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Authors: James Michael Larranaga

Blood Orange Soda: Paranormal Romance (10 page)

BOOK: Blood Orange Soda: Paranormal Romance
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Up on my feet, and I’m racing through the damp woods. No sign of Bao and Chao; they’ve given up on me for today and I slow, watching over my shoulder, gasping for breath. My lungs are on fire. This must be what it feels like to be a runner, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why anybody would want to feel like this after they run. Leaning over, I spit what tastes like blood, but it’s only a bitter froth of saliva that hits the dirt.

My runner’s nausea fades after two or three minutes and I’m feeling paranoid again. There’s another presence in the woods, and I look around for Bao and Chao. They’re not here. This feels more like Shelby. She’s somewhere in front of me. The last car trails off with loud clanking echoes, and I see her step out from behind a large oak tree.

She waves. “Hi, Darius!”

This is a detour from my normal route, and I can’t figure out how she found me here. “Shelby, where did you come from?”

“School, of course,” she says, crossing over the tracks toward me. “You knew I was following, right?”

“Yeah, I sensed your presence a few minutes ago.”

“Normals can’t pick up on it. They’re easier to sneak up on.” She adjusts her backpack, but she’s not out of breath or tired like I am. “In my transformation I’ve developed this ability.”

“What ability?” I ask.

“Flight,” she says with a smile.

“You fly?”

“Not fly like a bird. I can go places in my mind, and my mind takes me there. Touch me.” She holds out her hand.

I walk up and reach for her, but my hand passes through her! “You’re an apparition.”

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it,” she says with a self-conscious smile.

“Where are you right now?”

“At my locker,” she says. “I was wondering where you were.”

“I’m at the railroad tracks—don’t you know that already?”

“No, I can’t see your surroundings. I only see you, Darius.”

“You can’t see that I’m outside?”

“I know you’re nearby, and I could locate you if I started walking in your direction,” she says. “But no, I can’t see your surroundings. I only see you as if you’re in the hallway here by my locker.”

“How did you make yourself appear to me?”

“I felt your presence, and you felt mine. The only way you can see me is if you desire to see me. You have to let me in. It’s like your phone; I can call you, but you have to answer me to connect.”

“This is eerie, seriously,” I admit to her.

“I tried to explain it to you at the game—”

“I know, just making sense of it.”

“This is part of the mystery of transforming into a Vampire,” she says. “Some Vampires inherit special skills and talents that Normals could never inherit.”

“It’s remarkable.”

“I wanted to invite you to my T-Party,” Shelby says. “That’s why I was searching for you. I’d really love it if you’d show up.”

“Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t miss it,” I say.

“It’s best if you don’t tell anybody about how you and I can communicate like this.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Great! Well, I’ll see you tomorrow?” she says, as if she’s about to hang up her phone.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

“Remember, this is our secret.”

She vanishes into a mist. I smell her perfume for a few seconds and then it, too, is gone. Did that really happen? I look around to ensure that nobody saw me talking to thin air. The woods are quiet except for a flock of sparrows flitting in the trees, and the last train car clicking along the tracks.

She wants her unique ability kept a secret. I’ve already mentioned it to Jack, and I’m sure he’s told my mom. But for now I’ll respect her request, and I decide not to mention it to Weezer or Angel.

“Mom’s sick, Uncle Jack is here,” Kira says as I close the kitchen door.

“How bad is she?” I ask Kira, as I set my backpack below the coatrack and walk into the kitchen.

“She hardly slept today, and she called Jack. He brought pizzas.” My sister pages through her homework at the table. “Oh, and he brought you something, over there.”

In the far corner of the kitchen, next to the pantry, is a large cardboard box. It’s sealed with packing tape. I walk over and lift the heavy box, and carefully set it back down. “Where’s Jack?”

“In the family room. You get in any fights today?”

“No, why would you care?”

“Jack wanted me to ask you,” Kira says with a shrug.

The family room is dark, and my mom is on the couch under a blanket. Jack is sitting cross-legged in a chair, meditating with his eyes closed. The TV volume is on low.

