by Andrew Lynch
He stayed staring at the wall. I sighed. “Right. Mind-controlled slaves, not the best at conversation. Come on, I’ll drop you off somewhere and let you get back to your life. But with no hurting anyone, obviously.”
I took a few steps, but had lost the constant shadow that was Chad. I felt his mind, not pulling at mine to get away like it had before, but definitely doing something odd.
“Emotion,” he said.
I turned. “Huh?”
“Maybe you just need emotion.”
“Oh? And what do you know about it? I didn’t realize I was speaking with a Draugr expert.”
He tapped the side of his head. “Oh right. You’re feeling stuff in there too. Okay. I guess that makes sense.”
“When you’ve been angry or happy, my mind has been more – free. You feel stronger. It’s nice.”
“Okay. Okay, good! Now, how should I become emotional? Got any ideas? I’m feeling rather blasé about the whole ‘I want to suck your blood’ thing at the moment.”
He stepped forwards, and his right hand swung hard at my face, slapping me. My cheek burned like hot coals were pressed against it, and my ears rang. For a split second I saw red. He’d hit me so hard I almost fell over.
“Damn it, Chad! What the hell? I said no more violence!”
I let my instincts come. The thirst wanted it to happen. He wanted it to happen. Even I did. I jumped into him, wrapping my legs around his waist. One hand slid into his hair as he fell backwards into the alley wall, ripping his head to the side. Without thought, my fangs were out, and they’d found flesh. But I was myself. I was conscious. I could feel the spurt of blood hit my tongue, and the subsequent pulses of his heart, forcing his blood into my mouth. I sucked hard to gorge myself.
I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Chad had slid down the wall, no longer able to hold me up. I had to control myself. I couldn’t leave a trail of pain behind me like I had with Rick. I stopped sucking, and I pulled my fangs out of his skin - they’d done their job. My heart was racing. His was slowing. I needed to stop. The taste of his blood was sour, like sucking on a penny. I didn’t like it at all, but at the same time I felt alive. I felt a rush of… something. Power, life, magic, The Force, I didn’t know what!
I wanted to pull my mouth away, but the thought of missing a drop stopped me. I punched my fist into the wall at Chad’s back, and pushed myself off. After the first tiny break from his skin and his blood, I was free. I threw myself back.
It wasn’t neat and clean, leaving behind two perfects dots in the jugular. It was messy and ragged, like the emotional rush I’d been in when it happened. But it was nothing like what I’d done to Rick. I rushed forward and put my hand over his neck, hoping that would stop the blood.
Chad’s eyes opened, and his hand went to mine at his throat. His smile was still in place. “Did I do good?” His voice was weak.
“What? Yes, you were very good at biting me, thank you. Now stop bleeding! You’re a dick, but you’re not dying, understand?”
His eyes lost their vacant foggy stare, and they focused on mine. He pulled my hand away from his neck. “Have more.”
I looked at the thin drizzle of blood still coming from the puncture marks in his neck. Why not have more? It would just be going to waste otherwise. But I wasn’t sure that if I started again I’d be able to stop in time. I leaned away from him. “No. No, I can’t. I mustn’t.”
He nodded. “I understand. But that was great. Can we do it again?”
“Uhh… huh?” I felt for the swell of his mind in mine, and sure enough it was there, but there was no pull anymore. He wasn’t fighting it.
“Those were the best few minutes of my life.” His smile grew.
Few minutes? Damn, where did time go when I was… feeding? I thought it had been a few seconds! And actually, last time I’d then been stuck in full speed mode. But not now? I focused on making the change. This was all about control. I had controlled myself and hadn’t killed Chad, now I could control my powers.
There wasn’t a special feeling, or a pop, or a sound, or anything. But Chad had stopped moving. The blood didn’t flow. A tear that was running down his cheek stuck stubbornly to it. I got up and looked around. Well, everything had been still in the alley before I’d gone super speed, so that didn’t mean anything. I walked to the street, but didn’t need to go that far. An old leaf hung in the alley. Wind had blown it into the air, and no doubt it was caught in a violent flurry. But it stayed still, right in front of my face. I gently touched it, but instead of pushing it along, my finger ripped a hole in it. I guess in reality, my finger was moving faster than a bullet. I blew on the leaf, and it disintegrated into dust.
