Something in the Dark
The legend of Vampires had always secluded others from the world around them. The ones who believe in them always wanting to be one and the one who don't wishing the stories would just go away. But for the one who don't believe, the ones who have no choice, life can be interesting. The ones who really are… Vampires.
"Hey Ayssie? Ayssie?"
Ayssie snapped out of her tired trance, her white blonde hair falling in her face.
"Hmm," She looked up at her older adopted brother, V, his dark brown hair covering his eyes, coming out of her half awake, half asleep state.
"You can't sleep through you first day of your almost last year," V said putting an arm around Ayssie's shoulder.
"Oh and why not, it's not like they teach us anything new here, just the same stuff every year," Ayssie sighed.
"Oh it can't be that bad, I was in the eleventh year last year you know," V said. "You're just saying that because this is your last year," Ayssie said stubbornly.
She playfully hit her brother in his arm, but it didn't do anything. V was nothing but muscle, he was short and buff. V was very handsome, but could act very childish.
Ayssie was tall and slender, with big green eyes. They seemed to glow as her blonde hair hung in front of them. She was very strong and so was her brother.
They both wore the school uniform, V in black pants and a black button up shirt that he left the top few undone.
Ayssie wore the skirt and the shirt, but always walked around in sneakers. They went to Lotus High School, but they had a terrible secret.
They fed at night, there were very few left of their kind. They were vampires. They had no parents and lived alone. They had met when they were very young and decided to go to Lotus High as normal brother and sister students.
They managed not to attack any of the students, but when there was blood around, they had a hard time.
The bell rang and Ayssie and V went to orientation. They took their places next to each other and waiter for the chairman to come.
Riyu, Ayssie's friend, came and sat down beside her. "Hey Riyu, what's your grand fathers plan for this year history?" Ayssie asked.
Riyu looked over at Ayssie and smiled, her brown eyes lighting up. "Oh I don't know. He stopped telling me because I told everyone and they would study and it wasn't surprising. The only thing he told me was that it was all about mythical creatures and the stories behind them. You know like werewolves and unicorns, and vampires, that sort of thing," Ayssie and V became rigid at the word vampires.
Riyu's grandfather was a weird old man. He thought that Ayssie and V were vampires from the moment they met him. He was always asking them weird questions and studying them closely when he was around them. But the one good thing about him was his class was never boring. He taught something new every year and always made it exciting.
"Hmm," Ayssie looked up at the ceiling and began to doze, that was until V started rubbing her nose with a strand of her hair.
"Cut it out V, I'm trying to sleep," She said swatting at his hand, trying to keep her eyes closed.
Just as V was about to do it again, the chairman came and stood in the middle of the floor, microphone in hand.
"Welcome back all students and teachers of Lotus High School. I hope you all had a wonderful break," He said, the microphone echoing off the walls.
Ayssie and V both closed their eyes at the annoying sound of the microphone that was so loud to them. Ayssie moved a hand over one ear and the other pinched the cartilage on her nose to try and stop the headache that the noise caused. She looked at V, who was holding his ears against the noise as the chairman droned on and on.
"Well, have a nice first day and please make the new students and teachers feel welcome," The chairman put the microphone down and walked off.
The students began filing out of the auditorium, picking up their personal schedule on the way out. V and Ayssie quickly memorized theirs and tossed them in the trash, while looking around you saw students looking and looking at their schedules.
"Ah, isn't the human mind a fascinating thing?" V said humorously. "Always forgetting things and such, it's just so complicated," He continued.
"You had one once too, you know, but I think it's done shriveled up and blew out your ear, hehe," Ayssie laughed in her innocent tone.
V made a face and turned his back, "Fine, you can go to your first class alone then," And he stubbornly walked off to join a group of his friends.
Ayssie let out a sigh, but began walking to her first class. As she walked down the hallway, she noticed groups of new students that she didn't see in the gym.
She looked up at the ceiling, and the thoughts of when she was human popped into her head.
Ayssie walked over the snowy ground. She was just a four year old orphan child, lost in an unknown world, with nobody but herself.
With every step she took, the blood dripped more and more furiously and she could feel the blood loss start to get to her.
She looked up ahead at the border of trees that was getting closer. The tears streamed down her face as she remembered her poor mother, lying so cold and lifeless on the ground.
The man had come out of nowhere, and he bit her mother, and little Ayssie. Her father tried to protect her but the man killed him, leaving Ayssie, alone and cold to suffer.
She walked through the woods, holding the bite mark on her neck. She wanted to cry out in pain, but she was scared the man would hear her.
The bite mark throbbed and Ayssie hit her knees. She crawled into a fallen hollow tree when she curled herself up into a ball, trying to make the pain go away.
She finally screamed in pain as it felt like her insides were melting away. She felt her teeth protrude into her lip and her nails dig into her skin. Everything around her was different, but her hunger was immense.
It felt like she was dying on the inside, but it wasn't for food, it for something else that she didn't know about.
