The color of black is actually the lack of color. It is the darkness, the absence of light. And, it is delicate. The color of white is the presence of every color. Though it is looked at as pure, it is actually very harsh. When you introduce complete opposites, the weaker will suffer greatly.

          My coworkers don't seem to understand that. Even calling these mindless (and heartless) creatures my "coworkers" actually hurts my chest. I could hear the screams of that poor creature all the way to the cafeteria. Being a dark creature, most other employees urged me to finish my lunch first and let him suffer. Seeing as I'm the only one here with some sense of compassion, I couldn't stomach food knowing a creature of any kind was being unnecessarily hurt.

          I rushed down to the prison cell they dare call a patient room. For this creature, it has become an experimentation room. The first, actually. Let me clarify. I as a surgeon for a very successful supernatural hospital. The only patients I ever see are light creatures, and mostly angels. That all changed when a massive war began between vampires and demons.

           The majority of angels voted to help with the vampires' casualties and wounded. They may be dark creatures, but they still have souls. They still feel pain, and they're closer to being morally sound than demons are. We sided with the vampires because demons are our mortal enemies. The only problem? I have never done surgery on a dark creature.

          That is why I refer to this as an experiment. It's the best I could describe the situation from my point of view. In medical school, I was rather intrigued by dark creatures anatomy and took a course in it. That small half a semester course managed to still put me leaps and bounds ahead of my coworkers in vampire knowledge. They know absolutely fuck all about the people they decided to help. 

          When I entered the hospital room of the first vampire we've received, the idiot residence had several lights blaring in his eyes. He was incased in a glass chamber, which I assume he was in where the ambulance brought him here. This small barrier between us and him is more important than you think. It would be very dangerous to allow his dark energy to enter the air before we are certain it hasn't been infected by a demon.

          "OUT! NOW!" I shouted at the attendances.

          They snubbed their noses at me but got their asses out. Even though it would be hard for me to see anything, I turned off the lights in the room. The creature finally calmed down from his violent thrashing. He relaxed and stopped trying to break the glass encasing him. Instead, he was fighting to catch his breath. The chamber that encased him for containment and contaminant purposes was made out of mostly plexiglass. I could easily see inside.

          My first thought was how attractive he was. At least, what I could see of him with little to no light. I felt bad for thinking this. He is a vampire. He's meant to be seductive. I should know better than to fall for his trickery, even if it is devilishly good looks. See, not many of the vampires were that willing to take our help. Many of them may be hostile towards us, despite us trying to save their life. 

          "Can you hear me in there?" I asked softly. The only light I had left on was a very low, blue light meant for patients when they're sleeping. I managed to see him nod, but he purposely didn't speak. "I'm sorry those dumb girls did that. They're only residences." I scoffed, "Listen, I don't like this anymore than you do. I don't know much about vampire anatomy, but I'm the only doctor available to help you. I don't want you to die, so please work with me here."

          "Why should I trust an angel?" He murmured. His nature was strong, but his body had weakened to the point it stole away his will to speak.

          "Because, I once danced with a devil like you. I know your kind just want to be left alone, but you're not going to get it if you don't let me help you." I whispered.

          His chest rose and fell for a few paces. He replied, "My name is Chris."

          "Angelo." I responded with a light smile, "How were you hurt?"

          "A, uh... A demon... He was a suicide bomber and ran into my camp. M-My friends, the other vampires that we're at the camp when it happened, are they okay?" He asked.

          "Not that I know of, but I will check later tonight." I said, "For now, we need to focus on helping you with your light sensitivity. How long have you lived in the dark?"

          "Three centuries, at least." Chris replied. That was a little disheartening to me, because it meant this would take awhile.

          I walked across the room and put my hand on the dial to the one adjustable source of light. "I'm going to slowly turn this up over the next few hours. I have to be able to see you to work on you, so you're going to have to adjust. Until then, you and I are going to get to know each other. Tell me, what position do you play in the war?"

          The residence working under me could worry about my other patients for today. I was interested in this creature, and desperate to know more about his situation. In general, I wanted an inside voice from this war. I grabbed my clipboard so I could write down notes, and sat in a chair beside the table and chamber he rested inside.

          "I am the leader of a resistance group. There is a dimension the demons won't enter. So, my friends and I have been sneaking into their territory to get hostages and help them get to this safe dimension. We were camped out on this mountain when the suicide bomber attacked us." He told me.

