I am Tokiya the vampire. Sound familiar? Like some kind of Anne Rice novel right? Most of you all would most likely be expecting the name Lestat or Maurice. The only difference is that they were fictional characters and I am not. I, Tokiya Mikagami am a fully-fledged vampire, teeth and everything. Of course, you would all be wondering, how did I ever get to become this way? And, do vampires really exist?

Well, vampires do exist. I am one now anyway. To a normal ordinary human being who sees me at night, I'm someone mystical. I'm charming. I give them the cool look, which attracts them even more. Like magnets, they get drawn towards me, willingly offering themselves, like sacrificial lambs, eager to be the center of attention, but aware of the fate that awaits them. I still look the same, as before, in fact, I haven't aged at all since I got the bite. My hair is still as silvery as ever, my skin, flawless and smooth. My physical appearance still is the same as ever, but inside, I am changed. I don't even know the feeling of love. Not that I didn't want to feel it, but I just can't feel it now. Fear, anger is something is foreign to me now. And it's because I don't have a heart now. I lost it, or it just died when I became a vampire. That's why whenever I chance upon a episode of Buffy, I always laugh at the way she kills vampires so effortlessly just by plugging a stick into their 'hearts', which is so ridiculous, because vampires do not have hearts at all. There is only one way to kill vampires and that is the age-old method of leaving them out in the sun to burn.

Of course, being a vampire is not totally without benefits. I can jump, and fly around with ease. It is possible for me to travel from one place to another in just a split second. In fact I move so fast that you wouldn't even know I had gone till I re-appeared at your side. Of course, I too am able to read other people's thoughts. Humans and vampires alike. The thing about reading a vampire's thoughts is a battle of wills. The stronger vampire with the greater will power will be able to read the weaker vampire's mind, whether he likes it or not. However, one can also shield one's thoughts from other vampires, though it would take quite a bit of will power to do so, especially if the opposite side has enormous will power. For me, I had already trained up my mind when I was still a human, so I was sufficiently able to control my thoughts and prevent other vampires from reading them, even those who had existed as far back as one hundred years back.

I suppose that the question on everyone's minds now is the feeding question. How on earth do I manage to get my daily need of blood? Do I seduce the victim like all other vampires do? Do I pretend to kiss their neck and give them love bites, while in reality its my teeth sinking into their vein, sucking their blood, sweet sweet blood.

Unfortunately, I have done that kind of thing before, yes.

When I had just been born into my new life, my maker taught me how to get my own victims. He would watch while I got 'friendly' with those prostitutes you often see downtown, hanging around the main roads, hoping for good cash with a quick fuck. We lured them to the alley, my maker and I, then I would feed on her, while my maker watched and applauded in silence, while the poor girl could only wiggle in despair, while I drew her remaining life force out of her.

But I don't do that any more. I was after all a gentleman; I didn't like the idea of always hitting on poor helpless girls. As soon as I could, I parted ways with my maker and I resorted to feeding on low time criminals, which I found a plenty in those run down parts of Tokyo.

Naturally, I am not the only vampire in Tokyo. God, there were millions of them before me. But it is the vampire tradition to keep themselves secret. Human beings do not know vampires exist. They think that it's a myth and it shall continue to exist like that. Occasionally, one or two of them will defect but they will always be hunted down by the council of vampires and subsequently put to death. Anyhow, most of us remain confined to the less populated areas of the city. Very few of us have bothered to venture out into the big city. There is the unspoken rule that we do not feed in the city. We keep our presence as quiet as possible, we are not even encouraged to go into the city during nighttime. I did it once, going back to my apartment to take a look around, and I found the human beings around me quite unbearable. The smell of blood all around me, gave me a very big temptation, a temptation to just grab one human being off the street and plunge my teeth into his throat. It was a blood bank out there in the city, and this would send the weaker vampires into frenzy. No wonder, we weren't encouraged to go there. After that, I stayed away from the city ever since.

I became a vampire just six years back. Six years seems like a long time to most people, but to me it passed by so fast, just like a flash. It all happened a few months after the final fight, when team hokage had finally retired back into the normal world, going back to school, putting their weapons all aside and returning to a normal lifestyle.

