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The bleak mood in the party car doesn’t match the atmosphere of the room at all. Shush is still clanking around behind the bar, but all of the humans present—and Pom-Pom—are sombre and silent. Stelle comes down the stairs after receiving a text summons at the same time Dan Heng walks through the door.
“I can go get March,” Stelle says. She’s the only one still missing.
“Wait.” Himeko beckons her over. “This meeting is actually about March.”
“Is something wrong?” she asks.
“Is March in trouble?” Dan Heng says.
“She’s okay. She’s safe,” Himeko says, which is an odd answer. There’s something she’s not saying. “Listen to what Black Swan has to say first, okay?”
“Okay, I guess,” Stelle agrees. Dan Heng nods.
“Go ahead,” Himeko tells Black Swan.
“Sure. So, this morning, Miss March came to me because she wasn’t feeling well. She was experiencing the same symptoms as she did before we arrived at Amphoreus—she was dizzy and had a headache, and she also mentioned that she felt very thirsty. I checked her memoria to see if anything strange was happening to her mind again—”
“Was it Evernight?” Stelle asks, unable to contain herself.
“No, she wasn’t there. There was nothing wrong with March’s memories, either, or at least nothing that I could see. I told her that she was probably just ill, and that she should see an actual doctor. Then I reached out to touch her forehead, to see if she had a fever, and that’s when she, uh… bit me.”
Whatever Stelle expected, it was not that. “What?”
“She grabbed my hand and bit my wrist.” Black Swan holds her hand up, peeling back the towel wrapped around it to reveal deep dental imprints, the skin under them already bruised. Everyone but Himeko gasps, Pom-Pom the loudest. Sunday looks vaguely sick.
“M-Miss Black Swan, have you cleaned that yet!?” Pom-Pom stutters.
“Just with water. I came to find Himeko right away.”
“I—I will get first aid supplies!” Pom-Pom says. They rush off, mumbling to themself about germs.
“What happened next?” Dan Heng asks.
“After a moment or two of, um, sucking, March realized what she was doing and backed away. She was very apologetic; she said she hadn’t meant to do it.”
“I’m sure she didn’t,” Welt says. “March is not an aggressive person.”
“No, of course not,” Black Swan agrees. “It was just an accident.”
Stelle feels like she’s going crazy. Everyone’s being polite and dancing around the issue, which is that March drank Black Swan’s blood. How is no one else freaking out!? Things like that don’t just happen, even on the Express.
“I don’t understand,” Sunday says, a massive understatement from Stelle’s point of view. “Why would she bite you?”
“I have a theory,” Black Swan says. She’s wrapped the towel back around her arm. “It might sound odd, but—”
“What is it?” Stelle asks.
“Well… I’m not sure that the three of you—meaning you, Dan Heng, and March 7th—realize how unusual it is for you to walk as many Paths as you do. Most people in the universe are not capable of treading more than one. I’m seen as an eccentric in the Garden just for dabbling in the Nihility, and yet, aside from the Trailblaze, each of you walks at least three different Paths. It would make sense that having that many Aeons’ eyes on you would invite more, and I believe that this new… development may be the work of another Aeon who has set THEIR sights on March.”
“What Aeon?” Welt asks.
“Oroboros,” Black Swan says. “The Voracity.”
The drinker of worlds, who devours everything THEY touch. Stelle shudders. She remembers what happened the last time an Aeon glanced March’s way. She also understands now why Black Swan is playing this so cool. If this really is the work of the Voracity, and Black Swan gets a chance to catch a glimpse of the little-known Aeon, she will achieve something no other Memokeeper has before. A little bite on the hand is a small price to pay.
Stelle decides she no longer cares about why this is happening. “Where is March now?” she demands.
“Locked in her room—”
“What!? You can’t just lock her up!”
“—by her own request,” Welt finishes. “She was worried about hurting someone else. But she’s okay—look. I called her and had her set up her camera to stream.” He holds out his phone. Onscreen, March is sitting on her bed, looking fidgety but otherwise fine.
