The sequel to Bloodslut
The prequel to Aristo Blood
*************************************
With thanks to Barry Gold and Joshua Kronengold and Paul Mason and Chris Paige, for their help.
And with regret that David McDaniel wasn’t around to help too.
A few minutes after the end of Thursday, March 20th, in the 1012th year of the saints
A few minutes after the start of Tuesday, July 19th, 3307 Civil Era
A few minutes after midnight
I couldn’t smell smoke, I couldn’t see flames, but the fire alarm bells were ringing, and I stopped yelling at Lucio, and I grabbed up my badge and an armful of clothing. Our bedroom door swung wide open with a loud bang, and my cat Mysterious hissed and ran out, and I ran after her. <Memory: “Don’t run away from danger,” the Water & Fire teachers used to say. “You could slip and fall. In the long run it’s faster to walk.” Then they showed us what happened to people who didn’t get out in time!> I could smell my own fear, and I ran for my life.
There was a red arrow gliding across the wall screens to show the way to the nearest exit, and I followed it, turning a corner to see my playmates Satan and Dragonfly and Satan’s pet Virginio walking quickly down the corridor ahead of me. Dragonfly’s gray-haired pets Bobby and Janie were trotting to keep up; they were servants, nearly half a meter shorter than the rest of us. Lucio was my pet but he was taller than I was because he was an aristo before—
I couldn’t see Mysterious anywhere! Lucio, is this fire part of your plans that are going to kill a thousand people? I’m walking now; don’t run to catch up with me; you might slip and fall; just hurry, Lucio, please please please hurry and catch up with me before the doors shut! I love you! I don’t care if your plans are going to have a death rate of a hundredth of one percent of the Mission, are going to kill a thousand people! Not just "a few people"! Not just "hurt people"! A thousand dead people! You ought to care about killing that many people!
We went past masked aristos who were dancing to the rhythm of the alarm bells, their long black hair swirling through the air as they spun around. Don’t aristos know that the fire alarm means you have to get out before the flames burn you, before the sprinklers drown you? Aristos don't grow old, but that's because we cleanse their blood; it doesn't mean they can't die. We walked over tile and carpet and soft blue flowers. There’s my client St. Michael’s golden throne. Is Michael all right? Is he back there with the rest of the aristos? Is he dancing with St. Catherine? Is he going to die here?
The hallway was getting crowded ahead of us now — red-haired blood-cleansers like me and my playmates — They left their aristo clients too, gray-haired servants, pets with yellow and brown hair like middlers, but there weren’t any middler workers here on Defense floor in Aristo wing. Lucio, hurry! We followed the red arrow to wing start and a winding stairway, and the arrow pointed down. Any second now they’ll close the fire doors and turn on the sprinklers.
We jogged down the stairs, and the alarm bells were ringing there too. The bells were so loud that I couldn’t hear Lucio’s footsteps following me; the scent of our stress was so strong that I couldn’t smell him. Lucio, have you found Mysterious? Is she all right? We got down to Landing 100, and the arrow pointed out, and the fire door slammed shut behind me, and I turned around — but Lucio wasn’t there; nobody was there.... I’m the last person out! They’ll make me go see my psycho! Lucio, where are you!
continued and finished in Aristo Blood