I Don't Date Vampires
Chapter 10
"The Aftershock"

"I'm sorry Rido-sama." He didn't dare looking into the eyes of his master. He had failed. He had failed on something so seemingly easy, but that girl –she wasn't normal. "The girl was prepared. She knew I was coming," he said, "I don't know how, but she knew."

He waited for his master to respond. There wasn't anything else he could do. He had made his case and now all there was to do was wait. So he waited and waited and waited… He waited until the deafening silence threatened to drive him mad with fear before his master spoke.

"So you're telling me you allowed a human girl to beat you?"

He swallowed thickly. "Yes."

"And exactly how did she outsmart you?"

He thought about that seriously. Honestly he had no idea. The girl had used herself as bait, somehow she had known that she was what he wanted and used that little fact against him. Then when he was thoroughly caught off guard she attacked. It didn't make any sense. "I'm not sure," he admitted grudgingly.

There was nothing out of the ordinary. She was just like every other female day class student at that school; at least on the surface. He didn't see anything that would lead him to believe otherwise. Nevertheless with how she fought, it was quite obvious that she was not part of the majority. No ordinary girl would fight like that and willingly put her life on the line to safe a bunch of strangers.

"She knew I was there for her. She used that to her advantage," he explained.

"And she fought you?" Rido added.

"She shot me in the face," he said for the first time looking up into the piercing gaze of his master.

Rido's face was perfectly schooled into a blank mask. His child like features gave nothing away. The level-E couldn't read the surprise or the hidden amusement that glimmered in his multi-colored eyes. He was impressed. This girl was showing to be more interesting that he had originally thought. In truth he wasn't that surprised that the level-E couldn't capture her. Others had failed as well, but he was surprised that she was able to beat a vampire in a one-on-one fight. "I see," he mused.

"So what do we do now?"

The child smiled coolly at the question. "I'm going to pay Miss Taylor a visit," he replied.

"And what about me? What do I do?" The man asked. He was growing increasingly more nervous as the silence returned. The walls felt like they were closing in on him as he stood there in his master's study. He watched anxiously as the small boy went over to the desk and opened one of the drawers.

"You're no longer of any consequence," Rido told him taking out a small wooden box and set it on the desk. The man was quiet unsure of how to respond to that. He shifted his feet as the boy removed a silver revolver from the case.

"What are you doing?" He questioned moving away from the boy.

"Tying up loose ends," he answered. Rido looked at the man blankly, unblinking, before raising the barrel towards the vampire.

"Wait! Rido-sama, please don't I—"

BAM

"I'm worried," Hiyoki whispered.

"About what?" Natsume asked. She was busy reading one of those trashy tabloids. The cover was of some sort of UFO sprouting nonsense about aliens wearing human bodies as suits. The two girls were sitting in their assigned cabin waiting for dinner to roll around sprawled out on their beds bored stiff. This got Hiyoki thinking about her friend who she has not seen nor heard from since that morning.

"It's almost five o'clock and when haven't seen Kit," she explained, "She should've been here by now. I haven't even seen her bus and they left before we did."

The other girl shrugged, "Maybe they decided to stop somewhere or got a flat tire or something. I'm sure they're fine."

Hiyoki hoped that was true, but she had this gnawing feeling in her stomach that made her think it wasn't. "I'm going to go ask the headmaster if he's heard anything," she decided getting up from her bed and heading outside. The cool spring air hit her skin as she stepped outside the cabin causing goose-bumps to spread across her arms making her wish that she had thought to bring a jacket with her. Luckily, it was only a short walk to the Headmaster's temporary office.

"Hello Ms. Kimura," the Headmaster greeted when he opened the door.

"Hello Headmaster," she replied.

"Is there something you wished to discuss with me? If not I'd really have to insist that you return to your cabin," he told her moving her gently aside so he could get by. He looked worried as Hiyoki quickly noticed.

"Is something wrong?" She asked fearing the worst. She followed after the man hastily matching his quick strides.

The headmaster glanced down at the girl, "It's really nothing for you to be concerned about. Don't worry," he assured her. Unfortunately this only caused the girl to worry more as it seemed, at least for the time being, to confirm that her suspicion that something was wrong was correct. 'Did something happen to Kit; to her bus? Is she hurt?' She thought becoming panicked.

