Crimson Angel

  * * *

  “The wedding will be next week.” Winnie declared, holding her mate’s hand.

  “Nice.” Len said.

  “Now, can we start the game?” Bess jumped with joy.

  “What game?” Roy looked at his hyperactive girlfriend.

  “The guessing game.” I explained with a smile. “We have to guess what Winnie is expecting. A girl or a boy.”

  “And what happens to the winner?” Jim asked.

  “Why don’t you ask what happens to the loser?” I smiled.

  Jim laughed. “Well, I only think of the good side.”

  “Alice, you are the only one of us that thinks of the bad sides first.” Len stated.

  “That is the good thing though.” I argued. “It just makes a balance. In a bunch of people, there have to be ones that consider the best while ones that expect the worst.”

  “You are becoming a professional.” Roy said.

  “Now, can we start the game?” Bess could hold no more patience.

  “I still am not told about the punishment for the losers.”

  “Honestly, perhaps none of us wins the game.” I said.

  “Alice!” Winnie shouted. “Don’t be so pessimistic.”

  “Fine.” I said.

  “We still haven’t decided on the punishment yet.” Len said.

  “Can we start now?” Bess urged.

  “Yes, you go first, Bess.” Jim said.

  Bess kneeled down and pressed her ears against Winnie’s abdomen.

  “Are we all going to do that?” Roy scowled nervously.

  “Alice, are you sure this is the game?” Jim asked, astonished as Bess got even closer to touch Winnie’s abdomen.

  “No.” I said. “Girls can touch but boys have to stay a meter off.”

  “What?” The boys exclaimed. Bess and I made a cunning smile.

  “You don’t want to get into trouble, do you?” I flickered my eyes to George, who stood smiling.

  The boys groaned.

  “I was really hoping to do that.” Roy said. “Aunt Winnie is pretty.”

  “What did you say, Roy?” Bess stood up, staring at him.

  “Nothing!” Roy ran away from the scene and we all laughed.

  “That is unfair.” Jim complained. “I mean, you girls have the chance to get so close to the embryo, which gives you too many hints. And we boys have to stand aside and just look with our eyes. We can never win the game!”

  “Life is always unfair.” I smirked, looking at Len.

  “Oh geez, what did you tell your girl?” Jim rolled his eyes.

  “Alice, I mean unfairness exists in a relationship.” Len tried to clarify. “But not in a game.”

  “Oh? Is that what you said?” I laughed. “I don’t remember it.”

  Jim groaned.

  “Does anyone want to hear my choice?” Bess said.

  “No.” The boys said.

  “Yes.” Winnie and I said.

  “I bet it’s a…”

  We all leaned forward to wait for her answer.

  “A girl!”

  “Really?” Winnie exclaimed. “I have always wanted a daughter!”

  “Oh no.” I sighed as the boys jumped with excitement.

  “What’s wrong?” George asked.

  “I want a boy!”

  “Excuse me?” Len stood beside me.

  “I mean a brother.” I said. “A good-looking brother.”

  “Alice, you are crazy.” Winnie said. “You already have a good-looking boyfriend and a good-looking father.”

  “That’s not funny.” I said. “I seriously think I can get along better with a brother than a sister.”

  “Why would you say that?” Bess inquired.

  “I don’t know.” I scowled. “It’s just a…feeling.”

  “Now, can I try?” Roy volunteered, heading to Winnie.

  “Stay where you are!” Bess grabbed his arm and he had to give in.

  “Okay Okay.” Roy stepped back obediently.

  He glanced at Winnie for a minute, using all his senses for the attempt.

  Finally, he said. “I bet it’s a boy.”

  “Wow!” I jumped. “Really?”

  “Yes!”

  “Don’t believe him.” Bess warned. “Whatever I say, he goes against me.”

  “Let me try.” Jim stepped forward and began to concentrate.

  “A girl.” Jim said confidently.

  “Why?” Roy asked.

  “Because I hear her moves.” Jim said. “Graceful and silent. A boy is always more mischievous, I suppose.”

  “That is not an explanation!” Roy argued. “It smells more like a boy.”

  “My turn.” Len tried.

  Len took a longer time and came out with a surprising answer.

  “Twins.” He said.

  “What?” We all exclaimed.

  “Really, I hear two lungs.” He said.

  “What gender?” Winnie asked.

  Len thought for a moment.

  “Boy, I bet.”

  “See.” Roy patted on Jim’s back.

