Requiem for Blood (10 page)

Olivia's pale skin had grown even paler in just a few minutes and the woman smiled at the good sign. Her wound had been slowly healing from the first batch of blood but now it was healing even faster and her body was filling out, no longer frail pieces of skin dangling onto bones. Two eyes peeled back, their amber color burdened by a bloodlust.

Five

There was a blur before Olivia and she thought she saw the shape of a woman jumping down from the rocks. The woman had heard another sound just before Olivia's eyes shot open and with a smile on her face and pipe in hand she moved toward the sound. The night sky looked as if it had been swallowed by a black and endless void, the stars blazing hot millions of miles away but not even dots from where the woman stood. Even the moon had cowered in fear of the her presence as a wicked smile spread across her face.

“Are you alright? Do you need any help?” called a voice from the beach. He had just climbed on top of the rocks where the woman awaited him.

She stood just a foot in front of him but he couldn't make her out in the sudden darkness that had fallen over them. Her mouth opened and two enlarged canines jutted out, pearly and poised to kill. Olivia's eyes which cut through the darkness like a flashlight could not keep up with the person whose swiftness rivaled light. She had the pipe raised up like a bat and swung at the man. He fell unconscious onto the rocks and she jumped down and disappeared into the night.

Olivia caught the man's scent, so strong that she could practically taste it as blood dripped from him. Her throat burned as she pushed herself up and felt the sting in her abdomen. She ran her fingers along her stomach and felt the throbbing underneath her skin but saw no wound to match the pain or the blood that stained her skin. She took several faltering steps over the jagged rocks, her nose leading her to him. Fangs enlarged in her mouth and she sat not far from the man, her light amber-brown eyes now clouded and soulless as she looked on. Driven by the scent and sight of his blood, she was on her knees beside him dragging his body across the rough surface and then burying her nose into his neck. She tugged on his hair and pulled his head back to which he let out a harsh groan before his eyes opened.

He was still alive? Her eyes returned to their normal color and her fangs retracted as he began to scream. Of course he was alive. How could she not hear his heart beating? She pulled away, annoyed by his terrified shrieks but couldn't deny that his blood smelled decent enough to drink. Against her will, the tip of her fangs bit into the bottom of her lip and she sucked the blood away, but she knew the taste of her own couldn't satiate her lustful wanting like the taste of his. Her eyes misted over again, a muddled brown as she ignored his screams and driven by her bloodlust, sank her fangs into his neck. She pulled back and only saw red as she briefly stared at him. He was pleading with her but she couldn't hear him and went in again and tore through his skin with both her bottom and top fangs. Unable to pull away, she could feel the life being drained from him. She held him down without much effort and he continued to cry out, flailing his arms about defiantly and clawing at her unsuccessfully until his heart began to slow down. His hands were rested at his side, limp and gray, not that she could see, but she could hear the quiet of his heart until it just stopped. Her eyes returned to their normal state as she yanked her fangs out of him, her mouth covered in blood. He fell to the side and she saw that he was undoubtedly dead, and yet the pity she felt for him drained from her as quickly as it had formed. She could hear words, chants, clawing at the surface of her brain, rationalizing her senseless act but the words didn't need to comfort her. Deep within her, she was horrified by what she had done, but on the surface, it had seemed more than right, it seemed natural. The tears that would have poured out for him were absent as she looked at the man.

“I did not mean to kill you,” she said, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.

She looked from the man to herself, her shirt ripped into and her hands covered in blood. She tightened her hands into a fist and flexed them out as she contemplated what to do next. Here lie a man in front of her, beyond dead and yet she couldn't form any thoughts past that. Olivia knew what she was but not in thought or real life, did she let the word slip out of her mouth. It seemed foreign that she had become exactly what her mother wanted to become and she briefly contemplated her mother killing her and leaving her to bear the transition alone. It was certainly something the Matriarch would have done but even still, it didn't seem like she had done this. She imagined that if she hadn't grown up in the colony she probably would've been hysterical and confused as to why her heart wasn't beating any more but she calmly took in her undead existence, only wondering who did this to her and why. And, she guessed, how? But before she could search for those answers she had to figure out what to do with the body.

The beach was still quiet and she couldn't figure out for the death of her why no one had wanted to be out on such a night. She briefly thought back to the guy and wondered why he hadn't come to his place of thought tonight but the thought left her as quickly as it had entered her mind. Her eyes darted to the waves and the idea of burying the man underneath them seemed rational enough, but probably not the best thought out plan. Olivia grabbed him and the guilt she felt was the size of him as he weighed down on her. As she ran away with the man on her shoulders a memory entered her mind.

“
Mommy?” Eight year old Olivia called out into the darkness of her mother's study.

Mar shuffled a thick folder underneath a stack of papers and turned away from the desk and toward the voice of her daughter. “Yes Olivia?”

“
When will I be able to go outside, in the daylight?”

Her mother removed her glasses and set them on the desk beside her, “Come here dear.”

Olivia put her arm up to the wall and used it for guidance as she walked towards her mother then stopped as their feet met.

“
Do you know what a vampire is?”

“
A creature that feeds on human blood?”

“
Yes, it's exactly that, but a more accurate definition would be a creature of the night that feeds on human blood.” She replied, stressing 'of the night'.

“
Is that why I can't go outside? Because I'm a vampire?”

“
Yes dear. Now I'm going to give you a history lesson. Something the other kids in this colony do not know yet. Long ago, the world became obsessed with the vampires, the undead who fed on human blood.”

“
But that's all folklore, right? The undead don't roam the Earth.”

