VIII. Flight

At a pay phone, Esteban waited impatiently for someone to pick up at the other end. Come on, Oskar. Just as he was about to hang up and try again, he heard someone pick up the phone, without saying a word. Esteban didn't speak either, and took a coin out of his pocket, and used it to tap in Morse code: P-L-A-N-C. After a few seconds, he received a reply: O-K.

He hung up.

Esteban arrived home just as the sun was setting, and saw the kitchen light was on. Surely tonight is the last time I ever set foot on this house. He had also felt some grief as he left work, knowing he would never return; that job and this house had for years taken up his life. When he stepped into the house, he saw three backpacks and a couple of large suitcases lying next to the door, and Oskar was going over the contents.

'What happened?'

'I was questioned by the police, just outside where I work, as I was about to go back after lunch.'

'What did they want?'

'They asked where I was on certain dates, and if my papers were in proper order, which they are. That's all really, at least some of the dates are times when Eli and I went for food. They didn't ask anything more specific, so I don't think they know much at this point. I'm sure I wasn't followed, but they could get this address easily and I think we should leave as soon as it gets dark enough, as we had planned.'

Oskar nodded.

'Is Eli awake?'

'I don't think so, but he'll wake up again any moment now. I woke him up earlier to let him know what happened.'

'Good. We should try and leave the minute it's safe for him to go outside. Why don't you start taking some of the lighter stuff to the car and I'll help you with the rest after I get some things from my room?'

'Sure. Esteban...'

'Yes?'

'Are you sure you want to come with us?'

'I'm a fugitive, or will be shortly. Once the police realize you were in the house, or if they link me to the man Eli killed the other day... I don't want to just sit here until they come to arrest me.'

Esteban went to his room, and took some cash, documents and a few other. He returned to help Oskar with the luggage. They had prepared for this, and the most important things were in the backpacks, so that if necessary they could leave on foot, and the rest was in suitcases. Esteban wondered for how long it would be wise to keep the car; after all, it was registered in his name. Soon they had finished getting the backpacks and suitcases in the car.

'Oskar, please make some sandwiches or something for the road. I'll go get the big trunk, and see if Eli is awake.'

Oskar nodded. The trunk was empty and they were taking it in case it was necessary to transport Eli during the day. Esteban had considered arriving earlier, and taking Eli in the trunk, which would win them some time, but if they were stopped and searched before dark...

When Esteban went into the cellar, Eli was sitting on the mattress, though he seemed barely able to keep his eyes open.

'Hi. Oskar told you we have to leave, right?'

'Yes...'

'I think he's packed your puzzles and clothes, though you should check. Can you come up? The curtains are all drawn and it's almost dark outside.'

'Yes...'

Esteban, without thinking about it, stooped and lifted Eli up, and carried him towards the stairs.

'What are you doing?'

Eli sounded genuinely perplexed. It occurred to Esteban that he had never carried him before.

'You're sleepy so I thought you might like it if I carried you instead of you climbing up the stairs. I'll put you down if you want.'

'No, it's nice...'

Yet Esteban felt Eli become tense, and sensed some kind of anxiety emanating from him. Once upstairs, Esteban carefully put Eli down on the couch.

'I can hear Oskar in the kitchen.'

'Yes, I asked him to fix some sandwiches. Eli, how long before it's safe for you to go outside?'

'Just a few minutes.'

'Why don't you check with Oskar that he didn't forget to pack anything, while I get your trunk?'

'Yes.'

As Esteban went downstairs, Eli went into the kitchen and hugged Oskar from behind.

'Hello, sleepyhead.'

A few minutes later, Esteban went again over what had happened as he drove, but there was little to tell that he hadn't told Oskar already.

'So for all I know, they have little real evidence or they just think I witnessed something. I think I did well, given how nervous I usually get in the presence of the police.'

'Are you afraid of the police?'

'Well... Until now I never had reason to fear the Swedish police, but for example one time, when I had been in Sweden for only a few years, I was walking home late at night, and a police car followed me for a couple of blocks. I had enough sense not to show any panic, and they left. They didn't stop me or anything, but it was still difficult for me, even though I knew that I was in no actual danger, that at worst they'd question me, that I was being irrational. Anyway, today before going home I posted my resignation to my boss, and gave a forwarding address in Spain; given I speak the language the police might find it plausible enough.'

For a moment, Esteban wondered about returning with Eli and Oskar to the country of his birth. Life there would be much easier for us than in orderly Sweden, it wouldn't be hard to find people willing to sell a bit of their blood. Oskar would be pretty conspicuous, but at least nobody would be reminded of the boy who disappeared at a pool in Stockholm. But how can we cross the ocean? Even with false identities, there's the problem of sunlight...

'Could we do that? Leave for another country?' asked Oskar.

'I don't think it would help, we'd be more conspicuous anywhere else, as we'd all be foreigners.'

'So where are we going right now?'

***

Eli and Oskar rushed down the ravine, to where Esteban had fallen.

'Are you alright?'

'I've twisted my ankle pretty badly. I can't stand.'

They helped Esteban, who was obviously in pain, take off his backpack and used it to prop his legs, so that no stress was applied on his ankle. Esteban drank some water, and hoped the pain would subside. Eli and Oskar sat, resting.

'Do you want me to have a look?'

'Sure.'

Eli examined the already swollen ankle, which was beginning to bruise.

