Dr. Owen Harper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beat_death) wrote2014-03-04 08:06 pm
beat_death) wrote2014-03-04 08:06 pm
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He has to remind himself that it isn't human. It's a hostile creature, no matter how much it tries to convince him otherwise, or how long it takes Owen to get that fact to stick in his head. If he and Faye hadn't caught it, it would have killed a girl. One of these things wiped Tosh's memory and drank her blood.
With as many times over the past twenty-four hours as Owen has had the fleeting thought that what he's doing is no better than what they did at the Pharm, he's had to remind himself that this is different. Those were non-hostiles, for the most part, aliens who'd been kept alive and suffering for god knows how long.
This, however, is going to be quick.
He's already spent the last twenty-four hours with it in what will eventually be their new base of operations-- the shop's still a shop, so he can't risk the noise, even though the vampire's been mostly sedated-- and he's knackered. The past few hours, he's felt like he's been seeing double, and he's not entirely certain if it's adrenaline or exhaustion. But he's learned more than he thought he would from this. What they're capable of doing, their weaknesses, and something about an herb.
After the tenth hour, it'd broken, promising to give Owen all the information it needed just as long as he let it go, just as long as he let it feed. He'd agreed to it, even as he pushed the plunger on the syringe of sedative, right into its neck. He'd thought briefly about keeping it awake for this, but he does have his limits. It's been tortured enough and needs to be put out of its misery, but not before Owen figures out a few more things.
That first time, with Faye, there hadn't been time, and they hadn't been prepared for more than just killing it. They'd ended up cornered, and they'd been lucky. But now, Owen needs to know how these things work. It's not as if he can study a dead one, as in his experience, they don't tend to stay together very well once they've been staked through the heart or decapitated. But if he's going to find the one who did what it did to Tosh, he needs to be as informed as he can.
It's an autopsy, that's all. He's done hundreds of those.
Though usually, there's a lot less blood when he dissects corpses, a lot less movement of muscles and veins, contracting and retracting involuntarily. Christ, it's fascinating. Hours later, his gloves are covered in it, sticky and crimson, and there's a buzzing in his veins. The vampire's splayed out on the exam table still, ribs cracked open, insides laid bare, and it's still alive.
At least, until Owen finds the stake.
He walks up from the lower level of the station, pulling off his gloves, and collapses into a chair. This'll all be worth it in the end, he's sure. It has to be.
With as many times over the past twenty-four hours as Owen has had the fleeting thought that what he's doing is no better than what they did at the Pharm, he's had to remind himself that this is different. Those were non-hostiles, for the most part, aliens who'd been kept alive and suffering for god knows how long.
This, however, is going to be quick.
He's already spent the last twenty-four hours with it in what will eventually be their new base of operations-- the shop's still a shop, so he can't risk the noise, even though the vampire's been mostly sedated-- and he's knackered. The past few hours, he's felt like he's been seeing double, and he's not entirely certain if it's adrenaline or exhaustion. But he's learned more than he thought he would from this. What they're capable of doing, their weaknesses, and something about an herb.
After the tenth hour, it'd broken, promising to give Owen all the information it needed just as long as he let it go, just as long as he let it feed. He'd agreed to it, even as he pushed the plunger on the syringe of sedative, right into its neck. He'd thought briefly about keeping it awake for this, but he does have his limits. It's been tortured enough and needs to be put out of its misery, but not before Owen figures out a few more things.
That first time, with Faye, there hadn't been time, and they hadn't been prepared for more than just killing it. They'd ended up cornered, and they'd been lucky. But now, Owen needs to know how these things work. It's not as if he can study a dead one, as in his experience, they don't tend to stay together very well once they've been staked through the heart or decapitated. But if he's going to find the one who did what it did to Tosh, he needs to be as informed as he can.
It's an autopsy, that's all. He's done hundreds of those.
Though usually, there's a lot less blood when he dissects corpses, a lot less movement of muscles and veins, contracting and retracting involuntarily. Christ, it's fascinating. Hours later, his gloves are covered in it, sticky and crimson, and there's a buzzing in his veins. The vampire's splayed out on the exam table still, ribs cracked open, insides laid bare, and it's still alive.
At least, until Owen finds the stake.
He walks up from the lower level of the station, pulling off his gloves, and collapses into a chair. This'll all be worth it in the end, he's sure. It has to be.