I focused on slowing myself down. Or speeding the rest of the world up - who knew how it all worked. Something hit the back of my throat, and I coughed. I guess the leaf got me back.
“Rel?!” A panicked Chad’s voice came from behind one of the pallets where I’d left him.
I jogged back to him.
“Oh good, you’re safe.”
“Yeah, I was right there. Chill out.”
“Yeah, sorry.”
I checked the time on my phone. This had taken longer than I’d expected. I needed to get to Johnny soon.
“I’m okay. You can go,” Chad said.
Wait… had I said that out loud?
“I don’t know. I just heard it.”
“Okay, reading minds is not cool, Chad! Get out of there!”
“‘Oh, sorry. I don’t know how.”
I felt for the lump of his mind sitting in mine. I wasn’t trying to hold on to it like I had been before. I closed my eyes and pushed it away from me. There was an odd feeling. My mind getting lighter, and then his mind was gone from mine.
I looked down on Chad. “Are you still… happy? With everything that happened?”
“Oh yeah, baby.” He growled in contentment. “You can do that to me any time you like.”
“Hmm. I kind of preferred you not being a weird creep actually. Oh well. Do I need to get you to the hospital or something?”
He waved me off. “Nah, I’m just tired. Kinda used to this alley, so I might just kick it here for a bit. Have a good one.”
“Sorry, you’re just going to sleep in an alley with a neck wound?”
“‘You know it, sexy. Quick nap, then I’ll meet up with my boys. Text me.”
Not even a question. Just a command to text him.
“Chad. You’re kind of a dick.”
He nodded. “Don’t have to tell me.” He winked at me and shot me a thumbs up.
“Okay, well I don’t have time to figure out what’s up with you, so… bye!” I turned and headed to my meeting with Johnny and Gareth.
“I hate it when you leave, but I love watching you walk away!” he shouted.
Chapter 27
Reliquiae
The walk over to the park was the strangest walk I’d ever made. The control I’d had when I first drank from Chad was gone, and I was speeding up and slowing down randomly. I didn’t want anyone to possibly see me, because I was skating on thin ice already as far as SCIM was concerned, so I ended up making the walk very slowly, arms stretched out either side of me like a tightrope walker, mind focused on just being normal. I looked anything but normal, but at least I wasn’t popping in and out of people’s vision as I suddenly covered two blocks in half a second.
So I arrived half an hour late, just after sunset, and I was walking like a faery. I think, I’d never met one. Johnny and Gareth were sat on a bench. Johnny had his legs spread wide, supremely relaxed, while Gareth kept eyeing the earth next to them longingly as if he’d rather be sitting on the ground.
Johnny looked up and waved. “Hey, Rel! You okay?”
I ignored him until I was next to the bench. I let my arms slowly fall back to my sides, and I planted my feet squarely. “Yes, thank you. Hello Gareth.”
His voice hit my ears, and suddenly the fact that him speaking sounded like t
wo rocks grinding together made a lot of sense. I probably should have picked up on that last time.
“Hey,” he grunted.
I motioned to the park as a whole. “Shall we?”
“‘Woah,” Johnny said. “First, what’s up with you?”
“I just… you know.” I mimed biting a neck, and they both looked at me like I was weirder than usual. Despite no one being around, I leaned in and whispered. “Fed.”
Both of their faces scrunched up and they both went, “Eww!”
“Oh all right, your highnesses! Just because you guys don’t have to feed on blood to live! Uhh, is that right?” Gareth nodded his head in confirmation. “Exactly. So… judge not, lest ye be judged,” I declaimed dramatically. OK, I was feeling a bit high.
They both threw their hands up in surrender.
“Well, how was… it?” Johnny asked.
“Honestly? Weird. Just the whole thing! I mean, why do I need blood? Who does that make sense to?” They both shrugged. “Well, anyway, I was having some trouble keeping my abilities under control. But I think… yeah, it hasn’t happened for a bit, so I think I’m safe now.”
