DISCLAIMER - see chapter one
"Mummy! Mummy!" Mai cried as she banged her fists on the window of the locked car door, kneeling on her seat as her mother looked over her shoulder and smiled assuringly at her five year old daughter before turning back to the darkness, her hazel eyes glaring into the night as she looked around,
"Look out!" her husband cried, a monster coming out of nowhere, its shape human, but it's eyes a shining red, fangs at least three inches long bared as it made a dive at the young woman, who swung her delicate metal staff, the point plunging into the creature's chest, blood pouring from the wound and splattering the window as she pulled the staff out, the body falling to the ground. Mai couldn't see out of that window anymore, a feminine scream sounding from the other side of the glass,
"Mummy?" Mai asked in barely more than a whisper, her mother's face hitting the window, her eyes wide, blood pouring down her face as she slowly dragged down the window with a long wet squeak against the glass, a scream ripping from Mai's lungs,
"Mai-chan!" her father yelled as he appeared at the other window, Mai looking over at him with a tear streaked face,
"Daddy!" she cried as she crawled over, screaming as one of the monsters grabbed him from behind and sank its fangs deep into his neck, pulling back roughly, ripping a clump of flesh from the young man's neck, blood pouring down his once neat suit, the delicate silver sword slipping from his dying grip, his dark eyes vacant as he fell to his knees, "Daddy?" Mai cried as she put her hands on the window and looked down at him as he fell onto his back, looking up to meet the creatures bloody monstrous face. It's eyes glared at her, a glowing red, the fangs gnashing at her, it looked like a mutated human being, her mind screaming at her to move, but she was so terrified she couldn't,
"Come out little girl…" the creature encourage, trying the door handle and finding it locked, "Come out and play." It said, Mai scooting back across the chair so that her back was pressed against the bloodied window of the opposite door, Mai screaming as the creature put its fist though the window and ripped the door off its hinges, "Peek-a-boo." It taunted as it reached in and grabbed Mai's foot, dragging her screaming form across the seats until she was outside, kicking and screaming at the creature in terror,
"Put her down." A gentle but hard voice ordered, Mai looking into the darkness to see four figures with glowing red eyes, but they didn't scare her, though she didn't know why, something inside of her was telling her they're good people. The creature holding her turned, using her small body as a sheild, placing his fangs on her neck gently, the points breaking the skin, two lines of blood trickling down her neck, "I wasn't playing games." The voice said again, only it was coming from behind her, one of the four figures before her gone. She felt the vampire's fangs leave her neck as he gasped in agony and fell to the ground, releasing Mai so that she fell to the concrete, landing in a pool of blood, too terrified to speak. "Are you alright Mai-chan?" the voice asked, his tone soft and gentle. Mai looked up at the young man, tears running down her cheeks,
"Get the girl out of here!" a young woman's voice ordered, the young man nodding as he lifted Mai into his arms protectively, Mai's senses filling with a sweet irresistible scent as she leaned her head on his shoulder, his blonde hair tickling her nose as he pulled her to his chest, his arms wrapped around her tightly as he ran, the world rushing by as he travelled faster than she had ever seen before, the world a blur until suddenly he stopped.
"Mai-chan, you're not hurt are you?" he asked as he looked down at her with a kind smile, Mai looking up with a slight blush as the gentle sapphire orbs looked down at her, he looked so human, but she knew he was something much darker than he appeared. She touched her blood neck, seeing him lick his lips as he watched the blood running over her skin, his eyes reddening a little. He crouched down gently and licked her wound, stroking her hair gently as she tensed, his touch and scent calming her as the pain slowly faded. "There, all better." He said with a smile, a little blood at the corner of his mouth as he pulled back. "Now, you stay here with these people alright?" he said as he got to his feet and turned to leave, Mai's hand grabbing the back of his blood stained shirt, "No, I can't stay with you…be a brave girl Mai-chan." He added with a smile, Mai releasing him slowly and watching as he walked away.
