Chapter III - Karmi and Megan
The future 3 days were marked by Emma's visits to the Lucky Cat Café where she really remarked herself as a good company even giving Honey Lemon a makeover with her hair by tying it in a chignon and also giving Wasabi a recipe for how to have a superior dental hygiene. She of course didn't mentioned that it was the vampire way but it wasn't involving supernatural, it just included how to brush the teeth and how to properly use dental floss. However today Hiro went to SFIT in the afternoon to find the half-vampire, dhampir girl taking care of the dogs of the dean and from what he could tell she was doing a much better job then he did. By all accounts she having supernatural powers and also her mother been a vet it was obvious that she would do better, especially with Oppenheimer and his fetching habit, but aside from that she did very well till Granville came to take them.
"Thank you for taking care of my sweeties' darling. Please call me when you are finished and wish to come home."
"Sure thing auntie." Said the girl before the dean took her dogs towards her car.
"Between us I don't envy you for doing better than me at taking care of them." Hiro said.
"It's easy when one of parents works with animals especially that even I have dogs and a tabby cat." Emma said.
"Wonder how your family manages to have pets if we take into account the fanged stuff." Hiro asked before the girl pulled out a picture.
"This picture I believe should tell you." She said giving it to him but he only saw one grey tabby cat and a stoic German Sheppard near 5 pups 2 been full Dalmatians and other 3 crossbreeds between Dalmatian and German Sheppard, however all of them were a bit strange especially the eyes and were much paler especially the Dalmatians.
"Those dogs look indeed odd, but where is the mother?" Hiro asked.
"You can't see her, if you don't use an infrared camera or other special device, or just drawing them." Emma said showing him another picture in infrared that was the same but it showed the silhouette of another dog which didn't appeared in the other confusing the boy before the girl pulled out another picture. "It is either that or other special device to detect the supernatural, or just drawing them on the tablet." She said showing him another picture with.
"Your Dalmatian dog is a vampire dog while the others are normal?" Hiro asked a bit feeling his spine freezing,
"The pups are half-vampire or better said dhampirs. The 2 full Dalmatians are from a previous relationship while the other 3 are from my father's dog Van Hound."
"It's a wonder all of them can get along." Hiro said.
"Between us Hiro, my she-dog is very tricky. But if you ever want I can bring all of them here next time." She said with a mischievous smile.
"Emma I didn't manage to take care of your aunt's normal dogs. There is no way I can manage a dog like yours." Hiro commented giving her the pictures while she smiled with mischief to him, all in all Hiro already thinks that taking care of a vampire Dalmatian and half-vampire puppies is something he was not willing to try.
"So never managed to ask what other abilities do you got as a half vampire?" Hiro asked.
"I can show you, but only in a secluded place."
"Don't worry about that, I know a good place." Hiro said and they went inside to get to Hiro's lab, once there Emma showed him some of her abilities like walking on the wall or super speed as well as lifting with one hand his entire desk or even lifting Baymax with her superhuman strength.
"So what do you think?" Emma asked.
"Your stamina Emma is very high and you didn't even got tired by using your special abilities." Baymax said while she still hold the robot up.
"Don't overheat your processors with what I do Baymax." She said putting him down.
"I might say that if one didn't see this, no one would believe it." Hiro said with a smile.
"Indeed I have to say that many would think that I have Porphyries disease." Emma said.
"Porphyries disease?"
"Porphyries disease is a group of liver disorders in which substances called porphyrins build up in the body, negatively affecting the skin or nervous system. Symptoms could include sensitivity to sunlight and artificial light not to mention fragile thin skin, itching abdominal pain, pain in chest leg and back alongside Muscle pain, tingling, numbness, weakness or paralysis, Nausea and vomiting and….." Baymax explained.
"Ok Baymax we kind of got the idea. And by all accounts, it isn't your case aside from skin irritation when too much exposed to the sunlight." Hiro commented.
"Indeed your health doesn't match any symptoms of the disease aside from sun sensibility." Baymax said.
"Yet, it is kind of a good comparison I would say, it isn't close to it but it isn't too far from it." Emma commented.
"Even with that, you surely can do many things, Professor Granville really is lucky to have such a niece."
