Requiem for Blood (24 page)

Troy stuffed the phone back in his pocket, slightly embarrassed by his dad's incessant need to worry and treat him like a child, despite being sixteen. “Dads,” he muttered. “You know how they are...”

“
I don't actually,” she said so quietly that he had to repeat the words again in his head.

“
Oh,” said Troy. “Sorry.”

“
He's not dead,” she offered up to ease the awkwardness. “Just gone.”

Troy ended up talking with her for another twenty minutes and finally left when his cellphone went off again, but not before asking her name and where she went to school. She remained quiet, looking uncomfortable for the first time. “You have to love yourself Troy.”

He was taken aback by her words, which he didn't expect and when he opened his mouth to speak, she continued. “I'll tell you my name then...”

“
OK! I'll hold you to it!” he shouted back as he took off on his skateboard.

And then it all faded to black.

Olivia jumped up from the floor, the covers to the side of her and took an unnecessary breath as her chest heaved up and down, reeling from her dream. Her arms were stretched forward, her fingers clenching into a fist as she fought to bring the images back. The room was dark and heavy sheets were tacked to the wall, covering the blinds. In the corner of the room, she saw a figure perched against the wall, arms folded over his knees and his chin resting on top of them. His eyes went from soft and longing to baleful as he focused on her, even in the darkness. She knew he could see her as well as she could see him, since she was now half of what he was and in fact, inherited
his
powers. It had been like that for the past five nights, strange dreams of her sister and Troy, intimate thoughts as if someone were recalling a memory of the two. Erika stopped by on the second night to drop several barrels of blood off, but remained tight lipped on her plan, which Troy got increasingly agitated with.

He stood up and walked to the window and ripped the sheet from the wall. Olivia tucked her face away, her arm shielding it from the light. But it didn't come. She turned to see light streaming through the folds of the blinds, stripes of white light running across Troy's face. Night had fallen, but she didn't realize it, expecting it to still be day time. She knew the dreams were getting to her, causing her to lose sleep and drain her of her energy. Troy remained quiet as he stared down at her and under his gaze, she didn't move an inch. Ringing broke their silence and he pulled the phone out of his pocket.

“Hello?” he said into it, his voice hoarse. “Slow down Kristin...are you serious?” he asked as his voice fell into a whisper. “But I thought....” he choked on his words, “I'm so sorry...I'm really...” he said as he eyed Olivia.

He was on the brink of tears by the time he had gotten off the phone but all traces of sadness were burned by anger as his eyes bore into her. His hand was curled into a fist, shaking at his side and it took all of his strength to keep from irrationally lunging at her with the intent of killing. He knew it was almost impossible for her to not be the monster that he believed her to be but had to question before he could act. “How many people have you killed?”

“I don't keep a list,” she said and Felicity briefly came to mind.

“In all your killings,” his chest heaved up and down as his heart beat sporadically, “did you kill a man named Vic?”

Vic Pulaski
. Images of the man scrolled through her mind but her face remained stoic. She felt something inside of her but not enough to change her unmoving face.

“Did you kill him or not!? Brown hair, kinda round....does it paint a picture?” he shouted. When she refused to speak he continued, “You know I can't kill you so would you just....” his voice wavered, “tell me if you killed him. His wife was hysterical after the police found what little of his body was left. You owe him—”

“I don't owe him anything.”

She figured it was easier to be cold and displaced than to show how much it affected her.

“Are you serious?” he shouted, his face red as leaned in. “You are—!”

“You may have your opinions about me but I honestly don't care,” she went on, sure that she was on a roll.

“Is that what get's you through the day? Not caring?” he shouted, exasperated. “I see the way you sleep, something's haunting you!”

“Why do you humans,” she begin.

“Don't you try to pull that crap! Erika has a reason for saying that 'cause she's not human, never has been and never will be! But you...you've been a vampire all of a week and a half, two weeks?”

She decided not to press on and remained quiet.

“Are you just not gonna answer?”

“I find that when humans become impassioned, I suddenly lose all interest in conversation with them.”

Before Troy could counter, as angry as he was, the door was pushed open and light from the hallway spilled in. An outstretched hand was thrust inside, followed by a cheery voice, “Rise and shine my minions!”

Erika stepped into the room and turned on the light which made Olivia turn away from it.

“It's just a little artificial light,” said Erika and held out her palm when Olivia turned to her. A small flame burned in her hand. “Now, this could kill you.”

Troy's eyes shot up and he crinkled his face as he thought on her words. Erika closed her palm, putting out the flame and then extended her hand to Olivia. She looked down at Erika's hand with hesitation. “I'd rather not,” she said.

“You!” said Troy, pointing at Erika. “You created the vampire but you let her run around and kill half the town!”

“Whoa, whoa...what are you talking about?”

“She killed my captain, my friend!” he said furiously.

Erika's presence had allowed Olivia to be more forthcoming with the truth and she admitted to herself that he at least deserved that. “He was the first one I drained when I became a vampire. He had been lying out on the rocks, bleeding from an attack...”

Troy's eyes widened as beads of sweat dripped down his face, “You said...he was already attacked?” He was staring at Erika when he asked.

“Yes.”

“It was you...” his voice once again fell into a whisper, “that killed him.” His voice then rose and he yelled at Erika, “Why'd you kill him!?”

“I don't recall killing
that
man,” she said then tapped her index finger to her temple. “Now that I think about it...I specifically remembering hitting him with a pipe so that our newly turned vampire could feed. I didn't know she was going to kill him.”

