Thursday Evening (Fanfic)

[Galen]

---

A forceful sounding cough, followed by a quiet moan, just loud enough to get the attention of someone walking by. It was something he’d learned to do long ago, to emulate those that used to be heard almost everywhere, and it was second nature to him now. The disease it imitated had left society long ago, but the act still worked well, much better now, actually.

There were some footsteps. He coughed and moaned again, then listened closely. The steps drew closer.

There’s one.

The end result of this charade was all but completely blocked out of his mind; it was an inevitable reality of life, and just another evening like so many before... except things were a little different now.

Eli braced one hand against the stone walls of the building lining this alleyway in downtown Karlstad. Looking over his shoulder toward the street, he waited for a shadow to stretch into the alley before starting his act. He dragged his hand on the wall and staggered, then coughed into his arm. As he heard the footsteps increase in pace, he took another step, and collapsed to his knees, then to his side.

“Hey! Hey!” A young man’s voice called out.

Perfect.

Eli’s eyes shifted up to the sky while he curled up on the cold, wet ground. It didn’t bother him, not the wet, dirty cobblestone, not the temperature, nothing.

The footsteps turned into a run and in a moment a young man squatted down beside him; Eli closed his eyes, grimacing, even though nothing hurt, and shivered even though he wasn’t cold.

“Hey, are you alright?”

What does it look like?

Eli only grunted, murmuring out a ‘no’, and felt a hand upon his shoulder.

“Oh man.” The young man shook his head and sounded genuinely upset and anxious, “Oh man. You look bad. Shit.”

Eli grabbed at the man’s shirt, tugging at him when he got hold of it, as though to either help himself up, or suggest he come down to his level.

“I’m sorry. Did -- did I hurt you before? Are you sick?”

Eli opened his eyes to the bright lights of the moon and street lamps, finally seeing who it was who had come to his ‘rescue’. It was the one who had pushed him down before.

“You?”

Eli was surprised that it was this one coming to check on him; not his friend, or someone else entirely. For a moment, the calm predator behind that innocent looking young face was on display.

The young man looked wide eyed, almost terrified. All the better, Eli thought. He hadn’t been hurt or even upset by the attitude of the man before, he had plenty of experience with terrible people. Getting pushed around was sometimes a necessary part of manipulation. In fact, this was rather convenient.

“Get away.” Eli turned away and squinted, pushing the young man away with no force at all, completely restraining himself.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” The man lifted his hands up defensively.

“Don’t... Please don’t hurt me.”

“No -- no, come on, I’m not going to hurt you, I want to help you.”

Eli regretted that last line -- it was too on the nose; the man had actually sounded a little annoyed. At the same time, his tone of voice helped to make Eli sure of what he was doing, and who he was doing it to.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Eli felt a hand on each shoulder now.

Closer. Closer... Come on.

His impatience grew, not from his own hunger, but what he imagined Oskar’s to be; he wanted to get back to him quickly. Perhaps this was close enough. He turned over and looked up at the man, focusing on his neck and his arms. Everything was within reach. He’d be able to do it, there was no doubt about that; but that was to feed himself, collecting it for later was something else entirely. The thing was, this wasn't a willing participant. He hadn’t even taken the time to gather up a razor or two in case he managed to find someone who agreed to this, or was drunk enough to let him do it while sleeping. No, tonight he expected to have to take it by force, and it would not be clean.

“Help me up.” Eli grimaced and struggled to one knee. He waited for an arm that eventually came to his aid, and before long he was on his feet, pressed against the man’s side. This was better, he reached around and held onto the young man’s hip.

“Oh man, you are freezing. I’m really sorry about what I did before.”

The man’s voice faded away from Eli’s mind, he could have still been talking, but he wouldn't have known. He was busy rubbing his fingertips together, feeling the nails. His index finger’s nail was two inches long now, then the rest of them were. Black, pointed and knife-like resting atop elongated fingers.

“Did you lose your parents or something? My mother died when I was ten, and my dad drank a lot. So I know. I know how it can be... not... not being homeless, but --”

Eli paused, mouth open slightly.

“Why are you telling me this?” Eli's voice matched his face: anger, irritation, revulsion, and he hadn’t forced a cough in some time now.

“I just meant--”

“Shut up.” This was upsetting him for some reason. This young man was terrible, wasn’t he? Unredeemable, right? Even if he wasn’t, it shouldn’t matter: this had to happen. He wished he’d just gone for it when he first thought to. Hesitating was never the right thing to do.... Or was it? He hesitated with Oskar. That was different.

There was shouting in the distance.

“Niklas!” “Niklas!” It was two voices, a man’s, then a woman’s. Eli’s eyes widened.

“Do...” The man inhaled and exhaled sharply, ignoring the voices it seemed, “Do you need a place to stay?”

Eli didn’t care what the young man was suddenly prepared to do, he had waited too long, and now he needed to leave.

“Go. Get away.” Eli pulled himself free and shoved the man’s shoulder harder than should have been possible given the size of his small frame.

