Blood To Blood

by Ifè Oshun

  Soon, I was back to normal and drifting in and out of sleep. We lay still for a long time, listening to our hearts beat. His eyes were closed, but I could tell he wasn’t sleeping. “Justin, what’re you thinking of?”

  “I don’t want to be a cadet anymore. I just joined because it was expected.”

  His Dad, grandfather, three uncles and older sister had all been, or were, members of the Boston Police Department. “The oldest police force in the country,” he continued. “You can't imagine the pressure to fit into an age-old family tradition.”

  “You'd be surprised at how much I can relate to that,” I said wryly.

  “Don't worry, Angel. I'll find something worthwhile to occupy myself with. I'm eighteen and just discovering now what I'd like to do with my own life. It's been a big transition, getting used to this immortal thing. There are things I can do now that I never dreamed of.”

  I could relate to that, too. He rolled over to his side to look at me while propped on one elbow, his face resting on his fist. “You mind if I just hang out here for the rest of your Mahá? It’s the only place where I feel right.”

  I was amazed at how much Justin and I had in common. But why, when things were going wrong, was it Sawyer, not Justin, who popped into my head? Shouldn't it be Justin? After all, he was what you would call the total package—handsome, protective, sincere, and loyal. But Sawyer was taciturn, brooding, tense...and gifted, mysterious, and beautiful. And mortal. The implications of Justin’s eternal devotion bounced around in my brain until I fell back asleep in his arms.

  The next day, I felt like my old newborn self. Coiffed and dressed in a classy turquoise cocktail shift with sparkly silver heels, I, along with Cici, met the rest of the family in the Sound Room. Huge in width and height, and containing a small stage surrounded by hundreds of seats, it was more like an auditorium.

  “The acoustics in here will allow people to handle the sound of your voice,” Mom said as she led us inside. We sat down in a reserved section of seats, and soon guests started filing in. There was an air of eagerness and excitement.

  Your voice is the star attraction, Cici transmitted.

  Moira, Cassandra, and Shoftiel sat in another reserved section and were joined by Bodiel and Knowledge, who, this time looked as if they were dressed for a day on the yacht. Cassandra, openly eye-balling me, was lucky Shoftiel was close by or I would have torn her head off. Moira patted her sword dramatically and pointed at me. Whatever. After what the angels had put me through, I felt I could take anything she had for me.

  There they are. The Council members.

  It was Charleston and the other two council members from the night at the Garden. I transmitted that little bit of info to Cici. Stone-faced, I heard her telepathically relay the information to Dad, who whispered very quickly to Mom. Her eyes narrowed as if she were ready to do battle. Despite the angelic tutelage, my stomach tightened a little in anxiety. What if I failed the test and turned out to be a screw-up after all? I took a long deep breath.

  In a few minutes, the room became packed. All seats were filled and the remaining guests stood shoulder-to-shoulder along the walls. Some people even claimed vertical space by floating way above the heads of the rest.

  Mom quickly squeezed my hand before making her way to the front of the room. “As requested by our guests,” she inclined her head toward Bodiel and Knowledge, “we will have the Abilities showcase now. All abilities that are not visible will be explained completely. Isis Angelica Clarissa Brown Ami-seshet, step forward.”

  Funny how I could perform in front of tens of thousands of people and not feel anywhere near the stage fright I experienced now. That probably had something to do with the importance of this particular performance; if it wasn't a crowd pleaser, I'd be killed. I decided right there that if this was to be my last gig, I'd give them a show to remember. I straightened my shoulders, raised my chin, and strode confidently over to Mom before looking over the faces of the guests. Markus/Little Wolf, wearing a red eye patch and a lime-green afro pick planted in his hair, gave me a thumbs up.

  Just do whatever Mom says. You'll be fine, sis.

  Mom inclined her head to the angels and AOs, and finally her fellow council members, before leading me through individual demonstrations of my abilities: levitation and speed. After each demo, Dad, positioned at the side of the stage, sounded a gong. The easy stuff was out of the way. I took a deep breath.

  Steady, sis.

  “The next ability will have to be explained first,” Mom said. “Angelika can freeze time.”