Mai sat up with a gasp, her body coated in sweat as she sat there in her bed panting. Was that…a nightmare? She wondered as she got to her feet, damn, I hate it when I can't remember my dreams! What if it was something important? She thought in annoyance as she got to her feet and walked into the bathroom, turning the shower on at a cool temperature to calm her down as she pulled her flannel pyjamas off and climbed under the spray, sighing in contentment as she lifted the soap, massaging the lather into her skin before washing her hair and climbing out, a towel wrapped around her as she went to the sink to wash her teeth, two small faint scars visible on her neck as she brushed, her eyes drifting to the scar every so often, the sight of it bothering her, it was so long ago I don't even remember it…I was probably careless and tripped or something.She thought with a smile, she had always been a bit of a klutz.
She wandered back into her room and peeked out of the curtains, the sun still high in the sky, great, so it's not even close to evening yet, she thought with a sigh as she pulled her tartan skirt on again, pulling a yellow top over her head before heading out of the door and wandering down to the living area, peeking in to see only one occupant, who had looked up expectantly before she even touched the door,
"Ah, Mai-chan, what are you doing up?" Ichijo asked kindly, a book in his lap as he looked over at her, Mai blushing as she hesitated in the doorway,
"I…had a bad dream…" she replied, Ichijo's smile slipped as he nodded to a chair, Mai realising she must be making him uncomfortable as she stood in the doorway staring at him. She crossed the room and sat in the chair, Ichijo holding his page as he looked across at her,
"What was it about?" he asked sympathetically, no stranger to bad dreams himself, as with a lot of the night class. Mai smiled awkwardly as she looked up at him,
"Actually I don't remember…I guess I'm just too frustrated and awake to go back to sleep now…how about you?" she asked as he nodded his understanding, laughing gently at her question,
"Oh, I don't sleep much." He replied, Mai looking down at the book in his lap,
"Sorry, I interrupted you, I should probably…" she began as she got to her feet, Ichijo reaching out and taking her wrist,
"No wait! Oh, sorry," he added with a blush as he released her hand, Mai looking down in confusion as he looked up at her, his book falling shut since he had removed his hand to stop her, "I just…didn't want you to leave, that is, you're new and we've hardly had the chance to…get to know each other." He explained, keeping his true motives secret from her.
"Oh, but you were reading." She argued, Ichijo smiling and waving it aside,
"I can read any time, it wasn't important anyway." He replied as he held it up, revealing it to be a popular manga, one Mai herself had read, which he seemed to pick up on from her expression, "You like manga?" he asked as he got to his feet excitedly,
"I love it!" Mai replied with a laugh as he grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door,
"Then you have to see my room!" he exclaimed as he pulled her up the stairs behind him, turning past Mai's room and heading up to the next floor, walking down the hall to a large room, which had book cases from wall to wall, two of them filled with text books, but the others, and there were around seven other book cases, were filled with manga, a lot of which Mai had never seen. "This is a good one." Ichijo said excitedly as he pulled down volume one of a very gothic looking series, the girl on the front had red eyes and bloodied fangs and was wearing black lacy clothing as she stared up at Mai,
"A vampire series…that's good, I have a thing about vampires, I know it's silly." Mai laughed as she looked at Ichijo, who looked shocked at the revelation,
"Why?" he asked, unable to form any other question or words, his expression truly bewildered,
"Well, I…have a thing about biting to be honest." She laughed with a sligt blush, not sure why she was telling him this personal bit of information, "Don't tell anyone though!" she said suddenly, Ichijo smiling and holding up his hand,
"Cross my heart." He replied, "Well, I have a thing about biting too." He confessed, though not in the way you're thinking…he added inwardly as the young girl looked away blushing, "Anyway, it's a very good series, it's about a school of vampires who are being investigated by a group of humans who suspect them of being vampires, but the leader of the investigation falls in love with one of the students…I won't say any more, it would spoil the ending." He added with a gentle smile as Mai looked down at the back of the book,
"Thank you…thank you very much." Mai replied, finally feeling that she was making progress with the night class, after all, if she could get Ichijo on her side then a few of the others might at least soften towards her a little…right?
"Please, feel free to read here, I quite like the company, even when I am reading…it's nice to have another presence in the room." He said, Mai's eyes widening slightly at his words, but he had already turned to the window, where there was a cosy chair. He pulled the chair out a little so that the light on the ceiling beamed down over it as he sat on the bed, "You take the chair." He added with a smile, watching as Mai settled down and began to read, Ichijo settling down himself and finding his page once again, leaving the door open in case someone came along, he didn't want them to think there were any…inappropriate activities going on.