Gareth put his hand up to ask a question. “Are we safe?”
“I’m going to say… yes. I think.” Gareth nodded solemnly. “But, what exactly does a Gargoyle bring to this crack squad of Fiend hunters?” I asked, pointing at Johnny who, in a moment of complete un-elvishness, dropped one of his daggers making him look rather sheepish that I’d caught him. Why did he have daggers anyway? It seemed odd to me but I was sure that if I asked I’d be insulting some long standing tradition.
Before Gareth could answer, Johnny butted in. “Fiend?”
“Oh, umm, yeah. That’s what the thing is. It’s called a Fiend. I don’t really know any more than that, but it’s the right name for it, I guess.”
“Hmm. How did you discover that?”
“I had a quick run-in with our local hunter.”
Johnny’s eyes lit up. “That sounds like a great thing to do! How did it go, and why are you still alive in that case?”
“Your compassion is your greatest asset. However, I’ll have you know he said he’d shoot me the next time we met. An absolute gentleman.”
“Hunter?” Gareth asked, popping the thick bubble of sarcasm Johnny and I were building up.
Johnny answered for me. “You know the English guy?”
“Rick?”
“No, no, his father, the teacher. Anderton?”
“He’s a hunter?” I wouldn’t say that Gareth looked shocked, but this was definitely the most emotion I’d seen on him so far.
“Yup. You think you know a guy, right? But my dad says there’s no need for us to get worried, Anderton doesn’t know anything about the supe community here in Sanctuary, and my dad’s going to keep it that way!” He patted my shoulder cheerfully. “Except for Rel and the Fiend thing, I guess.”
I decided to bring the conversation back around. We were here for business, after all. “Okay, guys. You both ready? Let’s go find us a Fiend.”
They both stood up, Gareth rather grudgingly.
Johnny stretched his hand out, letting me go first. “You’re the bloodhound on this one, Rel. Go forth!”
I gave him a look. “Let’s be clear. I am ‘going forth’ because I choose to. Not because you told me to. Saving lives here, Johnny. Don’t be a… you.”
Gareth nodded in agreement.
“But anyway, I can’t actually smell anything here,” I confessed. “So… let’s just start walking.”
Lincoln Park was dead to the world. Not a soul in sight, or a Fiend in smell. We ambled slowly along, and I eventually led the two boys, who after a thirty minutes of nothing happening were thoroughly bored and talking about sports of some kind, to the cemetery. I knew I’d be able to pick up the scent from the crypt. Unless Fiends moved on once they were disturbed. Who knew?
At the crypt, sure enough I could smell its plague stench all over the place, but figuring out where the creature had gone was tough. Sniffing around like a dog wasn’t exactly something I was used to. The guys, realizing I was busy working on something, sat on some broken rocks just inside the crypt, and discussed the big major life changing events in their lives. I couldn’t pick up on all of it, but it was mostly release dates for upcoming games, and what cars they wanted to buy.
Here I was, doing all the hard work like a sucker, my nose scant inches from slime and goop and worse stuff, and they were socializing! I was just about to give them a piece of my mind as they kept on blabbing away, when I found what I’d been looking for. A stronger scent pulled me towards the northwest wall of the graveyard, I collected the boys, and we set off on the trail with renewed enthusiasm. Once I’d found it, it was easy to follow, as the big, dumb Fiend had scraped some of its ickyness on to the trees it had passed on the way to wherever it was going.
The smell made me feel like the Fiend was close, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I couldn’t see anything, and the other two were still just following me, their own senses useless for tracking.
“Hey, Johnny,” I said, gesturing him to come closer. “You know about glamor, right?”
“Oh yeah. It’s an elf’s main weapon, so my dad won’t stop telling me all about it. You know, when he talks to me at all. Why?”
“I accidentally glamoured someone. It just came out of nowhere.”
Johnny nodded. “‘Yeah, that’s how it usually happens. High emotion, and you touched them?”
“Emotion, yes, touching, no.”
“That happens too, sure.”
