Chris: Thanks to the FanFiction admins' new and devious move, I am forbidden to do reader reviews. They have replaced it with a function that is bulky, unneeded, and annoying. As such, and because I am lazy, I will not be doing reader reviews anymore. Only on FictionPress because they haven't enacted any rules on that yet.
Disclaimer: Don't own Fire Emblem. All OCs are mine and so are the night laguz. They will own your soul!
Chapter 2: Discovery
"Where…What happened?' Melissa gave a small groan and turned slightly. 'Why…Why do I feel so strange…?' Her eyes slowly slid open and the cat laguz stretched slightly. 'I'm kind of hungry…' She pushed herself up into a sitting position and took in the scene in front of her. Her gaze halted at the sight of a young boy of around average height with blood-crimson hair.
He smiled weakly at her, raising a hand to greet her. "Hey."
Suddenly, all the events that happened earlier flooded back into her mind and she was filled with primal rage. Shrieking slightly, she jumped at the boy, only to halt right as she was about to wrap her fingers around his throat. Grunting with exertion, the brown-haired girl pushed, but was unable to strangle the life out of the kid.
"Please…Stop trying. It's a waste of energy." The kid said forlornly, waving her off. "I'm certain that no matter what you do, you will be unable to harm me." He looked at her, his eyes filled with sorrow. "Trust me, I didn't want this to happen either…"
"I don't believe you! How could you just kill everyone?" Melissa shouted, her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't care what you say! I'll find a way to destroy you!"
"Go ahead." The kid shrugged. "The ceremony I preformed should have protected me from any action against me on your part." He gave a small sigh and plopped onto the sandy ground. "If you had only let me get the medicine…This wouldn't have happened."
"What else was I supposed to do? You burst into my house, bleeding, in the middle of an attack! You expect me to greet you with tea and cookies?" Melissa retorted, her teeth bared in frustration. It was then that she noticed that her canines were sharper and longer than usual. "What happened to my teeth?"
"What do you think happened?" The crimson-haired laguz returned sarcastically. "If you would just stop trying to kill me for a second, maybe I could explain."
"Hmph, fine." Melissa settled back to listen to this kid's explanation. "So, what happened?"
"May I have the pleasure of your name first? I…would like to know, considering what I did."
"It's Melissa Young."
"Nice name." The kid commented offhandedly. "My name is Lankith Heyan. Anyway, as for the reason as to why we were there, it is our destiny to rule your land." He looked to the side, his face shadowed. "We were supposed to kill everyone who resisted."
"What else were we supposed to do? You just came on our land and started attacking! That wasn't even an honorable or fair fight! How do you get off saying that it's your destiny? You sound just like one of those miserable beorc!" Melissa shouted, her eyes wide and blazing.
Lankith cringed, his crimson-haired shielding his eyes. "…I…I never liked this myself…But it is as our king ordered and we need to follow his orders." He slumped slightly. "I'm not saying we're right…But it's what we're doing."
Melissa softened at the sight of his dejected figure and she crept forward slightly. Lankith noticed her movement and looked away, trying not to meet her gaze.
"And…As for where we are…We're in your village. Nobody was left alive." Lankith moved away from Melissa, looking at the ground. "I'm…sorry."
Melissa felt the blow strike her in the heart. She expected it once she had awoken, but still, it hurt so much that all of her friends and family were now dead. It hurt a lot…
"As for what happened to you…You are now my slave." Lankith muttered. "I had no choice."
"What do you mean, 'slave'?" Melissa asked, confused.
"When I bit you and drained you of a portion of your blood, in order to stop a scumbag like Rakol make you his slave, I…uh…I made you mine by cutting myself and letting my own blood be absorbed into your own." Lankith mumbled, looking at a long scar on his arm.
"So…What am I?" Melissa asked, drawn forward by some sort of horrid fascination. "Am I…Am I someone like you?"
"No, not exactly." Lankith sighed, brushed back some of his crimson hair. "You are still a beast laguz. You will still transform into a cat. All that's different is that your so-called fangs are longer and sharper and your skin is a slight shade lighter. You might think that blood is tastier to you. And…since it is my blood that is coursing through your veins, there is some force that stops you from killing me or attacking me. And…if I wanted to, you would be forced to follow all of my commands." He looked at her and a small spark of lust flashed through his eyes. However, he quickly masked it and looked away.
"What…What are you going to make me do?" Melissa asked, becoming frightened as images of rape and beatings ran through her mind. "Please…Please…"
"Me? I'm not going to do anything. I didn't want this to happen." Lankith muttered angrily. "If it wasn't for that jerk, Rakol, none of this would have happened. None of this!" He slammed his fist into the ground. "Why did I have to do this?"
"Lankith…"
"I'm going out. Don't follow me and just stay here. I don't want anything to happen to you. Now that you're my slave, I better protect my property." Lankith whispered, saying the last part sarcastically. He pushed the wooden door open and stepped into the moonlight, sighing. Shaking his head angrily, he stomped outside.
