Darkness of day, p.20
Darkness of Day, page 20
The smell of boiled greens and baked fish drifted into the room. Jelani remembered it as a smell that would have had him dressed and nearly breaking his neck to get to the kitchen. Now it was simply a smell that was neither enticing nor repulsive. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked around. Alisha had bought several types of curtains, all thick—and unfashionable, she’d complained—and capable of blocking out the sun completely.
When he thought about it, he might have been smart to take extra precaution and sleep under the bed, or in the closet, or even the bathroom. If for any reason Alisha had had second thoughts about him, she needed only to tear down the curtains and it would be over. Not that he thought she would do such a thing to him, but anything could happen. Maybe Remy would show up and do one of those mind things to her and force her to do it. The nails could fall out of the walls. Anything.
He took a deep breath and stood, making his way to the bathroom. His toothbrush and shaver and other items of personal hygiene were still where they were when last he’d used them. “Thanks, baby,” he said under his breath.
He grabbed the toothbrush and squeezed some toothpaste onto it, then leaned over the sink. Just as he was about to put the brush to his teeth, he stopped. He opened his mouth and clamped his teeth shut, inspecting them. Not a speck of yellow anywhere. Not even a tiny hint of discoloration.
Do I even need to brush my teeth anymore? He turned his head from side to side, marveling at how perfectly clean and white they were. They were even straighter.
Jelani shook his head. What else had changed? With a shrug, he went about brushing his teeth anyway. I’m not taking a chance on walking around with stank breath; white teeth or not.
He was rinsing his mouth out when a soft knock came from the door to the bedroom. “Jelani?” he heard Alisha say.
“In the bathroom. I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Okay, babe. I’ve got food ready when you’re done.”
The thought of food made Jelani forget about his initial reaction. He finished rinsing his mouth and went for the door. The aroma was twice as strong in the living room, which was only separated from the kitchen by a half wall with a counter top. Alisha had set two plates at the counter and was waiting for him.
“Hey, sleepyhead. I thought you’d be hungry, so I made your favorite. Baked tilapia and greens.”
Jelani kissed her and sat down. He was indeed hungry, almost ravenous. But when he picked up his fork, he hesitated.
“What is it?” Alisha said, noticing his reaction. “Something not look right?”
“No,” Jelani said, blinking. “No, everything’s fine.”
“Then, what’s wrong? You’ve got to be hungry. You slept all day …” she trailed off, as if realizing what she’d just said and what it meant.
Jelani stared at all that good food on the plate in front of him, not desiring to take a single bite. He looked over at Alisha, thinking to apologize, and saw her flinch away from him.
“What—” then his stomach clenched and he nearly doubled over. He put a hand on the counter to keep him from falling off of his stool. His hand slipped and knocked the plate off the counter. The dish hit the tiled kitchen floor and shattered.
Alisha hopped backwards as bits of ceramic mixed with fish and vegetables scattered about the floor. Jelani hardly noticed the crash, but when he looked up again, Alisha had backed away from him.
“What’s wrong?” he gasped. Another cramp. His body was starting to get hot from the inside out, and his blood was like gasoline and someone had lit a match.
“Your eyes,” she breathed. He saw her fear and it crushed him.
With shaking hands, he steadied himself on the counter and stood. Every time he moved, Alisha seemed to move a little farther away from him. He grabbed his knife and looked at a sliver of his reflection. His pupils were huge, with a tiny purple dot in the center of each eye.
His blood was turning to lava and he was becoming thirsty, so thirsty. An intense hunger and an insatiable thirst blended into one. It was more than he could stand.
Jelani clenched his eyes shut, fighting the urge. He knew what he needed. He had to have it. There was no choice. He needed blood or … or what? Would he die?
He looked up at Alisha and she flinched away again. His body moved toward her while his mind screamed to get out of the room. He took another step, and his fingers curled. Alisha moved back, and he paced her. His mind was a deafening roar in his head to get away from her, but something primal had taken over. If she turned to run, he would be on her in an instant. He closed his eyes and shook his head, but still took another step forward.
“Jelani,” Alisha said. “Jelani, it’s me. It’s Alisha. You know me. It’s Alisha, your girl.”
He stumbled at the effort of fighting off the thirst, while the sound of her voice, calm and soothing, helped him to fight back to himself.
“Jelani, hold it together. I know you can—”
He was there in an instant, hand clamped around her throat, face inches in front of hers. He slid his thumb under her jaw and turned her head to the side. Ah, there it was. That beautiful, delicate neck, and that artery streaming all that sweet warm blood. A whimper came from her throat, but it sounded far away.
He turned her head a little father, and his fangs began to extend. A bit of moisture wet his hand and he looked at her face, her eyes, where tears were falling down her face. His grip loosened and she gasped for breath.
When she looked up at him, her eyes were so genuine, so loving, so fearful. “I love you, Jelani. I love you, baby.”
He let her go and backed away. The burning pain of the fire in his veins was temporarily cast aside by horror and self-loathing.
