had that opinion, “People die and that is it.”
“I would say otherwise. There are some who return back to finish unfinished business,” though it wasn’t clearly confirmed by his own eyes and touch, Penny had confirmed to tell him that his aunt had died by getting burnt in front of Alexander to only come back and disappear again. Letting go of the body and going to wash his hands, he asked, “How are you holding up?”
“I am alright,” answered the man, his voice holding the lack of enthusiasm. One of the councilmen named Maximillian Gibbs was close to Murkh and so was Murkh but the vampire had passed away in the hands of the switcher. He could tell that Murkh was still trying to get things right and sort out over the loss of what happened.
“I need you to draw my blood out,” Damien reminded the doctor who gave him a quizzical.
“Did something happen to you?” and there came the underlying excitement as if he could barely keep his hands away from dissecting Damien to see what Damien had turned to after the many years since he had last tested.
“I inhaled something. Something created by the black witch. Kreme will be here with the actual test subject in a few hours but I need to know if there are any ill effects I need to watch out for,” Damien rolled his sleeve ready to give out his blood for Murkh to test.
Murkh pulled out a syringe from his pocket, stepping close to Damien before he injected the sharp needle into the pureblooded vampire’s arm which felt like an ant’s bite.
“How long will it be before the test comes out?” Damien inquired.
“In three hours?” the vampire doctor replied which would be after the dawn, “Great. I have something to look at, you wouldn’t mind if I bring a guest down here do you?”
Murkh’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, “What guest?”
“My fiance actually. I was telling her about you. Actually you have met her already,” Damien said, making Murkh frown as he tried remembering a woman who had come here. Not many came down here and females were rare as they didn’t enjoy the looks of the blood and dead body being dissected.
“Okay,” Murkh replied, brightening Damien’s face, “Was it the black witch who wounded you? Need some help with it?”
Damien waved his hand, “It’s nothing. I will get it cleaned once I am back home.I will see you in a few hours. Don’t forget about the body Kreme brings in,” Damien reminded the man before leaving the building to go back to Quinn’s mansion.
Kreme who was left behind in the deserted village, in the house of the black witch, he was finally able to move his body where Damien had broken to bounds that were around his hands and legs.
Ready to carry the headless witch, Kreme walked around the table and started to drag the witch by her hand. Bringing her towards the carriage, both the coachman and he put the woman inside to sit along with the dead being before the carriage started to ride towards the council.
