Helping and Sharing

'Hello?'

'Hi, it's me, Oskar.'

'Hi. How are things?'

'Fine...'

'I posted your letter yesterday. I'm sure you've thought about this, but your mother will want to reply and there's no way for her to do so.'

'Yes, but... I haven't thought of a way she could do it but couldn't make the police try to find me. Phone calls can be traced, P.O. boxes, everything.'

'True. If I can think of something, I'll tell you next time you call. By the way, thanks for Anna's present, she liked it. I'd put her on the phone to say thank you, but she's at a sleepover.'

'No problem.'

'How is Eli?'

'Fine. We found someone that will help us.'

'That's good, but... are you sure you can trust him? Is he in it for the money or...?'

'She's a girl. Eli met her by accident, and she decided to help us after Eli showed her that... she's a person.'

'I see.'

'Vincent... Is anyone looking for us over there?'

'Not as far as I know. Nobody died here, right?'

'Right. Oh, Eli wants to say hi.'

'Sure. Bye.'

'Bye.'

There was a pause while Eli took the receiver.

'Hi.'

'Hi, Eli. I hear things are going well?'

'Yes. How is Anna?'

'She's doing well, she's at a friend's house right now. She liked your present, thanks.'

'Oh. You're welcome. Vincent, maybe it's none of my business, but... Do they still pick on Anna?'

'No, I don't think so. Threatening their leader seems to have worked.'

'Good.'

'Oskar tells me you've found someone to help you.'

'Yes. She's nice, I think. She's going to get anaesthesia for us.'

'That's very lucky.'

'Yes.'

'I mentioned to Oskar that as far as I can tell no one is looking for you here, I've checked the tabloids. Anyway, I don't think the police are worried about a few assaults that probably didn't seriously hurt anyone and that stopped on their own.'

'Yes. Vincent...'

'Hmmm?'

'You know they used to bully Oskar, right?'

'Yes, it seemed fairly clear from what some of the papers said.'

'I told him to hit back hard and... well, you know what happened. But with Anna what you did worked.'

'I would've given Oskar the same advice. Anna's bullies were just less extreme, I guess. She wasn't actually their main target, so it makes more sense they'd leave her alone, but I think they've also left her friend alone anyway.'

'They picked on both of them?'

'Yes. It seems it started after Anna's friend punched one of the bullies' brother or something, he didn't hit back at the time. Anyway, it didn't help that Anna and her friend didn't have any other friends.'

'Yes. Vincent, I have to go.'

'Sure. Bye.'

'Bye.'

***

Emma sat on a bench near the edge of the park, putting down the gym bag she was carrying. She rubbed her shoulder, and glanced at her watch; she was exactly on time. She turned away from the street, trying to find Eli in the park's shadows.

'Hi.'

'Hi, you startled me. I've got what you need.'

Emma opened the gym bag. Amid bags of groceries, Eli saw a large bottle labelled DIETHYL ETHER.

'The groceries are also for you... well, for Oskar. So how about dinner at your place?'

Later that evening, Emma was unpacking the groceries she had bought in Oskar and Eli's kitchen.

'Oskar, have you had a proper cooked meal since you moved here?'

'No...'

'I don't mean to boss you around or anything, but you know you have to eat a balanced diet of sorts. I know what it's like to not really feel like cooking and so on, maybe I can show you a few tips?'

'I guess so.'

Half an hour later, the three of them were sitting around the table, and Emma and Oskar were ravenously eating the salad Emma had prepared.

'Eli, about what I said about having dinner with you two, I... meant to include you as well.'

'What do you mean?'

'You can have some of my blood. I don't know how you go about it.'

Oskar and Eli exchanged glances.

'I'll get the stuff,' said Oskar and went to the bedroom.

'Eli, how... is it done?'

'I cut open a vein and drink. From your arm.'

'Oh.'

'I think it doesn't hurt a lot.'

'Right.'

Oskar returned, carrying the pink pencil case Eli kept the razor blades and Band-Aids in.

'Just try to relax.'

Emma nodded, and looked away as Eli took her arm. She felt as a vein was cut open, and as Eli put her lips to the wound.

'Are you scared?'

Emma turned towards Oskar.

'A little. I know I'm going to be fine, but...'

'Emma, is there something we can do... you know, because you're helping us... Eli has money, and...'

Emma shook her head, clenching her teeth as the pain became worse.

Eli was soon finished.

'You should drink water with sugar and salt.'

'Is there any Coke left?'

'Yes...'

Oskar and Eli exchanged quick glances.

'I mean, it's basically sugared water with salt, carbonic acid and some other stuff. Sorry, I... and I could use the caffeine.'

'Do you want it with some ice?'

***

Oskar and Eli were sitting around the kitchen table, having put the leftovers of what Emma had prepared in the fridge; Emma herself had left about an hour earlier.

'But why? You know I want to do it, and...'

'No, it's just...'

'But why not? You've let others do it.'

'It's not good for you. Adults have more blood in them.'

'You could take just a little. You must know how much is OK.'

