Redemption

[Poison]

It was almost nightfall in the small village. Unknown to its inhabitants a visitor waited in the lengthening shadows. The figure was slim and wrapped in a long, flowing cloak with the hood pulled up. A few tendrils of silver hair drifted at the edges of the hood, but the face within was indiscernible. For once, this visitor was not hunting blood. Its purpose in this small village was very different from that of others of its kind.

As the visitor waited, the sun finally went down all the way. Briefly, the visitor thought about removing the hood, but then thought better of it. It would not be a good idea to reveal oneself as a vampire in a village such as this. This village was not like other villages in Corone’s countryside. Other villages were filled with humans and were easily accessible. This village was inhabited by angels and they generally took exception to creatures of the night such as vampires.

At last, the person the vampire sought came into view. The angel walking slowly down the dirt path seemed sad. He was a tall angel and strongly built. His brown hair curled delightfully around his ears, but his clear blue eyes seemed like they carried all the tears of the whole world within them. Even his great, strong wings seemed to droop in the dust. The angel didn’t seem to care that they were getting dusty or that the very tips of his wings that drug in the dirt were getting tattered and torn.

The visitor’s heart nearly broke at the sight of this angel. They had grown up together and were the best of friends. As the visitor followed the sad angel to his home, the visitor hoped that friendship would still hold even now, years later.

[Poison]

Hesitantly, the hooded figure began to follow the care-worn angel. Just a few short months ago, her life had taken several sudden, unexpected turns all within the space of about a week. In that fateful week, she had found her birth father and discovered that she had an older half-sister that was from a different planet. However, her father had died saving her from his enemies.

Before he died, he told his youngest daughter how she could reverse the curse of vampirism. Apparently, since she had celestial blood running in her veins, the curse could be countered as though it were a special disease. She needed several things for this, but foremost among them was the blood of a pure Karnishan combined with the blood of a pure angel (simply because she was half Karnishan and needed her original blood line.) He had provided this in a tiny vial, whispering the instructions for the ceremony as his last breaths left his wounded body.

After burying their father, the girls had parted ways. Poison had no idea where her sister had gone, neither did she truly care. She had immediately began on a journey to return to her home, in the hopes that the angels there would help her reverse the vampire’s curse. Along the way, she thought long and hard about what she would have to do to accomplish this and by the time she reached her home village, she was certain she could go through with it.

Now, she was standing at the door of the angel she had followed. Taking a deep breath, she stepped up to the wood door and knocked three times.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

At first, she thought the door was not going to be opened, but then, to her surprise, the angel she’d followed opened it. He had on a smile that looked forced, for his eyes were deep, dark blue pools of intense sadness and pain. Wondering what had caused her friend such agony, she looked down at the ground.

“Please, sir, I’m just passing through for the night and I need a place to stay. May I stay here? I promise, I will harm no one.”

The angel sighed softly. The inn was not very far away and he knew that it was neither full nor closed. “Why do you not go to the inn? They will be able to give you much better comforts for the night than I can give.”

Steeling herself, Poison looked up and pulled back her hood. “It’s me: Anita. Please, Marcus, I need your help. I promise, I will harm no one.”

Marcus' eyes shot open as the hood fell away. The woman before him had no reason to identify herself. He recognized her right away. Opening the door wider, he beckoned for her to come in and closed the door behind her.

“What harm could you do? You were never one to harm a fly, let alone any person.”

“I’m...different...now. Things have been tough,” she said simply as she took a seat on the couch. She didn’t see any signs of anyone else living here with him, but did not mention it. She thought that perhaps the absence of one who might have lived here was what made her friend so sad and she had no wish to reopen not-quite-healed wounds.

“Different how?”

While Anita sat, he stepped into his small kitchen and found something to drink. After handing a glass of water to her, he took a seat beside her, waiting for her answer.

“I’m a vampire.”

[Poison]

Silence filled the small living room at that statement. Marcus did not move, he only stared in disbelief. He’d always hoped and prayed that the gods would see fit to bring Anita back to him. He never dreamed it would be as a cursed, despised vampire. Before she had disappeared, he had planned on asking her to be his. When she had disappeared, he had not given up loving her. Even now, almost a decade later, he was still living alone, waiting for the day that Anita would come home.

“A vampire? What, what do you want here?”

Anita looked away from him sadly. The water held no flavor for her, but she sipped at it anyway. “I need help. I want to be normal again, but I need the help of the village here to do it. I just don’t know how well they’d respond in helping a vampiress, even if she once belonged here.”

Marcus was silent for several long moments. He knew that the elders would not likely want to help her, but he was not about to give up on her. Gently, he wrapped an arm around her and drew her close to him. “Anita, I will do whatever I can to help you, but first, I need to know what we’ll have to do.”

