Jörg took the newspaper the monster offered him and looked down at the page.
So there were people like this. No—there are still people like this.
The monster let out another happy cry.
Xandra and Jörg moved from bed to bed, treating patients. The doctor examined each person undergoing their transformation, monitoring the changes in their bodies and selecting medicines that she sprinkled on them. Each patient let out a cry of joy when the medicine was applied. Some were changing from humans to monsters, and others were reverting to human form, but they all seemed to be bursting with excitement.
The sheer variety of monsters and people amazed Jörg.
“Have you always been a monster?” he asked Xandra. “Or…”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
“Okay then, once we’ve finished with the medicine, let’s take a break.”
After they had treated the last of what seemed like an endless number of patients, Xandra and Jörg started heading back the way they’d come. The monsters slept, filling the room with an almost chilling silence. The only sound was that of the cart’s wheels on the floor, which echoed around them like distant thunder.
When they got back to the dispensary, Xandra grabbed two bottles of apple cider from the corner of the room and handed one to Jörg. He removed the cap, took a swig, and let the sweetness and stimulation of the bubbles revitalize his weary soul.
“When I was a child,” Xandra said, “I lived in the Crimean Peninsula for three years in a room beneath a British military hospital. There were lots of other poor kids in the same situation. More than two hundred and sixty people lived there, including the mothers.”
“Why were you all there?”
“Back then, soldiers took their families with them when they went off to war. Wives raised children and looked after their husbands, all while watching the war unfold.”
“When was this?”
“From 1853 until 1856.”
“But that’s more than sixty years ago.”
“That’s right. Though I’m still quite young compared with the Count, right?” Xandra chuckled. “The Crimean War was a territorial conflict between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Russia wanted a warm-water port and land with more temperate weather, so they stormed into Ottoman territory and attacked. That was the first time Moldavia and Walachia became principalities of the Russian Army.”
“The Count’s homeland…”
“Yeah. Walachia had been under the heel of the Ottoman Empire for so long, and now they found themselves occupied by Russia, who had repelled the Ottomans. The Russian Army proclaimed that they had come to liberate Moldavia and Walachia from Ottoman rule, but the only thing that ended up changing was who ruled, and the people didn’t believe any of their promises. The Count, however, saw this as the incident that would stir the Balkan Peninsula to action and came to Crimea to gather information. That was when I first met him.”
“So you were originally from Great Britain? You have a Romanian name, so I assumed you were from there, too, like the Count.”
“Correct. I adopted this name once I started working with the Count.”
“How did that come about?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. At the time, the European powers were on the side of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain, France, and Italy—or the Kingdom of Sardinia as it was called then—opposed Russia encroaching into Europe and moved to help the Ottomans. The armies met on the Crimean Peninsula, and my father was sent there to fight, so my mother and I went with him. I was ten at the time.”
To hear Xandra tell it, military hospitals in those days had been unimaginably unsanitary. The hospitals were constructed on top of ground filled with waste and acted as hotbeds for contagion. Outbreaks of cholera, dysentery, and other infectious diseases occurred frequently, with illness being soldiers’ cause of death a whopping 80 percent of the time.
“Then one day, a group of nurses arrived at our hospital. The head nurse who led them was a brilliant woman with a tremendous work ethic, and she efficiently commanded the group of nurses, even as she herself made rounds in the wards in her black nursing uniform. Apparently, she had a powerful patron back home, and she used that connection to mobilize British politicians, efficiently improving conditions and increasing the quality of care, which left the idiotic administrator at the hospital dumbstruck. She spearheaded extensive renovations of those unsanitary hospital facilities and sterilized everything. On top of that, she also worked with a French chef to come up with a way to provide proper meals for patients in wards, who had only been receiving gruel and soup with bits of boiled meat in it. She collected statistics on an extensive range of issues, then took her data and thrust it upon government officials back home, demanding additional support. Her incredible management skills turned those stubborn men pale. The presence of such an amazing woman made a deep impression on my young self.”
