Drusilla of the Honeyed Crimson

“So,” Came an old man’s voice. He was a hatted man with rugged, yellow teeth. He drove around the streets of a dark, rainy city one evening. The rain pelted hard against the windows. “You get around often, miss?”

In the backseat of a taxi sat a pale woman. She wore a long-sleeve, stretchy, black T-Shirt. She put her hand to the window of the car door. She admired the rain and smelled the London petrichor. “I don’t, no. Not ever since Mr. Rekrah passed. Oh, sorry. You wouldn’t know who that is, would you?”

The taxi driver quickly turned at an intersection. The yellow taxi almost got curb-checked, but the driver forced up a cordial smirk. “My apologies, miss, but I definitely do not. Right then. Who’s this Mr. Rekrah? Sounds awfully a lot like-- Oh, I don’t know, like a Ricardo, or something! One of those Spaniards!” He rasped in his Cockney accent.

The pale woman met the driver’s comparison with a glare. She looked, for a minute, into the rearview mirror. As the man drove along a tight, dark street -- parked cars suffocating every side of him --, thunder crashed across the sky.

Behind his car, a bolt of lightning illuminated the face of his female passenger. For a brief moment, he could see the fibers and hues of her irises. They were vermilion, as vast as an ocean of pure blood. They also had an outline of flax and amber.

The driver’s heart jumped in his throat.

M-- Maybe it was just a trick of the light? He thought to himself.

“Sir,” The woman spoke in a chillingly British tone. It was somewhat reminiscent of the dreary roads of Olde England, and somewhat more modern. Like the late night clubbings of a Drum’N’Bass dance-off. “You can stop me off right here.”

The driver looked out the window of his own door, confused. “M-- Miss, this is just the cemetery. It’s closed after dark--”

“Drop me off. Now. I’ve someone I need to visit. Maybe multiple.”

The driver took off his hat, set it to the side, and side-eyed the girl. “Ugh, young miss, I’ll lose me job if I transport you to an illegal location. The Highgate Cemetery is closed after dark. Look, I can take you right up here, to Bill & Beans Coffee, but… yeah. Say, what’s with the fascination with Highgate anyway? Yanno, I never did get your name. You paid in cash.”

The young woman put a hand to her chin, giggling. She wore lots of mascara and had layered, choppy hair. She had a couple of wristbands and rolled up her sleeves to her wrists. She stifled her giggles and licked her teeth. “My name? Anim. Anim Rekrah. Here, allow me to spell it out for you, Mr. Driver.”

As the woman reached for a conveniently placed sharpie, as well as a tissue, she then held up the tissue to the rearview-mirror.

However, the rearview-mirror displayed the name in reverse.

MINA HARKER

“And now that I’ve told you my name… I’m going to have to drain you of all of your blood. Sorry mister, but you know what they say about Revellichs.”

“Wh-- What’s a Revellich?”

“Oh, I’m not quite sure myself.”

The driver, slowing down to the side of a random road in England, felt his blood run cold.

Mina licked her lips, playfully putting her hand behind his neck.

And that might’ve just been it for this middling taxi-driver…

… if only Drusilla Valcyon hadn’t been in the vicinity that day.

As she careened through the air, another youthful woman in a frilly, white shirt kicked into the taxi’s window. She bursted in through the window, grabbing Mina by her dark shirt, and flew off. With his arms over his head, the driver continued to shake. Once he realized Mina and the mysterious woman were long gone, he unshielded himself and looked around.

“What the bloody hell just happened there? God, I’ve gotta stop eating sushi before bed! That’s the fourth time this week! What would mother say?”

Many feet away, the two women jumped around the swing sets of Highgate Park. The woman known as Mina Harker put a claw out. Her fingernails grew razor-sharp. “And to whom do I owe the pleasure of combat? I can’t wait to tear you of all your blood, you pretty, little thing. I’m really quite famished! You know, I was only going to drink a little bit of that man’s blood. But would you like me to make you into the main entree?”

“Yeah, about that,” The mysterious woman unsheathed a curved sword from her belt. She wore tight, blue jeans and had long, auburn hair. Her skin was as tan as cinnamon. “I don’t think Chiropticanas can really eat other Chiropticanas. Not without serious adverse health-effects. I mean, you are a Chiropticana, right?”