Mar nodded her head not that Olivia could see and continued, “The idea has been around for such a long time that I think the world could no longer distinguish fact from fiction. But there has always been a group of humans that followed Vampiric rules in an effort to become like those they had heard about. As humans, they stopped going out in the daylight and began to drink only blood.”

Olivia's eyes widened as she put her hands up to her mouth and covered it in shock, “Like us?”

“
Yes, but in all their searching they couldn't find the one thing that turned them into truly immortal vampires. I, on the other hand, am very close to finding it and on that day we'll turn and live together forever.”

“
But I will be dead...or, um, undead?”

Her mother bent over and wrapped her arms around her. “It's OK because you will be with me.”

Once she had gotten off the beach, Olivia sped quickly through the city until she found herself just outside a wooded area reminiscent of the forest behind Mr. Steven's home. She set the man's body down and took off blindingly fast to a small cul-de-sac a half a mile away. It took her a few houses but she finally found one that had a shed and ripped off the lock and stole a shovel. She went back to where she left the man and scavenged his body before dumping him into the makeshift grave she had quickly dug. A voice within her spoke to her as if it were a guide to Vampirism and all the years of training at the colony had suddenly become useful as she found herself making use of everything she had ever been taught, including how to dispose of a dead body. She fiddled with the pages in the wallet until she came across his license.
Vic Pulaski
.

She felt an ache in her chest as she read his name aloud. She gripped the skin above her unmoving heart and bent over in pain. It had only lasted for a moment but it had been the single most unpleasant thing of the night as the feeling of pins pressing into her chest grew stronger then stopped. She imagined that was what guilt felt like but she couldn't rid herself of it like she could the body. She shook her head as she covered him first with dead sticks and leaves and then with dirt and took off.

She found herself on an empty road, houses lining the street of the small subdivision. A light flickered behind her and she turned to it, putting her arms up to shield herself from the bright light.

“Miss, I need you to stay where you are and put your hands in the air,” a male voice called from behind the blaring light. Although hesitant, she stopped moving and threw her hands in the air. Coming up closely behind her, he flashed the light at different parts of her body until it fell upon her bloody hands. Despite the chilling air gnawing at his skin, his body got warm and sweat beads formed and rolled off the back of his neck. He reached for his radio and pulled it to his mouth but before he could speak into it Olivia had swept him up and disappeared. She dumped him onto the ground, sticks scraping against the back of his neck. He scrambled upwards and when he saw Olivia standing over him, he scooted backwards, terrified. Olivia didn't try to catch up with the police officer who hadn't moved as far as he thought. She just watched him with careful eyes and saw that he was bold enough to draw his gun. Clasped between his trembling hands, the gun shook violently as he was unable to steady it and aim for her heart.

“W-what are you?”

She cocked her head to the side as if she were not quite able to understand him. She finally took a step closer to him and he tightened his grip on the gun. His valiant effort didn't stop her as she moved in again only to be met with a metal bullet that went through her knee. She winced as the warmth spread through her leg but only for a moment as her blood ran cold and the wound healed itself. He widened his eyes at the sight and his mouth opened but before words could escape, Olivia had her hands around his neck and had pinned him to the ground. The smell of his blood dripping down his neck had been too much to push away and the bloodlust took over her as she dug her fingernails into his flesh. She felt something underneath the bloodlust, a small sense of humanity questioning her actions. She didn't know what to do with the guy, who was helplessly yelping as she involuntarily dug her nails deeper at the thought of her mother's words, about not having to kill. She knew it was true, that she didn't have to kill, that she didn't have to kill the other one but it was too late for him. She wondered if it was too late for this man as well.

He clearly knew more about her than she knew about him, and could be seen as a huge liability if she allowed him to walk away. How could she drain and not kill, she thought. It suddenly didn't make sense to her. As she contemplated it, two shots rang out and she just barely jerked back as the bullets went through her abdomen. Olivia grunted at the pain and bit her lip as she knocked the gun away.

“That wasn't necessary.”

He had nothing left to attack her with and he began to whimper. “Please let me go!”

I have no intention of hurting you, she wanted to say, but realized how untrue that would have been. She didn't want to hurt him now, but she had no idea what would happen when she felt the urge to feed again. “I can't,” she finally said. She forced tears out, none that she truly felt, and continued, “You—you're going to tell someone. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't let you go.”

He could see the pained expression she wore on her face, and as her eyes met his she could see that he believed she had sorrow behind hers. Somewhere inside her, she did, but then again, not really.

“Please!” he pleaded. “Oh God, please....” he cried out as tears streamed down his face.

“I cannot,” she paused and then continued in a quieter voice, “let you go.”

“I won't tell anyone, I swear!”

Olivia looked at him and was taken aback by his cowardice. She felt almost ashamed that she was toying with the thought of letting him go. Here this man was, a police officer, a person of the law sworn to protect the citizens from danger crying for his life. Her mother had once challenged her with a thought, asking her who was looking out for her and who was protecting her. Olivia answered 'the police' but she couldn't believe in her words anymore.

“I do not know that,” she finally said.

“I don't have my radio but you can take all my other things, please!”

She sighed and nodded her head in agreement, lifting her body off of his and standing over him. She wasn't hungry and didn't have the energy to kill him, so she knew it best to let him go. He held onto his bloody neck and struggled to stand up. He took off his jacket and tossed Olivia all of his essentials then briefly glanced over to the gun but did not move toward it. She nodded at him and he was ready to take off but he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was; still he turned away from her and started running. Olivia called to the officer before he got very far and although hesitant he turned back around.