A large part of my work is providing grief counseling to my patients. It’s similar to the service provided by human therapists, except instead of helping my patients deal with the loss of a loved one, I counsel them through their loss of self.

Fledgling vampires, particularly those who didn’t expect to find themselves in this condition, often go through the five stages of death: denial, followed by anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Most of the time I just have to provide an ear for my patients, and if I find them dwelling too much on a negative (aversion to sunlight), I guide them back to the positive (strength and immortality).

Liam O’Connor’s situation was much more profound than any of my vampire patients. As we spoke that first hour, it was clear that he was already past denial and into anger. He was angry at the wizard who’d killed him. He was angry at Desmond McGee for raising him up. But mostly he was angry at himself for agreeing to it all.