Birdcage

::2::

::Light of Revelation::

Now, allow me to go into a little depth about this darkness that I had mentioned of before, since I probably didn't make it quite as evident as I had hoped I would.

Vampires are lonely creatures. When we are made we usually stay with our creators for a period of time. Normally until we come to hate them for what they've made us become. A fledgling might stay with his creator as his pupil anywhere from mere months to decades, if not longer. But always in the end, these relationships never last. At least from what I've seen.

I, myself, stayed with my creator for nearly two years until one night I decided I was tired of doing things his way. I simply got up and walked out and never returned. How it came about, I will tell you... eventually. But enough of my creator. More of the darkness as I was saying.

We, all vampires, live solitary lives for most of our existence. Some grow attached to humans, but always from afar. And while their love grows for these beings, the thought of turning them begins to nag at ones mind, but is swiftly dismissed once the memory of what happened to them and their master crosses their minds. They don't want them to hate them and turn away. So they simply watch until that person dies, or until they lose interest or simply force themselves away. And as for those that are chosen to become children of the moon, if it is not them that lose interest in their masters then it is vice versa. Some can't stand the beings they create, seeing the simple human beauty, the beauty that had attracted them in the first place, destroyed once they become immortal. So they simply abandon them.

As for those that find other vampires and desire them to become their companions, these relations can only last for so long until they would feel the urge to part ways and roam the road of life alone once again. They might find one another at some point in time and once again become companions of darkness, but it would always end the same.

My love for the humans is great. There have been times when I thought I had found one that I would make mine. One such as myself. But in the end I would always walk away, if I didn't kill them. Not once had I shared the gift of immortality with another. But if I had, it would have been the girl in my story. Now im jumping ahead.

Now that that's been explained a bit more clearly, I will continue where I left off. Im sure you're growing impatient now, and I beg you to forgive me. Without further ado, let us continue.

The following night, I had picked off a middle aged man, possibly in his forties, to become my next victim.

He was big-boned, weighing around two hundred or so with a head of thin ash brown hair, thinning and with the receding hair line. His eyes were a dull brown with slight wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Hands decorated with thick gold rings with gems embedded into them and his light tan suit, he looked to be quite the big shot.

It was easy enough to lure him out of the crowd in the busy street, a street which I rarely hunted on simply because of the number of people crowding the walkways and cars zooming by on the road. This street was far from my normal hunting grounds, but I knew it well enough, having walked it amongst these humans several times.

It was a busy street full of life.

Deliberately I had sent a message to him through my mind to his, but not evident enough for him actually hear it. More like whispering suggestions into his head, nagging him to come and investigate the shadowed alley I occupied.

When he had finally given into the voice, I had quickly restrained the large man from behind and sunk my teeth into him, forcing him to the ground as I did this.

He was shocked, if not afraid, as soon as I had grabbed hold of him. By the time he was laying on his front he had realized I was no mere human but rather a demon of sorts, and he began to whisper fiercely to me.

"Vile thing! Get off of me this instant!"

He struggled against my grip, trying to kick me with his heel, but his leg too weighed down and weak from the little extra fat he had gained over the years.

"My God! Do you plan to kill me here?! Do you think someone wont find my corpse rotting in this alley?! You'll be all over the 6 o'clock news by tomorrow night, I assure you!"

Of course I didn't answer. I knew there was nothing he could do nor anyone else for that matter. But I let him ramble away the last minutes of his life anyways, too intoxicated by the rich flavor and thickness of his blood mixed with his cologne of spices. Ah, such bliss!

"Others will know im missing! I have family, dammit! They'll report me missing by tonight!"

I continued to ignore him as I drank deeply.

"You'll go to Hell for this, you foul demon! Even God wont forgive you!" He gasped out, his heart beginning to slow. Annoyed slightly, I began to retort back, still letting my mouth fill with his blood as I spoke:

"This is Hell, fool! There is no room in Heaven for the damned and holy alike, so stop your rambling you stupid human and start praying to your God for forgiveness, for these are your last moments on Earth!"

Precious blood was now leaking down my chin from my exchange of words. Upset at the waste, I applied more pressure to his back, causing him to gasp sharply for oxygen. He suddenly picked up from where he had left off.

