Again, I was experimenting with a new idea—about vampire anatomy.

(My mom has been a R.N. for many years and after she was explaining ammonia levels to someone recently, I immediately wanted to try this concept out for size.)

Jane

A steady spring rain endlessly fell over the tower peaks outside.

Unlike the rest of the coven who wished to go the opera-house for the day, I insisted on staying put, because I disliked when rain made mud out of soil and disliked all the foul smells that rain caused to rise up from the earth. And whether I had vampiric skin or not, I despised getting wet.

It was indeed a rare occasion when the Volturi House grew this stagnant. All morning there even hadn't been an echo of footsteps.

The single other member who chose to stay behind at the fortress as well, was Alec, and he had gone out for a midday meal not that long ago. Besides, the Opera genre never appealed to him as much. Alec preferred the classic melodies done by string quartets over anything else.

So when a light thud sounded out from the other side of my oaken door, I knew it had to be him, and instantly I grasped something wasn't right.

I pulled on the polished handle, discovering my brother standing...no, almost slouching in the gap of my partially-widened door and the wall, him left arm angling up on the doorframe, using it for more balance.

His gorgeous silken gold vest and beige trousers were now stained with darkened blood.

Unclean, abnormal blood.

I saw it in his heavy eyes. His irises were dilated and paled, turning a whitish-blue.

A sickly, distant awareness crossed over his features. Alec had been trying to fight off the intoxication that obviously plagued him, but he was losing the battle.

As of this moment, my twin was nothing more than a mere shell of his typical self.

"Sister," he murmured shortly, a bit more gruffly than usual.

Of all days, I couldn't help to think. This had to happen today.

It surprised me that he could locate my suite as disoriented as he was. Though I had the mild suspicion it was actually his mistake, since his own quarters were directly adjacent to mine.

With that, I felt a sudden impulse to switch my illusion on him, wondering if the pain would snap him back to his senses.

But no, I knew better than that. I knew by the following sunrise, Alec would be...Alec again.

It was just a waiting game now. He'd be under the influence for a couple of hours until the impact wore off on its own. It was no different than how mortals treated a common fever nowadays.

Suppressing my irritation and growing worry of having to practically babysit him until morning, I took hold of his elbow, coaxing him inside.

His footsteps were a tad clumsy behind mine as I led him to my private washroom.

Releasing him momentarily, I grabbed a towel from the nearby cabinet and turned the faucet on warm. I persuaded Alec to sit on the edge of my vanity's countertop.

"Take off that vest," I added briskly. "It's filthy."

His hands twitched, working around the buttons harder than they should've needed to normally—however, in time, he managed to just rip it off and dropped the pieces of cloth onto the flooring.

I rung out the hand howl of the excess water over the sink, folded down his russet shirt collar, and I started to clean off his face and throat. I rolled up the cuffs of his sleeves then and I scrubbed and picked away at his dirty cuticles; I could see tiny pieces of human flesh jammed under his nails.

I did this three times, towel after towel, before the all the layers of dried blood broke away at last.

My brother attempted to speak here and there throughout the process, but he couldn't get his words to form properly.

His blank stare watched my every movement. I wasn't sure if he could recognize his surroundings just yet or not. He was forced to rely my judgment alone, to ensure him that he was in a safe environment.

"You're the one who's supposed to look after me. Even though I was technically the firstborn, you were the son. You had more say in things back then growing up, than I did. Remember that? Father basically drilled it into your head every night he saw us—always be the hero, the bravest soldier you can become—be the defender of what's most important to you. And because of that, you rarely let me out of your sight. You even shoved that Ackerman boy right into the village pond once because he simply pulled my hair. I know you'll never admit it to yourself, brother, but over the centuries you've become so overprotective of me, and some days, I don't think you realize just how much."

My placid rambling was random, and it probably was worthless. Conversing with him on this level was unnecessary. And reprimanding him was pointless. But a part of me was still testing his logic. I wanted to see if he was hearing the whole thing, to see if my words could help him remember who he was faster.

"Bad blood," he rasped out afterward.

Well, at least I got something.

"Yes," I nodded understandingly, as if I was actually handling a toddler now, "Bad blood."

Vampires didn't really have a name for this particular phenomena, for there wasn't an exact science behind it. Immortal researchers in this era were still stumped by it. The only document ever recorded covering this subject had stated that this condition only occurred in vampires us. Like my brother and I—vampires who were older than most, but possessed younger physical bodies—who had reached their mid-teens in their mortal life, but still were Turned before the brain had finished its final stage in development during their adulthood.

There's always a chance that we could become intoxicated in a way minutes after feeding from a human, if they've had a number of transfusions in the past. A large amount of incompatible blood coming from one person, did not sit well in our systems. Those byproducts of blood transfusions could cause elevated ammonia levels in that human's blood, which resulted in a liver damage, ultimately leading to this state of...clinical confusion, more or less.

In a case like this, that side-effect could be transferred over to us—and do to the fact that the vampire body is naturally programmed to perform at higher speeds in all that we do, that feverish confusion cycles through us at a higher rate as well (even when it didn't last as long.)

The strangest part is that we never had a way of knowing beforehand. For some reason, we couldn't smell the difference in regular blood and transfused blood. We just had to deal with it when it did happen. Luckily for us though, we had a coven to watch over us until we sobered up.

And yes, this had happened to me a few times too evidently, but this information had come from Felix, and I honestly had little memory of it. I personally blamed the growth in Modern Medicine and all its techy blood work. Humans were becoming more and more polluted with chemicals and infections these days.

Alec's lax body eventually sunk to sit on the washroom tile, whispering something about the room spinning; and in obligation, I lowered myself beside him, my head coming to rest on his shoulder.

Hours later, as expected, recognizable streaks of crimson began to show through the blue paleness of my brother's gaze. He couldn't quite stand yet, or remember how he got to my suite precisely. He finally found his voice again at least, although it was forced and quiet. "Clever girl."

I was, in fact, satisfied to see he was improving on schedule.