Burning Bridges
Chapter 3
"Sorahiko, Chiyo, do you guys have a moment?", the young baroness asked as she entered the small herbal shop. The two elderly humans greeted her with a smile, well, Chiyo did at least.
"Oh, are you here for some marriage advice for the upcoming wedding with Sekijiro Kan?", the old woman asked, leading the young woman to a chair and making her sit down.
"Actually, I wanted to ask if you knew what happened to mother?", Sakura asked. The elderly people fell silent. It seems not even they could or would talk about it.
"Your mother fell for a vampire and left your father for him. That's what happened.", Sorahiko said, as grumpy as ever. He was known as the village grumpy old man, and he wore that title with pride. Sorahiko Torino used to be a great vampire hunter, but because he fell for a vampire, he fell from grace with the guild and the Kan-Family took over as the guild leaders.
"Vampires are hard not to fall for. Not many people can resist their charms. It's like they put a spell on you.", Chiyo replied. Chiyo Shuzenji was the local doctor, in a way. She knows her way around herbs and medicines, the villagers go to her when they need medical attention.
"Well, I don't believe that mother would run off with a vampire. Father and Shota always said that she loved father with all her heart. I'll have to ask a vampire about it.", with that resolute answer, Sakura jumped from the chair and left the store.
"DON'T GO NEAR THE FOREST! IT'S DANGEROUS!", Chiyo called after her, but the baroness didn't hear her.
"Why should we keep protecting the humans? They don't care about us or our feelings, All Might! I say we just let them die in the forest!", a fiery tempered vampire stated. He was one of the smaller rulers around the country. Every time he got heated in an argument his beard and some other parts of his body started to burn with flames.
"Enji, I have a peace treaty with Baron Yamato Aizawa. I know that he doesn't like us very much, but we are the only ones strong enough to fight the Shadowwalkers.", Toshinori had enough of that discussion. Every village around the country had it's problems with Shadowwalkers, creatures that looked human but are vile and dangerous. Who or what the cause, the origin, of those creatures is, no one knows.
"You are way too soft, Yagi! The humans deserve nothing else!", Enji spit out. Before Toshinori could answer, a young vampire opened the doors to the throne room. Her earlobes looked kinda modern, nobody knew what they were, but she could hear the littlest sound.
"Someone is in the forest. Shadowwalkers are approaching, fast!", the girl said.
"The others can….", Toshinori started to be dismissive.
"It's the baroness!", she said, making the blonde man jump from his throne. Without hesitation, he used his quirk and ran out the castle into the forest. If a Shadowwalker were to hurt her, he couldn't bare the thought.
'That's it! I'm gonna die here!', was all that Sakura could think of. Backed against a tree, no way to escape and a large shadowy creature lurking around every corner. She didn't know who or wht they were, or where they came from, but it felt cold around them.
"You have been foolish to enter the forest unprotected, mortal.", a deep raspy voice said from all sides. It seemed to echo through the dark forest.
"Please, don't hurt me. I won't go into the forest ever again.", she started to cry. The grass around her started to be coated in frost as it got increasingly colder.
"I can't let you leave." the voice now sounded more threatening. Sakura could see an arm being lifted but before it could strike her another large shadow stood between the creature and her.
"I'm sorry, but this human is not for you to corrupt, creature!", a male voice, familiar to Sakura, said. The two humanoids started fighting, however due to the shock and the cold, she couldn't stay conscious to see what would happen.
It felt like an eternity or her to wake up, and Toshinori was nervously pacing outside the room he gave her. He wanted to see how she is doing, but it wasn't uite proper to enter a woman's room without permission, unless you were a woman too.
"She is fine, just exhausted. Relax.", a woman stated as she left the room. The woman was beautiful, with blue eyes and long black-blue hair.
"Thank you, Nemuri.", Toshinori said with an apologetic look. Nemuri just smiled and said: "No worries, just don't get too comfortable around her. We wouldn't want to piss of her father."
A sheepish wink accompanied the last part, making Toshinori blush like crazy.
"I have no intention of doing something like that!", he immediately defended himself and stormed off to his own chambers. Nemuri just chuckled before going to her room as well. It was about time they went to bed, they'll have to talk to Sakura when they are all awake. Right now, they had to sleep. A sleepy vampire is easily irritable and dangerous.
It took a few days for Sakura to fully recover. The shock had worn off and she was warm again. As she opened her eyes, she found herself in a strange room, unfamiliar but welcoming. Sitting up in bed, she was met by a familiar face, it was Toshinori, the vampire she met at her birthday celebration.
"How are you feeling, dear?", Toshinori asked. Sakura looked t him a bit confused, and then around the room a bit more. There was another woman in the room.
"I'm fine. Who is that?", she asked while pointing at the woman. The woman just smiled and said her name was Nemuri and that she was here because she felt like it.
"Oh okay. What happened? I only remember a tall shadowy creature.", Sakura said. Toshinori didn't want to tell her about the Shadowwalkers, he didn't want to scare her.
"You must've hit your head a bit when you fell unconscious.", he just stated before standing up from the chair he was sitting in. Toshinori then turned to Nemuri.
"Make sure she is properly dressed and the rules of living here are explained to her.", with that said, Toshinori left the room, leaving the two women alone. Sakura moved to get out of the bed and walked to the window.
"A nice garden, isn't it? Toshinori likes to take walks there whenever he isn't meeting with other vampires from all over the country.", Nemuri said with a sweet voice.
"Does he grow lilies in the garden?", Sakura asked with a monotone voice, throwing Nemuri of guard.
"I don't know. You could go ask him. I'm sure he would love to plant some for you.", Nemuri stated. Sakura smiled a slightly, still feeling a bit lost.
"Don't worry. Just becaause we are vampires, doesn't mean we will hurt you.", Nemuri reassured. "You'll be safe here."
"Safe from what?", Sakura wondered, but didn't get answer. The two women were just left in silence before they left the room as well, properly dressed and styled.