Chapter Fifty-Three
I woke up in bad shape around six the next morning. There was blotchy redness and blistering heat around the bites. The wounds throbbed. I noticed a nasty pus-like drainage from the bite on my hand. It was swollen to nearly twice its normal size. This was not good. I was sick as a dog, and it was the last thing I needed right now. I drove myself to the St Anthony's Hospital ER, where I found out that I was spiking a fever. My temperature was a hundred and three. The emergency-room doctor who examined me was a tall, dark- haired Pakistani named Dr Prahbu. He could have been one of the sons in the movie East Is East. He said that the most likely cause of the cellulitis was staphylococcus, a common bacteria found in the mouth. 'How is it that you were bitten?' he wanted to know. I suspected that he wasn't going to like my answer, but I gave it anyway. 'I was subduing a vampire,' I said. 'No, seriously. Detective Cross. How did you come to be bitten?' he asked a second time. 'I am a serious person and this is a serious question. I need to know this.' 'I am completely serious. I'm part of the team investigating vampire killers. I was bitten by a man with fangs.' 'Okay, fine. Detective. Whatever you say.' I was given tests in the ER: a CBC and differential count, sedimentation rate, and a culture and sensitivity test on the drainage from the wound. Blood cultures would be studied. I told Dr Prahbu that I
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needed copies of his findings. The hospital didn't want to give them over to me, but they finally relented and faxed the results to Quantico. I was sent home with a prescription for a drug called Keflex. I was to keep my infected arm elevated, and administer Domeboro soaks every four hours. I was too sick to do much of anything by the time I got home. I lay in bed and listened to'Elliot in the Morning'on the radio. Nana and the kids hovered around me constantly. Nausea swept over me really bad; I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep, couldn't concentrate on anything except the painful throbbing in my shoulder and hand. I became delirious for several hours. Now you're one of us. I finally fell asleep, but woke up around one in the morning. The witching hours. I felt even worse. I was afraid the phone would ring and it would be the Mastermind. Someone was in the room with me. I sighed when I saw who it was. Jannie was sitting in the chair by my bed, keeping watch over me. 'Just like you did when I was sick,'she said.'Now sleep. Daddy. Just sleep. Rest up. And don't you dare rum into a vampire on me.' I didn't answer Jannie. I couldn't even manage a few words. I drifted off to sleep again.
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