The Bloodflow

The moon was high in the sky, its silver glow flowed through the cracks in the walls and illuminated the castle. Our silence was cut through by distant howling, and the whistle of a chilly air.

“You want me to drink your blood?” I asked, still dumbfounded. Aiyana nodded casually.

“…don’t be stupid.” The idea was ludicrous, enough so it felt like mockery. I threw the book back on the desk limply as I got back to my feet but she cut me off at the door. “There’s nothing stupid about it!” She responded angrily, with a pout that reminded me how childish she was.

“The only other options are drinking human blood or dying, neither are good enough. You can survive this way!”

I leant in close and she sort of twitched awkwardly and she blushed ever so slightly. “Yeah? And how does that leave you? You survive off 2 pints of blood a day, if the person was still alive they’d end up dead. Now I know you aren’t exactly human but what makes you think you’d survive something like that, better yet, survive it daily?” She looked uncharacteristically annoyed. Even when I’d treated her badly before she didn’t look that irritated.

“What other choice do you have? We haven’t gotten anywhere with the research and you’re looking paler everyday. Aster, if you don’t do this you’ll die.” She was urging me. But I was wrought with anger, and yet I couldn’t really understand why. I just needed to go outside for now.

“How about you leave worrying about my health to me?”

Aiyana trailed after me through the doorway, “Aster!”

*-*-*

She stopped following me after a while and I cooled my head in the courtyard. “What the hell was that?” I thought. Maybe I didn’t have any other options left, but would it kill her to think about where it’d leave her?

“When did I start caring so much?”

No, I didn’t. In fact were she to die I’d have no chance, I needed her to keep her strength. Ruining that was just plain stupid, how could she not see that?

All just to suit me.

“I don’t need your charity.”

That was it. I was annoyed because it felt like pity, pity from the one that made me this way.

Maybe. I don’t know. Or was her solution just like mine was for Myra?

Myra… gramps. What were they up to, what were they thinking about? I wanted to see them, more than anything in this world. But what would they think of me? Would they think of me as a monster as I had to Aiyana? I wanted to have confidence, but I couldn’t. And if I refused Aiyana’s idea I wouldn’t have the chance to find out, I’d die before I ever saw them again.

A question burned itself into my mind. “What is most important? Family, or morals?”

The answer, I had known for a long time.

*-*-*

She heard the thunder of my boots against the tiles, crashing down, conveying my anger. I believe she readied herself for the verbal assault headed for her but I had other ideas. I had to think about what was most important to me, and that much was becoming clearer.

I glared at her, unmoving. “I was just about getting used to the idea of dying, imagining my sister telling her grandkids their great uncle died protecting his family.”

“But when my parents left to fight what they thought were monsters, my father told me that I needed to protect my family, no matter what… and it’d be a pretty big ball of dirt to throw on their legacy if I didn’t keep my word.”

She didn’t need to say anything, the subdued smile said everything.

“This world isn’t fair, both you and I know that, we’ve lived it. I thought that drinking blood, human or otherwise would make me a monster. If that means I can eventually find a cure for us, I’ll live as that monster!”

“A cure?” She responded, “I think you might be getting ahead of yourself, Aster.”

“Maybe…” I agreed. “But, like I said, this world is unfair. We both lost family, I’ve spent that 10 years struggling alongside what’s left of mine only to be pulled away from them. And you, your 10 years have been lonely and filled with fear. Our lives are only what we make of them, and I’m really not willing to live and die on this frozen rock, nor am I willing to wait for someone to show up and make that choice for us. I’m making myself human again and going home… and I’m bringing you with me. To finally live.”

*-*-*

There’s nothing more awkward than making some massive speech about changing one’s future, and then being forced to sit around waiting. My room was deemed a suitable location for our new ritual, and I was sat on my bed fidgeting while Aiyana mentally prepared herself.

Coming from a very religious town, boys and girls were like aliens to each other. If they could see me now. Had she not suddenly made a move and sat beside me I might’ve burst a blood vessel. All jokes aside, it was a tense moment.

After all, if it failed, if I sank my teeth into her neck and my body rejected it then I would be doomed to die. But it was what would become of us should her blood suffice, that I feared more. Could she endure it?

Aiyana wasn’t a human, but she wasn’t immortal either. Losing that much blood everyday, we had no clue if she could survive even the first attempt!

And what about me? How much would it change me?

No matter how much I hated it, no matter how much I wanted to run away from it, she was right. This was the only way. I didn’t risk everything coming up this mountain so I could cure Myra, just to give in and die, never to see her again. “There are people that will not give up on me, so I won’t give up either.”

Thus, her soft and slim neck drew me close. My lips pressed against her skin, I could hear her heartbeat. Tentatively my teeth pressed into her, until I took the plunge.

Expecting a similar experience as the rabbit incident. Instead, it was far from it. I had finally experienced my first feed.

The pact was signed, writ in blood. The two of us had become a duo, relying on each other.

She shook a little at first, either due to embarrassment or pain I wasn’t sure, but she relaxed soon enough, holding me close in an embrace. Me? I was remembering everyday I spent with Myra, one day we’d be cured and I would see them again.

*-*-*

For the next few months, we lived that way. Researching the cure, reading the books in Zaharia’s library, and coming together when it was time for the feed.

The frost had cleared by then, gifting life to the mountain. Instead of bone chilling winds, we were greeted by sparrows, forest rabbits and boar. Life repeated its cycle.

Those months were peaceful, we forgot about that night of fear and despair. He however, did not forget.

The Headhunter reached the end of Ajax’ Forest at the border of Alden and Regalia.

Within the week, he would be before us. We were about to experience problems a lot closer to home sooner though.

Aiyana had been keeping secrets.