“Hey, buddy, how was school?” Jack asks, opening his eyes. “Any brawls?”

“I had to outrun Bao and Chao. How is she?” I ask, pointing toward my mom.

“She’s drained of her energy,” he says. “I called her boss and let him know she won’t work tonight or tomorrow.”

“Does she have a fever?” I ask, sitting on the edge of the coffee table.

“She was burning up earlier, then she got the chills,” Jack says. “Your mom is very sick, Darius.”

Her sick days have become part of my routine. However, the weight of Jack’s words and his tone pull me down to the reality of her situation. She’s
dying
.

“Let’s bring her to the hospital,” I say in desperation. “They can give her another blood transfusion.”

“She’s got late-stage V2. I’m not sure they’d give precious blood to her at this point.”

He’s right. Mom’s doctor turned her down once before. Clean blood is hard to find. Normals and healthy people rarely donate anymore, and Vamp thugs steal what little supply is out there.

“Can
you
get her blood, Jack?”

“You mean buy it on the black market?”

“Buy it or barter for it, whatever. Where do you get your feeding blood?”

“Sometimes I drink the free government-supplied blood,” he says.

“And what about the other times?” I ask.

Jack licks his lips, like Pavlov’s dog. “I bite for it,” he says under his breath.

Okay, that’s a major revelation, because the government made bite-feeding illegal long ago. Vampires are required to register and receive a free monthly pint of feeding blood, or as in my mom’s case, they must live on the Reds indefinitely.

“I’m not judging you. I just want to give my mom, your sister, a chance to live as long as possible.”

“I know, I understand,” Jack says in a more hushed tone. “I’ve offered her fresh blood before and she’s turned it down. Honestly, at this point I think it’s too late. She probably only has a few weeks left.”

A few weeks?!
I’m not ready to accept her death when I know she still has good days. Sure, the bad days are starting to tip the scales, but she still has the good ones.

“Get her fresh blood, Jack. Please, let’s try one more time!” I plead.

He looks at her on the couch. Her breathing is light, and almost silent.

“I’ll see what I can do. Fresh blood might give her more time, but if we want any chance of saving her, and I mean it would only be a sliver of a chance, we’d have to track down her First Bitten.”

“What are you saying? There’s a way to stop this disease?”

“No, never mind,” Jack says.

“C’mon, Jack! Tell me!”

“There might be a way. I’ve talked with Virginia about this. There are documented cases where V2 has gone into remission by reuniting a sick Vampire with his or her First Bitten.”

“What? How?”

“In that first bite, a Vampire transmits enough of his or her own cells into the Bitten,” Jack says. “And if the person receiving the bite has never been bitten before, those cells grow and can be used to reverse and stop V2. Again, this is rare. There are only a few documented cases.”

“But there’s hope!” I say in a loud whisper. “We could contact her First Bitten. She said his name is Jonathan and—”

“Hold up,” Jack says. “The only way Jonathan could transmit Virginia’s cells back into her body is through a bite. He has to be a Vampire.”

My hope fades. “She said he’s on the Reds, living life as a Normal. He’d have to transform into a Vampire and then bite her?”

“Yes, but—”

“What if I call and ask him if he’d be willing to try and save her?”

“This isn’t like donating blood, Darius. You’d be asking a married man to transform into a Vampire, all for a slim chance of saving an old girlfriend.”

Now I wish Jack just hadn’t said anything. He’s right; who would sacrifice so much?

“We’ll start with some fresh blood to see if we can get her comfortable again,” Jack says. “Let her sleep a bit longer, and come with me.”

We walk back into the kitchen and as we enter, Kira slides two pizzas out of the oven. The food smells delicious, and the thought of a warm pepperoni pizza is like a wave of comfort.

“How is she?” Kira asks, as she slices the pizzas into triangle sections.

“Better after she rests,” Jack says, sparing my sister the details.

