Requiem for Blood

by Alexandra Hope

  “Good work, Noah,” said Mr. Stevens. “I hope you continue to take this seriously considering you will be hunting soon.”

  “Yeah, very seriously,” he said dismissively.

  After the class was dismissed, Olivia went home to change. She peeled off her dirt stained and sweat drenched shirt that clung to her skin and tossed it to the floor. The dark red gash on her arm made her skin look like it had grown paler in less than twenty four hours and her skin had sunken in so much that her ribcage was visible, each bone jutting out glaringly. She bit down on her bottom lip as she pulled a broken piece of metal out of the cut on her arm.

  “What's wrong?”

  Noah was pulling his shirt over his head when she turned her arm to him without saying anything. His face contorted at the sight of the wound that had begun gushing blood again.

  “Felicity did that to you?” he asked, dropping his shirt and walking over to her. He shook his head as he gently placed his hand on her arm and pulled it close to examine. His touch, albeit gentle, felt odd on her skin, the warmth unfamiliar. She was used to his touch but now it was foreign as it grew increasingly warm, prompting her to suspect that he had been out in the sun against the Matriarch's wishes. She fidgeted with each prod as his fingers slid across her skin and came close to the wound. He put it back down and said, “Well, there's nothing in it.”

  “Yes, I've taken care of it.”

  She walked to her closet and pulled out a towel and swung it across the back of her neck. Noah had stepped out of his shorts and was zipping up the zipper to his skinny jeans when he caught sight of Olivia's back. He threw a long sleeve burgundy shirt on, stuffing his unruly curls through the hole then rushed over to her. A darkened bruise, black with strips of blue, crawled up her back and twisted over her shoulder and he traced his fingers across it gently. She could feel the warmth from his breath and tensed under the pressure as his fingertips traced the outline of the bruise. “She did this too?” he asked, gritting the words through his teeth.

  She did a slow nod and he pulled his hand away and closed it into a tight fist.

  “There has to be rules against that! She's gone too far with that one!”

  “Her attack was within the rules of the system, and therefore, was allowed.”

  “You can't tell me you had a good time having the crap beat out of it.”

  Olivia half turned but remained quiet, her light brown, almost amber eyes fixated on the night sky. Noah had begun his passionate argument but Olivia had already checked out of the conversation, excusing herself to her bathroom. Under the harsh lighting, Olivia took in her scarred and damaged body and the depressions across her skin, namely her abdomen that hadn't much meat. She took off the rest of her clothes and hopped in the shower. The water hit her body in a tiny beads, warm and jagged against her skin, yet oddly comforting as it ran the weariness she felt down the drain. When she emerged from the shower and opened the door, she noticed Noah had left. She pulled a black and gray striped shirt overhead and slipped into a pair of gray jeans, completing the outfit with black and gold sneakers that hadn't been there before. When she had picked them up, a small paper fell from between them, the words Happy Birthday—these better fit scrawled across it.

  Olivia walked downstairs and was surprised to see her mother at the base of it, propped up against the banister with a book in her hand. The book was bound in brown leather with red writing etched across the cover. When Olivia had come in close enough to see the fading images on the pages, Mar closed the book and a stream of dust puffed from it's collapsed pages. Olivia stepped back, her watery eyes fluttering while Mar placed the book down and then turned back to her.

  “I hear Felicity had a most triumphant victory against you,” she said, positioning her glasses on her nose.

  Olivia lowered her head and when she hesitated to speak, her mother continued. “I guess it is to be expected. Are you well enough to hunt tonight?”

  “I am.”

  There was a fleeting look of worry on her mother's face and small creases had embedded in her skin as she stepped closer to Olivia. There was something about the flash of worry on her mother's face that had the ability to drain her of all thought because she knew her mother was never uneasy about anything. There were two reasons she was the head of the colony; one, because she established it and two, because she didn't bog herself down with trivial human emotions, allowing her to achieve a near omnipotent status in human terms. So if even the slightest bit of worry manifested on her face, it was cause for concern, at least for Olivia.

