The Cure

Rather than finish his sentence the Doc just goes ahead and we enter another building. From the moment I step inside it smells like lab. Sterilized equipment, white walls, and rubber stench are everywhere. My nose wrinkles and Ferris puts her hand up to block the smell. If she still has some of her enhanced abilities from the lycanthropy infection, it starts to make me wonder what I might still have as well. Either way, the dull ache in my eyes tells me that the sun still isn’t doing me any favors. The Doc slides his card through a few locks and waves to some nurses as they walk by. They both step around Ferris and I like we’re made of lava. “We here at the Paladins of Light employ a variety of former police and military officers. Many have combat training and are experts with fire arms. Believe it or not, most of them end up finding us as they search for answers to their own investigations,” the Doc explains. Given the number of people I’ve sucked dry and dumped in rivers, I believe him. We get to wherever we’re going and suddenly the whole scene changes. Sterile lighting, men in body armor (with steel neck shields), and what look like heavy machine guns are suddenly all around us. I almost think about telling the Doc there is no way I’m wearing something like that when a guard grabs me and searches me. He does the same for Ferris. The Doc doesn’t get touched. We’re allowed in and proceed down a long hall that looks like hospital and feels like battle ship. “Some of our military members proposed employing more sophisticated security for this section of the facility. After all, it contains the heart and soul of our organization. Mr. Shade, allow me to present the very means of your cure!” We walk up to a double-paned glass window and inside the room I see a guy with a book waving his arms over a pile of ammo and sub-machine guns. I don’t recognize the language he’s chanting in and there are armed guards watching over him while he works. I don’t exactly know what I’m supposed to say. “Well…it fucking figures,” I reply.