Free Blood To Blood by Ifè Oshun

fresh air. My new body processed the bear blood,
which thrummed with a hypnotic rhythm in my veins. My legs gave out as a wave
of relaxation swept over me, and with a sigh, I sank onto a comfy blanket of
snow. Eventually, my parents found me there.
    “Well, you look more awake,”
Mom said. “You’ve got your normal coloring back.”
    Cici flashed through the air
toward us, then pulled up to chuck a bag of clothes at me. I caught it in a
flash. “Closest store was a few miles away,” she explained. “Walmart. Took
forever at the check out line. Not your favorite Juicy Couture, but you'll
live.” Dad and Mom laughed.
    My nightgown was ripped and
covered in all kinds of blood, fur, dirt and skin. Gross. I touched the back of
my neck where the bear had clawed me. It was healed. I ducked behind a giant
tree to change before making my way back to the clearing where the others were.
    “So, dear,” Dad said as I
made myself comfortable on the circle of boulders they lounged on, “There are a
million questions going through your mind right now. You are probably wondering
exactly what is going on, and what it all means.”
    He was wrong. There was only
one question on my mind. “What day is it?”
    “Thursday,” he answered,
puzzled.
    “Good, I still have time to
get ready for the Garden gig.” Eager to get back to work, I stood up.
    “Angel.” Dad spoke as if I
were a two-year-old. “You must understand what happened to you over the past
few days. You are fully immortal; there is no more for your body to do. Your
abilities are almost set in stone, but over the next year you may develop new
ones. This is normal. And you are Shimshana. What this means is you must
subsist on blood. You will never need to eat mortal food again, although if you
want to you can.”
    “Why would I want to do
that?” The thought of mortal food now made me want to hurl.
    “We're natural-born
immortals,” he explained, “and as such, our bodies adapt with time. But change
for us is quite different than it is for mortals. Our bodies adapt to the
circumstances around us. If not, we would never be able to move with the times.
Since our bodies cannot die easily, we cannot allow our other senses to
atrophy.”
    “You said our bodies can't die
easily. Has anyone ever died?”
    “Yes,” said Mom, “my first
husband was destroyed. By your brother Tunde.”
    There was that name again:
Tunde. My head started reeling, and I nearly fell head first off the boulder.
Dad caught me as I swayed. Cici pushed her calm, and I allowed it to wash over
me.
    “It was a long time ago,” Mom
continued. “Tunde was once one of the most loving of souls. But when he started
to mature, another side came out. His Mahá was… eventful. Many came away
knowing that Tunde was trouble, and our family was devastated at the change in
him. He had developed a taste for killing. His powers were immense. He became
obsessed with destroying every immortal he could. One day, he decided he was
going to kill me.”
    The blood flooding my mouth
told me I’d bitten my tongue.
    “I was in the midst of my
sleep,” Mom continued, “and, so I am told, he trespassed on my resting place.
My husband at the time, Levi, caught Tunde in the act. There was a battle
between them. I woke up to find Levi in ashes.”
    I'd always wondered what
happened to Mom's first husband. “How did he die?”
    Mom took a deep breath.
“Tunde was walking fire. In an instant, he could incinerate the most powerful
immortal. I stopped Tunde before he could do the same to me.”
    Dad tenderly took Mom's hand
and, in that moment, I was glad that she had someone to travel that long hard
road with. “Tunde made some bad choices,” Dad said. “It is very important at
this point in your existence, Angel, that you decide what kind of life you will
lead. Will it be for the good of others? Or will it be something else? After
The Change, there is a period of time called the moral window. It is open for
about a