by Bre Faucheux
“Do you believe it an illness now? Did I bring this upon everyone?”
He took her by the wrist and propped her upright, kneeling before her. She didn’t let go of him.
“An illness? If so, it is one of proportions that I have never seen. Men don’t behave in this way. Not even in battle have I seen this.”
“Seen what?” she asked. “Our eyes changed. And I felt my mouth, my teeth-.”
He cut her off. “Not that,” he said. He let go of her wrist and backed away from her, drinking the liquid from the jug and then closing it. He stared ahead at the stream. “I have never seen an illness that made men act like beasts. Nor have I heard a priest speak of a possession that did such.” He didn’t continue but only looked away. Madison waited for him to start again, knowing that there was more. “What illness have you ever known that made you want to dig into someone else’s throat with your bare teeth?” he said numbly.
Madison flushed even paler than she already was. She assumed that he had seen the native man she attacked in addition to what she had done to the crewman.
“Do you think it was the natives? Did they make us ill, or did they possess us?” she asked.
“Either way, they clearly wanted us dead.” Jayden was still for a moment continuing to look away before bringing his eyes back to her.
She waited before gaining the nerve to ask what she had been wondering. “Is he alright?” she said tentatively. “Did I hurt him gravely?” she asked, referring to the crewman she bite. She regretted not knowing his name.
“Not as badly as Lyndon did. It was as if everyone turned to beasts, including myself.”
“What do you mean?” she said quickly. “What happened?”
“The same as I imagine happened to you when you saw that native in the woods.”
She had been right. He had seen what she did to him. Or Jamison had told him. She hesitated, remembering the sensation she had before attacking. It was an all-consuming desire wanting release. It was as if she were not within her own body. There was something else needing to get out. She hadn’t even the time to react to the thirst’s desires before she gave into it.
“Lyndon attacked the crewman after you bite him. What illness makes one crave blood, mistress?” he said slyly. Jayden gazed at her, watching her eyes expanding in disbelief. She gripped her dress in her hands, unable to fully comprehend what had happened.
“How are you not ill as well?”
“I was. But I recovered within a few days. I think two nights passed, but I can’t be certain.”
Madison shook her head and grasped her forehead, trying her best not to reveal her inner most emotions before this man. She knew he would be unsympathetic.
“Like every other illness, I suppose,” he said. “It affected everyone differently. If it takes the same course as it has with you and me, the others should recover soon enough.”
She noted just then that the movements within her arms just a moment before had come fluently, and without pain. She could move her arms and legs. Lifting herself up, she was able to stand.
“Did you run for that man?” he said.
“What?”
“The man you killed, the native in furs. Did you run for him?”
She nodded in response. “You found him, did you?” she asked.
He smiled. “And he was running by horse, correct?”
“Yes,” she said quickly, and without thinking. Had he seen how swiftly she had moved? Her face was stern, revealing nothing.
“You caught up to him then,” he said.
“Yes. It felt as though I had left my body.”
He smirked and inched closer to her. His eyes gleamed with delight in a way she hadn’t seen before. This man had never been gleeful or in the least bit pleased unless it was with himself.
“Indeed, I know,” he said looking directly at her again, forcing her eyes to meet his. He wrapped the leather strap of the jug around his shoulder and across the length of his back. He then stepped back away from her. “Care for a confirmation?”
“What?” she asked.
“Well, more of a demonstration,” he responded, once again with a grin upon his face. She saw that he meant something more mischievous than his normal pretentious manner.
With only the sound the air moving about him, he ran away from her. He did so with the same speed and agility she possessed. Shock crossed on her face. She knew that was what he had hoped for. Only a second later, she darted away into the woods behind him. She chased him for the long mile back to the camp. The feeling of creating a wind and the caress of the air about her gave the sensation of flight. She could hardly even feel the ground beneath her. It was as if she were floating above it rather than touching it. The uneven patches and the scattered trees didn’t affect her ability to move through them. Her body knew how to respond to every blocking tree or broken branch on the ground. She moved around them as though they weren’t even there.
She came up behind Jayden and felt herself slow almost instantly. She stood beside him. Their camp had significantly improved since she had gone under.
“Where did you get these things?”
“Where do you think?” he challenged her. He continued to look at her with ultimate gratification in his eyes. She knew he was proud of what he had accomplished.
“You found where the natives settle?”
“That and more,” he said. “There are pathways through the woods, another stream, and a large river with a waterfall. Even bigger creatures than the deer graze in the valleys. There is more to this land than we ever imagined. Perhaps your brother was not so misguided.”
Madison looked at the camp, away from his eyes that seemed to pierce through her. There were skins layered over branches that were buried into the ground forming tents. Furs for blankets over the others who remained ill or asleep, fire rings for warmth, and… bodies. Five bodies of the native men who had been watching them lay motionless on the ground.
