Blood Rite Saga, Season One Box Set
Page 12
“Burn the devil!”
“Burn the witch!”
“He’ll doom us all! Magic will kill us!”
People were shrieking and yelling. They were surrounding Prudence, and she suddenly found her heart racing up. Her head hurt, her throat was closed with panic. She tried to shut her ears, but the sounds just became louder.
“Child killer! Blood drinker, cattle slaughterer!”
A low thumping slowly swam up, pushing the voices away.
Prudence opened her eyes and found herself in her bed in the apartment in New York, drenched in sweat, with Milo pounding on the wall. The noise immediately made her close her mouth. She realized she had been screaming.
“Are you okay?” He yelled from his room. Prudence could taste the panic in his voice.
“I’m awake.” Prudence got up and went to Milo’s room. She was worried that he got up from his bed. But when she entered she saw he was still in his room, and he was using a cane Charlotte packed for when he could move around more, to thump on the wall.
“Oh, good it worked. Good thing this apartment is soundproofed.”
Prudence rubbed her head. It was still hurting. “I need to go drink my blood.”
“Okay.”
Prudence went to the kitchen and drank her blood. She didn’t want to think about the nightmare, but it was all that she could think about. She was wondering why she had already had that dream twice. Maybe it’s all that happened these days, she thought. Maybe if I go out today and get some fresh air, I’ll be better. I can even find something to do.
Prudence decided that after she took a shower and helped Milo get up and settle, she should go out.
Her shower took only a few minutes, so then she could help Milo clean himself with a wet washcloth. She was apparently so careful with his wound it made Milo laugh.
“Why do you think I’m too careful?” Prudence frowned.
“You’re far more careful than Charlotte was when I broke my arm when I was a teenager.” Milo moved into his wheelchair and breathed deeply.
“Well, I want you to get better as fast as possible. And to do that, I need to take care of you as much as possible.” Prudence smirked. “And plus, I can smell if the blood is bad or good, and can smell if the wound is infected or not.”
Milo scrunched up his face. “I smell this thing all the time, and I’m grossed out by that. I couldn’t imagine what it smells like for you.”
Prudence chuckled. “It’s not that bad.” She didn’t consider that a lie. He did smell like a hospital, and she could smell the blood in the wound right under that. But it wasn’t even nearly the worst thing she had smelt. Her dream came into her mind. That smell was definitely worse than anything Milo had to use for his wound. Prudence was done with the wound soon and helped Milo come out of the bathroom.
“Thanks for taking care of me,” Milo said.
“I don’t mind, I want to help you. I like you.”
Milo swallowed. Prudence heard his heartbeat grow faster. “You like me, in what way?”
Prudence opened her mouth to say that she liked him the same way as she did Charlotte, but then realized she would be lying. She looked down at the floor. This would take too long to mull over. “I haven’t really thought about what way I see you in, but I do know I care about you.”
“Would you mind telling me if you figure it out?” Milo touched her chin making her raise her head.
“When I do, I’ll tell you. Now let’s get you dressed and have breakfast.”
As Prudence helped Milo get dressed she realized how often people needed to use their abdomen muscles. Milo couldn’t even lift himself up because that involved him clenching his abdomen. Prudence had never paid more attention to what muscles she was using for her movements. It had also been a welcome distraction for her. She had to make breakfast. Milo helped, mostly just picking things up and handing them to her, or turning on stuff. They made toast and baked potatoes. Prudence didn’t mind the breakfast. It cleaned the taste of blood from her mouth, and the oranges she squeezed refreshed her. Her enhanced strength was good for something.
“What are you doing today?” Milo asked after he finished his breakfast. He didn’t eat a lot. Prudence assumed it was because of the wound. She made sure to leave food on the counter so he could eat if he needed to.
“I thought I’d go out and look around. This town is very big.”
“Well, this is New York. There are about eight million people here.” Milo finished his orange juice.
