In the distance was a strip of gold along the horizon, but it did little to warm the pervasive blue haze of an overcast evening. Layla crawled out of her dugout shelter, a mild tingle of the last licks of daylight on her skin. It reminded her of the pain that the sun had brought her before, but she fought the urge to flee back into shelter. She had a long trek ahead of her. And she wasn't the only one.
A small herd of caribou dotted the riverbank, digging through the snow to get at the lichen covered rocks and logs. Many of them were lean, their ribs visible in sharp relief. She heard the rumours that winter had persisted there over the span of two or three years. It amazed her that anything was still alive, and yet these were they who could adapt, although it was clear they were struggling all the same. It was also time for her to resume her own struggle.
Layla followed the river until she reached the harbour. An impressive steamship was docked, and unlike every settlement she had seen before, this port city did not have a segment closed in by walls. It took careful navigation of deserted streets until she was able to hone in on the scent of blood. Plumes of smoke rose high up into the air. Rows of warehouses shone their lights and a nearby factory was groaning and sputtering as its various machines were being brought to life for another day of work.
This industrial port was a welcome change from the huddled and closed communities of frontier living which Alaska had been reduced to. Dawn would come soon, and she knew she would have to find shelter sooner rather than later. As she searched out a safe place to escape the encroaching daylight, she heard voices that she could not ignore. Not when the word 'vampire' reached her. She stepped into the shadows and observed.
"If word gets out, it could hurt sales," a woman said in a firm, mid-range voice that made her age difficult to determine by sound alone.
"Down in th' Bleak, they're gettin' big. Most of 'em have what he calls The Stench. It ain't gonna stay secret much longer," another voice, a high soapy voice which conjured the image of an older, but soft featured slip of a man. So, vampires are preying on each other here? It's more desperate than I thought. Layla moved closer to try and get a look at the two conversants.
"If our business partners knew there was a vampire here, I'm sure we'd have angry mobs knocking on our doors. Probably blame them for the plague," the woman griped, occasionally breaking up her words with a grunt. As Layla neared, she saw that they were loading crates onto a pallet and tying them down.
"When Laurie gets here wi'ther lift, we ought'er be good to go. Too bad we ain't got cranes," the man said. His voice was reedy, but his body was not. It did not match his bulk. He was all braun in his arms, but all paunch in his gut, with spindly legs that barely held him up. The woman, whose head was shaved and face covered in a spiralling tribal tattoo, had a triangular figure with broad arms and narrow hips. She wiped her brow with the back of her bare arms, wearing thick work gloves too filthy to touch her brown face with.
"Those crazies down at Bella Bella sure pay well for these deliveries. They may be some of our best fur and lumber suppliers but..." the woman rambled. To Layla's disappointment, the conversation turned away from mention of a vampire to strictly business. Although learning the local trade information could prove valuable, she had a tight schedule. After a moment of deliberation, she stepped into the dim light just outside the warehouse.
At first her presence wasn't noticed. But when the grizzled man saw her, he did a double take and groped around until he found a plank of wood, holding it out. The woman glanced in the direction he was staring and seized a crowbar, poised to strike but holding her ground.
"Where is this vampire you speak of?" Layla studied their chagrined faces as they shifted to panic.
"What? You must'a heard wrong!" the man exclaimed, slinging the board across his shoulder. The woman kept her crowbar pointed towards Layla threateningly.
"I did not. Tell me about the vampire."
The man and woman looked at each other, then over to the eavesdropper.
"Lady, you'd better just move along," the woman warned, narrowing her slanted eyes menacingly.
Layla did not have time to waste convincing the mortals. She dug her feet into the ground, ensuring traction before launching herself at the woman. There was barely time for the worker to swing her crowbar before it was wrenched free. With fluid motion, Layla slipped behind the bewildered woman and held the crowbar across her throat. The man with the board raised it, but then hesitated. The woman began struggling, but Layla used her free hand to grab one of her arms and twist it back.
In a calm voice incongruous with the threat of violence her actions portrayed, Layla urged, "Tell me about the vampire."
"Let her go! We don't know much, just that a vampire's calling the shots!" A clatter resounded as the chunk of wood fell to the ground, and his arms reached to the sky.
"Hm." Layla twisted the woman's arm tighter and pulled her closer. She lowered the crowbar so it was pressed just below her victim's clavicle, holding her firm as she brought her head over one shoulder. She opened her mouth and her hinged-back fangs flipped forward moments before they dug into the woman's neck.