  “Is there something—?” she began.

  “Nothing is troubling me,” said Mar, anticipating Olivia's question. “Nothing that you should concern yourself with. I just need you to continue to train.”

  Mar took off her glasses and her usually cold brown eyes were inexplicably warm as she looked down at Olivia. She held a hand out to Olivia who inadvertently recoiled at the sudden display of affection then moved toward her again. She fell deeply into her mother's embrace, holding her tightly as she laid her head on her mother's shoulder. Olivia hadn't given much thought to her mother's actions but she knew one thing to be true, at times she didn't even seem human, not that she felt any more human herself. But despite what she knew to be true, she enjoyed moments like this when her mother felt more like a mom and less like a monster.

  “You are not going to cry on me, are you?”

  Olivia pulled back, not a tear in her eye or a quiver of her lip, and looked at her mother, “No, of course not. I'm sorry.”

  “Don't be sorry, just don't cry Olivia.”

  She nodded her head. “Yes, of course.”

  “Now, are you ready to hunt on your own?” asked Mar, changing course.

  For a brief moment her expression was unsure but she nodded her head with absolute certainty. Taking note of the fleeting hesitation on Olivia's face, her mother squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. She knew that to encourage was also out of her mother's scope of abilities and was surprised at the gesture, unsure if she could be any more amazed.

  “Whatever your opinions are on a human life, remember that their blood is your source. You need it but you do not have to kill to get it. Though sometimes, you have no other option...” she trailed off as she mulled over her own words.

  Olivia hadn't an opinion of a human life. She was a human, she knew that, but what was the value of her own life? Could it be taken as easily as survival of the fittest suggests? Could she become the predator her mother wanted her to be? A vampire? Without the soul and humanity and love and care? She thought it made sense, since she had lost her humanity a few years ago. Maybe, she thought, hunting a human for their blood wasn't so wrong.

  “Have you killed before?” she asked, curious.

  A small smile spread across Mar's face, “Never.”

  Her mother's watch beeped and she looked down at it. “I have two guests due here in twenty minutes, so if you'll excuse me.”

  “Of course.”

  Mar had already walked several feet down the hallway before she turned back to Olivia. “Happy Birthday Olivia.”

  “Thank you.”

  When Olivia stepped outside, she expected to be met with more than just the cool night. She expected to see the other students emerging from their half hour break between class and heading to their “science” class but she was alone. Someone had once told her that people on the outside had things called surprise birthday parties where they hid from the unsuspecting person to surprise them later on, but this couldn't be it. She at least knew that.

  The houses were spread across the vast land and an iron gate surrounded the colony. She heard a short scurry of feet across the dirt and stick laden ground and turned to see what had made the sound.

  “Allison?”

  “Oh, hi Olivia!” said Allison, cheerful. She tucked her black coils behind her ear and walked up beside her. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I have somewhere I need to be,” she repli
ed.

  “It's your birthday isn't it?”

  She nodded.

  “Happy Birthday! How does it feel to be seventeen?”

  Olivia thought about it then opened her mouth to speak.

  “Free.”

  The words were not her own as she turned to her side and saw Noah walking slowly towards her. He wore a cream colored shawl cardigan over his burgundy shirt and didn't look the least bit intimidating in his clothes but there was nothing, not even the gates of the colony or the Matriarch herself that could separate Noah from his love of fashion. Everyone knew the end result in the colony was to become a vampire thus ending their human lives, and even if he had to see it happen to himself, he at least wanted to die looking good. “Nothing like the freedom of being seventeen,” he mused, a wishful expression crossing his face.

  “Why do you say that?” asked Allison, turning her attention to the boy who was now at Olivia's side.

  “Oh, no reason...”

  “Where is everyone?” Olivia asked.

