Blood Lily

I started to grow tired, losing the strength in my legs and arms. My smile quickly faded as fatigue and emptiness took place. Mother caught me in her arms, lifting me up and carrying me.

“Lily, you have no idea what you have done…” she said, frowning deeply. Her face seemed drenched in guilt, regret, and worry.

“But… it’s over,” I repeated. What else matters?

“O’SANGS!!!” Evangeline fiercely yelled as she barged into the chamber. “You dare arrive unannounced and then have the audacity to incinerate evidence?!”

Oh. That kind of matters.

…

Guilt filled up the emptiness within me. “I-”

“I apologize,” mother swiftly cut me off, “my heir has yet to learn control over her new vampiric strength and magic. It is my fault for-”

“You are absolutely right it is your fault!” Evangeline swiftly cut mother off. “This is all because you O’Sangs continue to adopt ignorant strangers into our midst! Or maybe if you had given her the simplest of lessons she could at least manage not to go berserk at the absolute worst time! You are lucky my brother had the sense to come get us, now that’s the mark of a proper heir!”

I felt angry again, weak but angry. It’s not fair for her to say that to mother or me! “I’m not-!”

“Shh!” mother shushed me with a look I hadn’t quite seen on her before. It felt… demanding. She looked at Evangeline, addressing her. “I cannot apologize enough for my incompetence, but I will compensate by-”

“That’s right,” Evangeline firmly agreed, “you cannot apologize enough. You will compensate by getting out of our home, and you can rest assured knowing that the others houses will hear of this!”

Mother went silent, seemingly defeated. She bit her lip. “Very well…”

She started carrying me out of the chamber, presumably to leave. Evangeline continued to fume and mutter various things to herself, none very pretty. I was speechless, guilty, and… extremely tired.

As we passed Evangeline, I noticed Evander standing by her. He was so quiet. So calm. They made it sound like he left when I was torching the body to get his sister and my mother. I felt myself losing consciousness, yet as I was, I couldn’t help but wonder one thing…

…Why was he smiling…?

…

…

…

“Wake up, Lil’,” a familiar voice said.

“Lil’, wake up!” a second familiar voice said.

I jolted upright, panting. “W-What? Where am I? What happened? What’s-”

“Hey, shhh, it’s okay,” Millie softly spoke as she stood to the right of my bed.

“Yeah, it’s ok, we lose control early on sometimes, it happens,” Amber spoke just as softly, standing to the left of my bed.

I looked back and forth between the two, calming down. I was in my room, and I was in bed. I relaxed a bit, sighing. I felt so… heavy, though. I had a pounding headache, and my limbs felt so drained, almost as if I had run a whole marathon. My throat and tongue felt so dry I may as well have eaten a handful of sand. And my teeth felt like they were pulsing with a strong, aching desire. No, not my teeth… just my fangs, they’re…!

Then I sensed it: the wonderfully aromatic yet impossibly strong scent of blood! It was like a joyous smelling salt that encompassed my whole body! My head jerked to the left, and I lunged to snatch a silver cup right out of Amber’s grip. With zero inhibition or hesitation, I turned the container up, greedily consuming the sweet sanguine liquid! It was gone in an instant, and though I wanted more, so much more, I was able to regain my senses. Several drops of red streaked down my chin and onto the bed.

I also then kind of realized how wild I was just there. “Oh, uh, sorry. Thirsty,” I explained with a guilty smile.

“Well, that’s what I had it for,” Amber giggled. “But are you okay? Lady Magnolia briefly explained what happened.”

I readjusted myself in bed, sitting up properly and accepting a handkerchief from Millie to wipe off the blood I had spilled on me. “Yeah, I’m okay, just…”

I recalled the consequences of my actions, and… I was undeniably guilty. I shouldn’t have gone there alone. I should have just waited for mother. I shouldn’t have cared about whatever my birth dad said, he was dead and incinerating his corpse wasn’t going to change anything. I can’t believe I even did that, or that I even could! It’s just, I felt like… ugh!!

“Hey, it’s okay!” Millie tried to reassure me. “We all make mistakes. I accidentally ate a friend’s dress once during my monthly munchies! Ok, well part of her dress. I didn’t mean to, the full moon just does things to you when you’re a werewolf, alright?”