Ayssie lifted a hand to the side of her neck, where the bite mark was now a in the shape of a heart with thorns. It looked somewhat like a tattoo, but it wasn't with ink. It was black, but when she fed it turned a bright blue. Ayssie snapped out of her trance as the bell rang.
She looked over to where the gang of the new students were, but they had already gone. She walked into her first class, and took her seat, pulling out her notes.
The class drug by, along with the day and she finally came to her history class. She walked in and smiled as she saw Mr. Komae make a face as she walked in. She took her seat next to Riyu, and pulled out her notes.
So far all she had was a bunch of doodle and some scribbles from when she fell asleep and her hand skid across the page.
Mr. Komae started the class with roll call. Ayssie recognized all the names except for a few new students.
Ayssie said 'here' when her name was called, but her eye lids started feeling very heavy.
She tried concentrating on the lesson, but felt herself dozing off again, for the third time today. She rested her head in her hand and her eyes began to slowly close.
Ayssie looked up at the new scent in the air as a boy pokes his head inside the fallen tree where she was.
"Are you okay little girl, you look hungry. Come out and I will feed you," The boy held out his hand to Ayssie.
She looked around, not knowing what was going on. She couldn't remember why she came here, or what had happened. She looked at the boy, but took his hand and uncurled.
She didn't hurt anymore, but felt like she was new to the world. She crawled out and looked up at the boy who couldn't have been about a year older than she was. He smelled the same as she did, and she could tell he was nice.
"Let's go get you something to eat," The boy smiled and wiped a stray tear from her face.
Ayssie smiled and wrapped her hands around the boy's waist, and he picked her up with such ease and grace it didn't seem possible, and put her on his back, and took off.
It seemed like they flew through the thick woods, and the run was smooth as glass. Ayssie wandered what was going on, but her hunger was growing, and seeing the boy's neck made it all worse.
Ayssie opened her mouth and went for the crook of the boy's neck. "No, you don't need my blood, just wait and we will get you your food," He said slowing down when he reached a clearing.
There was a small ring where there was smoldered ashes from a fire, and a small blanket. Over the fire ring was a pot with, what Ayssie smelled, water.
"Is this your home?" She asked in her child voice. Her eyes scanned the area, and she noticed things she never noticed before, but she couldn't remember that now.
The boy helped her down and took her to the pot of water. "Yes for now, but that's not important. You're a new vampire, so you need to feed," He said, pouring some water in a cup and washed the blood away from Ayssie's neck wound.
"A… vampire?" She asked cluelessly.
"Miss. Ayssie, why don't you answer that question," Mr. Komae asked. Ayssie was fast asleep.
"Miss. Reane?" Ayssie still didn't move. She was off in her dream world… until something hard and heavy hit her in the head.
Ayssie's big blue eyes fluttered open, not realizing the large book that was on top of her head. She slowly removed it, looking at it curiously. "What was that for?" She asked innocently.
"Don't play innocent with me, Miss. Reane, you were sleeping in my class and I asked you a question," Mr. Komae said, putting a hand on his head.
"Well, what's the question? You can't just throw a book at my head to wake me up to ask me a question and not tell me what the question is," She said annoyed.
"But I did ask you the question, but you were too busy sleeping to hear it," Mr. Komae yelled, pulling at what little hair he had left.
Ayssie smiled to herself. She was always like this to Komae. He had a full head of hair when she first started this class, but it slowly fell out with every question Ayssie could possibly ask him.
"Well, you shouldn't ask busy people questions," She said stubbornly.
The class all gave a round of laughter, but it all settled down as Mr. Komae's face turned apple red with fury.
"Oh, never mind you. Riyu, maybe you can help the class out. What mythical creature originated in Italy, claims to only come out at night, and drinks blood from other creatures," He asked, pushing his old man glasses further up on his nose.
The question made Ayssie freeze, keeping her head down and letting her hair cover her face.
"Vampires," Riyu answered pointedly.
A shiver went up Ayssie's spine at the word, but remained still. The teacher clapped praise for the right answer, but as he was about to ask another one the bell rang, and school was over.
"Wha…" Komae plopped down in his chair and laid his head down. Ayssie walked out the door with Riyu.
"Wow, you slept the whole class this time, usually you only fall asleep in the middle. Are you staying up late or something?" Riyu asked looking at her tired friend.
"No, I'm just not cut out for school," They both waved by and Riyu went in the opposite direction.
Ayssie met up with V in the long hallway, and as usual, he was surrounded by his friends. Ayssie just ignored them, keeping her hands across her chest, looking up at sky.
She was just starting to day dream, when V started messing with her hair again. "You can't get mad at me, I don't have a brain remember," He said teasingly. All of his friends laughed at the comment.
"Huh, oh ya," Ayssie asked, "Watch me," Ayssie brought her fist down on her brothers head and he fell to the ground.
"Wha… What was that for?" He said in a sad childish voice. His friends gathered around and laughed at the sad boy.