Back then, all my questions had already been answered. I found out the true murderer of my sister, and the things that my grandfather and teacher had done in order to protect me. After finding out all of that, I had realized one thing. I had lost all my remaining kin. With the death of my teacher, I realized that I was truly alone in the world, and it left me with a sense of loneliness. Even with Recca and the others around, it didn't help much. Fuko had sensed that there was something wrong with me. She could always read me quite well, even though she didn't know it much. She had tried to cheer my up by dragging me on her wild outings to the pub or to the arcade; she even went as far as to kiss me on the cheek, (which enraged Domon greatly). But that feeling had remained with me, and on one particular night, when everyone was on the dance floor, I stole out of the particular pub that we were really in and took a walk down the street. That pub we were in was near the edge of town and many pimps and prostitutes hang around that area, trying to entice me to enter their pubs as I walked down the pavement. In my usual way, I ignored them, hands stuck into my coat, the wind whipping my hair about as I turned into a dimly lit side street. At that time, I didn't know where I was going. I just wanted to get away from all the noise. I was worried about any small time robbers, I knew I could handle them easily, and vampires were nuts to me then.

He, my taker and eventual maker, came to me from behind. One minute, I was walking, the next, someone had jumped onto my back and had gripped my shoulders with a vice-like grip, crushing my head to one side at the same time. My first instinct was to take my ensui out of my pocket, which I did, and roughly swung it at the person clinging to me. During that process, he had pushed towards the wall. I swung wildly, and I thought that I had slashed at him several times, but he didn't let go, neither did his grip change. And it then that the bite came. I felt a piercing pain at the side of my neck, and my energy began to weaken as I felt my blood being drained from my own body. I didn't know what was happening. I thought that maybe they had cut my neck or something like that, but then, I began to feel lightheaded, my blood being drained very quickly. I tried to maintain my grip on the ensui, but as my blood flowed away, my hand lost its warmth and the ensui did not respond to it anymore. The ice returned to its liquid state and I subsequently dropped it. After that, I lost all conscious.

When I woke up again, I was lying on an old mattress, in a dimly lit room. As the previous night's memories came flooding back to me, I put my hand to my neck to check for any wound, but felt none. I then examined the rest of body and found it all to be all right. No injuries. No wounds. I checked my pockets. My wallet and ensui were inside. Nothing was missing. I then wondered if I had been kidnapped. But for what purpose? I knew no one. My answer came a minute later, when the door to the room opened, and a man in his mid thirties came in, carrying a bottle of tomato juice. Of course, later I would realize that it was actually blood.

"What happened? How did I get here?" I asked as I swung my legs off the bed and stood up " Did you save me?"

" So many questions young man. You have all the time in the world now to find out answers." The man replied slowly as he handed me the bottle.

I looked at it curiously, and he just said one word

" Drink."

Oddly enough, I complied. I seemed to like the red liquid as it flowed through my throat and within seconds the bottle was empty.

" Thanks, it's some great tomato juice, I haven't tasted anything like that though." I said as I handed the bottle back to him.

" It's blood." The man replied tonelessly as he chucked the bottle into a corner and sat down on the chair opposite the bed.

I nearly choked as I heard his casual answer. I collapsed onto the bed, thinking myself as this bloodthirsty cannibal, who actually liked the taste of blood.

" But…"

" Surely, you haven't realized it by now. You are a vampire, newly made, Tokiya Mikagami."

" Oh. That is a super good joke." I replied, thinking that this man was out to con me.

" It's natural that you don't believe me. Check the mirror."

Wordlessly, I went to the mirror, a rusty one hanging on the wall. I checked my reflection and found that there was nothing different about me.

" Good try… but it's not going to work…" I said, turning back.

" Your teeth young man, your teeth…" the man sighed.

I turned back to the mirror and bared my teeth. It was then that I saw those. Those two fangs poking at the back of my mouth. I touched them, thinking that they were fake, but they stuck fast to the back of my jaw. But I still wasn't convinced, and my maker knew that. All the while, he had been reading my mind.

