Coalesce (Book Six of The Vampire Diaries)

Ch. 12: Prayer for the Dying

I was supposed to keep an eye over Kai today while everyone else was busy doing their own things. 

I walked into Alaric's loft to see that Kai was lying on a table, drugged into unconsciousness. "Why do I have to be the one playing baby-sitter to the catatonic serial killer? Oh, speaking of killing people." I looked at Kai. "Still counting sheep or whatever the hell you psychopaths dream of?" 

"Well, Kay, it shouldn't be that much of a stretch from your everyday life style," Damon told me. "I mean, you're used to hanging around psychopaths." 

"I know," I told him. "I live with you, don't I?" 

Damon gave me a sarcastic look. 

Elena laughed. "Look, Kaylin, Alaric's gone out of town to get some mystical thingamabob to give Jo an edge, and your job is to baby-sit Kai, not smother him with a pillow." 

I reluctantly agreed. "Fine." 

"And if he starts twitching or something, just give him 50 milligrams of pentobarbital," Elena told me. 

"You're so cute when you're all doctorly," Damon told her.

"Oh, my God, the sickness of watching you two has finally returned," I told them. "Goodbye." Damon and Elena smirked, walking out of the apartment. I looked at Kai. "Well, you're not gonna be any fun today." 

I sat down, pulling out my phone, propping my feet up on the table Kai was lying on. 

******

Caroline had tested vampire blood out on a cancer patient, and it killed him, turned him into a vampire, and now he was living in excrutiating pain.

Damon, Elena, Stefan, Jo and I stood in the Whitmore Medical Center, talking about Colin, looking at X-rays of his brain. 

"I had Duke send over Colin's medical records," Jo told us. "This head scan is from earlier this week." She placed another scan on the board. "This one was taken right here, ten minutes ago. See all that red?" 

"Well, I'm no doctor, but that guy is screwed," Damon told us. 

"So, the blood didn't heal him," Stefan told us. "It sped up his cancer and killed him." 

"So, now, I have a Stage 10 cancer patient," Jo told us. "Which, by the way, doesn't exist. Who is beyond terminally ill, and a vampire, meaning all of his emotions are heightened, and he can't die." 

"Hey, no offense, but could someone tell me why I was called down here to listen to the story of Colin the Cancer Vamp?" I asked.

Liz and Caroline walked in.

"Because Caroline fed me her blood last night," Liz answered. "So the same thing is gonna happen to me."

******

Jo, Damon and I were standing in Whitmore Medical Center out in the hall, looking into Liz's room through the window to see that she was sleeping. 

"Medically speaking, this is our best option," Jo told us. "If vampire blood is the issue, then a full transfusion of human blood might stabalize her condition."

"Please sound less confident, Doc," I told her sarcastically. 

"Look, we are in uncharted territory here," Jo told us. "This isn't just a medical problem, it's a magical one."