  “The Matriarch ordered a lock down. We are to remain in our homes until the meeting is over,” he mocked her words.

  “What meeting?”

  “Your mom hasn't told you any of this?” he asked. “Well my mom talks a lot, so she's been telling me the whole thing. Basically, some guy from the state and I think a teacher, will be visiting the colony to check us out and stuff. Just making sure we're not doing the weird things that we actually are doing.”

  “I see.”

  Allison kicked a few rocks to the side as the three of them stood quietly for a moment. Noah leaned down and tapped her shoulder, “Head off to the house and give me and Olivia a private, teenagers only moment, okay?”

  “I would....” she began, “except I don't have a house to go to.”

  “What happened?” he asked, incredulity ripe in his words.

  “A husk happened.”

  “Can you dumb it down and put it into Noah-speak for me?”

  “Randy's dad and I got into an argument about the size of a husk, the outer shell of a seed.”

  “And you got kicked out for that?”

  “Oh, the pride of man,” said the eleven year old girl, stretching high onto the tips of her toes and rolling back onto her heels. Noah rolled his eyes at her.

  “Look, I know you're brilliant and all and I'm not taking sides, but I can see why they would take offense. Maybe you could tone it down and you wouldn't be kicked out...I mean, they are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.”

  “They're doing it because that's the Matriarch's wishes.” She quickly glanced over to Olivia whose eyes weren't fixed on anything in particular and neither was her attention. She had heard their words but wasn't concerned with their conversation until Allison directed a question to her, “Can I stay with you Olivia? If I stay with the Matriarch, I can't be kicked out right?”

  Olivia contemplated the request and looked from Allison to Noah as she did. Even if Olivia didn't have those kinds of feelings that bound her to other humans, she did at least feel some sympathy for Allison. They were faint but they were there and she was hesitant to allow the little girl to suffer the backlash if she were truly to leave the colony. Noah had already caught on to her inner conflict with his uncanny ability to read the slightest of expressions that her face held and then spoke up, “Well, I can ask my mom. She'll more than likely say yes.”

  “It is settled then. You have a place to stay.”

  “Thank you!” Allison wrapped her thin arms around Olivia's waist, their bones rubbing against each other through their skin before she pulled away.

  “Thank Olivia like I wasn't the one who offered,” said Noah, feigning hurt feelings.

  She turned to him and hugged him as well, “Thank you Noah! It's odd, people say you're stupid but you have such great ideas sometimes.”

  He tightened his lip and suppressed an eye roll. “Yeah, well, don't make trouble for me.”

  “I won't.”

  “Now can you give us a private moment?”

  “Yep!”

  Allison skipped to his house, her curls bobbing up and down in each stride until she disappeared into it and the door closed behind her. They dawdled several yards away from the house, exchanging words about mundane things until Noah interrupted Olivia with a celebratory hug, his lean but cut arms coming close to crushing her under the pressure. “You're not going to let me say happy birthday, are you?”

  “I had hoped you wouldn't mention it.”

  “Well Happy Birthday!” he yelled out defiantly and released her. “I see you got my birthday present.”

  “I did, thank you.”

  “I just wanted you to have something stylish.”

  “They are certainly...” she searched for a word, “interesting. How did you come by these?”

  “My mom. You know her role in this colony is master procurer. She is le thief extraordinaire and pretty much gets me whatever I want when she goes on her hunts.”

  “So you disapprove of hunting for blood, but condone thievery?”

  “When you say it like that,” he said. “Yes.” He smiled at her and it took all of her strength to reciprocate but only a half smile. It was enough for him though. He just wanted to see his best friend smile; that's all it took to give him satisfaction. He lifted his hand to her face and his fingers twirled in her honey brown waves as he continued to speak. “Well, going back to birthdays and turning seventeen, you're going to do it right?”

