Chapter 7: So, you want to be vampire, do ya?
"It's true, baby. I'm a werewolf. The full moon brings out my beastly side."
"Oh yeah right."
The girl ran off giggling to join her friends, all of whom were just as amused by that attempt at a pick-up line…and given the way they were pointing as they were laughing and walking their way home, not in a way that earned him any points.
"Tsk-! Stuck-up bitch." Junya clicked his tongue and grumbled under his breath, kicking a rock across the ground in his frustration. That was a pretty good example of about the same level of luck he'd been having with the ladies lately.
Junya Inui. Sophomore student of Yōkai Academy. And most definitely NOT a werewolf. Or a Yoko. Or troll. Or lizardman. Not even a Mudslug (honestly, in hindsight, he probably didn't actually want a girl who'd go for that kind of monster).
He was an Onimodoki. A shapeshifter. In comparison to Doppelgangers, he liked to believe his kind was superior, at least in regards to that specific quality. Onimodoki can transform whenever into whatever they want, while Doppelgangers need physical contact each time they wanted to shapeshift into that specific person.
But, as anyone else would point out, that was the only leg up they had on their cousin species, or any species for that matter.
A pseudo-demon she'd called him. "Like a fly that mimics the stripes of a hornet to ward off predators." Her mocking voice echoed inside his head.
Junya bit down on his teeth so hard it was amazing they didn't crack.
He'd been cutting classes for a while now, usually only coming out to the campus grounds late in the day and into the night in order to put the moves on girls who were headed back to their dorms. He knew that his fellow classmate Ginei Morioka was pretty popular with them and heard the rumors that his true nature was a werewolf, so it seemed like a good time to give that species a try. It was even a full moon hanging over his head. It was perfect.
But…no matter where he went…no matter what time of day it was, it was already too late. Every girl he tried already knew his secret. Because of her.
"Moka Akashiya…!" He felt the corners of his lips curl up in a snarl, letting that hate fuel his legs to start carrying him back to his own dorm, finally calling it a night.
He'd had a near perfect record. Everyone had a monster they'd drop their defenses around, be it one of their own kind or one of the more S-ranked that their families would just love to have mixed into their bloodline. The lonelier the girl, the more easily she'd believe that he was her type of monster, and Moka had seemed like the perfect target. The only vampire at Yōkai Academy. Surely she would jump at the chance to be with another of her kind.
And it had worked…up until she showed him what a vampire was really like.
By the time he woke up in the school's infirmary, word had already lapped its way around the campus that he'd only been pretending to be a vampire in order to get with her. And every time he tried his usual tactics with any other girl since, they almost always had had already heard the story and knew he was full of it. It'd even started affecting his ability to get through the day-to-day. Monsters will tread cautiously against picking fights against unknowns, fearing that whatever species they are could be much stronger than them. But with it now being well-known he was all show, those in his year with actual power lost any reason to show him any respect. The monster world was survival of the fittest and the ability of his species was only useful if no one knew about it.
"Damn you, Akashiya….! And your little pet too."
For whatever reason just the thought of Tsukune pissed him off almost as much as Moka did. It was probably because the punk was even weaker than he was and yet Moka had still wanted him more. His plan actually might have worked if Tsukune hadn't been in the picture. Maybe if he'd killed him Moka would be hanging on his arm right now instead of over his head. That image did perk up his mood a little.
One of these days he'd get back at them both. Just they wait.
"Excuse me." A voice caught his attention. "Would you be able to help me?"
Junya looked over, his heart nearly leaping up out of his throat in panic. Just for a moment, he thought he was seeing Moka's true form again, come to finish the job as punishment for his insolent thoughts.
But once the moment passed, Junya was able to calm himself. The red eyes and silver hair were there. It was understandable why his mind had immediately jumped to Moka. But this girl was much shorter and the face was quite different, though still quite cute in its own right.
She'd been leaning against the wall of the building, only now coming away from it to approach him. "I'm sorry. My name is Shalltear. I'm a freshman and recent transfer and I'm afraid I'm terribly lost. Please, won't you help me?"
Junya blinked a few times. It felt like a dream. Was he being played? He turned his head a few times to see any hint of others in the area who'd set her up to this but no. Though it was night the moon lit up the campus well enough that he'd be able to see someone if they were around.
He straightened himself up before responding. "Of course. It's an upperclassman's duty to help out his junior." He said to her with a kind smile, suave as can be.
"Oh, thank you!" Shalltear cheered as she bounced over to him. "You're such a nice guy. I'm trying to find my way back to my dorm room. You do know where the girl's dorms are, don't you?"
"Of course." Junya told her confidently, having actually been to that area more than a few times, though he obviously wasn't going to tell her the real reasons for why that was.