Niklas staggered backwards, almost falling.

“Hey!”

Eli walked away briskly, stopping to pick up the shoulder bag he’d “borrowed”, clearly not ill at all. The jig was up, and he didn’t care.

“Hey!”

Eli heard footsteps coming after him; he didn’t turn around.

“Do you need help? Or were you just fucking with me?”

That was when Eli felt his upper arm grabbed firmly, and he reacted instinctively. He spun and grabbed the offending arm, squeezed it tight, pulled it off of him, and flung it to one side.

“Leave!” Eli’s voice was deeper than before and it reverberated in the alleyway.

Niklas inhaled sharply and froze in place.

That’s right.

Eli stared at him with venom in his eyes, as though telling him to back off. He was about to leave when he realized the man’s forearm had rake marks down it to the wrist, and was bleeding profusely.

Niklas just stared at Eli, and then down. Eli followed the man’s eyes to that odd, almost grotesque looking clawed hand of his, still stuck in that form.

The young man’s teeth clenched together and his breathing increased. He looked like he was going into shock, and started turning pale.

“Niklas!” It was the voice of the other young man, and it accompanied two shadowy figures at the end of the alleyway, who quickly started approaching.

“What -- what did you do to me? What are--” The young man’s voice trembled; he sounded so terrified all while staring at his arm. His hand grasped his bleeding wrist as he sat down on the ground right where he'd stood.

Eli looked between the one he hurt, and the other two quickly approaching, and bit his lower lip.

Damnit.

He turned and ran. In a few seconds, already twenty meters away, he looked over his shoulder to see the other two reach their friend. They stopped to help him, and Eli ran around a corner, promptly scrambling up the side of a building, out of sight.

---

[metoo]

Yes. It must happen once in a while that Eli attacks someone, but has to call it off and flee.
Such as when Virginia was attacked.

So, was Niklas infected, too?

[Siggdalos]

Interesting turn of events. I enjoy the showcasing of Eli's monstrous side and his experience with bygone diseases. It's difficult to imagine how much you'd have to get used to seeing those kinds of once-omnipresent things disappear from the world if you've lived for 220 years.

So, was Niklas infected, too?

I can't think of anything in the novel suggesting that the disease can be transmitted by claw scratches, but nothing that disproves it either. The infection can of course be transmitted through bites, but this apparently doesn't happen through the saliva since Tommy wasn't infected when Eli sucked the blood from his wound. Makes me think that, when a vampire sharpens their teeth, the teeth develop some kind of canals through which the disease agent is injected into the prey, similar to snake venom. Theoretically, there could be something similar in the claws (which are created by elongating the finger and toe bones, per the Thursday 5 November chapter). Maybe.

[gkmoberg1]

Yes, interesting developments!

About the illness' spread, I don't see it spreading as you describe it, @Siggdalos, with canals in the teeth. Of course we're each entitled to our own thoughts on this. But in Lacke's description of Eli's face when he removes him from Virginia, it's a mouth full of nasty teeth and not a pronounced set of canines. As well, given Eli's worry about Tommy, noting that he deliberately goes to check on Tommy, I am led to suspect the disease can be spread through saliva into a bite wound.

[Siggdalos]

But in Lacke's description of Eli's face when he removes him from Virginia, it's a mouth full of nasty teeth and not a pronounced set of canines.

True, but I'm not sure this excludes the possibility of canals in some or all of the teeth.

As well, given Eli's worry about Tommy, noting that he deliberately goes to check on Tommy, I am led to suspect the disease can be spread through saliva into a bite wound.

Eli notes to himself that he's confident Tommy hasn't been infected, and he only goes to check on him to make sure he's recovered from the blood loss:

... before Eli went to rest he had to check on Tommy. That he had recovered. He had not become infected, but for Oskar's sake Eli wanted to make sure that Tommy was fine.

I should add that I'm not saying the canals explanation is definitely correct (there could be a degree of magic involved), but it's the option that seems the most logical to me based on how the infection seems to work.

[metoo]

Well, Eli's saliva apparently isn't infectious. At least it wasn't when Eli purchased blood from Tommy.
Still, it may become infectious when he is in what we may call vampire mode, with sharpened teeth and all, ready to attack a victim.
Such as when he attacked Jocke, Virginia and the cancer woman.

Someone suggested on this forum that the vampire teeth belong to the infection and therefore are infectious, while Eli's normal teeth are not.
This would certainly serve as an explanation.

Another solution to this conundrum would be if Eli's sharp vampire teeth caused his gums to bleed when they formed.

However I think that hollow teeth are a bit overkill. Too technical for my taste.

[Siggdalos]

However I think that hollow teeth are a bit overkill. Too technical for my taste.

Fair enough. Personally, I think it would be in line with other aspects like the secondary brain, but that's just me.
This is all slightly off-topic anyway.

[Galen]

But in Lacke's description of Eli's face when he removes him from Virginia, it's a mouth full of nasty teeth and not a pronounced set of canines.

