Chapter 13

The moon paled before disappearing as though by magic from the night sky. The sun began to rise, and filtered through stained windows that shattered its light, causing the sun to scatter across walls, floors, faces.

A mansion set in the middle of lush gardens did not escape this treatment as the sun broke through the windows and beamed down onto the floor, just inches away from where two people lay against the hallway wall, sleeping peacefully against each other.

Lorelei slept with her back against the wall, her head falling forward, her hair hanging over her eyes. Her arms were wrapped around Reiko, who was resting his head against her chest, unmindful of the fact that Lorelei still had a hand buried into his jet black hair, and that she was leaning her head against the top of his.

It seemed to have been a comfortable arrangement, and Lorelei smiled and opened her eyes as she felt the sun filtering through the window. She watched where the dust motes danced in the air for a few minutes before she smiled and shuffled slowly towards the sun, Reiko still in her grasp.

Reiko stirred slightly in her arms, but she failed to notice. She smiled as the sun hit her full on the face, making her copper streaked hair shimmer and dance in the sunlight. She settled back against the wall and smiled, relaxing in the warmth. Reiko's eyes snapped open at that precise moment, giving vent to a pained cry. Lorelei looked towards him and frowned.

'What is it? What's wrong?' She soon understood, as she watched Reiko's face carefully and then noticed the burnt hand. The look on his face was one of pure agony but his expression suddenly worsened as the sun grew stronger, and the patch of sunlight grew in size, expanding to cover his burnt hand, his arm and a portion of his chest. He gasped, tortured before he staggered backwards, out of the sun and fled upstairs, stumbling, the pain dazzling his sight and blinding him. Lorelei was left standing there, stunned. For a minute, she had been able to forget his race, and had been able to treat him like a human.

She sighed and followed him up the stairs, hearing a door slam shut. She licked at dry lips as she knocked timidly on the door.

'Reiko?' she called. 'Can I come in?' At first, there was no answer, but she blinked as she heard a sudden loud pained hiss, sounding as though it was more from frustration than anything else. She hesitated and then nervously opened the door. The room was empty, and everything was in it's right place, save for a discarded shirt that the vampire had not bothered to wash just yet. Further examination proved that it was the shirt he had been wearing. She frowned again and then sighed with relief as she noticed that the door to his en-suit had been left slightly ajar, and that he hadn't suddenly disappeared on the spot.

She opened it and sighed, watching as Reiko ran his hand under the cold water tap, in the hopes that it would soothe his pain. He stood there bare-chested, his eyes focused only on the running water, and the angry red burns on his hand. Lorelei took in his appearance critically. The burns on his arm were far less worse than the ones on his hand, and though she could see where his chest had hit the rays of the sun, she could see that already it had begun to heal. What was most worrying, was the fact that there were angry red slashes across his back, as though someone had sliced at his skin, and his wounds had failed to heal properly.

'Reiko?' She murmured softly. The vampire started with shock and turned quickly, blinking at her, confused.

'Yes?' His voice held a polite inquiry, nothing more, nothing less. He did not seem angry or embarrassed that he was semi-naked in front of her.

'Are you okay?' The vampire looked taken aback by Lorelei's question but then nodded.

'I am fine. This is not the first time I have found myself with something as troublesome as a burn.' His voice was incredibly steady, despite the pain that was evident in his hazel eyes, and the tight set of his jaw. It seemed as though it took all of his willpower not to scream and cry in pain. She realized then and there that she had probably been staring at him for too long. Reiko apparently seemed to think the same, for he coughed and stood there awkwardly, almost shyly and regarded her, the steadiness in his gaze wavering somewhat.

'You must be disgusted.' He said suddenly. Lorelei was taken completely by surprise.

'What?' Reiko was silent, but was looking at her intensely.

'You must be disgusted,' he repeated. 'You must be disgusted that you are living with a being such as I. I am sorry. I am aware that I do not make the best host.' He paused and ran a hand through his short black hair, as though he was finding this whole conversation awkward. 'It was never my intention to...to take you from your home,' he laboured on. 'It certainly wasn't my intention to make you miserable in my presence. And I definitely never wanted to make you hate me. I am sorry about this whole predicament you somehow managed to find yourself in.' His eyes seemed to dance slightly as he restlessly scanned the walls and the shadows for some unknown creature that might come out and attack him. He looked towards her again. 'If you wish...I could...always ask Dante whether...whether he could find a new place for you to stay...that is...if being here troubles you to...to such a great extent.'

She looked up into the drowning depths of those hazel eyes, and she opened her mouth to say something, but nothing was forthcoming. A small, almost sad smile appeared on his face and he turned away, his back towards her, resuming his attempt to heal his wounds. Lorelei suddenly found her tongue again.