Prudence almost choked. She couldn’t even imagine that many people in one place. “I wonder how there is room for them here.” She looked at Milo. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna see how Charlotte is doing. Then I’m going to do my work. Then I’ll just take a nap. Yes, I live an exciting life.” Milo smirked.
“Living an exciting life got you to here.” Prudence got up. She gingerly wrapped her arms around Milo. “Do you want me to move you to somewhere?”
“The bed, thank you.” Milo scratched his head. Prudence scooped him up with ease and laid him down.
She didn’t know if people would think it odd that she was wearing a large hat and a long sleeved dress, but she was not risking someone recognize her. She took the map with her and folded it in a way that she could see Chinatown without looking like a visitor. Charlotte had warned her from that.
She said hi to Mrs. Chen and Mr. Chen, who was a rather tall skinny man with a bald head. The customers didn’t pay her any mind, aside from a man Prudence’s age who smiled at her. Prudence ignored him and walked out in the busy street.
Prudence had to focus. The noise and the smells were almost overwhelming. The smell of gasoline and other smoke, and most overwhelming thing was the people. Prudence felt like she was right in the middle of her nightmare again, though she was certain that the people here were a bit cleaner.
As Prudence walked down the street, she noticed one odd thing. She could see a symbol painted on various walls. It was a crude drawing of what looked like a hatchet buried in an egg. It was on almost all of the walls. Sometimes the symbol was old and worn, but a few times the symbol was brand new. Prudence could even smell the paint. But that wasn’t what really made Prudence curious. What did was how people acted around the symbol. People went out of their way to avoid the walls with the symbols, even crossing the street. That usually happened around the older, more worn symbols. If people walked down the street and found themselves walking in front of a newly painted symbol that they didn’t know was there, they would stop in their tracks. Some almost ran away, some backtracked and walked around, and a few, mostly younger kids, stood there dumbfounded for almost a minute before running in a random direction.
Prudence was still thinking about what that could mean while she scanned around for the items on her list. The first thing she wanted to find was a butcher’s shop. She needed to know where she could buy blood from.
The butcher seemed confused by her request. He looked her up and down. Prudence looked down towards herself. She didn’t see anything odd about herself.
“Why do you want it?” The butcher narrowed his eyes.
“For food," Prudence remembered that Charlotte told her it would be a reasonable thing to say. While Prudence was in Maine, it was easy for Charlotte to go and get blood from the local slaughterhouse. But now Prudence needed to find a way to get it herself.
“Sorry, I don’t sell it.” The butcher put his hands in his pockets. Prudence had a feeling he was lying. She wondered if she could check. This place reeked of blood and flesh, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to check. She tried anyway. Taking a deep breath, she could focus and find that he didn’t have a large amount of blood in the store. She frowned. Then she remembered that meat had a lot of blood in it.
“Do you have lamb legs in that case?” Prudence tried to look like she was perusing the offered things. Just look like a customer. That is what you are anyway, she thought to herself.
Walking down the market, she realized there was an easy way to buy blood. She could get live chickens or turkey. After going into several stores, she even found one that sold blood. The store was so out of the way, it took Prudence three hours to find it even at her fast pace. The man selling it assumed that Prudence wanted the blood for tofu, and Prudence had to fake her way through a conversation about recipes.
By that time the lamb leg had warmed up, and Prudence could smell the blood running through it. Because of the lack of circulation, the blood just sat in the leg unless the leg was squeezed. Prudence couldn’t wait to go home and dig into it.
She made a few mental notes about stores she wanted to visit. Some of these were bookstores where she felt she could find information. She also needed to find a job. But Prudence didn’t want to think about it. She considered it the hardest thing she needed to do.
Prudence didn’t know if this was her, or her vampire side, but it was easy for her to navigate the confusing world and remember where she was. She liked to think it was her own thing and not just a byproduct of the part of her she disliked.