"Is bus ten missing?" Hiyoki finally inquired.

The Headmaster paused surprised at the question. How did she know?

"Katherine was on that bus and I haven't seen her," the girl explained.

"I'm sure she's okay Ms. Kimura. This has just been an issue with getting hold of the bus driver. Now I must insist that you please return to your cabin," he told her, "If there's any news you'll be the first to know."

Hiyoki grudgingly admitted that the Headmaster was right. She wasn't helping matters by pestering him with questions. She should just let him do his job. "Okay," she nodded.

The headmaster gave her a reassuring smile before she turn on her heal and walked off the way that she came. As he watched her go, his smile slowly turned into a frown. He had lied to the girl. Of course there was no need to worry her over such matters, but the aforementioned bus driver had called in sick some hours ago which was strange considering he had distinctly recalled that particular bus driver talking to one of the other teachers. But then it became apparent, after he thought about it for a minute, that that man that he saw was not someone that he had hired.

It was a major slip up; one that could possibly cost him his job.

He didn't want to sound any alarms, so for the past couple hours he had been trying to get in touch with any of the students on that bus. However they were either out of cell phone range or something had gone terribly wrong. He had no other choice than to involve Kaname-sama. The pureblood would know what to do.

It didn't take that long to explain the situation to Kaname and it took even less time for them to come up with a plan. They had decided to try to continue contact any of the students on that bus, while a second more agile group would search the surrounding area of the closest checkpoint. It wasn't a great plan. Japan was a pretty large country and those kids could've been taken anywhere.

Fortunately for them said kids weren't that far off from the camp. In fact they were just two kilometers down the road.

"I can't believe this," Katherine sighed as she examined the rear left tire. This just wasn't her day. Of all the times for them to get a flat tire they had to get one now. "How far is to the camp?" She asked turning to Kageyama.

"Not that far. Shino said we were really close. I'd guess maybe 2 kilometers at most," he replied. Katherine was quiet considering all their options. She wasn't sure if she could change the tire. She didn't see the jack required to do so and she only had a vague idea of how to change a tire. "What are you thinking?" He questioned after a long pause.

"I'm thinking," she started slowly, "that we're walking. Unless there's anyone here who knows how to change a tire…"

"I don't think so."

"Then were walking," she concluded.

The two teens jump back on the bus. "Okay guys," Katherine said turning to the expectant faces of her peers, "grab your stuff, jackets, duffels, water bottles, whatever else any of you have. Unless any of you want to wait an hour or two while we figure out how to change a tire we're going to walk twenty minutes up the road to the camp."

Katherine gave them a second to voice any protest or propose any other ideas to which they didn't. No one was particularly thrilled with either option, but none of them wanted to spend another minute on that bus. So after gathering their belongings they began to trek alongside the road.

"I don't think this is what the headmaster meant when he said bonding," Katherine quipped.

Shino gave a little giggle in response. "I think you're right. This is defiantly not what he had in mind," she agreed.

"God forbid if I ever want to go camping again," Kageyama remarked.

"God forbid if any of us ever ride a bus again," Katherine added.

"I'm sticking with trains from now on," Shino told them.

"Amen to that."

They laughed at the irony of the situation. This morning none of them had been friends. It may have not been what the headmaster had intended, but they had bonded. Everyone on that bus had bonded. Sure it wasn't under the best circumstances. But sometimes the strongest bonds are made in adversity. Those kids had banded together with one common goal: to get to the camp. They were going to get there and nothing, not an armed gunman or a poisonous spider or even a flat tire, was going to get in their way.

When the group finally stumbled into the camp, much to the disbelief of the Headmaster, they were surprised to see that a search party had been organized. It was complete chaos as everyone began to retell their version of what happened. Some day class girls were using the opportunity to get close to their idols saying words like "trauma victim" and "going into shock". Eventually the Headmaster was able to pick Katherine out of the crowd.

"What happened?" Katherine's hair was in complete disarray. She looked drained as if her eyes would close at any second. There was a small bandage on her forehead by her hairline that the Headmaster noticed almost immediately when she turned towards him. She looked, in that moment, so much older than she actually was.

