The first thing Rin felt when he woke up was cold.

'Where am I?'

Crawling through his skin, seeping through his bones, filling his lungs and reaching his very core.

'Am I dead?'

He blinked one eye open, squinting at the too-bright light, and thought that he might not be that far off.

'Stiff.'

He tried moving an arm and winced at how stiff it felt. He opened his mouth, which proved to be a bad idea since his throat complained and his tongue felt like sandpaper.

'Fuck.'

He blinked a couple of times, and forced himself to sit up straight. He breathed a couple of times, in and out, hoping to relieve the construction in his chest.

Suddenly something metallic fell to the ground.

He turned his head to stare at whatever had made the sound, and the bones in his neck complained with a loud snap. He grunted, and panted, trying to recover from it. Just how long was he asleep?

Once he was not in blinding pain, he stared at the thing, or rather, person, that had made the noise. There were a couple of medical tools discarded on the floor, along with a young man who seemed to be a doctor of sorts.

No, not a doctor, his mind provided, a man who works in a morgue.

After this train of thought, he looked around and noticed a couple of corpses lying in metal stretchers like the one he was apparently in, too—and hmm, didn't that explain a thing or two—then at the man who looked scared shitless for a couple of seconds more before gathering his wits.

"Ah, I take it you're not a zombie?" He asked nervously, and Rin mentally congratulated his mental strength. He would've said something if not for the rawness of his throat. He shook his head. The thanatologist gave him a sheepish smile. "Not a… vampire or werewolf either?" He sounded almost hopeful, and Rin wanted to snort.

Instead, he coughed a couple of times. The dampness in his throat returning little by little. "Wizard…" he managed to get out, before coughing again.

"Ah, like Haru then."

Haru? Hmm. The name was foreign to him, so Rin just shrugged. "I guess."

Suddenly, as if he had just realized it, the man offered him a wary smile. "Tachibana Makoto; thanatologist, as you may have already guessed." He offered, and then started to pick up his discarded tools. "Nagisa asked me not to start working on you until I was completely sure you were dead, and that if it turned out you were not, to help you recover a bit."

Rin wanted to ask who this 'Nagisa' person was, and how did they know he would wake up? Had it been them the person who killed them?

Some of those thoughts must have filtered through his expression, for Makoto started to flail his arms in a sign of peace. "Ah, nothing of the sorts; Nagisa found you almost dead in the forest, he said that there was some vampire venom in your bloodstream and that it might make you look dead until you didn't… die." His explanation was rather vague, but consistent enough for someone who didn't seem like a supernatural at all.

Rin had already suspected the vampire venom part, as his body was starting to recover little by little; perhaps the venom had started healing the systems that worked even in his subconscious, before going to the systems that worked while he was conscious. He felt like he could actually swallow now without the whole sandpaper-y feel to it, and that he could also stretch without feeling like it was tearing him apart.

"I see…" he swallowed and took a deep breath, staring at the hands in his lap. He then saw a bottle being gently shoved at him; he looked at the thanatologist with idle curiosity.

"Um, Nagisa mentioned you might need water and some food; that sort of stuff when you woke up," he offered, almost lamely, but Rin appreciated his efforts and help with a nod, before taking little gulps of the water bottle.

"So this Nagisa person…" he capped the bottle, and stared at the remaining water move under the plastic. Makoto must have been thinking of something deep, for he was almost startled to hear his… patient talking again.

"Oh! Nagisa's a vampire. They were hunting animals when they found you," he explained, moving to the water faucets and proceeding to wash his hands, apparently preparing himself to actually check one of the corpses in there. "Thye said it was lucky they did, a little later and you might actually have died."

Rin played with the bottle for a little; he had been looking for potion materials in the woods before he remembered blacking out, and there was the thing with his father…

"Do you think I could go visit them?" He asked, and Makoto seemed surprised for some reason. "I think I ought to thank them, for saving me I mean." Makoto then nodded, understanding.

"I can give you his address."

Rin looked again at the address written on the small scrap of paper. Once sure it was the right place (a rather lackluster apartment complex), he took a deep breath and walked in.

After getting out of the morgue, he still had needed a couple of days for his muscles to recover from the cramping; fortunately, he had a couple of potions at his place that acted as pain relievers. Once that was out of the way, he had the sudden thought he needed to investigate who Nagisa was.

The registry in in the public library had nothing of her, and asking the onmyoji that lived there wasn't an option, so he had resigned himself that he might have to barge in blind.

And blind he was, for the interior was absolute darkness.

He could sense a staircase, and maybe it was just his panic talking but he could also sense presences in the room.

He blinked a couple of times, waiting for the night vision potion to start working, and little by little, only the corners of his vision were unclear.

He walked a couple of staircases, and once he reached apartament 3A, he knocked five times like Makoto had told him to, before the door opened and he was given permission to enter.

In the middle of the room, there were two chair facing each other, and he hoped it was not too presumptuous of him to think one was for visitors. Whoever lived here seemed to thrive off the drama of the setting.

He sat, and was met with the sight of a (perhaps) blond boy with baby features, and his eyes…

They were uncanny eyes.

Even in the darkness, he could see that they were too big and clear, the kind of eyes that could see right through you and show you just how awful a human being you are.

A huge part of Rin wanted to run.

The boy clapped, and some lamps came to life. Rin would have been awed had he not remembered his bad manners and the fact that he had not introduced himself yet.

"My name is Matsuoka Rin," he said, suddenly standing up and even forgoing the formal bow, "pleased to make your acquaintance."

The boy—if he could he called that at all—smirked lightly and leaned over the table.

"You may call me… Alucard."