Prudence came back to the apartment, sneaking by the customers and her landlords in order to climb up and put everything in the fridge. As soon as she opened the door, she heard Milo yell.
“Who is it?”
Prudence hurried to speak. “It’s me, Milo. I just got back from my walk.” That seemed so natural, saying that to him. She wondered if she could do it all the time.
“Oh, get in here then, Charlotte is on the screen," Milo yelled out of the room.
“Let me just put these away.” Prudence stored her blood and then took off her hat. She walked in Milo’s room and found him sitting with the laptop in his lap.
“Here she is," Milo spoke to the laptop.
“Hey, come here and let me see ya.” The laptop chirped. Prudence could recognize the slightly distorted voice of Charlotte. Prudence hurried to the bed and sat next to Milo. The only reason she didn’t run to the bed was her fear of hurting Milo. When she sat down, she saw Charlotte on the screen.
Charlotte was sitting on a desk. Her hand was still hanging around her neck. Prudence could see an oddly messy room behind her. There was an unmade bed behind her, covered in clothes too big for Charlotte. Prudence assumed they were Philip’s.
“How are ya over there?” Charlotte seemed strangely soft to Prudence.
“We’re fine, we haven’t had any problems. The landlords are nice. And I finally found where to buy blood now.” Prudence decided to not talk about her strange observation. When she knew more about it, she would talk to Charlotte about it. She was sure Milo could reach her again.
“How is it over there? Are you safe?” Milo asked. Prudence almost shuddered at how worried he sounded.
“Everything is fine. John and Philip are taking good care of me. Aiming at bushes and everything.” Charlotte chuckled. “Rick even yelled at me for going to work and sent me home.”
“Well, of course, he would,” Milo rolled his eyes.
“You’re supposed to be resting.” Prudence insisted.
“If I need to rest, so do you.” Milo continued.
“Jeesh, stop tag teaming me.” Charlotte laughed. “You don’t compare my broken arm to you getting your abdomen ripped open you jerk.” Charlotte pointed at Milo and looked at Charlotte. “Is he resting?”
“I am making sure of that. He can't get away from me.” Prudence felt proud of that. She was not going to let Milo down.
“Okay, so tell me about your day now.” Charlotte scratched her broken hand under her cast. “I have nothing to do today. Rick sent me home. Philip is ‘working from home,' or code for babysitting me.”
Prudence curled up next to Milo and listened to him explain about his work. Her head wound up resting on his shoulder, and he placed one of his hands over her stomach. She didn’t understand half of the things that he said, but his voice made her calm, so calm that she felt like she was going to fall asleep. He talked about translations, and the books he was looking for. Then Charlotte started talking about the drunk driver they had found that day, and whose autopsy she wanted to perform soon. The only other person that could perform the autopsy was a few towns away. This felt nice and calm, and right.
Next, it was Prudence’s turn. She talked about the conversation she had with Mrs. Chen and the stuff she made up, and then she continued on to all the places and things she saw while walking. “I think I want to know more about this culture.” She finished. By this time Milo had left for the bathroom, with Prudence’s help. Milo made her promise that she would tell him everything that he missed.
“No seriously, doing that might even jog something," Charlotte spoke up. “Maybe you’ll even be able to remember your mom?”
Prudence had never thought she might be able to remember her mom. That lead to her wondering if her nightmare was connected to her parents. She didn’t know which one was the vampire either. So one of her parents might look as old as she does. That just made her head hurt.
“So, I need to find a library?” Prudence asked.
“That or a bookstore. You can always also search on the Internet.” Charlotte shrugged. Prudence could see someone behind Charlotte. It was Philip. He walked into the frame without his shirt and was about to hug Charlotte from behind when he noticed Prudence on the screen.
“Oh, you’re talking to someone.” He said.
“Oh, hi honey.” Charlotte looked behind her, then turned back to the screen. Prudence saw the most mischievous smile she thought possible. “If ya excuse me, I need to do something else now.”
