Blood Sickness

Blood Sickness
The glass broke against the floor as Viv's hand suddenly lost its grip. A wave of dizziness hit her, and the room spun wildly around her.

"Damien," she called out softly, her voice barely a whisper.

Her skin felt like it was on fire. One moment freezing cold, the next burning hot. She tried to take a step toward the door but her legs gave out. As she fell, she heard footsteps running toward her.

"Vivienne!" Damien caught her before she hit the ground. His cool hands felt like ice against her hot skin. "You're burning up."

Viv tried to focus on his face, but her vision blurred. "Something's wrong with me," she managed to say before another wave of pain crashed through her body.

Damien raised her easily and carried her to the bedroom. Every action made Viv's head pound harder. She felt like her blood was boiling in her veins.

"I'm calling Dr. Vega," Damien said, his voice tight with fear. He laid her gently on the bed and pulled out his phone.

Viv could only catch pieces of his conversation as awareness slipped away and back again.

"...sudden fever...hunter blood...yes, the twinned souls mark is glowing...hurry."

Time blurred for Viv. Sometimes she was aware of Damien's cool hand on her face. Other times, she drifted into strange dreams where her mother stood in a bright lab, drawing her blood with a golden needle.

"It's your gift and your curse," her dream mother whispered. "The hunter's blood is waking up."

A sharp pain in her arm pulled Viv back to consciousness. A small woman with silver streaked black hair was bent over her, drawing blood from her arm into a strange glass vial that glowed slightly blue.

"Who are you?" Viv tried to pull away, but she was too weak.

"I'm Dr. Vega," the woman said quietly. "I was your mother's colleague. Try to stay still."

Damien appeared beside the doctor. "How is she?"

Dr. Vega held up the bottle of Viv's blood, studying it closely. "Just as I feared. Her hunter blood is activating. The stress of the blood bond, the attacks, being exposed to vampire energy—it's all triggered the dormant genes."

"Is she going to die?" Damien's voice cracked slightly.

"No, but she's transforming." Dr. Vega turned to Viv. "Your mother called it the Awakening. Your blood is changing, developing defenses against vampire influence while also enhancing your natural abilities. It's why hunter bloodlines are so dangerous to vampires—and so valuable."

Another wave of pain hit Viv, making her cry out. Red spots appeared on her arms, like tiny drops of blood pushing through her skin.

"Damien," she gasped, reaching out blindly.

His cool hand found hers instantly. "I'm here."

"It hurts," she whispered.

"The fever will peak soon," Dr. Vega said, preparing a shot. "This will help with the pain, but I can't stop the process. Her body must complete the transformation."

As the doctor put the medicine into Viv's arm, Damien asked, "How long will this last?"

"Hours. Maybe a day." Dr. Vega packed up her bag. "Keep her cool. The fever might reach dangerous levels. And be careful—as her abilities manifest, she might lash out without meaning to."

After the doctor left, Damien sat beside Viv's bed, gently putting cold compresses on her forehead. The medicine eased the pain, but Viv still felt like her insides were rearranging themselves.

"My grandmother," Viv said suddenly, remembering. "She always said our family had special blood. That we were protectors."

Damien nodded. "Hunter bloodlines go back thousands of years. They evolved alongside vampires—nature's way of creating balance."

"Did my mother go through this?"

"Yes, but later in life. Your exposure to vampire energy through our blood bond accelerated the process." Damien's face was tight with guilt. "I'm sorry, Vivienne. I never meant for this to happen."

"Not your fault," Viv mumbled as another wave of pain washed over her.

As the night wore on, Viv drifted in and out of awareness. Each time she woke, Damien was there, wiping her brow, helping her drink water, his face getting more concerned as her fever climbed higher.

During one moment of focus, Viv noticed something strange. "Your eyes," she whispered. "They're blue again. Not vampire red."

Damien seemed surprised. He touched his face as if he could feel the change. "It's the blood bond. Your blood is changing me too."

Before Viv could ask what that meant, she was pulled back into her fever dreams. This time, she saw Lord Erebus standing over a line of people strapped to tables. Blood flowed from their arms into a big glass container.

