Angel's Curse

5. Genetic Codes

5. Genetic Codes

I sat in the garden, swinging on the three-seater garden swing — another gift from Danny — enjoying the sun. A light breeze carried with it the scent of a myriad of flowers, a haven in a sea of charcoal. I marvelled at how the genetic code of each flower was slightly different, giving it a unique fragrance, and how mortals had synthesised the scents of various flowers for use in perfumes.

It made me wonder … wouldn’t it be something if I could somehow manipulate the scent my own body gave off, to make me smell like something I wasn’t? How cool would that be?

I twirled a freesia between my fingers, the petals near my nose, breathing in deeply the heady, almost intoxicating scent. I compared the fragrance to that of a violet. What were the different base, middle and top notes, if any, in each? What did the scents evoke — memories, emotions or both?

I thought of vampires, angels and myself — how our scents differed as well, just like flowers. Of course there were other immortal scents I could ponder on, yet the ones that came to mind were the ones I’d had the most contact with.

If I could somehow figure out what the genetic sequencing for those scents were, and reproduce them, wouldn’t it stand to reason that I could change my scent?

Okay, a scientist I wasn’t. Though I did have heightened senses and a better awareness of what was going on both within me, and outside, in the world around me. I could see, hear, taste and smell things that were previously hidden to me.

Taste and smell — they were the most interesting. Being so closely related could the key to replicating a scent be associated with the taste of whatever it was I wanted to replicate? Could it hold true for things that weren’t technically food, or considered palatable enough to be edible? Was it possible it was that simple?

I knew what angels’ blood tasted like and vampires’ as well, but what did my blood taste like? If I compared the taste of my blood to the taste of say, a vampire’s, could I isolate the difference and effect some chemical change — something on the molecular level — within my body?

No use contemplating it forever, Helena, I thought to myself. There’s only one way to find out.

I used a fingernail to nick my wrist and sucked on the few drops of blood that welled to the surface. It wasn’t sweet like honey, or as disgusting as Brussels sprouts. It tasted like ordinary blood to me, slightly metallic in flavour — not the worst thing I’d ever tasted.

I looked inward, to the vampire inside me, seeking out the genetic code that my body had absorbed when I unknowingly took the life of the vampire who’d changed me, though he sought to kill me.

I could see the differences — and there were quite a few — when compared against my overall genetic structure, which was different again to when I was mortal. In my mind I visualised the genetic sequences as codes, using letters and numbers to identify each individual sequence. I wasn’t quite sure what they were, or if the terminology was correct — I’d run away before starting my fourth year of high school, to escape the abuse, and had never studied biology. I didn’t even know what DNA stood for, but as long as I could identify the differences it was of little consequence. It’s not as if I was going to have my findings published in any scientific journal. More likely I’d be the subject in the journal, as a strange blend of beings — perhaps touted as the next phase of evolution — rather than what I’d discovered. If you discover anything, Helena, I thought. It might be a great theory, but in practice there’s a big possibility it won’t work.

Strangely enough I identified five different sets of sequences instead of the three — mortal, earth-bound angel and vampire — I’d been expecting. One looked like it was a combination of the other four. Perhaps that was the one I had just tasted and related to what I smelled like now. What could the fifth code set possibly represent? I had no idea whatsoever. It was a mystery.

In my mind I moved the individual sequences around, like a sliding puzzle, until I could see a small similarity in them all. I was drawn to those areas and hoped it was for a reason. Something was happening within me …

Fresh in my memory was the perfume of the freesia I still held in my hand. I remembered when Danny had first created the garden for me — how I’d been excited to discover some previously undetectable notes in the various scents. When I had fed enough to gain the true strength of the part of me that was vampire, even more notes were revealed, in the stems, of all places. With each change that took place within me the scents of the things around me changed. No, that wasn’t right. The scents themselves didn’t change — my perception of them changed and something new was unveiled.

I breathed in through my nose once again and found that I couldn’t detect the scent in the freesia’s stem anymore. That could only mean I had rearranged the right codes — at least the right codes that enabled me to smell things. I couldn’t tell if I’d altered my own scent as well. If I had successfully suppressed all except one scent, which one was now dominant — mortal, vampire, earth-bound angel or the unknown?

I sniffed my hand. As far as my own nose was concerned I smelled the same as I did when I was mortal, though I didn’t really expect that would change. The true test of my internal experimentation was yet to come. I braced myself as I headed to the cottage door. Would I smell any different to Danny, or was all of this for nothing, and the changes I thought I’d made were all in my head rather than on a cellular level?

I took a deep breath, opened the door to the cottage and stood in the entryway, letting the breeze carry my scent to the library at the back of the house. I was quite shocked when Danny appeared behind me and pushed me into the house, quickly closing the door behind him.

“Vampire,” he whispered, “and very close indeed. It must have stumbled onto the blind spot.”

I turned and the air stirred around me. Danny grabbed my arms, a look of surprise and confusion on his face. “What have you been doing out in the garden? Has a vampire come to visit you?”

