The Sacred Night, Chapter Three
"What... what are you... is that what I think it is?" She pointed and I realized I had blood oozing out the side of my mouth. I hurriedly wiped it off, embarrassed. I didn't say anything. "So that's the mysterious thing you eat- blood. You're one of those... those things... you're not human, are you?"
"Iye," I answered, supposing I'd better come clean now.
"So what are you? Some kind of demon or something? Am I your prey?"
"No, no, I'd never feed on you, Misao-dono! And I'm a... a vampire," I finished, hanging my head.
"Why are you hanging around me, then?"
"You asked me to go to Kyoto with you," I answered lamely. It was the truth, but it did sound stupid in light of recent events.
"I'm traveling home with a vampire," she said mostly to herself. "Won't Gramps love to hear this..."
"Iye, Misao-dono, please don't tell anyone, I... I wouldn't be a danger, I'll leave you f you want, I understand," I began to slink away, too ashamed to look at her. If I'd been a dog, my tail would've been between my legs. Who was I, thinking I could associate with a human like a normal person? The last time that happened... I didn't even want to think about it.
"No, wait," she requested weakly. I turned around slowly, daring to hope. "I... I want you to stay with me... keep traveling with me. I guess I know why you tried so hard to get me to go away, but... just stay. If you wanted to hurt me, you could have a million times by now. I just sort of... freaked out when I saw, but if you're drinking yours... I guess you don't want mine," she said, attempting cheeriness at the end.
"Iye, Misao-dono, I don't want your blood. I can satisfy my hunger with my own,"
"Isn't that kind of... counterproductive? It doesn't sound healthy, and you're still as pale as ever. You're actually getting worse,"
"You're right, it isn't healthy, but it's the only thing that will keep me from feeding on you. I don't want to hurt you,"
"It won't actually nourish you at all, though, unless you have some sort of vampire power that makes it,"
"No, it won't. You're right about that, it doesn't keep me... sustained any longer," I tried to avoid referring to myself as 'alive,' "but it does keep me from getting hungry enough to feed on a human,"
"So you only feed on humans if you're really hungry? What's your usual food, animal blood?"
"Iye, it's human blood, but I don't want to hurt anyone, so I don't feed on it unless I lose control. I don't mean to do it, Misao-dono," I added, hoping to preserve some vestige of any good impression of me she may have had, "I just can't help it if I haven't fed in a long time. That's why you saw me feeding on my own blood- so I wouldn't lose control of myself and feed on you. You would be dead before I could stop,"
"But... you'll die if you keep doing that," she concluded softly.
"Hai,"
"You're starving yourself to death? Committing suicide?"
"H-Hai,"
"You can't do that! It's not your fault you're this way; you can't kill yourself for it! How exactly did you think I'd feel when I saw you died on me after we traveled together for days?"
"I... hoped I'd last until we reached Kyoto, and then you wouldn't have had to know," I confessed. She crossed her arms and turned from me.
"You..." she trailed off. "I can't believe you didn't..." she sighed. She was obviously so displeased with me that she couldn't speak properly.
"Gomen nasai, Misao-dono," I mumbled.
"I forgive you for not telling me, but I can't forgive you for attempting suicide until you actually stop doing it,"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Misao-dono. I've been trying for eleven years to exist without hurting others, and it hasn't worked. I have to die so others can live... I don't want to exist like this,"
"Bull," she pronounced assuredly.
"Excuse me?"
"I believe I said 'bull.' There is no way you don't want to live. Everybody wants to live,"
"Hai, they do, that's why I can't allow myself to be a danger to them,"
"Listen to what you just said! That proves you haven't done anything wrong! You don't want to be like this, you are the victim here!"
"That may be, Misao-dono, but I have done something wrong- I've killed people, and for that there is no excuse. I cannot exist peacefully, so I have to die peacefully,"
"You self-righteous twit. You have no idea what you're saying, do you? All your talk about this dying so others can live junk... you don't get it. You don't deserve to die just for being what you are," she seemed to beg. She seemed... pained.
"You must not understand what I am very well, Misao-dono," I persisted.
"Tell me,"
"Tell you what?"
"You said I don't understand what you are. Explain it to me," she clarified, sitting resolutely down right where she was.
"I am a vampire," I began, hoping I could finally convince her to stop pleading for my worthless life. "I feed on human blood to survive, which kills or injures my victims, depending on how much blood I take. In an average night, a vampire needs at least half the blood contained in a normal human to stay in its best health, but since that amount is enough to kill the victim anyway, most vampires go ahead and drink all of it," my voice got colder and harder as I spoke. I had never had to go into detail about this with anyone before and it seemed even more barbaric when laid out so plainly. "I could take less than the usual amount and stay fairly healthy, but I'd need to feed more often, which means instead of killing seven people a week, I would only maim ten to fourteen. If I took just enough blood to stay in decent health, I could get away with only maiming about eight people a week," I explained. She nodded, considering.
"What if you had a willing donor?"
"I've had a willing donor once," I began, softening somewhat at the thought of that tragic affair and my beloved's tragic death which I caused. "She was twenty-two when I met her, but my feeding on her caused her to age much more quickly than she should have, and she died when she was twenty-three, looking like a woman of ninety,"
"I see," Misao said quietly. She thought a moment. "Will blood from other creatures work?"
"Iye. Animal blood is so weak a vampire would have to slaughter entire herds nightly to stay in existence, and trying to exist on vampire blood would be like a human trying to live on sake,"
"Why do you keep saying 'exist' when you mean 'live'?" She asked suddenly, veering in an unexpected direction.