  “We will hear what Alice says.” Bess said.

  I walked over to Winnie. She smiled down at me.

  “I trust you best, Alice.”

  I pressed my ears against her tummy. At first, I did hear only one embryo breathing and swimming about in the amnion. The small creature’s blood smelled more like a girl’s. And then, there was another slight movement. Soon, it was getting clear that another embryo was turning behind the first one. Len was right. There were two of them. Yet, the smell got mixed up. For once, the scent of a girl was not as strong as before. I doubted they might really be boys.

  “Alice?” Len asked.

  “Have you got the answer?” Bess asked.

  I stood up and glared at my friends.

  “Twins.” I said.

  “What? Your answer is the same as Len’s!” Roy exclaimed.

  “No.” I shook my head grinning. “Fraternal twins.”

  “A boy and a girl?”

  I nodded.

  “Isn’t that wonderful?” Winnie clapped her hands and hugged George.

  “Um…” My friends all raised their brows, hardly believing in my bet.

  At last, we had Oma to confirm the answer. The losers were decided to serve the winners for one day, doing exactly what the winners demanded and requested. We all found this treatment fair enough and quite interesting.

  Oma did not even have to lay a finger on Winnie and could tell directly what she was carrying.

  “Jim, Bess, you choose girl, right?” Oma turned to us.

  The two nodded.

  “Well, you are…” Oma smiled. “Partly right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Roy, you choose boy and Len, you choose twins.” Oma said.

  “Yes.”

  “You are also…partly right.”

  “So, I am the winner!” I jumped with delight.

  “Yes, Alice.” Oma smiled. “Fraternal twins.”

  “So, does that mean we don’t have to receive any punishment?” Roy suggested.

  “No!” I retorted immediately.

  Len sighed.

  “You are only partly correct, which means I am still the winner of the game.” I said proudly.

  “Alright.” Bess shrugged. “What do you want us to do, princess?”

  “I won’t request something impossible.” I said. They all breathed a relief. “And you would all like it.”

  “Yes?”

  “A party!”

  Girls’ talk

  “Alice, which one do you like best?” Bess asked, crossing her legs.

  I examined the seven glass bottles in front of me, each containing red liquid. I had taken one sip from each of them.

  “Um…” I thought for a moment. “I think I like the rabbit’s blood the best.”

  “Oh?” Bess said. “It’s certainly a cuisine, but I like goat’s blood better.”
br />   “Exactly, what’s the point of doing this?” I asked and then whispered. “Without the boys knowing?”

  “Len will kill me if he finds out what I am doing to you.” Bess laughed. “He doesn’t like you being…you know…”

  “What?”

  “Too much like a blood soul.”

  “Well, every now and then, I drink blood.” I said. “There is nothing wrong with it, right? We all have the same diet.”

  “Yes.” Bess said. “But these are special treats. The best of the best. I don’t want to tell the boys because they will go frantic with it.”

  The samples Bess got me did taste rather different from what I used to drink. They were more delicious to be honest.

  “Where did you get these?” I asked.

  “My sister got them from a ball.” Bess said. “They had a buffet there, serving all kinds of blood of top quality.”

  “Really? I never heard you have a sister.”

  “I have.” Bess said. “So does Roy. But we are pretty much the bad children in the family. We like hanging outside and hardly return home. My sister and I are close so whatever wonderful thing she gets, she shares with me straight away.”

  “Nice.” I smiled, feeling glad Bess had a sister that cared for her. “Um…I wonder…”

  “Yes?”

  “Do you mind if I ask about you and Roy?”

  “Sure.”

  “How do you two actually get along with each other?” I asked. “I mean, what kind of things do you usually do and talk about?”

  “You really want to know?”

  “Yes, because I have been thinking…”

  “Do you have a problem with Len?”

  “No, not really.” I blushed. “I just think we live our life in a too crazy way.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with it.” Bess laughed. “You see, Roy and I are even crazier than you two. We dream about doing all sorts of stupid things, like saving the world or causing an explosion on the desert.”

  I stared at my little friend.

  “What?” Bess said. “You look…er…dumbfounded.”

  “I really am.” I smirked.

  “Look, travelling around the world and going to amusement parks cannot compare to what Roy and I normally do.” Bess said. “Once, we set a kitchen on fire trying to cook in a human way. Another time, we walked into the mall too carelessly that we broke two glass windows. We had to pay for that.”

  “Well…I don’t know what to say.” I could not stop exclaiming.

