Cordelia

By: Lennylena

My father had always told me to play carefully while outside. Blood isn’t so easy to get out, he’d say. He was the kind of man who cared for others so deeply, he’d forget about himself. Always worrying, always giving. I’d believed in him even until the bitter end.

My nose sniffled as I continued to scrub, fingers wearing raw from the coarse sponge. All I had to do was focus. Keep at it, and everything would be alright.

It was my mother, on the other hand, who had countless tricks to remove blood. Mid-middle school she’d saved my favorite pair of white jeans from their near-inevitable demise. There’s always a way around it, bean. Add a little soap, run it under cold water, and scrub.

Needless to say, I’m more like my mother.

A hand wiped across my head collecting the droplets of sweat. My back ached from hunching over and I couldn't stop my fingers as they shook. 

Maybe Father was slightly correct. I’d been scrubbing for what felt like hours, and I couldn’t seem to collect an ounce of the puddling red blood staining the carpet. Blood wasn’t easy.

But I never gave up. 

As I scrubbed and scrubbed, I shuffled backwards on my knees until I bumped into something rather sturdy.

“Sorry,” I found myself apologizing, allowing my eyes to fall onto the man once again.

He’d seemed taller when he towered over me, using his height as leverage. Cornering me with those eyes begging for more. He couldn’t resist, he’d said. 

He wasn’t the first man to approach me in such a way, so I laughed, nodding along even to his incessant murmurs. 

I hadn’t seemed to figure out a way to disengage men yet. You see, most were easily hooked. And oftentimes it was as if in their lonesome, waiting to be reeled in, they’d chosen to wrap themselves up and choke on the fishing line.

To this extent, Orion had been the same. He leaned close, taking in the scent I’d carefully selected for the night. Pushing his weight against me, holding my arms tightly. That had been well within the norm.

“Cordelia, I-“ a gulp interrupted his thought, “I truly cannot resist.”

He closed the gap, slinking closer and closer. Orion left no room for anything but stuttering thoughts. He began with soft kisses, leading upwards from my collarbone. Moments passed, but he struggled in making his way north, engrossed in the shape of my neck.

“Orion?” I tried to pull him back, “What is it that you can’t resist?”

Surely it wouldn’t have been just my neck?

Orion lifted his head, neck craned and contorted. His eyes were slightly hollow, as if the man I’d left the bar with had drifted away. He wore a tight smile, which did not couple nicely with his new expressionless gaze. 

Where had the charming man gone? Had he shed his skin leaving only the shell behind?

His twisted face smiled softly.

“Orion?” 

He pressed a hand onto my chest, wrapping the other around the back of my neck, locking me in place. With no response, he pressed his lips against my skin once more.

He left small nibbles as he worked. Brushing tickling strands of hair aside as the pressure on my neck grew only more intense.

“Alright Orion,” I huffed, “that’s enough.”

He gazed upwards again, a hint of something new in his eyes. I hadn’t noticed it before, but they weren’t purely hollow. Deep, under layers of soul and flesh, there was something else there. An insatiable, burning hunger. A heat that rose through his body, fingertips torching everything he touched. 

His starving eyes were ashen. But for what?

Even now, his strength pulled me closer, and I was powerless to stop it.

“Orion, stop!” Nibbles became bites, nicking my skin. “Get off!”

He didn’t respond. Not even a chuckle escaped his widening jaw as he pulled back for a moment. Like a snake, his mouth’s hinges opened wider than they should have. I stared in horror as his teeth shifted, a grumble escaping his throat as sharpened fangs forced their way down.

A bloodsucker.

With a creek, fangs were set in, his wide jaw ready to snap shut. I struggled in his grasp, my wrists locked in place.

“A baby bloodsucker, are you?” I pulled against his weight, my hands almost slipping out of his hold. 

I hadn’t seen one in years, and surely not such a fledgling. My Mother had made sure of that. She was strong.

He pushed my head aside for easier access.

What had it been that affected fledglings? Smoke? Bibles? Screams?

No. What had Mother said? Make them listen.

Commands. It was commands. In the bloodsucker hierarchy, a fledgling’s job would be to listen.

“Stop at once, fledgling.” Spouting the last word with as much disgust as I could manage, I watched Orion freeze. If he believed he was beneath me, he would do whatever I say. His jaw faltered as he loosened his grip. A semblance of humanity poked back through his eyes. “You dare attack me?” 

The baby bloodsucker kept his back still as he released me completely, taking a small staggered step backward. Horrified, he couldn’t make eye contact as he quivered, “I’m sorry, Cordelia, I didn’t know.”

