“Is there something wrong with my heart, Dr. Prometheus? You’ve been listening for five minutes.” the man asked with concern. 

Prometheus blinked as his train of though was interrupted then smiled “Oh, pardon me, sir. I... I have a lot on my mind. You are in perfect health though.” 

“Sounds like YOU are in need of help then, doctor.” the man commented as he buttoned his shirt. 

Maybe I am... 

“Ms. DeLacey will tell you when your next check is. Have a nice day.” Prometheus waved. 

The man walked through the door and passed Igor who had Ghost perched on his hump. Both took notice of Prometheus’ mind being elsewhere “Prom, this is the third time you had your head in clouds while working. As a doctor myself, I can tell that you’re not alright.” 

“I’m fine, Igor.” Prometheus lied causing Ghost to give him a scolding hoot. 

Igor frowned “Come on, Prom. You know that I would help you if-” 

“I lied to Mr. Eldrich.” Prometheus interrupted with a whisper as he had his back to Igor. 

“... About what?” Igor asked with his eyes widened. 

Prometheus rushed to the door to close it to give them both privacy before speaking “Mr. Eldrich told me that Mark would say ‘Will’ and ‘broken arm’ while being in his injured semi-drugged state. When he asked me if I had treated a patient for a broken arm named ‘Will’.... I lied. The emergency patient Agatha brought in was named ‘William’ and his arm was broken.” 

Igor was stunned. 

“I know. I’m horrible.” he removed his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. 

“Hold on now. When did he ask you?” Igor asked holding up his hands. 

“On the very night everything happened last week. Does it matter?” Prometheus sighed with guilt. 

Igor thought for a moment “Sort of... You shouldn’t have lied, but what happened to Mark should not have happened. Cutting off a person’s arms and then leaving them for dead is sick. I don’t think anyone was in a right state of mind considering that if Mr. Eldrich was, he would have known better than to ask you to break patient confidentiality, Prom.” 

“I still feel awful... What if the police come asking?” Prometheus asked looking nervous. 

“The police are the exception, and you can ask to be anonymous. Mr. Eldrich doesn’t need to know this detail. For all we know... he misheard his son or the guy with the broken arm is some other ‘Will’. It is a common name and a common injury. You did everything you were supposed to do. Ok?” Igor insisted, but before his friend could answer, there was a knock at the door. 

“Prometheus, Miranda Stein is here to see you.” Agatha’s voice was heard. 

“Let go of what happened and focus on the now, Prom.” Igor said before opening the door to return to his own patients in the pediatric wing. 

Prometheus took a deep breath and put on a friendly smile “Come on, Miranda. What is the problem?” 

Miranda walked in looking pale from not sleeping enough and her eyes red crying too much “I’m not the one who needs help, doctor. It’s my father. Three days after he got his arm modified, he... he... he’s lost his mind!” 

“There, there, Miranda. Tell me everything.” Prometheus helped her sit as she began to cry. 

She calmed herself enough to speak “At first, things were wonderful. His arm was normal and no longer causing him pain as though he had always been like that, but then he started wanting to eat meat. Very often. And in large quantities.” 

“What do you mean?” Prometheus asked. 

“He had a whole roast beef, a leg of lamb, and a loin of pork in ONE SITTING!! And he STILL wanted more! All he wants to do is eat meat! Last night, we caught him in the kitchen eating raw ham like a beast! He didn’t even have the self-awareness to be ashamed! When we tried to stop him, he bit one of the butlers and... wanted to eat HIM!! Dr. Prometheus, please help my father!” Miranda begged while crying. 

Prometheus took one of her hands patting it “I’ll come see him now. Where is he now?” 

“He’s still at home. We had to tie him down to his bed and lock him up. We thought he might be better in the morning, but he’s still demanding meat and acting mad. I don’t even know if he can be helped now...” Miranda explained as she got up. 

“There must be something I can do.” Prometheus encouraged while taking his bag, following her and passing the front desk on the way “Agatha, I am heading out for an emergency.” 

Miranda took him and Ghost who decided to tag along to her chateau by coach which looked beautiful on the outside, but the screams that could be faintly heard as one approached the door revealed the ugly truth inside. Ghost puffed slightly and sunk herself down trembling as the faint screams went on. Miranda looked like she was about to cry again. 

“It’s alright. I’ve been his doctor before, Miranda.” Prometheus reassured her and the butler opened the door, and the sounds of the screams were now clearer as well as more terrifying causing Ghost to hide behind her caretaker’s back. 

“Welcome, doctor. Master Stein is upstairs and not well... obviously.” the butler awkwardly sighed while covering one ear with his bandaged hand. 

“I’ll see him now. Ghost, you'd better stay here.” Prometheus instructed as he passed his owl friend to the butler “Afterwards, I’ll take a look at your hand too, sir.” 

“Do be careful. The master has quite the bite.” the butler warned as Prometheus walked up the stairs towards Lord Stein’s chambers. 

Another butler unlocked the door allowing him to enter and then locked it again. Prometheus looked at the previously suave and pose Lord Stein now tied to his bed flailing around, foaming at the mouth with his lips and teeth covered in blood and his breath reeking of raw meat while roaring ‘MEAT! MEAT’ repeatedly. 