"I already have a place waiting for me in Heaven, it is you who should be praying to God!"

"Shut-up."

I was tired of listening to his nonsense. I applied even more pressure, hoping it would silence him, but to no avail.

"Your soul is damned! I may be at your mercy now, but it will be you who is at the mercy of the Devil himself when you depart from this Earth!"

"I said shut-up!"

More blood was dripping down my chin now. More wasted blood. He was now beginning to infuriate me.

"Repent you foul monster! There may still be hope for a lesser punishment in Hell for your deeds if you repent! If not, Hell will make you howl in agony, pain, and misery and you'll have to spend all eternity there! Eternity damn you!"

"I said SHUT-UP you damned idiot!"

Instead of letting the blood be pumped into my gently sucking mouth by his heart, I suddenly latched onto the vein with my teeth without realization and began to suck fiercely, resulting in the rupturing of his heart. Realizing I had just killed him unnecessarily quickly, I released his wrists from behind, letting them fall to his sides.

I stared down upon his frozen face of shock mixed with sudden pain and scowled with discontent before reaching down and hefting him up and partly over my shoulder, his bulk too big to rest fully on me. Well, now was the best time to be rid of this body, I had decided, and was quickly off and away to incinerate it.

I had pulled all of the money from his wallet before I placed my parting kiss on his cheek and lighting him to be consumed by the fire, and headed off to find the odd girl from the previous night. Sakura.

It took only a minute or two to reach the place where we had met the pervious night. Perhaps I would ease her pain before I finally took her. And maybe I would do it tonight.

I saw her off a distance from the rotting trunk overrun with moss. She was standing there idly, looking up at the stars before she finally took notice of me. She smiled widely, showing off her perfect white teeth, before running up to me. This time she wore a light blue shirt with darker blue stripes that made up the upper half but grew thinner as they moved towards the bottom until they disappeared into the lighter color. It gently sloped out like a dress but stopped at her thighs, the sleeves reaching her elbows and below it a pair of white pants that stopped just below her knees. She wore a pair of leather sandals on her small feet.

"You came you came!" she exclaimed joyously, bouncing about. I only quirked an eyebrow.

"I was worried you wouldn't come, and the thought of it made me sad."

"And why wouldn't I keep my promise?" I asked, my tone a little sharp. I was still a little disgruntled from my meal.

Her smile vanished and was replaced with wonderment.

"What's wrong? You don't seem happy... you can tell me, I promise I wont laugh."

There it was again. The promises. How simple they were. Suddenly I saw the vision of her and her mother together at the bridge. The vision I had stolen from her during the previous night. I felt a small twinge.

"It's nothing."

"Are you sure? You can tell me anything."

How comforting. Yet how could she understand if I had told her?

"It's nothing. If I told you it would only confuse you."

"Ok. But if you ever need to speak to someone, I'll be here. Remember, ok?"

She flashed me a smile in reassurance of her sureness. I only stared at her, unconsciously examining her features. How soft her skin looked. As if it had a will of its own, my hand reached up and touched her cheek. I saw her physically stiffen, eyes staring at my cold white hand, confused and shocked.

"Soft... warm." I found myself muttering. How I envied humans for their natural warmth. I could only obtain it by draining dry a human of his blood. And that would only warm me for nearly half an hour, if not less.

Another thing about vampires. Those that choose to live as humans do, in houses that is (usually large and expensive homes), could normally be found by a fire place, warming themselves. The warmth was something we always enjoyed. Some would even go so far as to soak themselves in a hot bath, as a human would, though it would do little for them but wash away an invisible film of dust we usually wore. Possibly give them a short lived fragrance as well, if shampoos and herbs were used. I must admit that I had done this a few times myself, and found it very comforting and relaxing, as I had when I was alive.

I let my arm drop back to my side and watched her relax before grinning up at me.

"Will you come with me to my mother's grave? They buried her today in the Country Ridge cemetery. I would have went myself, but..."

She began to turn red in the cheeks as she looked away in what looked to be shame.

"But what, my dear?"

"... Im... a little scared."

"Of what? Monsters? Zombies?" I chuckled. I watched as she turned even more red with embarrassment.

"Ghosts."

"Ghosts? There are no ghosts there that can harm you, my dear."