'Oskar, I... don't want to eat kids.'

'But you wouldn't be hurting me, and...'

'Anyway, I could only take a little, you know that, so...'

'Vincent gave you blood, Emma gave you blood, why can't I? Don't make excuses, what's the real reason?'

'I don't want to think of you as food, ever again.'

'Eli, I... don't like feeling like I can't do anything for you. That I have to sit around and watch while you sort things out and adults like Emma help you.'

'But adults are adults. Oskar, you're only thirteen.'

'And you're only twelve.'

'I meant that... I don't know, I wouldn't like to take blood from Anna, either.'

'But she doesn't know about your illness, and she hasn't offered to help. I want to help you.'

There was a long pause while Eli thought about it.

'OK. Maybe I can have... a little.'

***

Oskar and Eli were lying, in the dark, on their mattress.

'Oskar...'

'Hmmm?'

'Your blood...'

'Yes?'

'Well, it... it tastes good. I'm sorry, is that... yucky?'

'No, but... you tried it before, in...'

'Yes, but... It tastes different from what I remember. Better. I don't know.'

'But you like the taste of blood, right? In general? Even if you don't like having to need it or...'

He heard Eli swallow, followed by an uncomfortable silence.

'Yes. But your blood... it tastes better.'

***

'Bye, then.'

'See you.'

Beata left, slamming the door as she always did. Emma poured herself a second cup of coffee. She was halfway through it, when Stina came out of her room.

'Morning.'

'Morning. You've had breakfast?'

'Yes, but there's still coffee if you want some.'

'Thanks.'

'Did you catch up on your sleep?'

'Kind of, I love that about Saturdays. Anyway, how are you doing?'

'Fine. Oh, a cousin of mine moved into town with her kids, I had dinner at their new place the other day.'

'Oh.'

'They're nice kids, a boy and a girl. The girl's adopted.'

'Uh-huh.'

'I'm telling you in case they drop by to visit me or something. Don't look at me like that, they're not spoiled brats or anything, they're quiet kids who like puzzles.'

'How old are they?'

'They're about twelve, the boy is the older of the two.'

'If I absolutely had to adopt a kid or be shot, I'd adopt a girl, too.'

'Yeah, well, this girl is a bit of a tomboy. You really don't like children, do you?'

'I like one of my nieces, and she's ten.'

'Really? What's she like?'

'She's spoiled and pretentious.'

'But why do you like her?'

'She's blonde with blue eyes.'

Emma sighed.

'I think I'll have that cup of coffee, if you don't mind,' said Stina, and went to the kitchen for a cup.

'Stina, you know... about vampires?'

'What kind?'

'You know, like Dracula...'

Stina sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee.

'You know I'm not into horror.'

'I mean, do you think people made it up out of the blue or they were inspired by something in the real world?'

'No idea. Well, there's porphyria, which involved something like an allergy to sunlight. And actually, when corpses decompose they can become bloated and... I guess people must've seen some corpses that looked like they had fresh blood on their mouths, and it snowballed from there or something. Speaking of which, I was reading the other day about using the life cycles of fly larvae to tell how long a corpse has been dead, and...'

'But what about drinking blood? Is there some medical condition that...'

'Not that I'm aware of. Maybe people were fed up paying taxes to the nobility, and that's where they got the idea of a count living off the blood of the peasants?'

'Maybe...'

'Anyway, why are you so interested in vampires all of a sudden? Don't tell me, your cousin's kids are obsessed with them?'

'Something like that...'

***

'Eli, what does my blood taste like, to you?'

'It's hard to describe.'

'But more or less?'

'I don't know, it's like many things at once, but...'

'You can show me.'

'But... won't it be strange? It would be like drinking your own blood.'

'I've tried my blood. You know, sucking a cut.'

'It's not the same. Are you sure you want to?'

'Yes.'

They kissed.

Oskar held a razor blade against a vein on a pale arm. As he cut it open, the scent of blood filled his nostrils, enticing like the smell of freshly baked bread or of roast meat, and he could feel himself salivate against his will. He put his lips on the wound and sucked. Oceans of clashing flavors, too fleeting to be identified and classified, whose coming and going was, like the sea, governed by tides. Underneath, unaffected by the beating of the heart, there was what could only be described as a piercing sweetness. When he had finished, he swallowed the blood remaining in his mouth, and the aftertaste was something for which there were no words.

Eli withdrew.

'Wow. I didn't know that blood tasted so good to you.'

'No. Just your blood. Oskar, I... I would've preferred that blood didn't taste of anything, then... I don't know. It would've been like a chore, it's not something that you like doing, just something you have to do. Liking the taste of blood makes hurting people worse somehow.'

'You do drink it because you have to. It's not like you just decided blood tasted better than pea soup.'

'But I can't just... not think about the whole thing. Like if you were very hungry and then you tasted something you really liked... you'd pay attention, you'd be thinking about. And when your food is other people...'

'But you're no longer killing people. And when you drink my blood, you're not stealing, I want to give it to you.'

