Aberration of
Blood
by
Bryan Sunday
Blood
by
Bryan Sunday
CONTEST
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Elyse stood across the room from me, still as the statue she sometimes could appear to be.
Her perfect white skin seemed as smooth and poreless as polished marble. Only, the long
copper hair and gem sparkle of her violet eyes betrayed that image. The scent of jasmine
drifted from her, but it was not warm or tinged with the scent of flesh as it would be were
she human. Her movements as she rounded the desk were something between ethereal and
feline, appearing to float as she walked, her long and lean limbs moving smoothly and
gracefully.
She would be seen as beautiful in any beholder’s eyes.
Hard to believe this creature was once human, was once… my sister. Nine years my elder
and fathered by a different man, I hardly grew up with her. More like my aunt she seemed at
times, the distance of age first separating us. Now it was my humanity.
The violet eyes flashed over my own flesh, darkly tan and porous. Awkwardly, I brushed the
dark hair back into place, whether it needed it or not. The straight raven hair I had gotten
from my father, her copper wavy locks from our mother. The amethyst eyes we shared,
though hers had been jeweled by the gifts of her dark blood. With those eyes it seemed she
watched the very blood flow trough my views, listened to my heart pumping the life fluid and
carrying the oxygen to my brain. That blood of mine contained the terminal virus that could,
in just a few years, be the end of my short life. I found it ironic that this was something else
we both shared, an aberration of the blood.
There was a slight draft in the room, though the cool air hardly bothered me. Most of my life
I was more resistant to the cold than those around me. Whether Elyse even felt it, I did not
know. The billowy sleeves of her blouse caught the draft and danced, the rich dark green
seemed almost liquid. The satin material gleamed in the shine of the candle light. She had
closed the distance between us before I even fully realized that she was moving towards me.
Could she see the virus working on my body, weakening my immune system, possibly
depleting my t-cell count? Was the damage already done, apparent to her keen preternatural
perception? For the magick of her dark blood was very obvious to me, now that I knew what
to look for.
“Yes, I can smell the death on you, Jacob, as I can on all mortals. More acutely on you than
others your same age. But beyond the virus and its so far minor damage, you are healthy. It
seems that you have done all that you could to prepare for the dangers facing you.” She
picked the thoughts from mind and answered my silent ponderings.
“Yes. I’ve worked my muscles to prevent wasting. I’ve changed my diet to eat more ideally.
For the most part, I am healthy. I should live a relatively sound life if I continue the way I
have gone. And I’ve been positive for six years now.”
I watched her face change slightly as first she acknowledged these facts then a question
formed in her mind.
“Then why do you come to me? Why did you chance being killed by breaking into my
haven?”
“Because it is no longer me alone who suffers this fate. Despite our caution, Zack has
contracted the virus. After five years together, using condoms and every other measure
possible, he has tested positive. I can’t abide the thought of watching him suffer, knowing he
might get sick. We’ve been prepared for this possibility, though we hoped against it. And at
first we dealt with it, accepted it. Last week however, I received news that Michael, my ex-
lover and the one who unwittingly infected me, died from pneumonia. A fear that wakes me
covered in sweat, remains unshakeable. Me I can accept, but the knowledge that he will
suffer the same because of me…” I felt the tears gather and fall from the inside corners of
my eyes.
Elyse extended her right hand, her forefinger curled and her knuckle caught the drop before it
could fall free. Her patient eyes considered the humanity of such a simple function.
“Though I’ve only been a vampire a mere decade, tears free of blood fascinate me. There is
no tingle,” she narrated as she licked the droplet from her finger, “as I taste the essence of
your sorrow.”
Shiver at the repulsive gesture.
“Fear, Jacob. Fear is what I treble in you. Me and my kind. Fear of our nature. And this is
what you ask me to give your dear Zack.”
It seemed hours as she stared blankly at me, considering my plea. I was convinced finally that
her silence was the declination of what I sought. I turned to leaved. The despair in me rose up
and folded in on my heart and I fought back the well of tears that threatened to over take me.
As my shaking hand closed around the door handle, a sob erupted abruptly. Not from myself
however, from her. I turned sharply to her at the sound. The blank coldness of her I had seen
before broken by sadness. Her arms opened to receive me, I hesitated…
“Come to me, Jacob. Relinquish your fear. I do not know this lover of yours. I do, however,
know you. Offer your life to me if you will, and accept my dark blood in return. If you truly
love him and wish to save him, it is you then who must offer this dark road through yourself.
You must walk arm in arm together in this journey. For it is blood itself that has connected
you, condemned you. Now it is another blood that offers you a different condemnation. Break
free, together, of sickness.”