"Not enough," dream Erebus hissed. "We need the pure source. We need the girl."

Viv jerked awake with a gasp. The room was dark except for moonlight coming through the window. Damien sat in a chair beside her bed, his head drooping in tiredness.

"Damien," she croaked, her throat dry. "Erebus is hurting them. The missing people."

He was instantly alert. "You saw something?"

"A vision. He's taking their blood, but he said it's not enough." Viv tried to sit up but fell back as weakness overtook her. "We have to help them."

"We will," Damien promised. "But you need to get through this first."

Viv grabbed his wrist with surprising strength. "No. It has to be now. I can feel it—he's going to kill them soon. He's desperate."

Damien paused, then nodded. "I'll make some calls. See what we can do."

As he stood to leave, Viv noticed something that made her heart stop. On Damien's neck, just visible above his collar, were small red spots—identical to the ones that had appeared on her own skin.

"Damien, your neck..."

He touched the spots and frowned. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing. It's the same as mine." Viv sat up despite the pain. "The blood bond isn't just changing me, is it? It's changing you too."

Damien's silence was answer enough.

"Is it hurting you?" Viv asked.

"Not exactly." Damien sat back down beside her. "Your hunter blood should be poison to me. Instead, it's... rewriting something inside me. Dr. Vega doesn't understand it. The twinned souls bond has never been studied properly."

"Could it kill you?" Fear made Viv's voice shake.

"I don't know."

Before Viv could answer, a sharp pain shot through her head. But this was different—not physical pain, but a sudden overwhelming sense of fear and anguish that wasn't her own.

"They're dying," she gasped, gripping her head. "I can feel them. The missing people. Erebus is—" She broke off as images flooded her mind. A laboratory. Blood. Death.

"What do you see?" Damien asked anxiously.

"A building. Old. By water. There's a sign... Blackriver Pharmaceuticals." Viv looked up at Damien. "He's there. With all of them."

"That's one of my old properties," Damien said, his face darkening. "Abandoned years ago."

"We have to go now," Viv insisted, trying to stand despite her weakness. "He's starting some kind of ritual. I can feel it."

Damien gently pushed her back onto the bed. "You're too weak. I'll go with my people."

"No!" Viv grabbed his arm. "You don't understand. The ritual needs both of us—your royal vampire blood and my hunter blood. If you go alone, you're giving him exactly what he wants."

"And if I take you in your condition, I might be delivering you to your death," Damien countered.

Viv was about to argue when another image hit her, stronger than before. She saw her father, Marcel, strapped to a table next to the other prisoners. Erebus stood over him with a silver knife.

"He has my father," Viv whispered in horror. "Erebus is going to sacrifice him to start the ritual."

The blue mark on Viv's wrist suddenly flared with light, brighter than ever before. Damien's mark reacted, glowing with the same intensity. The pain in Viv's body eased as warmth flowed through her veins.

She sat up, feeling a surge of power. "Something's happening."

Damien stared at their bright marks. "The bond is... helping you heal."

Viv swung her legs over the side of the bed. The weakness was still there, but now she could stand. "I'm going with you."

"It's too dangerous," Damien started, but stopped when he saw her face.

"He has my father," Viv said. "And those people need us. I can fight."

"You don't know how to fight vampires."

Viv felt a strange confidence flow through her. "I think I do. The hunter blood—it knows." She looked down at her hands where the red spots had faded, replaced by a faint blue glow under her skin. "I can feel it."

Damien studied her for a long moment, then nodded. "If you're sure."

"I am."

As Damien left to make preparations, Viv walked to the window and looked out at the night sky. The fever still burned in her blood, but now it felt different—not like sickness, but like strength.

She pressed her hand against the glass, watching the blue light pulse beneath her skin. "I'm coming, Dad," she whispered.

Behind her, mirrored in the window glass, a shadow moved—a shadow that wasn't Damien's. Viv spun around, suddenly alert.

The bedroom was empty. But on the wall, written in what looked horribly like blood, were fresh words that hadn't been there moments before:

BLOOD WILL CALL TO BLOOD. COME ALONE OR THEY ALL DIE.

The words began to drip down the wall, making a familiar symbol—Lord Erebus's mark.