"For not having a brain," Ayssie said walking off towards their home.
"See what I have to put up with. See how cruel she is to me," V cried. His friends all laughed again, but one that caught her attention was really funny.
"Well, it's not your fault she stronger and taller than you are. Maybe if you just grew a few inches…" His strayed off as the glare V gave him started to get scary. V was very picky about his shortness.
Ayssie continued walking as her brother and his friends usually went to town on the first day. She continued walking to her home in the middle of the woods, a good ways from the school.
"Ugh, why do we get homework on the first day? Damn fancy school," Ayssie said, turning down an old dirt road. Up ahead was a small cabin that Ayssie and V called home.
She unlocked the door and walked in. When you first walked in, you saw a couch and a kitchen. When you walked farther back, there were two rooms and a bathroom. That was the simple living style of V and Ayssie.
Ayssie grabbed her books and plopped down on the couch, flipping them open to her homework. She looked at the page and it seemed like all the letters jumped out at her. She looked away and pressed against her temple, trying to relieve a headache. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a small cup.
The cup was filled with a think red liquidy substance and wrecked of a dead animal, but to Ayssie, it smelt like the best thing in the world.
She quickly downed the cup, it instantly relieving the headache. She carefully wiped the excess blood from around her mouth and sat back down. She could feel the blood of the newly killed fox running through her, increasing her speed and agility, but made her more lazy.
She lounged back on the couch, throwing her books to the floor, and sat there thinking. She soon drifted off to yet another sleep. This is what the blood of a fox does if taken in small amounts. It gives you speed and agility, but makes you terribly tired.
"What is a vampire?" Ayssie asked the boy curiously.
"It is a being that is cursed with the need to feed off of blood. They are more advanced than human, but carry a large burden," He said, his eyes looking sad.
"So, what can we do?" She asked curiously, her child curiosity over coming her hunger.
"Well, I don't know. I am a new born, just like you, and I know nothing. You are the only other vampire I have ever met," He said, thinking hard about something. The boy handed her another cup, but this one was filled with a thick red substance.
"What is this?" Ayssie asked. She inhaled a breath and her mouth began to water. She felt her insides burn with hunger, and she quickly downed the blood in the cup.
"It is blood. The only substance we will ever need to control our hunger. And what I've learned is that, if you are like me and choose not to kill, but to drink the blood of animals, you inherit traits of the animal who's blood you drank," He explained.
Ayssie removed the cup from her mouth and sniffed it. "So what kind of blood is this?" She asked, sniffing again.
"That is fox blood, a good start for a newborn, but I stick with that of a wolf, to be more sufficient for me," He answered.
Ayssie was amazed. This boy was only a year older than she and was already so smart. She was a little jealous, but was happy to learn from him.
She smiled at the boy, but a look of confusion came to her face. "What is name… big brother?" She asked, just realizing what he was acting like.
"My name is V, and you are, little sister?" He asked.
"I'm Ayssie," She smiled.
Ayssie woke to the sound of the door closing. She sat up and smiled at her big brother. "Welcome home V," She said picking up her books and started doing her homework.
"How was your time in town?" She asked, scribbling an answer on her answer sheet.
"Oh the usual, we went to the mall and went sight seeing," V said, opening the fridge and pulling out another cup with more blood in it.
Ayssie sighed and scribbled something else down in her book. "This school is getting boring," She sighed. "But I don't want to change know, we have a good thing going here," She looked up V, who seemed to be thinking very hard.
"I know the feeling. But while we were in town today, we saw some students from a school a ways north of here. I asked my friends about it, and they said that it was Cross Academy. It's like this school, but it has dorms and two different classes for day and night, and I was planning on talking to you about transferring there. I think it would be better," He said, taking a sip from the cup.
"I think that would be nice," Ayssie said finishing her paper and putting it in her book, and placing the book on the floor. She got up and walked over to V. "You wanna go check it out tomorrow? I think it would be nice to be able to stay in a dorm," She said, leaning on her brother's shoulder.
"Ya, we'll go later in the day and we won't go to school tomorrow. I'll let you sleep in," He said with a smile.
"Well aren't you a good big brother," She smiled standing up straight and looking out at the setting sun.
"The very best. Now don't go out tonight, and try drinking something else besides fox blood, it makes you entirely too lazy, here…" He reached into the very back of fridge and pulled out a small bag, "try squirrel, those hyper little creatures will have to give you energy. Just try it in the morning to get you going," He threw the bag into the fridge and shut the door.
"Why do you have squirrel blood in a bag?" Ayssie asked.
V looked up at her and shrugged. "The cups are getting boring, so I just squeezed it into this bag, like they do human blood, but with squirrel blood," He walked to his room and shut the door.
Ayssie heard him say goodnight, and she answered back the same before going to her own room and lying on the small, but strangely comfortable bed, and drifted back to sleep, thinking that she slept way too much and that she would try the squirrel blood, and that she might switch away from it.