'What happened last night?' The effects of these words were instantaneous. His back turned rigid, and his eyes widened. He turned around and opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it and shook his head. Instead, he looked ashamed.

'Nothing.'

'You were crying.' Lorelei was quick to point out.

'So?'

'Vampires don't cry.' She said unthinkingly. Reiko winced at that, and looked stung.

'This one does.' He sighed and turned back to the sink, running his hand under the water again, listening to the sound of it as it trickled down the drain.

'You were very upset last night. You were crying like your heart was broken, or as though something just as bad had happened.' She watched as those eyes dimmed, and he slowly looked away from her, his eyes focused on the floor.

'It...I...I overreacted. That is all. I behaved foolishly.'

'Crying isn't foolish though.'

'But it is for the weak,' came the sharp retort. He suddenly paused. 'But...I am weak. Weak-minded. It is disgustingly easy to frighten me...' His voice trailed off at that point, and he breathed out deeply. Lorelei folded her arms, and tried to look severe.

'Are you going to tell me what happened?'

'No.'

'Why not?'

'You wouldn't understand.'

'Maybe not,' she agreed. 'But it's good to talk.' Reiko finally turned off the tap, and shook his hand slightly, trying to shake off some water, as though his action answered her. Lorelei frowned and found her eyes staring a little below his back before forcing herself to look up at the ceiling, pretending to look for cracks in the paint. 'Did you hurt your back? It looks raw.'One of his hands went instinctively towards his back and he winced.

' Ow...Shit!' he cursed. Lorelei didn't look surprised at his outburst.

'I'm sure some ice would help it. Do you want me to get you some?' Reiko looked at her cautiously, as though trying to realize whether she was being sincere or not. At last, he gave in.

'All right,' he sighed.. As Lorelei went downstairs, he raised his arm to the light, noting how quickly it had healed. His chest had also healed by this time, and his hand looked as though it was also mending well. But what Lorelei had said about his back worried him intensely. This was not the first time it had happened, but as a vampire who'd actually been able to retain his soul, his memories as a human were vivid and clear. In times of great stress, or when he was reminded forcibly of certain memories, his body would show the scars and the wounds he had sustained at that moment. The vampire did not know why this happened. He had often wondered whether it was a reminder of all the pain he had witnessed throughout his life, or a warning about what might happen if he let his guard down for even a second.

He sighed and stretched, but his back suddenly cracked, causing him to gasp shallowly with pain. He hobbled over painfully towards his bed before he flopped down on it and buried his head under the pillow, waiting for the waves of pain to die own completely from his body.

Lorelei returned a few minutes later with a bag of ice. She blinked when she saw how Reiko had sprawled out on his stomach. The wounds on his back looked even worse, and there was a section that seemed swollen. She frowned and then slowly placed the ice on the inflamed section, jumping with shock as Reiko took in a harsh gasp of air and arched his back.

'SHIT!'

'Okay! I'm sorry! Just lie back down, it's become all swollen!' Reiko turned his head this way and that, trying to look at her without moving his back. He grumbled before he lay back down and sighed out deeply before stiffening as there was a sudden crack that filled the air. The marks on his back grew more pronounced, and even more slashes appeared. Lorelei watched in horror as Reiko cried out in agony.

His voice died down to a pained whimper and he burrowed his head into the pillow. Lorelei stood about uncertainly, unsure as to what to do.

'Has this happened before?' Reiko let out another whimper, which sounded suspiciously like "yes". Lorelei felt a surge of sudden irritation.

'Well how did you fix it last time?' Reiko raised his head slowly from the pillow and looked at her balefully.

'I didn't,' he said, simply, grouchily. Lorelei sighed again and started pacing. 'I was, however, incapacitated for a few days. It is unfortunate this had to happen at such a time as now. I can't really afford to stay home in bed when I have duties to attend to.' Lorelei looked at him quickly at that point.

'Duties?'

'I am the Head Vampire of this city,' he reminded her.

'You can't ask someone else to take over for a while?' She watched him, but he made no move, as though afraid it would hurt him further. His eyes suddenly drooped and he lowered his head again. 'You're going to sleep?'

'There is nothing else I can do until I fully heal.' He closed his eyes at that point, and turned his head away from her, signaling that there was nothing more to be said. Lorelei sighed.

'Well, I'm going to stay here, just in case there's anything you need.' There was no answer. Lorelei sighed and curled up in a comfortable looking chair and shortly afterwards fell asleep. And dreamt.

It had been the first day of school, and as always, as with any school, her mother had decided to accompany her. And march her to the headmaster's office. The children would all peer out of their classrooms, curious as to what this girl had done to incur the headmaster's wrath on the first day of school.

