bloodyiconoclast

[bloodyiconoclast]

3. Lucid Travel

Among the delirious warmth, his brain flooding with drugs and the cloudy softness of the bed Elias managed to simply melt. His veins felt hot, his muscles felt as if they didn��t exist. He’d forgotten what pain was, and among the soft southern voice in his ears he felt as if he were beginning to lose himself in all of it. His mind called the image of a dog, laying in front of a burning hearth he’d never seen before, it looked large and comfortable. He heard the chattering of many voices as if they were in another room and saw them, people having drinks and laughing at the table and suddenly one of them looked at him.

 “Who are you?” The man asked. He was dark skinned and slender, with shining, lively brown eyes.

 “What?” Elias looked around him and suddenly realized he could, indeed look around him. He’d gone from seeing this place in his mind to being there. The man got up from his chair and walked briskly around the table and place a hand on Elias’ shoulder.

 “How are you doing this?” He asked, a look of utter astonishment written on his face.

 “I don’t know man.” Elias answered. “This is a strange dream.” He looked around at the people speaking in various dialects of American accents and dressed in old clothes. “Where am I?”

 “New Orleans, 1910.” The man answered. “Now you’re going to tell me who you are and how you managed to do this.” Elias gave a displeased look and shoved him back.

“Man, I don’t know. I just found out today that I’m basically dead and then this Dimitri guy put headphones on me and I guess I fell asleep listening to the book he had on…”

 “Elias.” The man stated and sighed, looking around him. “Well, that explains who you are. But not how you’re doing this.”

 “Dream man, you got a really pretty voice.” Elias snorted with a grin on his face as he walked through the room, looking curiously at people as if they were wax figures. They simply talked and carried on as if he didn’t exist. The man simply trailed behind him, watching as he tried and failed to interact with any of the other people around. It was as if they were both standing on the set of a movie that continued to play around them.

 “I…” he opened his mouth as if he wanted to reply, but shook his head. “My name is Louis de Pointe du Lac…” He watched Elias poke a talking woman several times and giving up before picking up a newspaper- only to find it jumbled and illegible. “I-I guess you can call me Louis… I still have no idea what this is though.” The two of them burst from the building and onto the street and Elias simply stood there on the stone sidewalk, staring at the scene before them.

 “Woah… it’s like I time traveled.” He watched a horse drawn carriage pass by and tailed after it in wonder.

 “Now wait a second!” Louis jogged up and ripped him from the street and onto the sidewalk. “So, you-“ He stopped. Staring at his hands and suddenly looking startled. “I’m human…” Louis started patting himself, looking at his clothes in a stunned panic as the young man took an interest in him too.

 “Wow, you look amazing. Like this all looks so real…” He poked Louis right in the face, earning a snarl as his wrist was grabbed.

“This is real!... or...” He looked around at the familiar scene of Orleans around him. The humidity, the smell, the heat… it was all so real to him as if he’d gone right back in time. “Who are you?” He didn’t release Elias who quickly started squirming against him. He jerked his hand free and glared right into Louis’ green eyes, he suddenly lunged, grabbing handfuls of the taller man’s suit.  

 “Are you the fuck who fucking did this to me?!” he yelled. Louis looked around them, no one made any indication that they even existed. He didn’t even care until Elias hit him and his vision flashed from the impact. “Answer me! ARE YOU THE ONE WHO ATTACKED ME!?” Louis groaned and shook his head. It had been a long ass time since someone had managed to hit him and for the moment, he was simply surprised by it.

 “No, I didn’t attack you. I’ve never seen you in my life.” Louis grabbed Elias’ hands and held them until he released him and stepped back.

“I’m sorry. I’ve had a really bad fucking night- day… something- I don’t know anymore.” He shook his head. “I’m Elias.” He stood there and as far as Louis could tell he was genuinely apologetic, he decided to not meet the anger.

 “Are you the one with Dimitri right now?” Louis decided to lead with that. He’d gotten word of the attack in a lengthy email from the doctor but he hadn’t had much time to act on it yet.