          With the light a tad higher now, I could see all the burns on his face and chest. They weren't healing, which was very wrong for a vampire's body. They should be almost closed by now. Whatever was in that bomb, it had something that muted his healing powers. I was surprised he was able to take the pain.

          "You're very brave to do what you did." I spoke as I stood up, "I'm going to put a very small amount of a vapor into the air filtering through this chamber. It's vapor off of extract from a toothache tree, so it's going to help numb the pain just a bit."

          "I would appreciate that." He responded.

          As I made adjustments to the machine filtering his air, I told him, "Tell me about your friends."

          "There was six of us. Myself, Ricky, Ryan, Ghost, Vinny, and Josh. Ricky and I lived in an orphanage together when we were teenagers. He's a few years younger than I am, so as soon as he was legal age, we moved out together. About nine years passed until one day we were attacked by a vampire and turned. That vampire being Ghost. He's not a very apologetic person, especially considering the circumstances in which it happened."

          "What do you mean?" I asked as a distraction, because I was about to turn up the light a few notches again.

          "I didn't know that Ghost and Ricky had been seeing each other for a few months beforehand. An-Ahh! Fuck!" He sneered.

          "Sorry." I softly apologized and went back down just a hair. We still made some progress. Just not as much as I would have hoped for.

          Chris took a deep breath, "It's okay. Um, where was I? Oh, yeah. Ghost wanted to be able to stay with Ricky, so he turned him and when he got busted breaking into our apartment to do so, he turned me too. Not too soon after, Ghost helped us move to Hell. It was then that I met the other three. That was about five centuries ago? Something like that. Fuck, I'm old."

          "I'm pushing a millennium, if that makes you feel better about your age." I joked as I sat back down.

          "You look good for 1000 years." Even through the glass and dim lighting, I could see the smirk on his lips.

          I rolled my eyes, about to deny his compliment. The crystal around my neck began to flash. That was the supernatural variation of a pager. "I'll be back." I spoke as I rushed out the door. Whomever was paging me, it better be as big of an emergency as they're making me think it is. I rushed as quickly as I could down to the ER.

          The nurses were rushing in multiple patients on gurneys. They had chambers over them, indicating they had to be dark creatures. I assume all vampires. I have a feeling, this is the rest of Chris' crew. They had received much worse damage than he did.

          "Who paged me?" I yelled amongst the chaos.

          "I did!" One of the few nurses I actually liked, Stef, said. She ran alongside a patient as he was getting pushed towards the OR. "He's losing too much blood."

          "Let me guess, it's not regenerating?" I asked as I looked upon this creature whaling in pain.

          "From what I can tell, not at all." Stef replied.

          I pushed the OR door open for her and let it fall behind us. Normally we would turn on the lights as bright as they could go at this point, but I didn't. I just barely dialed the switch enough that I could get a good look. The vampire was a rather feminine male. He held onto the charm of his necklace, attempting to get some kind of words out.

          "I have to open this to help him." I stated urgently as my hands met the clasps of case.

          "We don't know if he has any dark world diseaces." She hastily replied.

          I looked her directly in the eyes with anger, "I'm aware and I suggest you step out if you're more concerned about yourself than a patient."

          She swallowed a lump in her throat, yet didn't move. This, again, is why she is one of the few nurses I like. I took the leap and popped the locks. Stef helped to pull the cover off as I leaned over the vampire to examine him the best I could. I did mostly feeling around because I could barely see anything. He screamed the second my hand reached a point of which lacked skin.

          His BP suddenly started to drop dramatically. The monitor was screaming at me and I had to forget my softness for a minute. I yelled at the nurse to run over and turn the lights all the way up. The vampire let out a cry as the feeling of fire took over his skin. This was the only way I was going to save his life, even if it put him in more pain. His blood was spilling out all over the table and floor.

          Now, in full light, I could see the gruesome sight. The majority of his side was missing skin and several layers of fat. I pushed him over on his opposite side, revealing the damage had continued onto his back and the majority of his arm. The blood vessel that was compromised was now visible to me. Well, the best it could be amongst all the blood.