“Bahaha! I’m no Chiropticana. I’m a Revellich, of course! I mean… duh! Totally a Revellich over here, you know? Uhuh! Tell me, you doll, is your name as pretty as your face?”

The tan woman drew her sword closer. “Oh, a Revellich, eh? Well, shit. Hmph. As for… the name. The name’s Drusilla. Drusilla Valcyon, and I’ve no patience for too many creatures from the Reverandum District of the Undertow. So, understand, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, Miss Mina Harker.”

“I prefer the hard way.” Mina hissed.

At this, Drusilla just shrugged happily. “Yeah, I figured you would.”

With a gasp, she lunged a violet sword in Mina’s direction. As she used only the flat of the blade, she pushed the Mina backwards. Mina put her arms up, her lips pursed into a grin. Her nails grew even sharper as she went to attack Drusilla. Jumping her height’s worth into the air, Mina landed a cut on Drusilla’s shoulder, her nails now sharper than before.

Drusilla flipped through the air, too, grunting and pointing her sword outward. Her irises flashed a shade of red again, and her canines protruded as quick as a bullet. As her blood pooled beneath her white shirt, she ran her blade through a space between Mina’s hair and neck.

As Mina had her back turned, the aroma of the sword’s iron tickled her nose. With wide eyes, she fell to her knees. Drusilla retracted her sword, careful not to cut her newfound opponent. She put a hand to her wound, winced, and then pulled out a nasty scrap of a honeydew-melon from her jeans.

Mina retracted her sharp nails. Her head tilted right and left as the jasmine scent of her hair wafted into the night-sky. With a dizzied grit, Mina turned around, eyeing up every inch of Drusilla’s rather tan complexion. Drusilla had curly, auburn hair. It contrasted Mina’s straight, black. The two young women took a breath.

“My old… fiancee… Sean Harker… used to let me feed.” Mina put a hand to her head. Her vision blurred. “I haven’t fed in a while, you see. Not ever since--”

“Wait. Something’s not right. Your eyes… are so much like those of a Revellich’s, and yet… different.” Drusilla gasped. She got down to her knees. She caressed Mina’s cheek as Mina also fell forward. “You’re not some sodding Revellich. What are you?”

“You’re one to talk, dollface. You’ve got fangs, I can see. Same as me. You mean to tell me you’re really not a Revellich, either? And yet we’re both a couple of British bombshells, eh?”

Drusilla shook her head. “I’m a Chiropticana, like I said. Humans seem to call it being a ‘vampire’, but it’s different. I wasn’t turned into anything. I’ve always been a Chiropticana.”

“And what if I am a Revellich?” Mina spat, dizzily getting to her feet. “Would you still kill me, then? Make yourself some sort of heroine? Be nice and proud of yourself? I don’t even know what these Revellich things are, but the occult groups around here have been talking about them.”

Drusilla pulled her hand away from Mina’s cheek, noting the woman’s tears. “I’d-- I’d not dream of it. But you can’t just mess around with the people of Highgate City. Let alone the taxi-drivers. I was gonna use one of those guys to… get some Chinese Takeout? Never had it before. So. Yeah. No more pranks, Mina Harker!”

Mina curled into herself. “Sean and I… used to prank people all the time.”

“I’m-- I’m sorry. Sean? Who’s--”

“My late fiance.” Mina shivered, her tone long and drawn-out. “He died before we could… what do you humans call it… ‘tie the knot’? You know. Two-point-five kids and a McMansion in Nottingham? Ugh. Not that the housing-market in Highgate is particularly virulent.”

“I’m not a human.” Drusilla stood up. “And if you are a Revellich, I demand you return to the Undertow at once! I made sure not to leave a scratch on you. Consider that a courtesy. But if you’re something else--” Then, Drusilla looked at her own wound again. She took another bite of her honeydew-melon. “Ah, nothin’ like some good ol’ fashioned Honeydew.”

“The hell? Did you eat just bloody fruit out of your pocket--”

“It’s a chiropticana-thing! You wouldn’t get it.” Drusilla innocently giggled. “It’s a medicinal fruit for my kind, ya might say.”

