Chapter 3 - End of Everything

Moon Child is not mine. Kei is not mine. Luka is not mine either. Anyone noticing a pattern here?

It was obvious, he realised later. It was so obviously going to happen. He had been prepared for it, as much as he could. Strange, he didn't know he'd been expecting it until it had happened. It had been a bad night anyway; Luka's antics had just crowned it all.

He'd been careless. It had taken to long to get Luka to brush close enough to reality to feed. They'd chosen the wrong victim. There were probably hundreds of factors, and working them all out would achieve nothing. The fact remained that what had happened stayed happened. How were they to know that their victim had friends who were still conscious enough to notice he'd gone missing, led out the back by two strange men? How were they to know that they'd search for him? Or that the police would become involved?

They'd caught Luka in the act. It couldn't have been much more perfect if it had been a scene in a film, thought Kei bitterly. Just to spite himself, he pictured the scene again. They couldn't even have tried to wriggle out of it. When Luka raised his head, seeming more like his old self than ever, two neat, fresh blood trails streamed from his lips, and the blood was still pumping feebly from the puncture wounds in the victim's neck. Kei had seen the look on Luka's face. It said, "Do you mind?"

Was Luka...?

He'd taken advantage of the horrified silence of the onlookers and sprang catlike to his feet. Kei was convinced. He was acting as if nothing had happened. Was he cured...? "Luka!" he'd cried in surprise. What had happened to the deathly indifference?

The older vampire raced towards him, seizing Kei by the wrist as he passed. He let out a shocked yelp. "What the-?"

"Don't just stand and gawk. Run! Questions later," Luka hissed to the wind.

Kei could only follow. Luka took a twisting, mazelike route, winding through alleys and darting around corners. Just to confuse, he occasionally tore through a crowd on a main street, then flashed back into an alleyway. Kei's head began to spin, as brick walls and graffiti and bright light sped by him again and again. Are we going in circles?

Finally Luka collapsed against a wall. He gestured for Kei to stop and wait, breathing heavily. He's out of shape if he's worn out now,thought Kei. He was barely breaking a sweat himself. "Are you okay?" he asked, still confused by his sudden energy.

"Never better," panted his companion.

"What was wrong before?"

"I had... something... to think about. Now I've made a decision, I feel much better."

Vague as usual. Kei put it down to Luka being Luka. "You'd better not do that to me again," he warned, half-serious.

Luka laughed, and there was a strange, jarring edge to the sound. "Oh, I won't. I promise you that."

He hadn't even noticed. Luka had practically told him what he was going to do, and it had just flown over his head. A dull light, a torch light, had begun to move around the opening to the narrow, filthy alley. "Let's go," he murmured, still cautious. They went.

Luka stopped again later, and maybe they were safe now, but Kei felt uneasy just the same.

"Hurry up," he hissed, glancing around for signs of pursuit, though there had been none for some time now. "Did you get enough?" he asked, referring to Luka's last meal.

"I had to stop halfway through." He wiped the drying blood from his chin, leaving a rough red smear.

Kei cursed himself for being so inefficient. Luka should have fed first! He himself could have, should have, waited until later if necessary.

The older man noticed his anger, and a humourless smile flitted across his face. "It doesn't matter," he chuckled. "I'm giving up."

"But-!" This isn't happening. This can't be happening. Oh God, why is this happening? "What will I do without you?" he asked at last. His lost, plaintive voice would at any other time have caused Luka to rethink. His large, dark eyes gazing up at him in puppydog fashion would have led to some serious soul-searching.

Not today, kid. I'm not falling for it. Behind those pretty eyes lurks the steel mind of a vampire. You're not the same as you used to be. Better just to stand alone now, and if it all fucks up then you can follow my lead. "Find yourself another 'friend'."

"Luka!"

You're good, he mused. I could almost believe you really cared about me, and that you weren't just scared to death of the loneliness, of the responsibility, of the unknown. Who knows, maybe there's a little humanity left in you after all.

The sound of incoherent voices reached them across the greasy air. Kei leapt to his feet. Them? He didn't know. Luka scented his fear and played along.

"Come on." He began to lead the way again. He felt old, old and weary, and he didn't know if he could keep up the running, but it wasn't long now, and then it would be over.

"Where are we going?" asked Kei. He didn't sound as if he was running at all.

"Just a detour." Luka was aware that the strain was telling on him.

Detour to where? Kei thought angrily, but he waited. He'd find out, soon enough. He did. Too soon, to his mind.

"We're at the beach," he said when they arrived.

Luka walked across the sand, a contented look on his face. "Observant today, Kei." He bent down and picked up a handful, watching the soft, dark grains sift through his fingers to create a smoky trail in the air. Kei stayed standing where he was.

"You should hurry," he urged. "It's almost dawn."

"Did you know I was from a fishing village?" said Luka, ignoring him. "I've lived all my life by the sea, and until now I'd almost forgotten what she looked like. I come to visit her sometimes, but always in the dark, and I can see nothing but a great black surface that sparkles with the stars. I don't think I could bring to mind now what she looks like in the sunlight. Or even at dawn, with the sun turning her a fiery molten red." He sighed.

Alarm bells began to ring in Kei's head.

"I think I'll stay and watch her." He sat on his heels in the sand near the tide line, gazing into the waves that rumbled up to caress the beach.

The sky was lightening.

"Luka, come back. We'll come back tomorrow night, I promise." Kei ran over to him, in an attempt to bring him back.

"Go back yourself," he snapped, shaking him away. "Alone."

He had gone back, thankfully. It's not your time, Luka thought. It was later than Kei had thought. The sun sent a tiny, bright ray over the horizon. There were no clouds today. He felt no pain, just the serenity that comes when something his happening that should be happening. A good end, he thought with approval. This is the way it should be. He began to sing softly, under his breath.

"Yuugure ni..."

Kei watched him, out of sight. He hadn't sought shade yet, and he felt the unfamiliar smarting of the sunlight. Something like steam began to rise around him. The pain was unbearable, but he didn't leave until it was over.

Everything was over.