          With the nurse's help, I got it tied shut. Luckily it was a pretty big vessel and wasn't hard to clamp. Unfortunately, because it was so large, he lost a lot of blood. No one would want to come in here to bring us extra blood. They won't want to be exposed now that I have let any of his toxins into the air. I knew in reality there was only one way to get him blood, and I wasn't going to ask it of Stef.

          "Turn the lights back now." I softly said after I had gotten this creature to a point he was no longer in crisis.

          It was for the best that I kept him on his side that wasn't full of wounds. Once the lights were down, he had managed to calm down. I walked around to the side his face was on. There was a beauty to him, despite his smeared makeup and burnt hair. His hand was too weak to hold onto that necklace anymore. I saw the charm was a lock. Something was written on it, but it was just dark enough I couldn't tell what it was.

          "I'm sorry that was so traumatic." I told him, "My name is Angelo. Someone from the burn unit will be down to clean and wrap your wounds soon. First, I need to know if you have any dark world diseases."

          "Scarlet Mark." He managed through his short breaths. "Where's Ricky? Is he okay?"

          Ricky. That was what was written on his necklace charm. It was also a name Chris had mentioned to me. What did he say Ricky's boyfriend's name was? It's slipping my mind now. It started with a G... Ghost. It was Ghost. An ironic name for a vampire, if you ask me. Thankfully Scarlet Mark is a disease harmless to angels. It's just a social disease common in the dark world, which tells me a little about Ghost...

          "I'll find out for you." I replied, "First, we need to get you some more blood. You've lost too much. Angel blood is very healing. Do you think you have the energy to bite me?"

          "Angelo-" Stef attempted to stop me, but I waved my hand to dismiss her.

          Ghost nodded to my question. The white cardigan I had on dipped down in the back to allow my wings out. I slipped the fabric down one of my shoulders and leaned over him. He seeped a breath from the pain of sitting up. Ghost pulled me down a bit as he sunk his teeth into my shoulder. It was just a pinch, but damn does it sting. It's no worse than getting a shot, honestly. Well, four shots, at once.

          He released his iron grip on me. Ghost relaxed on the table again, muttering, "Thank you. I guess you angels aren't too bad."

          "We try our best." I snit with a grin, "Do you know if any of the others vampires brought in have any diseases?"

          "Ricky has the Scarlet's Mark too. Chris has Hallow Hex and Deviammonia, but I don't know about the others." He said.

          Of course he has to have Hallow Hex. I should've expected as much, considering his age. The fact that he hasn't gotten more than two diseases in his time is rather amazing. Hell is crawling with dark world diseases. Oddly enough, Chris did strike me as someone who takes good care of himself. I thanked Ghost for his help and told Stef to get him some pain medication.

          As promised, I left the OR to go find Ricky. That is, if he's here. One of the residences was walking through the hall and I grabbed her, asking, "Have you got any names of any of the other patients?"

          "No. Most of them are in too much pain to even speak." She said.

          I sighed, knowing there was only one way I was going to get the information I needed. "Get me descriptions of each patient. It doesn't have to be a lot, just a specific. Like a marking or a tattoo. Bring the list to room 106."

          She nodded and followed her orders. Once she was gone, I headed back to Chris' room. As I entered, I turned the light dial up a few clicks.

          He groaned, "I was just starting to get comfortable with where it was at."

          "I'm sorry," I spoke as I took a seat beside the chamber again. "There was an emergency. Your friend, Ghost, was brought in. I can't share the details with you because of legalities, but I'll tell you he's going to be okay."

          He let out a breath of relief, "Thank you. Have you heard anything about any of the others?"

           "There were others brought in, but they aren't my patients and we haven't gotten their names yet. The majority of them had to go into surgery and are unconscious. One of the residence is going to bring me a list of descriptions of them, so you can possibly help me identify them."

          "Thanks, again."

          "I'm just doing my job." I said, "Ghost told me you have Hallow Hex and Deviammonia. Is that true?"

          He sighed, "Yeah... Is that a problem?"

          "Deviammonia isn't contagious. It's just a heart condition at most. Angels are very susceptible to Hallow Hex though. My chances of getting it if I'm exposed are about ninety percent." I stood up so I could look down at him on that table. "So, here's what we're going to do. Once that resident comes and leaves, I'm going to lock and seal that door. Then I'll let you out of this glass and I'm going to clean up all your wounds. We'll try to figure out what's keeping you from healing too."