The man began swearing, his hands going to his head as his eyes bulged. "Another vampire?" No further convincing was needed; the man turned and ran down the narrow alley between warehouses as the woman in Layla's arms cussed and struggled. Merely a few drams was all she took before licking the wound, but did not stimulate the healing gland under her tongue. As the woman tried again to pull away, Layla released her, letting her stumble clumsily away, tripping over her own momentum. The vampiress watched as the woman ran off into the fading darkness. That should draw him out.
There was a prickling sensation as Layla's hair stood on the back of her neck. The sun would rise soon. She broke into the windowless warehouse and found a nook to hole up in for the day, entering into a light sleep.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
"I am sure. If it makes me worse, then at least I tried something," Lily said as bravely as she could, although she was shaking. Linda placed a hand on her shoulder, the two sisters exchanging a look.
"And if that happens, I'm prepared," remarked Cyrus a bit too cheerfully as he rested an axe on his shoulder.
"Alright, Cyrus, apply the tourniquet while I prep the rest," Rena instructed.
Lily leaned back on a gurney, staring at the dim ceiling of the storage area they had repurposed. Linda kept close by her, and she felt her rough hand remain on her shoulder, steadying her. She didn't want to see the preparations and looked away, although she could see Cyrus in the corner of her eye. She glanced at him briefly, but he made no eye contact as he cinched a ratchet strap around her upper arm. The pressure was uncomfortable. Even painful. She wanted to say something, tell him to loosen it, but didn't want to appear weak.
"I still think you are crazy to try and do this yourself," Cyrus tapped Lily's arm then tugged on the strap. She bit her lip. "Why not just feed her your blood?"
"She's not a sanguivore, it won't do her much good," Rena responded as she rubbed a smelly, wet cloth on the inside of Lily's elbow. Her eyes watered.
Cyrus fiddled with the other tourniquet. "Come on, stop applying science all the time! Just let the mysterious, magical, weirdness do what it does best: defy all explanation!"
"Just because you never tried to understand what a vampire is and how they work doesn't mean there isn't a logic to it," Rena said crisply as she picked up a needle, inspecting it closely. Lily quickly looked away, turning to her sister. Although she was holding her, Linda's eyes were watching every move that Cyrus made. He must have noticed, for he snorted and walked a few paces away.
"The White Plague, I am guessing, was wrought by science. So it needs to be solved by it." Rena listened to Lily's heartbeat, isolating it from all the others in the room. She focused on her personal rhythm, the flow of her blood. Her fingers pressed and explored Lily's antecubital fossa until she found the closest vein. She closed her eyes again, focusing on it. "Little poke..." Rena said quietly to Lily, who just nodded but kept looking away. She winced as it went in, and Rena secured the IV as best she could with a string in lieu of medical tape.
"And no one knows where it started?" Cyrus asked as he responded to a beckoning gesture from Rena, cueing him to put the tourniquet on her. "I'm sure I asked before but I think I may have forgotten already." She felt the restriction along her arm, and tested the tightness herself, earning a pout from Cyrus.
"There's lots of rumours, but the facts were never verified." Rena's tongue peeked out the side of her mouth as she focused on inserting the needle in her own vein. There it was, that initial resistance at the vein wall. Then - pop - she was in. "The CDC were working to track down patient Zero, and two possibilities were somewhere in Washington State, Montana, or Alberta." Rena watched as the blood pushed its way through the tube to the mechanical pump. "But as I said, it's not any known pathogen. It's something else."
"Because it's mystical!" Cyrus's mouth tugged to the side, delighted despite his argument being shaky at best.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Lily sighed. "What if there's a cure, but we just don't know?"
"Wun find it sitting 'round here. But the world's too big to just go lookin' for it." Linda followed her little sister's charge into a conversation that was well beyond their mental acumen.
Rena frowned, reaching over to tip the cradle that kept the blood well mixed before sending it to Lily. "If it is mystical, then what? We just handwave, burn some herbs, and heal the world?"
"Well you can't pass under mistletoe. Science THAT!" Cyrus spat back, swinging his axe in a playful arc. The silence that followed was telling.
Lily finally broke it by asking, "What happens if a vampire eats mistletoe?"
Rena and Cyrus both stared at Lily, unblinking. She raised her knees somewhat and turned away, her cheeks blushing. Linda squeezed her hand and gave both of them a hard stare, willing them to answer.
