Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water

“You know what? I say this is a whole load of shit. I’m outta here.” Fallen then got up and bolted, but I was faster then him. I stood in the doorway with my arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.

“Fuck this,” I heard him mutter, then he spun on his heel and raced toward the hall, and—through that—the kitchen.

I guess in his desperation to get out, he accidentally accessed some of his “vampire” speed and stuff. He ended up smashing into the fridge, which was a very bad idea on his part, seeing as there were cans and packets of blood in there, in case of an emergency "vampire" thing.

The stuff came spilling out of the fridge, pouring over the tiles, the occasional chunk of raw meat making it look positively disgusting.

I could hear Fallen swallow dryly, heart pounding slowly, decidedly. His breathing came in heavy gasps as he tried to keep himself from doing what he most certainly didn’t want to do. In human terms. He had slammed down on his butt after crashing into the fridge, and his pant legs were drenched in blood.

And, after ten seconds, the smell overwhelmed him. As a purebred, he didn’t need to get addicted. The taste for blood was part of him, just as strong as his human instincts, if not stronger.

Like a starved animal, he lunged forward and started licking the blood right off the tiles. I was standing right in the doorway, so he was about five feet away from me. I could resist the smell of human blood. It was simple for me. I was almost immune to it, but I did wish I could join Fallen. However, it would ruin the moment for him, and seeing as he was drinking it for the first time, he would probably growl, pounce and claw at me if I came too close.

My eyes widened. This could not be happening. I could see the changes happening to him. I don’t know how I could tell, but I knew his skin was now tougher. If he were emo, he’d have some trouble cutting himself now. His muscles looked a bit more defined. I wished I could see his face, see how else he was changing.

“He’s not a normal ‘vampire’,” Jeremy whispered right in my ear. “He’ll have special powers, sort of like me, except he’ll need blood to use them.”

I nodded. “And why don’t I have anything like that?”

Jeremy stayed silent. I turned to look at him, but he had disappeared.

And so I watched my half brother slurp up human blood from my kitchen floor. The wonder of it all…

I stayed in that doorway for maybe ten minutes. Then Fallen’s bloodlust faded, and I heard him start to breathe heavily again.

“What…” I heard him whisper. “This can’t…I didn’t…” He turned his face and looked at me. It was splattered with blood. Other than that I didn’t see a difference.

His fingers started gripping the little spaces between the tiles. “No…” He looked away from me. “No…”

I frowned. He was probably in denial, thinking, “Oh no, I just completely proved to myself that I’m a ‘vampire’ but there’s no possible way this could be because this is so a dream”. Cliché.

“Fallen—”

“Don’t talk to me!” His voice was hoarse and rough. He pulled in his arms and legs and curled up on himself. It made my heart twing in a sad way. I’m feeling sad a lot today. I wanted to comfort the guy for some reason. I guess it was my over-powerful human emotions that were ridiculously strong. “Go away!”

“I can’t,” I said back, and walked to him. His clothes were hopelessly saturated in blood. We’d need to dispose of them, and soon. “Fallen, I know you don’t really believe it, but I am your brother.”

“Half brother,” he protested weakly, turning his face away from me as I crouched down next to him. Only the soles of my shoes would have blood on them, and I could wash it off.

“Yes, true… But, really, being a ‘vampire’ isn’t as bad as you probably think it is. You’ve been one your whole life, and you never knew it.”

“I had my suspicions,” he confessed, his voice barely audible, head still turned away from me. “I could smell…people. I thought it was normal, but once I asked my mom what kind of perfume she was wearing, and she said she wasn’t wearing any.” He sniffled a little, and I frowned.

“Dude, are you crying?” I asked in wonder—and slight admiration. I’d never cried, except maybe when I was a baby. I couldn’t remember back then. Jeremy had told me my whole history, basically.

“No,” Fallen denied weakly, then sniffed again. “Okay, I am.”

“I wish I could…”

He turned and frowned at me. “What?”

I shrugged. “I’ve never cried. At least, as far as I can remember.”

Fallen just shook his head and sank back into his little scrunched up position. “You really need a life.”

I smiled a little with one side of my mouth, looking down at the tiles. “I’ve got one, but I think I’m the only one that understands it.”

“Really? Try n’ explain.”