“Are those them?” she asked, pointing to the natives in a pile near one of the large fire rings.
“Yes, I will burn those.”
“Burn them?” she nearly screamed. “What have you done?”
“You really have no authority to speak, Madison. They have been sustaining us, all of us. Including you.”
It occurred to her that it was blood he had fed her from the jug by the stream, not water.
“They are why you recovered so quickly,” he continued. “The only reason I did was because they came to see what had become of us. I managed to overtake one of them. We must continue feeding, or we will become weak. Their blood is now our water.”
“You fed me their blood while I slept?”
“Of course I did,” he said. “Would you rather have died?”
She scoffed and nearly continued to speak before he overtook the opportunity.
“I only knew to do it because of what I saw them doing to us. It is their fault this happened to us to begin with, now their blood is their penitence.”
“You keep speaking as though I should know your meaning already,” she said, becoming more agitated as he spoke.
“They laced our waters with their blood, Madison. We have been drinking it since we first arrived. The stream was littered with it.” She looked at him with even greater disbelief. “It is like I told you. We are not ill. We are not possessed. We were poisoned. They did this to us. And I would imagine that they did it in hopes of us destroying one another. They were not expecting us to survive it.”
Madison held her stomach as though her insides were about to fall upon the ground.
“They meant to make us ill so we would consume one another,” he said, his face hardening.
“You can’t possibly know that,” she said.
“Yes, I do. I saw them putting blood into our waters as if it were venom. They were afraid of us, Madison. They are even more fearful now, which is why they were watching. They hoped to watch us decline just as they hoped the fires and waters would consume us a
ll.”
“What do you speak of now? You still think those fires from the grasses appeared from nothing?”
“No, not nothing. From them!” His frustration was growing.
“How can you know these things?”
“You didn’t feel their emotions resonating from them?”
“What madness do you speak of now?” she demanded.
“When you saw them watching us and ran for them in the woods, did you feel their emotions? You did, I know it. That was why you ran for them in anger. You knew they were there to watch us die. You knew they hoped we would all perish. You can feel beyond your own emotions, Madison, as can I. I can sense what they are feeling. I know their intent every time I look upon them.”
She remembered her anger during those moments when they stared at her from the tree line. She had felt rage for them not having helped them. She knew they wanted to watch what was left of them die away.
“If you have not yet experienced it, you soon will.” He said taking her shoulders in his hands. She could see his teeth as he gleamed at her, the few at the sides sharpened as Jamison’s had become, like small daggers. His eagerness for her to understand and grasp what was happening permeated through the air around her. His scent overwhelmed her senses and she felt it. His desire for her to recognize and appreciate what was happening. She knew as well that he was aware of her self-doubt.
Gripping her shoulders tighter, he looked into her eyes. She could see their violet hue.
“I will show you everything, and then you will help show the others,” he said. “You have no idea of what you are capable of, Madison. Our bodies will heal instantly, our speed is insurmountable, and we can sense others around us. That is how I know of what they have done to us. I need not speak their language to know their intent. And neither shall you.”
Before she could respond, he stepped back from her and walked the small remaining distance to their camp. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out. She only felt that soon she would come to value what had happened to her, and that she would relish in it. But then, she realized it was not her own mind speaking to her. The knowledge and emotion of that truth was spilling from another.
Jayden.
8
Madison felt no need to follow him. She only wanted to see Jamison. She quickly ran to camp with the same speed and urgency she had moments ago, searching each leathery tent. Jayden had built flaps for them and each was held by strong branches that had been stripped of all bark. The work was impressively sturdy. And when she found Jamison’s tent, she was glad to see him resting. His breathing was shallow at best, but he wasn’t in further pain, merely weak. He laid one hand upon his chest as if expecting more vicious coughs to come at any time. She went forth and felt atop his forehead. He was feverish.
“How long do you think before he recovers?” she asked Jayden, knowing he was behind her without hearing or looking for him. This new sense of emotions was expanding to knowing her surroundings. Jayden’s emotions radiated from him. He was always a powerful presence, but now he was staggering.
“A day, maybe two. I don’t know for certain,” he said solemnly.
“It makes no sense. You and I recovered faster than he has. He is so much stronger than me.”
“I don’t think size or stamina has anything to do with it. It’s a willingness to give into the thirst. He has only been drinking small sips of the blood I have provided. You and I drank large amounts very quickly.”
“How much did you feed me?” she asked.
“As much as you were willing to take. You only awoke for a few seconds and you were clearly unaware of what was happening. You drank everything I brought you. Jamison hasn’t been so willing.”
She looked back at him, taking a piece of cloth from the bedding Jamison had created for him. She wiped the sweat from his upper lip and forehead, patting him gently as she went down his neck and across his hair line.
“Against his moral principles I suppose, drinking from the living.”
“Then bring it from the dead. Tell him it is of our lost crewmen,” she said with urgency.
