Note for Swedish readers: This is the English translation. You can also find the original Swedish version called Revir on this site.
This piece of fan fiction is based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Låt den rätte komma in. Features that have been fetched from the novel are his work, however, he is in no way responsible for the work below.
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Eli squeezed Oskar’s hand: “stop!”
Oskar had also noticed it. They quickly pulled away, hid even deeper into the shadows, but no farther than they could keep watch. Even with their night vision there was just a vague shape in front of them. But they had more senses, sounds and scents were familiar. But not this way.
They had lived together long, and lived in many places. They rarely stayed more than a few weeks in one place, maybe just a few days during hunting periods. They had to spread out the traces thin, so that no one would take alarm. And it wasn’t always possible to hide what had happened to their victims. But there were places where traces evaporated faster, where they could stay longer. This was such a place, an area where people who were staying illegally in the country gathered. The authorities had little control, and those who lived there had so many reasons to disappear. There were no unexplained deaths, because no one tried to explain them.
“What should we do?”
“We’ll wait and see.”
They always walked hand in hand, mostly because they liked the contact. It gave them proof that they were not alone, and they never got enough of having that confirmed. But it gave them another benefit, they had soon got the idea to talk to each other through their hands. They both knew Morse code and they had begun to signal when they did not want others to perceive what they said, or that they were talking at all. Nowadays, they had practised long enough to be able to communicate freely. Their code had developed and wasn’t anymore just the simple Morse code they had used at the start.
“Down!”
The figure in front had divided into two, one part had stood up. Oskar and Eli could no longer see what was happening, but they heard light steps departing. Someone who was used to walk quietly had left the scene. They waited a little longer, then they cautiously peeped out again.
“We need to go there and see.”
They crept out of their hiding place, then they sneaked away to what was left over there. There was a man, he was lifeless. He was dead, he had a stick pushed down through his chest. And he had a wound on his neck, of the kind they would cause themselves. Their suspicions had been correct.
“Another infected.”
“Yes.”
“What shall we do?”
“We need to figure out what kind he is.”
“Is he dangerous, do you think? To us?”
“Maybe. We need to know.”
Eli had told Oskar about the only other infected he had met, apart from the man in the wig. The woman had been a vampire in all respects, and had wanted to use Eli for her own purposes. Eli had fled, but not until he found out why the infected were so few. Infected adults rarely coped, they soon died. Most of them because they refused to live from the death of others', some died of hardships, and in rare cases, they died because they were discovered. Those who survived were like the woman and the wig man, they might be dangerous to Oskar and Eli.
They lost the track of the other infected after a while, it ended at a stream. He had probably swum across, but they could not be sure of that. They had given up the pursuit and retired to their resting place. Oskar had suggested that they should flee from the danger, but Eli had opposed it. They must know, he repeated. They needed in any case to feed themselves, they had a few hunts to go before they would again be free some time, and this place was better than others in that regard. So they stayed, but they became even more cautious than they had been before.
They had not seen the other one again, he might have gone somewhere else, or he could have gone into a long rest. They did not know, but they continued to be vigilant, and they devoted much time to find traces of him or his activities. Eli was very stubborn, Oskar did not understand it. It all had created an atmosphere of danger, of imminent threat, that Oskar had not experienced in a long time. He remembered that feeling from time in Blackeberg, when he had always had to keep his surroundings under surveillance to avoid being taken by surprise by his tormentors. He had not believed he would have to experience that again. Their interplay had become serious, Eli now rarely joked and Oskar didn’t feel in a mood for the ironic comments that he otherwise would make.
They had just overpowered the night's victim, and Oskar was stuck at his throat and provided himself when the other one pounced on them. Oskar didn’t get time to escape, so he got to know what he had let all of his many victims experience. He was sitting in an iron grip, he could not tear himself away, even with his considerable strength. The other one ripped and tore into his throat, the vein soon was opened. Oskar felt his life being sucked out of him, he felt it physically. It was an anguishing experience.
Eli came to Oskar's defence, but the other one was too strong. He swept away Eli, who hit a wall with a nasty sound and remained lying. Oskar felt his life force draining through the wound in his neck, and his resistance petered out. Then the other one threw Oskar away and went over to Eli. He bent down and sniffed, then he got up and walked away. On the site Oskar and Eli remained, motionless.
Oskar came to life later that night, he managed to crawl up to Eli, who still was laying still. But Eli was not dead, his eyes followed Oskar, and he blinked. Oskar did not understand why Eli didn’t speak.
“Eli? Say something!”
Eli still was silent, but his mouth was moving, repeating a movement many times, until Oskar saw it. Eli was miming something.
“What do you want say? M? MO? MO? What is mo? “
Eli began to blink again, Oskar tried to understand. Then it dawned on him.
“Morse!”
Eli blinked. Oskar was inexperienced reading Morse code in this way, Eli had to reduce his speed.
“B.R.O.K.E.N N.E.C.K.”
Oskar was scared, you die of that.
“What should I do?”
“S.U.N”
“The sun?”
“C.O.V.E.R.”
“Cover? Against the Sun?” Oskar understood, the sun would soon rise, they must take cover. But he wasn’t strong enough.
“I'm too weak!” Then it hit him. “I can’t move you anyway, you've broken your neck. You’ll become paralysed!”
“I.T.L.L H.E.A.L”
“Will it heal?”
“Y.E.S” Eli paused. “N.O.T B.E.F.O.R.E S.U.N”
Eli would heal, but not before sunrise. If he could bring Eli to a protected place, Eli would be able to heal. But he wasn’t strong enough.
