Blood Bond

I sat up on the bed of my room and covered my face.

"No, no, no!" I groaned into my hands as the vision of white, annihilating heat replayed on an endless, searing loop.

I screwed up! I killed myself! I failed everyone! My parents, Astrid, everyone at the keep, everyone who raised their fists and looked to me in the arena, how am I supposed to save them now? And Kael? What will he think? Why did I have to say that to him? My last words to him... a confession that I could now never take back.

My hands fell away from my face. My fingers caught on the collar of my patient gown, tugging at the spot where my Soul Seed would be, on the other side.

I saw their faces, all the ones that I'd left behind: Meris's stern frown, Anya's bright smile, Astrid's fierce pride, my father's bellowing laugh, my mother's silent elegance… now all gone.

I saw the grand hallways, the flowery gardens that I had run around in as a child, and the world outside the walls that I had just begun to experience—all of it now, forever out of reach.

A gentle tug pulled on my sleeve. "Big Sister Leo, are you hurt?"

Annie stirred beside me, having fallen asleep against me again. She looked at me, her large eyes bearing an expression I hadn't seen before: worry.

"What do you see, Annie?" I reached over and stroked the head of her worn-down teddy bear.

She hesitated. I didn't hurry her, because I knew.

"You look… dark."

I smiled at the teddy bear's fake bead eyes. "And my roots?"

The way her head drooped told me all that I needed to know.

"Twice doomed…" The words slipped out.

My arms flung out and I grasped her, pulling her in tight. I buried my face against her patches of hair. I couldn't help myself, I needed something to hold on to. Something soft, warm…

Her tiny arms slipped around me and held my shaking body.

We were two sisters. Two, Scary, Doomed, Sisters.

—

There was commotion in the opposite room, and through the clear glass walls nurses could be seen rushing over to a bed.

"Aunty May, she's leaving soon."

I nodded down at Annie as I tied her bow around the last clump of hair. There are only a few more days left where I can do this.

Two figures intruded, walking through the sliding glass door.

"Leonard, has something happened?" Julia called out. Her voice was analytical as always without an ounce of concern.

"Nothing, just a bad dream." The black wrist around my wrist gleamed as I turned it. "What did the data show?"

There could be only one reason that they're here.

"Yes. patient… uhm… Leonard." Professor Herbert cleared his throat as he raised his touch pad. "That spike I mentioned before, another one occurred last night. Except, unlike the previous events, this was a drop."

"It was a very bad dream." I said dryly as I patted Annie's shoulder. "Ready to go to breakfast?"

Professor Herbert looked over to Julia in confusion, and she nodded for him to continue. "It wasn't a sharp drop, but the deviation is significant. So out of an abundance of caution, We're deferring administration of the new, more aggressive cytotoxic cocktail until we can establish a stable baseline."

Not a sharp drop? I died on the other side and it was just a little blip?! I wanted to scream that at them, but instead I just numbly got up and helped Annie off the bed.

"Wait, there's something else," Julia said just as I was about to head out, but then Nurse Pratchett rushed in.

His frantic eyes found mine. "Leo, can you please come with me? Susan May asked for you."

—

The folds around Aunty May's face were even deeper when I looked down at her. She had more tubes in her this time, and her head barely lifted off the pillow when her wrinkled eyes lifted and trembled toward me.

"Hey kid, thanks for humoring an old lady one last time," she wheezed.

I nodded and patted her hand. "You're young, remember? Only forty five."

She coughed out a dry laugh. "That's ancient to you, I'm sure. But the book… is yours."

A bony index finger shook in the air as it pointed out the old, yellowed book sitting on the desk.

"You remember the end?"

I closed my eyes, trying to forget the words. Not now, I can't think about this now.

"He watched her die. Then, walked back in the rain."

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Her fingers grabbed mine. "You know, I'd been there and watched so many go. And walked in the rain too many times, til there's no one left."

She turned slowly to me, her sunken gaze held me. "I want to be selfish, Leo, can you watch, and be the one in the rain for me?"

I didn't want to. I definitely don't. Not after what had happened, but I could only nod back at her.

—

Nurse Pratchett pulled me out of Aunty May's room after she had fallen asleep. Julia and Professor Herbert were waiting for me outside.

"Susan May." Julia tapped on the glass wall of Aunty May's room. "She's what we wanted to talk to you about. Her organs are failing, and she doesn't have long left."

"Yes, Annie said as much." My hand, which had just held hers, clenched into a fist at my side. "I don't understand why you would want to talk to me about her, though."

Professor Herbert's hands were fidgeting as he quickly jumped in. "You see, Patient May presents a wonderful opportunity. A once in a lifetime thing. Given the extraordinary nature of your blood, there's a chance it possesses not just resistive, but also restorative properties. While not all our tests have supported this hypothesis, we did have one success…"

Julia waved him into silence. "Leonard, we believe a blood transfusion from you might save her. It's a long shot, but it's one we have to take."

"Wait, no, she doesn't want that! She just wants to go out in peace!"