"I know..." she mumbled. "But brother once said he saw them with their heads in their arms, or some were deformed and scary looking..."

Another brief vision. This time it was of a boy around ten with messy black hair and fierce eyes and tanned skin, holding her hand. She must have been around six or seven at that time. They stood at the gates of a cemetery. It was during the day.

"They're everywhere, no matter where you are, Sakura. But the scariest are in the cemeteries, guarding their graves. Some missing arms or legs, some carrying their heads. Some oozing with slime. And if you go in alone, then one might..."

Sakura was shaking all over as she looked up at her older brother.

"One might what?" she mumbled, unsure if she wanted to know the rest.

He leaned down to her ear, eyes widening.

"Possess your body!" he whispered.

The small Sakura yelped in fright as her brother stood up and began to laugh at his little joke. It was obvious to me he was only 'pulling her leg', so to speak. But it was enough to scare her for life.

She pouted, furrowing her eyebrows as she gave him good swift kick to the shin. He yelped out in pain.

"I hate you! That's not funny!" she screamed at him. But even though she knew he was joking, it had apparently made an impression upon her.

The vision ended.

I watched her brush away a long lock of stray hair resting on her shoulder. She looked up at me expectantly.

"Alright. I'll escort you there. But why so soon if you had just been there today?"

She frowned.

"Dad said I wasn't allowed to go."

"But why? Didn't he want you to see your mother one last time?" I asked, more to myself than to her. I was cross at the idea of not allowing a child to see their parent for the last time before being, to put it gently, put to rest.

She didn't answer, but I heard her ask herself silently in her mind, "Why didn't he? Maybe he's angry at me again...". It made me wonder what she meant by 'again'. But I wouldn't dare ask, lest I reveal this mind reading ability all immortals were gifted with.

"You'll have to show me the way for I do now know which cemetery you speak of."

She reached out, not quite as bold as last night, and grabbed my hand. Her hand was very warm to the touch and I couldn't help but revel in the feeling. She began to lead me out of the field.

I was shocked to find myself standing at the gates of the cemetery where I slept. I had never paid any attention to the name of it: Country Ridge.

So this was where her mother was buried. How ironic.

I followed her in. I could see she was nervous. We didn't make it very far in before she stopped mid-step and looked back at me.

"I forgot... I don't know where it is..." she blushed again but didn't look away in shame this time.

I smiled.

"Don't worry about it." I said to reassure her. I stepped up beside her.

"We'll just have to hunt for it. Think of it as another game." I smiled down at her as she stared up towards me, a smile creeping up onto her soft pink lips.

"Ok, But let's go together... I don't want to get separated." she said in a small voice. I simply nodded before taking the lead this time and she flanking me.

We started with the graves closest to us, though I knew they wouldn't be here. These were some of the first to be buried here, but we started here none the less and began to weave through row after row of graves. We were near my own when we had stumbled across a few with the last name 'Li' on their headstones.

"Were they your relatives?" Sakura had asked me.

"Don't know. Never met them." I had mumbled back before continuing our search. So there were other Li's here. At least it wasn't my obnoxious cousin. She was probably prowling around England now, searching for me...

I noticed that Sakura had stopped in front of a grave and knelt down at it. I walked up to her. But there were two with the last names 'Kinomoto' engraved on them.

"I should have known it would've been here..." she mumbled to herself. I knelt down beside her and read the name.

"Nadesico Kinomoto... but who's is that?" I asked, as I pointed to the one off to the left of me. Without turning her gaze to look at the other one beside her mother's grave she said, "Touya Kinomoto, my brother..."

I was speechless. So not only has she suffered the loss of her mother, but her brother as well. The date on his grave read '1987-2004'. I looked over to her mothers. It read '1969-2006'. Without warning, she spoke up.

"My mother was still in high school when she gave birth to my brother... no one had known she was pregnant. They just thought she had put on a few pounds, but it wasn't really noticeable. When Touya was born, her family disowned her, but she didn't care. She made enough money from modeling, then when she graduated, she married my dad. Touya was my dad's child as well as my mothers, so it wasn't some random guy who got my mom pregnant. My mom met my dad at school. He was a young teacher, just starting his second year of teaching. He once told me it was love at first sight for both of them... He always took care of my mom... Later it was the same with me as my brother. No one really knew she was pregnant again. Not even dad. Mom knew, but she didn't tell anyone... she was always like that. Secretive that is. She even prepared a name for me without my dad's help... but I don't think he minded..."