  Olivia took her eyes off of Noah and cocked her head to the right, his fingers unfixing themselves from her hair. She cupped her hand around her ear to better listen into what had caught her attention. Her eyes flickered around then rested on Noah's as she placed her index finger to her lips in an effort to quiet him. He looked down at her, confusion scrawled across his face but soon he could hear what Olivia had heard the whole time, footsteps coming in closer until they were upon them.

  “Going to do what?” asked the voice.

  The person slipped between the two of them and pulled Olivia into a warm embrace, ignoring the boy at her backside. She spun Olivia away and held her at arm's length. “Happy Birthday Olivia!”

  “Thank you Natalie,” she said, nodding politely.

  “What are you guys up to?”

  “Other than having a private conversation, I was just telling her how lucky she is to be going out for blood by herself,” he told his mother.

  “Well, you won't be too far behind. Just a few days until your seventeenth birthday. Are you excited?”

  “You have no idea,” he replied wryly.

  “I think I have an idea. Anyway, you need to head inside. The Matriarch has requested a shut in, no members outside except those who are hunting.”

  “I'm going inside in a minute; just have to say something to Olivia.”

  Natalie let out a breath and relented. “OK...hurry up, a few words then inside!”

  She wrapped one arm around her son, kissed his head and continued on in the direction which she was going. Her appearance had been like a tornado, coming in quickly and disappearing with an equal quickness that only Olivia could comprehend. Noah looked at her with a confused expression painted on his face before he just spat the words out. “What was that about? And how did you know she was coming?”

  Olivia looked at him, her face contorted and her expression bewildered. “How did you not hear that?”

  “It's the same like in history class,” he said, shaking his head, “everyone could smell your blood except me. I wonder why?”

  Olivia thought for a moment. “The blood? You haven't been drinking it, have you?”

  “Not when I've found something even better,” he muttered his confession.

  “Then that is it. You do not have the heightened senses that everyone else has because you haven't been drinking it. And that explains why you are not skin and bones.”

  “You are telling me that drinking another human's blood has enhanced your senses to
near animalistic?”

  “Yes, I guess I am,” she replied, ruffling the back of her hair.

  “That's crazy,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Call it what you wish, but in this world, is it truly out of the realm of possibility?”

  ****

  A short and stocky man held tightly onto his briefcase as he followed Natalie. His dark brown hair was sparsely combed over his head and held on for dear life as the wind threatened to whisk what little he had away. The cheap cologne oozed from his underarms when he held out his doughy hand to her, his companion at his side. A woman, no older than twenty five, walked beside him with her hands stiffly at her side. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun, with only small wisps of hair hanging loosely at her nape and beads of sweat looming there. She cautiously watched the woman who was leading them to the house, her white skin a ghostly pale contrast to her own brown skin. She wondered how someone could be so pale and tiny. Her thoughts distracted her, for she didn't see they had stopped in front of a large house until she had tripped up the steps. When she gathered her bearings from her fall and looked up, she got her first glance at the woman they were meeting. Her first thought was that she had great skin. Really, she did. And didn't look as old as she was supposed to be. She had heard the woman, Mar Cohen, was this forty something year old millionaire hermit who built a colony closed off to the rest of the world. From there, other stories poured in, like the practice of dark magic and even worse things, but she seemed almost harmless and certainly not much older than thirty five. Mar held her hand out to the young woman, a bright smile on her face. The woman took it and apologized profusely than introduced herself after Mar prompted her.

  “My na-name is JoAnn Tanner,” the woman stammered. “I'm a school teacher sent by the New Hampshire Department of Education.”

  “Of course you are. And a beautiful name for such a beautiful young woman.”

  Natalie chuckled under her breath at Mar's charm. If there was one thing she knew about her friend, it was that she was quite charming when she wanted to be. JoAnn was a blushing and bumbling mess on the inside, thankful the color couldn't reach the surface of her skin. Her partner on the other hand, eyed Mar suspiciously and didn't offer any introduction when she turned to him.