  Ah, there they were. The gasps. The Council members stood up, and Charleston spoke. “We have witnessed this ability,” he said. “Everyone and everything around us was frozen at the newborn's public performance.” These last two words were spoken with distaste. “We request a repeat of this so we can see if she is in complete control of this ability.”

  Oh, heck in a hand basket. I didn't know how to make it affect some people and not others. That had been Cassandra's doing. I glared at her with all the anger I could stuff into a glance. Then I heard Bodiel's voice.

  She will interfere the same way she interfered that night. It is the fair thing to do. Please proceed.

  Okay. Now, how could I get myself to that place where I could hear the click? I had to make myself angry. I concentrated on Cassandra. In no time I heard the click, and saw the button. I didn't press it, just calmly let it go. I looked around. Half the guests were frozen and half were not. The unfrozen ones looked around in astonishment, as if they were standing in a museum full of abnormal exhibits.

  Satchel was one of the unfrozen guests. “Seriously?” was all he said.

  The angels and AOs looked around, too. As Cassandra performed a discreet gesture with her finger, the unfrozen guests, including my family, became frozen and the others unfroze. Now it was their turn to stare around them in amazement. The Council members and Mom remained unaffected through the entire thing. I took a deep breath and unfroze everybody.

  Utter. Silence.

  The long silent spell, replete with unblinking stares, was finally broken by the sound of Dad's gong. He looked at me with pride. Cici’s eyes brimmed with tears of joy and Mom stared Charleston down. The Council members were speechless.

  Mom spoke triumphantly. “And the final ability. Voice.”

  There was the sound of hundreds of people simultaneously leaning forward in their seats. More people in the back floated up above our heads to get a better view. I cleared my throat, which was still slightly raspy from the heat endured earlier. After singing a few upbeat scales, I offered an a capella rendition of “Jeux Veux Vivre.” The guests grew happy with the music. I finished the song and addressed the audience.

  “I can heal with my voice. And I can kill with my voice. You have seen a healing.” I gestured toward Set. “And I have already killed, too. A bear. When I was less than twenty-four hours old. I will not kill here.”

  The Council members stood in unison again. Were they attached at the hip or something? “We need to see the level of destruction you can cause with your voice so we will know what we are dealing with,” Charleston said.

  This wasn’t good. I looked to Mom and Dad.

  “I am entering an official protestation, brethren” Mom calmly told her Council peers. “The execution of your request will put our guests in danger.”

  “Your protestation is noted, Sister Council” said a Council member who hadn’t spoken yet. He turned to the guests. “If anyone wishes to vacate the room or the property, do so now and we will relinquish you of further Mahá attendance obligation.”

  Two guests quickly exited. They represented a cluster clan of over nine hundred families in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Everyone else stayed put.

  Charleston looked smug. “We will proceed.”

  “I protest,” I said. There were murmurs among the audience. “You don’t know what you’re asking. I don’t want to hurt anybody.” I glanced at Cassandra, remem
bering how even she had cringed at the sound of my voice.

  Charleston was immediately in my face. He had fangs and he bared them like a wild animal. “Child, we are the law. We hold your life by a string. Do as we say.”

  I decided I didn’t like this guy. Anybody who'd put other people in danger to prove a point wasn't the kind of person I'd invite to dinner. I looked toward the angels and AOs. Shoftiel held up his hands as if to say he had nothing to do with it. Bodiel and Knowledge inclined their heads. “As you wish,” I said to Charleston.

  I directed my voice at the stage and split it in two. I changed the key to F and the rift in the stage corrected itself. Amidst a few shocked whispers, I then directed my voice at the windows. A shaft of turquoise-colored sound smashed into the glass, and caused them to shatter into thousands of pieces while guests ran, flew, and otherwise disappeared from the area to the safety of other parts of the room. Again, I altered the key and the shards swiftly merged together as if they'd never been broken.

  More whispers, littered with a few exclamations.

  I then directed my gaze at Charleston. The room became quiet, as if everyone were holding their breath. Fear registered in his eyes before I let loose a high G and aimed it directly at his heart area. He asked for it.

