the main entrance, veering to the left once we were inside and doing my best to ignore the clinical odour, which hung unpleasantly in the air. We weaved our way along the sterile white corridor, passing the full gamut of doctors, nurses and visitors. One couple in particular caught my eye: a slightly older man with his arm tightly round a woman who I presumed to be his wife. Both their eyes were red-rimmed. I swallowed, and my resolve strengthened further. Alex remained quiet, although I was very aware of the tension that he was exuding.
Before too long we ended up in a small waiting room. I gave both of our names to the receptionist, and she handed over two brightly coloured ‘Welcome Packs’. I took both and then sat down, handing one to Alex.
“You may as well make yourself useful,” I commented, “seeing as how you’re here.”
His face paled as he scanned the red and blue folder, realising the purpose of our visit. “Mack Attack,” he whispered, “I hate needles.”
“Shush,” I said, flipping over the pages and starting to fill out the first form.
He watched me for a few moments, and then sighed and began to do the same. The first page was easy; just basic details of name, age, address, that type of thing. Opting for the safety of a lie, rather than the danger of the truth, I was about to write in an invented address, then, on the spur of the moment, changed my mind and scratched down the address for the Brethren’s keep. I didn’t want to use my real address on the off chance that something which hinted at my bloodfire emerged from whatever tests were undertaken before my blood was donated to a living patient. However, it amused me that the shifters would end up receiving no end of NHS leaflets; and they could easily disavow any knowledge of my existence if there were to be any problems. Besides, it would piss off Corrigan to get junk mail with my name on it. Petty, I knew, but he had been rubbing into my face the fact he’d already moved on. This would make sure he didn’t forget that I existed. Yes, it was ridiculously childish behavior - but I couldn’t be smart and responsible all the time, could I?
I hovered over blood type for a moment, finally ticking the box that stated ‘unknown’. I really would have to hope that when the lab actually tested my type it came up as something vaguely normal and didn’t spontaneously combust inside a test-tube, or anything weird like that. Thinking of the tragic couple we’d passed on the way here made it a danger I was pretty sure I could swallow.
“Is this really a very good idea?”
I ignored Alex’s question, and flipped over to the next page, then ticked off the answers as I went. Have you ever had malaria? No. Have you tested positive for AIDS or HIV? No. Have you paid a prostitute for sex in the last twelve months? No. In the past 12 months, have you had an accidental needlestick or come into contact with someone else's blood? Er, I’d come into contact with quite a lot of blood, but not in the sense that I thought the questionnaire was focusing on. I ticked No.
Then there was a series of questions regarding my recent sexual partners. There had only been one since I’d left Cornwall and I had to admit I knew very little of the truth about who else Corrigan had been with before me. Doing what I could, I made educated guesses, assuming that The Lord Alpha didn’t have HIV, hadn’t recently slept with another man, and was free from hepatitis. Unfortunately, all the questions put me in mind of his perfectly presented blonde again - and just what he was doing with her right at this particular moment in time. A spark of bloodfire flared up, but I quickly dampened it. This was neither the time nor the place to allow that to happen.
There were some more pages of information following the forms. I scanned through them quickly, not paying a huge amount of attention. I skipped the long list of conditions that apparently precluded people from donating blood. I didn’t think being able to transform into a dragon would have made it onto the NHS guidelines, so I reckoned I was probably safe.
As soon as I was done, I glanced over at Alex. He was signing his name