“Remember, align your top teeth with the vein on the left arm. Hold the arm with both hands to keep it steady, and tilt your head down until you feel your teeth sink into the vein,” Mercreminded.
“And I will know when to stop, right?” I asked as we climbed the stone steps to AnneMcCormick’s.
“Yes, but if you do not, I will be there by yourside.”
“Will I feel it?” I finally asked, “Will I feel it enter mybody?”
Merc stopped on the steps and looked atme.
“You will. I cannot explain the feeling because each one is different. It is based on their demons, River. Some you will barely feel, which is what I anticipate for Anne. But some will leave a drasticimpression.”
Both of us looked toward the door when we heard a woman cough. Merc put his hand on my shoulder, and we climbed the rest of the loose stones to the door. Mr. McCormick opened the door, and we were usheredin.
“She has been gasping for air, and her coughs sound like she is choking. Please give her some relief,” Mr. McCormickbegged.
“Very well. River is going to perform it,” Mercsaid.
As soon as Mr. McCormick nodded, Merc guided me to the bedside. I took a deep breath and ran through the process in my mind again. I knelt beside the bed and gently picked up her frail arm. I was surprised at how frail she was. Her arm literally felt like a bone with flesh tightly pulled over it. I cleared my throat tobegin.
“With the blood I take, I give peace. And for the peace, I give my soul,” Istated.
I paused for a moment before I lowered my head to Anne’s weak wrist. I closed my mouth around her thin flesh and applied slight pressure at first, then a little more pressure when the taste of iron seeped into my mouth. I closed my eyes, just as I had seen Merc do many times before, and swallowed repeatedly and quickly to remove the blood from mymouth.
The feeling was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was as though I had been starved, and this was my first filling meal. Merc kept his hand on my shoulder and would squeeze it when I needed to be reminded to slow down and do this calmly. While I was getting my fill, I felt a sharp pain in the back of my throat. I felt it go all the way down to the pit of my stomach. It was the strangest sensation, and it caused me to slow down. I swallowed another mouthful, but this time I did not feel thepain.
“You got it, River,” Mercwhispered.
I gotit.
I slowly pulled my head back from Anne’s limp arm. I remembered how respectful and kind Merc always was with the deceased, and I minded my manners too. I gently set Anne’s arm down next to her and took the piece of cloth that Merc held out for me. I folded the cloth and then slowly wrapped it around her wrist and tied the ends together on the top of her wrist. This was done to catch any remaining blood and to cover the teethmarks.
As Merc and I quietly left, I began to think about the sharp pain I had experienced in the back of my throat. Was the pain that I felt her demons entering my body? We had reached the bottom of the steps and turned the corner when nausea overtook me. I leaned against a damp stone wall and threw up. The stench and sight of blood mixed with the breakfast I had eaten at Derwin’s made me sicker to my stomach. I grew dizzy while I continued to throwup.
“There is no hurry, River. Try to relax,” Merc said as I tried to stay on myfeet.
Each time I opened my eyes and looked down at the ground and saw the blood, I threw more of it up. Eventually, it subsided, and we began our journey back to ourcampsite.
“Your body will grow accustomed to the taste of it. You will get sick on it less and less,” Merc said as we slowlywalked.
I held my hand over my stomach as we approached the edge of the forest. Corbett stood there waiting for us as he often had. Merc nodded at Corbett, a silent declaration that the sins were absorbed by one of us. Corbett handed Merc a loaf of bread, and he put his hand on my shoulder as I passed by him. We were almost back to camp when I spoke up and asked him about the pain in mythroat.
“It felt like there was something sharp in the blood. It hurt my throat when I swallowed, and I could feel it move down to my stomach. Was the painful sensation her demons?” I paused for a moment but then spoke up again when he had not immediately answered. “Was it her sins,Merc?”
“Yes, River. Did you feel full after you felt the pain?” Mercasked.
“Yes! Yes, that is exactly how I felt!” I was happy that Merc understood how I had felt. “When I first started, it was as though I had been starved and was so hungry. But then I felt the pain, and then no longer was Ihungry.”
“Congratulations, River. You have just had your first experience. You have seen me have night terrors, so do not worry if they come for youtonight.”
* * *
It had beendays since I slept. Each time I closed my eyes and began to drift off to sleep, I would see the demons of Anne McCormick. I could see into the eyes of the woman Anne chased into an alley and smashed her head with a chunk of stone. Anne appeared to be a much younger woman in the dreams, so I was able to put together that she killed the woman in her young adultyears.
Merc would sit with me when I woke up each night. We would not talk about either of our dreams, or haunts, but kept one another company. I was sitting against the tree trunk next to our shelter when I noticed how heavy the air had become. I leaned forward and got up on my haunches and focused on the quickly building fog in thedistance.
“Merc,” Icroaked.
“What?” he asked as he came out from behind theshelter.