“Dan Heng and I will go check on her,” Stelle says. Just because March is okay doesn’t mean she isn’t scared. Stelle’s heart hurts thinking about it. “We can’t leave her alone.”
“I knew you would say that, which is why I wanted you to hear Black Swan’s explanation first,” Himeko says. “But please be vigilant. There is a chance she will do this again—”
“March wouldn’t hurt us,” Stelle says.
“She wouldn’t have hurt Black Swan on purpose, either,” Sunday points out.
Stelle’s about to yank on his feathers when Dan Heng stops her. “If it comes to that,” he says, “Stelle and I can overpower March. But I don’t think it will. I trust March, and I know she will be extra careful not to make the same mistake again.”
“Yeah,” Stelle says, nodding. “What Dan Heng said.”
“Good,” Himeko says. “I already had Pom-Pom change course for the Space Station so that March can see a doctor, but it will take a few hours to get there. Let us know if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
Stelle leaves quickly with Dan Heng at her heels. They don’t speak as they walk through the parlour car to the passenger cabin. Dan Heng enters the code to unlock March’s door, but they knock before entering.
“Who is it?” March calls.
“It’s me and Stelle,” Dan Heng says. “Can we come in?”
“Black Swan told us what happened,” Stelle adds.
March is quiet. “If you’re sure you want to,” she says eventually.
Stelle slides the door open. She checks March over for signs of illness, but she just looks a little tired. There are bags under her eyes; March would probably cry if Stelle pointed that out.
“Is Black Swan’s arm okay?” March asks. “Is she mad at me?”
“Yes, and no,” Stelle says. “No one is mad.”
“Everyone’s just confused,” Dan Heng says. “Why did you bite her?”
March buries her face in her hands. “It’s embarrassing.”
Stelle remembers the camera. She switches it off, and she and Dan Heng sit down on either side of March on the bed. “It’s just us,” she says, “and you’ve seen us do plenty of embarrassing things.”
March smiles, but it’s not as bright as usual. “I guess.”
“You can tell us,” Dan Heng says. “We won’t judge you.”
“Okay, fine,” March agrees. “Well, like she probably told you, I asked Black Swan to check my memories because I felt dizzy, and I was worried that Evernight was acting out again. But the whole time she was, like, looking through my mind or whatever, all I could think about was how good she smelled. I mean, she always smells nice, like from her perfume, but this was like… like her blood smelled delicious, or something. Ugh, this is so weird.
“Anyway, she said I needed to go to the doctor, and by that point I felt so thirsty, and I just kind of… grabbed her hand and bit it.”
“Did it taste as good as it smelled?” Stelle asks.
“Better,” March admits. “It was… it was like eating the best thing you’ve ever tasted, after not eating for weeks. I know it sounds disgusting, though. Sucking on someone like that…”
Stelle doesn’t think that disgusting is the word she would have used, actually. Now that she’s seen March in person and knows for sure that she’s okay, other feelings have started to replace her panic. There’s a tiny drop of blood on the corner of March’s mouth, and Stelle has to restrain herself from wiping it off while she’s still talking.
“Black Swan has a theory about why you’re experiencing this,” Dan Heng says. He explains about the Voracity.
“Another Aeon? Can a girl live?” March says. “Don’t I have enough problems without this weird… hunger?”
“Is it still bothering you?” Stelle asks. “Or did Black Swan fill you up?”
“A bit, but it’s been a while now, and it’s starting to come back. I ate a granola bar, but that didn’t help, and…”
“What?”
“And, as good as Black Swan smelled, you two kinda smell, like, way better.”
“We do?” Dan Heng asks.
“Yeah. I mean, I’m not going to attack you or anything, but it’s, uh, getting a little hard to think about anything else.”
March’s voice is low and husky. Stelle suddenly feels very thirsty too.
“We could go, if we’re distracting you—” Dan Heng starts.
“Or you could drink from us too,” Stelle says.