“What … what did I just do? What did I almost do?” He looked at the thumb shaped bruise forming on her neck, a bruise he caused. “What …”
“Baby,” Alisha said. “Just, hold on to yourself.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Alisha,” he said. “I’ve got to get out of here. I’m … I …” He was up and out of the living room, through the bedroom and to the window. He opened it and looked over his shoulder into the empty room. “I love you, too,” he said into the darkness, and climbed out.
“How long?” Kafeel asked.
“How long?”
“No games, Saaya.”
The dampeal looked up at her brother and gave him a sour look. “You’ve gotten to be less fun over the years.”
“I’ve gotten to be less patient over the years.”
“If you would open your mind—”
“Not where humans are concerned.”
“Oh, Kafeel. Have you ever had any fun in your long life?”
“Yes. But limited to situations excluding humans.”
“Less fun.”
“Less problems.”
“Kafeel—”
He looked down at her. “Less problems for me and for them. When you get bored, you step into the human world and change lives.”
“Lives always change. It is an inexorable part of creation.”
“Do not think to lecture me on creation, little girl. The years you have lived are but a flicker in time.”
“Oh? A flicker, dear brother? A flicker in time, you say? And you are how old? Oh yes. Less than five hundred years old. Actually,” she tapped her index finger to her lips, “you are less than four hundred years old, are you not? Is your life but a flicker to one of the Ancestors who have walked this earth for thousands?”
“How long?”
Saaya went quiet. Whenever Kafeel’s tone dropped and went soft, he was at the end of his patience. “I cannot say, exactly. This may be a more permanent thing.”
“Do you not think you’ve played with that human long enough?”
“Human no longer.”
“Little better.”
“He is different, Kafeel.” Saaya craned her neck and looked up into her brother’s dark eyes. “I know you feel it too. There is something different about him.”
Kafeel returned his attention to the city that sprawled below. “So you’ve been telling yourself.”
“You know I’m speaking the truth.”
“Whether or not you speak the truth is irrelevant, because I don’t care.”
“Oh, Kafeel,” was all Saaya said in response. She knew it was time to back off. He may not be ready to admit it, but Jelani had piqued his interest at least a bit, otherwise he would not have agreed to watch over him and his friends, no matter how disgusted he might act about it.
They gazed out at the bright city lights, Saaya wrapped in her own thoughts, and Kafeel, no doubt, wrapped in his.
“Maybe forever,” she finally said. When Kafeel didn’t react, she continued. “You want to know how long? I have a blood link with Jelani now, and I am quite fond of him. You may have to get used to his presence, big brother.”
“A toy to play with until he is broken.”
Saaya winked at him, though he was not looking. “Is that a little humor I hear in your tone? Let me say this. I don’t think he is one that will break so easily.”
“This is true.”
That was unexpected. “Why the sudden agreement?”
“He fought the Eldest Hunter.”
“Ah.” Saaya remembered. She had been too preoccupied to sense that Kafeel had been nearby to witness the confrontation.
“Anyone who could earn the respect of that one, deserves it.”
Saaya raised an eyebrow. “Do I hear a bit of admiration for the Eldest Hunter?”
“He has the heart of a warrior and is a worthy adversary.”
“That is why you did not kill him when first you two met?” Saaya said.
“His death was your opportunity first, was it not?” Kafeel replied.
“That is part of it, yes. It would have been a shame for our world to lose such a warrior.”
“Would you have killed him to save your human?”
“That is a good …” Saaya trailed off. She looked over her shoulder toward Coal Harbour. “Oh, Jelani,” she said. “My poor, poor reckless fledgling.” The thirst was upon him and he was still with that girl. He had to be. She could sense his inner turmoil.
“I think I should go get my ‘toy’,” she said to Kafeel.
“Then go.”
She went.
Over fifty feet Jelani dropped. His feet barely touched the sidewalk and he was running. Running as far away from Alisha as he could. As far away from any human as he could. That’s all it seemed like he’d been doing for so long, now. Running from vampires, running from the night, running from day. Now he was running from himself and what he had become.
He saw a jogger coming in his direction and he veered to the left and ran across a patch of lawn and leaped across a pond. The fifteen foot jump felt like nothing, but the gasps from behind reminded him that he was not and never would be human again. He ran faster, making his way to the trees. Maybe if he found solitude he could dig in somewhere and wait out this horrible, primal hunger eating his insides.
Jelani forced himself not to look at any humans he passed. If he did, he would attack someone. This pain had to be similar to a kind of withdrawal. Some were worse than others. A caffeine withdrawal caused headaches. He imagined a drug or alcohol withdrawal caused pain that made one feel like they were dying. Maybe this was something like that. It had to be. He definitely couldn’t go around biting and drinking people’s blood.
Another jogger turned onto the path directly in front of him. She was fit and toned and completely oblivious to Jelani, who was bearing down on her fast. Get the hell outta here! He fought the urge, tried to turn away, but then he heard the blood pumping in her veins, her increased heart rate as it pumped precious, delicious blood through her body. He could practically smell it. Rich, sweet, filled with oxygen. Athletic humans always had the best blood.
How the fuck do I know that? It was the last rational thought he had. Everything around him blurred as he increased his pace. He ran straight behind the woman and grabbed her around the waist, clamping a hand over her mouth. He continued straight toward Stanley Park and flew into the woods, darting off the path and into the trees.