“Did you finish talking?” Philip asked, confused before Charlotte fully turned the chair and yanked his head down. Prudence raised his eyebrows and then started blushing when she saw Philip and Charlotte really sink into it. Prudence slammed the laptop shut when Philip started searching for the zipper on the back of Charlotte’s dress.
Prudence sat and stared at the floor. Would she ever have that? Humans seemed to all have intense relationships. Everyone she knew either had someone, like Charlotte, searched for someone like John, or already had a love of their life die like Rick. Her mind drifted back to Milo, and she found herself thinking if he had ever had a love. Imagining Milo in that situation actually gave her an emotion she had never felt before now. She was struggling with why she couldn’t imagine him with someone without feeling sick.
And then Milo came back from the bathroom, so she stopped thinking about it.
“Did she leave?” Milo pointed at the closed laptop.
“Philip came and they…” Prudence gestured with her hand as if to say etcetera.
“Ah, they did the horny teenagers act.” Milo shook his head and slowly trudged to the couch. Prudence shot up, putting the laptop on the couch and helped him sit. Before she caught herself, she was asking a question.
“Have you ever been in love like that?”
Milo froze in his spot, then laughed. He seemed really uncomfortable.
“Sorry if that’s too personal.” Prudence hurried to say.
“No, it’s not, it’s just funny that you asked it. To answer, I haven’t had a girlfriend that I have felt like that, but I do think I am in love with someone.” He scratched his head.
“Oh.” Prudence felt like someone punched her in the neck. She choked. He had someone that he loved and would leave. “Who?” She at least could make sure that whoever it was would be good enough.
Now Milo shifted in his seat. He looked like he both wanted to tell her and like telling her would be the worst thing that could happen. “Well, remember what I asked you?”
Prudence thought back. “Yes, and?”
“You’re going to have me say it aren’t y
ou? I’m not as blunt as Charlotte is you know.” He smiled, but apparently, Prudence seemed confused enough for him to realize she wasn’t kidding. “It’s you, but I didn’t want to say anything because you have enough on your plate and you were feeling bad about yourself. I’m not asking you anything, it’s my problem.”
Prudence didn’t know how to respond so she just nodded and got up to fix lunch. She was not in a place where she could respond to this. It was easy to boil something. She didn’t want to wait for the lamb leg to drain, so she just sunk her teeth into it and sucked out the blood. Biting into flesh made her cringe, but her hunger was somewhat sated since she wasn’t injured in any way now. Her brain reminded her that since she survived so many centuries in a mausoleum, that it was logical that she would still live for a long time. Years and centuries of living with the guilt of her decisions. Prudence shook her head, wanting to stop thinking about it.
As soon as she put the bowl she was holding away, indescribable pain overwhelmed her. The dull pain spread from her brain and radiated down. Prudence crumpled on the ground. She couldn’t even scream, her vocal cords had stiffened.
She was back in the crowd again. The boy was tied to the pole. He was struggling against the ropes. One of the guards backhanded him. The boy now had a trickle of blood running down his lip, but the pain didn’t stop the boy from struggling and spitting at the guard that struck him. The other guards tried to start the fire. As the fire roared and licked the boy’s feet, the boy looked directly at Prudence. His eyes were filled with anger until the pain caused by the fire drowned it out.
Prudence could hear the crackling of the fire. It was the only sound besides the screaming. The smell of the people was gone, and all Prudence could smell was the peeling flesh, the boiling blood. She fell to the ground, digging her nails in the dirt. Her claws were extended. Her body was shaking with pain. Suddenly all the world came back, and she could hear the crowd rallying around her. Stones started flying in her direction. Then a hand wrapped around her hand, and she was yanked away. She didn’t see who had done it but whoever it was, was strong enough to lift her body off the ground and away from the gathering crowd. Her eyes never strayed from the boy on the pole even as she was being carried away.