“What!?” March says. “No, that’s—that would be too weird.”
“I think it might be kind of hot, actually,” Stelle says.
“You’re joking. Dan Heng, she’s crazy!”
Dan Heng clears his throat. “It will still be a few hours until we get to the Space Station, and we don’t know how much worse your thirst will get—”
“You’re both crazy!” March says. “I can’t just go around biting people!”
“But you’d let us do it if we needed to, right?” Stelle says.
“Well, yeah,” March says.
“So it doesn’t need to be a big deal, then.”
“We, uh—Trailblazers always help each other out,” Dan Heng says.
March looks back and forth between the two of them. “Are you guys sure? Like, sure, sure? Because I can’t think straight anymore—”
“Just do it,” Stelle says. “Me first. It’s okay.” She brushes her hair back to expose her shoulder and waits.
March’s eyes go dark as she stares at her neck. She leans in slowly, her nose bumping Stelle’s cheek. Stelle feels her lips touch her pulse point like a kiss. It tickles a little; March’s lips are soft and delicate.
And then her teeth sink in.
Stelle throws her head back and gasps. It hurts, but it feels good, too, pain mixing with pleasure in the warmth and wetness of March’s mouth. She digs her teeth in deeper and sucks, her hands finding Stelle’s clothes and holding on tight. A drop of blood drips down Stelle’s collarbone, but March is on it, chasing after it to lick it up. She leans into Stelle’s chest, humming in satisfaction.
“Do I taste good?” Stelle asks.
“Amazing,” March purrs. “Better than Immortal’s Delight.”
She moves away faster than Stelle would like—she only feels a little lightheaded, so what’s the rush? “No more,” March says. “I don’t want to take too much. Dan Heng, you better take your shirt off.” Stelle opens her eyes and watches Dan Heng pull his turtleneck off. March passes her a box of tissues from her nightstand before turning away and biting into Dan Heng’s neck.
It’s almost better watching it than feeling it. Stelle rips tissues out of the box without looking so she doesn’t miss a second. Dan Heng’s eyes widen in pain before settling half-lidded; March climbs into his lap for better access. Stelle leans in for a closer look, watching how March drinks from him. Have her teeth always been that sharp? It’s hard to tell when her tongue keeps darting out to lick the blood from Dan Heng’s skin.
When she’s done, she leaves behind a bite mark on Dan Heng to match the one on Stelle’s neck. It’s like a brand, a mark that shows they belong to March, and if Dan Heng’s blissed-out face, and the fact that the rest of the blood in his body has rushed elsewhere, are anything to go on, he loves it as much as Stelle does.
“Did you like it?” Stelle asks.
“So good,” March says between heavy breaths. “So full.” She looks up at Stelle. “It wasn’t too gross, was it?”
Stelle’s cute, well-groomed, adorable March 7th has blood all over her face. It’s staining her teeth and dripping down her chin. Her eyes are all pupil, black and wide, and her hair is a mess from where Stelle’s pretty sure she grabbed it.
She doesn’t think March has ever looked more beautiful.
She kisses her, wondering if she’ll get to experience the amazing taste March went on about, but it just tastes the same as when she bites her tongue. March jolts in shock, but she lets Stelle kiss her, and then goes easily when Dan Heng turns her chin with his finger to kiss her too.
“I guess that answers the question,” March says, laughing and finally smiling for real.
“We’d never think you were gross,” Stelle says.
“We just want you to be safe,” Dan Heng says. “So whatever this is, we’re here to help.”
“Yeah, what Dan Heng said,” Stelle says.
“Thanks, you guys.”
“We still have a while before we get to the Space Station,” Stelle says. “Dan Heng, do you think we can borrow two of your turtlenecks later? We’re going to have a lot of marks.”
“Oh, I actually think I’m okay now,” March says. “I feel really full. I probably don’t need to drink more.”
“Who said anything about drinking?” Stelle says. She grabs March and kisses her again before leaning down to suck a bruise onto her neck.