  He fell to the floor screaming and thrashing around in pain.

  “Is that good enough for you?”

  I sang each word in the same note without stopping to take a breath, and held the note until he started smoking like a lit charcoal briquette.

  “Yeeeessss!” he finally screeched in agony.

  I immediately sent a healing B minor to wash over and soothe him. After a few seconds, he was able to stand, and eventually sit back down. Once he regained his composure, he nodded in frustration and resignation. I stopped singing.

  Bravo, sis!

  Uncle Set stood up and applauded. Justin visibly released a sigh of relief from his seat at the back of the room. Dad winked at me and banged the gong. And that was the end of the “hell” part of my Mahá from hell.

  Or so I thought. At that moment everything stopped.

  Oh, no! I looked around the room. Even the Council members were frozen. Bodiel and Knowledge stared at me. Cassandra and Moira walked toward me. I took one last look at my family before closing my eyes and praying the AOs would kill me swiftly.

  25. STAR

  As Moira and Cassandra moved closer, I wondered which one would murder me. “She’s all yours,” Moira said to Cassandra as if she heard my thought.

  I opened my eyes. “This will be the last thing I do,” I said to Cassandra before hurtling a high B note at her head. She narrowly escaped it by diving behind the stage.

  “Stop,” Knowledge said. I thought she was talking to me, but she was speaking to Shoftiel, who’d pointed his shotgun at me. His finger was on the trigger.

  “Go ahead,” I threw at him. “Shoot me with your hellified gun.” I pointed to Cassandra. “She has to pay. She’s done nothing but hurt me and my family.”

  “That’s not true, Angel—” Cassandra inserted.

  “LIAR!” I roared.

  Cassandra cringed from the sound of my voice before extending her hand toward me. “I have protected you since the day you were born,” she said softly. “I am Star.”

  And with that, the being I knew as Cassandra transformed yet again, this time into a light so bright it almost blinded my eyes. Soon, her brightness diminished as she took on the form she must have had eons ago when she decided to give it all up for love. Silenced by her almost painful beauty, I stood in shock as her face shifted. One second she looked like Mom, then she looked like Aurora, then Cici, me, and others I didn’t recognize beyond a basic family resemblance. It was like looking at a multifaceted crystal and every facet was a part of me. Her loving gaze reduced me to tears. She truly was our mother. I fell to my knees in love, awe, and confusion.

  “Why?” I pleaded. “Why be a reflection? Why all the subterfuge?”

  “Like everyone else, I do not know if a newborn will be, as you say, good or bad. As your reflection I had an opportunity to get to know you over a longer period of time.”

  Her true voice sounded like musical bells. I was mesmerized.

  “But all beings of this Earth have free will,” she continued. “Therefore, I had to wait until you decided what type of person you would be before I revealed myself. I could not help or influence you. To do so would be deemed unfair. All I could do was protect you.”

  “But you fought me. You set me up at the Garden gig as if you were my enemy.”

  “Everything I did was to test you, and to give you the skills you will need to fight adversity. I called Bodiel and Knowledge when it was apparent you needed a little help with your ability.”

  “You called Shoftiel, too?”

  She smiled that weird smile. “Don't you know by now, Angel? Earth-bound immortals cannot stop you. There was still a question as to what direction you would choose.” She touched my face with fingers that felt like warm honey.

  “If you’d given me a reason, I would’ve killed you in a heartbeat,” Moira grumbled.

  “But now it is clear to us who you are,” Bodiel spoke. “We are satisfied.”

  “This ability you have, your voice,” Star said. “You have used it well. And we are proud.” Her maternal tone reminded me of Mom. I felt her lips on my forehead before everything unfroze and went back to normal. And then she was gone, along with Moira and Shoftiel. With no idea of what just took place, the crowd dispersed.

  Soon after, Bodiel and Knowledge made their way to the front door with suitcases in tow. Knowledge turned to me. “Well done, young one.” She actually hugged me. Bodiel patted me on the back, much like one would pat a dog considered to be a treasured family member.

  “What about Justin?” I asked. “How will I explain what’s happened to him?”