“Yeah.” Elias moved to a bench on the side of the street and say down. “Woke up in a box, only for some insanely pretty guy to tell me I was dying and that I got attacked by a vampire!” he feigned surprise. “Attacked on my graduation night, if someone wanted to be a fucking bastard, they could have just shot me- honestly I thought it was my brother attacking me first then they decided to bite me like a wierdo.”

“We’re hunting for them, I promise.” He decided to not pry and make this a worse time than it was for the obviously stressed man. Louis sat beside him. “So how you doing…” He gestured to the street. “All this?”

 “Don’t know.” Elias laid back. “I thought this was you, I’m asleep right now, I think. Doctor put me in bed and drugged me up good and then left me with headphones on so I think I’m dreaming and you’re in my dream… Where is Here, exactly?”

 “New Orleans, 1910 I believe. I’m human so this is before I met Lestat.” He looked over the scene. “It’s a strange feeling, everything is like I remembered it. It’s like you’re using my memories to… recreate the world.” He spun his finger around.

“So you’re a vampire?” Elias asked it so innocently that Louis unintentionally choked. “Well… presently I am a vampire. At the moment though, you see me as I looked when I was human, which isn’t any different really, once you take on the blood you never physically change.” It felt strange for Louis to explain this again, almost as if it really was the past again. “Oh, thank fuck, I don’t wanna be white.” Elias said that so casually that every bit of composure left Louis’ body and he burst into laughter. “What!? I mean sure the cops will leave me the fuck alone, but I don’t know what white people like, fuck man I don’t wanna drink shit beer and watch The Office for the rest of eternity…” Louis was still laughing as Elias mentioned not liking two-hundred dollar espresso machines and multiple singers that Louis had never heard of before they finally died down into a tranquil calm.

 “You ain’t going to be white, I promise. I only get a slight pall when I haven’t fed in a while.” Louis assured. “How old are you?” He asked checking his pocket watch- It would be dawn soon.

 “Eighteen. Fucker attacked me on my graduation night.” He crossed his arms and slouched. “I was literally wearing my robes still.”

 “I’m sorry.” Louis offered. “I know it’s not nearly what you deserve, having your life torn away, right as things be getting good.” Louis looked to him and attempted to tap into his mind, only finding a reflection of him in first person. He couldn’t read his mind in this state- likely because this was a dream and his mind was uniquely occupied.

 “I’m sorry again for attacking you.” Elias said softly. “I don’t know how all this works, until a day ago I didn’t even think vampires were real. I don’t even know how we’re here now.”

 “The blood can do strange things.” Louis watched as sunlight began to break over the roofs of the old buildings and he winced as it struck him. It was blinding and he expected to burn- but that never came. Just the warmth of it hitting his body and the absolute brilliance of it.

“Are you OK?” He heard Elias ask. He knew he was crying, the last time he’d seen it was the night he’d lost his brother and his entire life came apart. He stood up, taking a shaky step off the curb. “Louis?” Elias called him but it felt too far to truly mean anything. He could only stare into it, and keep walking as if he could step into it. “Louis watch out!!” He felt hands grab him as the world collapsed beneath him.

 Elias woke with a whine, feeling the white hot pain consume his body. He cried out and screamed. Within seconds the door opened, and Dimitri was there, injecting something into his IV. “There, deep breaths. It’ll hit in just a second.” His soft voice was the only thing he could hear above his heart beating in his ears and Elias obeyed, focusing on breathing until he felt it- a wash of cold hitting his brain, freeing him from the vice grip of agony. He felt himself drop into the bed again, panting as if the pain had quickly drained what little strength he had. Dimitri stopped as his bedside and looked at him with that same somber look he had before.

 “Don’t look at me like that.” Elias groaned. “At least start playing Black Parade first.”

“How much worse was that than the first time?” The brunette asked, taking a stethoscope from his pocket and invading Elias’ electrically heated cocoon with the cold instrument.

“A lot…” Elias hissed as the cold hand touched his skin. “Why is that bad?” Dimitri removed his hand and resealed the breach he’d made in the heated blankets. “I need to get you fed.” He said, turning around and writing a few things down. “Any food allergies?” “No.” Elias shook his head. “For a moment I thought you were about to like… feed me blood.” “I am.” He answered flatly, then noticed Elias’ look. “It will be disguised within your food, visually. But once you taste it instinct will take over.” He picked up the headphones from Elias. “Did you sleep well?” “Yeah… I think. I met someone in there. His name was Louis… something.” Elias wiggled himself deeper into his pool of warmth.