“Good God.” Mina uncurled herself. She revealed her red, teary face. “Your ‘kind’ sound like sodding dinosaurs. Chiropta-- Wha’?”

Drusilla merely winked. “I look pretty cute for a dinosaur though, no?” She did a little spin in her white bohemian dress. It was a cross between a poncho and a dress-shirt for girls. She smelled of coconuts and oud.

Mina turned away, pushing a clump of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re cute, alright. From head to toe. You’re like a budding stegosaurus… except without all the-- You know, the back-plates. Hmph. What’d you say your name was, again?”

“Drusilla. Drusilla Valcyon. And you’re… Mina, right?”

Mina merely nodded, now sitting over a patch of grass in the park. “Harker. Mina Harker.”

“Pretty. Erm, is that your late fiancee’s surname or--”

“Like I said, Drusilla, never made it that far. In fact, he was planning on taking my last name. He liked the sound of… being a Murray. And he’s buried in that cemetery, right over there. At least, I think he is.” Mina pointed to a tall, U-Shaped, iron fence. “If you’d just let me visit his grave, one last time, I’d happily return to the Undertow, where all of my other Revellich friends are, apparently.”

Drusilla squinted, raising a brow. “So wait, are you a Revellich or not?”

“I’m takin’ the piss, that’s what I am. Good to meetcha, Drusilla! I’m a ‘Cursed-Blood’.”

________

As a gust of wind carried the night right along, Drusilla stepped out of a restaurant with a brown, moist bag in hand. The aroma of chopped carrots, broccoli, and steamed chicken beat up her nose. Her eyes rolled back a little as she put a hand to her stomach.

In her white -- and opaque -- poncho-dress, the young Chiropticana looked at both ends of the street before crossing. Downtown Highgate was almost vacant, save for a small crowd of regulars over at One More Thyme, a local tearoom.

With a shrug, and her purple sword sheathed around her hip, she spotted a bench. She sighed, placing her bottom over the iron railings of the urban bench. Ripping the stapled, cardboard bag open, Drusilla winced as the scent of onions, peppers, and Yum-Yum sauce overtook her sense.

“Bloody-- That’s delicious, but fuck me, why do humans have to make everything so pungent? Can they not smell?”

Suddenly, as if alarmed by Drusilla’s food, Mina Harker jumped out of a bush. In her collarless black shirt, with sleeves as long and thin as a fitted sheet, the woman gave a beaming smile. With eyes as orange and yellow as a Revellich’s, but slightly different, Mina put a hand out in a friendly gesture. Up in the sky, the full moon looked back down at the two women.

“Drusilla!”

“M-- Mina! I thought you went back to the Under--”

“Yeah, I know… and that was a lie. Obviously. Sorry, I tend to do those on occasion.”

Drusilla had an eggroll in her mouth. She quickly scarfed it down, her own fangs coming out to play. “Joy. I guess I’m the kind of chick to just look up at a ceiling when somebody says someone wrote ‘gullible’. So, you’re not a Revellich, then?”

“Ugh, no! I have some idea of what those things are… and I kinda know what the Undertow is, but… Drusilla, I’m an actual fucking vampire!” Mina put her arms out, cross-like, and showed her fangs sharpening.

“Ah,” Drusilla squinted, finishing up another eggroll. “Yanno what, then? I do see a slight difference between us. Your teeth just get sharper when they protrude, but stay in place, while mine actually grow a little, and are thick. So, Ms. Not-Revellich, how may I help you?”

“Pfft. Well, if you must know, that was the last prank I’ll ever do to anyone around her, alright?” Mina crossed her arms, turning away. “I’ve decided… to finally let Sean… move on. We used to tape whoopie-cushions and toilet-paper to the slides and swings in the park. And he used to carry me. But I can’t keep living like this. Wandering around like a ghost. I’m a bloody woman, god damn it! I’ve gotta start slutting around at some point!”

Drusilla arched her posture, setting her food aside. “M-- Mina, I’m genuinely sorry about your fiancee. I didn’t mean to--”

“No, no. Please. This is my choice. It finally feels right. Tonight, it finally felt like the ritual of visiting his grave… was becoming too mechanical. He’s gone. And that feels…” A meek smirk spread across Mina’s face. “... relieving. It should feel sad, but I know he’s not suffering anymore.”