"She signed up for this facility. We don't have the luxury of 'want.' There are others that need saving. Your blood can help so many." Then she narrowed her eyes at me, reminding me. "Plus, that blood is already paid for."

"But you don't know if it will work! What if it…" I looked from Julia to Professor Herbert, and from their eyes, I could tell their minds were already made up. Nurse Pratchett looked away, refusing to meet my gaze.

"She's already dying, Leonard. And look at me." Julia pulled me toward her as her gaze drilled into me. "Your eyes tell me that you think there's a chance as well."

I thought of Kael, and how I had healed him. I thought of Stonehand and how I managed to hold myself back. There was a chance. But there were also the mercenaries and the elves.

"Sentiments don't matter." Julia pushed a finger against my chest. "We owe it to everyone battling this disease to at least try."

—

"What, more of their awful chemical stuff?" Aunty May wheezed from her bed.

I reached down for her hand again. "It's alright. This one won't be as bad. And I will be here to watch."

I was sitting by her bed. On the table was a vial of my blood that had been freshly drawn. A nurse popped it into a machine with tubes leading over to Aunty May.

"Are you sure you wish to be present while this is administered?" Professor Herbert asked. There was an edge of concern in his voice that made my ears prick up.

"Yes, I promised. Why? Do you think there might be a problem?"

I searched the eyes behind his lenses and thoughts of those pinpricks of light flickering on and off came back to me. What happened to the mice who didn't make it? Professor Herbert, had he seen something?

"I think Leonard should be here," Julia stated from beside me. "I believe he could have an influence on the result."

"There's no way that's possible!" Professor Herbert blustered, then he waved his hand dismissively. "But fine. We'll try it. Alright, clear the room, everyone! We will begin in five minutes!"

In the end, after the nurses made their final checks and the door hissed shut, I was left alone with Aunty May in the quiet room.

A crisp, disembodied voice crackled to life from a hidden speaker in the ceiling. It was Professor Herbert.

"Patient May vitals are stable. We are green for procedure initiation."

I took Aunty May's thin, cool hand in mine. Her fingers felt as fragile as dried leaves.

"Commencing transfusion protocol in T-minus five seconds," Herbert's voice announced.

My grip tightened just a fraction.

"Four…"

Her half lidded eyes turned to me and I did my best to smile warmly down at her.

"Three…"

Please let this work. Please don't let me hurt her. I just need to hold back.

"Two…"

"One."

As his final word echoed in the silent room, I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

I'm here.

I focused on the dark red liquid flowing up the tube that connected the machine to her, and I was one with my blood cells entering her. The first thing I noticed was the essence flowing within her. Even though she was dying, it felt so bright, brighter than any of the blood essence I had felt in Aetheria. It was so bright that it felt… Wrong.

I willed my blood to find the cancer within. Lung cancer, Julia had told me. I just need to move my blood toward the lungs. But it wouldn't budge. The light was too bright, too entrancing, too enticing. One of my cells engulfed one of hers, and then another, and the feeding became voracious.

"No! Stop! Stop!" I screamed out.

But my blood wouldn't stop. It kept feeding and spreading inside of her. I could taste the sweetness in my mouth as the essence flowed back into me.

I yanked the tube off of her, but my blood was already raging like an out-of-control conflagration inside of her. I couldn't stop it, much less pull it back. My blood seeped everywhere, into the flesh, into the marrow, and consumed her organs.

Aunty May's eyes shot wide open in pain, and she gripped my hand with the vice-like grip of death. A ghastly, inhuman groan escaped her gaping mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I wailed as her features began to shrivel up.

She tried to speak but her lips shrunk back, revealing her chattering teeth. Her cheeks caved in, and then her eyeballs dried into dots.

Metal walls slammed down over the glass ones, cutting off all sight from the outside. But I was screaming uncontrollably now as I tried to jerk away from the bed. I came free, but her skeletal hand remained locked in my grasp, torn away from her arm.

Her bones are in my hands! I've torn a part of her off! Non-words, guttural shouts tore at my throat like razors and shook the room around me.

Then I slammed up against the metal, and all that was left was the sound of my sobs.

—

A light shone into my eyes. It was annoyingly close, and yet also distant, as if I was separated from it by an invisible film.

"Leonard, respond. Come on," a voice reached me. It too was close but also separated by that film. Some distant, recessed part of my mind recognized the voice as Julia's.

"No use, he's fully catatonic."

Another hesitant female voice called out. "Excuse me… Associate Vale, I've just noticed his psych graphs, but patient Vega was under extreme psychological stress even before this. Ever since last night."

Something slammed against the metal wall, causing it to rattle. "Why. Wasn't I. Informed of this!"

"Now, Julia." There was a blur of motion, and male voice came closer. "Calm down. There's been a lot of data. It's easy to miss some with everyone so busy lately."

"Stanley, we could have lost our primary specimen." A hand covered my cheek and patted it. I felt no warmth there. Julia shook her head. "Inform the Director. And… get me the contact for that Tanaka girl… Naomi's her name. And also, for his family, I need to talk to the sister."

"He… has a sister? Biological?"

"Stanley, no, that's not on the table right now. Someone please cart him off to his room."