"I do not mean 'live,' Misao-dono, since I have not been alive in fifteen years,"
"But you said you'd only been a vampire for eleven years,"
"I assure you I said no such thing, Misao-dono,"
"Hai, you did, you said 'I have tried for eleven years to exist without hurting others,'"
"That is true. I have been a vampire for fifteen years, but have only tried to suppress that evil for eleven,"
"So for four years you were happy?"
"I would not call it that, Misao-dono. I was healthier, maybe, but not happy at all. I was a killer. I... still am, though I haven't done so in twenty-three days," I viewed the ground rather than face her.
"You haven't eaten in twenty-three days?" She exclaimed incredulously. "How can you still be alive?"
"I'm not alive, but I am still in existence because, I suppose, I have more fortitude than I thought. I was a very strong vampire," I conjectured.
"Was?"
"Well, you said it yourself, Misao-dono, I haven't fed in twenty-three days,"
"Oh," she quieted down very quickly. "So, vampires... you're stronger than humans?"
"Hai," I answered without looking at her.
"A lot stronger?"
"Hai,"
"Like how much?"
"At full health, I could wrestle a tiger and win, though that would not be possible now,"
"So," she uttered, seemingly surprised, "you really meant it when you said you were stronger than a human,"
"Hai," I began the disinterested shtick again, hoping she would pick up on my desire not to answer questions.
"So do you have any other cool powers?" She continued excitedly, leaning forward from where she still sat.
"I have other abilities, but I don't know if I would call them cool," I corrected and answered at the same time.
"Maybe not to you," she pointedly countered, "but it's not every day I meet a guy who could wrestle a tiger and win if he wasn't trying to starve himself to death,"
"I could instantaneously be anywhere in the world and I could change my physical being at will if I had fed recently. I still heal faster than a human would and I still possess mind control abilities," I explained, hiding the annoyance I felt, so as not to be rude.
"Mind control? Could you use it on someone without them knowing?"
"Hai,"
"You mean you could be using it on me right now and I couldn't tell?"
"You would be able to tell if I chose to let you, but I could also make you believe you were acting of your own free will. Even then, if you somehow knew before I began, you might be able to resist it somewhat, depending on your level of mental discipline,"
"Cool," she said, kind of awed.
"I'm... glad you think so," I answered, hoping she would stop asking questions. She seemed to be satisfied, because she did, indeed, stop.
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I'm soooo sorry! I haven't updated in a week because I've been grounded from the internet, but I have still been writing, so I've got plenty of chapters waiting for you! I'll be back on schedule now, barring emergency.
Chibi Yuushi: so sorry you were sick, hope you're better! I didn't notice you being late, since I was as well! About that fight... those seem like such silly things for parents to stress over... is your family really conservative? I used to want to be a lawyer and my parents were proud as could be until i decided music was more my style... lol. But i've gone through three or four other things since then, and now i'm thinking interpreter, and i love languages anyway, so i'm going to learn a billion of 'em. Thanks about Misao; i find she's one character not difficult to figure out. i really like tomoe and i identify with her a bit since she's willing to love someone who has obviously committed a grievous crime against her and i *hope* to be that way.... but i would never have hunted him down in the first place, so if i was her we'd never have met, which would throw everything all off. I'm not thinking hiko will be one, but he will see the "new" kenshin and will have some interesting info for him. I've got it all planned out. interesting about porphyria... i told my mom about it and she said she would look it up in a medical dictionary b/c some of the info i relayed to her seemed suspect. You will find out what happens after he refuses to feed awhile and misao finds out... then when he finds out what she did about it all heck breaks loose... i've already written that part, it's soon. I don't mind about the long reviews, either, i like them!
PraiseDivineMercy: i'm surprised the whole not killing thing is creating so much suspense. I think ken is the easiest person in the world to keep IC as a vamp, because it creates this wonderful angsty internal conflict that will go on the duration of his existence, regardless of the methods he chooses to sate his hunger. Heavens, no, I'm not pairing him with misao. I want kaoru in this, and have an idea of how i'll do it, but nothing's nailed down on that. I'm not thinking sano or yahiko or any of the rest of them will be, though the kyoto-based people will be (misao, okina, hiko, sae, etc.) i wasn't planning on putting Soujiro in, but now that you suggested it i might. Sorry about your writers' block, i've got some hints if you want them. Thanks for your well-wishing, i'm getting creativity in many ways! Speaking of which, there's this drawing of ken i'm doing where i tried to male him look realistic and oriental, since it kind of bothers me that anime characters don't look oriental and oriental ppl are so beautiful. The drawing is turning out very well and very wonderfully... now i just have to decide if i'll break down and color it.
The-Great-Monk-Grl: thanks! Kaoru will not appear for awhile, but i hope to get her in eventually. In addition, i've been grounded from the internet for the past week, but i usually update three times per week.
Houndingwolf: love your name. it took forever for me to get the hang of suspense, but really i don't see how there is any in this story, but everyone says there is, so... great! I like vamps, too, and i've even got a vamp-hater reading and giving me the longest reviews of all! I feel so special! Don't worry about rambling; i like nice long reviews!
TYDYE girl: hai, she followed him, and she does know now. Thank you and i'm sorry i didn't update for so long.
Maeve Riannon: thanks, i always knew he would be easy to keep IC as a vamp. I'm surprised no one seems to have thought of this before. Hai, misao has seen, and she is not happy.
Laurika: pretty name. Thanks and i'm glad he's IC. Lots of ppl said they expected kaoru, and so did i at first, but i thought misao fit better. I'm going to try and cram kaoru in somewhere, though. Sorry about not updating for so long, i was grounded. I generally update three times per week.
Yuhi-thedoerofevildeeds: i love you, too! So glad this is different from other vamp fics, i hate how he's OOC. I hate OOC no matter what, but i can't believe nobody thought to make him an angst-ridden would-be peaceful vamp. There are ones like that in vamp novels, so why not here?