 “Louis de Pointe du Lac.” Dimitri said, approaching the door. “It’s his story you were listening to, you likely dreamed it.” Then he was gone before Elias could speak any further.

 Elias sighed and flopped back. He’d hoped to get some answers. Louis had been about to tell him something and then he got hit by a car starting into the sun like a lunatic and Elias had been dumb enough to try and stop him… He groaned and yawned, with the medication making him tired the best idea he had was to sleep. He’d find out more about this when Dimitri came back.

[bloodyiconoclast]

2. A Bad Joke

Elias came to in total darkness and in agonizing pain. The fire he’d been engulfed in before had long died and was replaced by an otherworldly cold that reached to his bones. He tried to roll himself over and found he couldn’t, reaching up he found a barrier inches from his face. His breath quickened as horror movies and thoughts of being accidently buried alive raced in his head. He started screaming and pounding on the walls around him a hit to the wall at his face saw it flying off with the sound of cracking wood. He sat up with a cry, his whole body lit up in even worse pain- as if every nerve in his body was hopelessly agitated.

 Looking around he found he was in ruined coffin on the floor of some kind of stylish hospital room you would see in a show where some rich heiress suffers some unbeknownst tragedy. All he could do in the pain he was in was to cry and crawl his way out of the coffin. He screamed for the nurse, the doctor, for anyone as the cold stone floor only sucked what little warmth his body still contained. The sound of the wooden door to the room unlocking was heard and the doctor bolted into the room.

“Wait, stop before you hurt yourself!” He was by Elias’ side in the space of a breath. “Everything hurts…” Is all he could get out. “It feels like I’m dying…” He openly cried as he writhed in pain, raising bronze-colored hands to grip as his hair in some childlike way of trying to end his pain.

 “I’ve got you, let’s get you to a proper room and I’ll get you some pain medication…” He was lifted as the man spoke in a gentle tone. It was soft and wrapped around his mind, quelling any fight in him. He was also surprisingly strong, with a broad chest and shoulders that suggested he kept his body in peak condition- he had to if he was lifting Elias with as much effort as one would lift their pet cat. Elias couldn’t make out his features well in his state, but his skin was bright- like he was carved from one titanic pearl, with short, dark hair that provided the only contrast to him and made him look well-kept and professional. He couldn’t have been more than 40 at most, likely closer to 30.

 “Where… am I?” Elias asked as he was carried out of the room.

 “In a safe place, I promise I’ll explain things to you, we just need to get you comfortable first.” The hallway they walked into looked more like a home, or maybe the offices of some wildly wealthy oligarch. They walked past identical doors until one opened for them automatically, leading into another neutral room- this one with an actual bed instead of a coffin. “You’ve got some people who want to speak to you about the attack, but they’re not going to try until you can speak to them” His voice said gently as Elias was placed in a soft bed. He didn’t have to ask as the doctor began covering him up with plush blankets.

 Elias watched him as he seemed to glide around the room like a ghost, covering him with an electric blanket and turning it on and setting up an IV. The pain quickly began to ebb off to a bearable degree and once a blood bag was added his breathing got easier. “What happened?” He asked the doctor as he sat down at a desk beside him to work on a laptop. “I remember being attacked… Someone bit me?” He reached up to his neck but couldn’t find any mark. The man looked at him with a sympathetic look on his face. Elias was right about him. He was pale, with crystal blue eyes and black hair cut smartly into a professional style. He was wearing a white button up with a black tie and definitely looked as strong as he’d felt before. The doctor seemed to bite his lip in thought before speaking.

“Let’s circle back to that.” He said quickly. “Since we’re going to be here for a moment you can call me Dimitri.” He leaned over in his chair, resting his arms on his knees, he looked at Elias with gentle blue eyes that held a tiredness to them but also sympathy. “I have your ID, but I’d like to hear your name from you to make sure I have it right.”

 “Elias… Santiago.” He answered and the doctor turned to a small computer and quickly typed into it. Taking a moment to get whatever he was doing set up before turning to him again.

