10 – Experiments Most Fowl

Mia and I were in the kitchen again.

To my great displeasure, I’d decided not to drink Mia’s blood from the floor. It would be irresponsible to do, since I didn’t have any idea what drinking someone’s blood would do. Even if it wasn’t directly from the vein.

The two of us were staring at the pair of chickens, held in separate cages in a side area.

“So, what now?” Mia asked. “Do you want me to kill them? Or cut them? Will you bite them yourself? Are your teeth good enough for that?”

“Don’t worry about my teeth. Look, I can extend my canines.” I demonstrated. Mia looked a little disturbed.

“That’s… great? I guess it still hadn’t settled in that you really are a monster now. Well, differently than before.”

“I guess I did deserve the moniker before, huh? By the way, if I ever act even close to what happened earlier, please let me know. Feel free to do whatever it takes to snap me out of it.”

“Got it, I’ll stab you if you ever corner me like that again. Though I’d need your permission to carry a knife in the manor?” The way Mia held that kitchen knife while smiling at me was just a touch creepy.

“Sure, I’ll allow it. Though you should pick a proper dagger, not a kitchen knife. I’d recommend not stabbing me in sight of any guards. Just in case. Also, please aim for a non-vital area, like a leg or arm. I’m not sure whether I can regrow my organs yet.”

Mia almost laughed, then stopped.

“Wait, you’re serious? I was mostly joking! And what do you mean you aren’t sure whether you can regrow organs?!”

“Oh yeah, my transformation comes with some upsides. Rapid healing is one. I’m also significantly stronger and all my senses are improved. I can hear heartbeats, even through walls.” I took one of the two bent coins from my pocket, the one I’d made.

Fitting with the heartbeat revelation, Mia’s grew more rapid.

“That’s… interesting. So the wounds the healer and priest treated were fake then?”

“Not exactly, the wounds were real, but I intentionally held back my healing. The reason should be pretty obvious.” Mia nodded in response.

“Now, on to the chickens. Earlier, I fed the left one some of my blood.”

“You what? Actually, I should stop being surprised by whatever you say.”

“Unlike what I feared, that didn’t turn the chicken into a being similar to me. As far as I can tell at least. Careful, your jaw might fall off if you leave it hanging like that.”

“I know what I just said, but what? Why is that an option you considered likely?” Mia needed a moment to stop being slack-jawed.

“Well, the demon didn’t say much about what it was doing, but I got the feeling this creature I’ve become reproduces by converting others. There is a good reason I didn’t drink your blood earlier, even though I really, really wanted to. I just don’t know what it would do to you.”

“I would prefer not being turned into a monster, thank you. I quite like the sun. And not being hunted down and killed. That’s nice too.”

“Well, I strongly hope there won’t be any hunting down involved. Let’s work on that now. I’d like you to cut the left chicken a little, so that it bleeds. I’ll command it to hold still.”

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Mia grabbed the chicken cage and carried it into the kitchen proper. “Sure, you can command chickens now. Or is it because you fed it your blood? Anyway, when will you stop with the world-shattering revelations?”

With a careful cut, the chicken started bleeding into a strategically positioned bowl. In my mind, the connection between me and it hadn’t weakened. Instead, it was stronger than earlier.

The chicken’s little mind didn’t resist my commands at all. It didn’t even seem to feel the pain. Slightly concerning.

Once the bowl held a mouthful of blood, I took it and tipped it into my mouth after a quick sniff.

Just like the plain smell indicated, the liquid didn’t really taste like much. What faint aroma I did detect reminded me – fittingly – of chicken. The metallic tang I associated with blood was mostly absent. Just like the human blood, I belatedly realized.

A pleasant feeling washed through me, like drinking a cool glass of water after being in the heat all day. My hunger abated, if only a little. It was only a mouthful, after all.

Excited, I returned the bowl to its spot.

“Did it work?” Mia looked a bit disgusted. Understandable reaction, she didn’t know how refreshing that was.

“Didn’t taste like much, but I do feel less ravenous. Not nearly enough though. I’m going to test drinking directly now.”

Finding a spot to bite the bird without getting a mouthful of feathers was a hassle, so I decided not to bother. Instead, I released the chicken from its cage and picked it up. The connection kept it docile and calm. Then, I brought my mouth to the leg wound.

It wasn’t a large wound by any account, already scabbing over. Still, once I began sucking, the blood flowed freely. Far too freely to be natural.

Compared to blood from the bowl, the fresh version tasted slightly better. I could also drink it much faster, barely pausing to swallow.

Before I knew it, the flow of blood stopped. Just as it started tasting a bit better. Unsatisfied, I licked my lips before regaining my senses. It hadn’t been very much blood all in all, only around a tall glass full or so. Maybe half a pint at most. Still, it fell like drizzling rain on the parched soil that was my body.

The chicken was dead. That fact wasn’t exactly surprising, but annoying nonetheless. I didn’t feel nearly as bad about it as I felt I should. What bothered me more than the loss of life was the interruption of my experiments.

I had originally planned to test the effects of feeding on a living organism. As in, one that was still alive afterwards.

My weak reaction to killing a living being bothered me more than the actual act.

Dimly, I remembered the connection between us fading as I exsanguinated the creature. It just hadn’t reached my awareness while I was drinking.

Damn, I’m glad I didn’t test this on anything I actually cared about.

“You killed it. Was that part of your plan?” Mia’s question pulled me from my thoughts.

“Not exactly. I wanted to run more tests on it, but I guess it’s good enough for now. Can you begin preparing the carcass?” It was meant to be dinner officially in addition to this unofficial meal.

“Sure.”

After handing over the dead bird to Mia, I considered the second one. Surprisingly, the bird didn’t appear particularly distressed about its comrade’s passing, sitting in its cage. Probably hadn’t noticed, with it being in a side room like this.

What to do, what to do?

The previous test had confirmed multiple important things.

First, I could drink blood indirectly, like from a cup.

The author’s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Second, even if I had a blood bond – or whatever that was – with a creature, I could still drink its blood without issue.

Third, it was really hard to maintain control of myself while drinking directly. It was also easier than it should be to suck the blood out of something. These two facts were mutually synergistic in endangering the health and safety of my feeding target.

In conclusion, indirectly feeding was probably going to be invaluable on anything I didn’t want dead. Like, say, a human willing to donate their blood to me.

Mia once again interrupted me. She was done removing the feathers and had started on gutting the carcass, but stopped to call and show me something.

“There’s no blood at all left. If I didn’t know better, I’d think this chicken had been properly bled out after slaughter.”

So basically, I could pull out every last drop of blood from the body of whatever I fed on. Very useful. I also noticed the chicken didn’t really die until the blood was all spent, unlike what I assumed happened with a normal bleeding wound.

Definitely magic.