Private Finished Oh doctor, doctor, I must have gotten the sick some how.

It was the middle of the day, a reasonable hour and the time the doctor was usually in his office. And William was in his office when Lochlann knocked on the door. He had no appointments for a little while, but he still had not been on the island long enough to get many patients, so this was not a surprise. It made sense for someone to drop in at that time, even without making an appointment, as that was when most people did. But the wraith still startled at the rapping on his door.

It was actually the man's first day back at the office since his - kidnapping - and he was still so tense that he considered not answering, even though the chances that his kidnapper would bother knocking were quite slim. He wasn't sure the man he was attempting to avoid even knew where his office was or that he had one, and William was still a common name, but he couldn't quite shake off his nervousness.

But he had to get over this. He fidgetted with his gloves as he walked into the waiting room to get the door. They were not the pair he had been wearing when he had stumbled upon the serial killer's work, but he did keep a few sets in case he lost one. Gloves or no gloves, he knew it wouldn't make a difference if this was not simply a patient coming to see him.

Because of his delay, he actually heard Lochlann's voice before he opened the door. It was a relief, but he was also a little surprised. He was sure the young man had been too drugged up to realize that he had been attacked, so he wasn't worried about some sort of revenge, but he was a little surprised that he would come back on his own. If he was still walking, it meant the drugs had probably gone through his system by now, and the doctor knew from his prior interaction that the young man was not the type to go to a doctor willingly without a reason for it.

"Mr. Cabyll-Ushtey... This is unexpected." William opened the door to let the young man in and was struck by the taste in the air. He momentarily stiffened but tried to quickly mask it by backing up a few steps to let Lochlann get by. He'd forgotten this young man's height and he felt suddenly terrifyingly vulnerable for a brief moment. He hoped it didn't show. He was the doctor here. "What brings you here?"

The taste of Lochlann's mild fear reassured the doctor a bit. At least this young man tasted different from the one he was avoiding, though their heights were too uncomfortably similar. He still couldn't stop himself from backing himself up until he was leaning against a counter. Having the wall at his back actually wasn't helping his nervousness as much as he would have hoped, and he unconsciously fidgeted with his gloves, unable to keep still.

He managed to keep his tension from showing on his face, though, keeping it a blank mask. He couldn't quite meet the other's eyes, instead looking somewhere at the level of his chin.

The young man's question was the last the doctor expected. He actually jumped a little, startled, his briefly lifted gaze anything but innocent. The loss of composure only lasted a moment but would have been a pretty clear answer if Lochlann noticed. The wraith was aware that he would have left a mark on the young man, and since most of his victims had died he had no idea how long his handprints lasted, but he had assumed from the young man's presence in his office that he hadn't noticed it or that it had already faded, and also that he had no memory of what had happened when he was drugged.

The confession helped make sense of things. But also left the doctor at a loss as to how to possibly answer. For one thing, he still didn't know if his mark still remained on the young man's wrist or if he only assumed William had something to do with helping him sleep because it was the last place he'd been. For another thing, he certainly couldn't admit that he'd been attempting to kill him, or at the very least had been doing something he had been fairly certain would lead to his death.

The wraith eyed the vase while he attempted to come up with a plausible explanation. He really did not want it returned to him after Lochlann had thrown up in it, even if it had been cleaned. He'd never really liked the thing anyway and wasn't exactly sure why he even had it.

"Hmm... I suppose you are quite certain it was something I did and not merely side effects of the high amount of medication you had taken." William surreptitiously glanced at the other's wrists, but his own memories of that night were somewhat hazy and they were unfortunately covered by shirt sleeves. The doctor was not an honest or open man, generally speaking. He clung to his secrets and masks like lifelines. This was why he did not attack his own patients when they were still able to leave. He cursed his misjudgment and lack of control.

Fortunately or unfortunately for the doctor's attempts at innocence, his jumpiness was not entirely caused by being confronted with his recent error in judgment. The young man was tall, and William was still reeling from what had been done to him since he'd last seen the other. He was regretting his decision to let the young man come inside, and he wasn't sure if the way Lochlann was cuddling the vase made him feel safer or more unsettled.

When Lochlann pulled back his sleeve revealing a bare arm, Wiliam was relieved that the mark had apparently faded and was already preparing to pass it off as a hallucination and complete coincidence, until the young man realized his own mistake and pulled up the other sleeve.

