At first, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to talk. I needed to concentrate, but maybe I could have an unguarded conversation with him. “Why would he have done that?” I asked.
It didn’t work. He didn’t answer me.
After that, he lay totally still—even after I had removed all the bullets and finished up. I moved the bowl of ice and laid his head down on a pillow so he could rest the remainder of the night.
As for me—I was amazed. I couldn’t believe such a thing was possible. I had been able to do surgery successfully on a vampire.
***
Schroder slept for five days. He breathed, so I knew he wasn’t dead.
On the evening of the fifth night, he rose and came down to the living room. I was ready to get down to business with him. I’d played by his rules. Now he could give me what I wa