I shook my head.

“The smell is coming off you in waves,” he said. “What have you done?”

“Oh my god, oh my god!” I clapped my hands excitedly. “That code sequence is for vampire. This is amazing!”

Danny let go of my arms, the confusion clear on his face. “What are you talking about?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, to focus on the five sets of codes I could see in my head, and changed them again, to make a different scent dominant.

Danny’s mouth dropped open and he shook his head. “What are you doing?”

I pulled him by the arm to the couch and sat him down, then sat next to him, my hands on his legs. Instead of answering his question I asked, with the intense curiosity of a child that’s learning a new trick, “What do I smell like now?”

“You smell like,” he closed his eyes, breathed in deeply and said, awestruck, “like an angel, a heavenly angel.”

I clapped my hands again, like I’d pulled off the greatest magical trick in the world.

“The unknown sequence …” I said. “It’s angel — real angel, like you.”

The key, it turned out, was in the blood. I needed to assimilate the blood of those creatures that were not a natural part of me. Danny had given me his blood many months before, in order to heal some internal injuries I’d sustained. It was a time before I had the ability to heal myself. It made sense now that angel, as well as earth-bound angel, would be a part of me.

Varakiana, werewolf and zombie were beyond me. I’d not yet had blood from any of those creatures. The most important ones, as far as I was concerned for now, I could reproduce the scent of. All I had to do was alter the sequencing of the code sets to make the one scent dominant. It was amazingly simple, once I knew how.

Danny asked again, “What are you doing?”

“I’m altering my genetic code in order to change my scent. Of course, I couldn’t tell what I smelled like, so I needed your nose. I still smell the same as I did before I was changed, to me at least.”

“How are you altering the genetic code you were born with? It shouldn’t be possible to do something that evolution takes hundreds of thousands of years to accomplish.”

“Ah, but I’m different, remember,” I said proudly. “You’re the one who keeps drumming that into my head. I have five genetic code sets to play around with — mortal, earth-bound angel, vampire, heavenly angel and presumably the one that’s me now, a combination of them all — though I didn’t know about heavenly angel until you identified the scent for me.”

“You can’t do any others?” he asked.

“No, there are only five code sets. I think I always had the mortal and earth-bound angel ones. The other two I gained via their blood, and the last was my body fusing — I guess that’s the right word — them all together. It kind of makes sense doesn’t it?”

“It does,” Danny said, grinning at me. “I should be getting somewhat jealous of all these talents you’ve acquired. You’re going to make me feel old and obsolete.”

I laughed. Here was someone who was ancient, by any mortal standard, complaining — albeit half-heartedly — that I was going to make him feel old. Well, duh! He was old.

Danny wrinkled his nose again. “Can you do something about the smell though?”

I rearranged my genetic code to one of the three sequences that I hadn’t tried.

“Is that better?” I asked.

“Ah,” Danny sighed, “back to the Helena I know.”

“So there’s no way you’d get down and dirty with vamp girl?” I asked teasingly.

“Not unless I put a peg on my nose,” he laughed jokingly, but the gleam in his eyes told me otherwise. He was willing to put up with a lot for me.

“Danny,” I began hesitantly, “would you be upset if I went out for a few hours by myself? I want to test this new skill and see how my prey reacts. You know, I want to check out if smelling the same as them makes them less cautious, that sort of thing. If you think it’s a bad idea I’ll stay. I thought that the scent of an angel tagging along might cloud their responses to me.”

“No, that’s okay. You go out and enjoy yourself, but be careful, and take the knife and feather with you. Conceal them if you like. Just make sure you take them. Remember though, if you call on me for help and I come, our little charade will be blown. Both sides will know we’re alive, so caution is advisable.”

How I hated it when he lectured me like a two-year-old. It’s not like I couldn’t use my brains now and again. What I’d accomplished today was a classic example of how intelligent I could be when I applied myself. I did have more than street-smarts, if not the formal education to back it up.

I kissed his cheek, and as I bounded down the hall to collect my kit — the knife and feather — I called back to him, “I’ll be back before nightfall.”

He chuckled and shook his head as if he didn’t believe me, much like I imagined normal parents of teenagers would know that I’ll be in by ten meant they’d be home by midnight.

I threaded the straps of the sheath around the belt on my jeans a few times, until it could hardly move, then buckled the belt. Maybe I’d ask Danny for another sheath with longer straps that I could tie to my leg. I’d simply choose the right sheath depending on where I wanted to wear it, strap it on and slip the knife in. The feather, however, went on its usual spot on my right arm, though under a sweat top. I wanted to wear it, as I did whenever I ventured out, yet didn’t want anyone I might bump into to see it. I was sure I was the only immortal who wore a feather on her arm. That in itself would be a dead giveaway as to who I was to anyone who’d heard about me, if not met me.

