Thinblood

In the city of Evermoore, amidst its tall newborn corporations, digital billboards flashing advertisements every minute, overcrowded subways filled with the sound of smartphone pop-ups, a good old silent war was being waged between two species — humans and vampires. Over the last century, the humans have never been successful in defeating them. But thanks to the invention of guns and ‘words before hands’ policies, the tide had started to shift, with portions of the city being under the control of humans.

Overshadowed by the city’s skyscrapers stood an old building lost in the sands of the past.

Mold had begun to eat away at portions of its outer walls, giving off a faint smell of rot. On the right side stood a playground with a couple of children riding swings — the rusty ones that cry in metallic sound similar to an out-of-tune guitar. The glass windows had a few scratches on them, with some having crack marks, but they were clean enough. A small church stood on the left side with its doors chained shut. Towards the back of the church, a so-called priest could be seen discreetly lighting his cigarette and taking a small puff. A small gate stood at the front with a wooden board that read ‘Moonhaven Orphanage’, the word ‘haven’ almost faded out.

A frail-looking teenage boy could be seen on the playground with stones being thrown at him by a group of boys similar to his age. His silvery white hair was messy but groomed, reaching in length to his eyelids.

“Thinblood! Thinblood! Thinblood!” they chanted while throwing rocks at the boy. He didn’t flinch, didn’t move, didn’t even utter a single word. Lucas Strain was his name, but in their eyes, he was nothing but a thinblood.

Thinblood, a curse or a disease? It’s hard to figure out. It makes its carrier weak, powerless, and is often seen as a sign of ill omen.

While the humans and vampires were always at each other’s throats, they had an unspoken rule when it came to thinbloods:

Thinbloods, whether born of human or vampire, shall be granted no home, no kin, and no life.

The group of boys kept on chanting, with a few others joining in, adding a few new insults.

“No wonder your parents abandoned you.”

“Who would want to keep someone of your kind?”

“I bet he cursed them to death.”

Lucas tightly gripped the loose soil near his feet before curling his fist and slamming it into the ground. The punch didn’t make much of a dent, but it sure did a number on his knuckles. He always discouraged fighting, as he believed it did more harm than good. But when it came to his family, his fists seemed to have a mind of their own.

“What did you say?” he asked, staring at them, his fists ready to launch. “You’d better take that back.”

“Or what, thin—” the boy was interrupted by Lucas swinging his fist at him. It was slow and predictable, not even worth dodging. The punch hit nothing but air with its momentum carrying Lucas forward and crashing him to the ground once more. Laughter broke out immediately.

“Hey!” a female voice shouted from the other side of the glass window overlooking the playground. It caught the attention of the group. They turned around towards the voice and saw a woman in a full white habit coming closer to the window. Her black hair was tied into a bun and stood out among her all-white garments. A sealed red pendant hung around her neck. In general, nuns are not allowed to carry any personal possessions, but this pendant seemed too personal for her to be discarded.

“What the hell do you think you boys are doing, ganging up on him like that? You’d all better stop before I get there,” she barked at them like an angry mother about to school her kids. It seemed that taking vows of faith had not yet mellowed her tone.

“Run! Run! It’s sister Selina.” The group of boys started to scatter in different directions, and by the time she reached the scene, everyone except Lucas had vanished.

“Pfft, look at them running away again,” said Selina, angry and frustrated.

Lucas sat on the ground with dust on parts of his face and shirt. Small cuts appeared across his fingers with a few drops of blood leaking out. Selina approached him, patting the mud from his clothes before reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a small handkerchief. It smelled of cheap cologne and had a messy floral pattern with the initials S.G. sewn at the bottom. Without a moment of pause, she knelt down and started pressing it against Lucas’s face, wiping away the mud.

“Are you alright, Lucas? Did those brats hurt you again?” asked Selina, as she knelt down.

“I am fine, sister,” replied Lucas, turning his head away from Selina. He used the back of his hand to wipe off the few tears that had come loose. He turned his head towards Selina and broke into a wide smile. It was the same smile he had practiced in front of the mirror since the day his parents left him. “See? I am all good. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Selina took a glance at Lucas. The skin around his eyes appeared red. She didn’t waste time and started wiping his eyes with the handkerchief. Once done, she tried pressing it against the small cuts on his fingers. But it seemed the wounds had already regenerated without any scar. Lucas glanced at her, but she seemed unfazed by the unusual scene.

“Y-you knew?” The words left him before he could think them through.

“What? That you’re a vampire? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?” she replied, as if she saw it coming. She got up and started dusting off her hands before continuing. “You’ve been getting bullied since the day you came here, and yet I haven’t even seen a single wound on you.”

“I don’t deserve to be called a vampire…or a human either. I don’t have those red vampire eyes. And, I can never have scars like the humans. Maybe I am indeed a freak, as they say,” said Lucas, his fingers scribbling on the ground aimlessly. He had thought about this since the day he came here. He paused for a second. Before he could comprehend, words started to come out of his mouth. “S-Sister, am I really impure? Do I deserve to die?”

