The Game

Kyoko cracked her eyes open, squinting to see in the darkness. A faint, flickering light cast a soft glow around her. Looking to her right, Kyoko saw that the light came from the dimly illuminated moon, the only source of light. Crisscrossed lines obscured her vision of her surroundings. After a second, the human realized where she was.

She was inside the jungle gym.

Wondering how she had gotten there in the first place, Kyoko remembered that she had blacked out on the swings. She suddenly realized she had a weird feeling about that place. Kyoko hurried to one side of the jungle gym. The top of it stretched about two feet above her head, the squarish box had sides about thirteen feet long. Being surrounded by bars made Kyoko feel like she was in a prison. It was dark out there, so she figured that she had been knocked out for quite a few hours, for nightfall had descended.

Kyoko had just reached one of the walls and was about to slip through one of the gaps when a sound caught her attention. It had been quiet, eerily quiet until then. It sounded like shoes on tar. Kyoko looked up from the bars and saw the outline of a single person. They stood about fifteen feet from Kyoko. She froze, steadily getting paranoid. If this person wanted to hurt her, she'd have to outrun them for a while before she would see another human.

As the figure stepped closer to Kyoko, she saw that it was a man. He wore a long dark overcoat, very similar to Zero's.

Zero.

Even the thought of his name made her eyes sting. She held back tears, knowing very well that now was not the time for them.

The man was now a mere few feet from where still stood, frozen just on the other side of the metal bars. When he was directly in front of her, Kyoko could see his face more clearly. He had dark hair that flowed just past his shoulders tied up in a ponytail, and even darker eyes. Those eyes seemed to stare right through Kyoko.

"Who are you?" she squeezed out, trying not to sound as scared as she was.

He didn't answer, but simply gave her a small smile. This action had the opposite effect on Kyoko because she saw something he didn't want her to see. His teeth showed a little through the smile and the human could see the points of fangs very clearly.

"Vampire," she breathed.

She scuttled a few steps back from the vampire. His smile turned into a smirk as he disappeared. A fraction of a second, he reappeared right in front of his prey. It was as if he had jumped into the air before falling to the ground directly in front of his prey. Kyoko took a step back in surprise, and the man followed suit. He towered a full head above her. It was only then that Kyoko realized what the purpose of the jungle gym served.

As her prison.

Kyoko tried in vain to turn and ran, but she had no where to go. She was trapped inside a jungle gym with a vampire. He grabbed her wrist, allowing her minimum movement.

"So I see that you know what I am," he said.

Kyoko was silent, checking her situation. She was confined within this jungle gym, so running would be out of the question. There was no one around so if she did manage to escape somehow, the vampire would catch up with her soon after. So she had no means of escape from this Level E. But there was something strange about him. He was different from the other crazy vampires she had encountered. He seemed more...sane.

Even though she knew it was futile, Kyoko struggled against her captor's grip, trying to wrench free.

"Be still," he said with an unparalleled authority.

As if a switch had been flipped, the ebony-haired girl found that, despite her efforts, she could not move.

"You are a very lucky girl," the vampire said, releasing her wrist. Still unable to move, he twirled a finger through her black hair. "You have caught me in a delightful mood, so I shall give you a chance to live. More like a bet. Or game."

He gestured out at the rest of the playground.

"You are to conceal somewhere within this lot. I will have three tries to find you. If, after the third try, I have not found you, I will allow you to walk away, unharmed. You will have one minute to hide yourself. But, if you attempt to run instead of play along, I will catch you, and-"

Upon seeing her eyes widen, the vampire took it as a sign that she understood exactly what would happen. He stepped back and made a slight upward movement with his hand. Suddenly, it was as if a weight had been lifted off Kyoko and she found she could move. She shot her eyes up to look at him.

He can't be serious.

With a sly smile, the vampire closed his eyes.

"One."

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