“I'm too weak!”
“T.A.K.E S.O.M.E F.R.O.M M.E”
“Take from you?”
“F.R.O.M A.R.M”
“But you need it to heal.”
“S.U.N”
Oskar finally understood. Eli would not have any use for his strength in the sun, Oskar must take a little so that he had enough strength to pull them under cover.
“The arm?”
“Y.E.S Q.U.I.C.K”
Oskar gently lifted Eli's arm. It was completely limp. He fixed his teeth and bent down to the arm. It felt wrong to bite Eli, he didn’t want to. But he must, so he did it, but carefully, he didn’t to make an excessive wound. Then he drank until he felt strong enough to drag Eli and himself into protection. But the wound still was bleeding, he must stop it. He was irresolute for a few seconds, then he remembered. Tourniquet. He tore off his t-shirt and made a tourniquet out of it. Then he looked around, there was a door, he walked over to it. It wasn’t locked. He peeked in, there was an archway with a yard inside. He went back to Eli.
“Q.U.I.C.K”
Oskar tried to lift Eli, but was too weak, he couldn’t do it.
“P.U.L.L L.E.G.S”
“But your neck, it will damage more!”
“B.U.R.N H.E.R.E.”
Oskar took Eli's legs and pulled him towards the door. Eli's head hung limply behind, and was moving worryingly. Oskar imagined the damage in Eli’s neck getting worse. His eyes stung, he vision began blur, his eyes overflowed. But he continued to drag, through the door, into the archway. He left Eli there and went into the yard. There was a recess under a staircase, and there were carpets and other debris in the yard. He pulled Eli into the recess, he had to crawl backwards, then he got the carpets and pulled them after Eli. Finally, he wrapped them in the carpets and hoped they would go undetected. Then he passed out.
When Oskar woke up again Eli still was resting. Oskar was too weak to do anything, so he tried to get the infection to turn him off again, to save power. After a while it succeeded.
Eli had woken up. He had got his sense of feeling back, but he didn’t know how strong his spine was. Would he dare to move? He stayed still and tried to hear if Oskar was awake, but he heard no breath. Oskar was still resting, though Eli could sense that it was well after midnight.
Eli thought about the other one. He must have noticed that Eli was not dead, but paralysed. He had left Eli there on purpose. He had left Oskar and Eli to die in the sun. But why? Eli tried to understand it. The other one was dangerous, Eli had to be careful, but he might take it for granted that they had died. He might not go looking for them. They might be safe here. Eli thought for a while longer, and then decided. Half of a night was to no use. Better to sleep until the next evening. Then he passed out again.
Both Oskar and Eli now were awake, Eli had tried to move his head. His neck appeared completely healed, though it had been hard on Eli's resources. But he could feed himself, he had been strong. Oskar, however, was almost as weak again as after the attack from the other one, he would barely be able to walk. Eli would have to provide for both of them.
Now, the question was how to deal with the vampire. Eli thought that Oskar might have got some knowledge when he was assaulted. The attacker was ruthless, but he was perhaps unaware of some peculiarities that the infection created. Or he might have known, but ignored it.
“Check it out. Do you have any memories that are not your own?”
“I have yours.”
“Yes, Einstein, some that are not ours, then?”
Oskar checked. How could he find a memory that was not his own? He could not look for what he didn’t know existed. The he had an idea, and decided to try it. If he didn’t search, but allowed himself to float among his memories without focussing, them perhaps alien memories would stand out some way. He allowed himself to spread thin, and it worked. It was as if all his memories stuck to one colour scheme, and the Eli’s to another, similar. Then there were fragments of memory that had a different hue. He gathered them and held on to them. Then he focused again, and returned to the present.
“You were right. Come, I'll show you.”
Oskar kissed Eli, the memory fragments were transferred. The fragments had a focus, Eli thought it was where the other one was hiding. They understood why they had not found him. He rested most of the time, it was the ultimate consequence of the infection. He had rejected all human life and lived just the short hours when he fed himself.
They spoke a long time about it, and what to do. They built a puzzle, they knew the result but needed to find what pieces would create it. This was a new game.
Before Eli slipped out from the yard he improved the protection for Oskar. He piled rubble into the recess below the stairs, and tried to arrange it so that it appeared to have been there a long time. The yard was deserted now, but they had heard voices earlier in the evening. People lived there.
Eli was slipping through the alleys. He was thinking about his options. He must provide for Oskar, too. How to do that Oskar had worked out once a long time ago. Eli smiled at the memory. Oskar had been so proud of his idea, but Eli didn’t immediately appreciate it the way that it deserved. But Eli had had to admit that the idea was good, and that he hadn’t been disgusted, really. Though they had never done it again, it hadn’t been necessary.
To become invited into someone's home to spend the night was probably impossible, habits were different here. Eli was limited to streets and parks. But that was part of their plan. When he returned to the recess, he had beaten Oskar's record. Oskar looked admiringly at Eli, stroked his stomach. Then he accepted the gift.
The next morning Oskar was restored, Eli's gift had given him his strength back. The following two nights they spent the entire evenings on the streets, talking to people, all according to the plan they had made. At night they went to hunt. They would normally share a victim, but now they took several between them. They shut them off, but didn’t hide them, that was also part of the plan. After two nights they were finished, they had over three nights killed a total of eight people, all of which would be missed by someone. They left the place, they would not come back in a long time. But the rumour they had spread as fragments grew into a whole, and along with the traces they had left on their victims the people there were led to the centre that Oskar and Eli had found among the memory fragments.
They were free a long time afterwards.