“The guy seemed kind of… well, he had a complete personality change. He seemed kind of blank or… just not what I expected. Not real. Is that normal?”
“Oh yeah, sure. See, you brute forced him. That’s normally what happens on your first time. Controlled him so hard that he lost himself. Think of the mind as a door. You just hit it with a battering ram and blew the hinges off, stripping away anything that might have been behind that door. No subtlety. I’m at the point where I’m picking the lock. The guy can keep his personality, but he still knows something is wrong. When you get good enough, like my dad, you don’t even have to knock on the door. He can pull up in your driveway, and you’ll help him out of his car, invite him in, and cook him a meal.”
“Oh good. Another thing I need to work on.”
“Yeah. It’s not easy. I mean, it is for me, obviously, but for other people…”
“Yes, well saved. And can gargoyles glamour?”
Gareth was right behind us. “Not really our thing, no.”
I thought back to the bunker, when Johnny found me. “What about Ariel? Are sirens just born with super powerful glamour?”
“Technically,” Johnny began, “Sirens don’t use glamour. They use a compulsion. It works differently, affecting base emotions instead of rational thought. Honestly, did your parents not teach you this stuff?”
“They didn’t know what I’d need.” I shrugged. “Something about wanting to let me be a kid for as long as possible.”
“My parents tried that,” Gareth said. “Bad idea when one of your limbs turns to stone in the middle of class.”
“Parents!” I agreed. “Honestly, it’s like they’re making it up as they go along!”
“At least yours bothered to make something up,” Johnny said. “Mine are too busy.”
“Wait!” I interrupted. “Do you feel that?”
They looked at each other and then shrugged at me.
“It feels like… we’re on the edge of something.”
They both checked their feet to make sure there wasn’t a cliff. Honestly, these guys…
“No, with my mind. On the edge of… something happening. I can feel something.” It was familiar, but I couldn’t place it. It was too weak. “It’s not the Fiend. But it’s something strange, and the Fiend’s trail is leading toward it, so let’s keep going.” Gareth muttered something that sounded like “At last!” wh
ich I decided to ignore. I marched forwards and left them to follow me.
After a few minutes of treading carefully through the darkened woods, the feeling kept growing, and at last I figured out where it was coming from. I turned to tell the guys.
“Hey, I know… uhh, guys?”
They were both a few trees back. And lying down. Had I missed some danger they’d dived for cover to avoid? Why hadn’t they shouted anything? Wait, were they hurt? That seemed pretty important to find out, but I couldn’t quite remember why I was out here. Tracking something? Yes, maybe I had been, but I didn’t really want to bother anymore. The guys had the right idea. Lying down would be very calming. I could look up at the sky and count the stars. Not hurt anyone.
Hmm… was I planning on hurting someone? That was an odd thought to have.
I felt like just relaxing a bit. I sat down on the soft mossy ground and took a deep breath of the green-smelling forest around me. It was a wonderful night! But also, there was a reason I was here. What had we just been talking about? Glamour? Now that I wasn’t so focused on the trail of the Fiend, I noticed that I was close to Ariel’s house. Her parents were away. That sounded relaxing, maybe she’d like to hang out. And definitely not hurt anyone with me.
And then the pieces clicked together. I felt the tidal wave in my head. At the back of my mind I could hear a voice chanting. “–please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me–”. It was a very relaxing voice. It made me want to be calm, and do nothing, and just relax. And not hurt anyone.
But maybe… maybe this wasn’t meant for me. Ariel didn’t know I was here. Or the guys. Maybe I should hurt someone. I was so relaxed now though, and I kind of liked it. But this wasn’t the bunker, this wasn’t my first time feeling this compulsion, and I had just fed. I slapped myself on my cheek as hard as I could. It hurt! The tide receded from my mind, and I could think clearly again. Johnny and Gareth were still on the floor, but I pulled myself together and stood up. Ariel’s voice was soft, but my Draugr senses let me hear it even from this distance. I fought against her voice as it tried to seep back into my mind and sedate me, and I rushed to where I knew the fence for her back yard was. Something was terribly wrong.