Rupinder merely shrugged at the other woman’s desire to keep calling her
raven, her sharp grey eyes watching as the blonde haired woman began to pace, contrasting her own silent, still posture. It hinted at a degree of restlessness in the other woman. Impatience. Rupi knew she wouldn’t even have to urge the other woman to talk. Eventually it would come out. Patience for an immortal creature like Rupi was easy to come by. Seconds, minutes, hours, even days, Rupi could wait for a patient to open up. And eventually it did come. Everything.
Patient NS3456, as Rupi had first called her, began to speak, very fast and very emotionally. At first Rupi listened with a degree of skepticism. She had been born a wolf pup? She found that hard to believe at first, thinking she had begun as an abandoned babe in the woods rather than being birthed into her situation. Had she not seen the woman’s wolfish transformation, she might have openly scoffed at her opening statements. But Rupi did not. Instead she kept a respectful distance, listening aptly as the woman paced back and forth, her eyes ever fixated on her.
Natalya. Naty. Not patient NS3456. But like what she told her about what to call Rupi, so too was the doctor tied by these rules. She could not use her real name, unless they were alone.
Natalya ceased her narrative suddenly and Rupi could understand. She could guess what happened next and whether it was good or bad, the result was the same.
Separation. It was a cruel sensation Rupi knew all too well herself, being torn from her parent’s grasp and given over to strangers. She was going to ask Natalya to continue, when the woman whipped about with sudden violence in her action, angry tears tainting her beautiful face. There was malicious intent in her posture, Rupi could see that, yet even as the woman suddenly advanced upon the doctor, Rupi did not budge. She remained still and silent, even as the masonry of the wall around her cracked at Natalya’s fist.
They were face to face. Very near. Very close. Rupi kept her eyes locked on the other woman’s gaze, never breaking away despite the flurry of emotion being thrown at her. Her face was stoic as Natalya screamed and bemoaned her fate and that of her family. Her mother, killed by Institution hunters. Her brothers and sisters, killed by Institution hunters. But not Natalya. They took her. And as it came pouring out, Rupi had to try even harder to maintain an impassionate stare. This…was striking too close for home for the vampire. To lose one’s family at a young age was a terrible tragedy. She felt for Natalya, but at the same time she knew there was nothing she could do to comfort her. It would only cause further anger, for Rupi knew she was just as indirectly responsible for the death of Natalya’s family as the hunters were. She would not insult Natalya’s intelligence and emotions by offering useless apologies or expressing vain regret.
The sickening jolt of flesh crashing into the wall was repeated over and over, yet Rupi never flinched once. Eventually Natalya’s attentions were turned to the glass, where she slammed and screamed over and over again, until at last the energy was expended from her body. Rupi had heard everything, translated in her ear without pause or break. It had come through clearly and not only her voice, but the emotion and intensity as well. Rupi felt it all and it left her feeling void and blank inside.
Is this how she feels? Of course she does. Rupi told herself, forgetting for a moment that it was her job in life to read people’s emotions and thoughts. Natalya’s anger was justified. But then again, one could make the same argument for the Institution. Her mere violence proved the mission statement of Eternal Peaks.
It was over. With a defeated posture, Natalya strode to the far corner and sank down, silently weeping and quiet. And then she looked at Rupi and demanded to know why. Why the doctor was here. What did the doctor want. This Rupi could answer, for it was why she had come in the first place. To understand.
“When I was eight,” Rupi said softly, ignoring Natalya’s inquiries, “I too was separated from my parents. No, they were not killed or hunted. Do you know what happened?” Rupi explained, giving her a firm expression. She began to move forward, taking one step at a time with each sentence that she spoke. “They made a deal, with the demons of the mountains as they were called. Others on this side of the globe call them vampires. You know what that deal was? To sell me, a little girl, for a sack of flour and some carrots. My parents and brothers would eat for a week at least after that. As for me? I was given without a second thought.”
She reached Natalya now, crouching to her knees to come to face level with the other woman. “They didn’t care about the women, where I’m from. They still don’t care, from what I see and read. I was just property to them, to be traded and bartered. The demons of course turned out to be a bunch of hairy old men and weathered looking women. They looked frail, but were cruel and full of malice. They could have killed me, draining my body for blood. Why not? Because that would have been a mercy. They wanted me to suffer. Forever. So they inducted me into their coven when I became a woman, but before that they used me like a slave, to do their dirty work and menial tasks. And after? They still used me, in ways I never knew was possible.”
Rupi suddenly smiled and looked down, shaking her head. That had happened nearly seventy or eighty years ago. It was barely a memory now. “And the funny thing is,” she said after a moment, explaining the sudden smile, “I don’t even remember their faces. Not my families, not my tormentors. None of it. I have left it all behind. And so will you.” Rupi declared abruptly, looking up to stare intensely into Natalya’s face.
“You are wrong, you know.” She added, rising to her feet to stand over Natalya. “I did come here to listen to the woes of an orphan wolf, and anything else she is willing to tell me.” She kept silent about liking her body though. She had seen her wolfish glare pass over her own more than once on occasion. “And I can help the wolf girl, if she continues to share and talk to me. I have many questions, some of my own, some for the Institution. I will answer any of yours, if you answer all of mine.” She glanced back over her shoulder, eyeing the chairs that had been used to seat Natalya and her tutor. Rupi then turned to gaze back at Natalya, extending her hand downwards to help the other woman up.
“Shall we go and talk then? I won’t bite…as you did to me.” Rupi offered, flashing her a genuine, playful smile, enough to show her own sharp, vampiric teeth. In that, the pair of them should share a kinship in having deadly molars. "Do you still want to kill me? Your
raven." She added curiously, tilting her head to the side.
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