Drusilla’s brow furrowed as she nodded. “Y-- Yeah. Erm, look, I’m sorry if this crosses a boundary -- I did just meet you after all --, but how did he--”

“Car.” And with that, Mina plopped herself right down beside Drusilla. “We only dated for a few months, to be honest.”

“A few months?”

“And then he went and bit it like a bloody opossum! The poor SUV totally ran the poor bastard over. He was on fluids and such for three days, before he himself… gave consent for the doctors to pull the plug. He was…” Mina hugged at her shoulders, shivering a little. “... in so much pain. And then, just like that… he wasn’t! And he was fuckin’ dead!”

Drusilla’s mouth was agape at this. Holy shit.

“I thought, why shouldn’t I mess with the taxi-drivers and bicyclists and tourists? Not to mention the tour-guides, too? Scare the effing shit out of them. Why not? Why not? Sean would’ve laughed his ass off!” Mina shouted to the nightsky, then quieted down. “But then, it wasn’t fun anymore… honoring his memory in that way. So, tell me, Drusilla, what brings you to Highgate?”

“Oh.” Drusilla then went back to eating her Shrimp Fried Noodles. “My bloody ship broke. I’m marooned. A girl with nowhere to go.”

“You’re… what?” Mina tilted her head. Again, she took in the sight of Drusilla’s skin. It was like cinnamon brown-sugar, and the girl smelled of coconut and fresh honeydew. Mina felt her cheeks redden.

“Yeah. Ya see, I know this woman by the name of Queen Alisandra -- She’s very important, as you might imagine, what with a name like that --, and she has this ship she lets me borrow from time to time. She seldom uses it herself. It was an old toy of hers. It’s called the Ceranemes. It’s a ceramic orrery that lets me travel through--”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down! I thought you said you were a… Chiropta-Copa-Theh-Heh-Heh?”

“Ugh,” Drusilla groaned, looking away. “like I haven’t heard that one before.”

“Really? In that specific kind of slurring? Sorry, sorry. Do go on, then.” Mina winked.

“Basically, I just…” Drusilla at some Sweet and Sour Rice. “... broke my one ticket outta here. I’ll need to repair it, the ship. Somehow. I’m not exactly a mechanic. And then, I thought I’d go around, tagging-and-bagging some bad critters from this place called Undertow… like doppelgangers or Revellichs. But, in the meantime--”

“-- In the meantime, Drusilla, did you want to become, like, best friends?” Mina scooted closer on the bench. “Ha! Sorry, I’m normally not this excitable. But you just feel so homey.”

“I’m-- I’m down for that! I haven’t gotten close with people in a while. Not for any emo reasons, I’ve just been traveling!”

“Well, I could show you around all of Highgate! Sound like a plan?” Mina asked. She arched her posture, clapping excitedly.

“Oh my gosh, I’d love that!” Drusilla stood up, excited. Her own aroma of honeydew melons and oud blended in with Mina’s jasmine and currant. Drusilla quickly scarfed down the rest of her Chinese food, burped irreverently, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

“Oh my God, I could literally just scream! Ugh, I’ve never met another vampire before!”

“Chiropticana.”

“Yup, that!” Mina pointed. “So, what did you wanna see first? I see you’ve already purchased supper from The Dining Dragon.”

“That I have.” Drusilla smirked. “Well, I don’t know, Ms. Mina Harker. This city’s actually quite big. You should lead the way!”

“My God, follow me then! You’re not gonna regret it. And I promise to protect you from any oncoming cars, as well.” Mina winked. “I know the ins and outs of Highgate. Let’s girlboss this city to Hell and back, then! Oh, and…” The girl then took on a somber tone. “... don’t get too used to this demeanor, by the way. The minute we come across another human, I’m clamming up like a little twat. I love bitch-facing people out of existence. Do you listen to Alanis Morisette, perchance?”

At that, Drusilla let out a fresh laugh.

Well, looks like things just got… interesting. And kind of scary. And kind of a little sexy. Alright, then, Mina Harker, show me your city!

________