  “Oh, that reminds me.” Bess’ face brightened up. “When we were still kids, we scared some humans away with our fangs. They were also children, I guess. We watched them running to their parents and complained about seeing monsters in the park. We all laughed at our prank.”

  “You are naughty, Bess.”

  “That’s the fun we have as a blood soul.” Bess said. “We are happy even if we are crazy.”

  “I can see that.”

  “It’s such a pity we could not witness you making the unbreakable oath with Len.” Bess sighed. “That is one regret in my life.”

  “It isn’t really a big deal, is it?”

  “Of course it is!” Bess exclaimed. “You are my best friend and I never have the chance to attend such an important ceremony in your life.”

  “When did you make the oath with Roy?”

  “Let me see.” Bess took a glass from the table. “When we were around thirteen or so, three years ago.”

  “What did you see in Roy? You must like him so much that you want to be with him forever.”

  At once, my crazy companion got serious.

  “Well,” She had another mouthful of blood before continuing. “You can tell he is reckless, rash and immature. He is the type that goes breaking the rules and hurting others’ feelings with careless, unintentional words. But, that’s what I like best of him. I don’t need a partner that is perfect in all categories. Even though he is always like a big baby, he has his good sides of being cheerful and caring. That’s what I think of him.”

  Bess’ feeling for Roy is intense and strong, as I could tell from her gleaming eyes. My passion for Len was more or less the same. What Bess taught me was a valuable thing. Len has his own bad of being childish, over-confident and vain but most of the time, he loves me with his whole heart. He teases me continually and treats me selfishly. Yet above all, he is the most precious person to me.

  “Alice, you worry too much.” Bess said. “You are just afraid you cannot handle living the rest of your life with one certain person.”

  “Yes,” I admitted. “You know it’s hard to do that.”

  “Follow you heart, just like what the song says.” Bess said. “It makes sense that you think it’s hard. Sometimes, I am really pissed off by Roy, that moron but still, he is one that I love best. We don’t care other things when we are in love. When something goes wrong in a relationship, we quarrel and then get over with it. This is how we, blood souls, maintain a lifelong bond with the loved ones.”

  “It is impressive.” I said. “What we can do. I feel lucky after hearing that, Bess. Some people can never find a single true love in their whole life but we can stay with one for eternity. Isn’t it a bit unfair, for humans?”

  “Humans feel much stronger than we do. We are told that they are the only species that hold the most emotions of all. They may not be as smart and skillful as we are, but, they have the strongest determination. One thing that impresses us most is how they keep on trying and never give up. They learn from mistakes and history and never repeat them, unlike us, revenge can go on forever. While we possess the most perfect body, our souls are destroyable. Yet, humans’ souls live on forever and ever even if their body perishes.”

  “Life,” I wondered. “is, by far, the most amazing thing ever created.”

  Night time

  “So, I have heard you are doing something behind my back.” Len accused.

  I continued with my book, completely ignoring him.

  “Alice, stop reading the book.” Len said. “You have been on the same page for the last minute.”

  “So?” I pouted. “I want to read it in a human way.”

  Sitting next to me, Len sighed. The television was on but Len was not watching it.

  “What? What’s it?” I said, flipping through the pages.

  “What did you do with Bess this afternoon?” Len interrogated.

  “Nothing.”

  “Really.” Len grabbed my book and pulled me to him.

  “Do tell or I will…”

  “What?”

  And then, he started his punishment, giving me all sorts of tiny pinch and tweak until I could no longer take the itch.

  “Okay! Stop it.” I could not stop laughing with tears.

  “I will ask again.” Len said patiently. “What did you do with Bess this afternoon?”

  “We…had…a girls’ talk.” I confessed. “We talked…about ourselves.”

  “And?”

  “And you and Roy and Jim.”

  “And?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You want me to start again, don’t you?”

  “Fine!” I succumbed to his power over me. “We did have a…little bit of a feast.”

  “That’s what I want to hear.” Len sat back and released me. “Bess is going to pay for that.”

  “What? Why? I had fun!”

  “Fun! She’s like making a human child drink wine.” Len said. “The treats she gave you are, you know, different from what we normally drink.”

  “High-class.”

  “Yes, and…”

  “Len, you are just jealous.” I pointed out. Len blushed immediately.

  “Why should I be jealous! You should be sorry, Alice Grimmel, doing things behind my back and thinking I won’t even know. You are guilty!”