"Umm," she paused taking a moment to clear her head, "it's kinda a long story."

The headmaster nodded and decided to ask the most obvious question first. "Where's the bus?"

"It's down the road a little ways. There was a flat tire and since we were so close we just decided to walk," she explained.

"And the bus driver?"

"Umm –he –a… we sort of ditched him."

"Ditched him? Then how did you get the bus –who drove?"

"I did. Oh and here," she reached in her back pocket and handed him a slip of paper.

The headmaster looked at it confused. "What's this?"

"We had to drop a kid off at the hospital. Don't worry he's fine. He was bitten by a poisonous spider. They wanted to keep him over night just to make sure he doesn't get any spidey senses. That's the doctor's contact information," she said.

The man was quiet as he processed this information. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes actually. The bus driver, he kind of –umm –lost his marbles." She unzipped her duffle and rummaged around before she pulled out the 9mm pistol and handed it to the headmaster. "So you might want to send that bus in for repairs. There are holes in the ceiling and a window was broken."

The headmaster stared at the weapon in his hand as realization began to dawn on him. Not only had he let some lunatic threaten a bus full of kids, but he had unconsciously let a level-e slip past him. He swallowed thickly before he asked his next question, "Katherine what happened to the bus driver?"

The girl winced. "I kind of shot him in the face," she said though it sounded more like a question.

"Headmaster the girl is tired. We can get this all sorted later I'm sure. Parents need to be informed of the situation," Kaname interjected causing Katherine to jolt. His presence had surprised her; she didn't notice him there.

"Oh, right! How rude of me; I'll get one of the teacher's right on that," the headmaster said, " We should also take Miss Taylor to the nurse. Get her checked out."

"No –I-I'm fine really." Katherine assured them.

"Nonsense," the headmaster scoffed, "you received a pretty nasty bump to the head. We have to make sure that you don't have a concussion or some other injury."

"I don't. Honestly, I'm fine–"

"–Aidou, please escort Taylor-san to the nurse's office–"

"–Of course Kaname-sama–"

Katherine's protests were cut off when Aidou gripped her elbow and steered her away from the crowd. His hold was firm so that she couldn't get away, but gentle enough to where it wouldn't hurt her. Katherine trailed along behind him much to her displeasure. "Really I'm fine," she kept insisting.

"Kit, don't be an idiot," he snapped after hearing her say 'I'm fine' for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You're not fine. Fine implies that everything is okay. You're not okay; so don't try to lie. I know you well enough to know when you're freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out!" She argued, "Yes, I'm a little wigged, but I'm FINE. I don't need to see a doctor. I know what a concussion is and I can firmly say that I don't have one."

"This isn't just about you," Aidou replied angrily.

"I know!" She yelled pulling her arm from his grasp. Aidou turned bewildered by her sudden outburst. "I know this isn't just about me! Believe me, I know. You're worried. You just want to make sure I'm okay, but that emotion is back lashing onto me. The truth is that I'm scared…I'm not sure how any of this happened –this morning the only thing I was concerned with was taking nap on the bus and now Kageyama stopped hating me, some kid's in the hospital, the bus driver is dead, I have this splitting headache, and there is fucking gum stuck to the bottom of my fucking shoe!"

Aidou was unsure of how to respond to any of that. He watched as Katherine, slightly out of breath, tried to regain control of her emotions. "You feel better now?" He asked.

"No –I-I k-killed someone." The look she gave him conveyed everything that she was feeling, "He's dead… a-and it is all m-my fault. I killed him, I killed him…" A broken sob escaped past her lips as she tried to hold back her tears. 'I killed him. He's dead because of me. I'm a murder –'

It was the first time he had ever seen her cry and he was completely at a loss of what to do. Katherine didn't cry. It was unfathomable to him and he found himself acting on instinct as he wrapped his arms her and pulled her close. She clung to his shirt as her shoulders shook with her muffled cries. "It's okay. You're safe. Nothing's going to get you. Don't be scared, Kit. It's okay. It's over," he breathed tucking her head under his chin.