Melissa watched him leave. Well, since he wasn't watching her, this was the perfect opportunity to escape! After all, he wasn't watching her now and he never said anything about the transformation prohibiting her from leaving. Grinning slightly to herself, she looked around for a back door and found it, nestled on the back corner. Taking care to not alert anyone to her plan, she tiptoed to the door and pulled it open. And squeaked in surprise as she found a tall, sandy-haired man blocking her way. The man smiled briefly before pushing her back inside the house and stepping inside.
"H-Hey!" Melissa shouted half-heartedly. "I-I'm Lankith's partner, so you shouldn't block my way!" At her words, however, the man only smiled.
"I know. I'm Yeonis Bright, and I'm Lankith's teacher." He folded his arms and grinned. "I suppose you are that girl we found Lankith crouched over?"
"S-So what of it?" Melissa said bravely, but inside she was shaking. This laguz seemed much stronger than Lankith and she was afraid of what else he could do, especially since she had seen the power of Lankith's hypnosis.
"Listen, girl. I don't know your name, and by all rights, I don't want to, since Lankith is your master, but just sit down and don't bother trying to escape." Yeonis brushed back some of his short-cut hair and sighed. "It was bad enough for the kid to be forced to take a slave. Don't make him feel worse by trying to escape and getting killed."
"W-What do you mean?" Melissa stuttered, her eyes wide.
"Lankith isn't highly respected in our communities. He's not a fighter, nor does he want to be. He is excited about the prospect of attacking your country, but that has to do more with the fact that we'll be setting foot on your continent and we'll be seeing new things. He is not the fighting type, which is why his hypnosis is so strong. He trained on that more than any of his fighting skills. I assume it took a lot of energy for you just to speak?"
Melissa nodded soundlessly. "That was…the hypnosis?"
Yeonis nodded. "Yep. At hypnosis, there is none that beat Lankith. However, it's often considered a weak art, which only depends the lack of respect other night laguz have for him."
"Night laguz?"
"That's what we call ourselves. While you are a member of the beast laguz, I am a member of the night laguz." Yeonis bowed slightly. "Now, about your thought of escape. You are the first slave that Lankith has taken in the twenty or so beorc years that he has lived. And in that lifetime, we have been in around one hundred battles, all of which we had a chance to take slaves. Lankith never participated in such ceremonies. It was a vow of his to never change someone and make her his slave."
"I…see…Then why did he change me…into this?" Melissa opened her mouth, pointing to the fangs. "Why did he do that? This feeling is horrible! Everyone I knew is either dead or taken to be one of your slaves! I have this deep desire to drink the blood on the ground! My skin is almost as pale as death! Why did he do this to me?"
"Well, would you rather have had that other person take you as his slave? Rakol?"
"What makes you so certain he wouldn't have killed me?" Melissa retorted.
"Rakol, by last count, has had up to fifty slaves. At the moment, only five are alive. That bastard loves getting his hands on any new female that crosses his path and he is anything but kind to the people he converts. Trust me, Lankith undertook the ritual and broke his vow only so that he might save you from a horrible existence." Yeonis said.
"And now that you have been informed, I will take my leave. If you still wish to leave, be my guest. Let me just warn you that not all night laguz are as kind as Lankith and now that you have already been transformed, no one would hesitate to kill you." Yeonis bowed again. "Good luck and don't be too harsh on my student. He could use a friend. Who knows? Maybe you will be it."
"…" Melissa plopped on the ground, thoughts running rampant through her mind. These new revelations had impacted her decision to leave and now she decided it would be a smarter move to just stay with Lankith, even though she still wasn't too happy about the situation. '…It's not fair…I feel pity for him…Yet I feel immense anger…What am I supposed to do?'
Lankith returned to the house, holding a couple of packages. He looked at Melissa, nonplussed. "Oh…You're still here."
"Where did you think I would go?" Melissa said, stretching.
"I thought that you would have wanted to leave. After all, you don't have to stay here." Lankith dumped the packages on the ground and looked at Melissa, his face emotionless. "There's food in there. If you're hungry, well, there you go." He sighed, and then turned back to the door. "I'm going for a walk." He stayed behind to see if Melissa would to anything. When she didn't move, Lankith bowed his head and walked outside into the night.
The crimson-haired vampire looked around. The destroyed village was slowly being rebuilt by the night laguz, using the ruins as their first base camp for the invasion of the continent. Minute by minute, more of his race landed, gathering in this small point for a war that would change the face of the earth. Lankith looked at the sky. He had thought that this place would hold a lot more mystery that his home. But it was all the same. The same trees, the same sky, the same dirt…Nothing was new.
'Damn girl…If it wasn't for her…' Lankith thought angrily as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown trousers. Every time he looked at Melissa, it made him angry and depressed. She symbolized things that he hated. She had caused him to break his vow and now that she was a slave, he felt as if he had become as bad as everyone around him. It wouldn't be long before he was like Rakol, doing anything he wanted and reveling in the destruction of battle.
At the beginning, he held a faint hope that somehow, he would find a way out of this and restore her to normal. But, searching the texts that they had brought with them, there seemed to be no way whatsoever to change a converted person back to normal. Granted, he was the only one who had thought of such a thing, so it was typical that there would be no research on the matter.
