Santos enjoyed soaring through the skies happy to finally have some wind in his face, whipping up his hair. Flying always reminded him of home and his siblings.
He soared over Lake Sarai and landed in the nearby forest to begin his search. He couldn’t fly for very long, and he hoped he could find some food while on the ground.
In the corner of his eye, he saw a squirrel. A delicious, unaware, ugly squirrel. Its beady eyes and burnt tail screamed I’m already weak, and slightly cooked, just for you.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures. I’ve eaten worse,” he said.
Slowly he approached the squirrel, but a large gust of wind sent it flying. Kalei landed, or more like rolled onto the ground, and landed face up, next to her grandfather.
“I found you!”
Kalei heard the others, buzzing in her head, calling her Princess, and all other sweet things. The adoration made her blush, and Santos was confused why she was so red. He stared into her eyes and tried to listen.
Nothing. He heard nothing.
“For the first time since I’ve had my first child, I can finally hear nothing,” Santos screamed. “Nothing!” Birds definitely heard his guttural scream, and flew off, away from the crazed lunatic covered in sludge and dirt.
“That’s not good! You need to come with me, let me help you.”
“Can’t,” Santos grunted.
He continued to walk through the forest and Kalei chased after him. “We’re worried about-”
“I need you to leave,” Santos shouted. “If you get in my way, whatever she did to me might hurt you.”
Kalei pushed him down, which wasn’t very hard since he was completely exhausted. Every time he got up, she pushed him down, and Deceit noticed. Up on the hill, her eyes flickered, and she saw someone else, getting in the way of what was hers.
Santos could hear her voice ringing in his ears.
Stop her. Don’t let anyone get in the way of finding Ace and the watch.
This time, Santos didn’t get back up when Kalei pushed him down. He begged her to stop. “You have to let me go, Lei-Lei, please.”
“I won’t let you hurt yourself. You need food!”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ll try not to kill you.”
The hive mind buzzed at his words, and they all yelled instructions into her ear. Santos opened his mouth, and Kalei ran as far as she could get. Trees exploded, their bark shattering and splintering around him.
Santos wobbled upright and continued to sing. His beautiful voice would kill anyone too close. His curse would forever follow him, never getting to sing again for his brothers and sisters.
Lyrica, the choirmaster, had his greatest pleasure taken from him, and without music, he was no more. All that was left was Santos, a monster pretending to be something he never was.
A human.
Splinters stuck out of his arms, and he pulled them out, piece by piece as he walked through the forest. This time, his wounds didn’t close up. Santos knew he was going to die.
A part of him welcomed it. He wouldn’t have to experience the same two months, over and over again. He wouldn’t have to deal with obnoxious children or keep his promise to Michael.
He wanted to die. He was ready. Santos had done everything there was to do, many times over. Even after the world drastically changed after the Empire invaded, soon everything started to feel the same again.
Monotonous. Boring. Tasteless.
There was no thrill in life, without the threat of danger, without an end. No reason to try. Pretending to be young again was another fun thing he had done, and soon, he would get bored of it, and find something new to do.
It didn’t matter if he was ready to die. Deceit forced his body to march on.
Kalei had flown back, and she kept her distance, trying to subdue him or at least distract him. She thought if she could knock him out, the spell would wear off when he came to.
The wind pushed out from behind her, and Santos went flying, high into the sky. His body spun, and in an attempt to stop, his wings jutted out, but instead, this just changed the trajectory of his fall.
In a huge arc, he flew over the trees and returned back down to planet Earth, his head kissing the ground.
He landed with a crack, near a toadstool and a clump of mushrooms.
Slowly Kalei approached his body. She started to cry as he didn’t get up. Everyone felt it. All of his children, they all cried together, the words accident, and don’t blame yourself, repeated over and over.
Kalei kneeled on the ground, and held him close, sobbing louder and louder. Thousands upon thousands of voices were all giving her conflicting advice. Soon they all lumped into different groups. One group said to run, another told her to kill herself, the next told her he was just pretending, and the last claimed that he was taking a nap.
One voice stood out to her, and she looked up to see Father Alvarez and Mimi.
“Why is he trying to hurt you,” Father Alvarez asked.
“The witch put something black in his mouth. How can I get it out,” Kalei asked.
“The black blood? She is no witch. She’s a demon.”
Mimi wondered how he knew this, but didn’t think too hard about it. Nothing about the past few days made any sense, so she just kept out of the way. Being around Father Alvarez and Kalei made her feel like she was intruding into some kind of secret world.
“Forgive me father,” Father Alvarez pleaded. “This is for your own good.”
Father Alvarez gently picked him up, and cut into Santos’ arm. He squeezed and squeezed, the black sludge pouring out of him. The others began to shout in his head, and Father Alvarez tuned them out, never paying them attention.
Kalei copied what he did. With her own razor-sharp nails, she cut into his skin, and it all seeped out of him. Laboriously they all took turns, getting the tar out of his body.
When the last drop had finally left, Father Alvarez had to ask for a favor.
“Mimi. Please, give him some-”
“No, I don't know him,” Mimi screamed.
“You’re about to know me, if you don’t slit your wrists right now,” Kalei shrieked.