Err, well ok, but… “I didn’t lose control or anything. I just… I did it on purpose…”

“Well,” Amber started, “even if you did it on purpose, like Millie said, we all make mistakes. Lady Magnolia is taking care of it. Besides, like… why were the Ab’Haimas keeping a human body in their own home? That’s just weird, even if the guy tried to shackle a royal. It’s also really weird that a human had access to magic. Probably stumbled on a magic item and learned about the myth world like that. It can happen.”

“Right,” Millie agreed, “super weird, I mean why-”

“He was my dad,” I interrupted glumly. “The one that helped shackle me…”

“Oh,” my two friends oh’d in perfect unison.

“Yeah,” I sighed in defeat, looking off at the wall distantly. I hugged my knees, frowning. “I… don’t think I want to talk about it right now.”

“That's…” Millie started.

“...valid!” Amber finished. “We can change subjects! Well, kind of. First we gotta talk about that wing of yours.”

“Huh?” I blinked. “My wing…?”

As she brought it to my attention… I do remember catching a glance at a black wing when-

Oh. It’s still there. Like right now. I have a wing. How did I not notice this? It even feels a bit cramped because I was laying on it. I can feel with it. Ok that’s really, really weird. But, at least…

“It’s cute.” I realized aloud and pretty bluntly.

“It is!” Millie agreed.

“It’s uncommon to have one wing, though. It’ll be tough to fly with that… if you even can,” Amber explained. “It’s super adorable though! It’s on the smaller side for now, but it’ll grow over time. Might even have a second wing come in.”

“Huh,” I mumbled quietly. I am content with this wing. I flexed it… which felt weird. So weird. But cool. And cute! “So um, how do I retract it?”

“Ah, right,” Amber started. “It works pretty similar to magic. Just simply imagine it going away or going back to normal, but with feeling!”

“Okay…” I responded, trying to do exactly that.

I closed my eyes, focusing on my new little wing. I felt an almost instinctual pull on it as I imagined it fading away. A smoky, scarlet mist slowly manifested around my upper half, cloaking the wing in its entirety. The mist shrunk in on itself, reabsorbing into my body. When it was done, the wing was gone with it.

“Did I do it?” I asked, opening my eyes.

“You did!” Amber proudly answered as Millie clapped excitedly.

“So I can do that, like, whenever?” I curiously asked.

“Right,” my fellow vampire friend explained. “You could just leave it out if you like. Some other vampires do that!”

Huh. “Nifty!” I exclaimed. To wing or not to wing… that is the question!

Millie pouted. “Lucky vampires getting to show or hide their myth parts. I’m stuck with my tail out all the time! Not that I’d ever hide it if I could, but still I’d like the option!”

“Hey, we have fangs!” Amber giggled in response. “Try hiding those when you smile!”

“Ok fair, but still way easier to hide than a giant floofy tail!” Millie rebutted before turning to me. “Let’s ask Lil’! Which is more obvious? Fangs or tails?”

“U-Uhhhh…” I felt put in the spotlight, but their spontaneous argument made me smile; a cute, fanged smile ironically enough. “The tail is a bit more noticeable, um… at least from the back! But from the front the fangs are more noticeable… unless your tail is wagging, Millie. Which it does wag a lot.”

Her tail wagged on cue. “See?! I knew it!”

Amber smiled, shrugging in defeat. “Alright alright, maaaaybe it’s a bit more noticeable. Just a bit. But only cause Lil’ says so.”

In spite of how I was feeling inside, they managed to squeeze a small giggle out of me. “My name is, um… Lily, by the way. I chose it earlier today.”

They both paused, looking at each other with a certain understanding. Then they gasped in sync.

“It’s a cute name!” Amber complimented.

“It totes fits you!” Millie squealed.

I couldn’t help the feeling that they already knew about me choosing the name, but I appreciated their genuine approval either way!

“Thank you!” I smiled warmly. “But um… you two can keep calling me Lil’, if you want!”

“Of course, Lil’!” they agreed together.

I really loved having friends. Lil’ is now officially less of a temporary name and more of a nickname! “Ehehe~”

“Oh, also!” Amber said as she pulled out a small rectangular device. “Here! Take this. It’s a gift for you.”

I accepted the small device. It was all black and had a blank screen on it, like how the tv does. “Is this…?”

“It’s a phone!” Millie explained. “You kinda needed one! It’s all set up and ready to go! It even has our numbers and Lady Magnolia’s number in it! Oh, and if it looks a bit plain, we thought you could choose a case for it yourself later! Give it your own Lil’ flair!”