I transported myself about a hundred metres from the temple, a popular meeting place for the vampires. During my transit there I rearranged the code sequences until my scent matched that of a vampire. If anyone was here they’d probably detect my scent long before they saw me, so smelling like a vamp when I arrived would give me the element of surprise.

I walked under the cover of blackened trees devastated by angel fire all too recently, edging closer to the temple, and let my sense of hearing range outwards. I thought I heard something. Definitely not voices. I crept closer and sniffed the air. Someone was here. Only one scent though — female. It was good there was only the one vamp here. I didn’t think I was quite yet ready to announce I’d returned from the dead.

At the edge of the entrance I glanced around quickly to ensure I was alone before stepping inside. When I realised who it was, waiting in the gloom, it was too late to just disappear. I should have paid more attention to her scent.

“Helena, is that you?” Shae asked, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her, as was her nose.

“Yeah,” I said dejectedly, “it’s me.”

“You don’t sound too happy about surviving …”

“It’s not that.” Cut to the chase, I thought, time might be limited. “Now you’ve seen me I’m going to have to kill you. You’re probably one of the few vamps I’d rather not kill.”

“Then don’t kill me,” she replied.

“It’s not that simple,” I sighed. “You see, you won’t be able to keep this a secret. You never could keep a secret. How do you think I found out about the preacher’s likes and dislikes, and used that knowledge to my advantage?”

“Why you little b***h!” she spat at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. It was ancient history. I had ousted her as the preacher’s favoured slut, just as she had done to the unfortunate woman before her.

“You do what you have to in order to survive.”

“f**k you!” she yelled. “Drake will know it was you. Who else kills vampires the same way we kill mortals?”

“He won’t know if there’s no body,” I said, crossing the few metres to grab her and whisk her away.

She struggled. Nearly all of them did. It was futile, and in the lights her screams were hollow echoes that only the two of us could hear. I let my lips touch her neck and held her arms tightly, making contact with skin in order to drain her quicker. I longed for the warm honey on my tongue, sliding down the back of my throat. Had it been anyone else I would have taken my time and enjoyed the flow of blood into my mouth, but we were alike in so many ways … I didn’t want to cause her any more pain than was necessary.

I let her body drop at the edge of the water in the cavern Danny and I had explored weeks ago. I should feel some remorse for what I’ve done, I thought. Why don’t I care?

Of recent times I’d been so engrossed in Danny’s memories, dancing and other pursuits that I’d forgotten I hadn’t had a proper meal for almost three weeks. Shae was the first thing I’d had to eat since the angels had descended to kill us, and any that aided us. No wonder I felt hungry. Yet I felt no weaker for it, and it was good to know that I could go without nourishment for some time if I had to. Perhaps Danny could enlighten me as to exactly how long I could last before I absolutely had to eat— provided I could put up with my stomach rumbling — or begin to weaken.

Shae had been alone at the temple, presumably waiting for someone. Drake perhaps? Should I risk it and go back there? I could wait in the niche at the back, slightly hidden from view, to see who arrived. If a number of vamps turned up I could simply disappear. I ummed and ahhed while the two opposing voices inside my head fought it out, and again my curiosity — curse my curious nature — won out.

I waited quietly in the niche for half an hour. When no one came I ventured towards the entrance. What a dumb idea that was! Just as I was about to peer around the corner of the entrance to see if anyone was approaching, Drake walked in. We both gasped in surprise. So it was Drake Shae had come to meet.

There was no point in disappearing. He may have been alone, but he’d already seen me, so knew I was alive. He continued walking, a smile on his face, and I backed up, keeping in step with him.

“Helena! Why am I not surprised to see you?” He sniffed the air around me. “You smell … different. Quite delicious actually. Just the sort of smell a male vampire finds attractive.”

Is he hitting on me?

“You like my new fragrance then?” I purred. “I call it Vampire Eau de Parfum, by Helena.”

His face was close to mine and he tilted his head to the side to breathe in my aroma. I could feel his cold breath on my neck and couldn’t suppress the smallest of shivers, goosebumps forming on my flesh.

“And what of Danizriel? Is he hiding out here somewhere?” Drake peered into the shadows half expecting Danny to step forward.

I was grateful now that I could still lie. I shook my head and looked at the ground.

“No,” I said sadly. “Unfortunately he didn’t make it.”

I made some sobbing sounds in the back of my throat. Before Drake could question me any further, or possibly try to comfort me — in whatever way vampires comforted each other — I disappeared back to the cottage. I wanted my performance to be as realistic as possible. With my ability to change scents I could blend into either of my two worlds — mortal or immortal — but Danny could not. If everyone continued to believe he was dead, he, at least, was safe.

This was to be my little secret. Drake wouldn’t tell the angels I was still alive — they wouldn’t thank him for it — and if he thought Danny was dead and I was mourning him, he might also think I might be swayed into joining him. At least then I wouldn’t have to worry about being hunted down by them, although I’d need to tread carefully. Besides, if I told Danny what had happened he’d probably insist on coming with me wherever I went from now on, or ground me for eternity, which was a long time.