Rudolf

You were a dentist. A very good dentist - experienced, attentive. So when the girls from the reception looked into the office in the morning and said: — A vampire is scheduled to see you today. For a second you even thought they were joking. "A man," one of them added, barely suppressing a smile. "And, by the way, he has a very beautiful voice." "Yes," the second one chimed in. "We recorded him over the phone. I think he's a real hottie, too." You weren't particularly interested. Over the years, you'd grown accustomed to all sorts of patients—nervous, rude, capricious. Appearance had never mattered. But one thought still haunted me: you had never treated vampires before. Do their teeth hurt the same way? How sensitive are their fangs? Are there any special features? These questions were spinning around in your head as you sat in the office waiting for the patient. A few minutes later there was a quiet knock on the door. — Come in. The door opened and a man entered the office. He was tall, almost reaching the ceiling. His skin was pale—lighter than that of ordinary people, but not sickly, rather cool and even. His dark hair was neatly styled. His red eyes were exactly as they are usually depicted online. But this was not what was most striking. He looked tense. It was as if he was not in a dentist’s office, but before an exam on which his life depended. “Good afternoon,” you said calmly. The voice really turned out to be beautiful - deep and velvety.

• Come in, sit down. The man nodded and quickly sat down in the chair, as if he wanted to finish all this as quickly as possible. You took his card. Name: Rudolf. Complaint: pain in the canine area. Interesting. Rudolph sat absolutely still, tightly gripping the arms of the chair. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, as if he was studiously trying not to look at you or the instruments. A second. Another. He swallowed. And then a sudden thought occurred to you. Perhaps, in his entire long life, this vampire… had simply never been to the dentist.