Well. That would be harder to dismiss.

The doctor eyed the mark curiously in spite of himself. He had never really had a chance to examine one on a living person before. He didn't know much more than that it was a side-effect of his feeding. And if Maria knew more, she wasn't telling him. "Hm." He actually had no idea if it would fade, but even answering that simple question veered into dangerous territory. Whether he answered yes or no, he'd be admitting to having done this before, and answering that he wasn't aware how long it would take lead to the question of why he didn't know. My victims have always ended up dead would not be a good answer to give.

From the way Lochlann was acting, he still wasn't aware fully of what the doctor had done. And that was to be expected - he surely wouldn't have come back if he knew he had been close to dying... would he?

Except - he wanted him to do it again. William was sorely tempted to take him up on the offer. Although he had fed so well recently and technically did not require another feeding this soon, his cravings were hyperactive, and according to the one who had partially eaten his soul, probably not going to be satisfied anytime soon. Under usual circumstances, a willing victim would be perfect for this. Even one who wasn't aware of what they were agreeing to. He'd feed, they'd get too weak to escape, they'd die. But Lochlann had been able to escape halfway through his feeding last time, while he'd been weakened from an overdose. He would have no problem escaping from the doctor at full strength.

The wraith was not willing to put himself through a partial feeding again. Especially an unnecessary one.

Fidgeting with his gloves again, the wraith answered carefully, trying to appear as honest as possible while sorting out his explanation, "The mark lasts... longer than I have been able to follow-up with patients who have come to have it. And they have so far been fully human. I am not sure how that would affect it. As to what I did - no, I cannot do it again"

He hoped that the fact he said it could not be done again would distract the young man from the fact that he never did say what it was he had done.

The doctor was getting a little annoyed - at Lochlann's stubbornness, at his own jumpiness, at the fact that he was so vulnerable to everyone else, at the fact that he couldn't just give into his cravings and had to be a scavenger for the most part. He was actually veering towards anger, but his demon was tamping it down for now. She didn't seem to be sure how she wanted to manipulate his emotions at the moment.

Standing up straighter, although still not settled enough to move away from the wall, William gave Lochlann a definite look - not quite a frown, but a look. The arm being bared actually didn't increase the temptation that was already present. The young man was too obviously strong for him to lose control like he had before. And he had only done what he did because he hadn't expected to be interrupted. Just feeding would not soothe his cravings, which were admittedly very strong right now, probably visible in his eyes - he did not want to make them worse. If he didn't kill the young man, he would certainly find another victim, and he had killed too much recently - he might have been able to save those people - if he wasn't what he was.

"Young man!" Even his voice was tense. "You are not aware of what you are asking of me. I said I cannot do it again." He still didn't want to admit to the man that he'd almost killed him, although he was fairly certain it would make him stop his pestering. It would only bring up questions of how many others he'd done this to. The fact that the young man was bearing his mark was worrying too. Even if he wasn't likely to stumble on any corpses.

Jumpy, yes, and incredibly tense. William suddenly wanted to lash out at the young man. Give him what he wanted. Drain him and watch him die. This intense burst of anger came so unexpectedly that his whole body actually went still for a brief moment, except his hands which twitched at his sides. The fact that it was most likely demon-induced didn't matter, it still felt like his own emotions.

It was so hard to consider his words, keep up his mask, be polite, not give in to temptation, and fight off irrational feelings at the same time. So he spoke, biting off the words, "You. Could. Have. Died!" The doctor wanted to continue, to make the young man see that he was endangering other lives with his antics, but he already regretted giving in as much as he had. He was so tired.

All he wanted to do was curl up and cry, not that he was even capable of tears. He wanted Lochlann to just - leave him alone. He couldn't deal with this right now. Why had he thought himself ready to come back here and deal with patients who could just pick him up and toss him if they wanted? He needed to feed again - his mind wasn't all there.

"I cannot tell you what I did. I cannot tell you why I cannot do it again. I do not sleep." He sighed heavily, returning to his fidgeting. The random bursts of emotion were wearing on him more than usual. He barely even noticed the swearing, although he would've admonished him for it if they'd been in mixed company. "The insomnia - yes I could probably help if you told me why you cannot sleep in the first place. If it's a medical issue - that's why you're seeing a doctor, correct? If it's mental... I am probably not going to be much help."