"Sigh…Well, I should at least take care of her…I dragged her into this, even though I didn't want to." Lankith looked at the ground, his crimson hair hanging like dried strands of blood in the dark night. "Heh, some walk." He turned and walked back inside of the house, only to see Melissa crouched over the bag, looking at the various goodies inside. When he saw her, he felt a flash of anger. It wasn't fair…Not at all…
"Oh, hey Lankith." Melissa whispered as she pulled out a small hunk of meat which was still raw. "Would you mind if I cooked this?"
'Yes, I would mind.' Lankith thought miserably. He had gotten that for himself. Taking that wound in the arm had made him lose more blood than normal and the whole conversion didn't do anything to help matters. He was thirsty for blood and he would have enjoyed tearing into that fat piece of beef. But he nodded. "Go ahead. Who am I to stop you?"
"You do. You are my master, aren't you? I'm your slave." Melissa said matter-of-factly.
"…I don't have a slave…" Lankith mumbled as he fell on a ragged sofa nearby. "I never had a slave…" He closed his eyes and Melissa was surprised to see that he was crying slightly. She looked at him sorrowfully before turning and walking towards the kitchen, saying nothing.
Melissa pulled a clean from a rack in the kitchen and placed the slab of meat on it. Surprisingly enough, the kitchen seemed to be in good condition, showing no signs of the chaos that had happened earlier. Lighting a small fire in the oven, she unwrapped the raw meat and placed it on an iron skillet. Sprinkling on some herbs and sauce that she had found in the cupboards, she slid it in the oven and waited. While she was thinking, a crazy idea came to her. The curse of the blood prohibited her from killing Lankith…But it didn't prohibit her from killing herself, right? So…If she were to kill herself, Lankith wouldn't have to worry about breaking his oath and she could return to where her friends and family were.
'Yeah…I could…do that.' Melissa looked around for a sharp knife and found one. She was all set to do the deed when she decided to tell Lankith first. No need for him to go crazy wondering why she had killed herself. She walked back to the living room and found Lankith still sprawled on the couch, his eyes closed. She kneeled next to him and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.
Lankith's eyes snapped open and he stared at Melissa for a while. "What is it?"
"Lankith…You don't want me around, do you?" The brown-haired cat laguz whispered. "I mean…you never wanted this to happen."
Lankith stared at her, his expression unreadable. Then, slowly, he shook his head. "No…I didn't."
"Then…" Melissa pulled out the knife. "If I were to kill myself…You would be able to live without me, right?"
Lankith stared at the knife blade, which shined in the silver moonlight. Slowly, he nodded. "Yes…I would."
"Then, the solution is easy. I just have to kill myself. That way, I can be with my friends and you won't have to see me anymore." Melissa smiled slightly. She raised the knife to the location on her neck where Lankith had bitten her. "I think this would be a good place." She brought the blade closer to the wound, smiling slightly. "Besides, what do I have to look for here?"
Lankith frowned. "Melissa, stop. That's an order."
"What are you saying?" Melissa cried as she struggled to slash the blade across her neck. "Why are you stopping me? I thought you didn't want me around!" She tried with all her might to kill herself, but her hand wouldn't move.
"Melissa, drop the knife. Now."
Melissa's hand opened and the knife clattered to the floor. She looked at the weapon pleadingly, as if willing it to kill her. She turned tearful eyes towards Lankith, who picked up the knife and threw it away. The crimson-haired laguz kneeled in front of Melissa, gazing at her emotionlessly.
"Just because I didn't want this to happen doesn't mean I want you to die. I already made you into my slave; I might as well live with it." Lankith sighed. "So that means no trying to kill yourself. I'll know if you do."
"B-But…What am I supposed to do?" Melissa said, her voice becoming hysterical. "I-I mean…You can make me do anything! What if…What if you…You know!"
Lankith smiled mirthlessly. "I would never dream of doing something like forcing you to have sex with me. That's Rakol's department, not mine. No…The only thing I would force you to do is to not do anything stupid like committing suicide."
Melissa flushed slightly, embarrassed. She looked down at the ground. "So…Then what will I do?"
"I don't know. You'll have to stay with me. I'd rather not have something happen to you." Lankith grinned. "Now that I think about it…In terms of looks, I was pretty lucky with the girl I had to convert. Personality too."
Melissa blushed, her eyes widening. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing." Lankith mumbled. "Anyway, you can just travel with me. Don't worry about me doing anything master-like. Just when some of the other night laguz are around, I might have to treat you as a real slave. Other than that, you're just the same as me." He sniffed the air and winced. "Oh…And hate to tell you, but your food burned."
"WHAT?" Melissa shrieked and leaped towards the kitchen. "Oh, no! Not good!"
Lankith smirked. He still didn't like it, but maybe he could get used to the situation.
Chris: Well, hope you enjoyed it! Review please! Oh, and even if I don't get a lot of reviews, I'm still gonna continue this cause I like the idea. Besides, vampires are awesome.