'Yes, but it's just that... sometimes people gave me a little of their blood for their own reasons, and some of them even wanted to help me, but... nobody really wanted to do it, like you.'

***

'Emma, it's for you!'

'Who is it?'

'Some kid who says he's a friend of yours.'

'Oh.'

Emma ran to the phone; Beata handed her the receiver and went to her room.

'Hello?'

'Hi. It's me, Oskar.'

'Hi, what's up?'

'Well, Eli is out getting food, and I wanted to ask you... you're a scientist, right?'

'Yes, at least I'm trying to be one.'

'Well... do you think there could be a cure for Eli? Or something scientists could do to make things easier?'

'I'm... not a medical doctor or a biologist... I'm a chemist, I've never worked on living things. It's not like in the movies, everything is a lot more specialized and... difficult. I'm sorry, but in this I'm as clueless as anyone else.'

'But... but isn't there some way of learning about what is wrong with Eli so that...'

'I'm sorry. I wouldn't know where to begin, or how to go about testing anything, your guess is as good as mine.'

***

Eli dragged the young man she had drugged with Emma's ether away from the path and behind the bushes. She drank from one of her victim's veins; the blood tasted good, as the blood of healthy victims always did, but nothing like Oskar's, confirming what Eli already knew: that there was something about the taste of Oskar's blood that she had never known before, not even when licking his blood off the basement floor.

***

They had finished dinner, and the children were helping Emma clear the table and wash the dishes.

'Eli...'

'Yes?'

'You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I'm trying to understand your condition. When you showed me your past, well, I gather that blood doesn't taste to you as it would to me or Oskar.'

'Blood tastes... good to me, and I hate that it tastes good.'

'I understand. Does the blood of different people taste different?'

Oskar and Eli exchanged uneasy glances.

'Yes, different people taste differently.'

'According to blood types or...?'

'I can tell if a person is healthy or sick, if they've been drinking, and sometimes I can recognize a particular person's blood...'

No, not 'sometimes,' just Oskar's blood. When I licked it off the basement floor it tasted normal, I think. It tasted young, and it tasted very good, but maybe that was just because I was very hungry...

'... but usually I can just tell the difference between young and old, man and woman.'

Does she want to know what her blood tastes like, but doesn't dare ask directly? I don't want to think of her as food, either. I don't want to think of anyone as food. But she has a right to know if she wants to, she has never asked for anything in exchange for helping us, for letting me feed on her.

'Emma, your blood tastes like that of a healthy young woman and... I'm sorry, but... that's the type of blood that tastes best, except for...'

Eli could feel herself blush with shame and couldn't look at Emma.

'But that makes sense, I think. I mean... we sometimes tend to eat the female of the species, like cows...'

Emma shuddered.

'I don't... I can't say I like the idea of seeing myself as cattle, but... it's not your fault and you've never done anything to hurt me.'

She paused, as if choosing her words carefully.

'But I should thank you for being honest. For being brave enough to talk about it. Maybe I didn't need to know my blood is particularly tasty, but still.'

Her blood is good, but Oskar's blood is tastes like the blood of angels would taste if...

***

Eli pulled back from Oskar's arm. She swallowed and shuddered, grimacing.

'What's wrong?'

'No, it's just... I can't stand the taste.'

'Is it very bad? But you said...'

'No, it's as good as it was before, it's just... a lot stronger, overwhelming.'

'That's weird.'

'Yes.'

***

'Eli, I've been thinking and... you know you two can't go on like this forever, because...'

'I know. I know Oskar and I will have to leave when... when the police gets upset enough about the attacks or I make a mistake or something.'

'It's not just that. You could attack someone who's armed or...'

'I've managed for a long time.'

Emma sighed.

'But it's different now, with Oskar... It's harder for two kids to hide than for just one, especially as the police are looking for Oskar. It's a miracle you made it out of Stockholm at all - how did you do it?'

'We just took the train,' answered Oskar.

'Wow... it's a miracle nobody recognized you. Maybe that's just it, nobody expected that... Anyway, as I was saying, you can't carry on like this...'

'What do you suggest?'

'Well... You need more people on your side, people that can help you.'

'There's someone else that has helped us, especially Oskar, but he doesn't live here, we don't know anyone else here.'

'Well, you need someone who does live around here. And someone with medical connections could help you more than I can. Both of you; what if Oskar gets sick enough to need a doctor?'

Eli bit her lip and said nothing.

'I've been thinking a lot about this. Trying to think of someone we can trust, preferrably someone who knows something about medicine. And the only person I can come up with is my friend Stina, the one I share an appartment with.'

'The one who doesn't like kids?' asked Oskar.

'Yes. She's not as bad as she sounds, and she's actually very kind in her own way, once you get to know her.'

'How do we know we can trust her? It's very dangerous to tell anyone.'

'I don't know, I... if I just tell her she'll think I've gone mad, I will need proof, so maybe if you meet... and Beata, the other girl we share with, is going to be away this weekend, so.'

'We'll think about it.'