Knowing that nothing but the real thing would convince me, he motioned for me to follow him. He brought me to the street where I had last fallen the night before. With me watching in the dark, he slowly lured a girl in the alley, where I was hidden. It was then that I was first struck with the first feeling of thirst. It was like an unquenchable thirst, a thirst to drink the girl's blood. I could practically taste it on my lips as I moved closer to the girl, who was oblivious to her surroundings. My maker smiled as he made way for me and I had my first victim. It was quite an easy chore. The girl didn't struggle much and she sank to the ground like a lifeless doll.

For the next six months, I stayed with my master, whom I got to go to know as Gin. He had gotten the bite almost sixty years ago, while in a bar. Besides that, I didn't bother to find out about his past history. I was uninterested in about any thing else. But I have to admit that he was a great help. He taught me all that I needed to know as a vampire. He taught me how to make the best of my vampire activities. But six months later, we broke up over an argument. As wonderful as he was, Gin was a sadist. He loved to torture his victims before they died. Not only that, he was also a homosexual. Mind you. Vampires still can have sex, in their own way though. But if you want to know, find out from the other vampires, because I refused to partake in any of it. Many a time, Gin had tried to seduce me, but I always pushed him aside. The thing about Gin and me was that even though he was much older than me, I was almost as strong as him, due to the power that I already had when I was still a human being. There were times when Gin wasn't on his total guard that I would manage to read his mind, but Gin could never read mine, no matter how hard he tried and I gained satisfaction from knowing that.

Anyhow, we argued about that and many other things. I didn't want to stay with him any longer. I didn't want to continue killing innocent lives even though I had an excuse to do so. And I wanted to be alone. I never really accepted the fact that I was a vampire. I forgot all about Recca and the others. As time when went by, they became a piece of forgotten memory stuck at the very back of my head. When the arguments got even worse, and I knew that we could never live as before, I left him. I recoiled into my own private world, feeding only when I needed to, and taking those whom I felt really deserved death. I often thought about the irony of the whole situation. I hated my human life because I was lonely, and yet now I was trapped in a life full of eternal lonliness.

Well, now that my past history as been summarized and done with, I am Tokiya the vampire. I prowl the streets of Tokyo at night, searching for my victims. The thirst is still there, but I control it as I control everything else. Out of the corner of eye, I spy my first victim. A pickpocket. I read his mind. He's been at it five times already this evening and all times successful. I see his next target, a middle aged lady, her handbag is open, as she chatters away on her cell phone, never noticing the small shadow beside her, and then he's gone. I make my move, moving with vampire speed, I drag him into the nearest alley. And before he knows it, I have taken him. I feel nothing as I see him crumpled on the floor. Tomorrow or the day after, a policeman will come across him and they will see the five wallets in his pockets. They will simply assume he had an accident or something like that. With that, I straighten my clothes and turn to leave. But, something prevents me from leaving. A woman, with short hair, stands at the entrance of the alley, effectively blocking my exit.

She is wearing a suit, probably one of those office ladies. In the darkness, I make out the purple highlights of her hair. I try to read her mind, but for the first time in my vampire life, I see a void of blank. I start to wonder if she is a female vampire, but I correct myself. She is a human all right. The blood smell is quietly consuming me.

" What have you done?" she asks as she comes further into the alley.

I try to tell her to stay away. I do not want to take her life. She is innocent. I know that. And yet, strangely enough, her voice sounds very familiar, so something I heard from before, but I cannot place it, as I back further into the alley.

" I saw you drag that guy into the alley. He stole that woman's wallet, but it's been a long time. What have you done to him?" She called out.

I took another step back and she shouted, " Don't you dare try to run away!"

I considered my options. I could just dash past her, but that would draw attention to my victim and the council would be rather displeased with me. Secondly, I could pretend not to be there at all, and blend into the darkness and wait for her leave, while third, I could just kill her there and then too.

However, while I was considering these options, suddenly, a gust of wind came spiraling towards me, hitting my straight in the gut and I flung backwards against the wall. It was then I found that I could not move. Invisible bands of wind seemed to be holding me fast to the wall. With all my might, I pulled myself free, but that was not before the woman was in front of me, and I heard a faint audible gasp.

" Tokiya?"

I heard my name being called softly and I whipped my head up.

And I wished almost immediately that I hadn't done that.

That face, I could have paid a million dollars for that face not to see me, not to see me in my pathetic state, reduced to a bloodthirsty vampire.

The face of Fuko Kirisawa.