I’m grabbing plates from the cupboard and Jack digs through the refrigerator. Kira takes the plates and we load up with pizza slices and sit down together as Jack prepares our drinks.

“Smells great, Kira,” he says, setting a can of Coke next to her plate.

He sets another can of Coke next to his own plate and then hands me a bottle.

“Here you go,” he says. “There’s four chilling in the refrigerator, and seventy-two more in that box.”

In my hand is a cold bottle of pink-orange liquid. The label reads:
Blood Orange Soda.

“Why does he get orange soda?” Kira asks.

“It’s no ordinary soft drink,” Jacks explains.

“I’m transforming,” I explain to Kira. “I’m off the Reds.”

“You
are
?” she asks me in disbelief.

“This bottle will kick-start his transformation process,” Jack says.

“Wow, really? Mom knows about this?”

“She’s cool with it,” Jack says. “Go ahead, take a sip, Darius.”

Hesitating for a second, I hold the cold bottle to my lips. This is the moment of truth, when I begin my transformation, and it deserves some reflection. No more life as a puny Goth; soon I will be a Vampire, with authority and power. The first sip tastes like bitter grapefruit juice as it washes over my tongue and down my throat. The weird thing is, the aftertaste reminds me of the taste of blood, what I tasted after I outran Bao and Chao today—a bitter, coppery aftertaste.

“Well?” Jack asks.

“Refreshing and bitter at the same time,” I say. “What’s in it?”

“The refreshing part is red grapefruit, and the bitterness is blood.”

“Whose blood?”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s clean blood. The guys on the street smuggle blood using these bottles of Blood Orange Soda.”

Kira stares at me. “Feel different?”

Sipping again, I’m enjoying my freedom to live off the Reds as I indulge in this red grapefruit drink spiked with blood.

“I feel the same so far,” I say.

“By the time you finish that bottle, you’ll catch a buzz,” Jack says. “It will last for twenty or thirty minutes. Drink only one bottle a day. Taking your dose in the evening is better than drinking it before school. Don’t go to school buzzed.”

A cold headache hits me between the eyes, and my head buzzes. I feel lighter, and woozy, and Kira is gazing at me. She seems jealous that her older brother is drinking from a fruit that she’s forbidden to taste.

“I’m feeling it,” I say to Jack.

“What do you feel?” Jack asks.

“Major head rush. Lighter, happier and…” Closing my eyes, I search for the appropriate description. “Buzzy, I guess.” Buzzy? Sounds like a Weezer word. And I burst into laughter.

“Your blood mixes with the blood in the bottle. You’ll get used to it in a few days. Remember, Darius, only drink one bottle per day. That’s all you need right now.”

This must be how it feels when you’re drunk, and I see why the Populars at school like to party. I’m bold, uninhibited, not a care in the world. This Blood Orange Soda is like courage water, and I could see myself really standing up to bullies like Bao Wang by drinking this stuff.

“Hi, Mom,” Kira says, looking past me.

She walks into the kitchen in a sleepy daze. Jack pops out of his chair and pulls a chair from the table.

“Want pizza?” I ask her.

“Not right now,” she says, “but thank you.”

She sees the bottle in my hand and turns to Jack, then notices the large box on the floor. For a moment, I can’t decipher her reaction. Is she pissed that he started this process without her final approval?

Jack straddles his chair with it facing backward. “You said he could do it.”

“I know. I wanted to see him take his first sip.” She nods and smiles.

“Sorry, Mom,” I say. “You were sound asleep and—”

“From this moment forward you’re on the path to becoming a Vampire,” she says, as she leans in and gives me a hug. “We’ll have a man in the house soon.”

“When Dad transformed after your bite, how long did his transformation take?” I ask my mom.

“I noticed his changes within the first month, and he fully transformed within nine months.”

“With one bottle a day, you should transform within six weeks,” Jack says. “You could speed it up by drinking more than one bottle a day. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. Is there any reason you’d want to transform sooner, Darius?”

BOOK: Blood Orange Soda: Paranormal Romance
8Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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