"Thanks for the encouragement Hiro. I really appreciate this."
"Hey, what are friends for and besides I do admit that I never believed that the supernatural could be real but I wonder what supernatural creatures are here in San Fransokyo I mean surely it isn't too likely for vampires to come in a place where there is so much sun, unless they have a sun-ring."
"Well actually, there are supernatural creatures everywhere around the world including here. Of course in the case of vampires when it comes to places where there is a lot of sun they are very few aside from that fact that, the number of vampires must not exceed the number of people this been a rule for all supernatural creatures. The reason been both to don't cause a general panic and people start to go on a killing spree and in the case of vampires they must feed themselves sometimes with fresh blood."
"But don't they drink now mostly the blood of animals or they get from other places or you said yesterday that it isn't quite necessary to drink." Hiro said.
"It isn't necessary to often drink, but sometimes they must, however the process isn't painful."
"It isn't?"
"A vampire can induce inside a victim 2 substances. One is the venom which turns the said person into a vampire, and the other is an aphrodisiac which makes once released, it drugs the victim to feel no pain but gives them a sense of pleasure that makes them numb so they would not know what happened. One either uses that or uses the so called regular bite that is painful in which the substance isn't released and cause pain, and of course drops them to the ground while the culprit makes a run for it."
"Not quite something I would wish to experience. But when do they have the possibility to use the aphrodisiac?"
"Mostly by frequenting night clubs and dancing with people that got intoxicated or they fool them to get close to intoxication so they will bite and when they finish they believe that they drank too much but it isn't the case."
"Heh good to know I believe that quite many use this tactic."
"Well in Britain and Holland where my father is from, there are several people who do this. Frequenting Bars and Night Clubs to do it, some even do this for fun to make some human youths and teens the laughing stock and yeah the hunters are keeping an eye on them especially because of this."
"You just gave me a good excuse to not go to Night Clubs."
"The limit where you could go is between 18 and 21 anyways so there isn't any problem. Besides in my case mom and dad would never let me or my siblings to go to night clubs like I said many try to have a normal life." Emma explained.
"Guess that your mother reached the pinnacle of normalcy if she married and has you and your siblings including your father which by many accounts others would think he was crazy for the fact that he married one who by all accounts is the thing he was suppose to hunt."
"This act to be honest is declared crazy in both cases, for both sides."
"Really is amazing the fact that they are also trying to live normal lives, your full vampire cousins." Hiro commented.
"Between us Hiro, some of them are real jerks." Emma said before Hiro's phone started to ring and to his amazement it was a message from a specific girl that came by, not too long time ago which made him a bit embarrassed and his cheeks were starting to get red.
"Hiro your cheeks are getting red meaning that you are blushing." Baymax said.
"Yeah thanks Baymax wasn't necessary really."
"Why are you blushing Hiro?" Emma asked while he tried to cover his phone.
"Ahh, for no reason." Hiro said with a stressed smile.
"You know that I have superhuman vision. I saw the name and the picture also I can already tell what your behavior means." Emma said with a chuckle.
"I really can't hide anything from you it seems." Hiro said feeling a bit down.
"Hiro between us I know about what girl is about. Karmi isn't it, I know that before you she was the youngest student to attend SFIT before you and before Mister young hacker Rishi Patel." Emma said.
"Yeah." He said trying to bury his awkwardness.
"Indeed and I really am sorry for what happened to her, my aunt told me about that event. Hiiissss." She said hissing and her fangs coming out menacingly and her eyes glowing even more.
"I can already tell it was horrible and I admit I can't refrain from this."
"Vampire and Dhampirs do that when they know something was unpleasant or angry, even I can tell and it's creepy. And you also didn't like what happened." Hiro said.
"For my aunt it was even worst, losing a talented young protégé like her she considered it a great loss not just for SFIT but for herself. They were very close as student and teacher. And yeah I can already tell that you also got feelings for her while she was around." Emma said looking at him who nodded.
"Well, we got through a rough start in the beginning we tried to annoy one another since we were rivals, but as time passed I do admit that we were starting to get along, but." Hiro said thinking about that moment with sadness "She left at the worst time when we became friends."
