A Matter of Time [OPEN]

[Oscar Grayling]

The blood was thick and somewhere in the back of his brain, Oscar reasoned that it ought to have been warm. But it was not warm like his own would have been. It wasn’t cold, either. It was somewhere in between, like a coffee that had ben left too long on a lukewarm day, but still clung to a little of its former heat. Only a little.

The taste, too, was foreign. Oscar had heard of people in the desert drinking the blood of animals because they could not find water, because the blood would sustain them. It was a last resort, however, and he’d never been the kind of man to eat his steak rare. Medium rare, maybe, but with medium rare you still taste the char more than you do the blood in the meat.

But this blood was magical. Oscar’s body recognised it as something that could help; with that instinct to survive, it recognised the vampire’s blood as a healing agent, and so took it willingly. Oscar drank until the source was taken away, his meal deemed enough. He might have complained as the blood bag was handed to him; he could not yet know that the blood within it wouldn’t be the same as the vampire’s blood.

”I feel…” he started, but couldn’t quite grasp what it was he was feeling. Dizzy, for one. He had to keep blinking, not knowing whether it was too dark or too bright. ”Oh…” he shook his head, thrusting the bag of blood back in Kira’s direction. ”I need a bathroom…” he said. ”Is there a bathroom…? I’m going to… I feel like I’m going to throw up…” he said. His gut had turned on him. His organs were like sponges and invisible hands had reached in and were now twisting them, tight, trying to expunge every ounce of liquid from within them. His breath hitched in his throat, he clawed at his chest.

Oh, god. Am I having a heart attack?!

[Kira]

Kira watched the man closely, wondering when the 'change' would happen. He wasn't going for the bag of blood so that need for it must not be there yet. She was sure he had enough of her blood, heck she ended up with David when some of her blood ended up in his mouth, it that wasn't much.

But then the bag was pushed back to her, "What's wrong?" she asked. When he asked about a bathroom, she was confused until he said he felt like he was going to throw up. Well ****. "No throwing up out here!" she was sure that would be worse than blood on the floor, the smell. Lexy wouldn't be pleased. She quickly grabbed the man by the arm and guided him to the bathroom.

Now he sounded like he couldn't breath. The way he was clawing at his chest, she was wondering if that was his heart stopping.

"Oscar, I'm going to assume your heart is...well it's going to stop beating." Kira said, watching him closely. She pointed him towards the toilet just in case he did lose his last meal. She tired to use her allurist abilities to help calm him down. "It will be alright.." she wanted to tell him to calm down but that seemed rather stupid, not many people could be calm while they slowly died.

[Storyteller]

==========AUTOMATED POST==========

Kira attempted to convince Oscar Grayling of something, but the attempt was a failure!

[Oscar Grayling]

• I’m having a heart attack. My body is rejecting the blood. I’m going to die. She’s poisoned me! It’s poison. They didn’t tell me that some people were allergic. Is that what this is? Am I allergic?! Oh thank god, a toilet…

-+-

The blonde lurched across the tiles and the bile that hit the back of the ceramic toilet bowl was red. Red, mixed in with chunks of brown and white and more flecks of red. Panic curled in Oscar’s pained chest until he remembered that they’d fed them spaghetti and meatballs for dinner at the ward and the chunky bits of red were not his lungs being torn from his chest but instead fleshy bits of tomato that had not yet been digested. In fact, most of the food that hurled from Oscar’s gut was still kind-of whole, testament to how fast the guy had wolfed down the food – he’d barely chewed it.

But there was blood in there, for sure. Kira’s blood, which had not yet dissolved into his system. It was only a mouthful of it; each new regurgitation had less and less in it, until the very last which was only acidic and clear. The very last of the fluids that his body no longer needed.

For a moment, when Kira had been talking to him, he’d felt … warm, as if in listening to her he might be lulled into a comfort and security. But he’d hardly heard a word she said and, when he’d finished throwing up and the pain in his chest had abated, he turned his now-weary eyes in her direction. Was she still there, watching him throw his guts into the sewerage?

”I didn’t hear you,” he said, wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

”Is this normal? Please tell me this is normal…” he said, slumping to the ground and sliding up against the wall. Now he felt empty. He recalled the blood pack. He expected the memory to make him sick again, but instead there was a sharp ache in his gums. He hissed, lips curled back. He lifted a hand to his teeth, thumb pricked by a sharp canine that hadn’t been there before.

”Oh…” he crooned.

It must have worked after all.

[Kira]

Kira flinched at the sight of the vomit. Nope, she was not cleaning this up. This was a job for Dave, yep, a job for Dave. She took a step back, the scent hit her nose and it was awful. Did vampires still react to puke like humans? Start puking because of the smell of puke? She never ran into this before. Her eyes darted around. Thank the gods, an exhaust fan. She quickly flipped the switch in hopes of some of the smell would leave the room.

Then she spotted the air fresher and quickly sprayed some of that in the air. She coughed, nope maybe that was worse. ****.

She watched as he slumped to the ground, he hadn't been listening? Well, maybe it was hard to listen when one is throwing their guts up.

"I'm going to say yes.." Kira said, "Your body rejected the food you already had in you so it got rid of it.."

"This happens with vampires, if they try to eat something, they just throw it up. Only one path can still take in normal food and drink." she added, watching him closely as he discovered his fangs.

Not that he would know what she was talking about paths. She had things to explain to him. Maybe vampires should just have guidebooks for the newly turned. Here read this and I'll answer questions that you have. That would be helpful and it would make sure one didn't leave out anything.