          Chris' eyes dimmed, "A pure creature's body can't handle catching Hallow Hex. Even if we just met, I don't want you to sacrifice your life for mine."

          I smiled gently, "Remember when I said I once danced with a devil like you? I also laid in that devil's bed and lost my purity. Catching Hallow Hex will hurt me, but it won't kill me."

          At this point, I should explain that Hallow Hex is a disease that infects the chest and throat. It feeds off of purity and destroys healthy cells in dark creatures. This would explain why Chris had almost lost his voice. When it infects angels, though, it will cause a rotting that will go into our spine. Eventually, causing us to lose our wings. Our wings are to us what a stinger is to a bee. Once they're gone, we will die. I lucky have little purity in me, giving the disease room to die off before it can reach my wings.

          Before Chris could object any further, the resident knocked on the door. She cracked it open and I signaled for her to come in. She handed me a list and I instructed her to remain here for a minute. Even though I didn't ask her to, she listed the current condition of each patient as well. Aside from those privacy laws I mentioned, I just didn't want to cause Chris the heartbreak of letting him know that they weren't exactly in the best state.

          "I see they all had tattoos except one, which makes this easier, doesn't it?" I remarked while opening a pen, "The first is a gentleman with short hair, average height, and a koi fish tattoo."

          "That's Ryan. His last name is spelled S-I-T-K-O-W-S-K-I." Chris replied, "The one without tattoos is Vinny Mauro, by the way."

          "That reminds me, what is Ghost's legal name?" I asked as I wrote.

          "Devin Sola."

          Go figure, he has a gender neutral name and a general neutral appearance. I wrote down his name in the corner for the resident, considering I hadn't told her to identify him. Figured we should though, for filing purposes. Ryan and Vinny's conditions weren't too bad, thankfully. I'd say they were one of the luckier ones on this list.

          "Black eyes." I muttered as I read the next one, "Is that right?"

           Chris snickered under his breath, "Let me guess, dude looks like a naked mole rat with gears tattooed on his head?"

          The resident hesitated, "Yes..."

          "That's Josh. Last name, don't laugh, is Balz. Spelled B-A-L-Z."

          "Which, I'm guessing that leaves the one with the 'Hopeless' tattoo as Ricky?" I questioned, accidently letting my sadness seep through my voice.

            "Yeah, his last name is Olson." He replied with concern, "Is he okay?"

            I looked over at the resident as I handed her the papers. Her expression fell and she said nothing as she left. I began to follow her out, saying, "I can't say. The only one I can talk about his condition to his Ghost, because he's the spouse. I'll be right back."

          "WAIT!" He yelled after me. Immediately regretting putting any strain on his voice and crying in the back of his throat. I turned around just as he was choking a bit. Through a rasp, he told me, "If Ricky is in bad condition, don't be the one to tell Ghost. He will kill the messenger."

          Even in the condition I saw him in, I could feel his strength when he had bitten me. So far Chris has been nothing but honest with me. I trust his word, and it is because of that, that I decided to do what I did. One of the residence from earlier, that had hurt Chris carelessly, was passing by in the hall. I stopped her and told her she needed to inform Ghost of his spouse's condition. It'll be a lessoned learned for her. I believe in karma, but sometimes it needs a helping hand.

          After sentencing her to what I assume will be either her death or close to it, I proceeded to make multiple trips out of the room to make sure I had absolutely everything I needed. Once I seal the door, I won't be able to come back out. Halfway through my trips to the supply closets, several nurses began to rush down to the burn unit. I assume Ghost had been moved there by now for treatment. It's moments like these that I do wonder why I have any purity left in me.

          It set me at ease to know she had gotten what was coming to her. Karma does more than just sting. There things in this world that are not to fault of karma though. These vampires were fighting for a good cause, and they got majorly hurt in the process. Chris may seem okay right now, but he could easily get a deadly infection if I don't help him. He can only go so long without his healing too. Age will eventually catch up with him if I don't figure out what's stopping his inhuman heeling. His friends should be fine, but I'll be damned if let him die.

          I closed the door and made a seal on it with angel dust. No one was getting in or out. Then, I turned up the lighting dial a smidge more and it was finally at a degree I could see enough to operate. Chris took deep breaths to adjust to the brightness. It must not be pleasant, but I wouldn't know how it feels. Cautiously, I popped the locks on the left side. The air seeped out and I could smell the numbing vapor I had injected in there. Chris took in a deep breath again, but this time I believe it was to smell me.