"I can see that you have more feelings for her then just friends." Emma said while the boy looked a bit embarrassed.
"Like I said with your secret identity with Big Hero 6 I wouldn't tell anyone. Besides both us kind of have our big secrets."
"I believe it is no wonder why your aunt decided that we should meet." Hiro said with a smile.
"I believe in my case she wanted us to meet so that I would open up since by all accounts I never told anyone outside my family about, my secret, officially."
"Well now, with such a secret like yours, it was kind of obvious and was no wonder why you didn't want to tell anyone about it. And if we think about the possible shock of the sudden realization that the supernatural existing, in a time where they are viewed for entertainment because 'theoretically' they don't exist. It is surely understandable for someone who is acquainted with the situation. However I believe that, there is always a time for anything and any first step." Hiro said looking at his phone with the girl's picture before opening the message box to read what she wrote.
'Hiro, hi. I wanted to tell you that I will be in town today and I would wish if we could meet near SFIT. I really miss the school and really wish to see you again. Please answer my message or call me if you can come hope I will see you-K'
"You know what, I will call her and tell that her that we will meet in front of SFIT. And also I will introduce you to her."
"You think it will be wise I don't want her to give some sort of interpretation. From what I heard she was kind of quick to judge despite the fact that she is actually a good girl."
"Well she believed that I liked her the first time we met and I can't say it wasn't partially true with time passing of course and by all she didn't realized some things until later." Hiro explained.
"And let me guess, she doesn't know your secret with Big Hero 6, otherwise why would she name her character in her fan fictions Captain Cutie."
"Well I got use to that and started to like what she writes in her fan fictions." Hiro said before an idea came into the girl's mind.
"Well anyways, I believe I should call her, and I think I know a way for you two to meet and make acquaintance with her, without causing a jump to conclusions." Hiro said with a smile while phoning her.
"Hey Karmi it's Hiro, I saw your message and yeah I wish you to come here to SFIT….No I am already here we meet outside."
In front of the institute Karmi just arrived before the entrance to it, by all accounts she looked at it with great happiness to see it again and a bit of sadness remembering the time when she had to be pulled out from it. Away from her lab, her research and from Hiro, her friend whom always cared about her and wanted only the best she really felt a deep sense of nostalgia. However she by all accounts felt very happy that she came back here now and some time ago to give autographs for her chibi animated series toys and helped Big Hero 6 defeat a super villain was in her view something she always relishes. However she never managed to tell Hiro how she was feeling for him because of that event.
"Summer isn't yet over and it didn't passed that much time from when I was here in town, but still it's like it was an eternity. Wonder what happened in this time." She said to herself not noticing a certain boy genius coming from her right.
"Quite a lot of things." Said a voice a she turned to her right to notice a specific boy and his health care robot.
"Hey Karmi."
"Hiro, hey." She started shyly. "It's been some time."
"It really has been a lot of time since you came here at SFIT." Hiro said with a friendly smile.
"And I really missed those days. Still, what happened during my absence since we last saw each other?"
"Well the city I would say became much safer than before and some rampaging robots were also dealt with, also I did meet some new people. Not to mention discovering several surprises from professor Granville." He said and both started to giggle.
"Guess we really have some things to catch-up with." Karmi said with a smile.
"Well, we can start with some surprises from Professor Granville, that you might have never have expected or heard of." Hiro said.
"Hiro I knew professor G for a long time you know that…."
"I/You was the youngest student to attend SFIT." Both said in unison.
"I know that but the title was now given again I am no more the youngest student to attend SFIT." Hiro said surprising the girl.
"Really, how?"
"Another protégé was found Rishi Patel, 11 years old, expert in programming and hacking." Hiro said.
"Seriously." Karmi said feeling insulted now.
"Seriously, and also I will have to be his mentor for when school starts, it will be a nightmare." Hiro commented.
"That is now really insulting. And to think that I believed that you came around Professor G wanted me to be your mentor, but only recently I found out it wasn't actually the case." Karmi commented.
"She told you that I was supposed to help you socialize?" Hiro said.
"Actually I kind of figured it out and to be honest if this was the main reason why she placed us together I don't regret it now, despite everything." She said with a smile
"I know, neither do I." Hiro said with a smile.
