Revelations
An hour had passed since the revelation of Michael Morbius. You’d known his name, and a bit of his work – the synthetic blood – but that was about it. You hadn’t been catching up with the news lately, as your boss had made sure you had no energy left once you came home at night.
Michael had thrown you a newspaper, the headlines immediately showing why he had mentioned it in the first place. The media made him out to be a murderer, a criminal – a monster.
But that same doctor had saved your life. Well, as far as you could tell. You were indifferent about him until you’d be home safe and sound. But after asking him a few questions, things became a bit clearer.
One, Layla was home safe and wasn’t harmed except for a few scratches. Michael had introduced himself to her, but she hadn’t realised he was the Michael Morbius. The only thing she had caught was that he was a doctor and that you were going to be safe, and so, without further ado, she’d gone back to her place. She just had to sleep off the drugs they had given her.
Two, the same drugs Layla had received, had been doubled in your case. The cocktail had been laced with Ketamine, making you an easy target for those men. But that hadn’t been all. They'd given you something else, and Michael was unable to figure out what it was. You’d told him about the syringe you’d felt in your neck when they had put you in the car. And about the pissed-off sounding man who had given it to you. Mixing drugs was never smart. It could easily be lethal.
And it had been. In your case.
Michael had taken you with him as soon as he’d noticed you weren’t responsive to any of his tests when he had pulled you out of the car and into an ally. Once back in the lab, he’d laid you down and kept his eye one you in case your condition went downhill.
That’s when his explanation started to get a bit unbelievable. You’d given him a sideways glance as you’d told him you didn’t believe in actual monsters when he mentioned what he had done to you to save your life. The only monsters you believed in, were the men who’d drugged you.
He’d proven you wrong.
His face had transformed into something gruesome. His skin turning a sickish colour, his eyes no longer blue but red, and the teeth in his mouth grew sharp – like actual fangs.
You still had a hard time believing what you were seeing and your mind went straight to blaming it on the drugs. But he had urged you to reach out, to touch his face so you could feel what you were seeing.
His skin was still soft under your touch, but as soon as you’d reached his mouth, you got scared. His teeth belonged to some kind of predator, everything in your being screamed at you to pull away, to run for your life. But he’d sensed it and had grabbed your hand, slowly guiding your index finger towards his fangs. He'd led you touch them carefully, not to break open your skin, and in the end, he’d placed a gentle kiss on the tip of your finger.
“Do you believe in monsters now?” he’d said as his face finally went back to normal. Back to being a human being, instead of a... vampire.
You flinched when he had wanted to reach out to you again.
“I’ll leave you alone for a bit to get you something to eat and drink,” he’d said then, an indescribable emotion twirling in those blue eyes. He’d plastered a small smile on his lips and then he was gone, leaving you alone in the lab.
And that’s where you still were, waiting for him to return as you kept on thinking about what he’d told you.
You were sitting on the pillows, the blanket around your shoulders to keep you warm. Your fingers went to your neck again. There wasn’t a mirror in sight, and maybe that was a good thing for the things he had told you about what he had done to your neck were simply horrifying.
Death had been on your doorstep. Not long after Michael had put you in his lab, your heartrate had spiked. And it had done so a couple of times until your heart almost couldn’t take it anymore. He'd known with his supernatural hearing. And he’d made the decision to grab your neck, let his teeth go sharp and break your skin to try and drink the drugs out of your system.
Of course, he couldn’t drink all of your blood or you’d be dead as well. But your body could deal with losing a little in exchange of getting rid of some of the drugs.
That was the moment you’d woken up with the feeling of something lodged in your throat. And that something had been his teeth.
Sighing, you folded your arms across your chest. You eyed your bag next to you. You already tried to text Layla, but it turns out your phone had died from a heavy impact. The only things left in your bag were your wallet, your keys and some lip balm. Not very useful against a vampire.
Your mind started to wander and you noticed how Michael hadn’t told you anything about the men who had tried to harm you. Had he killed them all in his vampire-state? Or had they escaped? What if they were in some sort of organisation and your name was now on some type of list...
You shuddered. You were already in too much trouble as it was, no need to make things worse in your head.
“Still awake?” came a voice.
Your head shot up and you found Michael standing there. You hadn’t even heard his footsteps.
Nodding, you eyed the bag he had in his hands. Probably the food he had promised you. And as you thought about food, your stomach started to complain.
The corners of Michael’s mouth pulled up as he had clearly heard it as well.