I find this really interesting because of the time when Eli went to bite Oskar:

He didn’t see how her upper lip drew back and revealed a pair of small, dirty white fangs.

At first I wondered if Lacke was imagining something scarier than it really was, since the description of fangs was from an omniscient view, but I doubt it -- I reread it and felt he really saw those "rows of sharp teeth".

I also wondered if maybe fangs were just a more poetic, traditional way of describing Eli's vampirism to get us situated with the reality of it, or even an earlier incarnation from JAL that evolved as the book narrative was written, and Eli became more monstrous as he wrote more.

But I like to think it's that, when Eli has lost control to the infection and is ravenous, he grows more monstrous. The shapeshifting aspect of the infection seems to allow for a wide range of how and to what degree these features manifest.

I suppose the rows of sharp teeth could have been about to come out right after the fangs, too, but that seems less interesting to me for whatever reason.

I sort of like the idea that the fangs (and claws I suppose), burst through Eli from the inside, so there's some amount of blood on them to transmit the infection (if minimal). It seems like transmission is not always guaranteed though, since I think Oskar could have gotten infected by touching Eli's shirt with his still open wound, but didn't -- like a real virus, maybe there's some degree of chance combined with the amount of exposure.

Biting always seems to do the trick though, so maybe there's more to it than that. I wouldn't preclude the idea of venom and canals, if only because that honestly sounds suitably gross and could be a lot of fun to read about with lots of gory details.

[Siggdalos]

At first I wondered if Lacke was imagining something scarier than it really was, since the description of fangs was from an omniscient view, but I doubt it -- I reread it and felt he really saw those "rows of sharp teeth".

We see it from Eli's POV too.

A shooting sensation in her teeth as Eli thought them sharp. The enamel bulged out, was sharpened by an invisible file, became sharp. Eli carefully bit her lower lip, a crescent-shaped row of needles that almost punctured the skin.

So yeah, there were definitely many sharpened teeth and not just the canines.

But I like to think it's that, when Eli has lost control to the infection and is ravenous, he grows more monstrous. The shapeshifting aspect of the infection seems to allow for a wide range of how and to what degree these features manifest.

I suppose the rows of sharp teeth could have been about to come out right after the fangs, too, but that seems less interesting to me for whatever reason.

I would agree to this. It's worth pointing out the different circumstances in the two scenes. When he tried to kill Oskar on October 24, he was hungry but not starving, since he'd gotten blood only three days prior (when Håkan killed the Vällingby boy on October 21). He also seems to have wanted to make a clean kill by luring Oskar in (showering beforehand and telling him to come closer until he was in biting range) instead of attacking him outright--maybe as a kind of courtesy in response to Oskar treating him (relatively) kindly and lending him the cube the night before. Either way, it makes sense that he'd restrain himself and only do the bare minimum amount of transformation needed.

When attacking Virginia on November 5, on the other hand, he was on the brink of starvation (he looked like hell, as Oskar reacted to earlier in the chapter). His last meal was six days prior on October 30 (the cancer woman). Maybe more importantly, this was only hours after the incident with Oskar in the basement, so no doubt he was filled with raging emotions: shame, guilt, self-loathing, fear that Oskar would never want to see him again and that he'd permanently ruined the only normal friendship he'd had in centuries. It makes sense that he'd be more reckless and allow more of the infection to take over, maybe attack in an unnecessarily violent way as a way of letting some emotion out.

I sort of like the idea that the fangs (and claws I suppose), burst through Eli from the inside, so there's some amount of blood on them to transmit the infection (if minimal).

At least the way it's described in Thursday 5 November, the claws are created by stretching out the phalanx bones (I think--I'm no anatomy expert) in the fingers and toes so that they protrude through the skin. As far as I understand, this is different from real animal claws, which--just like human nails--are made of keratin and not bone. Seems to be a bloodless process, but I guess it depends on how literally one wants to interpret the description.

It hardly hurt at all any more, just felt like a tingling, an electric current through her fingers and toes as they thinned out, took on a new shape. The bones crackled in her hands as they stretched out, shot out through the melting skin of the fingertips and made long, curved claws. Same thing with her toes.

[metoo]

I also have noted the discrepancy between the various descriptions of Eli's dentition, but I think it is just a case of JAL not being able to keep all minute details consistent. He wrote the stuff, but I'm sure that several members of this forum have a much better knowledge of the details of his novel than he ever had himself.

There are other consistency lapses, for instance did Oskar's parents divorce when he was two and four.

Therefore, I don't think Eli's different teeth mean very much, since those differences rather likely weren't put in on purpose.

Regarding Eli's claws: I agree that the description of the process in the novel literally says that the finger bones come protruding through the "melting skin", but I like my slightly altered version better:
Real claws are sheaths of keratin often (usually?) supported by bone, so for Eli to grow realistic claws, the finger bones would have to grow while the nails flow around the finger tips to become the visible outer part of each claw.