by Jade Farhill
Video cameras were set up all around them. Abby grabbed a tripod, turned the camera screen so it was facing Sharon, then balanced her phone on top of the camera. “Now you can see for yourself if we’re related.”
Sharon studied the photo intensely for a moment. She lowered her gaze to the camera and, when she saw herself in the digital image, her eyes widened. She looked at Abby and frowned. “I thought you were just making things up or bluffing.” Her voice was accusing. She glanced back at the camera and phone. “I’m your … sister …”
Abby suppressed a smile. “Yes, you are. You’re Sharon.”
The vampire’s eye twitched. “I don’t understand the name Sharon the way I understand my relationship to you.”
“So … you want to be called … ‘Sister’?” Abby asked dubiously. Although, thinking about it now, it made sense. It would remind Sharon of their relationship. It could help bring her back.
“I don’t care what you call me. Just don’t call me ‘Sharon’.”
“Okay, I’ll call you ‘Sister’ from now on.” Then Abby saw blood dribble down Sharon’s chin. Abby’s blood, to be exact.
She turned her back on Sharon. All thought of bringing the human out of the vampire behind her was gone. She moved to her desk and resumed making notes in her logbook.
***
Abby devised numerous tests to conduct on her sister. The first one was sunlight—was she really going to burst into flames during the day?
She took a cutting of Sharon’s brown hair after Sharon had complained of having had too much blood, then put the lock in a petri dish. Then she exited the room and went to the elevator.
The moment she stepped into the hall, James spotted her and approached. “What are you doing here?”
All warmth that had been in his voice before he found out about Sharon was now gone. Abby showed him the petri dish. “Follow me.” She led him to a window and put the dish into the sunlight.
The hair exploded into flames, the heat burning Abby’s hand. She dropped the dish and it clattered to the floor.
And all that was left of Sharon’s hair was ash.
She and James exchanged disturbed looks.
Abby sighed. “Now we know there’s more truth to those vampire legends than we thought.”
James’ face went dark. “I see.”
Abby hurriedly cleaned up the ash. “I need to do more tests.” She rushed away from James before he could suggest the vampire hunters again.
***
Abby ended her lease at her apartment and effectively moved into the basement with her sister. She’d sold most of her possessions.
But there was one thing she hadn’t sold—her silver jewellery.
Abby tested everything she could on her sister. Nothing so far had affected her. It was time to put silver to the test.
Sharon had been hungry, then overfed—Abby was deliberately doing this because she didn’t want to be attacked again. Now, as she approached her sister with the silver necklace, Sharon’s lip curled into a sneer. “You’re getting predictable. Release me.”
Abby’s mind went blank, but before she could do anything, she pinched herself. Suddenly, her body was her own again. My theory was correct.
Her sister glared at her. Abby’s stomach churned at what she was about to do. Then she put the silver earring against Sharon’s skin.
The vampire screeched in pain and shrank away.
Abby instantly threw the earring away, her eyes on the acid-like burn on her sister’s arm.
Sharon hissed and lunged for Abby’s neck.
Abby gasped—Sharon was too fast! But as the fangs ripped into Abby’s neck, someone grabbed Abby’s waist and pulled her backwards.
Abby waited for her vision to clear, then stared up into James’ grim eyes. “This is ridiculous,” he said. “She will kill you. And maybe everyone else here. But that’s a maybe for them. For you, it’s an absolute.”
Abby pushed him away, her head spinning. How much blood had Sharon actually taken?
James caught her and steered her to a chair, then patched up her neck. Despite the anger radiating off him, his hands were gentle.
“I still have a few weeks,” Abby whispered.
He took in a slow breath. “To live?”
“No, before you call the hunters.”
James went silent. “You need a shower and fresh clothes.” He stood up and pointed to the door. “I know you use the emergency shower down here. You realise it isn’t for hygiene, it’s for corrosive liquids.”
“I’m aware of the rules around lab safety.” Abby stood slowly.
“Then I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be back later to check on you.” He shut the door behind him.
Abby didn’t look at her sister, even though she was thrashing in her chains. She pushed a button, releasing blood from the IV into Sharon’s arm. Then Abby walked off to change.
***
With her wounds bound, Abby looked at the results of the electrodes and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Wait, your heart was beating?” She looked over at Sharon, who was in a foul mood—admittedly, this was her usual mood since becoming a vampire.
But seeing that her sister wasn’t forthcoming with the answer, Abby turned back to the results. “When?” She’d written the time of the silver experiment in her logbook, and saw now that only seconds after that, Sharon’s heart started beating; then it had stopped for a few minutes, started up again and continued until only a few minutes ago, when Abby had stopped the blood infusion. “Your … heart beats when you drink blood?” She met Sharon’s furious gaze. “I need to do more tests.”
Sharon thrashed against her chains. “Come closer and I’ll bite you again!”
“Listen, sister—”
“I’m not your sister.”
“You bloody well are! Now listen to me. You need to cooperate because if you don’t, then James is going to tell vampire hunters that you’re here and they’ll kill you!”
Sharon snapped her head back and went still. “James would betray us?”