"And yeah, you know with the distance I do admit that maybe I should try to be more open to making new friends but, only if you are around of course." She said with a stressed smile.
"That sounds great and I can help you with that. There are 2 people whom I would like to present you to them." Hiro said.
"Really? Who are they?"
"Well one of them is the niece of Professor Granville she just came to the city from London." Hiro said surprising the girl.
"Wow, really?"
"You didn't know that she was also able to sing karaoke? And she sings damn well aside from having 3 dogs."
"I didn't know that she sings, until I saw a video online which really left me paralyzed. And also I do admit that I saw a picture of her 3 dogs even I had to take care of them one time."
"You probably did better than I did."
"Since we had to look for Fermi who got lost in the city." Baymax said embarrassing him.
"Please don't tell her." He begged while the girl laughted at this.
"You don't need to worry about that, and between us, in my case Oppenheimer was the terror for me. Since I do admit that I lost him and had to search the city while walking with Fermi and Curie, only to find him at home with a pile of fetched things that included bowls and disks to even a sewer cap, an unused grill and a dumpster meant for recycling rubber."
"Guess we didn't read the instructions after later."
"Well I read them from the beginning but didn't reached Oppenheimer." And both started to laugh.
"We really aren't too good with dogs." Commented Hiro.
"Yeah true."
"So would you like to meet her?" Hiro asked.
"Sure, and don't worry if she is young I can help with that you know I am good with kids."
"Actually you are in for a surprise." Hiro said taking Karmi's hand to get her to a shadier place.
"So where is she?"
"Over there." Baymax said pointing towards a tree whose shade fell on a black silhouette coming much further into the light Karmi noticed a 15 year old slender girl all dressed in black with shoes similar to hers, all in all it was really impressive however the new girl was giving Karmi an air of mystery.
"Karmi, meet Emma Professor Granville's niece."
"It is a real pleasure to meet you Karmi." She said with a calm smile coming much closer to them.
"Pleasure is all mine, actually." Karmi said with a stressed smile.
"You know you don't need to be stressed up."
"I should, but I can't even resist. You are the niece of Professor G which is a real shock because she never talk about her family at all and yet here I am meeting her own niece." She said with the amazement and shock she could have at that moment, all in all, she wondered what other things the dean didn't told them.
"You surely have a lot of questions don't you." Emma asked.
"Well not to be rude but you really don't look like your aunt." Karmi said.
"You want to know another thing her full name is actually Grace Granville-Van Helsing, she been married to one of my uncles, Ruben who a professor of engineering and robotics at the Oregon Institute of Technology." Emma said shocking the girl even more leaving her jaw drop reminding Hiro at the time when he witnessed Emma's aunt singing.
"Wow this is beyond everything I expected." Karmi started before something came to her mind "Wait Van Helsing? The Vampire hunter from the novel Dracula, this is your name and the second family name of your aunt?"
"Yes indeed." Emma said with a smile.
"Really wonder if your family really hunts vampires." Karmi asked.
"Ohh you will be shocked about my family." Emma said with a smile before a phone started to ring, it was Hiro's, the call was from another one he knew in a way the second person he wanted Karmi to meet as well as Emma to extend the reach of friends.
"So Emma how was the city till now."
"Didn't managed to see much of it yet I guess you and Hiro can show more of it however for the time I will stay here." She said.
"Yeah, wish to be able to stay more actually to make better acquaintance."
"Between us aunt Grace considered your leaving as a great loss for the institute when you had been pulled out." Emma said.
"I know however I was able to take courses online and also." Karmi pulled the girl to whisper "I will actually return to SFIT to study again now with the city much safer. And I really can't wait for that."
"That's wonderful." Emma said with a smile before looking towards Hiro before turning to the girl "And also I believe that you should do it soon."
"Huh?"
"I can easily deduce how one is feeling, both parents are doctors and I learned a bit of psychology and between us I saw how you and Hiro are now. You should tell him very soon." She whispered to her.
"Y-you really think that." Karmi asked.
"Indeed and don't worry I am not interested in dates right now." She said to make sure that she understands that she and him are only friends not love interests.
"Oh all right." She said thinking about this before going near the boy while the dhampir girl only looked at them.