The vampiress looked up at him gratefully and began to tell him everything her father had said. She would need a pure angel to willingly offer up his or her blood. This was to be combined with the vial of blood from her father. Once combined, there was a long incantation that had to be said over it by a priest. Once the incantation was done, all she had to do was drink it. The only real catch was that she had to be repentant of any and all sins she had committed in her life up to that point.

“I see,” he commented when she was finished. “I have heard rumors of that remedy. It only works for those with angelic blood running in their veins. I will see what I can do for you in the morning. In the meantime, I need to get some rest. You may stay here in my home for as long as this takes. I have some chickens out back, if you’re hungry.”

“Thank you, Marcus, but before you go to bed I have a few questions. First, how is my mother?”

“She’s well enough. She misses you. She tells everyone that you’ll be back one day and she feels it’s her fault you left. Why did you leave, anyway?”

Anita sighed at the news of her mother. When she first ran away, she had indeed blamed her mother for everything that had gone wrong. Now, however, she knew better.

“Lucas.”

“What about him? He left town just a week or two after you disappeared.”

“He did?" she asked, her eyes lighting up expectantly, "Do you know where he went? Nevermind, don’t worry about that just yet." She turned away from him, her voice growing soft as though she were trying to turn in on herself and hide from Marcus, "He...did something terrible...to me.”

“What did he do, Anita?” Marcus sounded very suspicious and worried as he placed a finger under Anita’s chin to turn her face toward him. “Anita?”

She took a deep breath. She’d only ever told one other person about this and that person was now dead. “Everyone knows that I’m a half-breed now, right?” At his nod, continued, “Well, when Lucas found out, he,” she paused, steeling herself for that words that churned her stomach, “he raped me.”

[Poison]

For the second time that night, Marcus was stunned into silence. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms tighter around Anita. No one had known this terrible deed, only that Lucas drank and had a frightful temper when he was drunk. Everyone had heard the big fight he’d had with Sophia in town the afternoon before he left, but no one would’ve guessed that it might have also been a guilty conscience that sent him running.

“Oh Ani, I’m so sorry. We didn’t know. Does your mother know about this?”

She shook her head, “I’ve only ever told two people. You and a man named Thomas. What am I going to do, marcus? No one truly likes a half-breed. Even if I was not a vampire, do you really think the Elders would be willing to help a half-breed knowing that it meant that my mother had been unfaithful to Lucas?”

Marcus sighed. Once again, Anita made a good point. He would have to talk fast and careful to get them to help Anita. Likely as not, they would blame Lucas’ drinking problem on Anita and her mother.

“First, you’re going to get some rest. Then, tomorrow, I will talk to the Elders. I will not tell them who it is that needs their help, only what the problem is. I’m sure that if I word it properly, they will consent to helping you. Now, is there anything else you need?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Are you sure I shouldn’t go with you? I can go out in the daylight so long as I keep my hood up.”

“No, they will sense the evil within you and might refuse out right. Wait until I come for you.”

Anita sighed, then nodded, “Okay, I will wait here.”

“Thank you. Now get some rest and I will see you in the morning.”

Rising from the couch, Marcus went to one of the backrooms and to his bed. Being a creature of the night, Poison stayed up and wandered quietly around Marcus' home. Long ago, before the ordeal with her stepfather, she had thought that she would one day marry Marcus. They had even shared a kiss on the night of her 16th birthday. That he was still single seemed odd to her since he was such a handsome angel, but she was not very worried about it.

Marcus' home was small. The living area was barely big enough to hold the small couch and one other chair. The kitchen/dining area was also quite small with a table and two chairs. Curious to see how well off he was, she went through his cupboards. There was not a whole lot there. Apparently, living alone was not necessarily comfortable. She closed the cupboards quietly then padded off down the hall.

There were only two other rooms in the home: a bathroom and Marcus' bedroom. As she passed it, she noticed the door to his room was slightly ajar. Silently, she opened it a little further and watched her friend as he slept. She couldn’t help but smile as she watched him. A little bit of moonlight touched the wall above his head, but she did not need it to see in the darkness. Now that he was not in front of someone, the mask he wore had fallen away. She could see how sad he was and wondered again what had happened to make her friend so sad.

Turning away, she pushed away the thoughts that she could have been by his side if certain events had not happened. He might have thought that she was interesting back when they were teenagers, but no real angel would truly care for a half-breed, except perhaps their mother.

Sighing softly to herself, she went and found herself a corner of the room that would be protected from the painful rays of sunlight in the morning. Curling up there, she wrapped her cloak around herself and sunk herself into the shadows as much as possible.