[Oscar Grayling]

If Oscar were a dog, his ears would have twitched and swivelled toward the sound of the exhaust fan. He was not a dog, however, and instead it was his whole head that turned, blue eyes wide, pupils big and round and dark. It sounded like an aeroplane taking off! And this his pupils thinned and shrunk as his eyes flickered to the lights, bright. Too bright. But he kept staring anyway, head cocked to the side, certain that he could hear the buzzing of the electricity through the wires.

And then the air-freshener got up his nose, the scent strong, so strong, like he could pick out every tiny separate little element that made it what it was. But it didn’t smell fresh at all. It smelled like chemicals, potent and acidic. He violently sneezed five times in a row, back on his hands and knees, wanting to push himself to his feet but getting distracted by the grouting in the tiles. He could feel it beneath his fingertips, gritty, dirty, rough. He was like a newborn with a touch-and-feel book, fascinated.

But then there was that ache in the back of his throat again, that need for sustenance. He cleared his throat and finally pushed himself to his feet, standing, swaying, bright, grateful eyes upon the person he would now call sire.

It was normal, she said. But now he felt better than normal, and those questions he’d asked were a thing of the past.

”…can I have the blood, now?” he asked. Oh, he had plenty of other questions pertaining to what she had said, but that could wait.

[Kira]

Kira kept watching him closely, not sure how this turning was going. He started sneezing, she could only guess because of the air freshener. She tilted her head when he acted like he was about to get up but only to stop, distracted by...the floor? She blinked, confused. Was there something wrong with his senses or was he getting used to the vampire senses?

He asked for the blood now. "Oh, yeah of course." she said, she quickly went to retrieve the blood bag that was left behind. She grabbed two just in the case, she wasn't sure how much he was going to need. She returned to him and handed him a bag. "You going to need a place to stay? I have extra places around town, you can stay at one of them." she said. She wasn't sure what happens to a person's stuff when they end up in a place like that. She could also get a spare cell phone and some cash for him to get started. She thought on what kind of weapons she had laying around. She picked up some good ones from some of her hunting sessions that he could have.

"You have any questions?" she asked. There was a lot of things she needed to explain to him but she didn't want to overwhelm him.

[Oscar Grayling]

A place to stay.

Oscar thought about it as he took the offered blood bag from Kira. He stared at it for a few long seconds, fascinated by the colour of the liquid inside. Until his thirst got the better of him and told him to tear it open, just a corner. He slurped and sucked at the blood like it was juice, watching Kira, still thinking—until he could only focus on the taste of the blood.

A rumble of appreciation sounded from his throat; he sucked air in through his nostrils, though he didn’t need the oxygen. It was a habit he would eventually break. He sucked until the bag was thin and dry and empty, a husk, and immediately grabbed for the second one. He might have kept going had he had access to more. Not necessarily because he needed it, but because it was like the tiles. It was new, the way this stuff tasted, like he could taste every nutrient and every fat that had gone into making the blood. The two bags tasted so different, and he wanted to know why.

He would always want to know why. He would constantly be asking that question. Like a five year old. But it was all for the quest for knowledge.

Eventually there was nothing left in either bag and Oscar was sucking the blood from his teeth, making sure there was none left on his lips. Finally, he remembered that Kira had asked a question.

A place to stay.

”Yeah. Probably,” he said. He doubted his old place would still be there. It would have been rented out to someone else. His belongings had probably been shipped back to his family—if they hadn’t just said they could be tossed. He frowned, the first sign of any real feeling in regards to his old life. There were sentimental things he’d found to be precious.

• I’d have to get myself settled. Try to call someone. Could I… would—

”Would it even be safe to contact them?” he asked out loud, blinking up at Kira—only realising a second too late that she wasn’t privy to his thoughts. Except that she had been. But Oscar didn’t know that. ”My family, I mean. They live in England. They’re not here. They wouldn’t know anything…”

[Kira]

Kira watched him, waiting for a reply but knew he had to be hungry. The place in Willow Court had plenty of room, he could stay there. She tilted her head, "Hmm, well I know what path you are." she said, that was at least something.

"I don't see why not. Having living family members used to be an issue when I first came here. People weren't supposed to find out about vampires...now everyone knows so it's not that big of an issue." Kira said, "Of course you don't have to tell them what happened. I'm sure some people wouldn't like knowing that their family member was turned into a vampire."

"Are you going to tell them you were released?" she asked, she wasn't sure how close he was to his family.

[Oscar Grayling]

”My path?” he asked, confused.

And would his family want to know? Would they care? Should he tell them anything? He shook his head. He couldn’t. They’d think he was even more crazy than he already was. They’d come looking for him. The next place they had him locked up in, he’d not be able to escape from so easily.

• They don’t care no, no calling them. Maybe sometime. No…

”Released? No. They’ll probably get a phone call from the hospital. They’ll know I wasn’t released. I guess I should lay low for a while, huh?” he said with a snort and a laugh. Whatever he’d felt about his family or their abandonment of him was banished. He was a grown man. He’d got along just fine before any of this obsession with vampires. To be honest, they’d never really all been that close. Maybe in childhood, but that’s another cruelty of time. That they all must grow out of childhood, they all must move on from the simple things that used to comfort them. Parents stopped being parents, brothers and sisters got married and had children and became parents of their own. Siblings fall lower in that list of priorities.

Oh, he still loved them, for what it was worth. That was family. But they were pushed from his mind. There were more pressing things to think about.

• No answer about the… should I ask…? Yes. No. …yes—

”So did you ah… ask about a place to stay because you might have somewhere I can ah… stay? Just for a little while…” Awkward. But he found himself staring at Kira, this woman called his sire. He was staring, as if trying to count the eyelashes on her eyelids…