However, Horror autotoxicus, a term labelled by Paul Ehrlich, was in fact not a disease, but instead a theory about a mechanism of the human body to protect itself.

The father of Iris lies about this and says that Horror autotoxicus had caused her mother's death and had been a reoccurring ailment for the Villarca family.

Iris's father discovers the relationship and tries to bribe her to stay away from Tom by paying for her tuition to medical school.

She accepts the offer, but as time passes Iris begins reading in medicine books and finds out that her father has made up his statements about horror autotoxicus.

Strange Horizons reviewed Rawblood favorably, praising it for "deliver[ing] all the mystery and menace that one might hope for in a classic ghost story.