“If I don’t come up with results, yes!”
Sharon wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Then test what you need to—as long as it doesn’t involve silver!” She glared a warning.
Abby put her hands up. “No more silver. I promise.” She stepped forward.
“But you should know,” Sharon muttered, “that I’m only cooperating because of the threat of the hunters.”
Abby quirked an eyebrow. “Well, you would have cooperated if I gave you a few days of space, but I don’t have that time.”
Sharon eyed her. “How do you know?”
“Because I make a deal with you most of the time before I feed you and you usually stick to it.”
“That’s just so you’ll get used to coming closer to me.”
Chills went down Abby’s spine and she met Sharon’s gaze—the gaze of an intelligent predator. Abby looked away and took a sample of Sharon’s skin. “Why tell me that?”
“Because you’re my sister and you’re helping me, so I don’t think I should kill you. But there’s another—stronger—part of me that doesn’t care about that. It only cares about blood—your blood.”
Abby suppressed a shudder and moved quickly away. As she did, she noticed that the silver burn on Sharon’s arm had disappeared. “Did that heal when you got blood?”
A muscle in Sharon’s jaw feathered. “Yes,” she said through her teeth.
Abby’s skin prickled, and she busied herself testing the skin sample. As far as she could tell, Sharon’s body hadn’t started to decay. But Abby needed to know for sure. She needed more data before she could even contemplate starting on the cure.
Which reminded her, what data had the other labs collected before their scientists … all died? She spent a couple of hours looking up the papers they’d published.
They really hadn’t collected much data. Although one of them did mention that the body of the one with ‘porphyria’ began to
decay after three days if it didn’t receive blood.
Abby looked at the skin sample she’d just taken. Maybe, if Sharon showed improvement by the end of the month, James wouldn’t go to the hunters. And maybe, if Abby didn’t overfeed Sharon and reduce her blood intake to once every three days, then if ever Sharon escaped, she’d know how much she needed to take …
It was a possibility at least. She turned and told Sharon her plan.
The vampire looked angrier, if that was even possible. “You want to starve me?”
“No,” Abby replied, “I only want to prove to James that you’re improving.”
Sharon eyed her suspiciously. “And you think I’ll improve by starving me?”
Abby closed her eyes. “Yes.”
Sharon rattled her chains. “Fine! Then do it!” It sounded more like a threat than … begrudging acceptance.
Abby decided to distract herself by studying Sharon’s DNA. She knew it had changed—but why, and how? What changed DNA in nature?
Viruses. “I could just be thinking that because I’m a virologist,” Abby grumbled.
Sharon heaved a sigh in the background. “Yes, I know you’re a scientist—you wear a lab coat, you have glasses, you didn’t want James to mansplain about lab safety.”
Abby peered over her shoulder. “I’m trying to work here.”
“Then work quietly.”
Abby sighed and examined Sharon’s DNA. “They haven’t deteriorated.”
“I said quietly,” Sharon grumbled.
She was more irritating now than when she was alive. “I was just saying that your telomeres haven’t deteriorated.”
Sharon looked blank. Abby explained, “Every time your cells replicate, your telomeres shorten—it’s the aging process.”
“So I don’t age. I am a vampire after all.”
Abby took a moment to control her frustration.
“And do you really think my cells would be replicating?”
“They have!” Abby snapped. “They replicated when you drank that blood!”
Sharon didn’t seem shocked by this news.
Abby huffed. “I’m just saying, this is a scientific explanation for your ‘immortal’ state.”
“Science again,” Sharon groaned. “Can you just be quiet? You’re making me hungry.”
A jolt of fear went through Abby and she went silent.
***
When James returned that night, he flicked his eyes between Abby and Sharon. “Why is she smirking like she’s somehow won?”
Abby turned to see Sharon drop the smirk, replacing it with an innocent look. “Maybe I’m just happy to see you.” Then sent him a chilling grin, showing her fangs, her eyes psychotic.
James leant back.
“Sharon, why are you—” Then it hit her. “You manipulated me into being quiet,” she accused, standing and pointing at Sharon.
Sharon looked smug. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”
Abby threw her hands in the air, grabbed James and stormed out of the room, Sharon cackling behind them.
“What’s going on between you two?” James asked uncertainly.
Abby rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t know. All I know is … I don’t know enough.”
James raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s been obvious from the start.”
A muscle jumped in Abby’s jaw. “You came to see that I’m still alive, and I am. So I’m going—”
“Abby,” he said, putting his hand on her uninjured shoulder, “I got you some food. You need to keep your strength up.” He handed her a Chinese takeaway container.
Abby pulled herself up. “Oh … thanks. I thought … you didn’t like me anymore.”
He averted his eyes. “I don’t like you in the way I once did, but you were injured today, and I saw other … puncture wounds in your neck. And you’re looking pale. I can’t stop you from helping her, but I can at least try to ensure you don’t make yourself sick in the process.”
Abby swallowed. “Thanks,” she whispered. “Can I eat out here with you? I feel awkward eating where she can see me.”
He gave her a slight smile, the first smile in days. “Sure.”