"No idea, and don't want to find out," Cyrus finally answered, offering up a unilateral shrug. Lily looked back over at him, the redness draining from her cheeks.
"So... it's not a bad idea? I mean, to see if it can cure the White Plague?" Lily asked.
"It can't be that simple," Rena uttered as she checked on the manual pump.
"Well... why not?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, Rena, why not?" Cyrus rejoined.
"Because someone would have already tried it," Rena scoffed. It was inconceivable that this simple girl from the boonies could stumble upon a cure. "And before you get any ideas, Lily, mistletoe is poisonous, and you are still mortal."
"I mean it'd be a simple thing to try. It can't be any riskier than these transfusions." Cyrus made circular gestures with his hand as he spoke.
"Well we can't test it right now because if she did improve, then we wouldn't know if it was the mistletoe or the transfusion," Rena explained as patiently as she could, although she doubted it would do much good. Learning was anathema to Cyrus, and the Day sisters simply didn't have access to the same knowledge. It wasn't their fault, of course.
"Guess we just need another infected to test it on. So. Can I bite Linda?"
All three of the women in the room, in varying volumes, exclaimed an emphatic "NO!" Cyrus pouted a moment before chuckling. He then caught Linda's eye, licking his lips, causing her to scoff and sneer.
"In all seriousness, before Layla stabbed me in the back..."
"Actually, she stabbed you in the chest. I stabbed you in the back," Rena pointed out. Cyrus paused, fixing Rena with a stare until she softened her interjection with a half smile. With the sisters present, she didn't want anything to get too heated.
"Rightly so." Cyrus set down his axe and crossed his arms. "Before Layla stabbed me through the heart - which you missed by the way, might want to work on that - she was seeking out the cornerstones, believing they could solve the whole problem with the Plague and the Bleak."
"Cornerstones?"
"Shh, sweetie, the adults are talking," Cyrus said, flicking a hand in her direction.
"We are adults!" Linda snapped.
Lily winced, and Rena looked over alarmed, then realised Linda had squeezed her shoulder too tightly. She'd let the discussion abscond with her attention, leaving Lily's vitals unattended. "Cyrus, leave it off." Rena took a deep breath, recentering herself on the younger Day sister's vitals.
Straightening up, Cyrus obliged the girls with exposition surprisingly devoid of his usual glibness. "The Cornerstones of Genesis is a vampiric myth about five unique vampires with hidden talents, but when brought together, can perform a miracle. What that miracle is, well, depends on who you ask."
"Like what?"
He shrugged. "Some say it will open the path to a vampire utopia, others say it will grant a wish, while some believe it will create vampires who can walk in the sun."
"Just what we need..." Linda muttered, letting go of Lily's shoulder. The younger sister rolled it with relief, while trying to keep her other arm as still as possible.
"Layla has always been fascinated by them." Cyrus stroked his scruffy chin. "Anyway, Rena, she believes in these 'fairy tales'..." his hands came up, signalling with air quotes, "...and yet you respect her."
"Don't you believe in them?" Lily asked, shifting on the bed. She cringed and then looked at her IV site.
"You okay?" Rena asked quietly. Lily nodded, then turned her attention back to Cyrus. Rena, however, only paid half attention to his response as she continued to monitor her subject.
"Eh, I'm not devoted to the idea." Cyrus shrugged. "I just think the mystical is as worthy of investigation as the scientific, since we're dealing with forces beyond mortal understanding."
Rena balled her hand into a fist then relaxed it, then indicated for Lily to do the same. "You are free to try and find them and save the world, but I have my obligations here."
Lily looked between the two vampires. "Why dun we go lookin' for them cornerstones? All of us? If we can stop the Bleak and the plague, then that's kinda saving Fisham, now, ain't it?" she asked, tilting her head.
"No, no you don't!" Linda butted in. "It's bad enough we're here in Fisham with its mud huts, but wanderin' in the cold, sleepin' in tents, not knowin' what we're gunna eat... madness!"
"Besides, the two of you would slow us down," Cyrus said.
"No, Cyrus, you bein' a vampire 'n all slows you down," Lily responded, her lower lip turned out. Rena lifted an eyebrow, seeing Lily speak back to him. She tried not to smile, but she now had just the slightest increase in respect for the young woman.
Cyrus scoffed. "Maybe in the summer."
"Summer isn't that far away."
"Geez, how long was I in that crate? Wait, if it snows year round, how can you even tell?"
