Baine's glare struck Nansen's. "Did you hear that?"
"Yea!" Nansen replied. "What the fuck was it?!"
The two ran out of the entertainment room, through the lobby, and lashed the office doors open. What they saw was the nightmare that they were dreading. Iggy was attacking, and even worse, he was attacking early with violent force.
With the smell of blood floating in the air, Nansen halted at the threshold. Everything in his body told him to go away, to leave, so he did. He turned around, and jogged anxiously up the main staircase toward his room.
Oblivious to Nansen's retreat, Baine ran in and clotheslined Iggy back over the couch. They went down together. Lost in breath, Baine maneuvered one of his arms around Iggy's neck and pulled his head upwards toward the ceiling. Wrangling him like a bull, Baine inspected his teeth with ungentle urgency and shaking fingers. His mouth straightened and his eyes were stiff, his usual serious self, and Iggy found some relief in that.
"You're so goddamn lucky!" Baine barked. He pulled his hand away from Iggy's mouth. "If your teeth weren't done growing, her infected blood would have healed them in a premature position, and you would have had some more serious problems to deal with, then!" He pulled his sleeve back away from his wrist and laid his bare skin against Iggy's closed mouth. "Drink from me. Go on. I said, 'drink.' You need mine or else-"
Baine's wrist came inching in toward Iggy's razor sharp teeth, but Iggy had no idea why he was there or what he was doing or what was happening- he couldn't remember how he got there, at all! He slipped his fingers in between his face and Baine's wrist, shoved him away, spun around and faced him.
"What's wrong, aren't you thirsty?"
"No," Iggy shook his head. "What did… I?" The few gulps of blood lathered his throat, and the voice that he heard was not his own. It was deep and even toned. Grown. A voice that no one had ever heard before. Disgust overtook him for something that he couldn't quite recall. He stood to his feet and stepped away.
Baine came up from the floor and took a step toward him, trying to hand him his wrist, still. "It's OK, you don't have to be scared," he assured him. "Just take it. I'm giving it to you."
Behind him, Iggy spotted Emi against the further wall cradling her wrist into her bosom. Her large black eyes focused right back on him with distrust and her mouth hardened into a straight line at the sight of him.
Iggy couldn't stand it. He needed to leave. He dodged his way around Baine and ran out of the room as fast as he could.
Baine could have easily caught him, for he was still very young and comparably slow. He even turned to follow him out, but when he saw Emi huddled against the wall, cradling her healing wound further into her chest with her chin lowered over her knuckles and a chill rattling through her, he approached her, instead. "Are you alright?" he asked. "I thought he was alone in here."
She was too embarrassed to look into his eyes. "I didn't realize that he was… That he was…" Her face twisted into an impending sob.
"Shhh… Let me see." His fingers slid underneath hers and he clenched her wound against his palm. His finger tapped her lowered chin upwards, and they met eyes. "Did it hurt?"
"It hurt very badly," she croaked. "But, why? Your bite didn't hurt me like that. Why did his?"
He drew her into a loose hug to comfort her, but since he was so large he towered over her. His voice vibrated through his chest and into her ear. "You've learned a lesson," he started. "I hate to get technical on you, but I'll try to explain. It's painful because the venom in the bite is not compatible with infected blood. It has no evolutionary purpose mixing with it. Infected people only feed on other infected people when they want to create deep emotional connections with one another."
She sought his eyes. "But, what does this mean?"
"Uh…" He released her awkwardly. "Well… I don't want to make you feel worse…"
"Tell me!" She shrieked, clenching the hem of his shirt until he slapped her hands off.
"Well... in your case," he stalled, "it means that you'll feel stronger for him. He took a part of you with him. He holds a part of who you are, and it's actually kind of a big deal."
"It can't be that big of a deal," she scoffed. "It happened too quickly to mean anything, and I didn't say it was OK!"
He tilted his head right ear toward the floor and cringed. "You're right, it happened quickly." Then effortlessly, he found the strength to recover, and straightened his spine one vertebrae at a time until he could mask his own worry. "But, that doesn't mean that it's not an important event. For example, many people live years together before ever sharing themselves with one another. Sometimes, they have ceremonies for it and everything."
"But, Nansen…"
He looked around the room, seeing that the two were alone. "Is a disappointing whore," he stated. "He takes a little bit from everyone. If he asks you, just say 'no'."
Her nose pulled back and she looked at him sternly. "Why would I say yes to something that hurts so badly?"
He rubbed the side of his face. "Oh geez…" he chuckled. "I didn't think I would already be doing this talk." He refocused on her curious eyes and laughed under his breath. "Next time, if there is a next time, try just giving it to him."
Her eyebrows became crooked. "What?"
"I know this sounds really weird, but if you are ever in this situation again and you cannot help yourself, give yourself a little cut and give it to him. I mean, he already took it, so it couldn't hurt to give it a try, right?"
"That is… the most… appalling thing I have ever heard."
"Yeah," Baine nodded, agreeing. "And we've been living like this for a long time. Welcome to the Fenderson family."
She frowned and peered down at the floor. "Did I miss out on something big, then? Is that what this means?"
Baine shook his head and lowered his eyebrows, dismissing her worries. "Look," he pulled her wrist out into view and gazed down at the well scabbed wound. "His bite looks just like yours."