"You must be Bryan."
I stare up at the young man with distrusting eyes. Marine-blue hair is pulled back into a ponytail, meaning his somehow-kind face is not shadowed in anyway. I do not reply and he, surprisingly, does not falter.
"My name is Kukoro."
"Hm…" I hum. "So you're the quack."
"Bryan!" Tala scolds.
Kukoro waves it off. "Yes, indeed Bryan; I am the quack." He smiles. "I have been notified by your friends about what has gone on during the past few days… I believe your mind was housed in a deep and distressing sleep for two days, ending in a stressful and painful nightmare."
My stone grey eyes meet his glittering aqua-marine orbs. "Indeed…"
"But Bryan…" His eyes turned serious for a while. "I can sense that you haven't been totally truthful as to what your nightmare was about."
"It does not concern you." I reply, monotonously.
"Indeed it does." Kukoro replies. "I have been called to help you… how can I help you I cannot determine what is fully wrong?"
"You don't help, then." I snap. I do not like people pressing into my life, as you can clearly deduce from my words. "The nightmare is not important."
"Ah, but you told Tala and Kai that you think it is that Ehoin who showed you those events… including a rather distressing vision to do with hearts…"
My eyes widen, but then they narrow. "How do you know of that?" I ask suspiciously. "I told neither Tala nor Kai."
The said comrades stand in the background, watching the events unfold.
"I have friends."
"Friends who are psychic?" I scoff.
"Friends who can possess any object and see their thoughts, yes." He says simply. "Spirits and ghosts to be precise."
How can I reply? I already knew spirits existed, so why fake surprise?
"So why not tell them?" He continues. "It does, after all concern them, for the simple fact that Ehoin said- and showed you- that you would, I quote 'rip their hearts from their chests and watch them die' end quote."
I sense the shock and surprise radiating off Tala, Kai and Tyson, though I do not see it; again I fear odium.
"He… he said that would happen?" Tala asks. "That Bryan would do that?"
"Indeed." His eyes do not leave mine…
I can feel anger rise from my soul, but I suppress it… only for temporarily, though. How dare he waltz in here and spill everything that I hid to keep Tala happy?
"And the fact that Ehoin will most likely strike again? Why have you not told them that? And it also goes for the fact that you did indeed betray Kai when you bit Tala…" His voice fades as I block him out and stalk to my room. "And for the fact that you're turning your back on both your friends and I, because we want to help!"
"Then take this as a sign that I don't want your help!" I roar, turning around again. This seems to neither startle nor jog Kukoro, but the others, I can tell, are shocked; I can be confident when I say that they have never heard me raise my voice to that level. "For many years of my ill-fated and ruinous life, I have been independent! That is not about to change!"
"If you have been so independent, Bryan," His voice houses a deadly quietness but also sustains calmness, "then why do you have to depend on the Blood Bank?" He simply stares at me. "No vampire can be independent."
"This one can." I say venomously, gesturing to myself. "You seem to use the word 'independent' with a different meaning then I, Kukoro. I use it with the denotation of 'one who does not depend on others', meaning humans and other living beings. I simply rely on a white building that lodges enough blood to feed the a hundred vampires and help mortals for a century- over!"
"Fool!" His eyes spark up, warning me to back off, but I- of course- do not. "Miserable wretch! Vampires are designed to bite the necks of mortals and to drink fresh blood! Not to rely on old blood from a dusty building! You-" he points to me, "You are weak!"
My anger flares up, and I do not notice at the present time that several objects in the room are surrounded by light glow, afloat above the ground. I myself, as I look back, am delimited by a lilac aura, the same colour as the glow that encloses the many objects.
Tala, Kai, Tyson and Kukoro notice, though. My three friends with pure shock and Kukoro with… satisfaction? Did he force the rage to surface within me for his plan?
"You think you can intimidate me, Bryan?" Kukoro continues. "Your threats don't scare me."
"I'm not making threats." I answer. "I am merely making a promise…"
"A promise of what? To perform magic tricks?"
"Kukoro, please! Tala reasons. "Stop thi-"
Kai, mercifully and thankfully, pushed Tala to the ground as one of the kitchen counters- which is supposed to be rooted permanently to the ground, might I add- flies through the space where Tala's head used to occupy. It continues to soar before slamming into the wall and shattering into a thousand pieces.
My head is cleared of rage for that time as I realise what is going on; I had almost killed Tala…
"GO!" Kukoro shouts.
"Wha-?"
I yell out in shock and pain as some… thing glides imperceptibly through my body. It was nothing solid- like a bullet- but it feels somewhat like it; only the pain spreads throughout my body. My mind blanks out and I fall to the ground with a thump; though now, I can recall exactly what happened…
Tala's face is- if possible- whiter than usual. His serene blue eyes now held fear; not fear of me but fear for me- for my safety.
He runs over with a shout of my name and lifts my head into his lap, brushing lilac strands from my neck as he searches for a pulse. What possesses him to do so is beyond me, but I know he must have found one since he breathes a sigh of relief…
But it is sucked back in as something ethereal and other-worldly flows from my head. It morphs into the form of a man with a long beard, before disappearing into nothingness.
"Do not worry." Kukoro says. "It was only Simoné; a spirit brethren of mine. He merely knocked Bryan out. I was hoping to do it less… painfully but my plan seemed to back fire I was forced to take drastic action; I'm sorry."
"Then what was your plan?" Tala snaps, still holding my head in his hands. "To get him so angry that he'd faint on his own?"
"Indeed it was, to be honest…" Kukoro admits. "But not in the way you see it. Come; let us place Bryan somewhere more comfortable than the floor, before I tell you what has and will happen."
They did so, Kai carrying me in a bridal lift into Tala's room and placing me upon his large, soft, white bed, pulling his scented sheets over my form.
"Now," Kukoro murmurs as Tala sits beside my being and Kai at the foot of the bed. The Japanese Shaman sits upon the white couch, "I guess I must explain the ethics of vampires, so you will understand what I had planned.
"Vampires are complex creatures. They do not actually need to eat, only to drink and even then, it's blood. You could say it's their body's natural impulse to replenish their veins, although it never actually fully works for long. They always need to drink.
"They also possess amazing psychic abilities, like the ones you saw in the other room. What you witnessed, though, was only a part of Bryan's power; though he doesn't know he holds that ability.
"I guessed that because Bryan's emotions were locked up inside of him for so long- nearly his whole life- his emotions control his powers. So I planned to tire him out. He, himself, would drain his own energy by using his powers with rage; but I must have made him a bit too angry." He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry…"
"But why would you want to knock him out?" Kai inquires. "Or exhaust him at the least?"
"I must search his memories to see what this Ehoin is like; therefore figuring out what he'd most likely do." Kukoro says, earning looks from my friends.
"So he'd have to relive his memories… again?" Tala asks, anxious.
"Unfortunately, yes." Kukoro admits. "But then, Simoné will help ease the stress."
"And how will he do that?" Tala snaps.
"Tala, calm it." Kai orders.
"How will he calm Bryan down?" Tyson asks, politely. "Mental stress, if I know correctly, is kinda hard to soothe…"
Kukoro smiles. "Simoné was and is still a sage. He can see into the future and will give Bryan faith by showing what Fate has in store for him; and Simoné assures me it is nothing… too distressing…"
A/N- So how will Simoné help Bryan? And what the hell is going on in that Shaman's head?
Reviews make me hapy : )