I could feel the blood dripping down my neck, staining my favorite top. An apology? That just wasn’t good enough for me.

“A fledgling that attacks one of their own,”I smirked, collecting a red fingertip from my neck, “I wonder what they’ll say.” 

Wide eyes shook as he cowered before me. “Please, Cordelia, I’ll do anything.”

“Anything?”

His fangs receded as his eyes fell to the floor. “Please, keep this mistake between us.”

Bloodsuckers were not nocturnal. It’d fallen into the social consciousness that they would burn under the sun, but it was far from it. They revered it. The sun was so sacred, only fully formed bloodsuckers were allowed under its presence. They lived their lives for the sunlight, so much so that bloodsuckers who made promises in the name of the sun, bound their souls to never break them. 

“Swear on the daylight.” I flipped my hand up, “say that you’ll never disregard my instructions.”

The quivering man shot upwards, a hand flying to grip on my shoulder. “But, Cordelia!” 

Orion pulled his hand away faster than I could react. My heart beat so loudly, I questioned if the thumping could be heard through the cuts on my neck. “Swear it.”

If I were truly a bloodsucker, and word got out, Orion would be as good as dead. The Faction would execute a failed fledgling without hesitation. Or at least they would back in my Mother’s day. 

Orion, although conflicted, raised his head quickly enough. “Under the eternal guardian, solemn sunlight, I swear to always follow Cordelia’s instructions.”

Halfway through his speech, a haze overtook his pupils, deepening his voice as he spoke. Like the ancestors of all bloodsuckers were right with him, echoing and marking note of his oath to punish him in the afterlife were he to break it. For if a bloodsucker were to act against their word, they’d catch an early flame out as their one way ticket to hell. 

Once he was finished, he looked back up, awaiting his first command. His head tilted softly, like a puppy who had recently learned a trick waiting for a treat.

“Orion-“ I hesitated, finding myself caught in his gaze.

He seemed so innocent like this, but I couldn’t forget how easily bloodsuckers would lose control, how fast they’d turn monstrous. My Father had been just like him.

I turned away from his puppy-dog eyes. Bloodsuckers were creatures of impulse. Even if they had moments of clarity and could act like a person, the moment the switch flipped, it would be too late.

We’d learned our lesson, the day of my twelfth birthday. My Father was one to attend long business trips, so by then I hadn’t seen him in months. Only Mother had noticed a difference in his demeanor. From a long line of Hunters, she knew the signs better than anyone. 

Dolled eyes, a smirk that they couldn’t control. A confidence that pulled you in, movements like a siren’s song. She’d pulled him aside, and he’d sworn he would not harm us. But a bloodsucker’s words mean nothing, not unless the daylight was involved.

The day had long been left a blur. The festivities relaxed into a quiet evening.

“Cordelia,” my Mother held onto my shoulder, urging me to continue picking at the cleanly wrapped gift. “It was my Great Grandmother’s.”

I smiled brightly, peeling whole pieces back. But the moment I’d unwrapped the dagger he’d pounced. I could barely see through thrashing limbs and gnawing teeth. My Mother hadn’t hesitated, she’d grabbed the silver heirloom and drove it through his chest.

But bloodsuckers moved until their heart couldn’t. 

Slinking to a stand, he focused his attention on my Mother. His torn skin around the silver tried to heal, but the weapon wouldn’t let the wound close.

“Darling,” he’d purred, “What are you doing?”

Mother didn’t respond, she only lunged for the dagger, pulling it free along with a scream from Father.

None screamed louder than I. 

They fought in an elaborate dance, claws cutting into my Mother, the dagger nicking Father’s quick movements. She ducked, still attacking without hesitation. The man who raised me fought valiantly, dodging like it was all some game.

I had screamed for them to stop, pleading with my Mother to quit her fight. He had promised to always love and protect us, so why couldn’t they stop? 

With a piercing cry, my Mother landed the final blow. Striking silver deeply into his heart. He stumbled backwards, falling gracefully onto the couch, deep red staining it beyond repair.

It’d taken me years to understand, to fully get why she had to do what she did. The figure of the man who had been my Father, had become something else. A mirage of the past, a dream of what once was ready to devour us at a drop of a hat. 

I understood now more than ever that a bloodsucker cannot be a friend, nor a lover, and certainly not a Father. Regardless if they were fully fledged or not.

Orion’s tilting head was confused. But I couldn’t hesitate any longer. Holding out the heirloom that'd long been wiped clean, I presented it to the man before me.

“Use it.” I commanded, “Kill yourself.”

Posted 23.5.2025