“Lord Stein? It’s me. Dr. Prometheus.” Prometheus calmly said while walking towards him. 

MEAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!! MEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!! 

“I think you’ve had enough meat. Let’s try something else, shall we?... Lord Stein?” Prometheus spoke, but Lord Stein continued to behave like an animal. 

Prometheus put on some gloves for good measure and held Lord Stein’s head firmly while checking his eyes as the Lord snapped his teeth. The doctor noted that his eyes were completely bloodshot, his pupils were dilated to an abnormal level and most notably, his once light blue irises were now a strange bright green that almost glowed. 

“This isn’t rabies... Is it some kind of drug withdrawal” Prometheus commented out loud and then held his mouth open forcefully. 

It was not hard thanks to his strength. He even managed to pin Lord Stein’s tongue down with the stick with ease. He could now see how his teeth seemed to now be longer and sharper than he remembered. He also noticed that his nails were different too. They were now black and started to look more like claws. He even noticed that where Lord Stein’s arteries bulged, he could see them slightly glowing green through his skin which was also slightly greenish. 

“Huh?!” Prometheus was about to take Lord Stein’s blood pressure when he noticed something very disturbing about his right hand which supposedly received the miracle treatment. 

On the back of it, it had a birthmark identical to the one on Mark’s right hand in the exact same sport. In fact, the palm of the hand even had the same scar from gardening years ago. Upon closer inspection, Prometheus noticed that just under Lord Stein’s elbow was a strange white ring mark around the forearm. Before Prometheus could examine it further, Lord Stein roared unnaturally and thrashed even harder. 

“Lord Stein, I can only imagine how you feel, but I will-” Prometheus went silent when Lord Stein’s eyes changed instantly from only iris being bright green to the entire eye being bright green and undoubtfully glowing now. Moreover, his teeth and nails grew even longer in moments. His skin was now dark green with splotches while his hair became white and wild. Lastly, his voice had changed to now sound completely inhuman. Despite now looking like a monster, Prometheus still tried to take control of the situation by pinning the poor man down, but now, Lord Stein’s strength rivaled his own, so he managed to knock him off. 

“What was that? What’s going on in there?” Miranda worried voice cried from behind the door. 

Lord Stein roared as he was no longer able to speak while looking at the door and thrashing with such force that the whole bed began to shake and come apart. 

“Don’t open the door, Miranda! He’s worse!” Prometheus warned, but he was too late. 

She opened the door and all colour drained from her face upon seeing her father in his knew ghastly state “... F-Father...” 

Lord Stein managed to finally free himself as his newfound strength allowed him to snap apart the ropes that bound him and tear apart his bed before leaping towards his own daughter. 

Luckily, Prometheus grabbed him by the legs and pulled him towards the ground, then put him in a headlock just before he could reach her “RUN, MIRANDA!! GET OUT WITH EVERYONE AND LOCK THE DOOR!!” 

Miranda visibly shook while taking one last look before the butler grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to run away with him. Meanwhile, Prometheus was doing his best to subdue Lord Stein. There was no reasoning with him anymore. His only hope was to knock him out, but he wanted to do it humanely, so while keeping him in the headlock with one arm, he reached for his medical bag with the other. 

“Need to get... the... chloroform...” Prometheus grunted as he stretched his arm to its limit, but it was no use. 

Holding down Lord Stein in his new state was just too hard. Lord Stein chomped down on his arm causing his sleeve to become red around the area and his grip loosened as he hollered in pain. The transformed man tackled Prometheus down while trying to bite off his face while he held him back by the arms. He still hesitated to use force though. 

“Lord Stein, please! I don’t want to hurt you!” Prometheus begged while wincing. 

Just when Lord Stein was about to take a bite out of him, an ornate decorative plate was dropped onto his head. He looked up to see Ghost flying up above him while dropping another ornate plate. He turned his attention towards the owl jumping up to grab her and surprisingly, almost did as he could now jump abnormally high too. She flew away as he remained in hot pursuit still jumping every now and then while Prometheus got up and chased after them too. 

“NO!!” Prometheus cried as Lord Stein jumped right over the railing attempting to get Ghost, but only wound up falling from the fourth floor. 

He hit the ground with a hard thud that made Prometheus’ blood go cold before he looked over at the now quiet and still Lord Stein. He rushed down the stairs to go check on him, but even up close, one could clearly see that he was dead as there was now a puddle of blood growing around him, namely around his visibly cracked skull. Prometheus could not find words as he looked at the deceased ill man he failed to help. His heart hurt even more as Miranda screamed in terror behind him at the sight which she could see right through the window. Before Prometheus could even think of what to do next, Lord Stein’s body began to melt. He took a few steps back and watched in horror as Lord Stein’s body liquified and his blood evaporated emitting a disturbingly familiar scent. In seconds, all that remained was a pair of ruined pajamas and the floor looked as though it had been corroded slightly with acid. The doctor stood over the scene in disbelief as Ghost looked down perched from the banister up above. He looked back through the window where Miranda had fainted and the butlers were also frozen with sheet white faces. 

Prometheus cleared his throat before unlocking the door from the inside and opening it “Let me see your hand NOW. I will also need a sample of everyone’s blood.” he said to the butler with a bandaged hand.