***
Abby became increasingly desperate as James’ deadline approached. She researched everything she could about viruses. Before she’d gone AWOL, she’d been involved in a project on virophages, viruses which destroy viruses—maybe they could help?
On the day of the deadline, Abby withdrew blood from a suspiciously compliant Sharon. When she met her eyes, Sharon said, “What? I’m not allowed to be cooperative?”
“You’re usually complaining by now.” Or deliberately irritating Abby.
“Why would I rage against the one person who’s helping me?”
So … James’ threat was also on Sharon’s mind. Abby quickly investigated what happened to the virus in Sharon’s blood when it came in contact with the virophages.
The results stunned her. She met Sharon’s eyes. “We may not have to worry about the vampire hunters anymore.”
But a thought kept plaguing her—this seemed too easy. Usually searches for a cure took years, and this had barely taken her a month.
“I’m not that brilliant,” she muttered.
“If I’m still alive tonight, then I’ll argue that statement,” Sharon said.
Abby ignored her and kept working.
***
When James showed up that night, face grim, jaw set, Abby smiled at him. “Come in, come in. I need to show you.”
James cautiously approached, eyes suspicious.
Abby showed him the results of her work. “And the virus has been eradicated in all the samples.”
James inspected her logbook and results. “You really think this will work?”
Abby shrugged. “It’s worth a try.”
James paused, thinking. “Okay,” he conceded finally. “We’ll try it. If it doesn’t work, then I’m calling in the hunters.”
Sharon’s eyes flashed.
Abby quickly approached Sharon, preparing to inject her.
“What’s in it, anyway?” James asked.
“Virophages.”
“I … see.” He didn’t sound convinced.
Abby smiled. “It’s like ‘viro-ception—a virus within a virus’.”
Sharon snorted as James nodded. “Oh, I get it now.”
“You shouldn’t get that reference,” Abby grumbled to Sharon.
“I’m smarter than I look. Besides, someone’s been abusing their office room by watching movies for the last few weeks. Inception was one of them.”
Abby frowned, unsure of what question to ask first. “How good is your hearing and who is it and how many movies have they watched?” She may have quit, but that didn’t mean she was happy with someone watching movies on her parents’ company time.
“Firstly, my hearing is amazing! I can even hear heartbeats.” Sharon focused crazy eyes on James. “Yours included.”
“Can we deal with that after?” James asked. Then he leaned over to whisper in Abby’s ear. “Besides, she’s getting a little creepy.”
Abby couldn’t deny that.
“I’m a vampire,” Sharon shot back, “predatory behaviour is expected.”
“Well, that’s about to change,” Abby huffed, and injected Sharon with the needle. Sharon clenched her teeth and groaned in pain. Abby wished she’d had time to test this on her sister first.
James shifted on his feet as Sharon screamed and struggled against her chains, her irises flashing red, then blue, then red again. Each time her eyes turned red, Abby and James stepped back—power radiated off Sharon, and it felt like she would rip them to shreds if she got free.
“Blood rage,” whispered James.
Abby snapped her eyes at him. “What did you say?”
“Nothing,” James said, eyes flicking to Abby then quickly away.
Abby didn’t get time to contemplate that as Sharon went quiet. Abby held her breath for a momen
t. “Shaz?” she asked.
Sharon jerked and her blue eyes snapped open. Her gaze darted around the room in alarm, her breathing coming fast. “Abby?” she whispered.
Abby caught her breath when Sharon’s blue eyes met her own. “Sharon?” Her sister’s eyes were exactly as they had been before she’d been Turned.
Abby stared at her, then leapt at her.
“Abby!” James caught her and pulled her away. “You don’t know that she’s a human! She could kill you! Do you want to get bitten again?”
“What are you talking about? She’s human. Can’t you hear the ECG? Her heart is beating!”
Abby turned back to her. “Smile for us, Shaz. Show us your teeth.”
Sharon awkwardly pulled a fake smile. Her canine teeth were perfectly normal.
Abby gestured to James. “See. She’s human.” She threw her arms around Sharon, who was still tied up in her chains.
James hung back, clearly uncomfortable.
Abby took in a choked breath as she listened to her sister’s heartbeat. “You’re alive,” she whispered.
“It’s hard to breathe like this, Abby.”
Abby quickly let go and stepped back.
“I don’t believe this,” James muttered.
“We had a deal, remember?” Abby replied sharply. “I made progress.”
He shook his head before turning to leave. “But will she still be a human tomorrow?”
His parting words pushed the air out of Abby’s chest.
But he couldn’t be right. Sharon was here and she was human!
Abby took her sister’s hand. “So tell me, what do you remember?”
“Watching vampire romances with you for a week?”
Abby rolled her eyes. “What about … after that?”
“I remember everything.”
“Wait, you remember being a vampire?”
Sharon smiled lopsidedly. “It’s hard to forget something like that.”
“Oh, I see. Can you tell me what you were thinking?”
“I was planning on pretending to be human, then escaping.”
Abby froze.
“But I’m actually a human.” She grinned at Abby, showing her regular human teeth. “You did it, my brilliant little sister. I wouldn’t have been able to cure you if she Turned you instead.”