  “And what punishment do I receive this time?”

  “I will think of that!” Len sneered and turned away from me, pretending to be ex
asperated. Yet, I knew he was not a bit angry.

  “Oh please, Len,” I pleaded, reaching for his shoulder. “Can I have my book back?”

  If he had looked annoyed before, he was infuriated now.

  “Is this all you have to say?”

  “Um…” I smiled. “What if I say yes?”

  “Oh man.” Len sighed, looking as if he would cry at any rate.

  Just when I was about to break his fragile heart again, I said the one thing he wanted to hear most.

  “I’m sorry, Len.” I apologized. “This is what you want me to say, right? Well, I really am sorry. I won’t do that again. Next time, I will share the feast with you.”

  “Really?” Len’s face lit up.

  “Yes,” I nodded and then added. “I was just kidding.”

  That was the end of the night, I suppose. I ran out of the house and Len chased me across seven streets, three highways and way back to Winnie’s estate.

  “I have had enough, Alice.” He was puffing, so was I. “You are going to have it.”

  “I am going to have what?” I grasped.

  “We’ll see!” He chased me to the bedroom, catching me at last.

  “Lucky Winnie and George are out.” Len smiled an evil grin, holding me tightly in his arms.

  “You can’t do something evil.” I warned, cringing against his chest.

  “Oh?” Len said. “That depends on my mood.”

  “What’s your mood right now?” I asked right away.

  He stared at me for a moment and then showed his fangs. “Thirsty.”

  I screamed and we started running again. That is a game we have every once in a while, more like a hide-and-seek but often, Len is just provoked by my words and tries to scare me.

  Again, he caught me.

  “That’s so unfair.” I growled. “You are always faster than me.”

  “Don’t blame me.” Len laughed. “Blame your legs.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot.” I ran over to the dresser and took the box from the table. The box was wrapped in blue paper and a red ribbon. “It’s…what day is it exactly? I forgot.”

  “You are one forgetful blood soul.” Len said. “It’s the Gifts Day in our tradition.”

  “Oh, yes, like thanks-giving, right?” I said and handed him the present I had prepared for him. “I have been very cautious with it.”

  “Really? May I?”

  “Sure.”

  Len opened the package happily and took out the blue-covered book.

  “Wow…” He exclaimed at my gift- “Alice in Wonderland”.

  “I have checked through your collection.” I said. “I can’t believe you don’t even have this one. So much for you boasting about possessing most books in the world.”

  “Thank you, Alice.” Len said and blew me a kiss.

  “Do you seriously like it?” I asked. “I am sorry I can’t find a better gift. It’s all so sudden. You told me a week before but I totally forgot about it. Bess reminded me today and I rushed to buy it for you. It is one of the most precious copies in the world, nearly an antique in a museum. Look, the ancient blue cover and the stylish handwriting…”

  “Alice,” Len stood close to me and whispered in my ears. How I loved his soft gentle voice! “I love it. Whatever you give me, I will keep it forever.”

  “You do?”

  Len nodded slightly and leaned forward to kiss me.

  “I love you, Alice.”

  I pushed him away instantly after I heard the voice. It was weird. Len was kissing me but then, I heard him speak. A smile appeared on his face.

  “How…how you did you do it?”

  “Do what?” Again Len did not open his mouth.

  And then, I knew what was going on. I was- reading Len’s mind.

  “Alice, I hope you like this gift.” Len winked. “I don’t open my mind to anyone but you.”

  “But I thought you had a better gift than that.” I complained in my mind. “Since you looked so confident this evening, so sure that your gift could please me.”

  “Does my gift not please you now?”

  “Not really.” I smiled playfully. “You know what I want.”

  Len lifted me up and carried me to my bed. He sat next to me.

  “I know what you want.” He took my hand. “But I am not giving you that.”

  “You are cruel.”

  “I say, I will be the only one who can read and hide your mind.”

  “But I never get to hide your mind.”

  “When you never get something you want from me, you will just have to stay with me forever.”

  “Yeah, I heard that before.”

  “Alice, I ask you again. Are you really that disappointed?”

  “Um….no,” I wanted to reply ‘yes’ out of mischief but the mind spoke the truth. “Your gift is enough to please me.”

  “For how long?”

  “Err…for some time.” I teased.

  “Just some time only? And yours…” Len grinned, his eyes sparkling under the starlight. “is enough to please me forever.”

  He bent down to kiss me once more.