It could've been ten minutes or an hour when Katherine finally stopped crying. She stayed in his arms a little longer than necessary; reluctant to pull away knowing that the second she did he would as well. Under normal circumstances she never would have even thought to attempt something like this. Katherine wasn't really the hugging type. And yet she found herself wishing could stay there forever, but that wasn't possible. As much as she wished to freeze that moment, she couldn't.

She pulled herself away from Aidou, wiping at her eyes. Taking a deep breath she turned to him and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, I feel much better now. Sorry I ruined your shirt." she said.

"It's okay. I never liked this shirt," he said looking down at the tear soaked fabric, "Now I have an excuse to get rid of it."

Katherine laughter filled the air. "Glad I could help," she smiled.

"Look here," Yagari instructed as he shined a light in Katherine's eye. He told her to follow his finger as he switched eyes watching the pupils constrict. "Your pupillary response is normal. How are you feeling otherwise? Any headaches? Nausea?"

"I have a slight headache," she told him, "but I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't eaten anything today."

"Well just in case you should take these," he placed two round brown pills in her hand.

"What is it?"

Yagari handed her a bottle of water, "Advil." She placed one of the tablets on the back of her tongue and took a sip of water. "Hey kid," he said turning toward Aidou, "Go get something to eat. You're not needed here."

Aidou glared at the man and glanced over to Katherine. "It's okay Aidou-sempai. Go eat something. I'll be alright," she assured him. The blonde's eyes flickered back to over to the hunter who was watching him with blank expression. He tsked to himself before pushing away from the wall.

"Do feel better Taylor-chan," he winked.

Katherine laughed, "Sure thing Sempai. Arigatou."

Yagari watched as the blonde vampire slipped out the door leaving the small clinic. Katherine was shaking her head at his antics. Of course Aidou was still Aidou. "Thank you Sensei for looking me over." She said bring the man out of his reflections.

"Don't worry about it," he grunted.

"Can I ask you something?" She questioned.

"If you must," he sighed.

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way," she started, "but you don't really seem like a teacher. I don't really know how to explain it, but you seem like someone who would enjoy bounty hunting or well hunting in general. You have this air about you that screams, 'I have a low bullshit tolerance.' I was just wondering why you would choose to become a teacher."

Yagari studied the girl sitting on the cot. It surprised him that she would ask a question like that. "I like teaching," he answered. That was true. He had always enjoyed teaching, but he didn't realize how much until he had met Zero and Ichiru. "Being able to inspire people on a daily basis isn't something most people get to do. I like knowing that I'm helping shape the next generation."

"Well I think you're a great teacher Sensei," Katherine smiled.

"Have you ever thought of doing something other than hunting?"

"Why would I? Hunting is in my blood."

"I just think you would make a great teacher. Yagari Sensei has a nice ring to it." She laughed.

"Konbanwa Headmaster," Katherine chirped turning toward the door.

"Good evening, Katherine. Feeling better I hope." He replied.

"Yes, much better, thank you."

The headmaster gave her a warm smile though still not his usual airhead self. "Good, good." He said, "Now I'm sure you aching to get out of here, but there are some discrepancies in the other students' accounts. It would be prudent to hear your version of the events."

"Oh, right of course," she agreed. So she began her story. She told them of how she had noticed something was off when they had turned off the wrong exit. She explained thoroughly what happened to the bus driver and how they ended up at the hospital. She even told them of how they had gotten lost and ended getting a flat tire. And when she finished her story both Yagari and the headmaster were deep in thought.

"So the bus driver was taking you somewhere?" The Headmaster clarified.

Katherine nodded. "Yes, but I don't know where."

"Can you tell us where you first stopped the bus?" Yagari asked.

"Splendid idea, Yagari. Here I have a map," The headmaster said unfolding a map from his jacket pocket. He gave Katherine the map and she studied it for a moment.

"Here," she pointed; her finger tapping on the map. "This is where the bus stopped and here," she moved her finger a little to the right, "is where the bus driver fell off."

The headmaster took the map from the girl's hands and studied the area. There was a large sea port not thirty minutes from where she pointed. It wasn't much, but it was a place to start. "Does that help?"

"Yes, very much, we'll have the authorities look into this. Arigatou gozaimasu."

"Umm…Headmaster," she called stopping him at the door, "did you happen to contact my guardian yet?"

"No not yet," he answered.