“Listen, Lucas,” said Selina, flicking his forehead and looking into his eyes. “You might be a thinblood, but you bleed, you feel, you endure just like the rest of us. So, tell me, how does that make you any less deserving of this world; of this life, than them?”

Lucas looked down again. “Why are you so nice to me? You know, no one here cares. To them, I don’t even exist. So why you?”

“Because I care. And for me, you do exist, and you do matter,” replied Selina, as she patted his head, a thing her mother used to do when she was a child.

A faint smile appeared on Lucas’s face, but it didn’t stick around for long. He pushed away Selina’s hand and then ran his fingers through his own hair, letting it cover his eyes.

Kindness is a fool’s dream. And Lucas didn’t want to be a fool. Again.

“So, when is dinner? Cause I am starving.”

“You little shit. We were having a moment there. Way to change the topic.”

Lucas looked up at her and let out a quiet breath, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh.

“You’re so silly, sister.”

“Excuse me? I think you meant to say smart,” Selina said in her playful voice, letting out a small smirk at the end. “Alright, alright. It’s evening already. Now go to your room. Oh — right. I left a small surprise for you in your room.” She leaned in and whispered. “Shh. Don’t tell anyone. It shall be a secret between us.”

As Lucas went inside, a smile settled on Selina’s face without her knowing.

“You have grown quite attached to it, Selina.” A voice from within whispered into her mind. The low pitch of the voice sounded like the hypnotic hum of the abyss itself.

Selina dropped her smile.

The voice kept on whispering, with each word making her lose her sanity.

She gripped the rosary with both her hands, joining in the form of a prayer, but it didn’t help. It never did.

The whispers continued, getting louder and louder every second.

“Do you know what they call a thinblood? A hollow. Because they are empty shells, hunted by their own kind, culled by their own bloodline. They are nothing, and they deserve nothing. Tell me, foolish girl — how do you plan to protect THAT from both humans and vampires?”

The voice continued tormenting her. “Kill it, Selina. I command you to drive that cross through its heart. Why do you hesitate, my child? You know what you came here to do.”

Selina’s body froze with her black pupils turning red. Her hands started to move like a marionette, tightening around the rosary and turning the pointy end forward like a blade ready to kill. She understood that if things went on, she would lose control of her entire body. Without delaying, she jammed the rosary into her palm with her other hand to stay conscious.

“You will never get what you want. You hear me?” she screamed at the voice, her pupils turning black again.

The voice was amused.

“We will see about that,” the voice laughed before gradually fading away.

Selina looked at her palm and pulled out the cross. It healed in an instant. Regeneration, a power possessed by every vampire, with some higher ones able to regenerate their entire limbs in an instant.

Selina started wiping her rosary clean using her handkerchief. Once done, she stared at the bloodied handkerchief, the one she had just washed today.

“Ahhh…it’s all bloody now.”

She took a deep breath, trying to gather her composure, and decided to go back inside.

Night fell, with the aroma of food spreading across the dining hall. Several children sat at the wooden table, their empty plates before them, as they waited for the food. Mashed potatoes and gravy, bland and unseasoned. But it didn’t matter when you have an empty stomach. Before the priest had even whispered “Amen”, some of the children had already started gulping down the food, ready for seconds.

Lucas took one sip of the gravy and decided that tonight’s dinner would consist solely of mashed potatoes. Before he could take another bite, something else caught his attention. Across the table on the other side, a boy named Finn was staring at his food, fiddling with his spoon without taking a single bite. Lucas got up and walked over with his plate, taking a seat beside him. It came as a surprise to Finn, as he had barely interacted with Lucas before.

“Damn, these mashed potatoes taste like mud,” complained Lucas, as he took another bite.

Finn paused and gave an annoyed glance at Lucas. “If you don’t like it, then don’t eat it.”

“Gotta fill my belly somehow.” Lucas tried taking another bite but soon reached for a glass of water, gulping it down in one go. The potatoes were too dry for him. “They taste pretty good if you add a bit of water.”

Finn didn’t say a word. He turned his head towards Lucas and stared at him as if saying: Jeez, what a weirdo.

Lucas was never good at small talk. But tonight, his mind had other plans. “So, what’s up with you? Your plate seems full.”

“It’s got nothing to do with you, thinblood.”

“You’re right. It has nothing to do with me. But unlike your friends, I am here willing to listen.” Lucas placed his hand on Finn’s shoulder, trying to assure him.

Finn was confused. He quickly shrugged off Lucas’s hand after dropping his spoon. This was not something he was used to. With a deep sigh, he looked down and finally gave in. “It’s my roomie. Carl.”

“What about him?” asked Lucas as he pulled his chair closer.

“Remember a few weeks back? When Carl and some others got sick? They took them away to some hospital for treatment.”

“Oh, yeah. I remember now. That old man had come with the ambulance. You know, the one with the scar? I forgot his name.” Lucas scratched his head but couldn’t seem to recall.

“Edgar. Doctor Edgar. I believe that’s his name.”

“What about him?”