“If you’re so hell-bent on this, why don’t you do it yourself!?”
“Actually, yes. That’s a great idea, Mimi,” Father Alvarez exclaimed.
“It is,” Kalei asked.
“Yes. You’re his genetic relative. Your blood is special like his… maybe it will be better than hers.”
Kalei felt smug and confident, especially since their entire pack cheered her and Father Alvarez on, and they both smiled, staring deeply into each other's eyes, becoming one.
“Hey uh, it's getting dark,” Mimi mumbled.
They all snapped out of their trance and Kalei shuddered, hating that it was so addictive.
She cut the palm of her hand and poured it into his mouth, praying to every god she knew for him to wake. Father Alvarez joined as well and Mimi watched from afar, worried that they would just use her next.
He stirred awake, and Santos was upset.
He could hear all his children again, praising him, worshipping him like a god, believing he was truly invincible.
Santos cried more red tears.
He was ready, and God had ensured his curse of eternal life would continue, no matter what.
Carlito Alvarez carried his father on his back, following the road for about two hours until they finally reached the Training Center and the campus Hospital. At the hospital, all the paramedics tried to get Santos on a stretcher, but Father Alvarez wouldn’t let them.
“Where is George,” Father Alvarez shouted. “Bring him or else I’m leaving!”
Father Alvarez was ridiculously strong, and none of the nurses could stop him. George quickly came out of the hallway and gasped when he saw what happened.
“Father,” he cried. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come! The meatsuits went on and on about triage.”
Mimi now didn’t believe anyone on campus was human and started to wonder if she too, was secretly a bloodthirsty, over-glorified, bat.
George assured everyone that he would give the patients a blood transfusion, and in a sense he did. Father Alvarez waited in the lobby while George fed his father blood like he was a toddler in one of the hospital rooms. He poked a metal straw into the blood bag and fed him until he could sit up on his own, and soon Santos started to feel better.
“I love you, Georgie,” Santos mumbled.
George was so pleased with himself, and he started to believe that he was now, his favorite. The others were angry, even Father Alvarez, but they soon were quiet, relieved that Santos would be fine. George would never be his favorite, but he believed he now was, and Santos could hear his thoughts. Santos realized that he no longer was compelled to chase Ace and that he could move freely. He started thinking about the different ways he could thank Father Alvarez, and again, jealousy started to brew.
“Can I have more Georgie,” Santos asked.
“I’m so sorry,” George sighed. “We’re in short supply, you know, with all the dead people outside.”
“I’m not at full strength! At least I’m not hungry anymore.”
George worried that now he was not Santos’ favorite and Santos rolled his eyes in exasperation.
He let out a loud groan as he got up from the bed, and felt George’s eyes all over him as he walked over to the sink. He washed the blood off of his hands and face, and then suddenly he gasped.
“I forgot about Gabriel! I might as well have left a baby at a fucking mall!”
“Ah, is he the new one,” George asked.
“Yes! Get him quick! Before he dies, or eats someone and causes us more problems!”
George ran off to find Gabriel, not worried about losing his job or his steady supply of blood, as long as he carried his father’s favor.
Santos stumbled into the lobby and groaned. Father Alvarez was overjoyed when he saw him, and Mimi was nervous.
“I won’t eat you,” Santos moaned. “Not yet, at least.”
She shivered, and Santos laughed at her reaction.
“Please don’t do that Dad. We need to help Gabriel before all of this somehow gets worse,” Father Alvarez complained.
“Don’t worry about it! Georgie is on it.”
“That’s great! He’s never let us down!”
Everyone else twittered in agreement, and again, Kalei, Santos, and Father Alvarez, all stared at each other, smiling and lips twitching.
“Can we stay,” Mimi asked. “They have food, and the lights work.”
“Of course we can,” Father Alvarez told her. “I’m just happy I kept you safe.”
“Don’t get too attached,” Santos warned him. “Lots of them died tonight.”
Everyone in the hive agreed, save a few who chastised Father Alvarez for even talking to the meat suits in the first place. After a lot of staring at each other, and uncomfortable looks from Mimi and strangers, they all decided that staying was best until Santos got better.
Santos, Mimi, Kalei, and Father Alvarez went to meet Savannah, who at this point hated herself for making the rule that she had to meet everyone before they could stay.
The moment Savannah saw them, she quickly nodded yes, wanting to get back to other more important matters. Santos shrugged and they all walked inside, happy to finally be safe. They were given rooms, and again, Mimi started to believe she was human again. A shower, a change of clothes, and some food made her no longer feel like a monster covered in dirt and blood.
She and Kailei shared a small room and they quickly fell asleep, while Father Alvarez couldn’t.
Father Alvarez refused to leave Mimi’s side, and Santos spent a long time making priests alone with children jokes until he finally left her on her own. He was in the room next door with Santos, who strangely, was sleeping.
Father Alvarez marveled at how much more human Santos was compared to the rest of them. He hoped that if he lived as long as his father did, maybe he too could become human again as well.
The others started to yell at him, for being ungrateful.
“That’s right. I’m an ungrateful child,” Father Alvarez whispered.
He lay on his bed, pretending to sleep, hoping that it would work.
It never did.