 “Are you an immigrant or born in the States?”

“My mom… my parents were immigrants… they came from Mexico when my brother was a child. Once I was born my dad just… disappeared.” He didn’t know why he was telling this stranger this. Maybe it was the pain medication making him talkative, but the man spoke in a comforting tone that calmed his nerves and he was simply easy to talk to.

 “I’m sorry to hear that, my father was Ukrainian you see- Ihor Vlasenko, he came to the States to find new work and met my mother, he left to return to the homeland before I was born, vanished overnight. Ironically it was one of my undead ancestors that found me- right in time to save me from death myself.”

“Undead? Hang on… what is this some kind of wild joke?” Elias asked. “I thought the coffin thing was a medical accident, what- did I get attacked by a vampire??” The doctor halfway glanced to him and slowly closed their computer, turning in their chair to give their full attention to Elias. “Now that you’re medicated and settled in, I’m going to try and give this to you as gently as I can. What happened to you- three nights ago. Was an attack from a rouge vampire that’s claimed two victims before you. They look to be a… hit and run. Someone made a fledgling and then dumped them to their own devices- they’re now going around and trying to make more vampires, but without any idea of how it really works. Ending up in some very sick people who are locked between life and death.” He stood up with a silent grace and started looking over the monitors and IVs. “I’m sorry, but you only have two options now. You can die- painlessly and peacefully, or you can commit to fully becoming a full vampire and then you will have eternity.” He looked sad as he said this, he’d just told Elias he was essentially dead, but that hadn’t hit Elias yet in its entirety.

“Be kind- please rewind.” Elias ran a hand through his hair, trying to slow the existential crisis that had started eating him from the feet up like a monstrous snake. “Vampires are real? This isn’t some fucking bad joke? Some meth head attacks me and there’s a nurse outside the room with a camera trying to go viral off a prank, right?” Elias nearly laughed with the absurdity of it all.

 “I’m…sorry.” Dimitri frowned. “As much as I wish fixing this was as simple as stating it was a joke, this is the end of your life as a human.” Elias twitched as the magnitude of things began to sink in. His thoughts started racing as he was forced to completely re-evaluate his life.

 “So, what I’m just… supposed to die?” He asked the only thing he could in the moment.

 “Death is one option, and I’m going to be fair to you and tell you it’s not the worst end. Eternity is well, eternity. It’s truly forever. Some of our kind have lived since humanity was at it’s most primitive. And time wears on you in a new way, you feel tired in ways a human can’t.” He sighed. “You don’t have to decide yet, though. You have time to make this choice, but it must eventually be made.” The doctor opened his computer again and began typing fast on it as Elias sat on the bed, racking his mind and trying to comprehend the true scope of his fate. He couldn’t even seem to really encompass it.

“So, what do I just say yes and you turn me into a vampire?” He asked. It was a completely innocent question, an attempt to grasp the world at hand in some way. “No, no. It won’t be me who does it. It will be one of the old ones who have the first right and even then, you will have a chance to meet the ones who wish to and decide who will be your sire in death- or undeath depending on your choice.” He opens a drawer on his desk and takes out a pair of headphones. “They will discuss among themselves, and decide who among them is best suited to having… offspring as it would be. Who’s ready to take on a fledgling of their own.”

 “So what you have some kind of vampire council?” Elias asked as Dimitri slid the headphones on him and coaxed him to lay down entirely with a press of a cold hand to his chest. He made sure he was covered and comfortable before speaking.

“More like an undead United Nations- but I suppose you could call it that. We’re not very organized as it’s just now in the modern day that vampires are starting to achieve some kind of coherency. But in the twenty years I’ve been here it’s slowly gotten better as more decide to actively communicate and participate. Hopefully with more unified front we can prevent situations like yours- or the vampire that attacked you.” “So, I’m guessing there’s no hope of a cure at all?” Elias frowned.

 “If it’s any consolation to you, your body is handling it very well. It’s likely that you’ll make a strong vampire as resilient as your body seems to be, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a near fight among the old ones for who gets to have you.”

“I’m flattered.” Elias sighed. “What’s the headphones for?”