'It's broken.'

Yes, a sprained ankle isn't this painful.

Esteban bit his lip, thinking of what he must do.

'Oskar, I need to talk to Eli... alone. Only for a few minutes, but it needs to be just the two of us.'

'Why? I-'

Esteban looked straight into Eli's eyes.

'Please, Oskar. I need to tell Eli something in private.'

Eli turned to Oskar.

'Go! Please.'

Oskar reluctantly obeyed.

'I'll be behind those trees over there.'

Eli turned to Esteban.

'I can't walk, Eli. You and Oskar need to flee.'

'We can carry you, or we could take you to a hospital, or somewhere where you can get help, while we flee...'

'You need to get away, not waste time taking me somewhere, or be slowed down by taking me with you, and I can't go anywhere on my own. In any case, I don't want to rot in a jail cell, which is what will happen if I go to a hospital. Look, even if they don't charge me with murder for the man with the knife, even if it's just for the times we only took a little blood, once the police identify Oskar's fingerprints in the house...'

Eli looked away.

'They'll say I kidnapped Oskar, they'll ask where the body is.'

Eli sat in front of him.

'What do you want to do?'

'Everything has to end one day, and we have both long known how this must end, I think. One day I'd be in the way, or you'd be starving, or you'd think I'm a threat to you or to Oskar. It's not even unnatural that two children outlive an old man. You can... feed from me one final time; you can feed until you're full, and then do what you must always do when you bite.'

'No.'

Esteban gazed into Eli's sad eyes.

'I think if you become like me, then your ankle...'

'No. You had no choice in what you are, but I choose not to become that.'

'Stop. Please.'

'Eli, now that the cozy little household we had is gone, nothing good will happen to me anymore. So you have... my permission.'

'No, you can't...'

'Give you permission? If it's not me, it will be somebody else you will need to kill.'

'You don't know what it's like to kill... someone you know.'

'True. But people are born and die all the time, and in the grand scheme of things...'

'No. Not you.'

Eli hugged him, and Esteban clumsily hugged him back, careful not to move his ankle.

'I don't blame you, but you've killed before and others have helped you before. Surely many of them...'

'Yes, but... Apart from you, only one other adult helped me without asking for... something in exchange.'

'Who?'

'A maker of puzzles, a long time ago.'

'He must have thought the world of you.'

'Maybe. His death had nothing to do with me.'

Tears were running down Eli's face.

'Eli, you need to be strong. For your sake, and for Oskar's. You need to feed, and it's not as if there were that many options, for you or for me.'

Eli pressed his face hard against Esteban's chest.

'For what it's worth, you two have my... blessing. Nicola and I would have been lucky to have a child like the person you really are inside.'

And you're far more beautiful than our child would have been.

'Say goodbye to Oskar for me. Tell him... Tell him that if I'd had a child of my own, I could not have hoped for a better boyfriend for that child than him.'

Esteban searched his pockets.

'Wait...'

He found what he was looking for, and showed it to Eli; it was a gold ring with a pale blue gem.

'It was going to be Nicola's wedding ring. I want you to have it.'

He gave it to Eli, who took it and put it on.

'I can't.'

'You can't take me with you, you can't cure me, and if you leave me here I will either starve or end up in a prison cell. I can think of much worse ways to die than... by feeding you, such as starving in the forest if nobody finds me. Good luck, Eli, and whatever you do, don't let them get you alive.'

Esteban relaxed into Eli's arms, so that they held his back, and Esteban rested his head against Eli's chest. He put his hands behind Eli's head, gently pulling it towards him, until Eli's lips just grazed his neck. Esteban closed his eyes, and Eli pulled away and shook his head, weeping bitterly.

'Come on, Eli, there's no other way.'

Esteban closed his eyes and turned away from Eli, exposing his neck.

'I'm sorry, Esteban.'

'It's alright. Take it as a gift from someone who has nothing else to give.'

Esteban took Eli's head again, slowly drawing it to his neck. He felt Eli's hair brush against his cheek, as if in a caress. Reluctantly, Eli opened his mouth. Esteban felt two rows of razor-like teeth pierce his flesh, his neck now wet with blood and tears, and clenched his teeth.

Ego te absolvo...

Eli drank, tasting traces of cold sweat from the skin, tasting the blood of a man no longer young but not truly old, still in good health without being truly athletic, enfeebled despite his good nutrition by the frequent loss of blood. Above all, it was a taste Eli had become very familiar with, from all the times Esteban had fed him. Eli's lips felt Esteban's heartbeat become faster and faster, as did his breathing, even as the blood rushed out more slowly.

At last Esteban's wheezing scream ceased; his weak pulse quickened further and then ceased, and Eli's lips could feel his flesh begin to cool in the chill air. Eli pulled away and, without looking at the corpse's face, took his head and turned it, feeling and hearing the spine, less elastic than the softer tissues, break loudly in the grim silence of the night; the torque he applied strained bone and cartilage and muscle until the head was barely attached to the body by strands of flesh.

Eli took the backpack from underneath the corpse's legs, which didn't yet show any sign of rigor mortis, and dragged it along with his own to where Oskar was watching the moonlit scene, dumbstruck. Eli, with pale, pinkish tears streaming down his face, did not dare look into Oskar's eyes. Then he hugged him tightly, and a sobbing Oskar put his arms around him.