'It isn't as if he doesn't know that she gained a love interest in him over time when he had his mask on and told him that when she was here last time, but to give her a satisfaction of telling the one behind the mask.' She thought to herself with a calm smile, enjoying the irony that she if not today will be telling to the same person who wore the mask.
"Sure no problem I will be waiting….We will see then." Hiro said ending the call before Karmi came.
"Hiro I need to tell something." She started.
"Sure, what is it?" Hiro asked.
"I came here to tell you that…..my parents will allow me to at last come back to SFIT." Karmi said making the boy excited.
"Really!"
"Yeah it is true. I shall return to SFIT when school starts again I might have to catch-up despite taking online courses but I will return." She said before the boy jumped to give her a big hug and she returned the gesture.
"I am glad that you will come back." He said.
"Me too, me too." She said before letting go of one another.
"You know, even if you are just staying for only a day maybe we can do something together all of us." Hiro said.
"I would love to, and by the way who was the person you talked at the phone?"
"The one who called is Megan Cruz another one of Hiro's friends the same age as are all 3 of you." Baymax said showing a picture of her before Karmi turned to him.
"Aunt Cass wanted me to meet her when she came in town, because I was staying inside for too much long even invited me to ball at her school. Her father is the acting Chief of Police here."
"She invited you to a ball at her school." Karmi said with suspicion.
"Now please don't get me wrong, we are just friends, and decided to be just friends. Besides my aunt also tried to date her father because they know each other from high school." Hiro explained.
"You know you are not the only one who's parents or in your case your aunt tells you that you should start dating. However I wonder if it wasn't more for your aunt to date her father rather then you dating the girl."
"It seemed that way. However it brought to mind that maybe all 3 of us had probably grown too fast since we didn't actually had the possibility of normal life as teenagers."
"Maybe but we can't do anything regarding this." She said before realizing something.
"Wait the 3 of us?" Hiro then pointed to Emma.
"I might be 15 but I had just finished first year at university, specialty is programming and thermodynamics with an interest in psychology and first aid medicine." She explained.
"Like aunt, like niece, guess it wasn't a coincidence that we met, since your aunt called Hiro to be your guide while you are in town."
"I actually really am glad that she did this now."
"Well, in any case I wonder when will Megan arrive?" Karmi asked.
"She is over there." Baymax said pointing in the direction from across the street where the girl was waving at them before coming to them before crossing the street.
"Hey Hiro glad that I found you."
"Same here Megan. By the way I wish you to meet someone." He said pointing to Karmi who smiled at her.
"Hey you must be Karmi, Hiro told me a lot about you it's a pleasure." She said extending her hand.
"Pleasure to meet you as well Megan." She said shaking hands.
"I really wondered when we will meet."
"Better late than never." Karmi said before the new comer noticed the other paler girl brunet girl.
"Hey I didn't saw you around." She said.
"Oh yeah, didn't managed to tell, Megan this is Emma, she the niece of professor Granville."
"The niece of professor Granville, now this is really not something I expected." Megan said.
"Neither have, we she never talked about family." Karmi commented.
"Or other facts." Hiro added knowing her secret.
"I do admit that I have a lot to ask about your aunt right now. For once is she married?" Megan started
"You can ask everything by all accounts what I can, I will answer. And yes she is married to my uncle from my father's side but kept her name." She said with a smile before the group started to walk around the campus.
"What is her second name then?"
"You will not believe it when you will hear it." Hiro said with a smirk.
"Why not oh please it couldn't be a bad family name."
"Thing is it's not a bad family name it is just out of ordinary." Emma said.
"How out of ordinary could it be?" Megan asked going before her and not noticing a crack in the pavement.
"Well of something unnatural associated with the night."
"What do you mean something associated with the nigh-." She tripped and fell on the road.
"Oh my, are you alright?" Emma asked going to her with Karmi and Hiro to help her up before noticing a small bruise on her hand and a bit of a red liquid.
"Yes it's nothing.
"On a scale of 1 to 10 how would you catalogue your pain?" Baymax asked while Emma grabbed her by the hand.
"Don't need to worry it's really nothing I don't know what my father would say however." Megan said and accidently gets the ring out of her hand.