Lorelei peered around the new office, taking note of the paperwork on the desk, the computer monitor that tilted at an awkward angle, the photographs of past headmasters and headmistresses. It was strange how each office she had ever been to had the same layout, as though there was some secret guidebook on how to furnish an office.

The secretary looked up from her incessant typing as the door buzzed, admitting them in. Lorelei knew what would happen immediately. They would stand t the doorway, until the head turned around and beckoned them to sit down. And then her mother would launch into a lengthy explanation about why she was there, and why she had needed to talk to him.

They stood. He beckoned. They sat. She talked. Lorelei sank down further and further into the seat as she heard her mother go through the normal speech.

'Mr. Jones .My daughter is not any ordinary girl. She needs to be carefully watched and monitored throughout her time at this school.She has never had the best of health, and we thought that this school would be the most suitable as we have heard of your reputation for actually caring about each individual student.' Bullshit, Lorelei had thought to herself. Her mother spoke complete shit. She had said that to every school, not just this one.

She looked around the office some more, but was quickly bored.Her mother continued to drone on in the same vein, on and on and on and on. And somewhere in her head, she could hear someone screaming.

Her eyes snapped open at that point, and the screaming did not disappear. She looked around, confused and bewildered, until she realized that Reiko was tossing his head this way and that, whimpering but crying out loudly every so often. She frowned slightly before she crept towards him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

'Reiko?' she called out to him quietly. He shuddered and a choked sob issued forth from his lips. She looked at his back again before she decided to risk shaking him into wakefulness. 'Reiko, wake up! You're having a bad dream. Come on, wake up!'

His eyes snapped open, glazed over with unshed bloody tears and acting on instinct, grabbed her tightly around her wrist. She gasped with pain, his vampire strength crushing her hand.

'Reiko...stop! You're...You're hurting me!'

She froze and her eyes widened as the walls of the room suddenly seemed to fall away, giving way to a dark night, filled with rainfall. She stared around in shock and surprise, and found herself in an alleyway. She turned in a full circle before she was able to understand what had happened, and where she was.

She stared in surprise as she watched Reiko run past the alleyway, dressed in a pair of faded blue jeans, a red shirt, and a denim jacket, a man giving chase, quickly closing the gap. She ran to the end but gasped as she watched Reiko slam to the ground, crying out in pain. His attacker lifted him clear off the ground, so that Reiko was kicking at thin air, choking against his grasp.

She yelped and quickly ran back into the alley, hoping she wouldn't be spotted, but turned around in dismay as she saw the man dragging Reiko into the alley, one hand over his mouth, muffling his cries. He struggled madly, before he suddenly snarled and bit down into his attacker's hand. The man's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open, more with surprise than anything else. Reiko cried out again in pain as he was dropped to the ground roughly.

It was only then that Lorelei realized that no matter what Reiko did, he would lose. For what he was fighting was a vampire. She stared at the gleaming fangs, and the anger that forced the vampire's pupils to contract.

'You've got a bit of spunk, haven't you kid?' He looked down in contemplation at his hand, and at the tooth marks that blemished his skin. He looked down at Reiko, and Reiko's eyes widened, as he realized too late that what he should have done was run while he still could.

'Stay away from me!' he growled, trying to sound threatening. Lorelei's heart went out to him as she saw him for what he really was; not much more than a boy, barely an adult. 'I know what you are. I could tell everyone! If you stay away from me, I won't tell.' The vampire smiled indulgently at the hazel-eyed boy.

'Kid, if you tell people that I'm a vampire...do you really think they'd believe you? You'd end up in a nut house. And that would be the end of it.' He looked at him hungrily at that point, and Lorelei could see something flicker in his eyes. Reiko also saw it, for he started to scramble backwards while on the floor, trying to get away even while the vampire came towards him. He struggled again as the vampire picked him up, his feet kicking out in every direction, his hands laying over the hands of the vampire, trying to stop himself from choking to death.

Reiko cried out sharply in pain as his back was slammed against the wall, the vampire crushing his body against his, pinning him to the wall, ensuring he could not get away. His plan was simple, yet effective, but not for lack of trying. Reiko pushed at him, trying to knock him away so he could make a dash for it, and finally be free again.

It was then that the vampire kissed him deeply, forcefully. Reiko's eyes widened with shock and he turned completely rigid, his voice dying out completely as the vampire continued. He eventually let out a muffled whimper and closed his eyes tightly, tears trickling down from underneath his closed eyes. A few minutes passed before Reiko's mind was finally able to register what was happening, and he began to squirm, whimpering loudly. He gasped with pain again as the vampire pulled away harshly, splitting Reiko's lip open with his fangs.