I swallowed my fear. I swallowed down the panic, the revulsion. My tears ran dry even as
the first of them ran off my chin. Something clean and anew was born in me as my feet
seemed to move forward of their own accord, carrying me in to her arms. The coldness of
her being wrapped around me with her arms and I let my body go limp in her embrace. I felt
comfort even as her sharp teeth touched and broke the skin on my neck. The dreams began
then in the thump of my heart. In the darkness of my closed eye lids, I found hope…
(1102 words)
Her perfect white skin seemed as smooth and poreless as polished marble. Only, the long
copper hair and gem sparkle of her violet eyes betrayed that image. The scent of jasmine
drifted from her, but it was not warm or tinged with the scent of flesh as it would be were
she human. Her movements as she rounded the desk were something between ethereal and
feline, appearing to float as she walked, her long and lean limbs moving smoothly and
gracefully.
She would be seen as beautiful in any beholder’s eyes.
Hard to believe this creature was once human, was once… my sister. Nine years my elder
and fathered by a different man, I hardly grew up with her. More like my aunt she seemed at
times, the distance of age first separating us. Now it was my humanity.
The violet eyes flashed over my own flesh, darkly tan and porous. Awkwardly, I brushed the
dark hair back into place, whether it needed it or not. The straight raven hair I had gotten
from my father, her copper wavy locks from our mother. The amethyst eyes we shared,
though hers had been jeweled by the gifts of her dark blood. With those eyes it seemed she
watched the very blood flow trough my views, listened to my heart pumping the life fluid and
carrying the oxygen to my brain. That blood of mine contained the terminal virus that could,
in just a few years, be the end of my short life. I found it ironic that this was something else
we both shared, an aberration of the blood.
There was a slight draft in the room, though the cool air hardly bothered me. Most of my life
I was more resistant to the cold than those around me. Whether Elyse even felt it, I did not
know. The billowy sleeves of her blouse caught the draft and danced, the rich dark green
seemed almost liquid. The satin material gleamed in the shine of the candle light. She had
closed the distance between us before I even fully realized that she was moving towards me.
Could she see the virus working on my body, weakening my immune system, possibly
depleting my t-cell count? Was the damage already done, apparent to her keen preternatural
perception? For the magick of her dark blood was very obvious to me, now that I knew what
to look for.
“Yes, I can smell the death on you, Jacob, as I can on all mortals. More acutely on you than
others your same age. But beyond the virus and its so far minor damage, you are healthy. It
seems that you have done all that you could to prepare for the dangers facing you.” She
picked the thoughts from mind and answered my silent ponderings.
“Yes. I’ve worked my muscles to prevent wasting. I’ve changed my diet to eat more ideally.
For the most part, I am healthy. I should live a relatively sound life if I continue the way I
have gone. And I’ve been positive for six years now.”
I watched her face change slightly as first she acknowledged these facts then a question
formed in her mind.
“Then why do you come to me? Why did you chance being killed by breaking into my
haven?”
“Because it is no longer me alone who suffers this fate. Despite our caution, Zack has
contracted the virus. After five years together, using condoms and every other measure
possible, he has tested positive. I can’t abide the thought of watching him suffer, knowing he
might get sick. We’ve been prepared for this possibility, though we hoped against it. And at
first we dealt with it, accepted it. Last week however, I received news that Michael, my ex-
lover and the one who unwittingly infected me, died from pneumonia. A fear that wakes me
covered in sweat, remains unshakeable. Me I can accept, but the knowledge that he will
suffer the same because of me…” I felt the tears gather and fall from the inside corners of
my eyes.
Elyse extended her right hand, her forefinger curled and her knuckle caught the drop before it
could fall free. Her patient eyes considered the humanity of such a simple function.
“Though I’ve only been a vampire a mere decade, tears free of blood fascinate me. There is
no tingle,” she narrated as she licked the droplet from her finger, “as I taste the essence of
your sorrow.”
Shiver at the repulsive gesture.
“Fear, Jacob. Fear is what I treble in you. Me and my kind. Fear of our nature. And this is
what you ask me to give your dear Zack.”
It seemed hours as she stared blankly at me, considering my plea. I was convinced finally that
her silence was the declination of what I sought. I turned to leaved. The despair in me rose up
and folded in on my heart and I fought back the well of tears that threatened to over take me.
As my shaking hand closed around the door handle, a sob erupted abruptly. Not from myself
however, from her. I turned sharply to her at the sound. The blank coldness of her I had seen
before broken by sadness. Her arms opened to receive me, I hesitated…
“Come to me, Jacob. Relinquish your fear. I do not know this lover of yours. I do, however,
know you. Offer your life to me if you will, and accept my dark blood in return. If you truly
love him and wish to save him, it is you then who must offer this dark road through yourself.
You must walk arm in arm together in this journey. For it is blood itself that has connected
you, condemned you. Now it is another blood that offers you a different condemnation. Break
free, together, of sickness.”
I swallowed my fear. I swallowed down the panic, the revulsion. My tears ran dry even as
the first of them ran off my chin. Something clean and anew was born in me as my feet
seemed to move forward of their own accord, carrying me in to her arms. The coldness of
her being wrapped around me with her arms and I let my body go limp in her embrace. I felt
comfort even as her sharp teeth touched and broke the skin on my neck. The dreams began
then in the thump of my heart. In the darkness of my closed eye lids, I found hope…
(1102 words)