"Because of the amount of snowfall." Seeing the bewildered looks she got, Rena sighed and explained, "It's too cold the rest of the year for precipitation."
"Too cold to snow? I'm hating this place more and more."
"Regardless, I can't afford to wander aimlessly in hopes of stumbling across some mystical solution. Not when there are possibly more swarms of the infected coming this way," Rena asserted. Her attention shifted to tubes running between them. "I think that's enough for now."
Rena worked on disengaging the transfusion pump. She removed the IV from Lily as delicately as she could. Lily winced as she applied pressure to the small puncture. "Well I don't feel any different... so at least it didn't make things worse."
"Maybe Lily should spend the night with Rena and I, just in case." Cyrus suggested. Linda's eyes bulged and Rena's eyes narrowed. "What a cruel joke it would be if in our eagerness to fix her, we just sped up the process. She might eat her sister if we don't watch her carefully."
Rena glared hard at Cyrus. He smiled easily back at her, tilting his head and lifting his eyebrows. With a sigh, she retreated her gaze. "That might be for the better..." Rena admitted reluctantly.
"What? No!" Linda protested.
"I know you're protective of Lily, but consider yourself, Linda, please." Rena crossed her arms, holding a bandage to the inside of her elbow as she did so, and fixed Linda with a stern yet well-meaning expression. Linda's mouth worked, but no sounds came forth. Her eyes darted around not really looking at anyone.
"And you needn't worry about my corrupting influence, because Rena will be there to keep me in line," Cyrus added merrily. "Though really, what more can I possibly do to Lily that I haven't already done?"
Cyrus got glares from everyone in the room, although Lily's quickly softened to a pout as she looked away. "I don't think it'd hurt for you to try and be nice to people."
"Actually, I think it might," he responded, giving a shrug. Cyrus turned to where a blood pack had been set aside and tossed it to Rena. As she was still holding the bandages to her arm, she didn't even bother catching it, letting it hit her shoulder and fall into her lap. "Better top up before you get too weak."
"Why do any of you put up with him?" Linda was clearly, and justifiably, exasperated.
Rena arched an eyebrow, giving Cyrus a stony gaze. "He has his uses."
"He did save my life," Lily reminded. Linda exhaled loudly, shaking her head at the insufficient qualifications laid before her, fixing Cyrus with a look as if, were he small and squashable, she'd have no qualms of stomping him under her heel.
"Don't let that misguide you into believing he has an unlimited claim on you, Lily. I once did, and it did not end well for me," Rena cautioned. Lily tilted her head, looking between Rena and Cyrus.
"What is the story with you two, anyway?" Lily asked.
"A long one." Rena glared at Cyrus, then looked away. Too long for her to even think about at present.
"Not that long! I can sum it up in four sentences. Rena saved my life." Cyrus lifted one solitary digit. "I claimed her basement as my new territory." A second finger erected. "Then she got entangled in my problems, which I had to keep saving her from." Now there were three fingers unfurled. "Unfortunately, I was betrayed and Rena got shot, so my spawn turned her into a vampire to save her." There was the fourth. Rena sighed at this summation, about to speak but she was cut off. "I guess this is a fifth sentence, but once she got used to being a vampire, we went our separate ways," Cyrus held up his hand and wiggled his five fingers. "Hey, Rena, look what I can do!"
Rena looked back at him, her lips thin and pulled aside contemptuously. "You left out the constant threats, sexual harassment, and isolating me from everyone I cared about," she said bitterly, lifting her hand from the injection site and checking it. Satisfied, she reached into a small box beside the bed and pulled out some circular, adhesive bandages, hoping they were still sticky after all these years.
"Eh, details, details." Cyrus waved his hand, dismissive of the allegations laid at his feet. "Anyway, Lily is looking a bit... peaky."
All eyes were on Lily. Although she'd been slowly becoming more pale since the infection, she appeared a bit flushed. Her deep brown eyes rolled to the side, as darkened eyelids drooped over them. "I am feeling too warm... and a bit nauseated..."
"That's not uncommon." Rena focused on her intently. "There's a bucket over there if you need it - but as soon as you feel able, let's get you back to the Relay. I'll keep watch over you."
Trivia: I, the author, am blood type O+. While there are four main blood group types that people know about, there are other forms of blood typing important in matching blood for transfusions. Also, some people have extremely rare blood types that are not A, B, AB, or O. This is sometimes referred to as Bombay Blood Group.
What's your Blood type (we won't worry about Rh)