"Is there any chance you could hold off calling him?" She asked.

"Katherine you know I can't do that. It's my job as headmaster to keep the parents informed of –"

"No. That's not what I meant. He should know about all of this…" She gestured to the space around her, "I just think I should tell him. He'll take it better if I tell him or not better, but maybe not as bad."

"You want to tell him about all this?"

Katherine nodded.

He looked at her confused, "Okay. Do you have a way to contact him or do you need to use a phone?"

"I have my cell," she told him.

"Right, then we'll just leave you to it."

The two men exited the clinic leaving Katherine sitting on the cot. She let out a tired sigh. There was no way she could make this sound okay. "Luke is gonna freak," she groaned. 'Maybe I'll call him tomorrow. Tomorrow sounds good…No Katherine stop stalling! Just get it over with, do it really fast like ripping off a band aid.' She dug through her duffle until she found the device. Turning it on, she searched through her contacts finding the number that she needed and pressed send.

"Just like ripping off a band aid," she whispered as she listened to the other line ring, "A band aid that's been stapled, superglued, and surgically imbedded in my arm."

She sucked in a breath as Lucian picked up the other line. "Hey Kit what was the name of that movie with Glenn Close?" He asked.

"What movie?"

"You know that one where she goes crazy and boils that kid's rabbit," he described.

"Oh, I think that was Fatal Attraction," she said.

"Great thanks. That's been bugging me all day. So why are you calling –Not that it's not good to hear your voice – you just don't usually call?"

She swallowed. "I wanted to see how you were," she winced at how obvious that sounded. Lucian picked up on it as well.

"Kit is something wrong?"

"No!" She said a little too quickly, "I mean –Everything's fine. I'm okay."

Lucian was definitely suspicious. It was odd for Katherine to call him. She wasn't one of those people who spent hours talking on the phone, in fact, it was the exact opposite. One could go so far to say that she had a phone phobia. He was the one who usually had to call her, not the other way around, and now she was calling him and stuttering. "Well of course you're okay," he pressed, "Why wouldn't you be?"

She closed her eyes pinching the bridge of her nose, "I need to tell you something, but you have you promise me that you'll let me finish before you respond."

"What do you need to tell me?"

"–Promise first –"

"Okay I promise. Now tell me what's going on."

"You know what this means don't you?" Yagari said stopping the Headmaster in the hallway.

"Yes, of course I do," he retorted, "Level-e's don't behave like that unless given a direct order by an aristocrat or higher."

"Which means this wasn't some random attack," Yagari added, "It was planned. I can't see what they hoped to accomplish though. Taking a bus full of hostages, what was the point in that?"

"Yes, it's quiet strange. I'm not sure what to make of it myself," the other man agreed glancing at the girl through the tiny window in the door. She was talking animatedly into the phone pressed to her ear. It seemed as if she was arguing with the person on the other end.

"No, really I'm fine. Yes. No. Yes, I am. No you don't need to come here. I'll send you a picture to prove it." She paused listening before she nodded, "Yeah okay. I promise. No I mean it. I'll stick to crowded areas. Yes. Yes. Okay I got it."

"Very strange," the headmaster mumbled to himself rubbing his chin in thought.

Katherine said a few more quick words before she ended the call with a swift, "I miss you too. Yeah I'll be fine. Bye Luke."

"We should keep a closer eye on Miss Taylor from now on," he mused, "It seems as if she had a talent for getting into trouble."

Author's Note:

Wow, Okay. I meant to finish this awhile ago, but hey guess it didn't turn out that way. I'd like to thank those of you who have favorited, reviewed, and continued to follow this story, even though I haven't updated in like six months. I'm going to try to update this story more often. And spoiler alert there is definitely going to be more Rido in upcoming chapters. I have some great ideas for him in that kid's body, because the idea of him in a child's body is too good to pass up.

I'm working on revising the previous chapters, mostly fixing grammatical errors. Anyways I'm not going to make any promise when it comes to posting the next chapter, but I know that the next two chapters will be the camping trip. Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter or if you have any thoughts or improvements. As always constructive criticism is encouraged. Now I'm going to bed it's currently 1:04 am and I'm tired...

Japanese:

Konbanwa = Good Evening