Ohhh! Most people I saw in the park ignored me because they were too busy staring at this thing! It seems like a dangerous kind of magic, so… I’ll need to be careful with it! But wait, no, it’s not magic if pretty much every human had one… but still very dangerous! “Thank you! But, um, how do I use it…?”

“We’ll show you and teach you the basics!” Amber explained.

“Yup, it’ll take a bit to get used to, but don’t worry, practice makes perfect!” Millie further explained.

And so over the course of about an hour, they showed me how to turn it off and on, text, make calls, and take pictures! My first picture ended up being one of us all together, and I even made it my background!

We also talked a bit during that time. I had been out for a good few hours earlier, which took us much closer to nighttime. And… apparently mother is busy profusely apologizing and damage controlling. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad since they already planned to dispose of the body given that it was a human without really any evidence to be collected. They already got as much information out of him that they could have, that being the fact he had died from a heart attack… which sounds stupidly convenient because why couldn’t he have died of a heart attack earlier? But anyway, the main harm that came from it, according to Millie and Amber, was our reputation. That took a big hit… and reputation is kind of important from what I’ve been told.

Though I could never understate how much I appreciated Millie and Amber for being there for me, sometimes I just needed to be alone. After everything I had gone through today… yeah, I needed some alone time.

I took a deep breath. “I, um… I’d like to be alone for the rest of the night now. If that’s okay.”

They once again looked at each other, both nodding at me.

“Of course, Lil’,” Amber said.

“Just give us a text if you need us! Or a magical summoning! Either one works!” Millie said.

“Okay,” I nodded as the two headed for the door, eliciting a firm ker-chunk from it.

Before departing, though, they both had one more thing to say. Together. “Remember, don’t be too hard on yourself, Lil’.”

And then they were gone.

I fell backwards onto the bed, sighing deeply as I sprawled out.

I really wanted to be hard on myself. I mean… I messed up so badly. I feel like today was supposed to be happier than it ended up being, but I got carried away again and just… just…!

“Ugh!”

I stood up, heading over to the dresser. I placed my lily on top, opening it to see if maybe there were some new clothes already placed inside. I just wanted to get my mind off of things before my brain could start bullying me.

To my surprise, there actually were new clothes! I could immediately tell there was a new wide variety of apparel! All on the feminine side!

Well… except one article of clothing. One that really stood out from the rest. I took it out of the dresser, unfolding it to get a better view.

It was a formal-looking suit of black and white. Right. Mother did say the sunsilk suit was ready. So… this is what I was supposed to receive before the dress. Huh…

Well, I could always give it back, but… I’m kind of tempted to try it on. Why not?

So I went ahead and slipped out of my dress, changing into the suit. It was definitely sized for my figure, it fit pretty snugly. Didn’t really feel bad. Very different from the dress, but not bad. May as well check myself in the mirror.

Stepping on over to the mirror… I was genuinely surprised.

“I kind of look awesome in a suit?!” I blurted out loud.

And I did! I mean I didn’t know how to put the tie on, but like… it didn’t feel as masculine as I thought it would. Honestly, with how it fit around my body’s curves, it kind of felt the opposite? Like… I gave off some really confident young lady vibes! Plus pants are nice, even if I really like skirts and dresses.

I was honestly kind of afraid that I’d look like a guy again, but that’s definitely not the case.

…

Oh. Ok, well, I’m adding ‘afraid of looking like a guy’ to the list of reasons why I want to stay as a girl.

…

But am I sure about that? What if I was a guy right now? What would I look like instead, especially with this suit on?

While staring at the mirror, I realized that… if I wanted to… I could see what male-me looks like. This mirror can do that. I just have to imagine it.

…

An anxious knot built in my stomach… but I couldn’t deny my curiosity. Why was I anxious? Because I am, as I thought, afraid of looking like a guy? Or because I made the wrong decision today and that I might actually like what I see? There’s only one way to tell…

I closed my eyes, consciously thinking of myself as a guy for the first time in what I just now realized to be a long time. I didn’t want to see what I used to look like. That was in the past. What I wanted to see right now was what I might have looked like if I never became a girl… or if I ever accept the sex-swap elixir.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a young man staring back at me. He wore the same clothes, though refitted for his leaner and much less curvier build. His hair was short, silver, and handsomely combed, and his eyes were certainly the same scarlet as mine. His face was different though, more masculine. Still a bit soft in some ways, to my surprise, but what shocked me even more than that was how I felt.

I didn’t feel bad. I felt kind of relieved because… I could tell right away. That wasn’t me.

It was a complete and total stranger.