Rain started to fall, and soon he and his captive were soaked through. She tried to struggle, but his grip was like iron. To Jelani, she may as well have been an infant.
A tiny voice entered his mind, warning him to take control of himself but he ignored it. Once they were far enough in the woods that he was sure no one would see, he stopped. The woman was frantic, her screams muffled behind his hand.
He held her so that her back was to him and forced her head sideways to reveal her neck. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth. His fangs extended to their full length. The woman squirmed and thrashed but it made no difference. Her struggles only sweetened and oxygenated her blood even more, and the added adrenaline only made the taste more unique. His mind screamed along with his victim but his body and the primal urge that had taken him ignored them both.
The tiny voice in the corner of his mind became more forceful, more powerful, but he still ignored it. His pain and hunger would be over soon. He brought his head down and the tips of his fangs pierced her neck. Jelani tasted a tiny bit of sweet rich blood, the he stopped. His entire body trembled as he warred with himself. I … won’t … do … this!
But the thirst. The thirst! It was undeniable. Indomitable. He would kill this girl or he would die. Better to die.
No. Something inside of him, whatever it was, would not be denied life because of the screams of a fragile human woman. There were plenty in the world to replace her. How long would she live, anyway? Sixty years? Seventy?
No, Jelani. That voice. It was stronger now. More insistent. Wait.
Wait? Wait for what? He could barely stand the pain. His body was burning up from the inside out.
And then she was there. Saaya. A feeling of calm and comfort fell over him. “Hold, jaan.” She walked up to them and waved her hand over the girl’s face. The woman’s body went slack, and her eyes closed. “Lay her down, my love.”
Jelani complied, laying the woman gently onto the damp ground. “I can’t, Saaya,” he said, leaning his head back to stare at the treetops and the rain falling through the canopy to spatter on his face. “I can’t endure it. I thought I was strong enough—”
“Silly boy,” she said, taking his hand. “You have already pierced her skin, but you do not have to kill her.”
“But—”
“Sip, fledgling.” She guided Jelani to the woman’s neck and he lifted her, cradling her head in his hand, while he supported her back with the other. “You can sip from her without killing her. You have already tasted her blood. If you do not continue, you will drive yourself mad and rip her apart.” She indicated the woman’s neck with an open hand. “Sip.”
He lowered his head to her neck and placed the tips of his fangs over the two red pinpricks in her neck.
“Slowly,” Saaya said. “Gently.”
He inserted his fangs a little deeper and began to carefully sip the blood from the artery in her neck. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he drank the blood of this innocent woman who had been out for a night jog. The irony was not lost on him.
The woman’s body jerked.
“Careful,” Saaya instructed.
Despite Jelani’s desire for more, the dampeal indicated that he should stop. He complied, gently extracting his fangs.
“I will not force you one way or another, jaan,” Saaya said, “but you have reached a deciding point.”
Jelani knew what she was about to say but he listened, needing to hear the words.
“You must decide whether to completely satisfy your thirst and drain her, killing her, or leave her alive while you remain unsatisfied.”
Jelani looked down at the helpless woman, still unconscious. He looked back to Saaya, and the beautiful dampeal read his intent in his eyes.
“Very well.” She nodded toward the woman. “Carefully, insert your fangs again.” When Jelani recoiled, she spoke up, impatient. “Do as I say.” There was no joking in her voice. No tittering or flirtation, no playful barbs. It was the first time Jelani had heard her speak in such a tone. He did as she said.
“Focus your mind on numbing the pain she will feel. Focus on her body healing from the intrusion.”
Jelani swallowed his self-loathing and focused on numbing the pain that the unconscious woman would no doubt feel once she awakened. He then focused on her neck healing. Several minutes passed, and finally Saaya spoke again.
“Good. Now carefully release her.”
He did. For a few minutes he sat back, staring down at the woman. Then he noticed that the puncture marks on her neck were closing until the two circles from where he’d bitten her were reduced to tiny dots. A minute later, they had completely healed over, and there was not even a scar.
“Amazing,” he breathed, leaning over and running a finger over her neck.
“Mhm,” Saaya replied, leaning against a nearby redwood. “She will wake soon. Let her do so alone.”
“Not alone,” Jelani said. Saaya arched an eyebrow at him. In response, he stood and looked above his head at the numerous branches interconnecting each other like spiderwebs. With a single leap, he was crouching on a limb large enough to support himself. A second later, Saaya ascended and moved beside him.
“Be a gentleman and share your perch,” she purred, slinking up close to him. Jelani fought his body’s lack of discipline as she slid up against him. When finally she settled, her body was tightly pressed against his.
She glanced over her shoulder and down, then back up. That eyebrow arched again. “Thank you for the compliment, love.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Jelani whispered. It was all he trusted his voice to do.
She smiled and turned her attention to the woman stirring thirty feet beneath them. She moaned, slowly coming awake, and lifting herself onto her elbows. She held a hand to her head but didn’t move. Minutes passed until she finally reoriented herself and climbed to her feet. She rubbed a hand over her neck, frowning.