She sighed as she stared at the inscribed words in the marble stone in front of her. I watched the wind gently move her locks of long hair into her face before she brushed them back again and behind her.

"But when Touya died, I think a part of mom did too... she began to drown her troubles in alcohol, maybe something else too, but I don't know what. At the end of each day, I remember watching her swallow two or three aspirins, as if the whole world was giving her a headache. She began to avoid me, every now and then she'd take me to the park or the mall to shop with her. But most of the time she didn't even want to be around me. I think she was ashamed to be seen in the never ending state she was in. Wanting to stop but too miserable and sad to stop. I think the only thing that came close to making her feel better was my dad, but he was being sent off on archaeological trips more and more often, and for weeks at a time. And during that time mom drank the heaviest and sometimes didn't come home for several days at a time..."

She sighed again as if she was out of breath and needed more air to go on.

"I just hope she's in Heaven now... finally able to rest. Someday I'll be there too..."

The words from the dead man I had incinerated that night returned to me, echoing through my mind.

'I already have a place waiting for me in Heaven, it is you who should be praying to God!'

Uncomfortable with the tense silence that had ensued between us, I got up and walked a few yards off. I glanced over my shoulder and saw her kneeling in prayer before I fixed my gaze at my sarcophagi some ways off, surrounded by seven white with grey swirled in marble pillars with a marble roof above it... I never thought about it until now, but what kind of person were they? The person who had previous occupied my grave before being scooped out and disposed of by me? Obviously they were rich to have paid for the unique grave that stood out like a sore thumb amongst the rest... did they ever make it to Heaven? Were they dragged down into Hell? Maybe I'd meet them down there some day to suffer with them. Maybe they would want revenge for my violation of their grave...

I felt a hand on my arm and I looked down to see Sakura standing there, looking up sadly into my eyes. This child here would make it to Heaven, if there was a Heaven. Of that I was certain. As for me, I knew where my future was headed. Poor child, hoping, wishing that her mother were in a restful place full of light and joy and happiness... If anything I knew about holy scripture was true, then her mother's soul was lost. Even her mother knew it when she had threaten to take her own daughter to Hell with her if she interrupted her again.

"Are you ok? You have that look on your face again... Are you sad or upset about something? Im here and listening..."

I patted her hand in reassurance.

"Nothings wrong, im just thinking about what someone had said to me before they died..."

"What did they say?"

I smiled gently at her. How could one be so kind and sympathetic towards a monster such as myself?

"Nothing. Nothing important that is. Now come, let's leave this place of death and go to some place where there is more life."

She nodded, face still in a sad expression.

We had found ourselves back in the field. I sighed in exasperation of myself.

"So much for 'more life'..." I grumbled.

She smiled as her gaze was fixated on something in the distance. I followed her gaze and saw a ship off in the distance, only visible from the glow of the nearby light house.

"It's alright. It's not as if we have anywhere else to go."

She walked to the cliff where we had sat on before I made my departure. She seated herself there and I followed but didn't take a seat on the hard ground until she told me to sit there next to her. I obeyed willingly but added enough space between us so we didn't brush up against each other. We sat there quietly, listening to the sea crash against the half submerged rocks below, the night birds chirping every now and then. The silence was broken by her after a few minutes.

"You know more about me than you're letting on, aren't you?"

I kept my gaze fixed on the departing ship, growing smaller as it sailed further and further away into the horizon. My silence confirmed her hunch, feeling, whatever it was that told her these things.

"What about you?"

Without looking away from the sea I asked, "What do you mean?"

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then, "I mean what about you? You know about me, or at least part of me, and I know next to nothing of you, except that you're as pale as the moon and cold like ice and can disappear suddenly on a whim..."

I stretched my arms before folding them behind my head and falling back on the ground to look at the stars, exhaling as I went.

"Why do you ask? Who I am is not important and it's boring..."

She didn't answer. I decided to be kind enough to tell her about my family... or what was my family.