"You got blood." Emma asked feeling an unpleasant urge in her.
"Hey it's nothing it's just a drop, boy you almost sound like my dad." Megan said but Hiro knew it wasn't something good and to add salt to injury Emma's ring was in Megan's hand.
"Uh-oh."
"What is going on?" Karmi asked confused seeing Emma's eye glowing and something like fangs were coming out also she was behaving like she was trying to surpress something inside her, not to mention that her skin seemed to be irritating her bit by bit.
"Wait a minute what is happening to you?" She asked.
"Excuse me." She said before running into the building her direction been the bathroom.
"What just happened?" Megan asked while Baymax disinfected the bruise and was no more visible before the two remaining girls turned to the boy who looked extremely on edge about this.
"Ah-ah nothing, really nothing." Hiro said stressed and the girls knew it was something off.
"Hiro by how you look you seem to try to keep something from telling us." Megan said crossing her hands expecting an answer and the genious knowing there was no escape had to explain in a way that they would believe and understand.
"Ok, there is actually an issue with her whom, she kept as secret, but I accidently found out when I presented her to Baymax 2 days ago when she arrived. And that ring that you are Holding in your hand Megan is very important for her because of an issue that she has." Hiro tried to explain while the girl looked at the strange ring with the crystal.
"Meaning."
"Emma is in a perfect physical and mental condition but there are several abnormalities that sometimes don't match, due to her dual unnatural nature." Baymax explained.
"Dual unnatural nature?" Asked Karmi.
"Well to better explain this, you better see for yourselves." Hiro said leading them inside to where she would probably be and unfortunately it was a girl's bathroom.
"Hiro you aren't intending to enter in there? Since it is a girl's bathroom." Megan said.
"Trust me I wouldn't do that unless there is good reason to."
"What I don't understand is why you wouldn't tell us right now about what is happening to Emma." Karmi said.
"Trust me it is much easier to explain if you see the reason, give me only 2 minutes." He said while the 2 girls looking at each other with suspicion but seeing this been something very important to him to solve they decided to accept his plan, however they hoped it isn't something dirty or anything.
"Urgh, alright but better be a good reason." Karmi said.
"Trust me it is." Hiro said entering very quickly in the girl's bathroom that was actually like the boy's bathroom very similar and at one sink there was Emma who had her head sink in the water.
"Ahh, Emma sorry for this inconvenience." Hiro said coming to her before she lifted her head from the water breathing.
"Wonder how many people will find out about my secret too soon while here." Emma said managing to calm herself to look at him.
"Don't worry, hopefully this will be the last time, however for them to understand what happened, you will need to do something that will show them why the strange behavior." Hiro said before the girl looked at him not knowing how to react.
"You don't need to worry they will keep your secret especially you explain everything you told me the first time, they will understand." Emma although not knowing what to say she has to do it for the moment Hiro been the only one who knows her secret; she has to trust him on those things.
"I know what to do just let them in and tell them to watch up." She said while the boy boded while she prepared for this small stunt. Hiro immediately came out to the 2 girls who were waiting for him with the explanation.
"So what is the reason for everything?" Megan asked now expecting an answer.
"You better see it yourselves and watch the ceilings." Hiro said moving away from the door to let them in.
"Watch the ceilings?" Karmi started opening the door to the bathroom to enter "OK something is off and wonder what the reason could be…" Her eyes moved right where the boy indicated and her jaw now dropped while she was frozen in shock at what was witnessing before her very eyes.
"Hey Karmi what happened?" Megan asked coming near her and the Indian girl with a trembling her showed her something and her expressing immediately turned similar to what the other was experiencing. Both of them were seeing her walking like one would walk normally on the ground but she was walking on the ceiling of the bathroom looking at them.
"H-H-Hiro….do….you?"
"Yes I do. She will explain." Hiro said from behind them.
"On the condition." Emma started before jumping from the ceiling to the ground landing gracefully before them which by all accounts the 2 were still in a state of shock "If you don't scream." Karmi and Megan looked at one another before turning their gazes to the pale girl who just performed something they wouldn't have expected a normal person to do and not wanting to get on her bad side or provoke her they nodded.