"Alright! Then you lead the way then." Junya's bravado was taken off-guard for a second when he found Shalltear suddenly draped around his arm, hugging it with her own. He wasn't upset by the action. Far from it honestly. He'd found himself rather starved for this kind of affection even since he'd been outed. It's just that usually he had to put in at least a little more work in order to get things this far. Perhaps it was just the universe's way of apologizing for his run of bad luck lately.
They started walking along, their path along the sidewalk out of the school's main area gently filled with the sounds of small talk and Shalltear laughing at so many of his quips.
"Oh!" She said, like a moment of sudden realization. "I never did ask; what is your name?"
Junya hesitated. This was the moment of truth, wasn't it? "…Junya. Junya Inui."
Shalltear gave him an odd look, before then turning her gaze up to the moon in deep thought. "Junya… Junya…. I've heard that name before…"
Sweat started to drip down his temple. His brain went into overdrive, trying to come up with every possible reason he could give for her not to believe the rumors about him.
"OH! Junya Inui! You're the vampire, right?"
"…Huh?"
He…hadn't been expecting that.
Shalltear looked up at him excitedly. "That's right! I heard about you. They say you're a vampire, just like me!"
"Like…you…" Given the similarities to Moka it's not like he hadn't wondered if she was a vampire but to have her come out and say it like this…
"Oh, I've wanted to meet you for so long now! I haven't seen any others of our kind in so long. I've been so terribly lonely. And to meet you now of all times, in my time of need. It must be fate."
Junya could only blink, his entire world having been flipped on its head.
This girl…she'd heard the stories about him but it must have been only partly. Whatever conversations she'd listened in on she'd completely missed the part about him being an Onimodoki and only heard that he'd been a vampire. The real thing instead of an imitation.
Junya closed his eyes, partly to gather himself and mainly so that she wouldn't notice them changing in form. When he opened them back up, he looked back down at her with the same red irises and vertical slitting pupils that she had.
"It's true." He lied with a straight face. "Sorry, I…don't tend to reveal my true nature this easily but…there's just something about you. I really feel like I can talk to you, Shalltear."
"Oh, Junya. I feel he same way." She rested her head against his shoulder, hugging his arm a little tighter. This was DEFINITELY the universe apologizing to him for all the crap it'd put him through! "Now I feel kind of bad. I asked if you could escort me home but now I almost don't want this walk to end."
"Well…it doesn't have to yet." Junya feigned like it was a decision he had any struggle with. He pointed over to the woods on their left. "We could take the more scenic route back to the dorms. We'll still get there in the end, it'll just take us a little longer, and we can spend that extra time…getting to know each other a little better."
"I'd love to. You're so smart, Junya." Shalltear fawned over him, letting him lead the way into the gathering of trees as he suppressed his grin from getting too much wider.
They walked on, getting deeper and deeper into the woods, their path becoming less and less luminated by the moonlight as more and more branches blocked the path of its rays. "Stick close to me, alright?" Junya said amongst their Smalltalk. "Not that I'm doubting your strength but these woods are no strangers to wolves and snakes and they're not likely smart enough to know we're vampires. I'd rather be able to protect you than let you get hurt unnecessarily."
"Ohh, Junya. How sweet of you. You sure know how to make a girl feel safe." She said, feeling up his bicep in her hold, which he was only too happy to let her do. "I'm tempted to take you up on that."
"It would be my pleasure."
The fallen leaves started to chitter across the dry ground as the wind picked up. Almost as if pulled along by it, a cloud overhead slowly rolled in front of the moon, soon making the forest grow ever darker.
The corners of her lips curled upwards into a smirk. "Tempted…but probably not needed. Those wolves and snakes are probably well-fed enough that they won't bother us. It's the other kind of predators you need to watch out for. The ones that just enjoy the hunt."
"Hm? What do you mean?" Junya started to ask…before feeling a sudden absence of weight on him.
With an immediate turn of his head, his eyes went wide; Shalltear was gone!
Junya twisted his head and body around every which way he could. She'd been right beside him! No, more than that, she'd been literally clinging to him! How could she just vanish?!
"Shalltear? Shalltear?!" He started calling for her.
Junya gave a jump. To his left, something had darted through the leaves, scattering them apart, but it was too fast for him to see. "Hehehehehe…" Giggling? To his right? "Hahahahahaha!"
That one was directly behind him! He nearly fell over turning himself around, then again in a full circle as he kept hearing the patter of what sounded like feet around him But no matter how fast he turned, the source always seemed just out of sight.
"Hahahahhhahahaahaha!" Junya felt his limbs going stiff with fright, almost like they were being frozen. The laugher was echoing through the woods but the pitch to it was almost unnatural.
"What…! What is this…?! Shalltear! What…where are you?!"
"Ohhhhhh? Can't you seeeeeeee me?" The voice filled with childlike amusement answered him back, with a much deeper tone accompanying it. Like a little girl and demon talking in sync. "Come on, little boyyyyy. Strain those eyes. I'm right over hereeee…"
He kept looking around, staring between the trees and scanning through their tops but he still couldn't pin her down. Where the hell was that voice coming from?!