Jayden shook his head. “Do not ever drink the blood of a dead body. I promise you, it is revolting. There must still be life in it.”
“Then I can understand his unwillingness,” she responded.
“Can you? You drank from the living quite willingly.”
“But I don’t remember it. I didn’t know what I was doing. Even when I apparently attacked that native man and the crewman, I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. I was-”
“Obeying another power?” he interrupted her.
Jayden’s arms were crossed as he leaned into the log holding the foundation of the newly built tent. His face was almost arrogant now.
“You see now? You gave into it. You obeyed it.”
She stood up, refusing to look at him. “Perhaps he will drink it if I bring it to him. If he knows the next time he wakes that I am well and living, he might be persuaded to drink it,” she said.
“Perhaps,” he said.
“Have others recovered as you and I have?”
“No, just you and myself. They will need more blood. You consumed the entirety of a native man’s blood and then some. Your brother and the two others will need to do the same.”
“I consumed an entire man?”
“Slowly, yes. I fed his blood to you,” he said staring at her.
Madison looked at Jamison. If they had been guided here as Jamison had said, then perhaps he was meant to drink the blood he seemed to resist. She knew she would have to make the decision for him, as he clearly didn’t know what was at stake. He looked as though he were still dying from the illness as he lay before her.
“You really want to stand there and decide whether or not those natives who wanted to watch us all die are worth killing?” said Jayden, his voice growing louder and angrier yet again. “Let me ask you this, dear Madison. Are their lives worth your brother’s? Do you think he would hesitate to make that choice for you?”
“I hope he never has to make such a choice,” she said spitefully.
“No, the choice is in your hands. I am going to their settlement again tonight. I will bring more back here for us to feed on so the other men can grow stronger. And I will continue to offer Jamison his life back.”
“I can’t see how it matters to you.” She walked over to face him. Her malice for what he had done reaped through her aura and penetrated his senses.
“It doesn’t matter to me. I only offer because I know it matters to you. The choice is yours. I will have fresh bodies here by dawn.” With that he lifted the flap behind him and left the tent.
How could anything that mattered to me be any concern of his?
Then she felt it. A crushing sense of disheartenment, and again, it wasn’t her emotions. He knew that this was inhuman. But he also thought it necessary. He knew the natives had led to their downfall, and yet Jayden was not completely at ease with taking their lives. Then it was quickly overtaken by a sense of righteousness. The guilt was completely overshadowed. He felt that they did not deserve to live for what they had done.
She wasn’t certain if she didn’t agree with him.
Jayden’s emotions were fleeting. As soon as they came, they left. He was numb again.
She watched as he went by horse to the woods and slowly disappeared in the distance. Once he was gone, it started again. She wanted more. Her thirst was growing. Slower than before, but it was there. Jayden had left a jug of blood on the ground to the entrance of the tent. She quickly took it in her hands and drank from it. Her insides churned and growled for what was left inside the jug. But she resisted with everything she had.
She knew Jamison needed it more than she did, although it already tasted old.
Madison found it ironic, that after so many years of Jamison having cared for her, she was now charged with his well-being. And in his hour of need, she had decided that her only duty was to make sure that he survived.
He had forced her survival through times they were not meant to challenge or perhaps even live through, yet they both persevered. And it was only due to Jamison’s determination. So she resolved to do the same for him. She would sit with him until he had consumed all he needed to.
As if he had sensed what she was thinking, she saw Jamison’s mouth form into a smile. She hoped that he understood what he would needed to do, and that he would be willing to drink from the jug in her hands once it was brought to her. And above all, she hoped that with all that had befallen them, that he would value his own life above those whom Jayden had been hunting. If the natives were so eager to watch them die, then perhaps it was only right that they would sustain their own outcome.
Jamison didn’t stir until night fell. And when he did, it was with violent force. He jutted awake and sat up far too quickly. His head became disoriented and he fell back to the bedding. She caught his head from beneath to slow his descent and placed him softly on the makeshift pillow.
He looked up at her and whispered her name. “Madison?”
“Yes, I’m here.” She took his hand so he would know it wasn’t a dream. She applied gentle pressure and held his hand without hers.
“You will be alright,” she said.
“You have recovered?”
“Yes, completely,” she replied.
“How?”
“Jayden took care of me. He fed me when I was barely awake. You need to drink more. You must to gain your strength.”
“He has cared for me as well, and the others. But I know not what he is giving us. I don’t recognize it.”
“No matter, it is food. It will restore you,” she said. She was relieved that he wasn’t rejecting the blood from opposition to what Jayden was doing. He was far too weak to know what was going on in the tent, let alone what was happening outside.
“He will return with more by dawn,” she stated.
“Why is he hunting at night? The natives could be nearby,” he said.
Madison knew it was better to lie. She could atone for it later. His well-being was more important that the truth, she decided, regardless of how high he ranked morality above all else.