“You didn't know? That a new freaking vampire wasn't going to have enough strength to not kill him?” he yelled.

It took all his strength to keep his composure but in the end there wasn't enough in him to keep the tears from streaming down his face. Even if it hadn't been Olivia's fault, she still stole the lives of two people he cared about and for that he wanted to ram a stake through her heart over and over again. If only thoughts could kill, and stakes for that matter.

“Oh please, no tears. Understand that his death was a necessary sacrifice.”

“There isn't a such thing as a necessary sacrifice because no one needs to die!” he shouted.

“You clearly don't know how the world works 'cause everyone needs to die.”

He had nothing to say against that and instead yelled at her to get out and take Olivia too.

“How touchy. You're not a very hospitable host.” Erika frowned. “Anyway, I'm going to need this vampire to be here for more than a month.”

“You're kidding, right? Like a bad joke?”

“Oh, I don't make bad jokes Troy, only bad puns,” said Erika. “Now, come with me.”

Reluctantly, Troy followed Erika and Olivia walked just behind him, silent. They were outside, the autumn evening surprisingly warm. The trees Erika set fire to during her fight with Troy looked untouched as if she had never burned them down. Both Olivia and Troy wondered the extent of her power but neither said anything. They were still on the steps while Erika was just at the edge of the forest several yards ahead. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “I'm going to teach you how to be a vampire!”

Troy rolled his eyes and turned back to the door.

“Stay where you are Troy,” she yelled. “I'm going to teach you how to be a
kitsune
!”

“No thanks!” he yelled back.

“I do not need to learn how to be a vampire,” grumbled Olivia.

“Of course you do! Unless you want to kill ten people again!” shouted Erika.

Troy looked down at her with incredulity on his face. “You killed ten people, after you killed your own sister and my friend?” He shook his head.
You're a monster
... he wanted to say but didn't.

“I have never been anything more than a monster. So when I killed them, it wasn't because I turned into a vampire,
into a monster
, it's because I had always been one.”

She jumped down from the steps and was standing in front of Erika, several inches shorter than her but still with an imposing presence. As a human she was hardly intimidating, a scraggly, thin girl who couldn't wield a blade or hunt a person properly but something about becoming a vampire made her an actual threat. It probably had something to do with the fangs, not that the humans around here knew vampires and apparently other supernatural creatures existed. Erika, however, wasn't the least bit intimidated by Olivia and just showed off her signature smirk as she eyed her.

“Are you ready?”

“I do not need your help.” She turned away and started walking.

“If that were the case, you probably wouldn't have killed your sister.”

Olivia turned back, and for the first time ever, there was fire in her eyes. “You don't know anything! You should have saved Alexa!”

“And finally we have some passion. Good,” said Erika. “You'll need it for training.”

Olivia had lost all passion in her voice and went back to her usual tone, “Why do you want to train me so badly?”

Erika disappeared and then was behind Troy, at the top of the steps. She held his hands behind his back and he struggled to which Olivia shrugged, apathetic.

“You think I care about the human?”

A small knife slipped from Erika's sleeve into her hand then she did a short deliberation before deciding to toss the knife to the ground, “Oh, whatever,” she said and opened her mouth, her fangs bared long and sharp, and sank them into his neck. As soon as the blood rushed to the surface and spilled over his neck, Olivia felt the fangs elongating in her mouth. The thirst quickly took over her and her eyes darkened as she moved toward them swiftly. She tried to push Erika back and bite down on Troy who's heartbeat was slowing as the blood poured out of him faster than Erika had ever seen. She dropped Troy, his body hitting the wooden planks of the steps with a hard thud, and pushed Olivia away. Olivia flew back, her body skidding across the driveway but she jumped back up and was once again by Troy, still driven by that same bloodlust. Erika put her hand on Olivia's throat and lifted her up, the familiarity of the scene, being suspended in the air by a female, pulling her out of her bloodlust.

“You have no self control! You don't know how to be a vampire!”

Olivia didn't hear her words as she continued to ponder on why this felt familiar. She then looked down at Erika with wide eyes. “You're the girl from the dream.”

“You're just now realizing that? Yes, hello, nice to meet you. I'm Erika from your dreams.”

“And he...Troy...”

“Is the one you couldn't save,” said Erika sweetly and deathly sarcastic. She lowered Olivia to the ground and removed her hand from her throat.

“How did you make me dream that?”

“I used my powers of manipulation,” she said, “to create a dream for you. One of my many talents.”

“Why?”

“Well, it's easier to ask if you want immortality through a dream than to try to sneak into a colony of creepy blood drinkers.”

Olivia was silent, thinking.

“And I know what you're thinking...was I the one who killed you? Even though Troy figured it out and already said it, I'll say it myself: yes,” she said, nodding her head. “But only because you begged for the immortality.”

They had completely forgotten Troy's existence or non-existence, since he had quietly taken his last breath. Olivia's head swirled with thoughts of that night, how she had been afraid to speak up, to admit to Noah that she couldn't save him in her dream. She felt relieved to know that it wasn't Noah who was dying in her dream but now her attention was turned to Troy, and she briefly wondered why he even mattered. Instead of asking the question she had on her mind, she asked: “Can all fox spirits do that?”

“Full? Yes. Halfsies? No, not without training.” Her eyes narrowed and a sly smile crossed her face, “Has Troy been putting naughty thoughts of himself in your head?”

A long breath was drawn from beside them and Troy began coughing incessantly, blood spilling from his mouth. His heart beat rapidly, his body getting back to work as he came back to life. He stood up and looked at them, astonished then angry.