The Alias

Part 8

Carrots lay on the far side of the table. They smell bare, almost none existent. Droplets of liquid scurry on their smooth exterior as I turn back around to find Aveline sitting at one of the tables. Sitting next to her she pushes another glass toward me. This one has a deep scarlet color. Handing her the carrots I pick the drink up. Apple juice never really tastes good but then again there is no way she can make it like Mother, right?

The liquid feels like metallic specks of vanilla. Mother once held a party featuring human culture for remembrance. I requested the vanilla bean plant from one of her friends. The flower reminded me of my hair while the taste was always described as delectably sweet. To me however I always believed it to be the taste of the crimson pulsing through the veins that danced across tender muscles and soft lush skin just like in the books.

Life sparks within the confines of each cell as the sweet warmth drips from the glass and trickles down my parched throat. Apple juice has been the only thing to edge away the cold but never completely. However, this recipe of liquid warmth mixes with my frigid blood sweeping the cold from my veins. Grasping my rebellious heart the liquid invades the thrumming chambers. The skin stretching across my body grows a sort of rosy tint replacing the dull grey. My muscles ache as a lifespan of memories prance across the weakened tissue flickering cells into action.

"Please, can I have more?" The glass slides from my fingertips and glides toward my crystalline. She slides her hand toward a strap around her waist. A silver dagger retracts from it's concealment from her palm. The triangular tipped edge is indulged in the alabaster skin's warmth clinging to the crimson honey beneath. Droplets that had previously slumbered in the depths of her raging viens seep through the slit in her wrist. Stumbling over each other like cowardice lions begging to be caged by the blue tinted cup. Her muscles bind themselves back up as if on an unknown command.

The metallic table strikes my eager fingertips warning them of the desolation that pulses through my essence. The scarlet liquid sinks its claws into my pounding head ripping away scorching pain. Aveline's snowy voice echoes through the chambers of my collapsing mind.

"How long has it been?"

Bewilderment and something I have long since associated with, fear laces her words. Finding shelter only in her eyes as her features grow still.

"Since I've eaten?" She nods ever so slightly, "Seven months I think."

"You think?" Aveline's voice is barely audible, the only indication of emotional thought.

Mother had once taken me outside the estate to a man she called Allen. When she would leave the room he told me about the emotions of human society. He also explained how to apply them to the actions humans do. I tried to tell Mother about what I had learned but she resented my discovery and thought to punish me instead. She believed knowledge of emotion was a sin to the soul.

"You'd lose track too." I state staring at the empty table.

"I suppose I would."

"What are you?"

"Huh," Confusion weaves its way through her features.

"What species are you? I once read about crystallines and you said that you each represent a species and their is a hierarchy of sorts. So what are you?"

"You like to read, fascinating. Well yes we do represent a species and that same species is also ours. For example I am human-"

"You're human? No way, they went extinct thousands of years ago. I have, like, a million question..." Aveline's laugh is sweet and rhythmic in contrast to the hallway leaking the thundering gap of silence.

"Shoot."

"I'm sorry, but why would I shoot you? There is no comprehensible reason to do such a vulgar thing."

"It's a saying from my time that means ask away."

"Well then, what to ask first. Oh, is it true that you can change the color of your skin using the essence of the sun? Did you really throw a giant almond at each other as entertainment?"

"Well we called it tanning but yeah. However it wasn't an almond they threw, it was a football."