Blood Vivicanti (9780989878579) by Becket

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Here’s my theory: Mom was
a duckbill platypus.
    Wyn rejects this theory,
of course. Sometimes the scientist can’t see past the size of his
test tube.
    My mom must have been a
platypus in disguise – the way Zeus disguised himself as cows,
eagles, and the ugly duckling. Platypuses are the only mammals to
lay eggs. My mom couldn’t have given birth to me. She must have
laid my egg. She must have sat on me too hard.
    That must be why I’m so
broken.
     
     
     
     
    Once upon a time I was a
seven-teen-year-old girl named Mary Paige who’d suffered rejection
and isolation. Once I was a human who’d sought ways to be alone.
Often loneliness had been my only friend in the dark. But none of
that mattered. I just wanted to stop hurting when people
misunderstood me.
    I was misunderstood a lot
– I was alone a lot – I was lonely a lot more – I was a secret
breed of person: I could breathe underwater because I’d been
drowning since the womb. I was a perfect platypus.
     
     
     
     
    Today I’m still Mary Paige.
Only now I am also a Blood Vivicanti. I can pierce your neck with
my tongue. I will drink your blood. I will eat your
memories.
    But in some ways I’m still
the same girl I was.
     
     
     
     
    I’ve always been an
introvert living in an extrovert’s world. Extroverts used to try to
make me stop being introverted. They seemed to think introversion
was a sickness. Their cure was to cheerfully say to me: “To thine
own self be true!” They seemed to think this was penicillin for the
soul.
    I always thought it was a
load of poppycock.
    Some seemed aware that
Shakespeare had written that line. Fewer seemed to know that
Shakespeare had given that line to Polonius in his play, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of
Denmark , called “Hamlet” for short. They
had no idea that they were quoting the line of a doddering old
flesh-monger.
    It was as if they were
saying to me: In ignorance is conformity.
     
     
     
     
    Of course, you’re supposed
to be ignorant when a Blood Vivicanti pierces you. You’re not
supposed to remember my tongue driving deep into your neck. You
shouldn’t know I’m drinking your blood or eating your memories. You
wouldn’t even remember what I look like. All you’d recall is the
pure pleasure. Our venom fills you with so much pleasure that your
mind forgets the pain.
    Yes: I am the first female
platypus packed with venom.
     
     
     
     
    But I remember when Wyn
pierced me. I remember falling from the cliff. I remember my body
breaking. I remember Wyn driving his tongue into my neck. I
remember him drinking my blood. I’ve never forgotten all the
pleasure that came.
     
     
     
     
    I also remember Wyn picking
me up as if I were as light as a leaf. He rushed me back to his
mansion. He ran faster than wind. I lost consciousness.
    My eyes opened once or
twice. I recall glimpsing some of my surroundings. There were white
computers – silver instruments – beeping noises – bright lights
glinting – Wyn looking down at me. And I was looking up at him. He
was wearing a surgeon’s green mask over his mouth. I was wearing a
white sheet. He was transferring blood into my veins.
    The blood was so bright it
was almost glowing. It was the color of violets soaking in the
sunshine.
     
     
     
     
    I recall glimpsing
more…
    A man was lying beside me.
He was wearing a black loincloth. His whole body was hairless and
smooth. He was very large and muscular. He seemed to gleam as if
oiled. His eyes were open as he lay motionless as a statue. Once
his chest rose and fell with a single breath. The way dolphins
breathe twice an hour. This man’s skin was dark red.
    He is called simply: “The
Red Man.”
    Tubes were also inserted
into his veins. Flowing through the tubes was the glowing violet
blood. And at first I thought the blood was going into him
too.
    I was too dazed to realize
the truth: The blood was coming from him.
     
     
     
     
    When the Red Man’s blood
had