I frowned. “Um…” I thought for a minute. “I don’t need…social…things. Talking with humans is definitely not part of my life—”

“Except for Sam.” He sounded hard and angry.

“Except for Samantha,” I agreed gently. “But that was needed. I didn’t have a choice but to.”

“Why can’t you and Jeremy explain why you need her?”

“’Cause you’d run way screaming. Now—”

“Just… Can I ask a couple questions? They’ll be yes or no and won’t reveal what you plan to do with her.”

I thought for a second. “’Kay. Shoot.”

He nodded. “Will she die?”

I shook my head. “Nope. At least, she shouldn’t. If she does it won’t be part of the plan.”

Fallen nodded. “Okay… Will she be…raped?”

“Ew, no!” I exclaimed, nose wrinkled. “That’s disgusting!” Well, she was “meant for” the King, but it won’t count as raping if they “do it”. I hope. I really really hope.

Fallen nodded again. “I’m good. Keep explaining your life.”

“Where did I end up?”

“Nothing social. Especially with humans.”

“Ah. Yes. I love music. It’s almost everything to me. I work at a music store so… And my collection of CD’s is abnormally huge. I got a second iPod to hold all my songs.”

Fallen let out a short laugh. “Okay then.”

“Jeremy is a very large part of my life. I almost adopted him—basically—and now neither of us could really live without the other. I keep him in line, he keeps me in line. And him being partially blind is motivation for keeping the house clean.” I gestured to the barely cluttered room we were in.

“Yeah…” Fallen said. “At my house the living room would have mountains of papers and pictures and shit.”

“Why pictures?”

“My mom is basically my manager and Sam’s. We’re models.” He turned a bit pink, probably a bit embarrassed a bit since he’s a boy.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. I think being a model is pretty cool.”

He turned to look at me. “Really? Like, seriously?”

I nodded and Fallen sat up in front of me. He didn’t seem to care that his ass was in a pool of blood. And my legs were starting to hurt from this crouch position. If I was human, I would probably be numb or something by now.

He looked straight into my eyes. “Ever had a girlfriend?”

“No…” I murmured into my fingers as I bit the knuckle on my index finger. Then I yanked it out. I didn’t want that to become a nervous habit.

He laughed. “I’ve had four.”

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s a lot.”

He laughed again, harder. “One of my friends has had twenty-nine.”

My shoulders drooped, as did my jaws and my whole head in general. “Twenty…nine.”

He nodded. “And he ‘did it’ for the first time at age eleven.”

I wrinkled my nose. I guess I did that whenever sex was brought up. “I don’t think that’s smart.”

“No, it’s not,” he agreed. “You a virgin?”

Oh gosh. Was he gay? Did he want to, like, be gay with me or something? I’m straight! Wait, he’s my half brother. Probably just wants to know more about me.

As he was reading my thoughts, he said, “I’m straight. I just want to know.”

I looked at him suspiciously.

“First off, we’re brothers. Second, I’m a virgin.”

I bit my finger like last time, yanked it out again and substituted it with my bottom lip. “Um, I’m a virgin. And are you psychic or something?”

“Nope,” he said readily, looking at me almost haughtily. “I’m just a very gifted ‘vampire’.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You noticed?”

He nodded. “It’s sort of weird. I know exactly who is walking down the street, Sam’s exact position in the bathroom, that my mom doesn’t know anything’s wrong…but I can’t find Jeremy. Nor you, even though I can see you.”

I frowned slightly. “That’s pretty…cool.”

He nodded, smirking devilishly. “You know, you really aren’t that bad. I think we could get along pretty well.”

I raised an eyebrow, one side of my mouth curling up. “I’m gifted too, y’know. Everyone loves me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He shook his head. “You are the strangest ‘vampire’ I’ve ever met.”

I chuckled a little and stood up to leave.

“Including Jeremy.”

I turned and looked at Fallen who was looking up at me from the blood-soaked floor. “Get off your ass and clean that up.”

He smirked and did as told, slipping and sliding to his feet. I walked out the door, taking my shoes off and leaving them right inside the doorway so that no blood would soak into the carpet of the hallway.

“Oh, and Fallen?”

He looked at me questioningly while picking up this mop that had previously been in the corner of the room and a sponge that had been in the sink.

“You owe me a refrigerator.”