          Slowly, I walked over to the other side and unlatched the locks. I carefully lifted the chamber off of the bed and set it underneath the table. The vampire in front of me began to wheeze and whimper from the new air meeting his damaged skin. He had the remains of a shirt on, but most of it had been burned off along with the skin under it. His entire torso, arms, neck, and face were torched. I wasn't disgusted, as I had seen much worse. Instead, I was captivated by the beauty I could see laid under all the burns. Sympathy met me to set my eyes on such a valiant yet wounded creature.

          "Shhh," I soothed him as I hovered above him, "Just open your eyes and focus on me."

          Chris forced his eyelids up and stared directly at me. His breaths shook as they came off his lips. "You are even more beautiful than I thought." He whispered.

          I smiled with a bittersweet feeling. "Thank you. I can tell you are very handsome too, under all these burns. First, I'm going to clean them. I won't lie to you. It will hurt, very badly, but we're going to get through this together."

          "That's easy for you to say," He replied humorously, "You won't feel a thing."

          I sighed, "I know. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

          "Two. First, I know with all your legal law bullshit, you're not supposed to tell me about my friends, but can you please break policy and tell me? I want to know their condition."

          "Okay, I can do that." I reluctantly agreed. "And the second thing?"

          "If I survive this, when the war ends, will you go on a date with me?" He asked, much to my surprise.

          I nodded, "I would love to. I don't know when the war will end. When it does though, you know how to find me."

          He uttered a small laugh, "Yeah, just have to get close to death, apparently."

          I moved across the room to get a few things prepared. Despite his condition, he had an amazing personality. It makes me wonder what he's like when he does have the energy and the means to be happy. There was something so magnetic about him. I was just drawn to him, drawn to helping him. I took a seat beside him. Then, began the painful and tedious process of removing all the burnt and dead skin. Chris started to ball his fists and release screams, so I began to talk to calm him. I've been told I have a soothing voice and in this moment, I hope to God that's true.

          "When I ran out of here because I got a page, it was Ghost I was getting paged about. His subclavian artery had burst open from the blast damage and he was hemorrhaging. The majority of his right side, arm, and his back had deep burns, some of it going down to bone. I clamped and tied the artery to stop the bleeding, then gave him extra blood. He's stable, and from the sounds of it, killed and/or injured that bitch resident pretty badly." I explained.

          Chris managed a laugh the best he could, "That's him for ya'. He's always been though as nails. I take it you aren't a fan of that many of your coworkers?"

          "You could say that." I chuckled, "For being angels, they don't have much compassion. Yet, here I am, the one with the lowest purity levels in the whole hospital and I'm the more humane one."

          "It's not a bad thing to have a little evil in you." He mused.

          I stared at him for a minute and he forced a smirk. Yeah, I knew what he fuckin' met, but I moved on past it. "Ryan and Vinny both only had some second degree burns that'll heal pretty quickly. As soon as we figure out what it is that's keeping you all from regenerating, that is. They'll be fine though. Josh, they think he'll need a pancreas transplant. The majority of the damage he has is around his ribs. He broke a few ribs too. Both, though, are very manageable."

          "What about Ricky?" He asked. "He was closest to the blast. Tell me he's going to be okay? He's my best friend and I know Ghost and I both wouldn't be able to live without him."

          "He... He's got a good chance of survival if the doctors have their heads on straight. Which, one of the doctors operating on him does. I have faith he'll be okay. He took a lot of damage to his side; Completely shattered his ribs on his right and tore open his stomach. The blood flow to his arm got cut off for long enough that they might need to amputate. If that's the case, though, he'll easily be a candidate for experiment robotics."

          "So, he'd become a cyborg?" Chris joked.

          I snit with a grin, "I think cyborgs are half human, half robot. He'd only be like a sixth robot."

          "Either way, Ricky wouldn't be that pissed about it." He smiled gently, "Honestly, he'll just be happy to survive so he can be with Ghost. Those two are inseparable. I hope one day I can find a love like that."

          All I could think as I looked upon the one part of his body that wasn't burnt, his beautiful eyes, was me too.