Your cheeks turned hot.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed,” he said and he came towards you. Squatting in front of you, he reached out his hand with the plastic bag.
You carefully took it. Even though he was a doctor, and he had been nothing but kind to you, there was still a part of you that trembled with the thought of his other side. And he seemed to notice as he slowly went back to one of the desks, grabbing a chair so he could sit down.
“Not to be ungrateful,” you started softly, unsure of your situation, “but shouldn’t I go to the hospital?”
Michael leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees, his hands folded together. “You should,” he said and he paused for a moment and looked away, as if contemplating what to tell you. Once those blue eyes returned to you, he said, “I should bring you to a hospital right now. That would be the wisest decision. Because I cannot guarantee your safety here with me. I am no better than those men out there, in a sense.” His head turned away with some type of shame and you felt a pang of guilt as you had initiated this conversation.
“I -” you started to speak, although you weren’t even sure what you were about to say as it was perfectly normal to wonder why you were here, and not in a hospital. Or at the police station.
“When I saw you getting dragged out of the club, I knew you were drugged.” He faced you again, the shame long gone. “You could’ve given up and I would’ve understood. Especially with how much they had given you. But I saw you push until the end. I saw a piece of myself in you, fighting for your life while everything was against you.” His eyes shone brightly as he looked straight at you, his gaze penetrating your own and you suddenly felt very vulnerable and small.
“When they gave you the second doses, I knew I had to interfere.” His knuckles turned white as he hardened his grip, his jaw tightened when he spoke. “I didn’t have time to kill them.” And there was the answer to your question. “I scared them away so I could help you and your friend. But rest assured, I will get them.”
You let out a trembling breath, the bag between your fingers completely forgotten as you pictured the night before. Most of it was erased out of your brain, but flashes of a man with tattoos came across your mind. He had danced with you, had spoken sweet words and smelled nice. But then he became something else and he wasn’t a normal man any longer.
Michael Morbius might be a man with the face of a monster, but real monsters act on their urges and mostly lurked beneath the surface. Like those men at the club.
Staring at Michael in silence, the reality of what had happened to you (and what could’ve happened) started to finally sink in.
Your breath gets caught in your throat as you tried your hardest not let out a sob. Tears welled up in your eyes and threatened to fall, you didn’t dare to blink. You swallowed once and tried to hold your breath for a few seconds to try and calm yourself down, but it only made it worse.
Soon, your cheeks were wet with fear, realisation and shame and your breath caught up with the whirlwind of thoughts in your mind. Your sobs came with no remorse.
Michael seemed at loss for a moment, his eyes widening as he sat upright.
You dropped the bag next to you and used your hands to cover up your uncontrollable tears as your sobs raked your body.
Your eyes shot up when you heard movement and Michael was suddenly in front of you. For a frozen second, you two stared at each other from up close, and then Michael seemed to deem it save for him to touch you.
His arms pulled you towards his chest, engulfing you with unexpected warmth. He let you burry your face in the crook of his neck and he kept you there, letting you cry your heart out as he slowly stroked his fingers over your back.
You weren’t sure how long it had taken for you to finally calm down, but after a while, your breath steadied and you seemed to be out of tears to cry.
It was almost peaceful, the way you were completely leaning against him. You almost felt save.
Not wanting to disrupt the moment just yet, you tried to take everything in. His warmth, his strong arms, his caring fingers. His scent. He smelled like expensive perfume. Concentrating on that aspect, you tried to pull apart the scent. There were roses... wood... lavender... oranges... and something spicy.
You breathed out in a deep sigh. “Thank you,” you mumbled softly, scared your voice would break if you’d talk out loud.
He stroked your back once more before leaning back, his eyes searching yours as he gifted you a small smile. And then the smile disappeared again. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want, but if you’d be sane enough, you will tell me to bring you to a hospital right now.” His brows were knitted together in a serious expression. He meant what he was saying, and yet you knew his preferred choice.
You licked your dry lips and swallowed. Going to a hospital did sound nice. But he was a doctor, too. And what if those men came for you. Sure, you could alarm the authorities, but you would always be on edge.
Michael seemed to be more than capable to take care of you. To keep you save and maybe you could be of use finding those men who did this to you.
You noticed he hadn’t taken his hands off of you and it made you realise you weren’t scared of him. You made your choice.
“I guess I am a little crazy,” you said, a smile tugging at your lips for the first time.