Chapter 12 – Back in the Mansion

Katsu slowly opened his eyes and let out a groan. His head was hurting like hell. After a few moments he noticed that this wasn't the bed of the hostel he was staying. The pillows were too soft and the blanket too thick. He pressed his nose against the pillow and found that it had a girl's scent. He then sat up and looked around. He was in a large room that was packed with dolls. He looked to the left and noticed that a huge black curtain keeping all light out. Where the hell am I?

Then it all came back to him. He remembered getting bitten by Anju, her confession that she is a vampire and then falling unconscious on her lap. He instantly started to feel nervous, but then noticed that he was actually remembering all these things. He smiled.

He got off the bed and carefully opened one of the curtains to get a peek outside. It was pitch dark outside. What time is it anyway? Close to midnight?

Katsu then heard a door creek and quickly turned around to discover that Anju had entered the room. She had a cup in her hand.

"Oh, hi Anju" Katsu greeted her.

"You finally woke up." Anju said with relief.

Katsu raised an eyebrow. "What you mean finally? How long have I been sleeping?"

"You have been asleep for over 24 hours straight." Anju answered.

Katsu gave her a confused look. "Oh."

Anju walked over and sat down next to Katsu. Even though Katsu had a splitting headache, he started to feel nervous. He then noticed the enormous empty feeling in his stomach. A moment later his stomach growled.

"Do you by any chance have something to eat?" Katsu asked, slightly embarrassed.

Anju looked at Katsu's stomach. "Vampires don't need food. The only thing that vampires can taste, and find delicious is blood. If we eat human food, it will feel like sand and ashes in our mouths."

Katsu gave her a startled look. For a moment he forgot that Anju was a vampire. He blinked and then shook his head. It then occurred to him that it was in the middle of the night and that there might be other vampires in the house.

"Oh yeah, by the way Anju, are your parents vampires too? You know the people I met the first time I came to your place." Katsu asked.

Anju nodded. "Yes, everyone in this house is a vampire."

Katsu gave her a worried look. Yeah, everyone except me.

"Aren't they going to notice that there is a human in your room? I mean, I heard that vampires got a very good nose." Katsu asked.

"Where did you hear that?" Anju asked, completely calm. It send a chill up Katsu's spine, but then again, that's one of the things he liked about Anju: her stoic personality with occasional showings of emotions.

"TV, books and all that." Katsu replied casually. This wasn't a lie.

Anju stood up and walked across the room to pick up Boogie-kun, who has been commanded to keep silent. Anju didn't want to give Katsu a heart attack right after he woke up. She knew that talking dolls were unusual among humans; even among vampires they are rather unheard of.

"They aren't going to notice your presence. I blocked off your smell with some of my bats and they are outside feeding." Anju answered emotionlessly.

"Ok…that's good." Katsu said, slightly absent minded. He was wondering why Anju got so cold all of sudden. Would be nice if she showed more emotion like last time… Little did he know that Anju was trying to hide her emotions with her emotionless 'act'.

Katsu looked around the room to try to find something else besides dolls. He would have asked Anju about the huge number of dolls she has collected, but there was something else bothering him.

"Do your parents know that I know that you are a vampire?" Katsu asked hesitantly. If her parents knew, things would become a lot more complicated for Katsu.

"No. They don't know." Anju said coolly.

Katsu sighed in relief and lay back down on the bed again. It was the first time he ever was in a girl's bed. He wanted to enjoy this as much as he could, while he could. Anju walked over and sat down next to Katsu.

Anju then remembered some of the scenes in the shojo manga that Maki lend Karin in her high school days. A guy and a girl sitting on the same bed, she thought, and then blushed at the images that came to her mind. She turned her head to hide the slight blush. What's wrong with me?

Boogie-kun grinned whatever grin his body could do and thought out: "Hormones playing up with again Anju? Why don't you just nail him here and now and then erase his memories?"

Anju scowled at Boogie-kun. "Don't think loud right now or else I'll send your soul to hell". Katsu, who was lying on the bed, didn't notice any of this.

Katsu sat back up again. "Why did you bring me here if there is the danger of your parents finding out that you brought a human boy to your room?" he looked at Anju, he noticed that her eyes looked very tired. "Just imagine the consequences if they found out that their pretty teenage vampire daughter brought a human boy of the same age to her room without letting them know beforehand."

Katsu shuddered at the thought of some of the consequences.

"At least that boy has a good taste for girls…" Boogie-kun thought to Anju.

"You would freeze if I left you in the park and you didn't tell me where you lived before you fainted…so this place was the only option." Anju replied and silently squeezed Boogie-kun's neck. She let go right before he was about to make a sound.