"My mother and father were chinese. My father died when I was young so I don't remember much about him, except that he was one of the greatest fighters in my clan before he passed away. I had three older sisters and a countless number of cousins, only one I was ever close to, but left her eventually. Her name is Meilin."

"Why'd you leave her?"

"She was annoying. Firstly she was always talking about marriage, and she was always tagging along. Then came her constant suggestions and demands which finally drove me away."

"Oh..." She pulled her legs up to her chest as she hugged them close, her gaze directed towards me.

"And what happened to your family?"

"Why do you want to know?" I was growing slightly uneasy with these questions.

"You speak of them in the past tense."

I mentally slapped myself. I had slipped.

"I don't know. I ran away when I was younger and never went back." I spoke quickly. And it was true, well, partly anyways. More like abducted by a vampire though.

"Why'd you run away?"

I sighed in exasperation.

"I don't believe that's any of your business." I snapped, but she only grinned at my harsh words.

"Was it a girl?" There was mirth in her voice.

I was taken aback. A girl? Well, I guess that did seem logical, since most of the runaway cases were based around love, family problems, and drugs these days.

"Far from it." I mumbled lazily. I watched a shooting star fly over our heads and followed it with my vampiric vision before it disappeared over my head and beyond my vision.

Her warm hand had found its way to my face. I looked in her direction to see she had moved towards me but stopped before her knees touched my arm.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I felt her hand move down my cheek and over my lips. Suddenly I felt her fingers try to pry them open, which caused me to jerk my head away.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded. She frowned and reached out again and I moved away again until I came to a sitting position, now facing her but a bit further from her. She kept advancing and I felt myself move back a little further and still further as she kept moving towards me.

"What are you trying to do?!" I asked frantically before she lurched forward and grabbed me by the upper arm and pulled herself forwards, catching me off guard, her fingers finding my lips again. I tried to pull my head away but to no avail.

"Your teeth." she said innocently. I only stared at her from the corner of my eye, my neck stretched as far as it could away from her.

"I saw them... I saw them yesterday but I thought it was only my imagination until you smiled at me earlier today."

I felt her forefinger make its way into my mouth and brush against my fangs. So she would know, after all my attempts to keep it a secret until the last moment. Giving in, I relaxed and let her run her fingertip along them. No matter, I'd be rid of her in the end anyways.

I brought my head forwards until I was staring at her, the surprise and fear gone from me. I felt her thumb slip in between my lips before using it and her index finger to part them, my teeth in full view now. No point in trying to hide it now...

"You're a vampire, aren't you?"

I only stared at her. I think I was somewhat glaring at her when she had asked this question.

"Why didn't you kill me earlier? You've had plenty of opportunities since last night, and yet here I am, still alive. What made you avoid killing me?" her voice was soft and melancholic.

Im certain I was glaring at her by now, but simply out of anger at myself. Yes. Why didn't I kill her when I had the chance? Why DID I spare her until now? She should be dead and I warmed by her blood inside of me by now...

"I don't know. Maybe it was your naive fearlessness that caused me to spare you thus far. Why? Why ask all these questions? These horrid questions? These pointless, worthless, baffling questions?! Do you wish for death? You speak as if you want me to drain you of your life! It makes no sense!"

My sudden outburst didn't even phase her as she dropped her hand that was exploring my teeth. Her blank gaze drifted towards the sea.

"Maybe... I don't know... I guess a part of me wants it. I would have done it myself if I had a good enough reason to urge me to do it... but im afraid."

I scowled, still worked up from my last outburst.

"You're a fool. A fool for death." I whispered angrily, her confession also driving me to such words. I didn't understand. I was confused and upset that she would want throw away what I had so yearned for. For life. Not the life of a night walker, but rather the life of a human being. Able to walk in the sun, socially gather, not have to walk in darkness for all of eternity.

I stood abruptly before glaring down at her.

"Don't worry, my dear, you shall have your death soon enough. But it wont be a pleasant one, I can assure you of that!" I hissed, my confusion mixed with my jealousy and anger getting the best of me.

I turned to leave but stopped when I heard her ask,

"Will you meet me here again... tomorrow night? Even if you don't come, I'll wait for you here every night until you do come."

I let the question run through my mind for a brief second but dismissed it for later. And without answering her, I disappeared into the night.