"Don't…don't you screw with me!" Junya yelled out through his fear, trying to work some courage through his limbs. "I'm a vampire, remember?! If you don't leave right now, I'll-!"
Within an instant he found himself staring straight up at the cloudy night sky before immediately his eyes were filled with dirt and grass, and his ears with another mocking cackle. Something had just struck at his feet and completely flipped him over, causing him to land hard on his chest.
"Whaaaaaat's the matter, "vampire"? I thought our kind was supposed to be faster than thaaaaat! Hahahahaha!"
Junya shook his head, trying to come back to his senses and spitting some dirt out of his mouth. It was a task made easier by the panicked fright that surged through him when something clattered down into the leaves before him. It'd been enough to almost get him to sit back up, but when whatever it was didn't make any further moves after it landed, his vision calmed enough to start making it out in the darkness. It was a bit thick but otherwise not that big. Had a branch just fallen down from one of the trees. It was oddly shaped though, like it was too straightened. It almost looked like…like…!
His eyes slowly bugged out wider. His body was still in shock, his mind not taking in the full extent of the pain he was in.
He didn't want to look. Maybe if he didn't look he could still assume it was there and that everything was fine. He just needed to stand up and not look down. Everything was fine.
His arms pushed him up from the ground, preparing to use one leg at a time to get him the rest of the way up. Everything was fine.
One shoe scrapped against the dirt, causing his body to wobble a little in its unbalanced state. The other…the other wasn't cooperating as much but he was sure it was nothing. Everything was fine.
His knee kept banging against the dirt but his other shoe just wouldn't make contact too. It was being so stubborn. Everything was fine.
Everything was fine.
Everything was fine.
Everything was fine.
Everything was fine.
Everything was fine….!
…Against his every instinct, Junya's head slowly turned to look behind him, his neck creaking like it was following the ticks of a clock.
The leaves looked as if they'd been stained by ink. Just this big black pool of liquid flowing gently over the grass blades to push them down., creating a trail that lead back to just underneath his knee.
His knee…and nothing else beyond it.
Junya's mouth opened and closed a few times yet his lips never made contact with each other. Scattered squeaks exited out from his throat in lieu of what was trapped inside it as he found it harder and harder to take in breath. Burning wetness filled the corners of his eyes. His hands trembled against the dirt and that was all the motion he could muster.
Slowly the clouds above drifted out of the way, allowing the moonlight to bathe the area in its luminance once more.
Like a curtain being pulled back, the receding darkness allowed the second player in this game to finally be seen again, her eyes catching the moon's glow to give away where she sat in a crouch atop the tree's branches; the color having flowed so completely out of her pupils that it'd dyed her eyes completely red.
Junya's mouth still could not let out the scream it so wanted to give even as he looked upon the sight. The hair was still silver but no longer in a ponytail, rather now so unkempt and messy it made her resemble a witchy old hag children would hear described to them in stories. But even with so much of it covering her face, he could still see them gleaming in the moonlight. Rows of teeth like syringes all pointed at each other from every angle possible within her mouth, making almost a perfect circle.
And hanging out like a rope from that circle, a tongue nearly a foot long, slickening her teeth in transparent saliva in anticipation for what was to come next.
"I'd have preferred a prettyyyyyyy young girllllllll. But I'll make doooo!"
Like the limbs of a jackal, her legs propelled her through the air, rattling the branch behind her down to the trunk as she sailed towards her prey.
It was the searing pain that finally allowed Junya's scream to exit and echo throughout the lonely woods.
"Ah…! AH…! G-GAH! Ow! Ow ow ow!"
Tsukune flipped his body to sit up, tossing the loose sheets off him and nearly off his bed in his hurry.
His hand slapped over the side of his neck, instinctually hoping it might help ease the horrible stinging. "What…the hell…?" He groaned through the pain. Slowly it did subside but there it still remained, like a hot prick constantly keeping him aware of its presence. "Moka's bite marks…?" His fingers found the point of origin for the pain, the two little scabs where Moka's fangs made their penetration. "Why? It's never hurt like this before."
He'd felt fine earlier today. Had the punctures maybe gotten inflected?
Actually, now that he thought about it, usually the marks would already be gone by this point, wouldn't they? What happened with Kosubo wasn't any different from the last time she'd given him her blood, so why were they still there?
He said there in the darkness of his room for a little while longer. The stinging ebbed and flowed, varying in how much it hurt but not as badly as what had woken him up. He was sweating, and his breath was a little shorter, but that easily could be because he was focusing so much on it with nothing to distract him.
"Well…I'm sure it's nothing…." He pulled his covers back over him to go back to sleep, deciding he'd wait to see how he was feeling tomorrow before worrying too much about it. "…Nothing major…anyway."