However, Xandra’s father ended up dead in the fighting in Crimea, and her mother succumbed to disease. Xandra came down with the same affliction. Then, one day, as she was on death’s door, a man wandering through the hospital in a sweeping black cloak appeared before her.
That man was Count Silvestri.
When the Count noticed Xandra looking at him, he calmly said, “The fact that you are able to see me indicates that more than half your humanity is already lost. Having witnessed this horrible reality, your soul wishes to escape from human society.”
“I have nowhere to go,” Xandra said. “My mom and dad are both dead. Do you think I could come with you?”
“I do not have the means to take in an orphan.”
“But I’m the only one who can see you, so you’re like my guardian angel.”
A deep chuckle emanated from the Count. “Come with me only if it matters not to you whether you become a monster. Live with me, and you will slowly transform into one, body and soul.”
“I’m fine with that. I want to be a doctor in the world of monsters. It’s still hard for women to become doctors in the human world, see? The head nurse here is a genius, but everyone talks about her like she’s the exception. They say regular women don’t do the things she does.”
“You say some interesting things, child. I’ve taken a liking to you. Very well, I shall take you with me.”
And so, Xandra went to the Count’s manor and devoted herself to studying medicines that worked on both humans and monsters. Upon reaching adulthood, she told the Count that she wanted some of his blood, which he gave her.
Jörg stared at Xandra, wide-eyed. “So you have this ancient blood, too?”
“I do.”
“I thought the Count hardly ever gave people his blood.”
“He doesn’t give it to the people who truly matter to him. I’m sure you’re already aware that he didn’t give it to his wife.”
“Yes.”
“The Count only gives it to people he wants to use. He gave it to me because he wanted someone close by who could make medicines. Powerful medicine is incredibly useful if you want to manipulate people into doing what you want—something that he knows from personal experience can be used as a surprisingly effective bargaining chip. He gave you his blood so you’ll guard Lila, right? The Count promised a dear friend of his that he would protect her, but he doesn’t want to do it himself. He just wants to live a carefree life.”
“That’s true…”
“We’re just his pawns. But we’re the ones who chose to trade that for what we wanted. He thinks of us as tools, and it doesn’t cause any problems if we feel otherwise. It’s a mutually beneficial situation. We may be instruments to help him achieve what he wants, but we’re not his slaves. We can go wherever we want, do whatever we like. He doesn’t control that part of us. I’m happy I got my wish. Are you?”
When they left the Crimean Peninsula, the Count told Xandra more about the head nurse she so idolized—including how cruelly she treated her fellow nurses to help her achieve her ideals, the extraordinary demands she made of the well-meaning people of her homeland who supported her, and how she hounded them to the point of collapse for that support.
“And yet, someday she will create a bright hope for humanity’s future, a light as blinding as the sun called the foundation of modern nursing,” the Count said gleefully. “That’s what keeps her going, even though she and others might collapse. I wholeheartedly admire those sorts of people who continue pushing forward, even in the face of destruction. Become an exceptional doctor in the world of monsters, Xandra. I have high hopes for everything you do.”
Jörg silently gripped his bottle of apple cider. The Count’s words sounded exactly like those of the ancient blood.
Xandra continued her story. “Russia and the Ottoman Empire stopped fighting and signed the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Crimean War. The Count’s home of Walachia won its independence from Ottoman rule, and five years later, united with Moldavia to form Romania. The Count must surely have been relieved. His years of work had finally paid off.”
“Do you ever regret inheriting his blood?”
“Why would I? I enjoy every day of my life. I was made to be a monster. Do you?”
“I’m still not sure.”
“That time when you’re unsure might be when it’s the most fun. Humans change easily. Do you think you could help me fill prescriptions and make the rounds again sometime?”
“I’d be happy to. By the way, the people who come to the inn to become monsters… Where do they go from here?”
“Some never leave, and some go back out into the world. Monsters can live anywhere.”
“I wonder if they all find happiness.”
“I hope they do, whatever form it might take.”