"Oh thanks…" Katsu said, slightly taken back and embarrassed. His stomach growled again. I'd give ANYTHING for a grilled ham and cheese sandwich right now…

"Why do vampires not need food? I mean if you look closely…" Katsu looked at Anju's body and then her fangs. "you look pretty much like a human besides the fangs."

Anju felt her hear make a jump as she felt Katsu's eyes going over her. Normally she would whack any male who looked at her whole body, but something blocked her brain from sending these commands to her arms. She felt frozen.

"Even we vampires don't know why we don't need human food. Once we start drinking your blood, we lose all taste for food and the only thing that we find delicious is human blood." Anju said emotionlessly, it send a chill up Katsu's spine, especially when combined with what she just said.

"But don't you get tired of blood sometimes? I mean it all tastes the same." Katsu said with an awkward smile.

He started to rub the back of his head. It still hurts. His hands then went over his neck. Using his index finger, he slowly went over the area where he thinks Anju bit him. He felt two small holes in his neck. He pulled back in surprise.

"So I really did get bitten…" Katsu muttered under his breath, which of course still got picked up by Anju's vampire ears.

"I'm sorry…" Anju apologized weakly. She couldn't help but feel nervous and excited when she was around Katsu, yet at the same time she felt comfortable and save.

"Is the wound alright?" she asked and moved closer to get a better look at the holes in Katsu's neck.

Drawn by the strong scent of blood still emitting from the holes she made, she kept coming closer until her nose was almost touching his neck. She inhaled the scent slowly and then let out a profound sigh. She started to feel her fangs grow. I just fed less than a day ago…

Katsu could feel Anju's warm breath on his neck. He himself could smell her hair very clearly. He took a deep breath and wanted to rest his head on hers. That would get me killed for sure…

"Uhm Anju?" Katsu said hesitantly.

Anju blinked and shook her head. Not good, I still get thirsty when I smell his blood. "The wound isn't deep, it should heal soon".

"The hell it will heal soon." Boogie-kun thought to Anju again. "I bet your fangs were longer than ever". His neck got a tight squeeze again.

"That's good to know." Katsu said and smiled. "Wouldn't want to have permanent holes in my neck."

For a moment, Anju stared at his smile with a blank expression. The pull of his smile was almost as strong as the scent of his blood. Anju blinked and smiled back.

Anju didn't understand herself. There was something about Katsu that made her feel jovial. A warm feeling that she hadn't felt since Karin accepted Kenta-kun's proposal. She felt happy. She felt as if she could talk him to him with no worries, now that he knew her true identity. And to her own surprise, the fact that he knew didn't worry her as much as she expected herself to be. For some reason, she felt save around Katsu despite the fact that she was stronger than him.

She smiled at that thought. Stronger than Katsu. Since the time she got 'saved' by Katsu, she felt a certain excitement lingering in her.

Katsu looked around in the room again and his glance fell on the cell phone lying on the small table next to the bed.

"You have a cell phone?" Katsu asked, surprised to find that even vampires have kept up with today's rapid electronics advancements. Judging from the old mansion and the furniture style, he didn't expect them to even have a microwave.

He reached for the Anju's phone and dialed his own number into it. His own phone rang.

"What are you doing?" Anju asked.

"Don't worry, I won't look at your messages. I just want to get your number into my phone." Katsu replied while putting Anju's phone back.

"What time is it anyway?" Katsu asked.

Anju looked at her watch. "Almost midnight."

Damn it, Katsu thought. Jun probably thinks that I'm dead since I haven't showed up within 24 hours.

Anju felt an aura emitting from Katsu. Luckily her blood taste is loneliness.

"What's the matter?" Anju asked.

"My mother is arriving in Tokyo at 1 am. Damn it, if she finds out that I got home after midnight, I'll be grounded until I get to college." Katsu lied. I should get back as soon as possible so that Jun doesn't waste money on a tombstone for me.

Katsu stood up and tested all his limbs again. Besides the headache, everything felt fine.

"This way." Anju said and showed Katsu down to the living room and then to the front door. She opened the door for him and he carefully stepped out.

"Thanks" he said with a smile and started jogging down the hill. After a few moments, he turned around and waved.

Smiling gently, Anju waved back. The warm feeling engulfed her again. She felt really out of character with all these emotions. Is this what Usui Kenta was talking about?

To be honest, I'm not that happy with this chapter. I couldn't get a good grab on the flow until around the second page and I didn't want to rewrite the whole chapter. Maybe later on I'll rewrite this chapter. I'm also planning to make a revision to every chapter written so far (aka correct grammer mistakes, spelling errors and rewrite some sentences that could be better).

Anyways, is anybody else reading this looking foward to the last Pendragon book? (The Soldiers of Halla). I already pre-ordered it (screw the enomous shipping fees to China!).

Thanks for reading!