Blood Work

Blood Work is a short story set in the Silverse; it is a prequel to May Day. It looks at Cam's first interactions with the Seekers in Oxford.

Blurb
'Dying's easy. Lying's hard.'

Cam never wanted to come to Oxford. He's only here because he followed Ed, the man he loves, but Ed's more interested in his experiments than he is in Cam.

It looks like it's going to be a boring few years, until Cam stumbles into a crime scene and unwittingly becomes a key witness. He faces a choice: continue being bored, or go undercover to help the Seekers to track down the culprit.

If only he knew how to tell a lie.

Content warnings
General warning for violence/murder.

General warning for blood/gore, including blood drinking, description of injuries, dead bodies, forensic investigation, autopsy.

Events (Spoilers)
The story is set in the 1980s. Ed is arriving at a college at Oxford University as a first year student, and his on-again-off-again boyfriend Cam helps him move into his student room; they have also rented a flat on Iffley Road so that they can live together. This is not Ed's first time at university, as he is Silver and keeps returning to take degrees in different subjects; Ed's obsession with learning means that Cam is usually lonely while he studies.

Cam decides to explore Oxford while Ed meets his fellow students, and runs across a blonde Silver woman feeding from a human man. He confronts her about her lack of secrecy, pointing out that leaving the man alive may mean he remembers the existence of Silver and exposes them, but she dismisses him and leaves. Cam attempts to disguise the bite wound as a stabbing and calls an ambulance. The police ask him to come to the station the next day and give a statement about the attack.

When Cam returns home, he is surprised to find Ed, who rekindles their relationship. Cam suggests he find a job, and Ed tells him not to worry about money, but Cam feels adrift without something to do. He does not tell Ed about the attack, but decides to investigate by himself to stop the woman attacking more humans. At the scene of the attack, he bumps into Boyd, a member of the Seekers. Boyd tries to shut Cam down, but Cam insists he can track the woman's scent better, so Boyd asks him to prove it; the trail disappears into the river in Christ Church Meadow. Boyd laughs at Cam's naivety in thinking the Silver of Oxford follow the rules of secrecy, saying there are power dynamics he doesn't understand at play.

Cam gives his statement to the human police and goes home. He and Ed have an awkward conversation about Cam wishing that he could lie better, and things go a little sour between them. The next day, they go to check in officially with Killian Drake, the Baron of Oxford, who is unhappy they did not visit immediately. He makes it clear that Ed's scientific skills are useful to him, but Cam is not. While there, they are interrupted by Drake's girlfriend, a blonde Silver woman, Elise, whom Cam recognises as the attacker.

Cam goes to Solomon College, the Silver college of the University and the base of the Seekers, the Silver police. He tells Boyd that he recognised Elise; Boyd is shocked, since they don't know if Drake is aware and has sanctioned her blood drinking, or unaware and will be unhappy. He asks Cam to pretend to befriend Elise so that they can learn more, but although Boyd tries to teach him how to lie over the next week, he is unable to do it well. Cam goes home to find their flat filled with green smoke; Ed says he is working on Silver DNA profiling for Drake. Ed offers Cam a vial of serum that he says will hide the physical changes he experiences while lying.

Cam takes the serum and finds Elise in her local pub. She asks him whether he told anyone about her attack and he lies well; she seems to accept it and invites him to a 'real' party. Cam decides to go and try to take a sample of her blood for Boyd to test to find evidence of her crime. Elise takes him to a human student party, She tries to get him to seduce and drink from a student, and confirms that Drake doesn't know about her feeding habits. Cam pretends to feed from the girl, then hits Elise over the head with a crystal, making it seem as though it was the girl. Cam collects some of Elise's blood, then tells her to go home and get the wound looked at, and that he will tidy up the scene. He leaves the vial at Solomon College for Boyd to see in the morning, then goes home.

Cam is woken up the next morning by Boyd, who tells him Elise has gone on the run, leaving the city an hour ago. They take the results to Drake, and Cam confirms the results as witness. Drake decides to box Elise for a year, a harsher punishment than expected, to show what happens when people try to abuse his trust. Cam offers to help Boyd track Elise down; Boyd offers him a job with the Seekers, and Cam accepts.