Finn hesitated for a moment. He looked around the room trying to make sure that no ears were prying into their conversation. Just to be double safe, he pulled the chair closer to Lucas. “Whenever someone falls sick, he comes and takes them away for treatment. I thought that was normal until yesterday.”

Finn reached for the glass and took a big gulp of his water before continuing. “Yesterday after dinner, as I was getting ready to go upstairs, I heard Sister Margaret speaking with another nun. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but was curious. I stood behind the stairs and heard them say to each other that whenever kids get sick, Doctor Edgar takes them away for treatment. But they don’t seem to return.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“I am telling you what I heard, Lucas.”

“So, you think Carl is—”

“I don’t know what to think,” said Finn, interrupting Lucas. He punched the table, trying to assure himself. “It’s been three weeks since he went. We promised to get ice-cream. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“You know what? How about I talk to Sister Selina and ask her about this? She’s unlike the others. She might know something. Maybe Carl is just sick. Who knows? What do you say?”

Finn’s eyes lit up. “You’d do that?”

“Yeah. But first,” Lucas slid the plate full of food towards Finn. “Finish this.”

“Okay,” Finn started to devour his food as if he had not eaten for days. “There you go. Done”

“That was fast.” Lucas stood up. “Alright, I will go talk to Sister Selina now.”

Lucas walked towards the door of the dining hall, planning to find Sister Selina.

“Hey, Lucas?” shouted Finn. Lucas turned around. “Thanks.”

Lucas smiled, the second time he had smiled today. He didn’t say anything but turned around and left.

The night was still young, and Lucas was not sleepy. He decided to take a stroll across the playground, where he saw a couple of nuns talking among themselves. Lucas was not a fan of invading someone’s conversation, but he was still curious to know what they were saying. He leaned against a corner and decided to use his super hearing to try to eavesdrop on them.

“Hey, did you hear about the boy? You know, the one that the doctor took away a few weeks back. Turns out, before he left, someone caught him snooping around the priest’s private chambers.”

“But, wasn’t he taken due to some illness?”

“Who knows? I would rather not get involved. I always get chills talking to the priest.”

“Poor boy! I hope he recovers soon.”

Lucas stood there in silence, trying to analyse the situation.

“So, Carl was last seen snooping around the priest’s chambers, and the next day, he was sent away?”

“Was he really sick or was this something else?”

“No! I can’t assume anything right now. I need to get inside the priest’s chambers. Maybe it will have answers.”

Lucas gathered himself and decided to go back to his room. He didn’t sleep but stared at the clock in his room, waiting for the hands to reach twelve. After a few minutes, the clock let out a loud sound. It was midnight. Children were not allowed to go outside their rooms after twelve.

But Lucas was on a mission. He got up from his bed, opened the door, and went outside.

The hallways leading to the priest’s chambers looked empty. Lucas crouched down, walking on his toes before reaching the priest’s chambers. He used his super hearing to check if anyone was inside. Nothing. He opened the door and took a step inside.

Inside the room stood a study-table beside a glass window with a bunch of documents and files placed on top of it. There were shelves on either side of the room with books organized.

“Damn! He really likes his things organized,” Lucas murmured to himself.

He started searching through the room for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Lucas went to take a look at the documents at the study-table when all of a sudden, he came across a book with a black cover. It had no label and seemed different from the others. He opened the book and started turning its pages. A small piece of paper slid through the pages and dropped onto the floor. Lucas leaned down and tried to pick it up, but before he could do so, the doorknob of the room started to rotate. He ducked below the study-table and put the piece of paper into his pockets. It was the priest.

Lucas realized that he somehow had to reach outside without the priest knowing. He saw a small pen lying near him on the floor. He picked it up and threw it on the far end of the room, trying to distract the priest’s attention.

“Hmm? What was that? Is anyone here?” said the priest, in his throaty voice, before walking towards it.

Lucas seized this opportunity and tiptoed towards the door, making sure not to make any sound. He managed to sneak outside as the door was already open. He got back up on his feet and took a breath of relief. Safe.

“Lucas? To what do I owe this visit?” said the priest from behind. His words were calm but sent shivers down Lucas’s body. “Are you lost, child?”

Lucas took a deep breath, preparing his sentences as if sitting for an interview. He turned around. The priest was too close, closer than necessary. “I couldn’t sleep. So, wanted to come outside and take a stroll.”

“So, you just wanted to take a stroll, and that brought you here near my chambers?” said the priest, staring at Lucas.

“S-Something like that.”

“Well, you'd better run to your bed then,” said the priest as he turned around and started walking back inside. “Oh, and Lucas? Don’t wander around by yourself at night. These days, children seem to go missing.”

“Yes, Father. I will keep that in mind.”

“Good! Goodnight now.”

The priest went back inside and locked the door.

Lucas hurried back to his room and jumped straight onto his bed. Phew, finally safe.

He lay on his bed and looked at the ceiling.

“Oh, right, the paper!” he murmured before pulling out the paper from his pocket.

He lifted it before his eyes. It seemed to be a string of numbers with a word following it. Lucas tried his best, but it didn't make any sense to him.

“ID: B-031

Status: Failed”