  Bodiel smiled. “You'll work it out.”

  Mom, Dad and Cici came to my side. “Thank you for honoring us,” Mom said. The angels bowed their heads humbly and started to turn away.

  But I just had to ask. “What's in the suitcases?”

  “You really want to know, Angel?” I nodded eagerly. “Souls,” they whispered together, before the door closed with a final, loud click.

  I let loose a wild exhale before Cici turned to me. “You did it!” she exclaimed with tears and a big smile.

  Dad gave me a bear hug. For a brief moment, I enjoyed the pleasure of feeling protected, but I also relished the fact that my safety had been earned with my own pain, anxiety, and blood. “One more ritual to go,” he said warmly, smiling down at me.

  “It will be nothing,” Mom added, wrapping her arms around us.

  “Good,” I said in relief, “Because this Mahá is killing me.” We all laughed at my corny joke before Cici and I made our way back to the dressing room.

  # # #

  Fifteen minutes later, I was freshly showered and changed. The house’s energy was back to human level, and now that the AOs were gone, folks were more relaxed. That is, until I came around. Then, they straightened up (as if they’d been talking about me) or moved out of my way. The euphoria I felt from having stayed alive melted away. My knees buckled and I sank onto a bench right before Justin appeared.

  “You’re hungry and tired,” he said. He picked me up like I weighed two ounces. “It's been a long day.”

  His arms felt good around me. Familiar. Wanting to hide from the fear in my guests’ eyes, I allowed myself to relax and melt into him. He started walking toward the nearby service stairs. “Where are we going?”

  “To the bedroom,” he answered as if it were obvious.

  “Justin!” I exclaimed. I tried to get out of his arms, but his new strength made it difficult.

  “Angel, it’s not what you think. I mean, you need to eat.” I stopped struggling, but still wanted him to let me go.

  “Justin, you can't let my family see this. I still can't explain—”


  “Explain what?” Mom said from one of the doorways off the hallway. “You are free to bring your donors to your Mahá.”

  Her eyes took in the ease with which he carried me.

  “I've been working out,” he said, trying to cover. “Eating lots of protein.”

  Her brows knitted and her fingers twitched. She wanted to touch Justin; to scan whatever she sensed was off. Despite all I’d been through, I was still afraid of being busted by Mom.

  “Mom, I'm about to eat the mortal staff,” I blurted, hoping that would bring her ruminations to an end. It did. She stepped aside to let Justin sweep me up the stairs, away from the guests.

  Later, the family, and Justin, lounged in my suite while Cici helped me get dressed (yet again) in the dressing room. “All you need to do,” she said, “is drink blood from a person. The Vampiric Reaction ritual is simply a gauge of what kind of blood drinker you are.

  “What's the point?” I asked.

  “When feeding from mortals, Shimshana occasionally create vampires accidentally,” Mom said from the suite. “We are unsure why some mortals are affected this way, but our DNA is responsible for the existence of a number of vampiric striations, including the ones with fangs, the ones that sparkle in the sun, and the ones that cannot bear the sunlight. That, my dear, is how vampires came to be.”

  I thought about this for a second, and then it hit me: the ritual could be a perfect cover for Justin's new abilities. That was probably what Bodiel meant when he said I’d “work it out.” Later, when Justin didn't drop dead after I'd fed from him past the limit, and he demonstrated his newfound strength, the Council members proclaimed him a vampire who could walk in the day and didn't have fangs.

  “Just don't let anyone see you eat that,” I warned him afterward, as he raided the buffet for an entire roasted chicken and a few sandwiches.

  After the rituals were done, it was time for the public face of the Mahá. Many immortals took their leave at this point, including Mom's Council colleagues, which was fine by me. To celebrate, Markus and I did a couple of songs from his first album as press photographers captured some shots, thanks to PE sending out word through the Hollywood grapevine. We wrapped up our impromptu performance to thunderous applause. “They love us already,” he said right as the band blared a rousing salsa intro. He started spinning me around the dance floor. “By the way,” he continued, “you were brilliant at the Abilities Showcase. Come out sometime.”