 “I thought I’d give you a head start. You see, some of the others have written books and recorded them. Since you’re going to be on bedrest for a while, it might help you to listen to them and take any information you can. Maybe hearing from some of the old ones might help you on making that final choice.” He pressed a key on his keyboard and a voice came from the headphones. Elias met himself melt into the bed.

 “Let’s hope they’re not depressing then.” He sighed and closed his eyes, resting deep into the heat and medication.

[bloodyiconoclast]

I made Elias in the Sims he’s so cute

[bloodyiconoclast]

1. Hit and Run

Graduation was supposed to be the best night of Elias’ life. A night of parties, afterparties, friends and goodbyes before everyone abruptly transformed into starving college students and adults with no idea how to function after going from asking to use the bathroom for eighteen years to having to do taxes. After all those years of acne, stress, angst and panic it felt like the end should have been more than a rented convention space that smelled like foam, sweat, and piss- but maybe that’s exactly what it should be. High School failed to be anything more than a prison full of mentally abused kids, why should the ceremony to end it all be anything more than the metaphorical unlocking of handcuffs and overdressed tossing of trained wage slaves onto the street?

 Elias sat at a picnic table outside the hotel that had hosted the event, after all the teens and their parents had cleared out it was a ghost town lit by ugly sulfur-colored lights. His best friend was supposed to have come out an hour ago for a night of partying- but he’d been eyeing Caroline Parker all damn night and they were likely in a room already drunk on cheap shit from the minibar and creating a mess for housekeeping… Whatever, it wasn’t his money on the room.

 If Kevin didn’t come out soon, he was going inside to his room. Checking his phone he found that all the texts he’d sent to him weren’t even read. He was definitely fucking in there. The least he could have done was text him about it, Elias wouldn’t be nearly as pissed as he was now if he’d just been told before he’d waited til…. Midnight.

It was already fucking midnight?

 Ok, this was it. Kevin had abandoned him over and over through the years for whatever fancy drifted past and this was the night it stopped. Either his friend was going to start appreciating him for always being there to pick up his drunk ass or he was going to delete the number and find real friends. Maybe take on a real major- a serious one instead of just going to technical college. Hell, he also needed to quit drinking so much. He’d really felt something with Matteo at Julia’s prom party and being so shitfaced at the time kept him from going in. Fucking hell, this was it, wasn’t it?

 Yeah, it was. Elias stood up and opened his contacts. Deleting everyone who’d never done anything but use him and finally selecting Kevin before hitting Delete. Elias took a deep breath and picked up the cup of punch he’d been nursing the last three hours and downed it in a single swallow. He didn’t notice the figure lashing out from the bushes until he was entangled in the ambush.

 Elias scarcely had a moment to realize he’d been attacked before he was jerked into the bushes and trees that bordered the hotel and though powerful his assailant was sloppy in trying to get ahold on him. He screamed and lashed out, pummeling them with his fists and punching them wherever they could reach and managing to plant his fist into the strangers nose, causing them to flinch just enough so that he could make a break for it. He tore from the bushes as fast as he could, and made for his phone- dropped onto the table in the attack. Just as he truly believed he might escape- a freezing cold hand carssed along his scalp and jerked him back, folding him with the sheer force.

 He’d believed a knife was coming and indeed a sudden pain at his neck made him believe his throat was being cut, but as his hands and feet drained of heat his mind scrambled to find reason to this. His attacker was wordless, saying nothing even as something was forced to Elias’ mouth. He tasted blood, and even as he fought fruitlessly to escape it became clear if he didn’t swallow the torrent of it that he would drown in it. None of this made sense to him as he gave in and swallowed it rather than choke, he felt his heart pounding and his body burning from some unknown force. Among the roaring in his mind voices appeared and his attacker stiffened, throwing him to the ground.

Elias felt his head hit the concrete and flashes danced in his eyes, hands were on him, shouting to him, trying to stand him up. His body simply folded and he vomited up some of the blood he’d been forced to swallow. The voice of the person closest to him turned almost concerned as more voices called in the distance. Somewhere among the roaring in his ears and the feeling that he’d been thrown into some hellish sauna someone tried to speak to him. With uncontrollably shaking hands he reached out, blindly grabbing on whoever was holding him up before his mind and body fell apart altogether into nothing.