Page 24 of Booked for Kidnapping

“Well, yes. I can. I suspect a mender or someone skilled with telekinesis can do similar. Of course, I don’t need help doing that. It was a cow, by the way. I practiced on livestock to give them humane deaths at slaughter while honing my skills. I worked with vets to help heal animals long before I started working on humans. Humans are complicated, but at their heart and soul, they’re not much different from a cow. They just talk in moos. Biologically? There is an astounding number of similarities in human bodies and animal bodies. I mean, at the end of the day, we’re just complicated animals.”

“While I had expected a lively discussion, as librarians are adept at such things, I hadn’t expected a bitter brew to go with the lively discussion. Then again, I suppose the fault is with me.”

“How so?”

“I never bothered to meet an exsanguinator before. I was only viewing the situation through the eyes of society.”

I put some thought into that. “Yes, that’s normal. That’s what people in large groups do. They make assumptions and stop thinking. A single person can be sane and logical, capable of rational and deliberate thought. Put that same person into a mass group and work the crowd, and they become just like everyone else, caught up in the moment.”

Senator Westonhaus headed in the general direction of the Hamptons, a trip I’d done a few too many times trying to be everywhere at one time. After I got home from the disaster dinner meeting in progress, I’d have to thank Bradley for being sensible. I’d still visit the range under his parents’ estate, but I appreciated my home turf—and I appreciated his willingness to move into my home turf rather than keep sending me off to where the rich and wealthy tended to play.

“My wife warned me I shouldn’t debate with a librarian. I lose to her often.”

“Cites her sources, does she?”

“She absolutely does, whenever possible, and she picks the sources that best arm her for victory. She even warned me I would be unwise to test you, as you’re a librarian who has, apparently, experience in the medical field.”

“I would think that was obvious from the work I’ve done.” I laughed outright at the thought of someone with only knowledge and zero practice having accomplished what I had during the shooting. “When it comes to treating trauma patients, experience is critical. You can’t afford to make any mistakes. That’s why I started with animals on route for being butchered. Then I worked with animals who weren’t destined for someone’s dinner plate. Only when I could manage to care for animals did I even think about testing my skills on people. But I learned a lot helping veterinarians treat pets. Nobody wants somebody’s pet to die. Animals are just as complicated as people are, especially when it comes to the relationship of their blood and bodies. Fish are complicated, too. I can work with fish as well, although it’s a little harder because most people just don’t have a solid understanding of how fish work. Fish aren’t considered to be as important as say, a cat or a dog. But they have a nervous system, a brain, and a complicated circulatory system, too.”

“I didn’t think fish had much in the way of a brain and nervous system.”

“Most don’t. But when I’m working with a fish, the problems are the same. Don’t ask me why people think fish aren’t complex. They really are.”

“And yet another insight I will have to chew on later. Before you became a librarian, you were a bodyguard, correct?”

“Yes, I worked for my fiancé. His mother did not anticipate how good at my job I would be, which hampered her matchmaking ways.”

“Ah, I see. You were bought specifically to be wed into the family?”

“No. I agreed to be hired because I have good skills for the family and could serve as a bodyguard in addition to being able to monitor their health and prevent medical problems from becoming significant. It just happened I have good skills and aptitude for protection roles. I’m no longer a bodyguard, nor do I have any aspirations to return to that line of work. I’ll likely continue working as a librarian.”

“Would you consider changing into the medical field?”

“Had you asked that question before the accident, I probably would have jumped on the first opportunity to cross my path. Now? I serve an important role to the public as a librarian, and I would not be as comfortable moving to a new field at this point. That ship has sailed for me, Senator Westonhaus. While I could likely overcome the obstacles put in place for exsanguinators at the cost of the public and the healthcare system, I enjoy my current work, which is of equal importance.”

“That is one of the politest ways I’ve ever heard someone tell me I should go eat my feet, think about what I’ve done, and come back when I’m ready to apologize and make proper amends.”

I frowned. “You were one of the politicians who put forward bills to bar exsanguinators from working in the medical field?”

“Yes. It was one of my first bills when I came into office. It seems it is quickly becoming one of my greater regrets.”

While I heard remorse could change people, I had not truly thought politicians understood what remorse was and how it could change their way of thinking. “Are you thinking about Senator Maybelle?”

“In part.”

One day, I might understand society. Then again, did I actually want to understand society? Would I become just as incapable of empathy and compassion with a broader understanding of why people did as they did and believed as they believed? “They just would have picked a different scapegoat. Exsanguinators are low-lying fruit when it comes to scapegoats. Does it involve blood? An exsanguinator probably did it. But we’re surprisingly limited.”

“Really? How so?”

“Well, I certainly can’t bust blood through somebody’s skull, that’s for certain. I can make it come out of your nose, your ears, and even your eyes, but the membranes are much thinner, so it’s easier to build up the appropriate amount of pressure. That type of refined work is actually difficult and tiring. It’s not efficient, either.”

“That had occurred to me. You have changed how people think about exsanguinators. And while you couldn’t save Samantha, one woman is alive because of you. From my understanding of the situation, you became her heart?”

“Not quite. The aorta, which is one of those really important parts connected to the heart, had been torn open by the bullet. I rerouted the blood in her body so the aorta could be repaired by a mender. I did make certain her blood continued to be oxygenated, but I did that with all the victims. I excel at treating hemorrhaging because I can control every element of blood flow through the body. I’ve helped trauma victims before, and decreased blood flow and a lack of oxygenation tends to kill. I can’t help against things like catastrophic organ failure and damage, but I can stand in for some organs as long as it’s something relating to the blood. If your kidney or liver were to fail, I could keep you alive until your kidney or liver were healed. If your lungs fail, I can help with that, too—I can oxygenate the blood through the airways and take over for the lungs. I can’t help if there are no thin membranes with blood access, though. It’s easiest to work through the lungs—but I can take over for the lungs if necessary.”

“You’re serious.”

“Yes, I am. Exsanguinators can be the difference between life and death in the emergency room. We excel where menders struggle. If menders could manipulate the blood like we can, there would be many more survivors of trauma, too. We have our limits, but if given the right training, exsanguinators make an excellent member of the ER staff. We’re best in a support role, though, unless we have to run the show.”