Chapter 2:
Maka, in a fit of hopeless despair, wailed and dropped to her knees, burying her face in her hands and trying to choke back the oncoming flood of tears. It was true after all. The others gathered around her, rubbing her back, shushing her soothingly. Maka stood suddenly and wrapped her arms tightly around the nearest person's waist, that being Black*Star, and started sobbing uncontrollably into his shirt. Slightly shocked at Maka suddenly latching onto him, Black*Star remembered back to about a month ago...
"Dude, what do you see in her, anyway?" Black*Star asked. Soul, staring off into space, shrugged.
"I dunno. But I promised to be there for her. Always." After a short silence, he said, "Black*Star...can I ask a favor of you?"
"Sure, man. What do you need?"
"Look, I...I know it sounds ridiculous, but I've been having nightmares lately...and hearing rumors."
"About...?"
Soul looked down at the ground, hands in his pockets. He kicked a stone across the basketball court.
"Well...I've been dreaming about Maka's death a lot lately. Dunno why. And now I'm hearing rumors about...no. You'd laugh."
"Would not!"
Soul sighed, hesitating. "Vampires."
Black*Star looked at his friend incredulously, then, as expected, burst out laughing.
"Vampires! Haha! What, you think one of 'em's just gonna burst into your house like, 'Rahh! I have come to drink your blood!" Black*Star put on a fake Dracula accent and pretended to lunge for Soul's neck. Soul growled and backed away.
"Black*Star! It isn't funny! Come on."
Black*Star registered the seriousness in Soul's voice and sobered up. Soul sighed.
"Just...even if it isn't by vampire, I've been wondering what would happen to Maka if...if I died protecting her. I'm sworn to put her before my own life, you know."
Black*Star nodded. "So what do you need from me?"
"I...look, man, you're my best friend. What would you do if anything ever happened to me?"
The assassin stiffened. "Like...you mean like if you died?"
Soul nodded. "Exactly."
Black*Star looked at the ground. "I...I dunno. You're my best bud, man." He shrugged. "Might just not talk to anyone for a long time and keep to myself until I got over it."
Soul nodded again. "Well...I need you to promise me something. If anything ever does happen to me...if I can't be there for her...I need you to take care of Maka."
"You...want me to take your place?"
"I guess. Just be there for her if I can't."
Black*Star nodded, determined to do anything for his best friend. "Okay."
Black*Star currently looked down at the crying girl on his chest. He'd promised Soul he'd take care of Maka if anything ever happened to him. He figured, since Soul was pretty much as good as dead, now would be the time to go through with that. And so, remembering Soul's words-"Be there for her if I can't"—he wrapped his arms around the petite girl and let her cry.
Maka, tears still flowing, walked into the classroom where they were keeping the dead and bitten. Black*Star was close behind her, followed by the girls and Kid. Maka bit her lip gently, looking around for Soul. It wasn't easy, seeing as all the bodies were in body bags, but it didn't take long to notice a poof of shocking white hair from a partially-unzipped bag. She walked bravely up to it and braced herself to see her dead partner. She was a little afraid, but she had to say goodbye to him. She hadn't had a chance before.
She glanced back at the others. It's not fair, she couldn't help but think. The rest of them survived…how am I the only one to lose someone?
She slowly unzipped the bag...and stepped back, slightly shocked. He hadn't changed a bit. Except for the two small punctures on the left side of his neck and the blood matted in his hair, there was nothing different about him. His skin was still the same honey color it had been before, his hair still a breathtaking snowy white...someone had the good grace to put his jacket and his thin black headband on him properly. Maka sighed and stroked his hair.
It's all my fault…
"Soul-kun..." she whispered. Not caring that the others were still gathered behind her, she leaned down and kissed his forehead. She sniffled and traced her finger down the left side of his face, letting her finger trail down his neck, his familiar warm skin...
...warm? Puzzled, Maka placed two fingers to the side of his neck.
"Liz..."
"Huh?"
"Didn't you say he didn't have a pulse?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Then...why..."
Maka gasped as Soul's crimson eyes snapped open and he sat up, grabbing her wrist and biting her hard. Maka screamed in pain as Black*Star yanked her back. Soul was sitting up on the table, Maka's blood dripping from his mouth. Black*Star stared, mortified, at his best friend, whose eyes seemed to almost be glowing. Soul licked the blood off his lower lip, seeming fascinated.
"B-Black*Star!" he heard a terrified Maka cry, "I-I'm bleeding!"
Bleeding was an understatement in Black*Star's mind; the place where Soul had bitten her was right on her artery, causing blood to pour out, into the palm of her shaking hand, and in between her slender fingers, then dripping onto the hardwood floor. Black*Star glared at Soul, infuriated.
"What the fuck?!"
"What's going on in here?" came Stein's voice as he swept into the room.
"Soul bit Maka!" cried Liz, "He just…I dunno, came back from the dead or something!"
"He bit her hard enough to draw blood," added Kid, looking a little horrified and a little nauseous.
Stein took Maka's bloodied wrist and examined it for a moment.
"How much did he drink?"
"You mean he was trying to drink her blood?!" Black*Star screeched at the same time Maka answered, starting to get dizzy, "I-I-I don't know, he bit me and Black*Star pulled me back…"
"Give him back your wrist."
"What?!" Maka's voice raised about 3 octaves.
Soul reached out and gingerly took her bloody hand.
"I promise this part won't hurt," he soothed her. Everyone stood frozen, unsure of what the hell to do. Maka watched with frightened curiosity as Soul lifted her red-stained hand to his mouth…and dragged his tongue across her palm, taking the deep red liquid into his mouth with what sounded like a satisfied moan. Maka's eyes widened and blushed. Then, she saw something that made everything make sense: the glint of his canines, which still ended in lethal points like the rest of his teeth, but now were slightly more than an inch long.
"Soul…" Maka murmured, "you're…a vampire."
He looked at her and answered with only a contented hum and he latched his mouth onto her wrist, gently sucking the blood out of the wound. The way he looked at her was intense, loving, even a little sexual…it made all kinds of chills run through her body, and she wasn't sure what to feel.
He pulled his mouth from her wrist and licked across the wound. Shaking off the lingering shivers from Soul's gaze, she pulled back her hand. She saw with a shock that the wound was gone; only faint scars of the punctures remained. She looked up at her partner, who was using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the excess blood off his mouth, watched as he ran his tongue across his teeth and fangs. Then, he looked directly into her eyes and she got that strange chilling feeling. They both knew what this meant.
She was officially mated to a freaking vampire.