The two stared at each other, the vampire's eyes flickering again with that same element as before. Lorelei suddenly understood that look for what it really was. Lust. Pure unadulterated lust. Reiko stared back at the vampire, his eyes dawning with realization. His bottom lip trembled, and blood trickled down his chin. Tears continued to roll down his cheeks, despite the steadiness of his voice when he spoke.

'You don't want to do this.' The vampire smiled indulgently at that.

'I find it amusing how you presume you know what I want and don't want.' He leaned in, pressing the man's shoulders into the wall, pinning him there and lapped at the blood on his chin. 'Delicious...as I knew it would be.' Reiko screwed his eyes shut and shied away from him. The vampire smiled again before throwing him to the ground, causing Reiko to land awkwardly.

Lorelei's eyes widened, knowing what was going to happen, knowing that she was powerless to help, knowing that no matter how she screamed and cried, no one would come to save him. She sobbed and tore out from her hiding place behind some trash cans and ran to the end of the alley way, casting a look in their direction before she ran out into the open, into a pool of light given off by a nearby street lamp.

'Someone, anyone! Please! Please hear me!' she cried desperately. She stared about and realized that this part of town was deserted. All the lights in the houses were off, and there was no sign of anyone. Almost distantly, through the pounding of her blood in her ears, she could hear pleading, and then screaming.

She collapsed at that point, horrified by what she almost bore witness to, and revolted by the acts that were taking place in the alleyway. She cried almost to the point of being sick but eventually forced herself to calm down, her stomach aching, her body shivering in protest to her violent sobbing. And as she sat there, taking deep breaths, she realized that everything had turned silent. Trembling, she forced herself to turn back, and see what had happened.

Reiko lay in a heap, panting, his eyes closed from exhaustion. Scars decorated his back, a sign of the vampire's violent delight, and the vampire's way of branding the boy as his own. He was covered from the waist down by his jacket and he rose partially before collapsing. The vampire, already dressed, watched him indulgently before he smirked and walked towards him. Reiko rose his head despairingly and forced himself to meet the vampire's eyes.

'You're quick at recovering, aren't you?' Reiko made no reply to this but only stared at him jaded and mournfully. 'And to think, you could tell everyone what happened, couldn't you?' Reiko glared at him, spitting out blood.

'You fucking bastard...' he rasped. 'You fucking little bastard.' His voice was like poison, but the vampire brushed this off by giving another twisted smile.

'You have a filthy mouth, boy. I shall have to silence it.' Reiko's eyes widened with a mixture of bewilderment and alarm as he was lifted off his feet. He screamed out in sheer agony as the vampire snapped his back in two, as though he were nothing more than a twig and then dropping him.

Reiko groaned in pain but could not make a single move. He lay there quietly, barely breathing, dazed from the pain, his eyes half open. Lorelei watched in horror as the vampire bent down and almost tenderly secured Reiko's jacket around his waist.

'This night was fun,' he said, a cruel parody of a dating couple. 'Maybe we can do this again sometime.' A slow tear trickled down Reiko's cheek, coming to mingle with the dust on the ground. His wet, rain soaked hair clung to his face, making him look even more youthful.

The vampire seemed to melt into the darkness, and Lorelei waited for her vision to pass, and waited to find herself back in Reiko's luxurious manor. Nothing happened. She remained sitting beside Reiko, who cried softly in the darkness. She tried to place a hand on him, but he was like a ghost, untouchable, yet with such tangible feelings. She sighed and remained by his side, leaning against a wall, her eyes closed. They snapped open when she heard a new voice.

'...His victim.' A new vampire knelt beside Reiko, examining his body. By this time, Reiko's eyes had dropped even more, so that she could only see a sliver of hazel. She stood up, planning useless defences, but blinked when the vampire very gently, very carefully rolled Reiko onto his stomach and held him to him, like a mother would to a child.

He was not careful enough, and Reiko cried out hoarsely in pain, unable to move on his own accord. The vampire stared into his face for a moment before he lowered his head to his neck and drank deeply from him. Reiko's eyes widened ever so slightly, and he let out another low pained moan. The vampire pulled away suddenly and blinked down at him.

'You're going to die if I do not help.' Reiko said nothing but closed his eyes fully, exhausted. 'I don't wish for you to die just now. Drink.'

'Nnnooo...' Reiko whispered weakly.

'I give you no choice. You shall be turned.' The vampire bit into his own wrist and forced Reiko's mouth open, forcing him to drink his blood. Reiko's eyes dimmed automatically and he turned completely limp in the vampire's arms, his breath rattling out harshly as he died.

Lorelei stared in shock at the scene before she looked towards the vampire, and then into the man's dead face.

'No...' she choked. 'You bastard!' She flew at him, a sudden rage taking over. The vampire raised his head, as though he had heard her, and Lorelei crashed head first into the smooth white wall of Reiko's bedroom and knew no more.